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Mojang announced that the mobile version of its runaway hit, Minecraft, surpassed 10 million units in sales, and revealed that it will add several major features to the game in the coming months.

Minecraft: Pocket Edition's forthcoming updates range from matters of convenience (players will no longer have to exit to the main menu in order to change settings) to experimental additions that, initially, will be available exclusively to players using high-end mobile devices. Once these unnamed features are sufficiently tested, they will be rolled out in another update for all players.

Mojang is also working on Minecraft Realms, a cloud-based multiplayer service that allows players to collaborate on shared projects without needing to be online at the same time. Minecraft Realms will be launched as a subscription-based mode that can be unlocked in Minecraft: Pocket Edition via an in-app purchase.

Mojang hopes to launch its next Minecraft: Pocket Edition update by the end of May.

A well-argued post over at the r/games subreddit laments the supposed "wasted potential" of Minecraft's survival mode. You know, the part with monsters. Agree to disagree or disagree to agree. Or... just read it.

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition will dig its way to the UK on June 28 and it'll also include a 48-hour subscription to Xbox Live Gold. The disc-based game includes all the features and content currently found on the XBLA version, and those with an internet connection will also receive the same updates as the digital edition.

The North American disc version of the blocktastic building game was recently delayed from April 30 to June 4. Microsoft has not officially announced any change in plans for the game to also launch in Australia, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan during June.

One group of dedicated Minecraft fans recreated Oakland - and this weekend, their work is on display.

Criticisms of YouTube's automated "takedown" process are nothing new. The way Google handles complaints against clips, whether by rights holders or concerned parties, is basically to shoot first and ask questions later. Latest example: the main YouTube channel for Yogscast, the online show that made its name with Minecraft videos - and which has over 4 million subscribers - was blocked for hours earlier today when it was falsely flagged as being run by a 13 year-old. Which it is not. Something Google should know, since Yogscast is a featured channel, and thus had already had to verify with YouTube their ID credentials. A human being could have easily found this out, but Google's takedowns are handled by robots, and robots are lacking in compassion (and also basic investigative capabilities). Sounds minor, especially when you consider the site was back up and running within a few hours, but for these guys, that's a big deal! If only James Cameron could have seen that the 21st century's biggest problem with AI was not their wish to kill us all, but to judiciously take down our YouTube videos. Yogscast [Twitter, via PC Gamer]

You see the name, you see it so quickly you don't notice the intentional misspellings, you see the art, and you buy it. You throw that $3 down and you settle in for some mobile gaming. You, like these poor consumers, just got suckered. Mindcraft Assassin's Creeds [Amazon, via Seanbaby]

Oakland. The town. Birthplace of Luke Skywalker and MC Hammer. The city of champions and the Golden State Warriors. An enterprising group of Minecraft enthusiasts sought to recreate it over the past 10 days in the game, and their work goes into a museum this weekend. The kicker is that most of the team building the city's landmarks—Tribune Tower, City Hall—are not from the city. The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment recruited Minecraft fans from Reddit to build the city. Many took up the challenge, using Google Maps' street view, and other source materials, as references. The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (MADE) will showcase that work at the Oakland Museum of California from Friday through Sunday. Patrons will be able to play the Oakland Minecraft map, with the opportunity to build, modify or destroy parts of it for themselves. But as the images here show, they've done a good job including the landmarks that locals will recognize and enjoy, like the Oasis dance club, the Alameda County Parking Garage and Heliport, the AT&T building at 17th and Franklin, and others. I didn't see the Coliseum Swap Meet, a ridiculously congested 880 or the cranes that inspired George Lucas to make the AT-ATs, but there appears to be plenty of local flavor to amuse those who live in or know the city. The exhibition at OMCA is 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, and 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Minecraft has a dedicated, almost cult-like following in the video game world. Some players spend months building incredibly precise replicas of structures like the Millenium Falcon, Fallingwater, the Taj Mahal, and more. Now, one racing fan has built an exact replica of the Circuit de la Sarthe. And it is stunning. The goal of Minecraft, which I normally confuse with the very different Minesweeper, is to build yourself a shelter during the daylight hours. At night, monsters come out, so you need to be done building a shelter by then. At its most basic, the game is about building something to protect yourself, but most players take it to the extreme and build amazingly intricate and detailed replicas of real things. And it takes a long time to build these replicas. It's not an overnight thing. This replica of the Circuit de la Sarthe took four months. Four freakin' months. And the builder, AustinZetzman (that's what he goes by on imgur), ran it in survival mode and managed to avoid the monsters completely. And holy crap is this detailed. You'd think that he'd just build one place to hide as well as the track and say he was done. You'd be wrong. This guy built all the garages. He built grandstands. The pit lane. The offices for the officials and timing and scoring. The media center. The rumble strips on the corner. He made everything. It's fanatical to an entirely new level that I've never seen before. The attention to detail is crazy. Granted, it's not as smooth as the real deal, but what was built is amazingly impressive. For comparison's sake, the real track is below. It's pretty amazing how close he got with the tools he had at hand. He doesn't show the whole track, so maybe the entire replica isn't finished yet. The track is 8.5 miles long, and there is some more intricate detailing around the track, like the famous Dunlop Bridge. Maybe in another four months we'll be able to run away from the monsters on a total virtual lap of La Sarthe. Hats off to you sir, now go outside and rediscover nature or perhaps spend a little time with your family. I'm willing to bet they're very worried about why you haven't left your computer room in four months. Or maybe he's off to build cars for the track, like this guy did. (A tip of the hat to @speedsportlife!) Photo Credits: imgur, Getty Images

