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[UpUp_Away95]

Geneo, on 08 January 2013 - 05:10 PM, said:

It's interesting to read these forums.  An outsider would get the impression that MC is some kind of "super game", that it will be around forever, and that no one had better even think of messing with your "perfect game" and MS's best seller of all time!

Halo 4 sold 50 million copies in 2 weeks.
Skyrim sold 7 million copies ($450 million) in a week.  (http://www.statistic...s-v-statistics/ )
Minecraft has taken 7 months to sell 5 million copies.

MC is a small fish in a big pond, whether you like it or not.

But the question is: What's gonna happen to it when the new console comes out?  All we have to do is look at the history of consoles and their games, the latest being the Wii and Wii U.

Yes, the new 720 (or whatever it's called) will be able to play the 360 version games.  But I think that the MC720 is a no brainer.  Development on the 360 version will simply stop.  A newer, better, upgraded, more capable 720-only version will come out (MC II?).  You WILL want it- bad.  And you'll happily buy it all over again, because it will probably be way better in many ways than the PC version, simply because the PC version is getting so long in the tooth.  It's the same ole MC we've always had, they just added more to it (Nether, potions, breeding, etc.).  There comes a point where the existing underlying Java code just isn't worth updating any more.  (Besides, the PC people will demand that their version be at least as good as the MC720 version).

Bottom Line: MC, as we know it, for both the PC and xbox, can't go on forever.  Every game developer takes advantage of new technology to improve (and re-sell) their games.  If they didn't we'd all still be playing Pong (but in color!)  It's gonna be interesting to see what comes out for the 720, and I'm not just talking about MC.

Well said.  I'm looking forward to what the games become to perhaps go where no game has gone before.  Minecraft has been somewhat responsible for renewing my interest in console gaming in general.  (BTW, I still wouldn't mind a round of Pong now and then.  Well, maybe not Pong so much as Space Invaders or Pacman.  There was "something" about having that big machine at the back of the bar... but all the "kids" naturally just laugh at me when I mention it.  I even had the old SNES booted up not too long ago, but the resolution was so terribly incompatible with the HD TV that I really couldn't tell one Tetris shape from another.)

[Janx]

Geneo, on 08 January 2013 - 05:10 PM, said:

..snip...
Bottom Line: MC, as we know it, for both the PC and xbox, can't go on forever.  Every game developer takes advantage of new technology to improve (and re-sell) their games.  If they didn't we'd all still be playing Pong (but in color!)  It's gonna be interesting to see what comes out for the 720, and I'm not just talking about MC.

pretty good points.

As a developer, I know the Java code base for PC MC is a bit of a tangled mess.  Mojang is probably cleaning it up, but the goal of making new features outweighs the urge to clean up the house first.

The MC360 code is most likely a syntactical port.  Meaning they took large blocks of code from the Java and pasted it into Visual Studio and fixed the syntax differences.  They would have had to rewrite the libraries that talk to hardware (graphics, file saving), but the game logic is mostly verbatum.  So it's not going to win any awards for tidiness either.

However, the dev kit for VS 360 should make it really easy to change targets.  Just install the 720 dev kit and recompile, and you now have a 720 ready version (no new features, just same game, ready to sell in the marketplace).  they might have to fix a few deprecated routines, but it's pretty minor.

Had the 4J guys used the XNA kit, they actually could have compiled and released a Windows version of the game and a 360 version.  But the XNA kt might have some limitations as it was intended for the indie developer crowd, and not the more fomal console development industry.


Odds are good this is how it will all play out:
the 720 will play SOME of the old Arcade games.  Others will require a vendor update (they need to compile a 720 version).  Folks will buy a 720 and re-download their game, move their game saves over to the new box and keep playing their old games.

4J will ride that horse for an update or two by maintaining the MC360 version code-base with the same game on the 720 (though possibly a seperate binary that is of no consequence to us).

Then 4J will announce that the next MC update will be 720-only (perhaps calling it MC2 or MC720).  360 users will be stuck, 720 users will get the new features, which will probably include things the new hardware enables like larger worlds.

If the changes are drastic enough (requireing more re-writing, than simply updating the original code base), expect it to be a new and seperate purchase in the marketplace.  This is where you'd see it as MC2 or MC720.

