It’s no secret that Minecraft is one of the biggest indie successes of all time. It’s sold millions of copies in beta all around the world, it’s coming to mobile phones for mobile mining, and now it’ll be coming to consoles. This Fall, Minecraft will be released exclusively for Xbox 360, featuring full Kinect support.
Featuring simplistic but entertaining gameplay mixed in with unlimited creativity, it’s no surprise that Minecraft would come to the big screens in our living rooms. The move was kept well under wraps until today, when it was revealed during the Microsoft E3 Conference.
Mojang will be working towards finishing a complete, console-friendly version of Minecraft due this fall Holiday season, which should be around the time when the PC and Mac versions of the game finish beta mode. The move makes sense, opening the addictive creation of Minecraft to an entire new type of gamer, and letting current fans tend to their craft on the big screen.
The now-iconic graphics will likely remain unchanged.
There have already been a few Kinect modifications made with Minecraft, though those were completely unofficial. Still, there’s nothing quite like using Kinect to build montages of yourself! Microsoft didn’t end up showing off how Kinect will work in-game, but those who really want the full experience can probably expect a lot of repetitive mining motions — hey, it takes dedication to build that obsidian tower. It’s also likely that a head-tilt detection feature will come into play, which will probably create some memorable scary moments as you turn to face a creeper out of nowhere at night.
The online aspect of the game has also been left in the dark — on computer, Minecraft has a very active and well-supported online community. This could be difficult to transfer to Xbox 360, as there would be a need for both dedicated servers and moderators to prevent griefing. All the same, it would be a shame if the game released without the option to build with some friends, so we predict that an online feature will be announced shortly.
Minecraft screams Xbox Live title, and will likely be around 1800 points. While this is pretty expensive for an online purchase, it will still be well-worth the price. If Mojang pump out updates after the official release as often as they do now, let’s hope it comes in automatic updates as opposed to DLC packages.
We’ll keep you updated as more Minecraft news pours out of E3. For the meantime, we’ll have to wait until the fall to see some glorious blocks appear exclusively on Xbox with Kinect.
What do you think about this announcement? Were you surprised? Will you be purchasing the game?
Minecraft will be available for Xbox 360 with Kinect this Fall.
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Hey GameRant Staff – put up an article titled:
Microsoft Presentation at E3 2011 – ZZZZZZZZZZZ….
Yea, I guess they mostly forgot about the people who actually helped build xbox into what it is today. Don’t get me wrong, Kinect is a great piece of tech, but to have more than 50% of the presentation dedicated to it is stupid.
The casual market doesn’t care about E3, this year Microsoft’s only big “hardcore” exclusive is Gears, and the Halo: CE remake (yippee). Just a pathetic showing on the games front Xbox. Luckily they have so great multi-platform games saving their arses.
I hope this means that that fortresscraft rip off finnally gets pulled from the market, its still there right?
fortress craft is a good game. and it will continue to be a good game for year and years and years to come. there is no need for your bigitry and bickering. its a good game so leave it alone… plus minecraft is better so we will all just go buy that insted
kinect will ruin this game i like minecraft as much as the next gamer but to need motion controls is not going to work if they make it compatable with kinect but allow a controler then i will part with the money
I don’t agree unless u are to lazy to stand-up and pretend to be doing actions then a controller is not needed
no it wont bc some people dont have kinect so dont worry abt it then and others with kinect such as me just got to get used to it like i am and i can unplug my kinect so i dont have to use it!!!!!!!!!????????!!!!!!!!
duh!!!!!!!!!!!
ya me to
This is gonna be SICK, I am now wanting this more than any other game right now haha!
lol first they miss the bandwagon with kinect 3 years after the wii fad is dying.. now they miss the bandwagon on minecraft when terraria came out and surpassed it in every way. why would anyone want to play kinect OR minecraft on xbox let alone both? lol
Kinect, I agree. Minecraft, though, is in its own ballpark. This is a matter of opinion, only, though.
Because minecraft is actually fun? one opinion doesn’t count for anything lol so please troll somewhere else
Dude, terraria in no way surpassed minecraft… It’s a completely different game! Terraria is more hack’n'slash while minecraft you can get creative instead of being chased by eyeballs and stuff.
does anybody know if we HAVE to play on kinect? or can we just play with the regular controller?