What do you turn to after forging a Keyblade and a sword from Adventure Time? Minecraft, of course. People begged Man At Arm's Tony Swatton to forge a diamond sword. So, he did. And boy howdy, is it shiny. Swatton doesn't play video games, but that doesn't make his creations any less impressive. Particularly so in this case, when you consider the style of the sword. Don't think just because it's a pixel sword that it wont be able to cut you, though. Swatton likes his weapons to be, well, weapons. Forging the Diamond Sword (Minecraft) - MAN AT ARMS [AweMe Channel]

I should do a series of gaming mashups, but I fear Minecraft would make up 90% of the content, with the occasional visitation from Garry’s Mod. And I am far too lazy for such a thing. So instead of looking for them, I’ll just amble through servers until something strikes me as worthy. And so I was ambling through the public space of Hypixel’s server, which is actually a collection of servers tied together by a lobby, when I spotted a sign saying Quakecraft. I left the impressive lobby area, which is worth visiting even if you don’t pass through to the other servers, and into the strange world of Minecraft deathmatch.(more…)

The guys that make up YouTuber group WorldGoodSquad built a Mario Kart-style map in Minecraft, as you can see in the video above. They're even planning a small tournament that could very well be a hilarious event, considering the ridiculous mods at work. The only thing missing now is an array of power-ups, just like in the real Mario Kart games. Minekart 64 - Trailer [YouTube] MarioKart in Minecraft [Imgur]

The physical release of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has been delayed about a month, from April 30 to June 4. Major Nelson said the delay is necessary "to include the very latest content."

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition will not make its originally announced April 30 launch, with Microsoft announcing today that the retail version has been delayed until June 4. Microsoft's Major Nelson notes the delay is to "include the very latest content."

We've reached out to Microsoft if this will impact the June launch in Australia, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan. We'll update if we hear back.

Of course somebody built BioShock Infinite's floating city of Columbia within Minecraft. Sights such as Battleship Bay and vistas of floating skyscrapers are all meticulously recreated in Mojang's sandbox, all available to peruse in one convenient photo album.

Minecraft (PC) has hit 10M! As promised, a subtle hint on the main 1.6 feature (thanks @ebbakier): imgur.com/qAuCLex :D - Jens Bergensten (@jeb_) April 4, 2013Minecraft has sold 10 million copies on PC, Mac and Linux. That puts the world-builder's total sales across PC, XBLA and mobile well over 24 million, and makes it the seventh best-selling PC game ever, says Mojang Customer Support Manager Marc Watson.

To celebrate, developer Jens Bergensten teased a major update coming to version 1.6.
(Spoilers: it's a horse.) Minecraft's Redstone Update, 1.5, hit on March 13, and now it seems Mojang has version 1.6 champing at the bit.

Minecrafters waiting for 'The End' are in for a treat, as 4J Studios says Title Update 9 is rolling out for the XBLA game "right now." It was expected tomorrow, but the early release means, we suspect, more than a few people's weekends are going to start a day early.

The End, complete with Ender Dragon, isn't the only inclusion in TU9; you can check out the update's change log on the official Minecraft forums.

First look at Marvel's Phase 2 movies; iPhone 5S coming this Summer? LucasArts closing; Minecraft for Xbox 360 update; Diablo III co-op getting patched.

