Minecraft shares Skyrim's release date

Though you've doubtless been playing Minecraft for yonks now, the indie dig 'em up finally has a release date--the same day as Skyrim.

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Though Minecraft has been publicly available for yonks and already raked in $33 million in sales, the much-loved indie dig 'em up is still only in beta. And end of sorts is finally in sight, though, as a release date has now been announced.

Creator Markus 'Notch' Persson revealed on his blog that Minecraft will be 'released' on November 11, 2011. This just so happens to be The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's launch date as well, inspiring the unofficial tagline "us too." Persson notes that he's excited about Skyrim, "so that will be a nice reward for me if we actually manage to hit that date!"

However, as you might imagine, 'releasing' Minecraft won't mean that the game is finished.

It's a bit tricky to really do a release for Minecraft as we keep updating it all the time. For one, the version we deem as the 'full version' won't be very different at all from what the game was like a week ago, and we'll keep adding features after the release as well, so it's really more of a milestone when we finally get rid of the Beta label, and some kind of goal for us to work towards. The plan is to be open with this and try to get people to cheer us on as much as possible, but to be open with the fact that the game won't change much at the actual release day. (It's more a progress up until that point)

Persson also revealed that Minecraft version 1.5 is expected to launch next week, bringing a weather system rather than the expected achievements and statistics features. Rain, snow, ice and storms will periodically batter your blockworlds. Rain will handily water crops, but it'll also put out fires.

iOS and Android versions of Minecraft are also in the works, though they won't be identical to the PC edition.

Mojang Specifications announced its next title last month, a combination of board game and collectible card game by the name of Scrolls.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    April 8, 2011 6:00 AM

    Comment on Minecraft shares Skyrim's release date, by Alice O'Connor.

    • reply
      April 8, 2011 7:52 AM

      Yay.

    • reply
      April 8, 2011 7:55 AM

      [deleted]

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      April 8, 2011 7:55 AM

      [deleted]

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      April 8, 2011 7:56 AM

      Only issue I have is that it feels like minecraft is being shoved out the door. Sparse updates, etc. Seems Notch wants to take his money and run. Can't really blame him, as he's been enslaved to the project. Hopefully there will be good enough modding support in the end that other passionate people can continue the work after Mojang writes it off.

      • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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        April 8, 2011 7:59 AM

        Shoved out the door? This is in seven months. And development will continue afterwards.

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          April 8, 2011 8:09 AM

          True, but how much will be added by then? The updates were more frequent and a lot more fun before he got moneybags. Now how many major updates will there be before it's considered done? I really hope the game really fills out, but I have a feeling they want it wrapped up.

          • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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            April 8, 2011 8:21 AM

            Well we've been over the reasons development slowed down a million times, and I'm not sure what else to tell you other than that he explicitly says that release is just a milestone beyond which development will continue like before. Are you saying he's lying?

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              April 8, 2011 8:54 AM

              [deleted]

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                April 8, 2011 10:04 AM

                There have been some very good updates I liked Hell and biomes and dogs and other mobs and a lot of the stuff he has added. MP isn't a big deal to 80% of the user base.

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                  April 8, 2011 11:47 AM

                  [deleted]

                  • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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                    April 8, 2011 12:34 PM

                    Minecraft sold like 800k copies before SMP was even in, IIRC. I think no matter how well multiplayer is implemented, it really fundamentally loses something in the transition. The feeling of accomplishment building something from nothing just isn't there in multiplayer.

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                  April 8, 2011 12:38 PM

                  hell is useless, even if you could get there, which you can't in multiplayer

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        April 8, 2011 9:20 AM

        Beta means no new features, just bug fixes.
        When you enter Beta you are feature complete.

        Release means stable.

        Alpha means functional software but not all features are in. You are releasing a version to get early user feedback.

        Now all of this is theory....

        • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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          April 8, 2011 9:24 AM

          That certainly doesn't apply to minecraft, even big game studios don't use that definition of beta.

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            April 8, 2011 6:06 PM

            To a greater or lesser degree, most try. (I've worked at three.)

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        April 8, 2011 10:23 AM

        Some children get shoved out of the oven much faster.

    • reply
      April 8, 2011 8:09 AM

      Isn't Skyrim releasing on 11/11/11?

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      April 8, 2011 8:18 AM

      [deleted]

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        April 8, 2011 8:31 AM

        it's a highly advanced mine cart riding simulator

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          April 8, 2011 8:56 AM

          No, it's a tree punching simulator.

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            April 8, 2011 9:09 AM

            with cart riding elements?

