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Mojang founder and Minecraft creator Markus Persson (AKA Notch) has announced via Twitter that the company has settled their ongoing battle with ZeniMax Media -- which owns game studio Bethesda -- over the "scrolls" name. With the legal issues out of the way, this will hopefully clear the path for Mojang's forthcoming Scrolls game to become a reality. Sadly, it probably means that Notch's proposed Mojang/Bethesda Quake 3 duel is off the table.

Tim Schafer's Psychonauts is one of the best video games ever made. It's that simple. It has its flaws, sure, but everything has flaws, and the ones in Psychonauts are so minute that they're extremely easy to overlook. Similar to how good television gets canceled in season one or two, no one bought Psychonauts when it first released. After dropping in price over the years and releasing on other platforms (like Steam), Psychonauts started making money. Mastermind Tim Schafer never let the initial abysmal sales get to him (which would make sense, considering the critical acclaim the game continues to receive, even to this day) and revealed to Digital Spy the other day that he pitched a sequel to the game to publishers "several times," but no one would bite. "I'd love to do that game," he said, "but I'd have to convince someone to just give me a few million dollars, that's all." In a perfect storm of beloved gaming icons, Notch got wind of Schafer's statement, and tweeted that he'd fund the making of Psychonauts 2. Wat.

"While I am sceptical of the free to play trend, what I hate is the wording 'free to play'...we should call it 'as expensive as you want it to be' or something." Minecraft creator Markus Persson, otherwise known as Notch, musing on the free-to-play trend that is rising to prominence in the gaming arena.

Internet overlord Notch tweeted that Mojang won the interim injunction versus ZeniMax regarding the Scrolls naming lawsuit, wherein ZeniMax claimed the name to Mojang's next game was too similar to their venerable franchise, The Elder Scrolls and people would confuse the two. The case never made any sense, and though ZeniMax can still appeal the ruling, this initial ruling is probably a step toward Mojang (and us) not having to deal with the nonsense any longer.

What always seemed especially odd about the case, is that ZeniMax claimed the name was too similar and people would confuse the two titles, but not only are both games wildly different in presentation, but are geared more toward the hardcore gaming crowd -- a crowd that wouldn't make such a mistake as to confuse the two. It looks like maybe Notch's offer to settle the dispute via a match of Quake 3 might've faired better for ZeniMax than taking Mojang to court.

As we speak, the mind behind Minecraft is hard at work on a new game, and he has only 48 hours to finish it. As announced on his Twitter feed, Notch (aka. Markus Persson) is livestreaming his work on a new game as part of Ludum Dare, an accelerated game development event. To participate, coders have to complete a playable game from scratch in a weekend. Thanks to the miracle of modern technology, you can watch too! Now, watching over someone's shoulder while they write code may sound boring -- I'd be lying if I said it was a thrill-a-minute experience. That said, it's pretty amazing to watch a developer as talented as Notch work his magic. Also, Notch seems to talk while he works, occasionally explaining what he's doing and giving little hints and tricks along the way. For those in the audience interested in game development, it could be a good chance to learn from the master. Check it out over on LiveStream. UPDATE: Stream has been moved here. (via Hacker News)

Not too long ago, Minecraft creator Notch received word from Bethesda that they felt the name of Notch's team's next game, Scrolls, conflicted with the name of Bethesda's golden franchise, The Elder Scrolls. Of course, Notch claims that choosing to name their next game Scrolls has nothing to do with Bethesda's franchise, and felt the lawsuit was a tad unwarranted because the conflict is based on one common word -- it's like if Gears of War and God of War were encroaching on each others' trademarks because the word "war" is in the title.

After praising Bethesda and assuming it's their lawyers being unwarrantedly confrontational rather than the actual game developers, what does Notch do? Challenges them to a Quake 3 match to settle the lawsuit.

Minecraft creator Notch, a.k.a. Markus Persson, has just announced that Minecraft Beta 1.3 is a go. The next time you boot up Minecraft, the update will download automatically.

