"By the end of this week, though, that gestation period will be over. Minecraft will be finished. Done. Complete." "This of course doesn't mean the game is over. There'll be more updates and new content for Minecraft as the weeks and months go by. But for the first time, that stuff won't simply be new content for an alpha or beta version of a game. It'll be post-release content!"

"With its open-ended nature and robust creation tools, Minecraft has been used to create some amazing things. And as one teacher learned, those very same elements that make the game so compelling also make it a great educational tool.

"Like a zombie shambling into the light, it seemed to come out of nowhere. Then, before you knew it, it was the game everyone was talking about. "Have you played Minecraft?" people would ask. And then I did, and I understood. Beneath its blocky visuals lies an astoundingly deep experience. You explore, collect, and build, and then when night falls, you hope you don't die. It's the type of game that really needs to be experienced before you can fully understand it.