It took the better part of two-and-a-half years, wherein thousands upon thousands of players found themselves playing the unfinished version for more hours than your average retail product likely ever sees, but finally, after endless revisions and a beta longer than some entire game development cycles, Minecraft has officially gone gold.

Minecraft creator Notch officially rang the cubed bell of completion last night via his Twitter feed, noting that the official 1.0 client is now available for download (which you can do right here, if you'd like a direct file link). Though some minor tweaks may occur prior to the game's super-duper official release this Friday, those tweaks have been deemed minor enough to where Notch is totally fine with reviewers just reviewing what's out right now.

This, of course, does beg the question of what a Minecraft review even encompasses. Considering Minecraft's elongated and extremely public development history, it's safe to say that a good chunk of the core audience for that game has already played more than a mainstream reviewer would ever see. Does Minecraft even need reviews at this point? Or has it become such a ubiquitous, simply understood entity that transcends the need for standard editorial critique?

I shan't dare to judge myself, and instead will simply note that this retail release comes just ahead of this weekend's MineCon, which takes place this Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada. Again, Minecraft is such a popular thing, it already has its own con. What effect can we, the game reviewers of the world, possibly have now? Thanks, Notch, for rendering my chosen profession all but obsolete. I guess all that's left is to hang myself from the ceiling fan again. Hopefully the structural improvements I made after the last time will finish the job this time around.

It took the better part of two-and-a-half years, wherein thousands upon thousands of players found themselves playing the unfinished version for more hours than your average retail product likely ever sees, but finally, after endless revisions and a beta longer than some entire game development cycles, Minecraft has officially gone gold.

Minecraft creator Notch officially rang the cubed bell of completion last night via his Twitter feed, noting that the official 1.0 client is now available for download (which you can do right here, if you'd like a direct file link). Though some minor tweaks may occur prior to the game's super-duper official release this Friday, those tweaks have been deemed minor enough to where Notch is totally fine with reviewers just reviewing what's out right now.

This, of course, does beg the question of what a Minecraft review even encompasses. Considering Minecraft's elongated and extremely public development history, it's safe to say that a good chunk of the core audience for that game has already played more than a mainstream reviewer would ever see. Does Minecraft even need reviews at this point? Or has it become such a ubiquitous, simply understood entity that transcends the need for standard editorial critique?

I shan't dare to judge myself, and instead will simply note that this retail release comes just ahead of this weekend's MineCon, which takes place this Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada. Again, Minecraft is such a popular thing, it already has its own con. What effect can we, the game reviewers of the world, possibly have now? Thanks, Notch, for rendering my chosen profession all but obsolete. I guess all that's left is to hang myself from the ceiling fan again. Hopefully the structural improvements I made after the last time will finish the job this time around.

Finally!

Lies! This game will never leave beta.

About time.

just when everyone has kinda stopped caring about it

Awesome, I think I'm MineCrafted out though, spent like 15 hours on this huge huge building full of tunnel systems and huge pieces, only to have it burn down.

Jeez alex, that's a tad grim :/

My two youngest brothers are huge Minecraft fanatics, and one of them told me the other day that, yes, Virginia, there is an ending to Minecraft now.

Weeeeeird.

Christ, such a depressing end to an article.

This article made me laugh out loud. Alex, your grim sense of humour is awesome.

@Hizang said:

Awesome, I think I'm MineCrafted out though, spent like 15 hours on this huge huge building full of tunnel systems and huge pieces, only to have it burn down.

I wish I could have seen your reaction. Me and my buddy made this huge underground world on some random public server. One day we went out and the server was down for good. We were devastated

i find it utterly incredible how popular this so called "game" has become!!! it annoys me soo friggin much!! haha i honestly don't see the point in this "game" is what so ever!!! like SERIOUSLY!!

@jetsetwillie said:

just when everyone has kinda stopped caring about it

Yeah, isn't Minecraft kinda over now?

I await the inevitable 5 hour long Quick Look.

Wait so this "game" is actually a "game" now? I kind of find it funny that they actually want people to review this game as if it actually is a "game."

Does anybody else want to see Alex try to review Minecraft? You know you want to.

No! Don't do it, Alex!

Let someone who hasn't touched the game play for an hour, then review. No more (no less). Fair.

I wonder if this thing actually being a product will kill its bizarre fan base? Well, at least we know Kinect will kill it at some point.

Anyone who doesn't think this is a "game" is a "moron" and should go back to "playing" "call of duty". Minecraft showed that indie games are important and are better than most AAA blockbusters.

