Title	Minecraft
Developer	Mojang
Publisher	Mojang
Designer	Markus "Notch" Persson Jens Bergensten
Artist	Kristoffer Zetterstrand (In-game artwork)Markus "Junkboy" Toivonen
Composer	Daniel "C418" Rosenfeld
Released	Full Version: November 2011Classic: May 17, 2009Beta: December 20, 2010
Version	1.7 (Beta)
Genre	First person, Sandbox
Modes	Single-player, Multiplayer
Media	Download
Platforms	Java platform, Java applet, Android, iOS, Xbox 360 }}

''Minecraft'' is a sandbox building indie video game written in Java originally by Swedish creator Markus "Notch" Persson and now by his company, Mojang, formed from the proceeds of the game. It was released on May 17, 2009, with a Beta on December 20, 2010. Official releases for iOS and Android are currently in development to be released later in 2011 along with a full version of the game; the Android release will be temporarily exclusive to the Xperia Play. A version of the game for the Xbox 360 with Kinect support is under development by 4J Studios.

The game is focused on creativity and building, allowing players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D world. The game has two variants – free Classic and paid Beta – where Classic is focused entirely on construction with unlimited material supply, whereas Beta requires players to acquire resources themselves, and contains mobs, player health, and additional features and items. The gameplay is heavily inspired by ''Infiniminer'' by Zachtronics Industries, ''Dwarf Fortress'' by Bay 12 Games and ''Dungeon Keeper'' by Bullfrog Productions.

The game is currently in development and Beta is the only continuously updated version of the game. ''Minecraft'' was developed for about a week before its public release on May 17, 2009, on the TIGSource forums, where it gained a considerable level of popularity. It has been continually updated and patched since then, and while it was still in alpha release, it garnered several hundred thousand sales and received critical notice and acclaim from many reviewers. It passed a million units sold on January 12, 2011, less than a month after reaching Beta. By August 5, 2011, the game had sold 3,000,000 units.

Gameplay

The core gameplay revolves around construction. The game world is essentially made up of cubical blocks arranged in a fixed grid pattern, that represent different materials, such as dirt, stone, various ores, water, tree trunks, etc. While the players can move freely across the world, objects and items can only be placed at fixed locations relative to the grid. The player can gather these material "blocks" and place them elsewhere, thus potentially creating various constructions. The game has no set goals, and cannot be won.

''Minecraft'' has two currently available variants, Beta and Classic, both with single-player and multiplayer options. Classic is the earliest free version and initially featured only creative game mode with only building (block placement and removal) aspects of the game and unlimited block supply. The Classic was then split into single-player survival mode (referred to as "Survival Mode Test"), which contained monsters and a much greater variety of blocks and items available, as well as requiring players to mine their own blocks. As of Beta release, only creative Classic mode version 0.30 is available in single-player and multiplayer modes.

Classic survival mode served as the base for development of single-player non-free Indev ("In Development"), and later non-free Infdev ("Infinite Development") versions, each expanding the number of features. Indev and Infdev were later replaced by the non-free Alpha variant, which continued to add features to the game, including multiplayer mode. As of December 20, 2010, the game entered into Beta. It includes music by Daniel "C418" Rosenfeld. For multiplayer games, servers are currently hosted by individual players or groups; there are no "official" ''Minecraft'' servers yet, the only way to connect to a server is entering the hostname or IP address in-game. There are no substantive differences between multiplayer and singleplayer ''Minecraft'', other than the number of players in a world.

Beta

The Beta version of the game is a successor to the earlier Alpha version via a sequence of updates. ''Minecraft'' moved from alpha to beta status on December 20, 2010. It is the only version of ''Minecraft'' continuously updated and is only available to users who have purchased the game. Beta is a survival game mode with both single-player and multiplayer variants playable as a stand-alone client and in web browsers.

The game starts by placing the player on the surface of a huge procedurally generated game world. The player can walk across the terrain consisting of plains, mountains, 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. The player can acquire different resources and craft tools, weapons, armor, food, and various other items. By acquiring better resources, the player can make more proficient items. For example, tools such as axes, shovels, or pickaxes, can be used to chop down trees, dig soil, and mine ores respectively. The game has an inventory system and the player is limited in the number of items they can carry.

Throughout the course of the game the player encounters various non-human creatures, referred to as "mobs". During the daytime, non-hostile animals spawn, which can be hunted for food and crafting materials. Hostile monsters, such as large spiders, skeletons, zombies and the dangerous exploding "creeper" will spawn in unlit areas, such as in caves or during the night. Armor can help mitigate damage from mob attacks, while weapons can be used to kill enemies and other animals. The player has a health bar which is depleted by attacks from monsters, falls, or environmental damage, such as drowning or falling into lava or magma. Health can be replenished by eating certain food items or by playing on the easiest difficulty, at which it regenerates by itself. Upon dying, items in the player's inventory are dropped and the player is teleported to the starting spawn point. The items can be recovered if the player reaches them in time.

