Microsoft announced today that it will be launching a retail version of Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition in stores on April 30. The new retail version of the game will include all the latest features of its digital counterpart including the ninth title update that’s on the way.

The retail version will be identical to the digital version in every way. That means retail players will be able to play online with those who only own a digital copy. As expected, the retail copy will also receive all future updates.

There’s no word on if the retail copy will come with any special features or extras, but it would be a great opportunity on Microsoft’s part to encourage those who already own the digital version to buy the retail version. Minecraft diehards will probably pick up the retail release anyway, but a little something extra – like a download code for the Minecraft documentary – definitely wouldn’t hurt.

Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition will launch in the U.S. on April 30 for $20. Gamers in Australia, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan will be getting it in early June.

Mojang’s Jens Bergentsen announced this morning that the next update for Minecraft Pocket Edition – version 0.6.0 – has been submitted for review. That means players should see the update hit the iOS and Android version of the title in the next one to two weeks.

Here’s all the new additions you can expect from version 0.6.0:

New features:

Tweaks:

Bug fixes:

As you can see, quite a bit of work went into the latest version of Minecraft’s mobile counterpart. There should be plenty of new content here to keep Minecraft Pocket Edition’s 5 million players satisfied until the next update.

Unfortunately, not everybody will be able to enjoy this latest update. Mojang announced that this latest version of Minecraft Pocket Edition is dropping support for Android 2.1 and 2.2. You’re going to need Android 2.3 or higher now to play the latest version. Older versions of the game will still work on older versions of Android though.

The next update to hit Minecraft: Pocket Edition will bring the game up to version 0.5.1. It’s not the mythical 0.6.0 update that will bring a lot of new features to the game, but the latest update will feature a number of additions that will make any Minecraft fan happy.

For starters, the update will finally add signs to the mobile version of the game. You can check out a preview of what they look like on Johan’s Twitter feed. Clouds and bluer skies are also being added with clouds being only available on fast devices.

The biggest addition to version 0.5.1 is gravity. Now certain block types will fall when losing the support of blocks beneath it. I’m sure some players enjoyed the gravity defying blocks of the Pocket Edition, but the addition of gravity is just one more step towards making Pocket Edition just like its console and PC cousins.

As for the big update coming with version 0.6.0, the team has revealed some of what they’re working on. First, caves will be added for those with faster devices as the feature seems to cripple older devices. The update will also probably add stone brick slabs and stairs alongside Redstone and Redstone powered objects. There’s a chance that these could show up in 0.5.1, but it’s more likely that these features are being saved for the big 0.6.0 update.

So, when can you expect to see the 0.5.1 update hitting your favorite mobile device? Mojang is planning on having it out by the end of the month. If not, it will be out at the beginning of February. Until then, keep mining your anti-gravity blocks while you have the chance.

[h/t: Droid Gamers]

The holiday season was particularly big for Minecraft, as over 1.2 million copies of the game were sold during the week of Christmas. The PC version of the game, where it originated, was actually the platform where the fewest copies were sold, with 241,845 copies sold for Mac or PC over the week.

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has proven to be incredibly popular with Xbox gamers. It broke Xbox LIVE sales records when it was released last may, and over 5 million copies have been sold since. 325,591 copies of the Xbox 360 version were sold during the week of Christmas.

For those who are still denying that mobile has become a legitimate form of gaming, consider that Minecraft: Pocket Edition sold almost 5.9 million copies on iOS and Android last year. The mobile edition sold 706,419 copies during Christmas week alone.

At $7 each, that’s a cool $41 Million just from mobile sales in 2012. Considering that the Xbox 360 edition costs $20 and the PC version is $27, that’s well over $200 million that the small Swedish developer raked in last year. That’s a significant increase to the $80 million Mojang made in the first 15 months after Minecraft was released.

Mark Cuban and Markus “Notch” Persson have each donated $250,000 dollars toward the EFF’s goal of reforming software patent laws. Cuban is the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Notch is the outspoken creator of the popular video game Minecraft.

“The current state of patents and patent litigation in this country is shameful,” said Cuban. “Silly patent lawsuits force prices to go up while competition and innovation suffer. That’s bad for consumers and bad for business. It’s time to fix our broken system, and EFF can help. So that’s why part of my donation funds a new title for EFF Staff Attorney Julie Samuels: ‘The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents’.”

Cuban has been outspoken in the past about his hatred of patent trolls and poor patent laws. Back in April 2012, Cuban ranted about the current state of technology patents while discussing a lawsuit between Facebook and Yahoo.

Notch pioneered a pricing model for Minecraft based on how finished the game was at the time of purchase. He also founded Mojang, a new Swedish indie-game developer that has taken in over $80 million since the release of Minecraft.

“Temporary fixes aren’t good enough – we need deep and meaningful reform to protect software development and keep it as free and democratic as possible,” said Notch. “New games and other technological tools come from improving on old things and making them better – an iterative process that the current patent environment could shut down entirely. This is a dangerous path we’re on, and I’m glad to help EFF move us in the right direction.”

The EFF’s Defend Innovation project proposes seven ways in which the U.S. patent system could be reformed for the better, including shorter terms for software patents; allowing winning parties in patent litigation to recover fees and costs; and protecting inventors who independently invent an already patented idea. The organization stated that the Cuban/Notch donations will go to the hiring of a new attorney experienced in patent reform and to the organization’s continuing efforts to push for patent reform through the courts, activism campaigns, and public education.

