I don’t think I need to waste much space explaining the basic premise of “Minecraft.” After all, with the astounding (and I mean just shocking), download numbers the game has posted, my general impression is that most of you fine readers have played, or at least heard of, this game that follows a blocky protagonist, isolated in a blocky world, whose sole mission in life is to harvest the resource blocks around him in order to build sturdier blocks, weapons, items of all kinds and, most importantly, a shelter from the creatures that roam the night.

“Minecraft” is a blank canvas that only the most patient artists will be able to make proper use of. Unlike other world building titles like, say, “SimCity,” the effort required to make that first brush stroke to build off of is much greater, but the works you can create after that are limited by almost nothing. I wish I could say the same for this 360 adaptation, which is unfortunately burdened by several limits. While the simple graphics and atmospheric music transition perfectly to the console, and the controller handles the very basic functions of the game admirably, as the game gets more and more complex (and it can in a hurry), the 360 finds itself ill equipped to smoothly handle the wealth of inventory you soon acquire in a manageable way. The various menus you have to navigate to perform even the most basic functions and creations are annoying enough without having to scroll via joystick and force yourself to try to organically manage everything with the face buttons as your main tool. This game could have greatly benefited from the use of more hotkey features (the D-pad, for instance, is completely unused).

The biggest problem? There’s just no real reason to own this game on the 360. While playing, I actually found myself with my PC nearby just to look up the finer points of the game and look for reasonable tips on how to proceed. I don’t think I’d be alone in this, and if it’s a case of having to have your computer by your side anyway, why not play it in its native format? The controls, community and everything else are greater there, and the system requirements are so absurdly low that they shouldn’t cause a problem for most anyone.

While I respect the effort that developer 4J Studios put forth on this adaptation, I just can’t recommend this port to anyone. I didn’t get to try the 360’s splitscreen multiplayer mode (due to confidentiality reasons, though the idea is a fantastic concept), but I imagine it would do little to alleviate the main problem with the game. Overall, “Minecraft” is still a great idea and a unique experience that the patient and creative will inevitably get the most out of. If that’s you, just make sure to start your adventure on the solid foundation that only the PC can give this game.

In the nearly three years Notch has been developing Minecraft, hires what is now his development company, Mojang, have been few and far between. The lack of hires certainly wasn’t need-based (or lack-of-need-based). It’s pretty easy to make the case that Minecraft has been in need of more developers for at least the past year. There is still no modding API, despite the fact that Minecraft enjoys one of the most active modding communities in the world. The game still feels like a bit of a fragmented mess. All of this could be solved with more manpower. Yeah, I said it. All they needed were a couple warm bodies with a basic knowledge of java.

Well they finally picked some, and it just so happens to be the fine folks at Bukkit. For those that don’t know, the Bukkit team produced an alternate version of the Minecraft server code that was more stable than the original, had a modding API, and required fewer resources to run. Luckily for the four fellows who ran the project, the Bukkit team won’t be working for free any longer. They’ve officially joined the Mojang team.

Their first project will be to write a brand new API. Now, I don’t claim to be a programmer, but I can only imagine one good reason to do this: Mojang didn’t want to pay for Bukkit. I have nothing but respect for the Bukkit guys. They started on a project for fun, they kept it going after it grew into something huge, and now they’re reaping rewards. Without knowing the details of their employment agreement, I think they’re getting the short end of the stick, and unfortunately so are we.

Again, I don’t know exactly what I’m talking about here, but I would imagine there’s a legal case for Mojang to say hey, stop doing that to our code or we will sue you. There certainly would be if Bukkit tried to sell their server package. As such, Mojang doesn’t really owe the guys at Bukkit anything. Wouldn’t it suck, though, to be such an integral part of the Minecraft community–as in, so big that you’re essentially synonymous with multiplayer gameplay–and be compensated with just a job offer? I know, job offers are hard to come by right now, but the guys at Bukkit have done more for multiplayer than anyone else, including Mojang. All of the notable multiplayer Minecraft servers run Bukkit. Now they’ll be forced to migrate to the new API developed in-house with Mojang.

I’m hopeful that the new API will be pretty much the work of those four guys, because I stopped trusting Mojang to build one a long time ago. The Bukkit guys certainly know what they’re doing and, who knows, maybe starting from scratch will be nice for them. It won’t be nice for players, though. Certainly not in the short term. Yes, they’ve pledged support through 1.2, but the transition probably won’t be super slick, to say nothing of the additional wait time we now have for development of this new API. For being a “released game,” Minecraft is in critical flux an awful lot.

Seriously though, congrats to the guys at Bukkit. You deserve all of your success.

