Minecraft to be the first XBLA title with frequent updates

Microsoft may be ending its limit
on content distribution and speeding up its approval process, with the XBLA
version of Minecraft the first title to get such treatment. In a recent interview,the developers behind the port say the plan is to catch the Xbox version up
to the 1.0 build unveiled at Minecon, and Microsoft testing won’t be standing
in the way.

Microsoft understands that part
of Minecraft’s appeal is its ever-evolving nature. While the constant updates
of the PC version aren’t feasible at this time, the developers do
say Microsoft is “keen to move towards that – they do see it as the future.”

The developers
confirm that Microsoft won’t be completely stepping out of the way, just
speeding up their notoriously slow testing and approval process. “I think
that there will always be Microsoft testing involved… But the whole
turnaround of that testing they’re hoping to speed up, so we can maybe roll out
very [sic] two months.”

Microsoft may be using Minecraft as a test case. There are
certainly other games on the Xbox 360 that could benefit from frequent updates,
Valve’s Team Fortress 2 comes to mind. Hopefully the XBLA version of Minecraft
will usher in a new era of updates when it releases this spring.