Complex systems can be built using the in-game physics engine with the use of primitive electrical circuits and logic gates. 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.

The game world is procedurally generated as the player explores it. Although limits exist on vertical movement both up and down, Beta 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. The game achieves this by splitting the game world data into smaller sections, called "chunks",

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. Notch stated in his personal blog that their old help 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. This was followed by a tweet the next day confirming the migration and that Tobias would be the one to setup the new servers. Upon this hosting migration, both Minecraft.net and Minecraft game features experienced fluctuating down time. On February 21, Mojang hired Dan Frisk to oversee the servers and backend for both ''Minecraft'' and ''Scrolls''.

On May 19, 2011, Persson announced via his Twitter about an additional dimension which is currently being tested to add to the game. The "Sky Dimension" is similar to the Nether, however set above the sky with floating islands.

On June 10, 2011, Persson announced via his blog that the official release of Minecraft has been delayed due to November 11 being fully booked at MinecraftCon, and stated he expects a release by the following week.

Currently, an official iOS, and Android version of ''Minecraft'' is being developed by new Mojang employee Aron Nieminen for release later in the year 2011.

Reception

''Minecraft'' has received favorable responses from critics, and has had notably large numbers of sales.

The game has been praised for the creative freedom it grants its players in-game, and for how dynamic the overall gameplay is. ''PC Gamer'' listed ''Minecraft'' as the fourth-best game to play at work.

A review of the alpha version, by Scott Munro of the ''Daily Record'', called it "already something special" and urged readers to buy it. Jim Rossignol of Rock, Paper, Shotgun also recommended the alpha of the game, calling it "a kind of generative 8-bit Lego ''Stalker''". On September 17, 2010, gaming webcomic Penny Arcade began a series of comics and news posts about the addictiveness of the game. 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.

In December 2010, ''Good Game'' selected ''Minecraft'' as their choice for "Best Downloadable Game of 2010" title, Gamasutra named it the eighth best game of the year as well as the eighth best indie game of the year, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun named it the game of the year. 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". It was also awarded "Game of the Year" by ''PC Gamer UK''. The game was nominated for the "Seumas McNally Grand Prize", "Technical Excellence", and "Excellence in Design" awards at the March 2011 Independent Games Festival and won the Grand Prize along with community-voted "Audience Award". 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.

On May 5, 2011, Minecraft was selected as one of the 80 games that will be displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of "The Art of Video Games" exhibit that will open on March 16, 2012.

Sales

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. On January 12, 2011, ''Minecraft'' passed 1,000,000 purchases, 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. 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 at €9.95, and over 1 million sales of the beta version at €14.95. On July 1, 2011 ''Minecraft'' passed the 10 million registered users mark. As of August 5, 2011, ''Minecraft'' had over 11 million registered users, and over 3 million purchases.

Ports

The game has been released so far on Android as ''Minecraft — Pocket Edition'', and is set to be released on several other platforms, including iOS and the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 version of the game, developed by 4J Studios, will support Kinect play and cross-platform playability with the PC version.

Minecraft — Pocket Edition

On August 16, 2011, ''Minecraft — Pocket Edition'' was released exclusively for the Xperia Play for $6.99. It is intended to be opened up to the rest of the Android market after a limited time.

The first, and current, version of the software concentrates on the creative building aspect of the game, and allows for multiplay across a local wireless network.

MineCon 2011

On May 11, 2011, Persson announced via his blog an official ''Minecraft'' convention titled "MineCon 2011" to be held November 18—19 in Las Vegas, in the United States. On August 11, the MineCon website was launched, with the ability to buy advance tickets for $99 until September 30, afterwhich the price is to rise to $139.

The event is advertised to include the official launch of ''Minecraft''; keynote speeches, including one by Persson; building and costume contests; ''Minecraft''-themed breakout classes; exhibits by gaming and ''Minecraft''-related companies; and commemorative merchandise.

Fan consultation

Persson consulted fans on whether they would be interested in attending a ''Minecraft'' convention, and what location it should be in, on May 11, 2011. Persson expressed his intention to locate the event in Las Vegas, where it subsequently was decided it would be located. A plurality of respondents, 31.2%, voted for the convention to be held in the United States.

Date change

Initially intended to be held on November 11, 2011, Persson announced that MineCon 2011 would have to be held on a different date due to the facilities at Las Vegas being completely booked on, and around, that date. Because of this, it is now to be held November 18—19, 2011.