I was never one to enjoy Minecraft mods, at least not at first. The modding process was lengthy, often frustrating and totally unsupported. When I first started playing Minecraft, most mods were single-player-only, so as a multiplayer fanatic they just didn’t hold much appeal. I recently started playing Minecraft again just to see what all had changed. In browsing some of the forums I stumbled upon something called the Technic Pack, a group of mods that had been compiled to be distributed as one pack. The mods mostly focus on industrialization of the Minecraft world, introducing machines, new redstone recipes, alchemy, advanced minecart systems, and so on. Yeah, it added a lot. The best part? It was all available for multiplayer.

I wasn’t quite ready to jump in with all the mods, but Buildcraft, a long-standing mod from the community, caught my eye. The mod is pretty simple – it adds machines that, with a bit of planning can automate many of Minecraft’s tasks. The most notable is the use of quarries, which mine out giant chunks of the world when attached to an engine. There is also a very cool pipe system that allows for transportation of goods and liquids. It’s capable of supporting a player-built power grid. That’s right. Power grid.

After playing a mod like Buildcraft, I can’t believe Mojang hasn’t spent more time with a real modding API. The modding system just needs to get easier. For all that Notch loves about Bethesda, how has he not picked up on this part of the business model. People will improve your game for free if you just give them the tools to do so. Granted, they’re already doing that, but imagine if mods didn’t break the client with every update. Imagine if they could all interact reliably for both multi- and single-player. Wouldn’t it be a beautiful, blocky world?

I know at least a few of you will be interested to discover that Minecraft: Pocket Edition, the version of Minecraft developed for Android, is on sale today for $.10. Yeah, ten cents. It’s usually $7, so this is a hell of a deal.

I won’t lie, the controls are a little clumsy, but that’s to be expected when you only have a touchscreen available to navigate a three-dimensional world. For now, Minecraft: PE is limited to creative mode, though survival is supposedly in the works. The game also has a limited set of blocks for now, and seemingly no crafting system. Honestly, though, it costs a dime. Just buy the damn thing already. Your bathroom visits will never be the same.

Big news in the game world today is that Notch has passed development of Minecraft to his number two at Mojang, Jens Bergensten. I was surprised at first but it makes a lot of sense. Jens, who goes by the moniker “Jeb,” has become the personable face of Minecraft over the past six months, guiding the community through the glut of development that led to Minecraft’s official release.

In the meantime, Notch has created his fair-share of public snafus. His involvement in social platforms is admirable, especially considering the size of the Minecraft community, but Notch has used his massive fanbase to air more than a little bit of dirty laundry off the cuff. It’s an ugly way to do business, particularly when you consider how much of Minecraft’s development has been a community effort at this point.

That’s only going to increase. Jeb’s primary focus at this point is implementing an API to make modding more accessible. We probably won’t see anything until March, but this is the next big step for Minecraft’s open world.

It’s funny how hot-and-cold I feel about Minecraft at different times. I’m in a cold spell now. We had a huge dearth of content for a while, then a massive boom. Unfortunately that boom required new worlds on a nearly bi-weekly basis, and I just burned out. With API modding I’m sure I’ll get interested again. I like the promise of easy mod access, especially for community run servers.

I realize I’m rambling a bit, but that’s how Minecraft goes for me. It’s a game that slips in and out of my consciousness but something I’m sure I’ll be coming back to for some time. I’m glad to know the game is still in good hands.

I mentioned the other day that I might be writing about Minecraft 1.8, the beginning of Mojang’s Adventure Update. Little did I know that I’d be writing a full article about the latest version of the world’s most popular sandbox game and absolutely loving it (the writing…well, the game, too).

If you’re in to Minecraft (and I hope you are) I’d love for you to check out my most recent article about the new Adventure Update. If you absolutely loathe all things not League of Legends, you can get only League-centric updates by heading to the League of Legends category page on this blog (which is roughly 99% of the blog at this point).

Come Tuesday (hopefully) we’ll all get a look at the newest champion to join the League: Riven, the Exile. Riot posted her skill list this weekend, which, as always, gives us a chance to breakdown her potential strengths and weaknesses. Let’s have a look.

Passive – Runic Blade: Riven’s abilities charge her blade, causing her to do bonus damage on her next autoattack. Riven can store up to 3 charges, but only expends one at a time.

Broken Wings: Riven steps forward and lashes out in a series of powerful sword slashes. This ability can be reactivated up to 3 times in a short period.

1st Use/2nd Use: Deals damage to a small area in front of her.
3rd Use: Jumps into the air and slams downward, causing a larger impact nova that deals damage and knocks nearby enemies back.

Ki Shout: Riven damages and stuns nearby enemies.

Valor: Riven dashes forward and gains a shield for a short duration.

Blade of the Exile (Ultimate): Riven’s sword reforms, giving her a percentage multiplier on her total attack damage, extended range on her damaging abilities and basic attacks and the ability to use Wind Slash once.

