Notch still a PC developer, Minecraft 1.7 first details released

One of the most surprising moments of E3 this year occurred in the space of about eight seconds right in the middle of the Microsoft's press conference. Minecraft is headed to the Xbox 360 , the speaker announced, and then moved onto something else as though it wasn't a big deal. Around the world Xbox and PC gamers did a collective double take. Some of us even choked on our tea and said "whaaa?" out loud.

In his latest blog post , Notch has provided some more info on development on the 360 and Android phone versions of the Minecraft , and has given us a taste of what to expect from update 1.7, to be known henceforth as "The Adventure Update."

We admit to a slight overreaction upon hearing news of the Xbox version of Minecraft. In hindsight, tweeting " BEEETRRTTTRAAYYYER! " at Notch wasn't entirely fair. Have no fear, Minecraft fans, Notch is still well and truly a PC developer.

Notch clarified his position on the Xbox, Android and Xbox versions of Minecraft on his blog, saying "I will be the game designer on both new Minecraft titles, but I won't be involved in the programming as I'm focused on the PC version of Minecraft."

Minecraft on Xbox will be "a new version of the game, designed specifically for console play." Notch adds that "it will feature (but not require) Kinect support, and is being released “this winter”. It will be a 360 exclusive title."

As for the accusation of betrayal, Notch responded, tweeting "Not me, just people I pay. ;D I personally plan on being a pc game developer for a looong time."

Now that's sorted, we can all look forward to the next Minecraft update, which Notch refers to on his blog as the "adventure update."

"Notch has posted the first information about the upcoming Minecraft 1.7 patch, now known as the "Adventure Update." Notch is secretive about the precise features 1.7 will add, but says "the idea with this update is to flesh out the game a bit, making it reward exploration and combat more."

Notch will also start adding mod support with the 1.7 update as well. "We're starting the modding support on a small scale with 1.7. We'll be giving the source code out to a very VERY small group of people before the release of 1.7. We'll use those experiences to work out the final details, then we'll get the modding api out as soon as possible after 1.7 has been released."

There's more.

"Assuming we like them in play testing, pistons are coming in 1.7."

PISTONS! For more Minecraft madness, have look at our pick of the ten best Minecraft mods , and read all about Tom's adventures in Minecraft .