Minecraft

Game Description
Minecraft is an indie game, developed by Mojang, which focuses on mining and crafting. It allows players to build anything they want out of textured cubes in a 3D world. The game is divided into two main modes: free classic and the paid full-game.

These are the multiple versions of the game, each from a different stage in development.

Classic is entirely construction. It has an unlimited material supply, no mobs, and no health. It lacks goodness and many of the items that are in the alpha/beta/full-game and does not have a day/night cycle.

Alpha stage came between Classic and Beta, the Alpha stage drew the vast majority of Minecraft players to the game, the game requires players to acquire resources themselves. It contains mobs, health, and additional features and items. The gameplay is inspired by Dwarf Fortress, Dungeon Keeper, and Infiniminer. The main update of the Alpha stage was the October "Halloween Update", which added a lot of new items and features to the game.

Beta, much like Alpha, stage required the player to collect resources and craft tools and weaponry. The only difference between Alpha and Beta is the addition of more items, these items were included per-patch/update. Click here for a brief video of a mining accident and general gameplay. The main update of Beta was "the 1.8 Adventure Update" in which the gameplay was astronomically modified along with the addition of Strongholds (massive, ancient-looking dungeons).

The full-game version is the final stage of the game, the full-game version was released on the 11th November, 2011 and, to celebrate, Minecon followed.

Minecraft was developed for about a week before its first public release on May 17, 2009 on the TIGSource forums, where it gained a considerable level of popularity. It has been continually updated and patched since then. While it was still in Alpha, it gathered several hundred-thousand sales and received critical notice and acclaim from many reviewers. It passed one million units sold on January 12, 2011, less than a month after reaching beta.

In late 2010, the Yogscast started making Minecraft videos and their subscriber base exploded. Since then, there have been three seasons of the Minecraft Series, the third of which being "Shadow of Israphel", which is ongoing. They offer "play-throughs" of various types of maps, such as Planetoids, Survival Island, Gourd Avenger, Forgotten Temple, The Crevice, Prof. Grizwald, Star Trek, Four Towers and many more.

They also release frequent summary videos when an official Minecraft update is released that showcase the additions and features of the update (this has been done since Beta 1.2). In addition to this, they operate a feature called "Mod Spotlight," which showcases mods that Simon, Lewis, or Hannah believe are noteworthy.