Disney Infinity is the media giant’s answer to Skylanders but it appears that with the release of the their new trailer they have actually done that game one better. The trailer shows how you can use the “Toybox” in order to have a real open world experience with the game and the figurines that come with it.

The game trailer promises that you can play with a huge variety of different characters, all from some of the most beloved movies (not all animated) of all time. The video also shows how people can actually combine the Disney world and make up their own games for their characters to play in.

The game was actually delayed, as it was originally due to be out in June, but it will now be out in August. If the trailer can be believed, it will be well worth the wait.

Disney Infinity has been described as equal parts Skylanders and Minecraft and that might be about the best explanation of the game you will run across. Like Spyro and his friends, you will need to have certain figurines in order to get them into the actual video game.

This is one way to make quite a bit of money off the original game, while also getting people to go hog wild when they buy different characters. Minecraft comes into play because you can actually build your own little world and then have whatever characters you own interact in those worlds.

You can also go on regular old adventures if that suits your fancy but the video clearly wants to show just how much imagination comes into play when you are using this game.

While the different figures are expected to retail for $12.99 (about $3 more than your average Skylander) it seems that might be well worth the price if you can really do as much as the trailer indicates.

Are you going to check out Disney Infinity and its Toybox when it gets released this August?

‘Disney Infinity’ Gets ‘Toybox’ Demo Trailer [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition update nine is expected to roll out later this week.

The patch will introduce new content into the game in addition to fixing some bugs. The embedded trailer should give players a pretty good idea of what to expect from the latest update.

The biggest feature coming to Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition is an area known as The End. Players can construct a portal to the other world by killing Endermen. Once adventurers take the trip to the other side, they will battle a creature known as Enderdragon.

Although this area has been available to PC gamers for a while now, this will be the first time Xbox 360 owners can experience this new realm for themselves.

The End isn’t the only new additions the latest Title Update will bring to Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition. Players can also anticipate spawn eggs, fire charges, climbable vines, and other minor tweaks A full list of updates to the open world adventure can be found at OXM.

News of the latest update comes just days after the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft surpassed six million downloads. The game managed to sell nearly four million copies between May and October of last year. It would seem the title’s popularity isn’t slowing anytime soon.

The game will soon be available to purchase on disc. The physical version of Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition will contain all of the features found in the digital download. The game will arrive on retails shelves on April 30 for $20.

TU9 has passed Cert testing! The Microsoft LIVE team has scheduled the TU9 roll out for Friday 5th April. The End is nigh

— 4J Studios (@4JStudios) April 1, 2013

An action-packed trailer for the upcoming Title Update has been included below.

Are you a fan of Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition? Are you planning to spend your Friday evening battling your way through The End?

‘Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition’ Title Update 9 Coming This Week is a post from: The Inquisitr

Scrolls will be the next title that Minecraft developer Mojang releases. The newest game will be available in closed beta at the end of next month. If this particular title can get anywhere near the popularity of Minecraft then Mojang could have another goldmine on their hands.

It appears that the only thing this new title will have with Mojang’s first is that they are put together by the same team. In an unveiling at GDC today, Jakob Porser showed off the digital card trading adventure game.

He also announced that there will be a discounted beta version of the game that will be made available at the end of April to those who are willing to play a game that isn’t 100 percent complete.

Scrolls will be rolled out on PC first, but the development team says that the game will hit Mac shortly thereafter. Porser said that Mojang is also strongly considering rolling out a Linux version this year as well, but that isn’t a definite just yet.

This game seems to be a definite signal that gaming developers are fairly certain that digital trading card games are on the cusp of getting big. Blizzard is putting together their own trading card game called Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.

This also means that Mojang’s game is going to have some real competition between two of the more popular computer game developers. There has actually been a rather immersive story that was specifically written for the game as well but the developers aren’t entirely sure they will be incorporating it into the final build.

The escalating payscale worked very well for Minecraft and probably helped build up the interest in the game. Those who wanted the first couple of releases didn’t have to pay a whole lot more than $10. Once the game got more complete, the price was higher, but is still quite affordable.

Check out the gameplay trailer for Scrolls below

‘Scrolls’ Is ‘Minecraft’ Developer’s Next Game [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition is seeing a late April release date on disc.

The popular PC game Minecraft has already seen its Xbox 360 version and sold a myriad of copies on the platform for over $100 million. The physical disc of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition will be hitting the retail shelves on April 30, 2013 for $20.

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition will include all of the same features available on the Xbox Live version as well as new features.

Minecraft, originally created by Swedish programmer Markus “Notch” Persson and later developed and published by Mojang, has been everywhere and has seen countless additions to the YouTube video collection. Players have spent probably weeks just building homages to their other favorite videogames using Minecraft‘s building system.

Minecraft was originally released as an alpha version on May 17, 2009 with the full release eventually following on November 18, 2011. Since then, Minecraft has seen releases on Android, iOS, and Xbox Live Arcade.

Minecraft is based on a miner who must survive as he builds structures, kills random animals, fights other miners, and explores the world. The difficulty can be adjusted depending on what you want to do in the indie sandbox-based title. The graphics are notoriously low-resolution, resulting in blocks and textures used to build and populate the world of Minecraft.

PlayXBLA explained, “The retail game will be exactly the same as the digital version in every way, including support for multiplayer connectivity between the retail game and the digital download. And the retail disc version will receive all the same content and feature updates as the digital version ongoing.”

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition will also see an early June disc release in Australia, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan with no mention yet of a release in Europe or other territories.

Are you excited about the disc release of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition?

‘Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition’ Disc Due In April is a post from: The Inquisitr

Minecraft, the uber-popular building game that started out as a computer game but has found a niche on the Microsoft Xbox 360 might be coming to the Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 before too long. Swedish Developer Mojang has said that it is openly considering bringing its title to Sony devices, though it hasn’t made a final decision just yet.

