Xbox 360 Edition

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition is the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft for the Xbox 360, announced at the 2011 E3 conference by Notch and Microsoft. MineCon attendees had a chance to play the Xbox 360 Edition before its release. Notch has stated that the Xbox 360 will be the sole console provider of Minecraft.

Development
Notch later announced the team developing the game would be 4J Studios. Daniel Kaplan tweeted about receiving an early copy of Minecraft for Xbox on September 7th, 2011. Additionally, updates will be free of charge, much like on PC, and much like all other games for consoles.

Differences from PC edition
Please note that the Xbox 360 edition is currently based on an earlier version of the PC edition, and therefore lacks some items and features, such as sprinting.

For the most part the Xbox 360 edition of the game is identical to the PC edition, but has several notable differences and features:


 * The player can optionally make use of Xbox Kinect functionality to assist in their gameplay, although Kinect functionality was not available at launch.


 * The Xbox 360 edition doesn't make use of the standard crafting interface as in the original version, but still has similarities to the PC's 2x2 and 3x3 crafting grids. The interface doesn't require the Player to place items in the correct place in a crafting menu, but simply shows the blocks required to craft the selected item, and crafts it if the Player has enough blocks.


 * There are 8 default skin types, all of which appear to have Steve's face, but wearing different outfits.


 * The game features split-screen functionality, however an HDTV with a Component or HDMI cable required for Split-Screen play. Up to 4 players can play in split screen*, as well as the possibility to play 8-person online multiplayer game modes in split-screen.


 * Mods, Texture Packs and extra player skins will be available much later.


 * The Xbox 360 edition includes a tutorial mode not included in the PC version of the game. This tutorial leads the player through the basics of mining and placing blocks, crafting, as well as building their first house to survive the night (video).


 * You cannot change a world's difficulty mid-game. You can change it when you select the world for play.


 * You always begin a new world with a map.


 * Unlike the PC version, each world in the Xbox 360 Edition is currently limited to 1024 by 1024 blocks. This is approximately the size of an in-game map. It is expected, but not known if the world size will be increased along with the updates that will bring the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft up to date with the PC version.

Controls
The Xbox 360 controller controls:

"A" to jump/place item. "B" to drop/toss item. Right trigger to mine/destroy blocks; attack; toggle switches/doors. Left trigger to place/use block/item. Left/right bumper to change group of craftable items. "X" to open up the crafting menu and show description of highlighted item. "Y" to open up the inventory. Analog sticks to look/move/change selected item. Analog stick press down to sneak/walk.

MineCon
The game was showcased as a playable demo at Minecon 2011 and was deemed a 'work in progress'. 4J Studios confirmed that it has all the features of the Minecraft PC version Beta 1.6.6. IGN also filmed a video at MineCon here showing that the graphics look very similar to the graphics in the PC edition.

Release
In October 2011, Microsoft said the release was planned for Spring 2012. On March 22nd, the official release date was posted by Larry Hryb, the Director of Programming for Xbox Live, as May 9th.

Cost
The cost of the Xbox 360 edition of Minecraft is 1600 Microsoft Points.

Besides the Xbox 360 edition of Minecraft there are also Minecraft-themed Xbox Live avatar items available. Among these are Minecraft shirts, pets, items, props, and headwear, dashboard themes, and gamerpics, all of which range from 80 to 240 Microsoft Points in price.

Trivia

 * 4J Studios, the company responsible for the port to Xbox 360, was also responsible for several other video game ports, namely Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, and Perfect Dark for XBLA as well as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the PS3.
 * Minecraft was added to the Xbox Arcade download section in November 2011, although it was only possible to download the "It's here!" trailer. Nonetheless, the entry holds very high ratings.