It wasn’t specified but I don’t think you have to worry, they’d be foolish to make it only operational on Kinect.
To anyone wondering, Notch (the creator of Minecraft) said the Kinect is optional.
PLEASE tell me there’s gonna be controller support, Kinect is cool but still can’t match the controller.
I don’t think it will be full Kinect because it dosn’t say full kinect it says Full Kinect Support meaning it supports Kinect. I’m guessing that means it will be able to use both. But say they are trying to promoate kinect and who would actually be like Full Controller Support you know?
Minecraft with Kinect? Haha, how pointless. Hopefully it comes with controller support for the majority of the gaming population.
I highly doubt many people find any fun in punching the crap out of imaginary trees for hours. And if you do you’re insane.
Minecraft wont be out for another few months and there so Fortrescraft will still be the best selling Indie game for a while but i think Minecraft will push it back, even though Fortrescraft isnt really a boring game and theres lots more stuff to come in Fortrescraft.
Sweet, I’m deffinitly getting this. Sooo, im wondering if we bought the Beta on the PC, do we still have to pay for the xbox version?
This will ruin Minecraft. Skins, texture packs, mods and a whole another assortment of tools and accessories that is available through using the Minecraft community and CraftBukkit will not be available on Xbox. Too much has been said about Microsoft when they take smaller companies such as Mojang under their wing only to rip them off and throw their games in the trash for what they think is a much better version. Minecraft should not move to any console gaming. I am a avid supporter of PS3 and Xbox games but when it comes to the creativity and accessibly of PC Gaming it can’t be beat. I can also assure this is getting similar reviews from Minecraftforums.net. People just won’t like the idea of not being able to use thier favorite bukkit plugins or mods and if Microsoft even allows for downloadable skins and texturepacks they will be made by Microsoft limiting their creativity and variety.
You do realize that Minecraft on xbox will be compatible with pc servers? allowing you to use craftbukkit servers for mods, who knows about single player mods though, we’ll see.
I really hope that mod packs will be available as well as the ability to use your beta/alpha minecraft account instead of having to purchase one on XBL. This would be nice but I would get sick of using the Kinect.
OMFG!!!! Minecraft for 360 hell yeah!!! Dude I can not wait to play this game!!! I’m so excited I feel like singing friday by rebecca black. XD
I ask you guys, saying that Minecraft will be ruined, because of the lack of mod, skins and texturepacks, to remember some are doing fine without them, every minecrafter i know and i have been playing the game as it were made since Alpha.
The game is brilliant enough to sustain itself. Well i suppose, if it hits the fan, and Microsoft ruins the game, you would still have your pc’s or macs to crawl back to. I know i will go back to my mac.
And for Kinect, i doubt they would have any success selling minecraft as a Kinect exclusive. Would you spend hours waving your hand? I think most would stop playing the game simply out of exhaustion.
Well at least you might get some sun then.
I’m positive towards Minecraft on the 360. I hope you share my feelings for it.
but you also have to think about the DLCs like you have to buy or get texture packs for free like they will update stuff like the paintery pack to xbox but most likely they will be free
Hopefully there will be more than the 12 achievements most other arcade games have, and harder ones too!
I think it should only cost a couple of bucks (maybe 400 MS points) to download minecraft to xbox. Those of us who already purchased mojang/minecraft accounts surely dont want to pay the full price of the game over again. We should be able to download the xbox version cheap, then be able to use our already existing accounts to log in. Those of us who dont have accounts simply would have to go to minecraft.net and buy one in addition with the xbox version to play the full game.
Good luck with having Microsoft make it cheap. That is like asking them “Hey can you not overcharge and just send all of the money over to Mojang?” They will ruin this game mark my words on that. If they don’t they certainly will set Minecraft back a few years in development.
nice try with the virus
i think its a good idee il playing minecraft like 8 days buts awsome and the kinect is not that diffelcult to play so.
srry for bad words i come from belgium
Will Minecraft for 360 be free for those who already own it for PC?