Microsoft has an exclusive deal with Mojang at the moment, but the developers have said that when that deal runs out, it might consider looking at other consoles. While that might be good news for Playstation fans, it doesn’t appear that Wii U gamers should start celebrating just yet.

Minecraft‘s makers aren’t real excited about the newest console. Jens Bergensten, who is the lead designer for Minecraft Pocket Edition for iOS and Android said that it was “very unlikely” that the company would port the game to the Wii U.

While the game came from humble, low-res beginnings it has become a bit of a gold mine for its developers. The creator of Minecraft, Markus Persson was recently reported to have surpassed the $100 million mark in earnings in 2012 alone.

When the game did launch on Xbox Live it became profitable in “about an hour” and broke day one XBLA sales records. The game hasn’t really lost steam since its been around for a while. Mojang reports that it sold five million units in January of this year.

One of the features that Mojang wants to bring to their starring game in the near future is adding a true multiplayer function. This would mean that players could connect to the same game using servers, rather than connecting from one device to another device.

Should they manage to perfect the multi-player function, it stands to reason that the game will become that much more sought after. If Minecraft does come to Playstation, will you run out and get it?

Minecraft May Come to Playstation, Wii U Arrival Unlikely is a post from: The Inquisitr

Minecraft mastermind Markus “Notch” Persson made quite a bit of money from his open world video game over the course of 2012.

Thanks to a handful of lucrative licensing fees, Persson generated a staggering amount of money over the course of last year. According to Kotaku, the Minecraft creator made a little over $100 million from his inventive and addicting video game.

During a recent interview on Reddit, Notch explained that having that much money at his disposal isn’t something he’s gotten used to yet. The developer said that his parents didn’t have a lot of money when he was growing up.

He explained:

“I grew up in a relatively poor family, but once I got a decent job, I never really had to worry about money. My hobbies were playing games and programming, so there wasn’t any real drain. I could eat out when I wanted to, and go to the movies without having to save up for it. I still had to save up for trips and to be able to buy computers or consoles, but that just felt normal.”

Afterdawn explains that Persson gave his $3 million in dividends to the 29 employees at Mojang. The Minecraft creator said he also intends to donate money to information freedom groups and children’s charities.

Persson said:

“Now, all of the sudden, as a result of how modern society works, I managed to somehow earn a sh**-ton of money. I still like playing games and programming, and once I had the latest computer and consoles, there really isn’t much more to spend the money on than traveling. I might eventually get a driver’s license so I can buy a car.”

According to the stats posted at the game’s official website, over 9.1 million people have purchased a copy of the game. In the last 24 hours, nearly 20,000 decided to give Minecraft a shot.

‘Minecraft’ Creator Markus ‘Notch’ Persson Made Over $100 Million In 2012 is a post from: The Inquisitr

The latest update for the popular open world title Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition is expected to roll out on Wednesday.

The latest patch for the expansive adventure game will address around 40 issues players have been experiencing with the game. According to GameZone, 4J Studios explained that UK gamers would be the first to get the update. The patch is expected to arrive around 10 am on Wednesday in the United Kingdom.

Unfortunately for those living in other territories, the company responsible for bringing Minecraft to the Xbox 360 said it could take a while before the patch becomes available elsewhere. In other words, do not flood 4J Studios with emails stating that the update hasn’t been applied.

Gamespot reports that those hoping to experience an alternate plane called The End will have to wait for the next official update. While the home of the Endermen was originally scheduled for this patch, it has since been pushed back.

In addition to the numerous changes and tweaks being made via the latest patch, gamers will now be able to collect Glowstone Dust from Blazes. If that doesn’t make any sense to you, then you probably haven’t been playing enough Minecraft in recent days.

The Inquisitr previously reported that Minecraft: The Xbox 360 Edition has sold an estimated five million copies since it debuted on Xbox LIVE Arcade a year ago.

A complete list of changes being made to Minecraft during the latest update have been included below.

* Fix for random crash on Kick Player.
* Fix for a random crash on loading the tutorial.
* Fix for freeze when writing on a sign as an autosave starts.
* Fix for crash when attempting to enter an online enabled game session after losing connection to the Xbox LIVE service.
* Performance improvement for the Enchantment interface.
* Fix to display a message when monsters are nearby on trying to sleep in a bed.
* Fix for an issue causing blocks to reappear after being destroyed when the server is busy.
* Fix for Experience Orbs being invisible for a period of time when created.
* Fix to force a Nether Fortress, Blaze Spawner and Nether Wart to always be present in the Nether for a newly created world.
* Fix for autosave not working when the host has gone into an idle state.
* Fix to increase the spawn rate for Mooshrooms.
* Change to make Blazes drop Glowstone Dust as well as Blaze Rods.
* Fix to player experience level display in two player vertical splitscreen mode.
* Fix for Quick Move not being possible while holding something in the cursor.
* Fix for armor position on Bad Santa when sat down.
* Changed “Download Content” menu to “Minecraft Store”.
* New photo frames for avatar items in the Minecraft Store.
* Fix for Magma Cube hit boxes.
* Added an Awkward Potion to the Potions page in the Creative Menu.
* Fix to show the aura of enchanted items for other players in an online game.
* Fix for tools enchanted with Unbreaking occasionally repairing themselves.
* Changes to improve breeding – Love Mode status is now network synchronised, and animals react more * correctly if spawn limits are reached when breeding.
* Fix for issue with “Take Half” in the Brewing Stand interface.
* Fix to allow the map to be displayed when the player has turned off Display Hand.
* Fix for potion effects being removed after using the Nether Portal.
* Fix to stop the item in hand being changed when traveling to/from the Nether.
* Fix for Compass not pointing to the original spawn point after having been in The Nether.
* Fix to allow players to be able to eat food even if they are not allowed to build and mine.
* Fix to allow client players to toggle Custom Skin Animation.
* Fix for player gamertag border color being wrong after a respawn/dimension change.
* Fix for issue in splitscreen where it was possible to craft items without a player having the resources required.
* Fix to remove the Love Mode tooltip when animals are unable to enter Love Mode.
* Change to moderator option description in the Host and Player Options.
* Fix for the submerged edge of the world emitting a faint light.
* Fix for lighting issue with mobs in water.
* Fix to stop food being removed when feeding animals in Creative Mode.
* Fix to stop Bones being removed when taming wolves in Creative Mode.
* Change to make baby wolves tame when born.
* Fix for Blaze Rods not being identified as fuel for a furnace.
* Fix for issue with sky lighting values making bedrock layer fully lit.

