4J Studios Working on Kinect Version of Minecraft

As Minecraft approaches ever closer to its official "launch date" this November, the universe itself continues to expand to various other platforms. Most recently Microsoft announced at E3 that a Kinect-enabled version would be making its way to the Xbox 360.

Well we now have some more information about that, Markus "Notch" Perrson creator of Minecraft revealed last night via his Twitter account that 4J Studios will be handling the 360 port of the gaming phenomenon. For those unfamiliar with 4J, they've worked with Microsoft before, they're the ones who ported Perfect Dark, and the two Banjo-Kazooie games to the Xbox Live Arcade. They also ported The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion to the PS3.

Minecraft is also going mobile this year, though that will be handled by an in-house team. It'll show up on Android first (Sony's Xperia Play) and iOS devices after that. This is all of course in addition to constant updates being made to the main game itself in preperation for it moving out of beta and into final.

Minecraft Officially Releasing on 11/11/11

With the success of Minecraft still on-going (and the fact that some people actually think they're playing a "full" game), it's finally getting something that's been long ovderdue, an official release date. After so long, with the game currently still in beta, it's about damned time it got out of that stage of development.

"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," says "Notch," the creator of Minecraft.

Indie games have been going mainstream and Minecraft is without a doubt something that is inspirational to other indie devs. Indies do need to start off somewhere!

Independent Games Festival 2011 Finalists Announced

The 13th Annual Independent Games Festival finalists for 2011 have been announced. These are the creme of the crop of indie games, Minecraft is up for 3 awards including the "Seumas McNally Grand Prize." As is the terrifying Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

Other finalists include Supergiant Games' Bastion, Gaijin Games' Bit.Trip Runner, and Messhof's Nidhogg. Those attending the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco will be able to check out all of these games on the show floor starting February 28, 2011. Check out all the nominees below, the IGF awards will be held March 2nd.

Seumas McNally Grand Prize:

• Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Frictional Games)
• SpyParty (Chris Hecker)
• Desktop Dungeons (QCF Design)
• Minecraft (Mojang)
• Nidhogg (Messhof)

Honorable mentions: Neptune's Pride (Iron Helmet Games); Super Crate Box (Vlambeer); Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale (Carpe Fulgur); Bit.Trip Runner (Gaijin Games); Retro City Rampage (Vblank Entertainment).

Excellence In Visual Art

• Bastion (Supergiant Games)
• The Dream Machine (Cockroach)
• Cave Story (2010 Edition) (Nicalis)
• Bit.Trip Runner (Gaijin Games)
• Hohokum (Honeyslug & Richard Hogg)

Honorable mentions: Retro City Rampage (Vblank Entertainment); Cobalt (Oxeye Game Studio); Faraway (Steph Thirion); Helsing's Fire (Ratloop); Flotilla (Blendo Games).

Technical Excellence

• Minecraft (Mojang)
• Confetti Carnival (SpikySnail Games)
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Frictional Games)
• Neverdaunt:8Bit (Robot Loves Kitty)
• Miegakure (Marc Ten Bosch)

Honorable mentions: Cobalt (Oxeye Game Studio); Achron (Hazardous Software); Hazard: The Journey Of Life (Demruth); Overgrowth (Wolfire Games); Swimming Under Clouds (Piece Of Pie Studios)

Excellence In Design

• Desktop Dungeons (QCF Design)
• Super Crate Box (Vlambeer)
• Nidhogg (Messhof)
• Faraway (Steph Thirion)
• Minecraft (Mojang)

Honorable mentions: Helsing's Fire (Ratloop); Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale (Carpe Fulgur); Flotilla (Blendo Games); Bo (Mahdi Bahrami); Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally OK Now [B.U.T.T.O.N.] (Copenhagen Game Collective)

Excellence In Audio

• Bastion (Supergiant Games)
• Retro City Rampage (Vblank Entertainment)
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Frictional Games)
• Bit.Trip Beat (Gaijin Games)
• Cobalt (Oxeye Game Studio)

Honorable mentions: Bit.Trip Runner (Gaijin Games); Cave Story (2010 Edition) (Nicalis); Jamestown (Final Form Games); NightSky (Nicalis); Planck (Shadegrown Games)

Best Mobile Game

• Shot Shot Shoot (Erik Svedang)
• Colorbind (Nonverbal)
• Helsing's Fire (Ratloop)
• Solipskier (Mikengreg)
• Halcyon (Stfj)

Honorable mentions: Flick Kick Football (PikPok); Shibuya (Nevercenter); Spirits (Spaces Of Play); Tentacles (Press Play); Trainyard (Matt Rix)