Minecraft

=Minecraft= From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Minecraft is a sandbox building independent video game originally created by Swedish programmer Markus "Notch" Persson and now developed by his company, Mojang. In 2011, Jens Bergensten, also known by his pseudonym Jeb, took full creative control overMinecraft.

Minecraft is focused on creativity and building, allowing players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D world. Gameplay in its commercial release has two principal modes: Survival, which requires players to acquire resources and maintain their healthand hunger; and Creative, where the player has an unlimited supply of resources, the ability to fly, and no health or hunger. A third gameplay mode, named Hardcore, is essentially the same as Survival, but the difficulty is locked on the hardest setting and respawning is disabled, forcing players to delete their worlds upon death. An outdated Classic version is also available for free, although it is no longer being developed. Creative Minecraft resembles Classic, but contains many more features.

Minecraft has received many awards, including five awards taken home from the 2011 Game Developers Conference. It took the Innovation Award, Best Downloadable Game Award, and the Best Debut Game Award from the Game Developers Choice Awardsand the Audience Award as well as the Seumas McNally Grand Prize from the Independent Games Festival.

Minecraft was released as a developmental "alpha" release on May 17, 2009, with a beta version on December 20, 2010. Official versions for iOS and Android have been released and the full version of the PC game was released on November 18, 2011 atMineCon 2011. On May 9, 2012, Minecraft was released on Xbox 360 as an Xbox Live Arcade game, co-developed by 4J Studios. As of May 25, 2012, the game has sold over six million copies on PC and over nine million copies across all platforms. {| class="toc" id="toc" style="font-size:12px;border-top-color:rgb(170,170,170);border-right-color:rgb(170,170,170);border-bottom-color:rgb(170,170,170);border-left-color:rgb(170,170,170);"

Contents
[hide] *1 Gameplay
 * 1.1 Modes
 * 1.1.1 Survival
 * 1.1.2 Creative
 * 1.1.3 Classic
 * 2 Development
 * 3 Soundtrack
 * 4 Merchandise
 * 5 Reception
 * 5.1 Critical
 * 5.2 Commercial
 * 6 Ports
 * 6.1 Minecraft – Pocket Edition
 * 6.2 Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition
 * 6.3 Minecraft 4k
 * 7 MineCon
 * 8 Minecraft clones
 * 9 United Nations project
 * 10 Footnotes
 * 11 See also
 * 12 References
 * 13 External links
 * }

Gameplay
Minecraft is sandbox building adventure game that gives players a large amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game. The primary goal in Survival mode is to build a shelter to survive attacks by hostile mobs (such as zombies, skeletons and creepers, which are prominent in the game due to their behavior of creeping onto a player before exploding). The core gameplay revolves around building and breaking blocks. The game world is essentially composed of rough 3D objects — mainly cubes — that are arranged in a fixed grid pattern and represent different materials, such as dirt, stone, various ores, water, and tree trunks. While players can move freely across the world, objects and items can only be placed at fixed locations relative to the grid. Players can gather these material blocks and place them elsewhere, thus allowing various constructions. In Creative mode, players have access to unlimited blocks, take no damage, and can fly freely around the world.

The game starts by placing players on the surface of a virtually infinite procedurally generated game world.[4] Players can walk across the terrain consisting of plains, mountains, forests, caves, and various water bodies. The world is also divided into biomes ranging from deserts to snowfields. The in-game time system follows a day and night cycle. Throughout the course of the game, players encounter various mobs. During the daytime, non-hostile animals spawn, such as cows, pigs, and chickens, which can be hunted for food and crafting materials. Hostile mobs, such as large spiders, skeletons, zombies and the dangerous exploding Creeper only spawn in unlit areas like caves or during nighttime.

Complex systems can be built using the in-game physics engine with the use of primitive mechanical devices, electrical circuits and logic gates built with an in-game material known as redstone. For example, a door can be opened or closed by pressing a connected button or stepping on a pressure plate. Similarly, larger and more complex systems can be produced, such as a working arithmetic logic unit – as used in CPUs.[5]

The game world is procedurally generated as players explore it. Although limits exist on vertical movement both up and down, Minecraft allows for an infinitely large game world to be generated on the horizontal plane, only running into technical problems when extremely distant locations are reached.[4] The game achieves this by splitting the game world data into smaller sections, called "chunks", only created or loaded into memory when players are nearby.