Are you a fan of Minecraft: The Xbox 360 Edition?

‘Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition’ Update Expected To Roll Out Wednesday is a post from: The Inquisitr

Minecraft was a phenomenal success for indie developer Mojang on the PC, and it’s proving to be just as strong on the Xbox 360.

We recently heard that Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition managed to sell a whopping 450,000 copies on Christmas day alone, and now Mojang has shared an even more impressive number.

Since launching on Xbox 360 in May of 2012, Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition, which was co-developed by 4J Studios, has sold over 5 million copies as of the last day of the year. To help put that into perspective, the PC version – which has been out considerably longer – is up to around 8.7 million sales as of writing.

Minecraft is also on mobile platforms in the form of Minecraft Pocket Edition, and, surprise surprise, that version has also been a hit. As of last count, the mobile version had also crossed the 5 million mark, putting the series’ total sales at just shy of 20 million.

The success of Minecraft inspired indie filmmakers 2Player Productions to put together a documentary called Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. The feature-length documentary follows Mojang in its first year, and includes insights from industry legends Peter Molyneux and Tim Schafer.

The documentary’s description reads:

“Minecraft: The Story of Mojang is a feature-length documentary that follows the young company over the course of its first year as their profile expandedacross the world stage and into the homes of millions of gamers. Featuring insights from industry icons (Peter Molyneux, Tim Schafer), journalists (Geoff Keighley, Stephen Totilo), tastemakers (Gabe & Tycho of Penny Arcade), and players profoundly impacted by the game (Yogscast, The Shaft, Minecraft Teacher), the film serves as a time capsule for one of this generation’s most unorthodox success stories.”

‘Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition’ Sells Over 5 Million In Under A Year is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mojang’s open world sandbox title Minecraft reportedly sold around 450,000 copies across several platforms on Christmas Day.

Although the game has been out in one form or another since 2009, the game’s popularity seems to be holding strong. Christmas Day numbers suggest the game continues to reach those who have yet to make the jump into Mojang’s addictive world.

According to Joystiq, Markus “Notch” Persson recently made the announcement on Twitter. Across all of the available platforms, the Minecraft creator said the game was purchased by 453,000 people.

At present, the open world adventure is available for PC, Mac, Xbox 360, Android, and iOS.

If you’re curious about total Minecraft sales, the official website actually keeps a running count of the title’s lifetime sales. As of this writing, Mojang’s game has sold 8,663,176. In the past 24 hours, 21,388 people decided it was worth the money to give it a shot. That’s certainly a lot of new Creepers.

For those who haven’t played Minecraft, the beauty of the game lies in its simplicity. If you want to wander the randomly generated landscape looking for adventure, then you’ll have plenty of options to explore. On the other hand, digital artists can use the game as a tool to create a wide variety of stunning pieces.

The game’s appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers is likely the reason why Minecraft managed to move over 450,000 copies on Christmas Day.

In fact, the open world adventure is so popular that it has already spawned its own documentary. 2 Player Productions recently debuted the documentary Minecraft: The Story Of Mojang on Xbox LIVE. In an increasingly common move among indie filmmakers, producers decided to release the film on The Pirate Bay for free.

PC gamers can pick up Minecraft for $26.95 from the game’s official website. Xbox 360 owners can expected to drop 1200 Microsoft Points on the title.

‘Minecraft’ Sells Over 450K Copies On Christmas Day is a post from: The Inquisitr

2 Player Productions, the company behind the documentary Minecraft: The Story of Mojang, has uploaded the film to the popular torrent site The Pirate Bay.

Although the film recently premiered on Xbox LIVE, the filmmakers are making their feature available to anyone with access to the popular file sharing website. Of course, fans of the movie are encouraged to pick up the DVD version of the acclaimed film if they like what they see.

According to Kotaku, Minecraft: The Story of Mojang is currently available to those who hang out on Xbox LIVE. While supporting independent filmmakers is certainly encouraged, 2 Player Productions understands that you might be a little strapped for cash during the holiday season.

However, the company is hoping you’ll compensate them for their efforts should you find yourself enjoying the Minecraft documentary.

Here’s the description that accompanies the torrent:

“We wanted to come here first because we knew the movie would end up here eventually, and the best thing to do seemed to be opening a dialogue. We’ve been there. We’ve all needed to do it at some point. Maybe you don’t have the money. Maybe you want to try before you buy. Maybe you’re p***ed at us for premiering the movie on Xbox Live. These are all fine reasons.

We’re just three guys trying to make a living doing what we love. We love the world of video games, and we love making it real. If you buy the movie, you support those efforts. The reason we Kickstarted this movie in the first place was that we didn’t have enough money to make it ourselves, and even then, we still put A LOT of our own money into it. Not to mention nearly two years of work.”

