14 DAY TRIAL // Two major news about the independent phenomenon which is Minecraft appeared today, as Notch, the game's lead, and for the most part only developer, has announced that over 500,000 copies of the game were sold, despite it being in alpha stage.
At the same time, he also revealed that the Halloween update is already live, bringing a whole new territory, the underworld called Slip, and lots of new features, ahead of the game's entry into full on beta stage.
Minecraft, for those not in the know, is a new independent game, which managed to capture a huge amount of PC users thanks to its pretty simple premise of letting players loose in a pixelized world with all the tools and resources required to create new objects.
While that may sound a bit boring, according to Notch, its developer, Minecraft managed to sell over 500,000 copies, and has more than 1.6 million registered users.
Besides the good news for the developer, all of the 500,000 people that purchased the game have just received the Halloween Update, which adds lots of new features to the whole Minecraft experience.
Among the new things introduced by the update is a new hell world designed to allow an easier travel between the real Minecraft world, called the Slip, filled with new and challenging monsters.
The audio part of the game has also been upgraded, with new sounds, enhanced music and special effects added to the experience, as well as the possibility to catch fish, scare other players and carve jack-o-lanterns.
Last but not least, the game will also allow players to keep track of the time, thanks to a craftable watch, which will let you know when it is safe to go out into the world.
Looking ahead, Notch revealed that he wants to take the game into beta stage, and in order to do that the multiplayer mode will be overhauled.
He will add survival multiplayer, and that will also lead to competitive modes like capture the flag or other such things.
The single-player and co-operative modes will also receive some attention, as he plans on adding a distinct story in order to keep players interested and help them learn how to interact with the Minecraft world.
Overall, Minecraft is already the next big thing, and with these new updates it seems that those who already bought the game are definitely getting their money's worth.
As of right now, Minecraft alpha costs 10 euros or approximately 13 U.S. dollars.