Minecraft for Xbox adds many new features

Minecraft for Xbox doesn’t have a release date yet, but does have a bunch of hot new features you can look forward to. Bashing things with shovels? There’s a wiki for that.

“We’ve done a lot of work under the hood,” Roger Carpenter, lead XBLA producer of Microsoft Studios in Europe, told VG247.

“Obviously, because we’re on Xbox we want to contain everything on Xbox. The tradition with the PC version of looking up what the hell you’ve got to do on a wiki isn’t possible on Xbox, so we’ve gone to great pains to put pretty much the entire wiki into the Xbox version.”

There’s also drop-in, drop-out support for up to four players on a single console, as well as an additional four players over Xbox LIVE, a redesigned interface, and – for the first time ever – a proper introduction to playing the game.

“We have a very comprehensive tool, tip and crafting interface,” said Carpenter. “We also have a very comprehensive tutorial, which is new to Minecraft too. They sound like minor things to do, but they’re major things to help the player, and get people into playing as fast as possible. It’s really important.”

The game is reportedly ready for launch, and just waiting on a green light from Xbox HQ.