* Implemented a new lighting engine with the help of MrMessiahs (can be turned off) * Changed the options around, added a new “Graphics options” button * Added beds. If all players in a map sleeps in a bed during night, the game immediately skips until morning * Added three new half-size blocks * Added Delay/Repeater redstone dust blocks * Added whitelisting to the server. To use, enter “whitelist <cmd>” where cmd is “on”, “off”, “add <player>”, “remove <player>”, “list” or “reload” * New save file format, old maps need to be converted (that might take a while..) * It’s now possible to have more than five save slots, and to rename saves * Scrollbars in both the texture pack list, and in the map selection screen * Replaced the Mojang splash image to reflect the new logo colors * .. and a bunch of bug fixes and tweaks! More info as it becomes available ...

Markus Persson, otherwise known as Notch and Minecraft Lord and Savior, has exclusively revealed to Gamasutra that Minecraft will officially be making its way to the iOS devices later this year. Notch revealed that the iOS release wouldn't be receiving every single update that hits the browser and downloadable versions of the game, but would be receiving the updates that make the most sense for portable devices.

On top of this, a post on Notch's Tumblr says Mojang is aiming at releasing the next update, 1.3, within the next week or so, which will include "redstone delay/repeater blocks and the beds."

While we can all be happy for the impending release of portable Minecraft, one has to wonder how well actually controlling the game would work on the smaller iPhone screen, or even without tangible controls. In theory, it could work fine, but it would drastically cut down the player's maneuverability and accuracy. Though Notch hired a new employee, Aron Neiminen, to do the port, one can only assume Notch wouldn't hire a guy who couldn't do the job well, and Notch wouldn't turn a blind eye to the port once Neiminen begins work on it. One also has to wonder when either some or all of the Big Three are going to get on top of this game before it's too late. Since when don't Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony want money?

(via Gamasutra)

When indie smash hit Minecraft finally hit beta a few days ago, the game's developer, Notch, said there was a super secret rare item added to the update. The update's patch notes stated that the secret rare item was more rare than wearable cloaks that only Mojang employees could obtain, which, considering said cloaks are unobtainable by regular players, made the secret rare item pretty darn rare indeed. This, of course, sent Minecraft players into an exploration frenzy, causing them to meticulously explore the game world, as well as search through the game's texture files.

Well, it turns out the secret rare item is a player skin that only one person, musician Deadmau5, is able to obtain and is only viewable on said player's server. Notch confirmed this on Twitter, by answering this question with this response. This was confirmed again by another Mojang employee, Jens Bergensten. Read past the jump for a screenshot of Bergensten's confirmation, as well as a screenshot of a neat Christmas surprise available to players.

Sometimes it is difficult to remember that Minecraft, a game that has more than 2 million registered users and has sold more than 600,000 digital copies (I know this for a fact because those numbers are from mid-November and I just bought my copy yesterday, so...) is actually still in alpha. Especially when you just had an office Minecraft party last night. Well, the word has come down from on high (or from game creator Markus "Notch" Persson) that Minecraft will be shifted into beta in no less than nine days. This change will come with a refocusing of the developer's goals, new features, and a difference in pricing.

"Other than starting up a self-funded company with a couple of friends, my life hasn’t changed much. I still live in a suburb just outside of Stockholm, I still don’t own a dishwasher, and I still spend my free time playing games. I have a nicer watch now, though, and I get to eat at fancier restaurants." --Despite selling more than 600,000 copies at roughly $13 apiece through PayPal, making him a millionaire eight times over, Minecraft creator Markus Persson, a.k.a. Notch, is still a humble man. (Quote via RPS. title pic via Minecraft Forum)

Ludum Dare is a somewhat insane and masochistic competition in which programmers are challenged to create a fully fleshed out game from start to finish in 48 hours, 100% solo.

Markus Persson filmed his process from start to finish and made a time-lapse video out of it; as one YouTube commenter notes, it looks like he takes longer to eat meals than he does to sleep.