According to The Next Web, 2 Player Productions is presently offering the documentary as DRM-free digital download for $8. If having a physical copy of the film is more to your liking, a DVD version of the feature is available for around $20.

The trailer for the film has been embedded below.

Are you looking forward to Minecraft: The Story of Mojang? Do you plan to download the feature from The Pirate Bay?

‘Minecraft: The Story Of Mojang’ Officially Available On The Pirate Bay is a post from: The Inquisitr

Building forts and objects in “Minecraft” may be fun, but sharing them with non-player friends can be difficult.

According to NBC News, there may be a way to easily share your “Minecraft” creations with your non-playing friends. A new augmented-reality iOS application lets you bring your blocky little creations to the real world, though it’s a bit limited.

This cool application is called “Minecraft Reality”. The application was developed by 13th Lab and “Minecraft” creator Mojang. Objects from the game can be brought in, or you can browse others already available. Then you drop them right into the scene wherever you happen to be.

Using what the developers call “Simultaneous Localization and Mapping,” the device’s camera gets a sense of the space around you, at which point you can adjust the “real world” position of your object. For example, you could put a car at full size in a parking space, or at the size of a toy on your desk.

The application is still in beta testing, so the input process still has a lot of bugs to work out. It may take some fiddling to get your creation positioned correctly, but after some tinkering, it should get better. And once a few more people download and use the app, you’ll be able to find objects and worlds others have placed.

“Minecraft Reality” is available now for $1.99 on the App Store. You’ll need a fairly recent Apple device such as an iPhone 4S, iPad 3, or anything later will do the trick.

New Augmented-Reality App Brings ‘Minecraft’ Creations To Life is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft has slipped from the top of the Xbox LIVE activity charts, according to the Examiner.

For a brief moment the popular open world adventure was the most played title on the Xbox 360. The game even dethroned the Call of Duty franchise as the most popular game on the service. However, it’s days of glory were ultimately short lived.

For the week ending October 29, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has crept back into the top position. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition didn’t fall too far from grace; the game managed to hang on to the number two spot despite some strong competition.

Call of Duty: Black Ops, which ranks as the third most popular game on Xbox LIVE, is still hanging on strong ahead of its sequel’s release date. EA Sports FIFA Soccer 13 landed in the number four position. Assassin’s Creed III rounded out the top five.

Of course, these rankings don’t take the recently released Halo 4 into consideration. The game is sure to be a huge draw for those who enjoy playing first person shooters with their friends online. According to Benchmark Reviews, the title stands to best The Avengers as one of the biggest media releases of the year.

Also looming on the horizon is Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, a game that will surely take a bit of the thunder away from Minecraft and some of the other titles currently making waves on the Xbox LIVE activity charts.

According to Digital Spy, the next installment of the Black Ops series will allow people to post streaming YouTube footage of league matches directly to viewers.

“By making the capability of live streaming as accessible as possible to our fans, straight from a player’s console without the need for any additional hardware or sophisticated setups, we are empowering our fans to share their multiplayer experiences,” explained Treyarch’s Mark Lamia.

The top games on Xbox LIVE are listed below.

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
2. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition
3. Call of Duty: Black Ops
4. EA Sports FIFA Soccer 13
5. Assassin’s Creed III
6. Halo: Reach
7. Borderlands 2
8. Modern Warfare 2
9. Battlefield 3
10. NBA 2K13
11. Madden NFL 13
12. Skyrim
13. Gears of War 3
14. GTA IV
15. Happy Wars
16. Forza Horizon
17. FIFA 12
18. Halo 3
19. Medal of Honor Warfighter
20. Resident Evil 6

Are you a fan of Minecraft? Do you think the game will decrease in popularity once Halo 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops are taken into consideration?

‘Minecraft’ Slips From The Top Of Xbox LIVE Rankings is a post from: The Inquisitr

Minecraft is the most popular game on Xbox LIVE for the week ending October 15, according to the Examiner. What’s even more impressive is that the extremely popular and incredibly addictive sandbox title is the also first LIVE Arcade game to sit atop the activity charts.

Fans of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition thoroughly understand why the game is currently the most popular title on LIVE. Players can literally spend hundreds of hours exploring, building, and fighting their way through a never-ending supply of monster-filled landscapes. For those of us who grew up wishing they had an endless supply of building blocks to play with, the game fulfills countless childhood dreams.

Hanging out in second place is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, a series which usually enjoys sitting at the top of the Xbox LIVE activity list. FIFA 13, meanwhile, takes the third place, while Call of Duty: Black Ops lands in fourth. The action-RPG Borderlands 2 rounds out the top five.

The recent “Adventure Update” for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition may have helped push the title into the top spot. The patch adds a number of additional features into the game including new monsters, abandoned villages, and underground strongholds. For those who have already sunk a considerable amount of time into the game, the latest update means that even more hours of their life are about to be consumed.

As In Entertainment points out, the indie game might not be able to hold onto its title once games like Halo 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 are released. While its doubtful that everyone who plays Minecraft also spends their free time playing AAA FPS titles, it’s likely many players will jump ship to at least try the latest additions to these very popular franchises.

If you currently live and breathe Minecraft, chances are you’re thrilled about the Halloween skin pack that’s scheduled for release on October 26. For just 160 points, gamers can own 55 skins from 13 different developers. Your virtual home is about to get a little spookier.

Do you play Minecraft on Xbox LIVE?

Minecraft Is Currently The Most Played Game On Xbox LIVE is a post from: The Inquisitr

Minecraft maker Mojang is being sued by Texas-based tech-patent collector Uniloc, who claims that the Android version of “Mindcraft” infringes upon their Patent #6,857,067.

