mojang

Minecraft is a chip off the adventurer and creator's block.

Minecraft is to my 25-year-old self as Legos were to my 5-year-old self: a time-sucking, mind-bending, and sleep-depriving experience in the simplest of activities. It hits the right tune on the subject of creation: it really does provide building blocks for your imagination.

Minecraft has no real direction, anchoring plot, or specific guidelines. Players are dropped into a world with only the ability to carve out resources from the surrounding land; you're a miner (duh!).

The game's graphics won't impress, but leaves you with one direction and focus: to build. Soon you'll find out that as … Read more

Minecraft for Raspberry Pi coming 'soon'

The perennially popular Minecraft is heading to the humble Raspberry Pi, promising owners of the dirt-cheap microcomputer the chance to play and hack the block-bashing create-a-thon for free.

On its official blog, Minecraft developer Mojang says it has "dedicated time to porting a version of Minecraft: Pocket Edition that comes with a revised feature set and support for multiple programming languages."

"You could organize the cheapest LAN party of all time," the game's creators promise, "or use the Pi to learn the fundamentals of programming on a minuscule budget."

Read more of "Minecraft for Raspberry Pi coming 'soon' for hackable fun" at Crave UK. … Read more

E3 2012: Don't forget PC gaming

Like every year, PC gaming will likely get lost amid the retail and console-focused hullabaloo out of Los Angeles next week. Nintendo will tout its crazy new console/handheld hybrid; Microsoft has the Xbox-as-entertainment center and a new Halo and Gears of War to flog; and Sony will be talking about, you know, Sony stuff (and maybe the acquisition of a cloud gaming service).

Huge, PC-specific game announcements rarely happen at E3, but here are some of the current PC-specific topics bubbling under the surface.

Minecraft on the Xbox 360Mojang Software's Minecraft debuted on Xbox Live on May 9 … Read more

Lego Minecraft available for preorder

Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson and Mojang employees today unveiled the first set dedicated to the building game at Lego World in Copenhagen.

The 480-piece Lego Minecraft Micro World set (due in summer) features four different areas that you can link together with cylindrical connectors.

While the miniature take on the popular game is a bit pricey at $34.99, we admire the attention to detail in recreating the Minecraft experience. It's also neat that this came together from a community-driven movement, but we hope there will be bigger and better sets soon. Resource gatherers can take joy in exploring the "hidden resources, extra pieces for wood, dirt, and stone," according to the official product description. We strongly recommend you avoid the lava area, though.

Do not miss the hilarious launch video created by Notch and friends: … Read more

Minecraft hits iOS tonight

One could say Mojang's Minecraft is a building and exploring game.

However, on the verge of its iOS release at 8 p.m. PT tonight, the simple (yet incredibly complex) game is poised to become much more. Minecraft has become a multiplatform cult title that recently sold 4 million copies while in beta; eclipsed a staggering 2 million fans on Facebook; and is about to be the center of a two day sold-out convention in Las Vegas. MineCon will also be the launchpad for the first non-beta release, which will be known as version 1.0.… Read more