Minecraft: Building a better beta

​Unless you've been living in a dark, water-filled cavern you discovered hidden just under your house for the past year, chances are you've heard about this indie gaming sensation all the kids have been diving into recently known as Minecraft.

 

Not even released as a proper title yet, the available build has already earned the solo creator like a bazillion dollars, giving him the chance to bring on new staff and found Mojang AB, who happened to announce yesterday that their little-toybox-game-that-could is officially entering Beta.

 

That pause was to allow all those folks playing the game to flood the Earth with a roaring, unanimous cheer.

 

Originally the sole work of Markus Persson and released in Alpha back in May of 2009, Minecraft has already attracted more than 2.5 million users and 800,000 paying customers. Here at "award season," the title has already received tons of accolades from the gaming press. And did we mention it's only just now going into Beta?

 

Here's what Persson had to say about this next huge step for the title and what it will mean for all those people digging, building and destroying to their heart's content.

 

"During Beta, we will focus on stabilizing, testing and adding new multiplayer features," Persson said. "We will also introduce a new mod-api to make the most of our fantastic developer community."

 

Now that it's in Beta, Minecraft has been discounted by 25 percent (now $15), before going back up to 20 bucks for the impending final release, hopefully sometime in 2011.