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              April 8, 2011 9:20 AM

              I hear you can dig... but I'm not sure and I can't find anything on Wikipedia...

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            April 8, 2011 9:33 AM

            he added tree punching?! well shit, there's our end game content right there

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        April 8, 2011 4:34 PM

        basically you log into someone's server and covertly destroy what they're working on till you get found out and banned.

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      April 8, 2011 8:34 AM

      dont see a problem as most of the people who will buy it already own it

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        April 8, 2011 9:05 AM

        I bought it a while ago, tried to log on recently and it had done a charge back. My girlfriend bought me it ages ago, now I'm screwed out of the deal.

        • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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          April 8, 2011 9:19 AM

          Updates will probably remain free anyway. It would put them in a very awkward position to release an update that's free for almost a million people and costs money for everybody else.

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            April 8, 2011 5:11 PM

            True, plus he'd have to overhaul his update system to allow for optional updates.

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      April 8, 2011 9:31 AM

      I like Minecraft, but man, give me some purpose in this game!

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        April 8, 2011 9:34 AM

        it's a sandbox game, you can do that yourself

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          April 8, 2011 10:23 AM

          I want a reason to do things given by game designers, I don't want metagaming. I've seen a nice idea somewhere - let's have something huge attack you, and you have some amount of game days or months to prepare. Or maybe you need to craft this specific item or find that treasure somewhere in a dungeon... A purpose. Without that I feel no urge to play.

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            April 8, 2011 10:30 AM

            survival is a purpose

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              April 8, 2011 10:59 AM

              creation, exploration are also purposes.

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              April 8, 2011 11:36 AM

              Survival would be a great purpose for Minecraft if handled well. Currently survival is a non-issue.

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                April 8, 2011 3:56 PM

                Yeah, there could be some event happening from time to time to which you would have to prepare, or amount of enemies could be increasing... I don't know. I'm just not sure there is a game in this sandbox.
                Other way to go would be exploration, but again - you need some reward for that. I love exploring, but just for the sake of it.

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            April 8, 2011 10:58 AM

            Then Minecraft isn't for you.

          • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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            April 8, 2011 11:03 AM

            http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=148257

            There will be plenty of mods that do stuff like that, I think Notch would be better off focusing on just improving the base game's capabilities. There will be achievements very soon though if you're into that sort of objective.

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          April 8, 2011 12:12 PM

          Minecraft is a sandbox. It is not a game. At most it is a framework for a game. Calling minecraft a game is like calling an erector set a game.

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        April 8, 2011 9:35 AM

        ? it's in the title: mining and crafting. what else do you want? a freaking raison d'etre?

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          April 8, 2011 9:38 AM

          i believe that's exactly what Kub666 wants. i know this because that's what he just said

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            April 8, 2011 9:38 AM

            and i furthermore still think that anyone who can't think of ideas for other things to do in minecraft is just totally devoid of creativity. there are SO MANY THINGS that could be done that it boggles the mind

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              April 8, 2011 9:43 AM

              that's not end game content, that's just something else to do in the game. if he wants to add it in, i'll gladly download it, but i'm not going to get uppity if he doesn't.

              i think his best bet would be to work on the mod api and let users come up with stuff. the game became popular because of what its users were doing in it, not because of notches leet coding skills and content ideas.

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                April 8, 2011 9:45 AM

                what isn't end game content? i didn't actually provide any specifics here so i'm not sure what you could be referring to. in another post yesterday i went into great detail on how an endgame could be added to minecraft, and i don't see any way you could claim that it isn't "endgame"

                the mod API is definitely needed, but it'll always be restricted to the things that the minecraft game can already do. some stuff has to be added by Notch.

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                  April 8, 2011 10:57 AM

                  end game content, to me, means that its something to do at the end of the game. since minecraft doesn't have an ending, besides 'i'm getting bored' and closing the program, continuing to call it 'end game content' just doesn't make sense.

                  you seem to just want more things to do in minecraft, beyond what you've probably already done a billion times by now.

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                    April 8, 2011 11:22 AM

                    i don't understand. the point is *we want an ending*. the thing you're taking as a cosmic truth is the thing we want to change

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                      April 8, 2011 11:22 AM

                      or, to word it another way: the fact that there's no ending IS THE PROBLEM

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                        April 8, 2011 11:23 AM

                        and an ending doesn't have to have a credits screen and a "thanks for playing". tons of games have obvious endgame content but still let you play after you beat it

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                April 8, 2011 10:59 AM

                There is no end to the game, so I don't see your point.