"The End" is nigh for Minecraft on Xbox 360. 4J Studios, developers of the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft, announced last night on Twitter that title update nine has passed certification and is scheduled for release this Friday, April 5.

4J Studios recently noted the XBLA version of Minecraft had sales surpassing six million units. A retail version of the Xbox Arcade's digitally distributed hit will arrive April 30. We're sure folks will dig it.

No, it's really not, but in the ridiculous pranking tradition of April Fools Day, Mojang has curated a batch of fan-created trailers for a fictional Minecraft sequel. The videos feature update suggestions from Mojang, including death by chickens, exploding farm animals, floating sheep, horses, a "Hostile" game mode, six new decoration blocks (including Slime) and many more changes, listed here.

Mojang teases that Minecraft 2.0's announcement comes in celebration of the PC series nearing 10 million sales. And no, that one isn't a joke.

Soooo, the Minecraft is doing well. 4J Studios, developers of the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft, announced on Twitter recently the game has sold over six million units. The Xbox version of the game began the year at a little over the five million mark.

Minecraft for Xbox 360 is set to receive title update 9 in the near future, along with the digitally distributed game taking a pickax to retail on April 30. Across various platforms, Minecraft has sold over 20 million units.

Mojang’s collectible digital card / turn-based strategy game Scrolls has been fairly quiet, publicly at least, since sort of winning, sort of losing their battle with Bethesda over the right to use a common English word. No longer, though – after an extended private alpha period, they’re going to put the beta on sale late next month. As with Minecraft, it’s a chance to pay less but receive an unfinished game – though it will of course receive all the updates right up to (and presumably beyond) full release.(more…)

Minecraft continues to prove its status as a genuine cultural phenomenon, with UK children's publisher Egmont announcing plans to publish four handbooks, two other books, and a magazine, all about that one game.

Planned for release in Europe this September, the range includes books focused on individual activities and items withing Minecraft: The Beginner's Handbook, The Redstone Handbook, The Combat Handbook, and The Construction Handbook. Those things could probably all be part of one Minecraft handbook, but what do we know?

The Minecraft Annual is more of a general book about enjoying Minecraft, "packed with step-by-step instructions for exciting builds and projects, tips from the experts, cool things to make, games to test your brain power and codes to unravel." The Poster Book is self-explanatory, and the All About Minecraft magazine should be as well.

So, Minecraft is the new Pokémon?

#minecraft My biggest accomplishments in Minecraft so far have been building my dream home (complete with fireplace, library, greenhouse, and swimming pool) and a five-way track switcher that I definitely did not copy off a Youtube video. Redditor AllUpInHyuh, on the other hand, created what he or she is calling "a working neuron." More »

"The End" is coming to Minecraft for Xbox 360. Here's the trailer for update nine, which will be free when it launches in... um, the realm of soonish?

#nsfw On November 6, 2012 a profoundly simple game called Curiosity was officially launched on iPhones, inviting people to chisel away at a massive cube composed of millions of blocks. More »

#watchthis Wow. This thing is elaborate! (Word of warning, if you don't like dubstep or anything like it, you should just mute the video now. I personally like the song just fine.) More »

#mashup YouTuber/animator avemagnadude mashed together a few concepts from Assassin's Creed III trailers, but there's a distinct Gladiator feel here, too. Did you pick up on it? More »

#watchthis More »

Minecraft developer Mojang is thinking of the children - or, more accurately, the parents that are tired of setting up servers - with a new service called Minecraft Realms.
"Our costumers [for Realms] are parents who are tired of trying to act as server administrators on behalf of their kids," said Mojang CEO Carl Manneh to it24 (translated by GI.biz). "In the future we aim to offer certain profiles with mods that are certified to work without crashing, but this will still be a safe and easy way for kids and families to play Minecraft online."

With a subscription plan currently estimated at $10 to $15 a month, subscribers will have access to their own self-contained world, with "full control over who has access and their friends list." Minecraft Realms is currently in private alpha, with a "hopeful" beta planned for May.

It was also announced today that the Xbox 360's version of Minecraft will make its way to retail in April. Mojang is so very close to making a corporate headquarters out of diamonds.

#minecraft Remember Abe? Last time, he showed us how to make Cut The Rope cupcakes. This time, his project is less delicious but no less adorable: he walks us through how to make a Minecraft keychain. More »