Hasta La Gadget!

Mojang’s masterpiece of a block building game, Minecraft, has broken yet another new sales record, and this time around it would be the Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition that makes its mark on the record books. Mojang’s collaboration with 4J Studios has resulted in a blockbuster hit that has surpassed the 4 million mark, where 4J Studios tweeted, “Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has passed 4 million sales! Incredible number, thanks to you all!”

Of course, we do not rule out Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition to be the pacesetter in the weeks and months ahead as it is on track to be the all-time best-seller for XBLA titles. We also know that 4 million folks out there are also on the lookout for version 1.82 of Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition that will see the introduction of Creation Mode, too. If you have yet to try out Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition, we strongly recommend you give it a go not for the sake of helping it break new records, but it really does seem to be worth every dime you put into it.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Minecraft for Xbox 360 to get new skins, Minecraft items now available for your Xbox LIVE Avatars,

Minecraft‘s popularity just keeps on growing and growing, as Mojang announced today that the PC version of the beloved indie game has passed 7 million sales. Mojang’s Daniel Kaplan announced the milestone today through Twitter, saying “More than 7 million minecraft (pc) copies sold!” Not too bad for a game that was started (and mostly developed) by one person.

This news comes just a couple of weeks after we were told that the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft had sold 3 million copies. That means Minecraft has sold at least 10 million copies across all platforms, but the actual number is probably much higher than that, thanks to the mobile versions of the game. The number for the Xbox 360 edition is likely still climbing fast too, so expect another update on its progress soon.

Though Notch has handed off the main development duties on Minecraft, the game is still getting new stuff added to it on a regular basis, with update 1.3.1 only going live a couple weeks back. Minecraft 1.3.1 came with some pretty big additions, like a new block type and NPC trading, but it also merged single player and multiplayer worlds. Obviously, there are still some big things going on with Minecraft, despite the fact that it officially launched last November.

Mojang’s next game, Scrolls, is currently undergoing closed alpha testing, and Notch has a new passion project called 0x10c in the works. 0x10c will follow Minecraft‘s “launch early, update often” release schedule, so we’re hoping to hear more about that one soon. Be sure to have a look at our story timeline below for more posts on Minecraft!

Minecraft PC version passes 7 million sales is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Minecraft update 1.3.1 has gone live, and we’re going to level with you: it sounds pretty awesome. This is easily one of the biggest Minecraft updates we’ve had since the game officially launched back in November, adding a variety of new things and fixing a number of bugs. Though there’s a lot of cool stuff to check out in this update, the biggest change by far is the merging of single player and multiplayer worlds.

Mojang described this change last month, saying that single player mode was basically becoming a “shell on top of multiplayer” so modders would only have to make one version of their mod, and Mojang would only have to fix a bug once instead of twice. That may be the biggest change, but there’s plenty more to tide over the die-hand Minecraft fan. For starters, emeralds have been added to the game, and players now have the ability to trade with NPCs.

Ender chests and “large biome” worlds have been added as well, and now players have the option of spawning a “bonus chest” when they start a new world. The bonus chest is aimed at getting you set up quickly, containing a number of items that make starting a new world a smoother experience. Temples can now be found in jungles in deserts, and Minecraft 1.3.1 also tosses writable books into the mix. Take a look at the full list of patch notes, straight from the Minecraft blog:

