TU12 is Out!

4J just announced that TU12 is rolling out across the country. I have a going away party to go to tonight, so I'll start posting seeds first thing tomorrow night.

DotA in :60

Hey, all. Just wanted to let you know I have a new blog/video series out there for those of you who play DotA 2. It's called DotA in :60 and it's a funny video series where I showcase one of the many lords in the game in only sixty seconds.

If you're interested, you can check them all out here:
DotA in :60 -- The Blog!

400,000 Hits and Counting

You guys are so cool. Thanks :)

TinyKeep - Support Request

So, for those of you who like Minecraft, I'd like to encourage you to consider helping out a Kickstarter project that is looking for support. There's an indie developer crew in England who are looking to raise enough money to finish a project they started called TinyKeep. This thing looks really cool and they have recently announced that -- just like in Minecraft -- they will be adding "seeds" to their random level generator.

I really think this is a cool project, and if you could have a look and maybe tell your friends, we might be able to help make it a reality. Thanks, - Mayhem

Kickstarter: TinyKeep

The Next XBOX

So, they had a big announcement party for the next XBOX -- which will be called XBOX One. I was not personally impressed -- after all the information they gave out could easily have been placed into a press release, so the whole thing was, in my opinion, pretentious.

Clearly, they're all excited that the One will be able to get rid of all the other boxes in your entertainment center. Yet, the gameplay we saw was top notch.

The good news is that One will be able to handle Minecraft as it has many upgraded features. But, we still have no idea how much it will cost nor when it will be released other than, "sometime this year". I will keep you informed.

Off Topic: Disney Acquires Star Wars

I consider the acquisition of Star Wars by the Walt Disney Corporation to be one of the most depraved and soul-wrenching events to ever happen in my lifetime. I consider it particularly cowardly that they waited to make their move until I was struck with a hurricane and unable to raise an army in opposition. The hero we needed to pull the Star Wars universe from out of the Pop 100 bin of history has failed to arrive, replaced instead by a big-eared antichrist that will take the feeble and embittered franchise down a path of Edward D. Wood Jr.-esk exploitation and mindlessness the likes of which you have only seen from the Skeksis in the 1982 classic The Dark Crystal.

Since I can't bear to think of it another minute, I present to you a YouTube video by gamer-goddess Raychul, who will give you a significantly more delightful and less jaded take on the death of this once-cherished franchise.

Mark of the Ninja, Level 1

Hey, everybody. I took a break today in between Minecraft levels (I'll post them tomorrow) to play the first level of the new Xbox Live game, Mark of the Ninja -- a stealth platform game in which you play as a member of a besieged clan of ninjutsu warriors.

In this video, I play the entire first level of the game. It was very enjoyable and I would encourage anyone who enjoys platformers, stealth games, or stabbing people in the face to try the demo or buy it outright (cost: 1200 XBP).

Review: XCOM Enemy Unknown

I wanted to take a minute to break from my usual X-box Minecraft obsession to talk about some of my other obsessions. Actually, there's just the one other obsession and I'm totally obsessed with it.

XCOM Enemy Unknown is a turn-based strategy game (TBS) in which you take control of a group of elite soldiers in order to do battle against an alien invasion of Earth. The game revolves around the upgrading of technology, application of stealth and position on the battlefield, and the management of resources -- namely your injured and dying soldiers.

XCOM:EU is a re-imagining of the original XCOM (also a TBS). What makes this version of the game awesome is the stellar graphics and gameplay.

This game is not without it's faults and while I encourage you to play the demo (available on XBL), I would caution you that the structured and restricted gameplay that you experience in the demo is a complete departure from the actual game. So in that way, the demo is a little misleading. But you'll get the idea.

The entire Internet is abuzz about this game and I totally back their ringing endorsement. If you have some downtime in between stronghold searching, load this one up and have a go. It will probably become your newest obsession.

Off Topic: Alter of Pimps

The gang over at Achievement Hunter builds an alter to their Tower of Pimps and chaos ensues when they have to decide who gets to actually place the tower on top of the alter. Be sure to hang out for the bonus-bonus footage at the end.

New Facebook Page

What's crackin', people! I am excited to announce that I have just created a Facebook page for this blog. If you'd like to have X-box Minecraft seeds delivered straight to your wall, add yourself to the page and I'll be sure to keep you hip-deep in maps and droll humor.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Xbox-Minecraft-Seed/425528850827540

Off Topic: COD Piece

Hey, everybody. I'm adding a new video series to my repertoire. This is going to be a Call of Duty series called COD Piece. To begin with, I'm just going to post some of the videos in my Xbox "theater" to clean out some space. However, after that I'm going to make COD Piece a haven for snipers who want to learn more about gunning down people from afar.

Please take a look and add a thumbs up so I can gain a little traction. And if you haven't seen it already, be sure to check out my new Minecraft video series, This Old Seed. Episode six gives a little tour of "itsybitsyspider". They're getting better... I promise.

X-box Minecraft World Size

So, I noticed that there are several posts on the Web about how mathematically the size of a PC-version Minecraft world is approximately the size of 1.2 earth surfaces, though nowhere near the same volume as the Minecraft world is only 128 meters deep. The reason for this is because in Minecraft a single block represents a one meter by one meter by one meter area, which makes sense when you think about it because the average person is two meters tall and the "you" in Minecraft is two blocks high.

So, if the PC version of Minecraft is larger than the surface of the earth (approximately 90,000,000 square meters), then how does an X-box Minecraft world measure up?

First we have to clear up some misinformation that's going around the Internet about the dimensions of the X-box playing field. Firstly, the furthest you can go in any direction is 430 blocks. In other words, you can go no further than 430.x.430 to the southeast and no further than -430.x.-430 to the northwest.

However, there are two lines of blocks that exist at X=0 and Z=0. In other words, you can go to a location at 0.64.128 or 128.64.0. Because of these midpoint-zero lines, the X- and Z-dimensions of an X-box Minecraft board cannot be even numbers.

Therefore, the size of a X-box Minecraft board is 861x861. (430 on one side + 430 on the other + 1 for the zero line that divides them)

With that settled, we turn to the question: so, how big would that be in real life?

If each block in Minecraft represents one meter in real life, then the map on the X-box represents 861 meters by 861 meters (or 741,321 square meters). If we convert that to kilometers (more appropriate for our purposes), that's .741 km2. How much is that in real life?

The Earth is 508 million km2. Not even close.

The State of New York is 149,299 km2. We're getting warmer here.

New York City measures in at 1,213 km2. Almost there...

Central Park consumes 3.41 km2 of Manhattan. Now, we're in the ballpark, but we're still a little over.

So what we're looking for is a parcel that's approximately one-fifth the size of Central Park.

Well, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MOMA) is in Central Park. It takes up about one fifth the amount of space (.190 km2) as our Minecraft board. The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir -- also in Central Park -- is .428 km2 (a little more than half our Minecraft map). If we throw in the Great Lawn (.222 km2), that finishes the job, revealing a Minecraft board on the X-box to be a sizable chunk of Central Park in New York City.

Since the Minecraft board is a perfect square, if you wanted to get technical, you could say that an X-box version of a Minecraft map would cover a hunk of Manhattan stretching from Columbus Ave to Park Ave and from 96th to 81st Sts.

Off Topic: Star Wars 1313 Trailer

Hey, everybody. I know this is a Minecraft blog, but when I saw this I knew it was going to be my next video game blog. Here is the announce trailer for Star Wars 1313. Hope it makes you want to shoot some robots!