The hit PC sandbox game Minecraft has become a true phenomenon in the gaming world and the game reached a new sales milestone as it went over the 3 million sales mark early Friday morning. The game first launched in 2009 as an alpha release, but in the summer of 2010, Minecraft started to catch on with more than just the general indie crowd. In December 2010, the game went into its beta phase and raised its price, but that didn"t stop the rush in sales; it continues to sell between 8,000 to 10,000 copies a day via its official web site.
In a few months, a few lucky fans will be attending the first official Minecon to celebrate the official launch of Minecraft after nearly a year in beta testing. PC Gamer reports that Minecon will be held in the bright lights of Las Vegas, Nevada on November 18-19. Minecon was originally announced for a November 11 date, but apparently Vegas was all booked up for that week. The actual location of Minecon will be the Mandalay Bay Hotel off the Vegas Strip.
In announcing the dates and locations for Minecon, the game"s main creator, Markus “Notch” Persson, said, “I’m really looking forward to getting up on stage and pushing the button to upload the final build.” Indeed, Minecon will also be the place where the game"s development team will declare the game to be an official commercial game.
There are still some details that have yet to be announced concerning Minecon, including the prices of tickets and exactly what kinds of panels and events we can expect at the event. In the meantime, Persson said that even though Minecraft will officially launch during Minecon, the game will continue to be developed and updated with new content.