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                  April 8, 2011 11:04 AM

                  electroly and myself were having a discussion about the lack of 'end game' content last night. i unfortunately dragged it into this thread, sorry :(

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          April 8, 2011 10:31 AM

          people are really conditioned to games having a win condition. it's kind of Pavlovian by now.

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            April 8, 2011 10:58 AM

            minecraft not having that is one of the things i really like about it.

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              April 8, 2011 11:24 AM

              that's all fine and good. nobody would be forced to do anything. if you want to play the game as a sandbox, by all means. the existence of an end goal isn't going to change the sandbox nature of the game

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            April 8, 2011 11:38 AM

            [deleted]

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        April 8, 2011 1:25 PM

        Please tell me what to do!

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      April 8, 2011 9:35 AM

      Ya'll GOOFY. MC is the shit and so is Notch!

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      April 8, 2011 9:39 AM

      Wake up sheeple. Notch is obviously rushing out of beta because he has some great gameplay ideas he can't wait to charge people for as DLC.

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      April 8, 2011 9:59 AM

      I hope they don't push Skyrim back! That's some stiff competition!!!

      ...

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      April 8, 2011 10:12 AM

      wait I forgot. Do I get the 'full game' since I bought in on the beta?

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        April 8, 2011 11:19 AM

        Yes, but further expansion stuff will be Alpha only and pay for everyone else. Alphas also get a copy of Scrolls.

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          April 8, 2011 4:11 PM

          What, I get a free copy of his next game, too? That is dope as fuck.

          • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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            April 8, 2011 4:54 PM

            No, that is a made up thing. Alpha buyers get all updates for free, non-alpha buyers may or may not get all updates for free.

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              April 8, 2011 4:58 PM

              I HAVE BEEN LIED TO.

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                April 8, 2011 4:59 PM

                Googled it, Alpha Minecrafters get in the Scrolls Alpha, beta is open to everyone, final game will have to be bought.

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      April 8, 2011 11:02 AM

      So what's this piston mod that is in Notches blog that's being incorporated into the game?

      • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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        April 8, 2011 11:04 AM

        It's a very cool mod that adds pistons which allow for a lot of dynamic stuff, look it up on Youtube.

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      April 8, 2011 11:20 AM

      I bet it doesn't come out on time.

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      April 8, 2011 12:40 PM

      Ok, that's when I'll buy it, then. I can't stand how updates break my saved games.

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      April 8, 2011 12:54 PM

      bCorrectionsb - On the main page, the release date is listed as Nov 1.

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      April 8, 2011 1:40 PM

      When Skyrim tanks, we'll know why.

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      April 8, 2011 3:57 PM

      [deleted]

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        April 8, 2011 7:51 PM

        I am with you. But I also spent years playing World of Warcraft, so what do I know?

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        April 8, 2011 9:24 PM

        Same here. I tried it awhile ago and was bored after 10 minutes. This game is truly an enigma. It seems to be a darling of gaming news sites. The creator must be laughing all the way to the bank at his sheer luck.

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        April 8, 2011 9:54 PM

        this is one of those games where i lose track of time and forget to eat

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        April 11, 2011 11:08 AM

        You need to sit down, pull up the recipe web page for making stuff out of raw materials, and then try to build yourself a simple castle or underground dungeon. If you get past the running around punching stuff with your hands and actually start building stuff, next thing you know it will be 5 hours later.

        ... and you'll possibly have a mile line underwater tunnel made of glass as a result.

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      April 8, 2011 4:11 PM

      Am I posting a comment?

    • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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      April 8, 2011 5:14 PM

      Weather & Achievement Sneak Peek: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy882ILYJMM

      I'm sure this will spawn a rage subthread about achievements in general but it looks pretty interesting. He actually incorporated the crafting guide idea he was talking about directly into the achievements.

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        April 8, 2011 5:23 PM

        [deleted]

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        April 8, 2011 9:30 PM

        I wish the snow fell faster but other than that it looks cool. I don't really care about achievements. I can just ignore them if I want.

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          April 9, 2011 1:47 PM

          I swear I remember seeing snow falling from the sky a long time back while actually playing minecraft...

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            April 9, 2011 4:51 PM

            Yes, snow was working way back in the day but it broke at some point. I think it was the case of it being hacked in there real quick to get it working and when he went in to clean stuff up a bit... he ended up breaking it. It was right around the time he made the big push on bringing SMP up to speed... around the time leaf decay was broken as well (but he fixed that a couple months ago).

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        April 8, 2011 10:18 PM

        Achievement: Yabba Dabba Doo (50g): dig deep enough to reach bedrock

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