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Minecraft going BETA!!!


MedicSN6
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Minecraft Beta: December 20, 2010

 

The next epoch is upon us! The skies are trembling, pigs are growing wings, and the nether is turning awfully cold, as Minecraft slowly crawls out of Alpha..

 

Minecraft will reach Beta status on December 20th, 2010.

 

With Beta comes a larger focus on polish and content, and we?ll start early on with adding proper modding support with a stable API, and we?d love all input we can get on this from the modders out there. We?ll also add some kind of non-intrusive narrative to the game to help drive the game experience early on, and to provide some kind of late game goal. There will be a bigger focus on testing and stability as well, with more time between updates.

 

When the game enters beta, the price will rise to 14.95 Euro.

 

We will also change the license to remove the line that promises all future versions of the game for free. Please note that this change only affects people who buy the game after December 20, so if you got the game for during alpha, you will still get all future updates for free, despite this change. A promise is a promise.

Buying the game during beta will include all updates up until release, of course, and bug patches will be free.

 

Soon, you will be able to buy gift codes for Minecraft, perfectly timed for the holidays! Even better, if you buy those before December 20, accounts created from these codes will count as alpha accounts, and will receive all future updates for free.

 

And the next game update (with server-side inventory) is coming next week, before Beta

 

Merry holidays happy! :D

 

 

SOURCE: http://notch.tumblr.com/

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Medic it disturbs me that you are so in love with this game - what happened to you bud? Bang your head? :wallbash:

 

I find it disturbing that you are disturbed by the fact that I enjoy a simple video game. ;) I would welcome the rub if it were Mafia Wars or Farmville. hell, I'd expect it if we were talking about WOW, but Minecraft is a decent, simple, yet strangely deep game for it's program structure. For example, it would be fair to compare it to the popular and numerous top down and side scroll games that have been developed even as late as this year. No one questions the motivation of someone who plays the top-down zombie mini-game that comes with Call of Duty: Black Ops or flash based games on Kongregate.com, Newgrounds.com or the thousand other browser-game hosting sites. If I really liked Peggle or Mah Jong, should you or anyone have the same amount of disdain or disturbia that you share with me now? Certainly not.

 

I would argue that a video game's popularity is based more on the enjoyment factor which is the overall culmination of every aspect of the game's design, than any one particular part or feature. If graphics were an issue, why to people still download and play the original 8-bit Super Mario Bros. 1-3 on their brand new Wii's? Why do people have emulators on their high dollar gaming rigs to play Zork, Choplifter, Centipede, Donkey Kong, and DigDug to name a few? While graphics are an amazing aspect of where technology has allowed gaming graphics to flourish, they are rarely why a game is popular. As an example of where a game's sale are driven by its "Pretty" factor, you need look no further than Crysis.

 

We could examine the programming aspects of the game in question and will eventually come to the same conclusion. Asking some key questions about the core of the title could lead us into more of the mindset which drives some people to purchase one title over another and other consumers to either purposefully disregard a title or exist in a state of blissful ignorance. The first question I pose would be, "what engine was it designed with?" You can almost guarantee a Call of Duty or Battlefield title are going to perform well just based on the engine. Where as, especially for me personally, the Quake or FarCry engines may not sell very much.

While we are on the subject of engines, we could talk about the popularity of Flash, Java/jQuery, haXe, Unity3D, etc. These games spawn more frequently as game coding is becoming easier and more popular around the world.

 

You could also ask about which DirectX it is designed under. This is partially driven by the latest run of video cards and specific marketing by game developers to entice sales, but honestly, who wants to buy a DX11 card and then have no decent titles which run at the card's full potential?

 

The last and most important question I would pose is the actual subject matter and how well it is presented. No matter how pretty the graphics or polished the gameplay mechanics, a good story line for single player or coop games and well balanced maps are the hooks that bring players back.

But, there are some caveats developers should consider when designing the game. Support is a HUGE factor for most PC titles. Due to the popularity of releasing unfinished titles, some of which seem to be barely out of Alpha, gamers have demanded support from developers and publishers often threatening to boycott a specific company for their failures. This leads me to the final and often most important question.