Although Minecraft is mostly a sandbox game, it contains some adventure elements. And, with that, a primary win condition, which is achieved by traveling to another dimension known as The End and defeating the powerful Enderdragon that flies around the map. This dimension is also home to Endermen, a race of seemingly-sentient beings that are only rarely seen on the main world. To go to The End, one must locate underground ruins called strongholds, which can be found on the main overworld. They must then activate the stronghold's portal using items crafted from drops from Endermen and Blazes, which can be found in alternate dimension called The Nether. Upon beating the boss creature (and claiming an exclusive reward consisting of a shower of experience points and the elusive Ender dragon egg), players are allowed to leave the dimension via a portal, which cues the game's ending sequence, written by Irish author Julian Gough,[6] and credits roll. Players are then teleported back to their original spawn point in the overworld, and - if certain criteria are met - will receive the exclusive "The End" achievement.

A large aspect of the game is the multi-player mode using player-hosted servers. This allows for players to play in a common world, and achieve goals together. Single player worlds can also allow LAN connection so players on the same network can join locally without a server setup.[7]

Survival
A screenshot of the Minecraft Beta crafting screen, showing a stone axe being craftedIn this mode, players have a health bar which is depleted by attacks from monsters, falls, or environmental damage, drowning, or falling into lava. Players also have a hunger bar, which must be periodically refilled by eating various food (porkchops, bread, etc.) in-game. Armor can help mitigate damage from mob attacks, while weapons such as swords can be used to kill enemies and other animals. Health replenishes when players have a full hunger bar, and also regenerates regardless of fullness if players play on the easiest difficulty. Players may acquire different resources and craft tools, weapons, armor, food, and various other items. By acquiring better resources, players can craft more effective items. For example, tools such as axes, shovels, or pickaxes, can be used to chop down trees, dig soil, and mine ores, respectively; and tools made out of better resources (such as iron in place of stone) perform their tasks more quickly and can be used more heavily before breaking. Players may also trade goods with villager mobs through a bartering system. Emerald ores are often the currency of the villagers, although some trade with wheat or other materials.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">The game has an inventory system and players are limited to the number of items they can carry, specifically, 36 spaces. Upon dying, items in players' inventories are dropped, and players respawn at the current spawn point, which is set by default where players begin the game, but can be reset if players sleep in beds in-game. Dropped items can be recovered if players can reach them before they despawn. Players may acquire experience points by killing mobs and other players, mining, smelting ores, and cooking food. Experience can then be spent on enchanting tools, armor and weapons. Enchanted items are generally more powerful, last longer, or have other special effects. Players may also play in a hardcore mode as a variant of Survival mode, which differs primarily with the game being locked to the hardest gameplay setting as well as featuring permadeath; upon players' death, their world is deleted.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-6_7-0" style="line-height:1em;">[8] On multiplayer servers, PvP (player vs. player) may be enabled to allow fighting between players. Adventure mode is a similar variant of Survival mode, but players cannot destroy or place any blocks.

Creative
<p style="line-height:1.5em;">In Creative mode, players have access to unlimited resources or items through the inventory menu, and can place or remove them instantly. Players also do not take environmental or mob damage, is not affected by hunger, and can fly freely around the game world; they can only die by breaking through bedrock and falling into the void.

Classic
A screenshot of Minecraft Classic (single player)<p style="line-height:1.5em;">Older versions of Minecraft are also available for players. Unlike newer versions of Minecraft, Classic is free to play, though it is no longer updated. It functions much the same as Creative mode, allowing players to build and destroy any and all parts of the world either alone or in a multiplayer server. There are no computer creatures in this mode, and environmental hazards such as lava will not damage players. However, some blocks function differently since their behavior was later changed during development.

