Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

It began with whispers and rumors and has since spread across the internet like wildfire. Now the indie title Minecraft is practically a household name among gamers and nothing short of a gaming phenomenon. The title celebrated its 500,000th purchase this past week – a figure made even more astounding when you remember that the game is currently only in its Alpha stages and hasn't even entered Beta.

Another milestone landed just days ago – a major update to the game client that included new features, new dangers, new craftable bits and much more. After suffering through a few hours of overloaded account validation servers, I finally was able to spend the weekend digging into the mysteries of the Halloween Update and exploring the features outlined in Markus “Notch” Persson's unique patch notes. (shown to the right)

Please join me on a visual journey through this milestone update. Despite its 8-bit charm, Minecraft is truly a breathtaking visual experience, and one that I hope I can do justice to in these images. Enjoy!