Minecraft to release nightly test builds, full Minecraft release planned for late this year

Minecraft cake

Minecraft's creator Notch has updated his blog with his latest plans for Minecraft. The team is looking to release nightly test builds that will run parallel to the beta game, giving players a chance to try the new features the team is experimenting with as soon as they're implemented. Notch also says that they're aiming to release the full 1.0 version of Minecraft late this year. He has also added cake to the game.

The nightly builds stem from the team's decision to continue to spend half of development time putting new ideas into the game, instead of simply smoothing everything out for a full release. Notch warns that the test builds are likely to be very buggy, but they'll give players an advanced look at some of the ideas that are might make it into the full game.

In spite of the fact that Minecraft has only just entered beta phase of development, nearly one million copies have been sold. Notch says "We have no idea how to celebrate that. It feels bizarre and amazing and huge, and I can't stop talking about it." Whether by means of celebration or coincidence, Notch has added cake to the game, which should go in with the next Minecraft update on Thursday.

For more in Minecraft check out Tom's adventures in Minecraft , or head over to Notch's blog and the Minecraft site.

Tom Senior

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.

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