Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition: What the Future Holds

Anyone who has played the PC version of Minecraft will know the game is forever changing and evolving. Mojang have promised the same will true for the Xbox 360 Edition, so what exactly can 360 players expect to see in the future, as this unique title continues to build.

The current Xbox 360 version is akin to beta 1.66, but 4J have also stated that they will more than likely use the previous updates to the PC version as iterations for the 360 version, so in theory at least, beta 1.7.x and 1.8.x will come to the 360 before retail 1.0 and 1.2.5 (the current PC version).

The inherent openness of the PC platform means the 360 Edition will always be behind the PC version to some extent, but what exactly is missing on Xbox? The list is actually rather long.

The 360 Edition is missing some of the features added to make Minecraft feel more game-like. The PC version comes complete with a leveling system, hunger meter and enchantment abilities, and although the core of the game is the same with these things, they’ll still be a welcome addition to Minecraft on the 360.

Items currently found in the PC version but not the Xbox 360 version:

No one item is key to minecraft (outside of the obvious crafting mechanics) but it’ll be nice to see all of those items appear in the 360 version at some point.

AI characters you won’t see in the current Xbox 360 Edition:

The various different AI in Minecraft definitely add to the experience, and like the list of items, there is no technical limitation that will prevent 4J Studios adding them at a later date.

Locations:

Locations are a bit more tricky, mainly because the Xbox 360 Edition is much smaller than the PC version. The worlds generated on 360 are 1000×1000 bricks across, and also have half the height limit. This means inclusions like the River Biome are unlikely. “The End” which acts as a kind of final level is also absent, but this is something I can see being included somewhere down the line.

After seeing everything the Xbox 360 Edition of Minecraft lacks when held up against its PC counterpart, you may be left wondering how it managed to score a great 8/10 in our review. Well that’s because 360 players have some pretty good exclusive features themselves, the first being split-screen. The social aspect of Minecraft is the vital for some players and the Xbox Edition takes that to another level by allowing you to build with someone on the same sofa. Minecraft on the 360 also has a much more intuitive menu system, eliminating the frustration of the more complicated PC version.

In summation this article isn’t about putting the Xbox 360 Edition down, but rather showing what could be possible in the future if 4J Studios and Mojang keep their promise of supporting the title as they do on PC. So if you could pick just one feature from the PC version to be brought over to the 360 first, what would it be?