If the changes are pretty trivial to their code base, (just keep coding and compiling for 720-only) then it will probably just be an update to the original title, though constrained to 720 only as far as availability.

[rigbymad20]

TheDragsonsDeck, on 07 January 2013 - 07:06 PM, said:

I think I see two distinct titles, I think when the "720" or whatever it will be releases, the updates for the Minecraft 360 stop and a new "sequel" is released for the "720" and thats the one that 4j keeps on putting updates in.  I think the "720" will allow you to play the 360 version on it, however it probably won't go past whatever version it was at when a Minecraft version that is specific for the "720" is released.  Maybe some bug fixes but thats all.

Agree.

acewingman, on 07 January 2013 - 08:17 PM, said:

It's going to be the xbox 365 not Xbox 720. There, you heard it here first.

No, its gonna be 720.

[Last_username_Im_gonna_try]

rigbymad20, on 08 January 2013 - 09:33 PM, said:

Agree.

No, its gonna be 720.

It's gonna be the Xbox Yaw a whole new angle on gaming

[Nose_Job_for_a_Cowboy]

rigbymad20, on 08 January 2013 - 09:33 PM, said:

No, its gonna be 720.

I hope to god Microsoft doesn't give their next console a name that stupid.

Judging from the very limited evidence we have, the best guess is Xbox Infinity or Xbox Loop. Infinity seems more probable, and sounds quite awesome!

[GoofyGooberSWAT]

8 Gb of Ram on Xbox 720. Worlds the size of on the PC. Hooray!!!!!! Srry if that was unclear

[C4_and_Waffles]

GoofyGooberSWAT, on 09 January 2013 - 12:23 AM, said:

8 Gb of Ram on Xbox 720. Worlds the size of on the PC. Hooray!!!!!! Srry if that was unclear

Just because we get more ram doesn't mean that there will be bigger worlds.

[TheDragsonsDeck]

C4_and_Waffles, on 09 January 2013 - 12:49 AM, said:

Just because we get more ram doesn't mean that there will be bigger worlds.

I think thats the big selling point of Minecraft II(version 2 or whatever), is that with the bigger/beefier hardware we will have a much larger map size, which is pretty well enough for me to repurchase the game, I think the world size we have now is pretty nice, however I don't play a lot with other people, but for people that play with the maximum amount of people, that world size gets small fast.

[Nose_Job_for_a_Cowboy]

C4_and_Waffles, on 09 January 2013 - 12:49 AM, said:

Just because we get more ram doesn't mean that there will be bigger worlds.

If there is a new edition coming, it will definitely allow for larger worlds. However if they want to keep drop-in split-screen multiplayer as smooth as it is, the chunk loading must remain the same. If it does, we will never have worlds anywhere near the size of the PC version, like GoofyGooberSWAT says we will.

360's chunk loading mechanics are much different from MCPC and a huge memory hog. In the PC version, RAM is such an insignificant factor it's almost completely irrelevant, in terms of how chunks are handled.

[C4_and_Waffles]

Nose_Job_For_a_Cowboy, on 09 January 2013 - 01:00 AM, said:

If there is a new edition coming, it will definitely allow for larger worlds. However if they want to keep drop-in split-screen multiplayer as smooth as it is, the chunk loading must remain the same. If it does, we will never have worlds anywhere near the size of the PC version, like GoofyGooberSWAT says we will.

360's chunk loading mechanics are much different from MCPC and a huge memory hog. In the PC version, RAM is such an insignificant factor it's almost completely irrelevant, in terms of how chunks are handled.

I personally don't care for the splitscreen because I don't have 2 controllers.
They really should do what Mojang did with how the chunks are handled and I agree that we might get bigger worlds BUT we most likely will not have "infinite" worlds.

[Nose_Job_for_a_Cowboy]

C4_and_Waffles, on 09 January 2013 - 01:21 AM, said:

I personally don't care for the splitscreen because I don't have 2 controllers.
They really should do what Mojang did with how the chunks are handled and I agree that we might get bigger worlds BUT we most likely will not have "infinite" worlds.

