Microsoft buys Mojang for 2.5 Billion, Founder "Notch" Persson to Depart

Following reports that the two companies were in talks, yesterday on September 15, Mojang, the makers of the highly popular "Minecraft" game announced that they were indeed being bought up by the Microsoft corporation. The selling price was listed at 2.5 Billion dollars.

In a statement on their website, the spokesman tried to reassure Minecraft fans "Everything is going to be OK." As for why the company was being sold, "Minecraft has grown from a simple game to a project of monumental significance. Though we're massively proud of what Minecraft has become, it was never Notch's intention for it to get this big." They felt only a few companies were big enough to continue to allow the game to grow "on the scale it deserves." As they had worked with Microsoft since 2012, they were "impressed by the continued dedication to our game and it's development. We're confident that Minecraft would continue in an awesome way." Although the three people who founded the company were leaving, most of the team was planning to stay.

On his personal website, "Notch" Persson, the man who made Minecraft, gave his own statement. "I make games because it's fun," he wrote, "... but I don't make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don't try to change the world. Minecraft has certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it's changed games." Persson had actually stepped down from developing Minecraft "a relatively long time ago," but stuck around on smaller projects as people were telling him he was "important to the culture."

But he described an incident "a couple of weeks ago when the Internet exploded with hate against me" over a user license agreement issue that he had nothing to do with. Later on, he "started to realize I didn't have the connection to my fans that I thought I had. I've become a symbol. I don't want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don't understand ... I'm not an enterpenuer. I'm not a CEO. I'm a nerdy computer programer who likes to have opinions on Twitter."

Persson stated he would be leaving Mojang as soon as the deal was completed, going back to doing small experiments, "I love you. All of you. Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has become, but there are too many of you, and I can't be responsible for something this big. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a larger sense, it's belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change. It's not about the money. It's about my sanity."

Mojang's statement can be read in full (here), and Persson's can be read (here).

Bixyl Shuftan

Microsoft in Negotiations to Buy Minecraft

Where do Second Life residents go when not in Second Life? For some, it's the game of Minecraft. Among the most popular games in computer history, it's developed a fanbase of millions spending not only time there building things, but also willing to spend money on real life items such as "Creeper" hats and toys based on the game. But fans aren't the only thing the game has been attracting. Recently the Microsoft corporation has been negotiating a possible buyout of Minecraft's owner Majong, news that has some fans wondering what this could mean for their beloved game.

Read more in Other Grids and MMOs.

Game Review: Herzog Zwei and Airmech

Grease Coakes takes a break from Second Life to look at a couple games. One is a classic from the days of the Sega Genesis: Herzog Zwei. Not just simple arcade action, strategy is key here in taking out the opposing base. The more recent Airmech, downloadable from Google, plays much the same way, though is different enough to stand on its own.

Read more in Extra.

Runescape's Free Trial Membership

Before playing World of Warcraft and Second Life, I had been a player in Runescape. Probably the most popular of the MMOs, it's gone a long way since the days when only a few thousand were on at once when I gave it a try in 2003. Currently, it boasts 10 million active accounts. It's been called a "freemium" or "velvet rope" game as you need to pay a subscription to get the full membership, which gets you access to more than half the map, more bank space, being able to use certain items, more quests, etc. Someone called the free version a good starting MMO for anyone new to this genere of games.

Recently, I got a notice in the mail about free two week trial periods for full memberships available. So a little curious about the game I used to spend so much time in, I signed up and went back in. Going about, I noticed after about five years, quite a bit was still the same, and a few things had changed. For one, the world now had a name: Gielinor. Before then, it had simply been called "Runescape" like the game.

One place I went to was probably a good one for those who hadn't played for a while (like me) was Burthorpe, just west of the area where free players are limited to. There, a number of miniquests reintroduced me to the skills, as well as introducing me to a new one: Summoning (the other introduced since I was away was Dungeoneering). There was also the baby troll pet I got from one of the smaller quests.

The two week free memberships are available until September 7th. For anyone interested, head to http://www.runescape.com/. For help, two hint sites I'd found useful in the past are Rune HQ and Tip.it.

*Addition* Oh, the thieving training quest in Taverly, south of Burthorpe, take it, it's hilarious.

Bixyl Shuftan

PC Gaming: Civ2 Game Lasted Ten Years

Remember the popular computer game Civilization? Created by Sid Meier, and first sold in 1991, it was just a few years before a sequel was sold: Civilization 2, or Civ2 as it became known by fans. Starting with a single city, players researched technology and harvested resourced to build and expand their territory through conquest or development. Games could sometimes last a while, taking some weeks, maybe a month or two to play out before someone either conquered the world, or researched enough technology and industry to build a starship to be the first to reach Alpha Centauri.

But how about a game lasting ten years?

In an Associated Press article by Derrik J. Lang, a player known as Lycerius posted on Reddit the details of his ten year campaign. In his game, it's the year 3991 with a 1700 year war that's left the planet scarred by numerous nuclear blasts, "The world is a hellish nightmare of suffering and devastation. There are 3 remaining super nations in the year 3991 A.D, each competing for the scant resources left on the planet after dozens of nuclear wars have rendered vast swaths of the world uninhabitable wastelands. … My goal for the next few years is to try and end the war and thus use the engineers to clear swamps and fallout so that farming may resume."

The Associated Press contacted Sid Meier about the game, to which he responded, "My first thought was, 'Wow! I can't believe anyone has been playing "Civ II" for that long,' ... It's been more than 15 years since we released that game, and I don't think any of us expected a decade-long game would come out of it."

As our real-life civilization has gone on, three more sequels, each with further changes to the game and graphics, have come out, in addition to a Facebook version .

Sources: Yahoo News, Reddit, Wikipedia

Bixyl Shuftan