JoyStiq reports that the patent is for:

“System and method for preventing unauthorized access to electronic data.” Specifically, the filing references claim 107 of the patent, which covers a “Computer code executable on an electronic device to prevent unauthorized access to electronic data stored on the electronic device.”

Marcus Persson of Mojang, wrote on Twitter Saturday morning that:

“Unfortunately for them, they’re suing us over a software patent. If needed, I will throw piles of money at making sure they don’t get a cent. Software patents are plain evil. Innovation within software is basically free, and it’s growing incredibly rapid. Patents only slow it down.”

Uniloc is seeking damages which are compounded by both pre and post-judgment interest. They are also seeking ongoing royalties from Mojang, maker of Minecraft.

According to Ars Technica, Uniloc has a large number of patent licenses, and has succeeded in winning settlements from some of the companies it has sued. The company’s eight-year long lawsuit against Microsoft ended this past March when the software giant agreed to undisclosed terms.

Originally, a jury in 2009 found Microsoft guilty of infringing on one of Uniloc’s patents, citing that the Redmond, Washington giant should pay $388 million in damages. The settlement was later thrown out by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a landmark decision, which eliminated a so-called 25 percent rule.

Marcus Persson first noted the lawsuit this morning when he took to Twitter to write:

Step 1: Wake up. Step 2: Check email. Step 3: See we’re being sued for patent infringement. Step 4: Smile.

— Markus Persson (@notch) July 21, 2012

Along with its lawsuit against Mojang for their Minecraft Android app, Uniloc is also suing Electronic Arts, claiming that their popular Bejeweled 2 game violates the same patent.

Minecraft Maker Mojang Sued By Uniloc Over Patent Dispute is a post from: The Inquisitr

When Minecraft launched on the Xbox 360 earlier this month, gamers who have yet to upgrade to a HDTV were left disappointed when they discovered that the game’s local split-screen multiplayer required an HDTV to function, a fact many weren’t aware of.

There was a note at the bottom of the game’s subscription that an HDTV was required, but it was an easy thing to miss–and considering that just about everything works regardless of what TV you use, I imagine that many didn’t feel the need to look at the description.

Fortunately, Microsoft is looking to make things right. The company announced today that it will be offering refunds to those who purchased Minecraft and were unaware of the HDTV requirement. To do so, all you need to do is contact Microsoft by way of customer support.

To make the situation more clear, Microsoft also updated a notification to make it more clear to potential buyers that an HDTV is required for split-screen multiplayer.

“We updated our pre-sale notification to inform customers that an HD screen is required for the split-screen multiplayer feature on Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition,” Microsoft said in a statement (via Joystiq). “If a player does not have an HD screen and purchased this game prior to the notification update, they are eligible for a full refund through customer support.”

Microsoft Offering Minecraft XBLA Refunds to SDTV Owners is a post from: The Inquisitr

We already know that the XBLA version of Minecraft is a huge success in terms of sales–which wasn’t very much of a surprise to begin with–but now we have more specifics on just how much of a success Minecraft‘s XBLA launch really was.

Earlier today, Microsoft announced that in less than a week after launching on XBLA, Minecraft has managed to sell an astounding one million copies on the platform worldwide, further cementing its place as the new king of XBLA sales.

“Thanks to your support, and a fantastic game coming from Mojang and 4J, we’re pleased to announce that Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, which launched less than a week ago as the final title in our killed “Microsoft Studios Presents: Arcade Next” program, has officially passed one million units sold on Xbox LIVE Arcade,” PlayXBLA reported.

In that period of just under a week, Minecraft players logged a total of 5.2 million hours played, Microsoft reported. 4 million multiplayer sessions were started for a total of 2.4 million total multiplayer “gaming hours.”

”Uhhhh, Microsoft just sent out a press release saying Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has sold a million copies in five days. Wow,” Markus ‘Notch’ Persson, creator of Minecraft, said in a tweet following the announcement.

Have you tried out Minecraft XBLA yet?

Minecraft XBLA Sells 1 Million Digital Copies In Under A Week is a post from: The Inquisitr

I can’t imagine this news is going to come as a surprise to anyone, but Major Nelson says that Minecraft XBLA has broken “all” previous Xbox Live sales records within its first 24 hours of being available on the platform.

Major Nelson didn’t give us exact sales numbers–Microsoft is always stingy with their sales data, in case you’re new to this–but he did give us at least a general idea of how big a success Minecraft XBLA is. As of now, there are a bit over 400,000 entries on the leaderboard, suggesting that sales numbers are around the half-a-million range.

As if that wasn’t already impressive enough, Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson tweeted that Minecraft was profitable within the first hour of being available on Xbox Live. To put that into perspective for you, that means Minecraft recouped its costs before most people in North America had the chance to wake up and download it.

I haven’t had a chance to take a look at the XBLA port of Minecraft, but everything I’ve read about in reviews and seen for myself in video form suggests that the port was handled quite well–certainly far better than I expected it to turn out. So if your PC wasn’t able to run Minecraft and you’ve always wanted to check it out, the XBLA version seems like a safe bet.

Have you tried Mincraft XBLA yet?

Minecraft XBLA Recoups Costs In An Hour, Breaks XBL Sales Records is a post from: The Inquisitr

Just a few short months after indie developer Mojang announced that Minecraft had reached the 20 million registered users milestone, Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson announced on Twitter today that the wildly popular sandbox title has been downloaded 25 million times since launching in October 2010.

It’s an impressive number, to be sure, but the amount of actual sales of Minecraft isn’t quite so high. According to a report by the Financial Times, the game has sold a little over 5.3 million copies in the 15 months since Minecraft went on sale, which is up almost 1 million from the last count back in January.

Unsurprisingly, those 5.3 million copies translated into a whole lot of money for the company. The Financial Times reports: In financial filings in Sweden, Mojangrevealed that its revenues for the 15 months since Minecraft launched in October 2010 totalled $80m (540m Swedish krona), with earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation of $13.5m.

