To coincide with the release of Windows 10, Microsoft and Mojang have now made the Windows 10 version of Minecraft available in beta.
Based off the Pocket Edition of the massively popular game, Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition has native support for Xbox pads as well as multiplayer and achievements through Xbox Live. You an record gameplay using Windows 10’s built in GameDVR and it is also being designed to work with advanced technologies like the HoloLens.
Mojang’s announcement for the game lists the following features:
- Craft, create, and explore online with up to seven friends playing Windows 10 Edition Beta, through local multiplayer or with your Xbox Live friends online.
- Play online and local multiplayer with other Pocket Edition players thanks to a free update, due to arrive soon after launch.
- Multiple control schemes! Switch between controller, touch, and keyboard controls with little to no effort!
- Record and share gameplay highlights with built-in GameDVR.
- Help shape the future of Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta with our built player feedback mechanisms!
- Chickens, zombies, pigs, boats, armed skeletons, potatoes, zombies, baby squids, enchantment tables, villagers, naked sheep, iron golems, potions, ghasts, pickaxes, carrots, and all the weird and wonderful goodness you’ve come to expect from Minecraft.
It’s planned that this edition will work with other Pocket Edition versions of Minecraft such as the Windows Phone version or the IOS and Android releases allowing players to continue working on the same worlds wherever they are.
Unlike the current PC version, which was made in Java, the Windows 10 Edition was coded in the C++ programming language. This means that existing mods for the Java edition won’t be compatible and that they may be less common on this edition going forward.
Some features are currently limited, with the beta version at this point several versions behind the most recent phone Pocket Edition, but Mojang plan to bring all versions of the game in line to have the same features.
Existing owners of the PC version of Minecraft can get the Windows 10 version for free, and for the duration of the beta new players can buy it for just £7.69 from the Windows Store, with any purchases during the beta period becoming the full version when that is released.
