Minecraft could be the first 360 game to see constant updates

By Fred Dutton Published 20 January, 2012

But they'll never be as regular as on PC, says dev.

The studio behind the Xbox Live Arcade port of PC phenomenon Minecraft believes it will be the first game on the system to see "constant updates".

As it stands, the update process on the Xbox 360 is a laborious process, as Microsoft demands to approve every single patch before it goes live. Paddy Burns, chief technology officer at Minecraft XBLA developer 4J Studios, told Edge that that's about to change.

"Microsoft knows that to do a similar thing that's on PC where they constantly update it, that's a very difficult thing to do on Xbox because you have to go through the full tests," he explained.

"But they are quite keen to move towards that - they do see it as the future, so I think we might be the first to do constant updates."

However, Burns added that gamers shouldn't expect the same frequency of updates as in the PC version.

"I don't think it'll ever come to that. I think that there will always be Microsoft testing involved.

"But the whole turnaround of that testing they're hoping to speed up, so we can maybe roll out every two months. We'll have to see how that goes... I'm really looking forward to it being updated with patches and new features after it's released."

Burns also revealed that the version of the game that will initially launch on Xbox Live Arcade later this year will be version 1.6.6 of the PC beta.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 1 month ago

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  • JMac Verified Designer, Rebellion #1 1 month ago

    That sounds like it could get very expensive unless MS stop charging developers for releasing updates!

  • MattEdWithCheese #2 1 month ago

    1.6.6? So no endermans? :3

  • Subdominator #3 1 month ago

    It's a second party game published by MS Studios, I doubt they'll charge themselfs for updates. But to go for 1.6.6 sounds strange. It's basically the same approach as with the PC version, they have no interest in completing the game before release, they just release a beta version. TBH it's worse than Minecraft PC. That was Beta 1.9 when it became Final. Minecraft XBLA will be over a year behind the PC version in terms of content.

  • Scurrminator #4 1 month ago

    MS testing for updates is - does it boot with the update > if yes then release. Which is why you get all the game breaking title updates.

  • linksdad #5 1 month ago

    I bet they get fed up of certification after a couple of updates and stop.

  • Bravestinsane #6 1 month ago

    TBH, i think it will be shit on Xbox

    On PC endless mods, texture packs its crazy what i have seen some people do, its a huge part of the game and a huge part that wont be available on the xbox.

    TBH, just buy it on PC, the requirements are non existent, unless your running a brick from 1998 you will probably be able to run it and get all t he great community mods that are available.

  • Skooch #7 1 month ago

    "MS testing for updates is - does it boot with the update > if yes then release. Which is why you get all the game breaking title updates."

    Fool.

  • Po1ymorph #8 1 month ago

    1.6.6 beta, so they are not even updating to 1.0.0 before it's even released.

    Was contemplating getting this on XBLA as well but not any more.

  • Jamiesan #9 1 month ago

    To be honest, I wouldn't have any problems playing vanilla on a 360, as long as they don't bork up the multiplayer experience.
    1.6.6 isn't exactly promising, either. I wonder if they are having performance trouble porting anything after that point? A lot of people reported heavy performance hits when patching to v1.8.1 or so(IIRC), and the 360 only has half a gig of RAM....

  • jogyourmind #10 1 month ago

    This just shows how crap the situation is for gaming. The consoles were meant to be cheap and easy to develop for thanks to their unified hardware, but because of these hurdles they have to jump through and pay extra for, it turns out to not be the case. And meanwhile, I don't exactly feel too great being a PC gamer when what they are basically saying is that they can get away with releasing any old shite for the PC even if it breaks everything that went before it, there is no testing done on it so it's easy to mass produce patches at one every 5 minutes.
    Edited by 1 at 20/01/12 @ 15:56

  • Canyarion #11 1 month ago

    Mr. Burns made me giggle.

  • BearFishPie #12 1 month ago

    Meh, XBLA Minecraft will be 99.95% more Minecraft than I have currently (Minicraft on t'Android), so regardless of version number I'm helluva excited to finally have it.

    Has there been any word on a likely price point?

  • roquey Verified Lead Quality Assurance Tester and Compliance Specialist, Universally Speaking #13 1 month ago

    @Scurrminator I love it when people like you have no knowledge of how the system works.

  • DerpSalad #14 1 month ago

    lol at the idea of minecraft updates being "constant" or "regular". Just lol.

  • cheeky-sod #15 1 month ago

    But they'll never be as regular as on PC, says dev.
    Is that ment to make us buy it? based on that, i'd never buy it now lol

  • Zaiz #16 1 month ago

    @JAGUARCD32x You don't know what Minecraft is?

    what

  • subedii #17 1 month ago

    @JAGUARCD32x :

    The aim of the game is pretty much what you make of it. It's a big sandbox, incredibly simple to interact with, just as simple in appearance, and some people like it, some people don't see the point of it. The name is the game: You mine, and you craft. You hit blocks of stuff to get materials, you use block of materials to make stuff. Everything from swords to gigantic mansions, or a full representation of the USS Enterprise. It's like a giant lego set, only... not.

    It might be handier just to watch Zero Punctuation's review of it. Surprisingly, it's one of the few games he's ever really gushed about.

    And no, you don't buy it off Steam, it's available off of its own website.

  • cloudskipa #18 1 month ago

    I haven't played Minecraft and purposely stayed away from it as I wanted to experience it on a console. I don't like the mouse and k/b interface, I want to play it on my Xbox so for me and others like me this game will be great.

    It's good to hear that we will see frequent updates, I don't mind being a few weeks behind PC gamers in this respect. It was obvious that this game would always be behind the PC build.

    Seriously some of you guys, lighten up, the game's obviously gonna be good.

  • FluffyTucker #19 1 month ago

    Everyone got bored of Minecraft 6 months ago

  • alexbulluk #20 1 month ago

    Shame this won't come to PS3. I no longer have a working 360, but I would like to try this.

    Odd choice about launching it as version 1.6.6 Beta. You'd think they would be after enchantment, etc.

  • jogyourmind #21 1 month ago

    @alexbulluk

    Cant you play it on your pc?