Minecraft for Xbox Live Arcade Playable at MineCon

We haven’t heard much about the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft since its E3 announcement, except for Minecraft creator Markus Persson clarifying he was simply overseeing the project, and another developer, 4J Studios, was handling the conversion to Microsoft's platform.

The first playable look at the Kinect-enabled Minecraft will actually come next month at MineCon in Las Vegas, Nevada, which will also act as the launch party for the “shipping” version of Minecraft.

“We want to keep the core experience of the original PC version intact, while ensuring the game fits its new platform,” said Carl Manneh, managing director at Mojang, in a blog post with the news.

Minecraft is scheduled for a spring release on XBLA.

4J Studios previously worked on Xbox Live Arcade ports of Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie.

Neat

Wonder if it's a must to have a Kinect to play it. In that case I'll have to pass on it.

Spring? I thought it was 11/11/11 release for both PC and console.

I can't see playing Minecraft without plugins/mods/texture packs.

I'm interested to see how the Xbox version will compare to the PC version. I don't see why it can't be exactly the same.

Oh, hey, I'm exhibiting my game at MineCon and giving a panel on how we started our company.

...just thought I'd let y'all know.

@ABritishNerd: I had the same understanding, but I guess that's changed. Not especially looking forward to either, personally.

@Cincaid: Nope, it supports controllers as well.

@Cincaid said:

Wonder if it's a must to have a Kinect to play it. In that case I'll have to pass on it.

You don't.

@cyraxible: It won't have any mods or texture packs that's for sure.

@Hulsey90: @Chavtheworld: Excellent, thanks for the info!

It'll be hard to mime swinging a pick axe in front of the Kinect for sixteen straight hours, but if I can build a giant Batman with a solid gold belt it will be worth it.

hmmm, i'd give it a look

Minecraft on pad...eep

What I'm most interested in is how/if they'll update this as frequently as Markus is updating the PC version.

I just want genuine controller support for the PC version.

@Hulsey90: That's pretty safe to assume given Microsoft's track record and the lack of infrastructure to really make that possible. What I was wondering is how they would handle post-release content and how many of the game modes would make it in. The Android version is pretty disappointing to me since there is only creative mode.

@CL60 said:

I can't see playing Minecraft without plugins/mods/texture packs.

Yep I stop caring about minecraft when I found out that playing regular vanilla minecraft was the "wrong" way to play that , and from that point I wasn´t into downloading mods or plugins to make it better/more fun.

minecraft on console would be like playing an elder scrolls game on a console. no modding community means i don't buy it.

@AngelN7 said:

@CL60 said:

I can't see playing Minecraft without plugins/mods/texture packs.

Yep I stop caring about minecraft when I found out that playing regular vanilla minecraft was the "wrong" way to play that , and from that point I wasn´t into downloading mods or plugins to make it better/more fun.

There is no wrong way to play. If you enjoy it, dont listen to other people.

Wait, there is a con just for minecraft? Since when? Why? I'm still on the french about there being a CoDCon, but at least there's been more then one version of CoD over the years. How can you have a con for a single game that hasn't even been released yet?

@Cincaid said:

Wonder if it's a must to have a Kinect to play it. In that case I'll have to pass on it.

I really dont want to see that people would have to do to get wool off of sheep.

I don't really understand why people are shitting on this release so mightily. Even if it isn't 100% like the PC version, or you personally don't care to play Minecraft without 300 mods on it (or you are just burnt out on the game entirely), it isn't fair that there are indie Minecraft clones making money in the marketplace due to the lack of an official release.

Lots of people who already have the game on PC will also buy this version and I don't see anything wrong with that.

@Xerxes8933A said:

Wait, there is a con just for minecraft? Since when? Why? I'm still on the french about there being a CoDCon, but at least there's been more then one version of CoD over the years. How can you have a con for a single game that hasn't even been released yet?

You DO know what minecraft is, right?

@guanophobic said:

What I'm most interested in is how/if they'll update this as frequently as Markus is updating the PC version.

