Just in time for the holiday season, Mojang is bringing its hit first-person block-building game for Windows PC, Minecraft, to three major North American retailers: Walmart, Target and Best Buy.
Instead of offering a boxed, disc-based version of the hit game, customers can purchase a $26.95 prepaid Minecraft card containing a software download code – the perfect stocking stuffer for your favorite PC gamer. A Mojang account isn't required to purchase the card, but it is required to redeem the code.
The new prepaid card for the PC version should address an audience that's reluctant to make purchases online. It's also handy for parents, friends and other relatives who don't want to create an account just to purchase the game as a gift. Still, Mojang continues to provide online options for purchasing the game for yourself, or as a gift code – both of which require a Mojang account.
Just recently Minecraft's creator, Markus "Notch" Persson, revealed on Twitter that he was approached by Microsoft to certify Minecraft for Windows 8. Persson said that he refused. "Got an email from Microsoft, wanting to help 'certify' Minecraft for Win 8," Persson tweeted. "I told them to stop trying to ruin the PC as an open platform."
He went on to admit on Twitter that he'd rather have Minecraft not run on Windows 8 at all than to play along with the Redmond company. "Maybe we can convince a few people not to switch to win 8 that way," he added.
Meanwhile, 4J Studios said via Twitter that Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has passed 4 million in sales. Costing 1600 Microsoft points per copy, it landed on Xbox Live Arcade back on May 9, and burned through a million sales globally within its first five days on Microsoft's network. So far the game is averaging around 27,000 sales per day, and could hit 5 million units sold before the end of the year.