Wind Slash: While Blade of the Exile is active, Riven can reactivate the ability to emit a large shockwave that deals damage to all units hit based on their missing life.

My first response on seeing her skill list went something like, “wow, that’s a lot of combo abilities.” I’m always a little wary of skill descriptions that read “does X, Y and Z.” Her Ki Shout and Valor both seem to be fairly normal (though I still hate shield abilities and this one is even paired with a dash – why do we need to be able to harass/initiate without risk?). I’ll have to see how Broken Wings plays in game. It will either be a cool combo ability or feel like a clumsy version of Three-Talon Strike. I’m hoping for the first. I’m also guessing the knockback will be something like Maokai’s Arcane Smash – nothing too big but enough to count.

Her ult, on the other hand, sounds like a mess. It’s a steroid plus a missing-health-based nuke. It’s a little unclear what kind of range she gets on the active nuke, but from her pictures it looks like it may be slightly larger than a Talon Rake. I’m not a huge fan of steroid skills because I think they’re pretty tough to balance.

Steroids are also somewhat opaque to opponents. When Vayne ults, it’s not exactly clear that she gains a bunch of attack speed and damage. I know she can turn invisible, and seems to be insanely fast. I know I seem to die more quickly, but it’s difficult to quantify exactly what it’s doing in the moment. By contrast, it’s pretty obvious how hard a Caitlyn ult or a Tibbers or a Karthus ult is going to hit just by taking a quick look at farm.

I’ll hold off on too much judgement, though. I think the combination of a dash, a mini-dash, an AoE stun, and a knockup could be a lot of fun. As I write that out, though, and consider it with a missing-health AoE nuke, I can’t help but think she’ll be a frustrating opponent.

At first, Minecraft 1.6 wasn’t looking like it would be much fun. Notch mentioned the majority of the release had to do with bug fixes. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be glad for a more bug free experience, but bug fixes are about as low on the glamour totem pole as you can get. As the days passed after 1.5, though, Notch seemed to get more ambitious, adding an updating map feature to the 1.6 to-do list along with an update everyone can get excited about – Nether functionality in SMP.

To this point, Nether functionality has only been possible through server mods. It works well enough, but its a strain on server resources and adds one more thing that has to be updated by a third party coder before multiplayer servers using the feature can expect to upgrade.

If you haven’t played in the nether yet, get there in your single player world. It’s unbelievably spooky for a world that is made solely of blocks.

It’s patch week for League of Legends, which means time for Minecraft Mondays once again. I’m in the process of trying out yet another new server. I’ve been bouncing around a lot, but I haven’t yet found a server with a good mix of rulesets and administrative involvement, at least not until now.

I’m currently playing on a server called Thunderdome. It has an impressive spawn town – the best I’ve seen actually – a very active administrative team, a no-grief policy but with pvp thrown in the mix for fun. It’s an unlimited map, which some people don’t care for, but I’ve been looking to find a long-term place to play, somewhere I can hopefully stretch my legs for several months. If I took all of the structures I’ve made in Minecraft since I started playing in January I’m sure I’d start to feel cramped on a lot of maps. This server gives me the chance to do that.

Also, there is no whitelist, no application, nothing like that. Just log on to thunderdome-mc.com and complete the nifty quiz they have in their starting area. Their town has a full sewer system, hidden dungeons you can complete for rewards, a hot-air balloon tour, and a fully automated rail line for travel both in town and out. It’s a mind-boggling achievement and absolutely worth exploring.

If you want to play some Minecraft tonight, log on to thunderdome-mc.com at 8PM EST. You can message me by typing /tell TheWuggler and I’ll come to spawn town and help you find your way out if you like.

Also, don’t forget about the Vayne live preview tonight. Riot will be showing her off at 10:00PM EST.

It’s patch week for League of Legends, which means this week is a Minecraft` Monday. I’ll be rocking some Minecraft tonight, but on more friendly server than DarkTide. I talked to a couple people who tried to join DarkTide that were also fresh to the Minecraft experience and it was a little rough. Let’s try to play on Battlecraft, another multiplayer server that allows PvP but also has anti-griefing measures in place and isn’t so reliant on small towns across the server. Basically you can stretch your legs and build, which is what makes Minecraft fun, for me anyway.

If you want to play some Minecraft together, first, read the info at the Battlecraft home site and place an app. Their approval is the fastest I’ve seen from any server. Jump online around 9:00PM at pvp.thebattlecraft.net and we can build some stuff together. As always with Minecraft, I’m in game as “TheWuggler.” When you get onto the server, send me a message with /tell thewuggler and then your message and we can meet up and do some digging.

Hope to see you online tonight.