I'm curious about this as well. Otherwise, the 360 version could become an outdated relic compared to the PC version. Sure, some people wouldn't care, but I'd hate to see a repeat of what happened to the copy of TF2 packaged with the 360 version of the Orange Box.

@Forcen said:

@AngelN7 said:

@CL60 said:

I can't see playing Minecraft without plugins/mods/texture packs.

Yep I stop caring about minecraft when I found out that playing regular vanilla minecraft was the "wrong" way to play that , and from that point I wasn´t into downloading mods or plugins to make it better/more fun.

There is no wrong way to play. If you enjoy it, dont listen to other people.

Nah I didn´t enjoy it it was interesting for a certain time but when I found out about the mods I just stop caring, if the game wasn´t fun or interesting by itself recurring to mods just to find enjoyment out it seemed cheap to me.

Wait, there is a con just for minecraft? Since when? Why? I'm still on the french about there being a CoDCon, but at least there's been more then one version of CoD over the years. How can you have a con for a single game that hasn't even been released yet?

Minecraft on 360, huh? So I could finally play minecraft without keyboard on a paid multiplayer network without access to mods? Yeah, sounds great alright.

But seriously, I can kinda understand this deal from MS's perspective, but will this platform release really get that many people all excited? I mean, Minecraft hasn't got that rought system specs, do many people want to play it rather on 360 or not have access to decent PC? I mean it's great if it makes people happy, but I still find it so odd that it's getting this port.

@AngelN7 said:

@Forcen said:

@AngelN7 said:

@CL60 said:

I can't see playing Minecraft without plugins/mods/texture packs.

Yep I stop caring about minecraft when I found out that playing regular vanilla minecraft was the "wrong" way to play that , and from that point I wasn´t into downloading mods or plugins to make it better/more fun.

There is no wrong way to play. If you enjoy it, dont listen to other people.

Nah I didn´t enjoy it it was interesting for a certain time but when I found out about the mods I just stop caring, if the game wasn´t fun or interesting by itself recurring to mods just to find enjoyment out it seemed cheap to me.

That is the same problem that has plagued every Bethesda game though, unless you mod them until they're unrecognizable they just aren't very fun. Minecraft isn't as buggy though.

@Xerxes8933A said:

Wait, there is a con just for minecraft? Since when? Why? I'm still on the french about there being a CoDCon, but at least there's been more then one version of CoD over the years. How can you have a con for a single game that hasn't even been released yet?

The secret is that when you sell like 2 million copies of a game at 20 bucks, it's already released.

@fisk0 said:

@AngelN7 said:

@Forcen said:

@AngelN7 said:

@CL60 said:

I can't see playing Minecraft without plugins/mods/texture packs.

Yep I stop caring about minecraft when I found out that playing regular vanilla minecraft was the "wrong" way to play that , and from that point I wasn´t into downloading mods or plugins to make it better/more fun.

There is no wrong way to play. If you enjoy it, dont listen to other people.

Nah I didn´t enjoy it it was interesting for a certain time but when I found out about the mods I just stop caring, if the game wasn´t fun or interesting by itself recurring to mods just to find enjoyment out it seemed cheap to me.

That is the same problem that has plagued every Bethesda game though, unless you mod them until they're unrecognizable they just aren't very fun. Minecraft isn't as buggy though.

Probably a minority opinion, but certainly true to a point. I've never modded Bethesda's games and think they're incredibly fun. On the other hand, I've moderately modded Minecraft and am starting to find it a bit dull. But I'll just wait a few weeks, see what else comes out for it and go back to it. I don't quite understand how modding it to increase enjoyment is "cheap," but to each their own. It's not like the mods cost money. Yet somehow we purchase DLC for games and that's alright. Like I said, I don't quite get it. But I do understand how some might get tired of Minecraft as it is in its current form.

There's a Minecraft CONVENTION?! The damn thing isn't even finished.

I like Minecraft but it has the worst fanbase I've ever seen in my life. Bloody lunatics.