Soundtrack

Composer C418 released a soundtrack, titled ''Minecraft - Volume Alpha'', on March 4, 2011.

See also

''Minecraft - Volume Alpha'', the official soundtrack of ''Minecraft''

''Terraria'', a 2D action-adventure/RPG with sandbox building elements

''Ace of Spades'', a 3D first-person shooter with sandbox building elements

''Dwarf Fortress'', an indie game that combines aspects of roguelike and city-building games and is primarily known for its unique level of complexity and difficulty.

Footnotes

}}

External links

''Minecraft'' Forum

Minecraft Wiki, largest ''Minecraft'' Wiki

Persson's development blog on Tumblr

Category:Indie video games Category:IOS games Category:Java platform games Category:Open world video games Category:Video games developed in Sweden Category:Video games with stereoscopic 3D graphics Category:2009 video games Category:Survival video games Category:Video games with voxel graphics

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name	The Basics
background	group_or_band
origin	Melbourne, Australia
genre	Rock
years active	2002 – (present)
label	Independent, Albert Records
associated acts	Gotye, Down Hills Home, Dog With Wheels, Blood Red Bird
website	The Basics Official Website
current members	Wally De BackerTim HeathKris Schroeder
past members	Michael Hubbard
notable instruments	Lead guitar, drums, bass guitar. }}

The Basics ( ) are a three-piece band from Melbourne, Australia, formed by Wally De Backer and Kris Schroeder in 2002. Their style has been described as anything from 'indie-pop' to 'rock'n'roll' to 'pop-rock', though their records show them span a wide range of genres including reggae, ska, country, and electro-pop. They are "recognised as one of Australia's hardest-working bands".

With close to 1000 shows in their nine-year career, their live performances are well-known for their sense of humour and energy.

Formation

The Basics were formed after Kris met Wally at a party in Melbourne. The event was to see off the young aspiring producer, who was about to depart for Los Angeles, and together with a number of musician friends, the two jammed on some blues-rock standards. Later that night, they bonded over a mutual love of The Beatles, 70s & 80s cartoon theme songs and old Sierra adventure games.

Initially they played around Melbourne as an acoustic guitar/drums combo, starting at The Opposition in Frankston and the House of Fools in Footscray, where in late 2002 they met and later invited Michael Hubbard to join them on electric guitar. Though lacking any real experience with the instrument, Kris willingly purchased his first bass guitar and the trio was born. During this time the group start performing songs with more complicated three-part harmony.

During late 2002 and early 2003 The Basics recorded and released an album called ''Get Back'' through MGM Distribution. They began what was to become regular tours of the East and West coasts of Australia.

2004-2005: Current lineup

Tim Heath joined the group in June 2004, after Michael decided to pursue his solo career, which has included being one half of Down Hills Home. Tim was reportedly the only person to reply to an advertisement in Melbourne's Beat Magazine looking for a new guitarist. Tim apparently answered the advertisement - which said the applicant "must have a love of 50s and 60s rock'n'roll" - thinking that he would be meeting "a couple of old guys to play with on the weekends over some beers". They soon recorded ''For Girls Like You''.

The Basics in 2005 continued to tour and play small festivals, and after releasing ''For Girls Like You'' through MGM Distribution they departed for a national tour of Australia, which lasted for two months and took them to every Australian state and territory. Stuart Padbury, a young Melbourne sound engineer, joined them on much of this tour. On returning, the band began demoing songs for a new album.

2006-2009: Touring and soundtracks

In 2006, The Basics began recording what is to become known as ''Stand Out/Fit In''. This took several months and was not completed until the end of the year, despite intentions to have it released in June. Instead, they held a successful 'album preview' where each of the tracks was demonstrated in 'rough form' accompanied by a music video for each (produced by Melbourne photographic artist James Bryans). The band also talked about the origins of the songs. This event brought a lot of attention to the band for the idea's originality. They pre-released a radio single 'Just Hold On' from the album. The band were invited to play the hugely popular Homebake Festival in Sydney, where they received a great response ("one of the highlights" wrote ''The Daily Telegraph'').

In 2007, the band departed on a tri-state residency which saw them play Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane every week for the month of April - a bold move which brought further attention to the band for its original idea. Riding on the wave of this tour, Schroeder, De Backer and Heath departed on their first overseas tour which saw them performing 26 shows around Japan, Norway and the United Kingdom. They also toured twice more up the East Coast, one of which was with popular Japanese band The Bawdies. Their song 'Rattle My Chain' was used in a series of commercials for Volvo Australia. The song 'Hey There!' featured in the British film ''The Bank Job'' - starring Jason Statham - and was used as the backing for a February 2007 short film directed by Tim Longhurst called The Rip. Their song 'Better' was featured in a surfing documentary about the invention of the shortboard in 1967.