With Minecraft slowly but surely expanding to other platforms, that number is likely to continue its climb for the foreseeable future. Minecraft‘s release on Xbox Live Arcade is still around the corner, and the mobile versions of Minecraft for iOS/Android are doing quite well for the company as well, selling 1.1 million copies to date.

Mojang has been continuing to support Minecraft with new features since the game went gold late last year, but that’s not all the indie developer is up to. Notch and his team are also working on Scrolls, which is said to go into alpha at some point later this year.

Source: Financial Times

Minecraft Downloaded 25 Million Times Since Launching in October 2010 is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft was originally said to be coming out at some point this year, and now we know exactly when that will be: this May.

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition will be joining several other high-profile titles in a new promotion from Microsoft, dubbed ‘Arcade NEXT’. The promotion kicks off on April 18 with the release of Trials Evolution, the sequel to 2009′s popular physics-based puzzle game. Trials Evolution will set you back 1200 Microsoft Points.

Next up in the Arcade NEXT promotion will be Bloodforge, which will see its debut on Xbox Live Arcade on April 25, also for 1200 Microsoft Points. Bloodforge is described as a hardcore, gory, story-driven action game from developer Climax. Rather than being a mindless hack-and-slash like, say, Dynasty Warriors, Bloodforge‘s action sequences are described as being more akin to Bayonetta and the like.

Fable Heroes is the next digital title in line for Microsoft’s Arcade NEXT promotion, and it will see a release on Xbox Live Arcade on May 2 for 800 Microsoft Points. Not to be confused with Fable: The Journey, Lionhead’s Kinect title, Fable Heroes is a lighthearted spin-off of the Fable franchise that has you and three others hack and slash their way through “familiar foes and new enemies” to collect unlockables.

Last but certainly not least in Microsoft’s Arcade NEXT promotion is Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, which will be released on Xbox Live Arcade on May 9 for 1600 Microsoft Points. If you’ve ever played Minecraft before, you know what to expect here: a whole lot of digging, a whole lot of building, and a whole lot of rebuilding after Creepers blow your creation to bits.

One of the “big” features announced for the Xbox 360 port was Kinect functionality at launch, but Microsoft issued a statement to Kotaku saying otherwise.

Kotaku reports:

Microsoft has informed us that this version of Minecraft will not include the Kinect functionality promised at last year’s E3 conference. “We’re still excited about the potential to deliver Kinect-enabled features for this title in the future,” a representative said.

Are you interested to check out Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition? What about any of the other Arcade NEXT titles?

Minecraft XBLA, Trials Evolution and More Dated is a post from: The Inquisitr

4J Studios, the developer tasked with porting Mojang’s Minecraft to the Xbox 360 by way of Xbox Live Arcade, says that the team is working closely with Microsoft to possibly have regular updates to Minecraft on the Xbox 360.

The PC version has seen a steady stream of updates ever since it went alpha, but it isn’t so easy to constantly roll out updates on the Xbox 360. Microsoft has a strict certification process for any update that makes its way to Xbox Live, making the roll-out of a patch a slow process.

Microsoft is, however, aware that the process needs to be faster to keep the XBLA version of Minecraft close to its PC counterpart. In an interview with Edge, 4J Studios’ Paddy Burns says that Microsoft is aiming to streamline the process of getting updates out the door.

“Microsoft knows that to do a similar thing that’s on PC where they constantly update it, that’s a very difficult thing to do on Xbox because you have to go through the full tests,” he told us. “But they are quite keen to move towards that – they do see it as the future, so I think we might be the first to do constant updates.”

While Burns admits that it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever see updates as regularly as the PC version, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that an update could come every two months or so.

“We’ll have to see how that goes,” Burns said. “I’m really looking forward to it being updated with patches and new features after it’s released.”

Microsoft working towards constant updates for Minecraft XBLA is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mojang boss man Markus “Notch” Persson took to Twitter over the weekend to reveal that Minecraft.net has reached the 20 million registered users milestone.

It’s an impressive number, to be sure, but just how many of those 20,121,024 users actually bought the game? According to Notch, only about 23.33%, which is roughly 4.6 million (Or something like that. Math is hard, folks).

In an attempt to make those statistics more interesting (or something), Notch offered some.. interesting conversions of those statistics. “Minecraft now has 20 million registered users. At 70 kg each, that’s 25% of the weight of the Great Pyramid of Giza,” he wrote.

In a slightly more disturbing conversion, Notch said: “At 4 liters per day, it would take a million years to drink 20 million liquidized humans. Just saying. I’ll stop now.”

Minecraft went gold late last year, and just recently received its first post-launch update, Minecraft patch 1.1. Among other things, the patch added in new bow enhancements, world type options, localizations and more than a few bug fixes.

Have you bought Minecraft, or are you content with what the free version offers? Or have you just passed on Minecraft entirely? Let us know!

Minecraft hits 20 million registered users milestone is a post from: The Inquisitr

While the ESA may still be stubbornly refusing to back down on their support of the highly controversial and shamelessly freedom-depriving SOPA and PIPA bills, more and more gaming companies, several of which are members of the ESA, are starting to speak out against SOPA.

In a statement to Shacknews, Firefall developer Red 5 said it plans to shut down its website, the community website, and the open beta for Firefall on Wednesday as part of the growing 24-hour “blackout” protest.

“We are extremely disappointed in this misguided legislation. We are also ashamed of the ESA for supporting a bill which is clearly not in the best interests of gamers or the game industry,” Red 5 CEO Mark Kern told Shacknews.