I don't care for split-screen either, my "real" friends can't be trusted with something as delicate as a world in Minecraft. But it's still a huge selling point and one of the few things that sets MCXBLA apart from the PC version. That's something 4J and Microsoft won't give up very easily. As for the chunk loading itself, I like it, the benefits it brings to redstone are somewhat significant. Things are possible in the 360 version that would require idle players acting as checkpoints in the PC version.

[Last_username_Im_gonna_try]

Nose_Job_For_a_Cowboy, on 08 January 2013 - 11:44 PM, said:

I hope to god Microsoft doesn't give their next console a name that stupid.

Judging from the very limited evidence we have, the best guess is Xbox Infinity or Xbox Loop. Infinity seems more probable, and sounds quite awesome!

It's modelled after the UNSC Infinity

[DaltonPlaysMinecraft]

Geneo, on 08 January 2013 - 05:10 PM, said:

Halo 4 sold 50 million copies in 2 weeks.
Skyrim sold 7 million copies ($450 million) in a week.  (http://www.statistic...s-v-statistics/ )
Minecraft has taken 7 months to sell 5 million copies.

Well, considering that Halo4 & Skyrim (Elder Scrolls) had years to build up their fans, considering they had previous games. Now minecraft, it never had a "before game" on the xbox so it's new to most people... also there was no TV ads and what not to advertise it, so they only way people know about it is either seeing it on the dashboard or their friends. (or if they have it on the PC)

[YoeXoe]

Nose_Job_For_a_Cowboy, on 08 January 2013 - 04:19 PM, said:

Not sure if this is a joke, but I'm going to reply as if it was a serious statement. Console gaming is going to be around for a long time, I believe it will die when gaming dies in general, which will happen when societies collapse and humanity dies. Consoles are user-friendly, great for kids, economical, low maintenance, plus, in terms of features, consoles become more and more like a PC with every generation. Consoles are extremely multi-purpose now, the only benefits to PC gaming anymore is that they have the capability to be more powerful, they're more versatile, and they aren't forced into using such a restrictive OS. However, that OS is one of the many things that optimize a console, allowing it to much more effectively utilize its hardware than a PC ever could.

Do you know about the steambox? It'll probably take over the consoles, that's what a lot of people are saying. Thanks for the serious reply though.

[Cakeroar]

Why would they make a sequel? And the new xbox is not called 720 or 365, its called Xbox Elite

[PurpleMushroomz]

I just hope that multiplayer over LIVE is less buggy and glitchy. My friends are constantly needing to jump in and out to get chunks to load or update.

[Cakeroar]

PurpleMushroomz, on 09 January 2013 - 02:59 AM, said:

I just hope that multiplayer over LIVE is less buggy and glitchy. My friends are constantly needing to jump in and out to get chunks to load or update.

I agree. Sometimes i cant get in to my friends game when it says that i need to be on his friends list when i am on his friends list

[HotaruTomoe]

YoeXoe, on 09 January 2013 - 02:38 AM, said:

Do you know about the steambox? It'll probably take over the consoles, that's what a lot of people are saying. Thanks for the serious reply though.

A lot of people said the world would end with the Mayan Calendar. A lot of people are wrong. Why would I ever want to buy an undoubtedly expensive box to do.. what I can already do, which is play Steam PC games on my TV?  Sure it'll sell but a console killer its not.

[Nose_Job_for_a_Cowboy]

YoeXoe, on 09 January 2013 - 02:38 AM, said:

Do you know about the steambox? It'll probably take over the consoles, that's what a lot of people are saying. Thanks for the serious reply though.

I do, but I don't know where you get that assumption. Judging from the little we know about it, and comparisons to Xi3's X7A, there is no way it could compete with consoles in terms of price range. That may change in the future, but if it doesn't, I imagine the "PC" becoming a huge flop. One thing I do like is that the machine is trying to finally bring PC gaming out of its little box under the tyranny of Windows distros.

Cakeroar, on 09 January 2013 - 02:57 AM, said:

And the new xbox is not called 720 or 365, its called Xbox Elite

... *facepalm*

[Metamorphic_Fish]

Cakeroar, on 09 January 2013 - 02:57 AM, said:

Why would they make a sequel? And the new xbox is not called 720 or 365, its called Xbox Elite

*Major facepalm...*

Ow... I hit my eye...
----------------------------------------
We would probably get bigger worlds, I don't see why not,

Infinite worlds, possibly.