@fisk0: But I don´t think that´s the same Bethesda games have their share of problems but there´s a game in there totally playable that tells a good story and has engaging gameplay and the experience can be different to each player, for one I didn´t encounter any glitch or bug while playing Fallout 3 but I know a lot of people did , were as minecraft experience is what you make out of it, is one thing to get the patches and mods to make the game look better or be less buggy but in Minecraft you download a mod to make "the experience" because the main game is super plain and is all about the player enthusiasm to keep going buidling stuff , Is about your input and what you make out of it really it´s like getting the Batman set piece for your legos whereas vanilla mincraft is just the plain legos wich you use to pretend they´r the Batman set piece.

Wait. What? Minecon?

I don't want to live on this planet anymore...

@haggis: I´ts completly different minecraft to me is a tool not so much a game, it´s a game if you somehow make an experience out of it , if I buy DLC for Mass Effect 2 it´s not because the game only has 2 alien races and some guy made a mod with a ton of new alien races , its a complete realize short package presented the way a game should be presented and even if I don´t get the DLC I still have a complete game experience , I really don´t want to get into that argument I know people find enjoyment out of minecraft and that´s good but it dosn´t make it for me, getting the mods to me feels like getting new tools and if the ones that the game has aren´t enogh that you need to look out for others on the web just make the regular game feel the like "incomplete" set, sure they´re free but that´s not the point the point is that you´re pretty much completing the experience for yourself instead of getting that out of the game you already bought.

@Cincaid said:

Wonder if it's a must to have a Kinect to play it. In that case I'll have to pass on it.

of course it won't be rofl

Seems cool, but Minecraft seems like it sucks up my whole life every time I start it up, so I try to avoid playing unless I have nothing else to do that day. It's good, but can easily take up too much time.

@AlKusanagi: Why? Minecraft is insanely popular, and at least the community can do things with it - Like modding, videos etc, something that other games that have cons for (Ahem COD) don't have.

Also it's a good game.

@Cincaid:

They've already said it's not

@fisk0 said:

@AngelN7 said:

@Forcen said:

@AngelN7 said:

@CL60 said:

I can't see playing Minecraft without plugins/mods/texture packs.

Yep I stop caring about minecraft when I found out that playing regular vanilla minecraft was the "wrong" way to play that , and from that point I wasn´t into downloading mods or plugins to make it better/more fun.

There is no wrong way to play. If you enjoy it, dont listen to other people.

Nah I didn´t enjoy it it was interesting for a certain time but when I found out about the mods I just stop caring, if the game wasn´t fun or interesting by itself recurring to mods just to find enjoyment out it seemed cheap to me.

That is the same problem that has plagued every Bethesda game though, unless you mod them until they're unrecognizable they just aren't very fun. Minecraft isn't as buggy though.

I disagree. I don't play any of Bethesda's games with mods. Morrowind and Oblivion were fantastic, as were Fallout 3 and New Vegas.

@MysteriousBob said:

There's a Minecraft CONVENTION?! The damn thing isn't even finished.

I like Minecraft but it has the worst fanbase I've ever seen in my life. Bloody lunatics.

Why?

The fanbase isn't bad, but the official forums are.

There's a convention for everything...

@AngelN7 said:

@CL60 said:

I can't see playing Minecraft without plugins/mods/texture packs.

Yep I stop caring about minecraft when I found out that playing regular vanilla minecraft was the "wrong" way to play that , and from that point I wasn´t into downloading mods or plugins to make it better/more fun.

There is no wrong way to play. If you enjoy it, dont listen to other people.

Let's see how this sh*t turns out.

Still never played this thing.

XBOX ...DIAMOND

I... didn't even know there was a MineCon. Wow. Minecraft is that big.

@MysteriousBob said:

There's a Minecraft CONVENTION?! The damn thing isn't even finished.

I like Minecraft but it has the worst fanbase I've ever seen in my life. Bloody lunatics.

Why?