“This bill, and it’s sister bill, Protect IP, will shut down live streaming, shout casting, user generated content and have a chilling effect on game innovation and social media.” Kern went on to plead with the gaming industry–developers, publishers, and press–to join in “letting the ESA know they do not represent our views on this issue, and strongly oppose SOPA and PIPA.”

Mojang boss Markus Persson (Notch) also vowed to join in on the SOPA protest, announcing that Mojang will be shutting down both its main website and Minecraft.net for 24 hours. “Decided. We’ll silently take down http://minecraft.net and http://mojang.com on the 18th in protest of SOPA,” he wrote.

Red 5 and Mojang aren’t the only two developers to step up and speak out against SOPA as of late. Bungie, developer of the wildly popular Halo series, spoke out against the bill on its website earlier today, saying:

“Bungie is opposed to any legislation that curtails free speech, stifles innovation, and prevents the open sharing of information on the Internet. SOPA fits that bill. If it passes, it will hurt our community, the gaming community at large, and it could very well cripple the kind of games we love to create and play.”

Bungie, Red 5 and Mojang join a growing list of developers who have spoken out against SOPA. Runic Games, Epic, 38 Studios, THQ and MLG have all recently voiced opposition against the bill, making it all the more confusing that the ESA insists on holding firm when several of its members, and the industry as a whole, are starting to speak out against the bill.

Still, it’s awesome to see the gaming industry band together in opposition of SOPA and PIPA. Here’s to hoping that other developers and publishers will take note and follow suit.

Source: Shacknews, @notch

Firefall, Minecraft developers to join SOPA blackout protest is a post from: The Inquisitr

Markus “Notch” Persson announced over on his blog today that he will be stepping down as the lead developer of Minecraft so that Persson can start on a “new project”.

“As of yesterday, Jens Bergensten is the new lead developer on Minecraft,” he wrote on his blog. “He will have the final say in all design decisions, so he will kinda sorta become my boss, I guess. I’ve promised him to not pull rank. ”

Notch notes that he has been working with Bergensten on Minecraft for about a year now, and he’s confident Bergensten has the experience to take over the reigns of Minecraft.

“We’ve been working together on Minecraft for a year now, and I’m amazed at how much in synch we two are when it comes to how to design the game. And when we don’t agree, we discuss it and something much better comes out at a result,” he said. “He’s truly a great person to work with, and I feel very confident handing over the leadership of Minecraft to him.”

Before Persson gets started on his new project, he says he’s going to take some time to rest.

“Personally, I will now rest for a while, then get back to work refreshed and eager. I’ll be helping out with Minecraft, of course, but also starting work on some new project.”

Source: Notch

Minecraft has a new lead developer is a post from: The Inquisitr

When most developers reveal footage of their game for the first time, the video usually follows a pretty standard formula. You show the game, you possibly throw in a few details about the game by way of text or narration, and you’ve got yourself a good old fashioned gameplay trailer.

Mojang, being the lovable band of rebels that they are, decided to do something a little different for the gameplay reveal of Minecraft on the Xbox 360. Something.. special. One might even call it “awesome”, and one would be right in doing so.

Rather than telling you what to expect out of this video, I think you need to just see it for yourself. If you absolutely need convincing that the video’s worth your time, well, there’s footage of Minecraft on Xbox 360 sandwiched between a whole bunch of silliness from Mojang. Sound good? Great! Get to watching, then.

Minecraft is due out on Xbox 360 as a digital release in Spring 2012. The retail version of Minecraft was released on the PC today.

Here’s your first look at Minecraft running on Xbox 360 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Minecraft 1.8 has actually been available in Java format – in other words, for power users – for several days now, but Mojang has officially released it out into the wild for all to take part in.

So what do you get out of the update? A lot, actually – the Adventure Update is by and far Minecraft’s most substantial, game-changing update yet. For starters, the update adds a new ‘roguelike’ leveling system which, for the uninitiated, essentially means that when you die, you lose all of your experience.

If that alone isn’t enough for you, Minecraft 1.8 adds new dungeons, abandoned mines, NPC towns, new biomes, enhanced terrain generation and improved combat mechanics. Some of the features aren’t fully implemented yet, particularly with NPC towns and the leveling system, but it’s still an update that packs quite a large amount of new content.

Minecraft is expected to go out of beta on November 11. With the title going live means an increase in price, so if you haven’t gotten around to picking up Minecraft yet, you may want to do so early, unless you don’t mind paying a little bit extra.

To get an idea of what you can expect out of the Adventure update, check out the Minecraft 1.8 trailer below.

Minecraft 1.8 Adventure Update officially out now is a post from: The Inquisitr

Developer Mojang released a new trailer for the highly anticipated Minecraft 1.8 Adventure update earlier today. If you’ve been trying to fend off your Minecraft addiction lately, you may want to avoid watching this video.

The Adventure update, due out sometime around September 8, adds an absolutely enormous amount of features and fixes to the game. One of the biggest changes are the addition of randomly generated NPC towns, new dungeon types, and the ability to level your character.

The leveling system adds a ‘roguelike’ leveling mechanic to the game, in that you lose all of your experience upon death. The update also adds support for a skill system, but skills aren’t included in the initial Adventure update.

To compliment the added focus on adventuring throughout your randomly generated world, Mojang has also greatly improved the combat system in the game, both with the sword and the bow – which was one of my chief complaints with the soon-to-be-old Minecraft.

The update will also add a new creative mode to the game, which is more or less the same version as the free, browser-based version available on the Minecraft website, but with an expanded inventory and the ability to fly and control the flow of time.

The Minecraft Adventure update is due out within the week. Check out the trailer below.

Mojang teases Minecraft ‘Adventure’ update with a trailer is a post from: The Inquisitr

One of the most popular games happening right now has to be Minecraft and players are extremely passionate about their love of the game. Well for those folks who like to show off their passion for the game when out in public you can now get yourself Minecraft socks.