 

Who Published the game? We all know about the past Ubisoft and EA debacles. I for one have said my fair and not-so-nice piece about Ubi$oft in the past. Their actions make me question how badly I want a game that they had a hand in making? I know that if I buy their game, they will get my hard earned cash. Since I live in the United States, where a 'vote' with your wallet is more powerful than any vote on a ballot, it only makes sense to support the companies which provide superior products and support at fair prices.

 

Applying these factors to Minecraft is easy. When you realize the impact or lack of impact where appropriate, of each of the points yields positive results towards Minecraft. The Graphiocs don't really matter because of the gameplay and the ability to mod the game, it is built on a simple Java engine which, while stability is currently an issue with some, the Developers are constantly providing backend support as well as new content. DirectX is clearly not an issue, but again the game doesn't need it. The Developer is the publisher. 'Notch' as he goes by, reaps the rewards from his and his team's hard work. Not to mention how a start-up company develops a game which, while still in Alpha, sells 737,689+ copies through digital download, without any money going into official marketing or advertising. I would be proud to support ANYONE who accomplishes this feat.

 

Above all of this I would say that the most important aspect of Minecraft is the ability to apply your own creativity into a completely randomized world. Every new world is generated for the individual single player or the server for multiplayer. Instead of playing the same maps over and over again where all you can do is attack through a choke point and try to live long enough for your dead teammates to spawn around you, you get to have a positive impact on the environment. You can change it to what you want and if you don't like it, change it again. The possibilities are endless.

 

In conclusion, I would ask you and any other doubters examine your perception of the gaming industry and why you play the titles you do, then base future purchases on your findings. You may find that while your collection may be smaller, you will enjoy the games you purchase for much longer.

 

For those of you who'd like to try the official game, please PM me. I have arranged for a few Spartans to try a 'demo.' Those that have done so have purchased the game and also love it.

 

I am not the only one who enjoys this game. I certainly do not believe I am disturbed for doing so.

 

[/rant]

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i agree with much of what you have ranted and i was only playing around - i believe i would play Minecraft b4 I would play a CoD or any of that garbage if i had the time.

 

wub

 

Lighty

 

Bro, I know you were kidding. I read it as being funny right off. This is just something I had been thinking about for a while and decided to use the chance to get it down in writing. The Minecraft players, especially me because I post so much (Halli had a good one last night about me making the whole Sparta website about Minecraft, had everyone in stitches), get a bit of rubbing around here because Minecraft looks like a really stupid game. But it's okay. Logically, on the surface, why would anyone wan to some 8-bit looking lego game why ArmA 2 et al., CoD BLOPS, and other far superior looking games are out right now, more over, actually installed on on many of our HDDs?

 

My response is: It's a really good game.

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You can also change the textures in game to more advanced ones.. still blocky looking, but not as 8-bit.

 

But I agree - Oddly Minecraft is a game that is picked on like a jock picks on nerds. Gamers look at those that play Minecraft as a whole nother level of 'WTF..'. Kind wierd seeing sterotyping from within. :P

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FROM NOTCH:

 

http://notch.tumblr.com/post/2389820531/minecraft-beta

Minecraft Beta

 

I just updated the client and the server to Minecraft Beta 1.0

 

* Working server-side inventory! Finally! (And as a result of that, a whole pile of bugs and issues got fixed)

* Made SMP servers save chunks way less often in most cases. Chunks don’t resave if they got saved in the last 30 seconds

* Moving too far away from a container, or having it blow up, closes the inventory screen

* Fixed /kill

* Introduced leaf decay again. It acts differently from before

* You can now throw eggs

* On a whim, added super exclusive clan cloaks for Mojang Employees

* .. and something else, which is even more rare

 

 

**********************

 

I have tried some common bugs and none seem to work any more. The drop a tool, pick it back up and it is new again bug does not work any more. Looks like diamond is once again a precious commodity.

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