In 2008, the band appeared on Australia's Channel 9 for Australia Day celebrations, performing two of their songs - 'Just Hold On' and 'Hey There!' - to an estimated audience of 2 million. Securing an Australian Government grant, they embarked on a two-month tour of Australia, specifically targeting "culturally underprivileged groups" in rural and regional schoolchildren and Indigenous communities. The programme had them holding masterclasses and performing alongside Indigenous groups in the remote Northern Territory and Queensland. Their initiative also had them raising money for the charity Lifeline, their contribution to which was recognised with a plaque at the end of the tour. Season two of ''Californication'' starring David Duchovny featured their cover of the classic 'Have Love, Will Travel', most famously covered by 'The Sonics'.

In 2009, The Basics for the first time enjoyed the support of Australian radio network Triple J, which had reportedly snubbed the band's previous material. The singles 'With This Ship' and 'Like A Brother' were added to the station's playlist, and momentum carried The Basics overseas for a second tour of the United Kingdom and Norway, and also a series of shows in Dublin, Ireland. They were joined by the longtime front-of-house engineer Stuart Padbury who had been mixing them since 2005. The band was often seen in the Grafton Street Mall in Dublin busking to promote their concerts there. Their second show in Oslo, Norway saw the band perform with Hot Tub, one of the members of the Norwegian boy band "Boyzvoice", in his first performance for several years. Season Eight of ''Scrubs'' featured the song 'Lookin' Over My Shoulder'.

Despite all this promise, the band's album ''Keep Your Friends Close'' - produced and part-recorded by Peter Cobbin at London's Abbey Road Studios - though enjoying many favourable reviews, failed to impress Richard Kingsmill, music director of Triple J. This effectively ended the band's apparent upward spiral and the resulting album launch tour was reportedly "trying".

2010: Hiatus and live album

In 2010, following the band's fourth stint at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and the recording of a yet-unreleased live album, an indefinite hiatus was announced on the band's websites. This was in part due to the impending release of a new album produced by Wally for his Gotye project, and also to reported tensions within the band following the previous year's disappointments.

However, this hiatus was soon broken with a two-month residency at the Northcote Social Club in Melbourne, which saw an apparent return to form. The band's EP "Wait For You" enjoys airplay on Triple J. The Basics also played a one-off show at Sydney's Oxford Art Factory.

On 20 August 2010, The Basics released their fourth LP , available free online and exclusively from *[www.FreeBasicsAlbum.com]. The band had reportedly moved to expand their listenership through this free giveaway, though 300 "Deluxe" CD/Vinyl versions have been printed. was recorded at the Northcote Social Club on 6 February, "in front of a live studio audience", and like the previous record was mixed by Peter Cobbin at Abbey Road Studios. Technically a self-titled album, the phonetics spell out the accurate pronunciation of the band’s name. Kris Schroeder: "For years we’ve worked at bringing our live energy into the studio and thus far it’s been a bit hit-and-miss. Our trick this time was to pull a switcheroo and bring the studio to us instead; the result is the best and closest to us we’ve sounded yet."

Melbourne thespian and Dog With Wheels bassist David Bramble - friends with Heath from university days - has occasionally joined the band on tour, playing keys, often while sporting a large moustache. Other guests have included Jake Mason (saxophone), also of Cookin' on 3 Burners and The Bamboos, Gideon Brazil (saxophone, flute), Simon Imrei (guitar and vocals) and Monty MacKenzie (saxophone).

Covers have often made an appearance from various sources: to date, some of the bands covered have been Cream, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Police, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, New Kids on the Block, Richard Berry, Sonny Curtis and The Crickets, JJ Cale, Harry Nilsson, Bill Scott, Ryan Adams and The Coasters (via The Beatles for their cover of Three Cool Cats).

Members

Kris Schroeder: Bass, Vocals

Wally De Backer: Drums, Vocals

Tim Heath: Guitar, Vocals

Discography

Albums

Get Back (15 January 2004)

Stand Out/Fit In (5 May 2007)

Keep Your Friends Close (25 September 2009)

(20 August 2010)

EP

For Girls Like You (11 July 2005)

Lookin' Over My Shoulder (10 February 2007)

Like A Brother (5 June 2009)

Wait For You (21 May 2010)

Singles

Call It Rhythm & Blues (20 August 2004)

Just Hold On

With This Ship (22 February 2009)

Upcoming projects

The band are taking a two year hiatus, set to return to the stage together in early 2012. Wally De Backer will be launching a new album under his Gotye act in August 2011, Tim Heath will be touring and recording with Blood Red Bird, and Kris Schroeder is currently recording a solo album.

References

External links

Official Website

Myspace Website

Category:Victoria (Australia) musical groups