Yup, you read that right. From Swedish company Happy Socks you can order yourself a box of three pairs of socks that are crafted with a Minecraft theme.

There are three in all, which ship together in a handsome box mimicking the iconic look of the grass block. One celebrates the “natural” beauty of the Minecraft landscape, the second are designed after the pink blocky pigs that roam the digital fields, and the third take their form from the highly explosive creepers.

via Geekosystem

Here’s a further sample of what you get to keep your feet warm and show off your Minecraft love.

Minecrafters get your Minecraft love on, on your feet that is. is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’ve already come to terms with the fact I’ll never be able to build anything ‘cool’ in Minecraft. I’ve built a few buildings, sure, but I apparently lack the creative vision to construct anything more complex than a square or rectangular-shaped building. This gives me a little more appreciation for those who are really good at it – especially the people who built this amazing multi-level replica of New York City’s Penn Station.

In the following video, we get to see time-lapse footage of the construction of the replica from start to finish. According to the video, construction took three days to complete, with many players from their Minecraft server participating.

Source: FyreUK YouTube (via Kotaku)

Amazing time-lapse footage of users building Penn Station in Minecraft is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hacking group LulzSec, the group responsible for the recent attacks on Epic Games, Codemasters and Bethesda, have hit EVE Online, Minecraft and League of Legends today.

All three services were the target of distributed denial of service attacks that took down League of Legends‘ log-in servers, EVE Online‘s Tranquility server, and an attempted attack on Minecraft‘s server. The former two are still experiencing difficulties as of the time of writing, but Minecraft appears to be up and running for now.

Additionally, LulzSec took aim at Escapist Magazine several hours ago, and as of right now the site is still unresponsive.

EVE Online developer CCP confirmed the attack on Twitter, noting that the company decided to take down the servers as a ‘security precaution’.

via Joystiq

EVE Online, Minecraft, League of Legends Hit By Hackers is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hugely popular indie title Minecraft is headed to Xbox 360, Microsoft announced at their E3 press conference today. Few details were shared during the event, but Microsoft did give us at least something to go by.

Microsoft announced that the game would be coming to Xbox 360 with some form of Kinect support, but they didn’t go into specifics. After the press event, Microsoft revealed over on the Xbox.com E3 portal that the game would offer some form of cross-functionality between the Xbox 360 version and the PC version. Again, no specifics were shared.

Details are very light on the moment, but E3 is just now kicking off. If more information becomes available we’ll be sure to let you know.

[Image]

Minecraft Coming to Xbox 360, Features Kinect Support and Cross-functionality with PC is a post from: The Inquisitr

Here’s proof you don’t have to be one of the big boys in gaming to make millions: Minecraft creator Markus ‘Notch’ Persson has made a personal fortune of $33 million from his indie hit Minecraft. And he has a sweet hat. Beat that.

The $33 million figure came up in a Reddit ‘Ask Me Anything’ thread. Persson revealed that 800,000 Minecraft downloads had shifted at €9.95 ($14) while the world-building game was in alpha. A further million copies sold once it hit beta and had its price pushed to €14.95 ($22). The result? €23 million, or just over $33 million. All from a game that was developed for one week before going on sale.

Cool Swedish cucumber that he is, Persson isn’t freaking out and buying Learjets or ostrich feather undies. He just blots it out of his mind: “It all ends up in an account somewhere, and I try not to look at it. I get a normal salary these days for day to day stuff, but there’s a big pile somewhere. Paypal takes a cut, there are taxes, and such, but it’s still a huge wad of money.”

I can’t begrudge Persson a cent of that dough because (a) he seems like a top-drawer guy and (b) it’s actually heartening to see an indie dev cracking the big-time.

[Reddit, via Gamasutra]

Minecraft earned its creator $33 million (so far) is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’ve deliberately avoided downloading Minecraft, and this is why. This sort of crap right here. I know this game would own my life entirely if it ever reached my hard drive.

YouTube user kulinsj has been bitten by the bug, and look at him now: he’s building very awesome, very colossal glass volcanoes. There are 7,169 cubes in this behemoth, and even a non-Minecrafter like me knows that is an epic effort. Sir, my cap is doffed.

[YouTube, via Eurogamer]

[VIDEO] Building a giant glass volcano in Minecraft is a post from: The Inquisitr

Blocky LEGO-a-like hit Minecraft will see a release on iPhone, iPad, and Android devices later this year, developer Mojang has confirmed.

Minecraft was inarguably the surprise PC hit of 2010. Despite the fact it’s still only in beta phase, the game has been purchased 1.3 million times, turning its maker Markus Persson into (I imagine) a rather well-off chap.

Anyway, Persson himself has said the iPhone, iPad, and Android editions will not be granted every update that the original browser and download versions receive, but will see updates that “make sense” for touch-screen interfaces.

[Via Gamasutra and Kotaku]

iPhone, iPad, Android versions of Minecraft on the way is a post from: The Inquisitr

You know that little game that has taken the tech blogosphere by storm with just about every tech blog writing up one story or another about it?

Well it seems that the game, for PC and Mac, Minecraft is making the creator a very wealthy man who can afford to turn down job offers from the likes of Valve and Bungie. For Swedish programmer Markus Persson it apparently feels a little unreal as one copy of the €9.95 game is being downloaded every three seconds.

Incredibly this translates into around $350,000 per day for Persson. Yes you read that right – $350Gs for a simple game without any type of DRM or constant worrying about those evil pirates out there stealing food from his table.

Congrats to Markus and if you are interested in checking out the game, and contributing to his good fortune you can find the game over at the Minecraft site.

Wow $350G per day for Minecraft game creator is a post from: The Inquisitr