Minecraft Has Gone Gold

With a player base numbering well into the millions, you'd have a hard time guessing that Minecraft isn't actually out yet. Sure, folks have been playing the alpha and beta versions of the game since way back in 2009, but the actual finished project won't be available until this Friday, November 18.

Today, creator Markus "Notch" Persson announced via Twitter that Minecraft 1.0 has gone gold. While that phrase traditionally means the game has been shipped out for pressing on a gold master disc, Minecraft is exclusively distributed via the Web. That means no shiny gold disc to show off, but it didn't stop Notch from sharing the above picture of version 1.0 loaded onto USB drives, ready to be installed.

Those drives are now on their way to MineCon, the fan convention/launch party that's going down this Friday and Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Even with the PC version slated for launch, there's still plenty ahead for Minecraft. The game will be coming to the Xbox Live Arcade sometime next summer, with development still underway on Android and iOS versions of the game.