Development
<p style="line-height:1.5em;">The developer of Minecraft, Markus Persson aka Notch, had previously worked on games such as Wurm Online and as a game developer for King.com for over four years.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GSint_8-0" style="line-height:1em;">[9] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PCGAMERinterview_9-0" style="line-height:1em;">[10] Persson quit his job at King.com in order to independently develop Minecraft.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GSint_8-1" style="line-height:1em;">[9] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MCabout_10-0" style="line-height:1em;">[11] Persson was inspired to create Minecraft by several other games such as Dwarf Fortress, Infiniminer by Zachtronics Industries, and Dungeon Keeperby Bullfrog Productions. He was still working out the basics of gameplay when he discovered Infiniminer and played with others on the TIGSource.com forums.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PCGAMERinterview_9-1" style="line-height:1em;">[10] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MCabout_10-1" style="line-height:1em;">[11] At the time, he had also been visualizing an isometric 3D building game that would be a cross between his inspirations and had made some early prototypes.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GSint_8-2" style="line-height:1em;">[9] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MCorigins_11-0" style="line-height:1em;">[12] After discovering Infiniminer, Persson declared, "My god, I realized that that was the game I wanted to do."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-notchbasis_12-0" style="line-height:1em;">[13] Infiniminer heavily influenced the style of gameplay that eventually resulted in Minecraft, including the first-person aspect of the game and the "blocky" visual style.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MCabout_10-2" style="line-height:1em;">[11]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">Minecraft was first released to the public on May 17, 2009, as a developmental "alpha" release,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-7_13-0" style="line-height:1em;">[14] with a beta release on December 20, 2010.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-8_14-0" style="line-height:1em;">[15] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-eurogbeta_15-0" style="line-height:1em;">[16] Although Persson maintained a day job with Jalbum.net at first, he later moved to working part-time and has since quit in order to work on Minecraft full-time as sales of the beta version of the game have expanded.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PCGAMERinterview_9-2" style="line-height:1em;">[10] Persson continues to update the game with releases distributed to users automatically. Persson plans to continue these updates after the release of the full game as long as there is still an active userbase.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MCabout_10-3" style="line-height:1em;">[11] These updates have included features such as new items, new blocks, an alternate "Hell" dimension (accessible through construction of a portal) that Persson terms "The Nether", tameable wolves that assist the player, and changes to the game's behaviour (e.g., how water flows). Persson plans to eventually release the game as open-source after sales have dropped off and when he wants to move onto other projects.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PCGAMERinterview_9-3" style="line-height:1em;">[10] A screenshot of "The Nether", an alternate dimension<p style="line-height:1.5em;">In September 2010 Persson announced that he and a friend were starting a video game company, Mojang, with the money earned fromMinecraft. This company was intended to back the development of Minecraft and an unrelated game, Scrolls, which his friend was to primarily work on. As part of creating the company, Persson hired "an artist, a web site developer, and a business guy", additional programmers, and established an office in Stockholm.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-LackOfUpdates_16-0" style="line-height:1em;">[17] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MCcompany_17-0" style="line-height:1em;">[18] The four additional employees hired in 2010 were Jens Bergensten, a programmer; Daniel Kaplan, the "business guy"; Jakob Porser, who will be working on the other game for Mojang; and Markus "Junkboy" Toivonen, a pixel artist.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MCJens_18-0" style="line-height:1em;">[19] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MCDaniel_19-0" style="line-height:1em;">[20] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MCJakob_20-0" style="line-height:1em;">[21] The plans for Persson's new company were delayed by weeks when his account with PayPal, containing over US$763,000 in proceeds from Minecraft sales, was frozen due to a "suspicious withdrawal or deposit".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-ESCAPEpaypal_21-0" style="line-height:1em;">[22] On October 20, 2010, the Minecraft website suffered a prolonged DDoS attack.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-KotakoDDoS_22-0" style="line-height:1em;">[23] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-EGDDOS_23-0" style="line-height:1em;">[24]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">On December 11, 2010, Persson announced, via his personal blog, that Minecraft would be entering its beta testing phase on December 20, 2010.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-BetaDate_24-0" style="line-height:1em;">[25] He further stated that users who bought the game after this date would no longer be guaranteed to receive all future content free of charge as it "scared both the lawyers and the board." However, bug fixes and all updates leading up to and including the release would still be free. At the start of 2011 Mojang expanded to include Carl Manneh as a "managing director" and Tobias Möllstam as a programmer.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MCMannehMollstam_25-0" style="line-height:1em;">[26] On April 7, 2011, Persson announced that Mojang has decided to move the game out of Beta on November 11, 2011; however this would not be the "finished product", as the game would be continuously updated before and after the release.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-releasedate_26-0" style="line-height:1em;">[27] <sup class="noprint Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[non-primary source needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">Minecraft.net provided online systems to authenticate logins and host the player's profile including its modifiable character skin pattern and the purchased gift codes. On January 18, 2011, Persson announced in a blog post that Minecraft ' s web servers would be switching to being hosted solely on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) content delivery network. Persson stated in his personal blog that their old web host was having trouble and that Mojang would be switching to using AWS as their host for both Minecraft.net and Minecraft ' s web functions such as logging in.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-notchMigr_27-0" style="line-height:1em;">[28] This was followed by a tweet the next day confirsk to oversee the servers and back end for both Minecraft and Scrolls.ming the migration and that Tobias would be the one to set up the new servers.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-TobiasBP_28-0" style="line-height:1em;">[29] Upon this hosting migration, both Minecraft.net and Minecraft game features experienced fluctuating down time.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-McDown_29-0" style="line-height:1em;">[30] On February 21, Mojang hired Dan Fri

