Minecraft enthusiasts can prepare to set sail for Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas this November. No, it's not because they're (all) degenerate gamblers. Developer Markus Persson (aka Notch) will be there, launching the first full release of the game at an event dubbed MineCon. Persson first mentioned the idea of the 2011 conference back in May. The event is now scheduled for November 18th, one week later than originally planned.

Read more: MineCon dates announced

Minecraft is getting a new enemy, described by creator Markus "Notch" Persson as "possibly too creepy." Describing the creation of the new 'Enderman' enemy, Persson explains what goes into making a new mob and how the process shifted the creature's behavior along the way.

The Endermen mob is described as dark, with "long and narrow limbs." It "moves very slowly, and will pick up blocks and move them around." The first iteration felt like a regular zombie, so he made it move faster and deal more damage, but something was still missing.

READ MORE: The line between scary and creepy »

As if paying whatever you pleased for five fine indie games weren't already a fantastic bargain, The Humble Indie Bundle 3 has added another bonus to sweeten the deal. All Bundleers will now be able to play the full version of Minecraft for free until August 14.

Sure, a fortnight's trial is not as exciting as a copy of Minecraft to keep forever, but you're hardly being robbed by the Bundle, now are you?

READ MORE: How much has the Humble Bundle made? »

Markus Persson, better known as "Notch" to his followers, recently chatted with IGN about the upcoming Xbox 360 version of Minecraft--"actual game title not decided yet." Yes, although the Xbox 360 version of the game is largely based on the original PC game, Notch admits that it is "a new product... designed to work better on a console and to focus on the types of experiences you expect when playing games on a console."

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Shacknews receives a slew of new screenshots and trailers for upcoming games everyday. The most anticipated titles receive their own post, because we know you're eager to see that content. For the rest, we have the Daily Filter, a place to feature all of the media we add to our enormous database on a daily basis.

Today's Filter has a trailer promoting the "Dirty Girls" DLC for MX vs. ATV Alive (we're not kidding), an E3 demo video for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, UFC Personal Trainer in action, Rocksmith's guitar baby (again, not kidding), the "Announcement" trailer for Deathspank's next adventure The Baconing and Minecraft's recent update. Read more »

Submissions for the 2012 Independent Games Festival are now open! For those who need a refresher, IGF is the indie-focused competition featured at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco for the past thirteen years, with awards doled out in a ceremony directly preceding the Game Developers Choice awards.

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Developer Mojang Specifications has revealed that its next title, Scrolls, will follow the same staggered release plan of its runaway hit, Minecraft.

Mojang's Daniel Kaplan announced the plans to attendees of Gamelab 2011 in Barcelona (via Gamasutra), noting that Scrolls will be released "very early," and will see regular patches and updates until it is considered finished. Minecraft is still undergoing a number of updates, including a recently revealed update that will put a new adventure game tilt on the experience. Read more »

Minecraft players have already made impressive constructs with the tools the game provides. Soon, though, they'll have a powerful new toy to play with. Pistons introduce the ability to move blocks, opening up a number of potential new inventions ranging from simple doors to complex motion-driven machinery. Count on this: Minecraft players will quickly figure out how to do more with them than initially considered.

Pistons will arrive as part of patch 1.7, which the game's creator, Notch, says will be out soon in his latest blog update. To get it out, though, that's about all 1.7 will have besides a couple of new bug fixes. The long-awaited 'Adventure' update has been moved to 1.8 and Notch says. "it might be a long wait, but it will be worth it." Read more »

[Update] The group has now targeted League of Legends, bringing down the login servers and (apparently inadvertently) the Web site. The group says this "concludes" today's DDOS attacks, but we'll keep an eye out for any more shenanigans.

[Original Story] Hot off the heels of yesterday's Bethesda attacks, hacker group LulzSec has targeted more online games and even a gaming site. The group has claimed responsibility for attacks today against EVE Online, Minecraft, and gaming site The Escapist. Read more »

Indie sandbox dig 'em up Minecraft is famous for letting players create their own fun, but if you like goals in your video game, the next patch is for you. Referring to it as the "adventure update," on his blog, creator Markus 'Notch' Persson teased a little of what we can expect from update 1.7.

"We're keeping the details secret so people can get surprises. The idea with this update is to flesh out the game a bit, making it reward exploration and combat more," Persson said. Doubtless it'll all be optional, for you to dabble in if you fancy a little structure. Read more »

Mojang's indie mega-hit Minecraft is getting a console release this winter, more specifically on Xbox 360 with Kinect support, Microsoft has revealed at its E3 2011 press conference.

"I'm thrilled to announce that Minecraft is making its console debut this winter exclusively on Xbox 360 and Kinect," said Phil Spencer of Microsoft Game Studios. And that's about all we know for now. Read more »

Mojang Specifications is looking into co-publishing other developers' indie games, the Minecraft developer's business development director Daniel Kaplan has told GamesIndustry.biz.

"We are in a great spot right now, we can basically do whatever we want to. The hardest thing for us right now is to say 'no' to all the deals we're being offered," Kaplan explained. Read more »

The official launch of hugely successful indie dig 'em up Minecraft on November 11 may be celebrated with a fan convention in Las Vegas, according to creator Markus 'Notch' Persson. The crowning glory would be members of developer Mojang pushing the release version out live on stage, just like reality television stars turning on the Christmas lights in Scunthorpe.

"There'd be contests (costume, speed building, whatever else), Q&A sessions, parties and awesome food and such," Persson explained. "It'd probably cost about 90 dollars per person, excluding hotel room and travel costs, although it's possible we might be able to set up bulk deals with some hotel," he speculated. Read more »

Minecraft developer Notch laid out the plans for mod support in the game in a post on his blog. With the disclaimer that it still has to pass inspection from the lawyers, here's the gist of it. Anyone can sign up, for free, to be a "mod developer" by agreeing to a licensing deal. That deal stipulates that mods can only be played by people who have purchased the base game. Teams that want to sell their work for profit will also need to enter into a separate licensing deal for that. Mods can not be malicious. And lastly, the Minecraft team retains the right to use any mod idea and implement it themselves.

That last bit caused some concern amongst would-be mod makers. As reassurance, Notch updated his post saying, "if you make a good mod or something else based on the source code, it's highly likely we will want to license it." He also stated in the original post that it is their desire to sell good mods and that there could be some sort of mod marketplace for the game. Alternatively, Notch said they could also simply purchase nice mods and make them part of the base game. Read more »

Indie developer ProjectorGames has declared its Minecraft clone FortressCraft: Chapter 1 "the fastest selling Xbox Live Indie Game of all time," dethroning I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1 by Ska Studios.

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