Attend MineCon, Get Alpha Access to Scrolls, Cobalt

[Greg Tito]

Attend MineCon, Get Alpha Access to Scrolls, Cobalt

Mojang and Notch offer the best swag ever: early access to games in development.

When you attend conventions like New York Comic Con, PAX or Gen Con, you typically receive a bag of swag from various sources. This promotional swag can take many forms, including coupons, catalogs and flyers to tee-shirts and small toys. For the first MineCon being held in Las Vegas on November 18-19 for fans of Minecraft and all things Mojang, attendees will be able to play the alpha versions of two upcoming games: Scrolls and Cobalt.

The alphas for these games aren't yet finished, of course, but attendees will get a code to use when Scrolls and Cobalt are ready for testing. Scrolls - still working under that title despite Bethesda crying foul - is a tactical war game inspired by collectible card games and board games in which you'll control armies summoned from, yep scrolls. Cobalt is Mojang's first third-party game - developed by Oxeye Game Studio - and it looks like a 2D side-scroller with a lot of character.

Tickets to attend MineCon are $99 if you purchase ahead of time, and the Mandalay Bay Resort hotel in Las Vegas is currently offering discounted rates for rooms. Head over to the MineCon website to learn more [http://minecon.mojang.com/].

If I had the time, I would construct my own version of the MineCon in MineCraft so that I could pretend I was hanging out with Notch and all the cool people who will be in Las Vegas at the real event. (And so that I could get those alpha codes.)

Source: Mojang [http://mojang.com/2011/09/08/minecon-swag-alpha-codes/]

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[yuval152]

sucks that i'm not going to be there....

 

[Alphakirby]

Didn't I hear somewhere that people who bought the Alpha of Minecraft would be able to test Scrolls. I couldn't go,plus I couldn't afford it,so aw shucks.

 

[ShadowKatt]

Damn, MineCon? In LAS VEGAS??? For an, essentially, indie game developer, Notch is going pretty far, pretty fast.

 

[Jamous]

...Goddamn it. Why am I a student and why is Minecon in a different country?

 

[Uber Waddles]

I'm sorry, but why should I be excited?

First off - MineCraft having its own convention is about as ridiculous as Call of Duty having its own convention. Neither really has the depth to warrant a convention. Now, before MineCraft fanboys decide this is a cardinal sin to say, I will say that some of the mechanics have given birth to depth. I understand you can do some pretty indepth things in MineCraft (like circuits, etc), but honestly - its a game where you hit stuff with other stuff to build stuff. Its not deep, and you're only fooling yourself if you think it. Its a building simulator (I hate to pull the Lego thing, but yeah... Legos), and the only way it gets close to being a "game" is with community mods. Without them, its a game most people will play for 15 minutes before getting bored. (Side note, adding mods doesn't really add anything to the merit of a game. I've heard this arguement a million times before - its good because you can mod it. If it's good, I won't need to mod it. You can make any game decent with mods).

As for the swag they're offering, thats not an incentive to visit. Playing the Alpha stages of games is just bad. You're playing a product that is going to change drastically, either with added or removed features. Chances are, by the time of the normal release, the games they are offering will be drastically different. Not to mention buggy. These guys don't have a great track record when it comes to bugs as is (I've got a world that won't load because I had the audacity to make a piston on it that can vouch for me). Playing two Alpha stage games, a prize? Thats like being congratulated, then being told to get to work bug fixing.

I will say congrats on the expo though. You came a long way.

 

[GonzoGamer]

SCROLLS?!?!
Does that have something to do with Elder Scrolls?!
Is this about Skyrim?!
I'm so confused, Bethesda should sue someone about this.