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">On December 2, 2011, Persson announced via his personal blog that he would be stepping down as the lead developer of Minecraft, with Bergensten becoming lead developer. Persson would remain as a developer of Minecraft but would be taking time away from the game in order to work on an unannounced project.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-perssonstepdown_30-0" style="line-height:1em;">[31] On February 28, 2012, Bergensten announced that the main developers of Bukkit, a community-based project that works on Minecraft server implementation, joined the ranks of the Mojang team to work on "improving both the server and the client to offer better official support for larger servers and server modifications".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-9_31-0" style="line-height:1em;">[32]

Soundtrack
<p style="line-height:1.5em;">German composer Daniel "C418" Rosenfeld (born May 9, 1986) released a soundtrack, titled Minecraft – Volume Alpha, on March 4, 2011.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Bandcamp_32-0" style="line-height:1em;">[33]

Merchandise
See also: Lego Minecraft<p style="line-height:1.5em;">In December 2011, Mojang submitted the concept of Minecraft merchandise to Lego for the Lego Cuusoo program, from which it quickly received 10,000 votes by users, prompting Lego to review the concept.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-LEGO_33-0" style="line-height:1em;">[34] On January 24, 2012, Lego Cuusoo announced the concept was approved and they would develop sets based around Minecraft.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-LEGO_33-1" style="line-height:1em;">[34] In February 2012, the first Lego Minecraft set of Micro Worldwas showcased and made available for pre-orders, with a release set for the summer of 2012.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-10_34-0" style="line-height:1em;">[35]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">Foam pickaxes are also on sale from several retail outlets as well as the online Minecraft store.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

Critical
<p style="line-height:1.5em;">Minecraft has received favorable responses from critics, and has had a notably large number of sales. The game has been praised for the creative freedom it grants players in-game, as well as the ease of enabling emergent gameplay.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PCGamerUK_44-0" style="line-height:1em;">[45] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PCPowerPlay_45-0" style="line-height:1em;">[46] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Valve_46-0" style="line-height:1em;">[47] PC Gamer listedMinecraft as the fourth-best game to play at work.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PCGamer_47-0" style="line-height:1em;">[48]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">A review of the alpha version, by Scott Munro of the Daily Record, called it "already something special" and urged readers to buy it.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-DRreview_48-0" style="line-height:1em;">[49] Jim Rossignol of Rock, Paper, Shotgun also recommended the alpha of the game, calling it "a kind of generative 8-bit Lego Stalker".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RPSreview_49-0" style="line-height:1em;">[50] On September 17, 2010, gaming webcomic Penny Arcade began a series of comics and news posts about the addictiveness of the game.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PennyArcade_50-0" style="line-height:1em;">[51] Video game talk show Good Game gave it a 7.5 and 9 out of 10, praising its creativity and customization, though they criticized its lack of a tutorial.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-ABCTV_51-0" style="line-height:1em;">[52]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">In December 2010, Good Game selected Minecraft as their choice for "Best Downloadable Game of 2010" title,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GGaward_52-0" style="line-height:1em;">[53] Gamasutra named it the eighth best game of the year as well as the eighth best indie game of the year,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GSaward_53-0" style="line-height:1em;">[54] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GSaward2_54-0" style="line-height:1em;">[55] and Rock, Paper, Shotgun named it the game of the year.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RPSgoty_55-0" style="line-height:1em;">[56] Indie DB awarded the game the 2010 "Indie of the Year" award as chosen by voters, in addition to two out of five Editor's Choice awards for "Most Innovative" and "Best Singleplayer Indie".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-IDBaward_56-0" style="line-height:1em;">[57] It was also awarded "Game of the Year" by PC Gamer UK.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PCGamerUK1_57-0" style="line-height:1em;">[58] The game was nominated for the "Seumas McNally Grand Prize", "Technical Excellence", and "Excellence in Design" awards at the March 2011 Independent Games Festival<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-IGFnoms_58-0" style="line-height:1em;">[59] and won the Grand Prize along with community-voted "Audience Award".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-IGFwins_59-0" style="line-height:1em;">[60] At Game Developers Choice Awards 2011, Minecraft won the award for Best debut game, Best downloadable game and Most Innovative game award, winning every award for which it was nominated.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-19_60-0" style="line-height:1em;">[61] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-20_61-0" style="line-height:1em;">[62] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-21_62-0" style="line-height:1em;">[63] It has also won GameCity's videogame arts prize<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-22_63-0" style="line-height:1em;">[64]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">On May 5, 2011, Minecraft was selected as one of the 80 games that would be displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of "The Art of Video Games" exhibit that opened on March 16, 2012.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-23_64-0" style="line-height:1em;">[65] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-24_65-0" style="line-height:1em;">[66]

