DGN Ep 3 - Minecraft, FIFA 12, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection and More!

Minecraft Reaches 10 Million Users

Minecraft has passed the milestone of ten million registered users. Posting on Twitter, creator Markus Persson confirmed that the world creation sim recently surpassed the landmark figure.

"Minecraft just passed ten million registered users," he tweeted. As users do not need to register to try out the 'Creative' version of Minecraft, the total number of users who have played the game is thought to be significantly higher. Earlier this year, it was reported that Minecraft has generated profits of more than £20m despite still being in beta. The title picked up numerous awards at year's Independant Games Festival and the 11th Game Developer Choice Awards.

The full version of Minecraft will be available from November 11.

Minecraft Update Released: List of Changes Plus Trailer

Minecraft 1.7 update has now been released by Mojang, although many fans may be left slightly disappointed as it’s unfortunately not the ‘Adventure Update’ that they were expecting. According to a recent article by John Jacques over on the gamerant.com website, the adventure update – which would ‘flesh out the game a bit’ – will be the 1.8 version instead


Version 1.7 only brings a small amount of changes compared to other Minecraft updates, with the new pistons probably being the most anticipated. The pistons will enable players to utilize the power of movement to shove up to 12 blocks, depending on the blocks’ position compared to the piston block. Gamers can also use the pistons as a floodgate, pushing lava or water in order to create a flow of liquid.


Plus a whole bunch of other stuff which the pistons can be used for, The trailer will reveal all.

Mojang's Next Game Will Use Minecraft Model

Minecraft is much different from your average game -- it's essentially a sandbox world where you can create anything you want, and there have been some amazing things created from  Zelda adventure to a recreation of a Chrono Trigger area to A link to past worlds to Pokemon Kanto enormous holes to Earth... you get the idea. Its business model, too, is unusual; it was developed briefly and then released to the public long before it was finished. It began being sold while it was still in alpha and remains in beta as of today -- it won't be "officially" released until this November, more than two years after it first became available.

Developer Mojang's next game, Scrolls, differs from Minecraft both in theme (it's a card/board game hybrid) and in that it's being developed by five people, not almost entirely by one. The way it's rolled out to the public, however, will be very similar.

"With our new game, Scrolls, we'll follow the same formula as Minecraft," Mojang's Daniel Kaplan told Gamasutra at Gamelab 2011. "That means we'll release the game very early," as soon as it's playable in some capacity.

Like Minecraft, it'll be sold even in this very early stage of development. That's not something many other developers would be willing to do. It's unquestionably a model that has brought a great deal of success to Mojang -- more than 2.6 million people have bought Minecraft at one of its various price points (it was offered at a larger discount during alpha and remains 25% off the final price during the ongoing beta), and more than 8,000 purchases have been made in the past 24 hours alone.

Scrolls was announced earlier this year. Very little is known, and the only details and concept art comes from a brief description offered up on its official website. No release date has been announced. 

Police Arrest 19 Year Old Hacker

Scotland Yard have arrested a 19 year old hacker based in Wickford, Essex, following a series of hack attacks and denials of service. Some sources are currently attributing the individual to hacking group LulzSec, who have also previously hacked Bethesda, Fox and the US Senate and used DDoS attacks on the servers of Minecraft and EVE online.
Scotland Yard, who would not confirm the arrest is related, have released the following statement:

“Officers from the Metropolitan Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) have arrested a 19-year-old man in a pre-planned intelligence-led operation.
The arrest follows an investigation into network intrusions and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against a number of international business and intelligence agencies by what is believed to be the same hacking group.
The teenager was arrested on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act, and Fraud Act offences and was taken to a central London police station, where he currently remains in custody for questioning.
Searches at a residential address in Wickford, Essex, following the arrest last night have led to the examination of a significant amount of material. These forensic examinations remain ongoing.
The PCeU was assisted by officers from Essex Police and have been working in co-operation with the FBI.”

There has also been unconfirmed reports that LulzSec have manged to steal the entire UK Census database, although this is purely based on a Pastebin drop rather than anything official from the group.
If true, the repercussions could be enormous.