With Notch busy over at Minecon and the entire Minecraft world eagerly awaiting the game’s graceful departure from Beta, there was just one thing missing: Minecraft on your iPhone. Though it has long been known to be in the works, the game apparently launches tomorrow, November 17, or now if you’re in New Zealand.
According to iTunes NZ, the game is designed to run on both iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. You’ll need at least version 4.3 of iOS to run the game, but for most people that won’t be an issue. The $9.99 price tag may be a hurdle for some, but this is Minecraft we’re talking about. Most importantly, the game is a mere 2.3mb so you’ll be able to start downloading as soon as you purchase, without needing to connect to any pesky Wi-Fi networks.
While details on the game are slim, what we can discern from the iTunes screen shots is that the game will have an onscreen set of semi-transparent directional controls. At the center of the four arrow buttons is what appears to be the jump button, and truncated pallet gives you fast access to three items, with the rest presumably available from the player’s inventory.
The game will support multiplayer games, but it sounds like those will only be possibe via Wi-Fi and will be hosted on the user’s phone. The description of the game at iTunes says, “invite and play with friends to your world.” Which, while difficult to parse, sounds a lot like how Animal Crossing handled multiplayer; one player hosts the game and the rest are visitors.
It’s not clear how the pocket version of the game will interact with the PC version, if at all, but who cares, because you’ll have the ability to play Minecraft wherever you are. In short, I will never be able to use my aging iPhone 3GS ever again because its precious battery time will be entirely given over to building fortresses.
(iTunes NZ via)
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