Commercial
<p style="line-height:1.5em;">In September 2010, after an impromptu free-to-play weekend, the game had a spike in sales of over 25,000 purchases in 24 hours.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-freeweekend_66-0" style="line-height:1em;">[67] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-124hourpeak_67-0" style="line-height:1em;">[68] On January 12, 2011, Minecraft passed 1,000,000 purchases,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-usercount12012011_68-0" style="line-height:1em;">[69] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-usercountblog_69-0" style="line-height:1em;">[70] less than a month after reaching Beta. At the same time, the game had no publisher backing and has never been commercially advertised except through word of mouth,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-noads_70-0" style="line-height:1em;">[71] and apparently unpaid mention in popular media like Penny Arcade.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-25_71-0" style="line-height:1em;">[72] By April 2011, Persson estimated that Minecraft had made €23 million (US$33 million) in revenue, with 800,000 sales of the alpha version of the game, and over 1 million sales of the beta version.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GSAprilsales_72-0" style="line-height:1em;">[73] On July 1, 2011 Minecraft passed the 10 million registered users mark.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-26_73-0" style="line-height:1em;">[74] <sup class="noprint Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[non-primary source needed] As of November 7, 2011, Minecraft had over 16 million registered users, and over 4 million purchases.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-sales11092011_74-0" style="line-height:1em;">[75] As of May 25, 2012, the game has sold over six million copies on PC and over nine million copies across all platforms.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-salesmay2012_75-0" style="line-height:1em;">[76]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft became profitable within the first hour of release.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-27_76-0" style="line-height:1em;">[77] <sup class="noprint Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[non-primary source needed] Within the first 24 hours of the game's release, Minecraft broke the Xbox Live sales records, with 400,000 players online.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-28_77-0" style="line-height:1em;">[78] Within a week of being on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Minecraft sold upwards of one million copies.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-29_78-0" style="line-height:1em;">[79] It was announced in July 2012 that Minecraft has sold over three million copies since the game debuted on Xbox LIVE Arcade in May 2012. This brings the total projected sales for Minecraft over seven million over all platforms in its lifetime.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-30_79-0" style="line-height:1em;">[80]

Minecraft – Pocket Edition
<p style="line-height:1.5em;">On August 16, 2011, Minecraft – Pocket Edition was released for the Xperia PLAY. It was then opened up to the rest of the Android Market on October 8, 2011.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MobileGamas_80-0" style="line-height:1em;">[81] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MobileKotaku_81-0" style="line-height:1em;">[82] The current version of the software concentrates on the creative building and the primitive survival aspect of the game. The Pocket Edition currently does not contain all the features of the PC and Xbox 360 releases. The current release allows for multiplayer across a local wireless network.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-31_82-0" style="line-height:1em;">[83] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-32_83-0" style="line-height:1em;">[84] An iOS version of Minecraft was released on November 17, 2011.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-33_84-0" style="line-height:1em;">[85] On his Twitter account, Jens Bergensten noted that the Pocket Edition of Minecraft is written in C++ and not Java, due to iOS not being able to support Java.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PE_C.2B.2B_85-0" style="line-height:1em;">[86]