I wonder if Jeff and Ryan still don't think Minecraft is a game. Those two fellas can be wierd sometimes.

Doesn't that also mean we'll have to pay for the game again?

Of course Minecraft should be reviewed. It's changed a lot since Minecraft mania swept up the Internet. I pretty much stopped playing before 1.8, and I'm sure there's still tons of new crap in there that I don't even know about that might rope me back in.

There are still people questioning whether Minecraft is a "game" or not, so now that the game's out, a review could actually answer that question.

So, it's finally a game and it's out this year. GOTY?

I actually forgot about Minecraft being "officially" released this month. Was busy thinking about Skyrim, Assassin's Creed: Revelations and all the other big titles in November.

@Babylonian said:

My two youngest brothers are huge Minecraft fanatics, and one of them told me the other day that, yes, Virginia, there is an ending to Minecraft now.

Weeeeeird.

Yeah, it's a fight with a dragon. The end credits are the best part of the fight. It's a very weird poem from Notch telling the player to basically stop playing and go outside.

@ICryCauseImEmo said:

Wait so this "game" is actually a "game" now? I kind of find it funny that they actually want people to review this game as if it actually is a "game."

Mojang wants people to review Minecraft? Since when have they put forth that requirement with the release?

@ThezeeZ said:

Doesn't that also mean we'll have to pay for the game again?

Wasn't the deal you'd recieved the full game if you supported it when it was still in development?

@Nottle said:

@ThezeeZ said:

Doesn't that also mean we'll have to pay for the game again?

Wasn't the deal you'd recieved the full game if you supported it when it was still in development?

Yup.

@ThezeeZ said:

Doesn't that also mean we'll have to pay for the game again?

No. If you bought Minecraft when it was in Alpha or Beta stages of development then you already paid for the full retail version. It was basically like pre-ordering but you got to play the game while it was still in development.

I hope Alex isn't the one reviewing Breaking Dawn this weekend, or he may actually follow through on that ceiling fan thing.

Beta evolved into...! 
 
Doesn't everyone already own this game? Wouldn't suspect it breaking any sale records. 

Funny, it feels like now is the time where the fad should start dying down.

I really like Minecraft, this is good news.

@drumpsycho89 said:

i find it utterly incredible how popular this so called "game" has become!!! it annoys me soo friggin much!! haha i honestly don't see the point in this "game" is what so ever!!! like SERIOUSLY!!

Like Oh Em Gee, seriously, like I find it utterly incredible you wrote this "thought" down!!! it annoys me sooo friggin much!!! haha i honestly don't see the point.

My pre-purchase beta better give me the full game...

All this really means is that a Minecrat QL shall be demanded.

But, really, does this even matter? If you're not already into minecraft, why the hell would you care about this?

I really enjoy Minecraft in spells. I'll play for hours just mining. I won't play for weeks then I'll start it up and explore the world and block recipes. If there was a real quest I probably would stick with it daily.

When did Alex hang himself from a fan? cause he said again, oh thanks for the link I forgot to check twitter :D.

For minecraft to be reviewed it needs to be a game first Heyo!

@Video_Game_King said:

Does anybody else want to see Alex try to review Minecraft? You know you want to.

Of course. I want everybody to review to it.

Also, this technically means Minecraft is being released for reals, and is therefore eligible for GotY deliberations.

@mosespippy said:

So, it's finally a game and it's out this year. GOTY?

TOTY, maybe, but no, not GOTY.

Yayy! I can't find the "thousands upon thousands" quote from John Cleese(?), but I'm pretty sure Alex meant millions upon millions. ;D
I appreciate the meta-quandary of being able to review such a well known product, but people write excellent reviews for retro games all the time. The perspective of a product in any given window of time is unique.

the Age of What Now? is that some joke I don't get, or a typo?

also, I plan to buy Minecraft eventually.

Noooo, Alex don't. Who will review Big Rigs 2 if you're not around?

I feel like anyone who was going to buy this game already has. It probably made more in beta than it will now.

@Brackynews said:

Yayy! I can't find the "thousands upon thousands" quote from John Cleese(?), but I'm pretty sure Alex meant millions upon millions. ;D I appreciate the meta-quandary of being able to review such a well known product, but people write excellent reviews for retro games all the time. The perspective of a product in any given window of time is unique.

Are you privy to some data that indicates that virtually everyone who bought Minecraft went on to use it for dozens of hours?

meh. new york ceiling fans... not sure what you can hang off of those.

@Winternet said:

Noooo, Alex don't. Who will review Big Rigs 2 if you're not around?

We don't need a review, because at the end of the day, every game is winner.