+ Single-player now runs a server internally
+ Publish the single-player instance to LAN
+ Automatically detect LAN worlds in multi-player screen
+ Added “cheats” option in single-player (enables commands)
+ Added “bonus chest” option to give players a quicker start in a new world
+ Added adventure mode (work in progress)
+ Added trading with villagers
+ Added emeralds, emerald blocks and emerald ore
+ Added cocoa beans to jungles
+ Added the Ender Chest
+ Added tripwires
+ Added new creative mode inventory with search functionality
+ Made it possible to gain enchantment orbs from mining ore and smelting
+ Added writeable books
+ Added “large biomes” world type
+ Added temples to jungles and deserts
+ Added chat settings
+ Added option to turn off and view snooper data
+ Added more information on the debug screen (F3)
+ New launcher with “Play Demo” button if not premium user
+ Added /seed command to see map seed
+ Added /defaultgamemode to set default game mode in a world (affects new players)
+ Added /debug command for profiling
+ Added SRV record lookup support
* Decreased max enchantment level from 50 to 30
* The /tp command can now send players to a specific coordinate
* Mobs can spawn on flat surfaces (such as up-side-down stairs)
* Updated language files
* Mobs are much less likely to glitch through blocks
* Server list can be reordered
* Nearby items in the world will auto-stack
* Stars are smaller and brighter
* Sky color in The End has been changed
* The “pick block” functionality has been improved
* Certain items that previously wasn’t stackable can now be stacked
* Hill biomes are slightly taller
* Wooden log blocks can now be placed side-ways
* Wooden half-blocks now act as wood
* Water slowly drips through leaves during rain
* Minecarts and boats will be placed by dispensers, if possible
* Gravel texture has been modified
* Levers can be placed in the roof
* Creepers’ explosions damage is now modified by difficulty
* Performance improvements
* Other bug fixes…
– Removed Herobrine

See? We told you that this update was massive. Booting up Minecraft and logging in will trigger the update prompt, and we highly suggest you say “yes” when asked if you want to update to 1.3.1. After all, it isn’t every day that a new block type is introduced in Minecraft. Have a look at our story timeline below for more on Minecraft, and happy digging!

Minecraft update 1.3.1 arrives with emeralds and NPC trading is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Mojang has seen the sort of success that most game developers dream of with Minecraft, but it looks like it’s now also found itself thrust into the rarely desirable world of patent lawsuits. As revealed by Minecraft creator Notch himself on Twitter, Mojang is being sued by the Texas-based Uniloc (which has also taken aim at Electronic Arts, Gameloft and others) over some alleged patent infringement in the Android version of Minecraft. That supposed infringement is not related to any of the distinctive gaming elements of Minecraft, but rather the means through which the game verifies users — something Uniloc alleges is a violation of patent #6,857,067, a “system and method for preventing unauthorized access to electronic data.” Not surprisingly, Notch has taken the opportunity to make his thoughts on software patents known (see his blog post below), and also make absolutely clear that he intends to fight the suit, saying that “if needed, I will throw piles of money at making sure they don’t get a cent.” That’s also prompted a response from Uniloc CEO Ric Richardson, who notes that he had no direct involvement in this particular patent or suit, but defends the company’s practices and insists that it is not a patent troll.

Filed under: Gaming

Mojang sued for alleged patent infringement in Android version of Minecraft originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The gaming public at large has spoken. In less than 12 hours, Yves Behar’s Android-based Ouya gaming console has reached its lofty funding goal of $950,000 on Kickstarter. To refresh your memory, the $99 system (which was only $95 for 1,000 swift early adopters) packs a Tegra 3 CPU, 8GB of storage, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, a USB 2.0 port and an SD card slot — that price also grants you a single controller with a touch sensor. Most notably, the system is aimed at being extremely developer-friendly, having open hardware and software with a push for free-to-play content. There are only about 5,000 units (out of 10,000) (update: that number has been bumped to 20,000, with just under 10k available) left at the $99 price, so feel free to check out our in-depth chat about Ouya with Behar himself here before you head over to Kickstarter. It appears that the traditional business model for gaming consoles just got rocked, and we can’t wait to see the final results.

Update: If you thought that was fast, you’d be right: Kickstarter has confirmed that Ouya achieved the biggest first day ever for one of its hosted projects, and it’s just the eighth project ever to crack the million-dollar mark, joining an esteemed company that includes Double Fine’s upcoming adventure game and the all-time champion, the Pebble smartwatch.

Ouya’s $99 Android-based gaming console meets Kickstarter goal: $950k in under 12 hours (update: it’s a record) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jul 2012 16:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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