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition
<p style="line-height:1.5em;">The Xbox 360 version of the game, developed by 4J Studios, is planned to support Kinect play and cross-platform playability with the PC version.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-34_86-0" style="line-height:1em;">[87] The gameworld size is limited to 1024 by 1024 blocks, although this might later be expanded through the next updates. At the Game Developers Conference, it was made known that Minecraft for XBLA would be coming out on March 17, 2012. However, Daniel Kaplan said on Twitter that it is Microsoft's decision on when it will be released, 4J Studios told Microsoft that the game was ready for release, Microsoft waited for a date that they are happy to release.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-35_87-0" style="line-height:1em;">[88] It was announced that Minecraft would be the flagship game in a new Xbox Live promotion called Arcade NEXT. The game was released on May 9, 2012.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-xboxreleasedate_88-0" style="line-height:1em;">[89] Currently Minecraft for Xbox 360 is limited, although in time the game will be in sync with the PC version, but on the first release, Xbox Minecraft was many versions behind the current 1.3.2. Although many features are planned, they will not be added until a later date. The game has a large amount of content that is special to the Xbox 360, including the newly designed crafting system, the control interface, and the ability to play with friends via Xbox Live.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-36_89-0" style="line-height:1em;">[90]

Minecraft 4k
<p style="line-height:1.5em;">Minecraft 4k is a simplified version of Minecraft similar to Minecraft Classic that was developed for the Java 4K "in way less than 4 kilobytes".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-m4k_90-0" style="line-height:1em;">[91] The map itself is finite - comprised of 64x64x64 blocks - and the same world is generated every time. Players are restricted to placing or destroying blocks, which are randomly located and consist of grass, dirt, stone, wood, leaves, and brick.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-91" style="line-height:1em;">[92]

MineCon
<p style="line-height:1.5em;">On May 11, 2011, Persson announced via his blog that an official Minecraft convention titled "MineCon 2011" would be held November 18–19 in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the United States and on August 11, the MineCon website was launched.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-37_92-0" style="line-height:1em;">[93] The event included the official launch of Minecraft; keynote speeches, including one by Persson; building and costume contests; Minecraft-themed breakout classes; exhibits by leading gaming and Minecraft-related companies; commemorative merchandise; and autograph and picture times with Mojang employees and well-known contributors from the Minecraft community.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-38_93-0" style="line-height:1em;">[94] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-39_94-0" style="line-height:1em;">[95] After Minecon, there was an Into The Nether after-party with electronic musiciandeadmau5.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-40_95-0" style="line-height:1em;">[96] As well as this, free codes were given to every attendee of MineCon that unlock alpha versions of Mojang's other upcoming game, Scrolls, as well as an additional non-Mojang game, Cobalt, which is being developed by Oxeye Game Studios.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-41_96-0" style="line-height:1em;">[97] MineCon sold all of its 4,500 tickets.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-42_97-0" style="line-height:1em;">[98] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Auto3D-43_98-0" style="line-height:1em;">[99] On August 2, 2012 it was announced through a video posted on the Minecraft YouTube channel that MineCon 2012 would take place in Disneyland Paris from November 24–25.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

Minecraft clones
<p style="line-height:1.5em;">After the release of Minecraft, some video games were released with various similarities with Minecraft. They are considered "clones". There have been a few across various platforms of gaming.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-99" style="line-height:1em;">[100]

United Nations project
<p style="line-height:1.5em;">"Mojang is teaming up with UN Habitat to launch Block By Block, a project that creates real-world environments in Minecraft, and then lets young people who live in those environments participate in designing what they like to see changed. Using Minecraft, the community has helped reconstruct the areas in subject and citizens are invited to enter the Minecraft servers and modify their own neighborhood." “The three-year partnership will support UN-Habitat’s Sustainable Urban Development Network to upgrade 300 public spaces by 2016.” Mojang has enlisted Minecraft building community, Fyre UK, to help render the environments. “The first pilot project in Kibera one of Nairobi’s informal settlements is already in the planning phase.”

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">The Block By Block project is based on an earlier initiative, Mina Kvarter (My Block), which offered young people in Swedish communities “a tool to visualize their ideas of how they want to change their part of town. “It has proven to be a great way to visualize urban planning ideas without necessarily having architectural training.” The ideas presented by the citizens were a template for political decisions.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-blockbyblock_100-0" style="line-height:1em;">[101]