Minecraft Reaches Beta Status, Price Goes Up 279
Eric writes "After over a year of development, Minecraft has hit Beta status today. Minecraft was developed for about a week before its public release on May 17, 2009. With the new milestone, the price of the game has increased to €14.95; when Minecraft moves beyond beta status, it will sell for €20.00. The beta is more focused on polish and content. The aim is to add proper modding support via a stable API, some kind of non-intrusive narrative to help drive the game experience early on, and a late-game goal. Updates will be less frequent, so as to make sure stability is maintained thanks to more extended testing. Despite this, there have already been two beta releases: client and server Beta 1.0 followed quickly by client 1.0_01."
Preorder now! (Score:4, Insightful)
Minecraft Reaches Beta Status, Price Goes Up
If there's one thing I don't do, it's buy software that isn't written yet. Maybe under some limited conditions in custom software both otherwise, let me know when you're done and what you're charging for it and I'll consider it.
Re:Preorder now! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Preorder now! (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not like Notch twisted anybody's arm. Several hundred thousand people, myself included, enjoy the game enough in its current form to be willing to pay for it. And if that means it's cheaper and we get all the add-ons for free, all the better.
Poor programmer? (Score:5, Insightful)
Regardless of whether you blame Minecraft's success on luck or Notch's genius, he's a rather poor programmer. If you read through the release notes on his blog, he's apparently incapable of adding features without breaking lots of stuff on the way and waiting for him to fix basic functionality can take months.
I don't know if that's true or not, but I do know that programming 'under the spotlight' can be very distracting. What with twitter, blog comments, and forums there are far too many ways for the customer base to contact Notch 24/7. That's got to make fixing stuff hard if people are constantly shouting "FIX IT!" in your ear.
Re:Preorder now! (Score:4, Insightful)
I bought it thinking I would probably get my money's worth eventually. Instead, what I found was that I had 10 euros of fun in the first day, and the rest of the next couple weeks was pure bonus. I don't play it now, but I intend to play it again once there are actual goals... And I'll continue to reap value from that purchase.
I was a little sad to see that future purchases won't have the major updates included, but I did already tell all my friends about it, so it's their fault for missing it.
Re:Preorder now! (Score:5, Insightful)
in other words... If you like the grinding in other games, you'll love minecraft as it is never ending grinding.
never ending....
I want the last 210 hours back..... Wait, I have to build more walls.... brb...
Re:Poor programmer? (Score:2, Insightful)
I've never had Minecraft crash on me. Are you playing a pirated copy or something?
SMP required a rather large re-write, so there are definitely issues with it. Considering that server-side inventory was just released (in beta-state, mind you), issues like item duplication are almost expected.
Re:Poor programmer? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm pretty tired of the "unless you've done something better, shut up" argument. Why do I need to demonstrate I'm a super-star programmer before I can complain about a game that isn't fun? Or a best-selling musician before I can comment on how crappy certain songs are? If I call a film out as having really poorly-acted, is my opinion invalid because I'm not Ian McKellan?
If you have released something into the public eye, and it is flawed, then you know what? I'm going to say so. I'm not going to hold my mouth shut while thinking "well, I don't know how to fix his game-save corruption bug, so I guess it's none of my business", especially if I've paid for the damned thing. I'm going to say "Hey, what happened to my save? Fix it!" And likewise, if they make something great, then I'll say so too. If the programmer/musician/actor/whoever is worth their salt, they'll learn from the criticism, and graciously accept the praise.
Now, don't get me wrong; the AC above was being whiny, especially given the game's literally under 24 hours out of Alpha. But just tell them "Hey, you're being a whiny bitch, file a bug report and enjoy what works", not "Could I just see your programming credentials? Oh, Mr. Newell, I didn't know... I guess this means you were right all along."
Re:Preorder now! (Score:5, Insightful)
Plus, this kind of model seems to be getting more common these days: You first have people preorder and then use their preorder money to actually develop the product. OpenPandora Ltd. is using the same approach to develop a handheld console - and they can't even deliver prerelease versions. Yet it works.
It's pretty interesting. Essentially you crowdsource for development capital; this allows startups and independent developers to take a shot at developing and releasing a product without having the required funds up front. Of course it puts the risk on the customer but it's interesting nonetheless.
Re:why would anyone want to play this? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, it is "that bad" although I don't really think it's fair to judge it in that manner. It's like playing with legos, scribbling in a sketch pad, singing to oneself, or writing poetry. Just a creative outlet for its own sake. So what if it's "just like a sandbox?" Nobody criticizes children for liking to play in a sandbox. It's fun and if it weren't so messy, I'm sure some adults would continue to do it. So why not create a game that allows for some of that sandbox experience?