Xbox 360 Edition

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

Development
Notch has confirmed that he will be the game designer on the Xbox Edition, as well as the Pocket Edition, but will not be involved in programming these editions. 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. The Xbox Edition's online play will be compatible with the PC's online servers, and you will also be able to use your account from the PC. Additionally, updates will be free of charge, much like on PC.

Exclusive features
This version of the game will be similar to the PC version, but will also have exclusive features : Beta buyers of Minecraft PC will get a 25% discount of the full game of Minecraft Xbox 360.
 * The player will optionally be able to make use of Xbox Kinect functionality to assist in their gameplay.
 * The Xbox version won't make use of the standard crafting interface as in the original version, but will still have similarities to the PC's 2x2 and 3x3 crafting grids. The interface won't require you to place items in the correct place in a crafting menu, but will simply ask what it is that you want to craft, tell you the blocks required to craft it, and—if you have those blocks—give you the item.
 * A split-screen function will be featured. Whether it will be limited to 2 players or go up to 4 players is unknown, as well as the possibility to play online multiplayer gamemodes in split-screen.

Release
Minecraft is set to release on the Xbox 360 in Spring 2012. It has been confirmed that Minecraft Xbox 360 will be out in the second quarter of 2012.

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.
 * It is rumored that updates will come to the Xbox version a month or two after corresponding updates for the PC version.
 * As of November 2011, Minecraft was added to the Xbox Arcade download section, although you can only download one of the teaser trailers. Nonetheless, It was given very high ratings and it confused the XBOX community into thinking that the game had been released at the time.
 * In 2011, after MineCon, BestBuy released on their website a pricing of MineCraft XBOX 360, which due to popularity was $60. They also supposedly slipped the release date.