Johan Bernhardsson, one of the developers on Minecraft Pocket Edition, took to Twitter this morning to announce that Minecraft Pocket Edition is doing pretty well for itself:

Follow @jbernhardsson

Johan Bernhardsson
@jbernhardsson

5 million of you have bought Minecraft Pocket Edition, amazing!

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10 hours ago via MetroTwit · powered by @socialditto

Minecraft Pocket Edition is the second version of the game to hit 5 million sales. The PC version passed 8 million sales back in November, and it was recently reported that the Xbox 360 version is almost there with 4.4 million copies sold. The Minecraft franchise as a whole has now surpassed 17.5 million sales, which is not too shabby for an indie developer.

With this sales milestone behind it, what’s next for the little brother of the Minecraft franchise? Bernhardsson says that version 0.5.1 is slated for release in late January/early February. It will be the first update for Pocket Edition since Minecraft PC development head Jeb joined on as the head of development for Pocked Edition as well.

[h/t: Joystiq]

To help combat this particularly depressing scenario, FigurePrints has started to make 3D prints of Minecraft creations. The company has already made a name for itself by crafting 3D printed models of players’ World of Warcraft and Xbox Live avatars.

An entire Minecraft world is obviously a bit more complicated, but the folks at FigurePrints are ready to take on the challenge. Speaking to Wired, FigurePrints founder Ed Fries says that he wrote a program that lets the company “view the Minecraft world – it can detect anything that is floating and that solves a lot of problems, it can fill in parts that are completely enclosed and it can shell parts to make it less expensive.”

Minecraft players interested in having their words turned into physical objects will be pleased to know the process is pretty simple. First, you’ll need to download the Minecraft World Exporter for free from FigurePrints’ Web site. After that, choose a portion of the world you want printed and send it off to FigurePrints to be made. The price varies, but you’ll be paying about $100 for any given model.

It should be noted that it will take the guys at FigurePrints about a month to print out any model. It might take longer depending on how complicated the model is. Fries told Wired that some models may also be rejected due to their complexity. Those interested are encouraged to pick relatively solid models that are free of empty space or floating blocks.

Over the weekend, 4J Studios published another big list of changes and fixes coming to Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition in the coming weeks.

Changes and Additions:

Fixes:

There’s no solid release date for the above fixes, but it sounds like the update will be coming your way soon. 4J Studios, however, has been answering questions about the latest update and dropping some more details about it on Twitter. The developer said that villagers will be in the next update, and that the recipe for golden apples will use gold ingots for now.

In other Minecraft news, the PC version of Minecraft just passed another major sales milestone as reported by Notch on Twitter.

Follow @notch

Markus Persson
@notch

The PC version of Minecraft just passed 8 million sales! My face is making grinning sounds, so I assume it’s grinning!

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5 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Back in September, Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition surpassed 4 million total sales. Across the two platforms, Minecraft has now surpassed 12 million total sales. That’s a great number for anybody. As far as indie success goes, Mojang is clearly on top. It’ll be hard to replicate that success, but Scrolls and 0x10c are both looking mighty fine.

Notch started up a new YouTube channel recently to drop some information on the progress he’s making with 0x10c. Those familiar with Minecraft will be instantly at home with the game’s primitive, yet charming, visual style. What it lacks in visuals, however, it makes up for in complexity. The player is on board a realistic space ship, and the game will require the player to treat it as such.

The test footage doesn’t show any of the more complex actions that Notch has mentioned, but it still looks good. The physics, in particular, are looking very nice at the moment. Unfortunately, what we see now may never come to pass. Speaking to the Penny Arcade Report, Notch said that he might start over because the game isn’t exactly fun in its current form.

Either way, I’m sure 0x10c will be brilliant. Minecraft may not be my cup of tea, but I still am constantly in awe of how groundbreaking its design was. I may end up not liking 0x10c, but that shouldn’t make it any less stellar.

What Microsoft is planning is an Xbox-like (and possibly branded) game store where developers and publishers will have to get their games approved before they can sell it. Other platforms, such as Valve’s Steam or EA’s Origin, will still be available to PC users, but having a game store built into the OS certainly gives the impression that Microsoft’s game store will be the “official” source for games on a Windows 8 PC. This is especially egregious to indie developers, who often have trouble with companies such as Microsoft when it comes to having their games approved.

This week, Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson vocally criticized Microsoft and Windows 8 over Twitter. Notch tweeted out that Microsoft contacted him for help to “certify” Minecraft, and the developer told the company to go shove it:

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Markus Persson
@notch

Got an email from microsoft, wanting to help “certify” minecraft for win 8. I told them to stop trying to ruin the pc as an open platform.

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1 day ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto

He followed up with a bold proclamation:

Follow @notch

Markus Persson
@notch

I’d rather have minecraft not run on win 8 at all than to play along. Maybe we can convince a few people not to switch to win 8 that way..

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1 day ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto

It’s easy to see why indie developers are wary of Windows 8 “certification.” If games have to be approved to make it into Microsoft’s store and seem legitimate to the average PC user, the traditional openness of the PC gaming market could begin to close off to all but the major publishers. Also, while Newell’s comments may seem like the words of a game market competitor, Valve has recently made its Steam platform more open to indie developers with the launch of Steam Greenlight, which allows Steam users to vote on which indie games make it into the store.