8 Bits of Awesomeness

Minecraft, perhaps the first game to have its own con before its official release, still isn’t coming to the iPhone just yet. Thanks to a nice deal made with Sony Xperia, indie darling Mojang has said that it will come to iOS, but Sony and Android will have a period of exclusivity. Details on exactly how long that will be haven’t surfaced yet, but publishers are saying it will be later this year.

For those who have missed it, Minecraft is a sandbox game that lets users build the world. Though it sounds a lot like Little Big Planet, Minecraft is more like virtual Legos, and LBP is like paper dolls. The world is seemingly endless, but the farther you go from point zero tends to have more bugs. Sound too constricting? The biggest map so far is nine times the size of the earth.

There are two versions of Minecraft in the Beta version. The first is creative mode, which lets users build structures without taking damage. Creatures still appear, but they can’t hurt players. Creative mode also gives you unlimited building supplies, similar to the first unpaid version of the game that surfaced. Survival mode features a health and hunger bar, and players can take damage by falling or because of creatures. They have to mine or find their own items, and they’ll need to acquire their own tools. The survival mode is new for the paid beta, and it’s proving a perfect challenge for experienced Minecraft players.

The free, classic version of Minecraft still thrives on the internet, but it’s no longer receiving updates. Likely, the world will continue existing for a few months after beta is released and developers will rely on the shiny bells and whistles of the paid version to draw free users in. (Read more...)

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