Announced during E3 two years ago, the Minecraft Super Duper Graphics Pack would introduce higher textures and other graphical improvements to the massively popular block-building game. The update was initially meant to launch in 2017 but unfortunately saw several delays.

It seems these delays did not help Mojang bring the project to completion. Mojang announced the cancellation today in a blog post, stating that "the pack proved too technically demanding to implement as planned".

The studio went on to say "We realise this is disappointing to some of you – there was a lot of enthusiasm for Super Duper from inside and outside the studio – but unfortunately, we aren’t happy with how the pack performed across devices. For this reason, we're stopping development on the pack, and looking into other ways for you to experience Minecraft with a new look".

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Minecraft in VR is here! On August 15th 2016 we'll release a free update to Minecraft Windows 10 Edition beta which will let players experience the world of Minecraft through Oculus Rift.

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Minecraft Realms for Pocket Edition and Windows 10 Edition: Beta lets you and your friends access your own world wherever there's a wifi connection. It's always online and only those you invite can join. You don't even need to be playing on the same type of device! Thanks to Xbox Live, players can join your world and earn achievements on iOS and Android devices, Windows 10 machines or even Gear VR.

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MInecraft developer Mojang has officially banned in-game advertising and promotion in its latest set of commercial usage guidelines.

Companies and other commercial or political entities can no longer market content unrelated to Minecraft in the game, either by building ads inside it or running mods or servers dedicated to promoting a product or service.

"We want to empower our community to make money from their creativity," said director of creative communications Owen Hill, "but we're not happy when the selling of an unrelated product becomes the purpose of a Minecraft mod or server."

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PvP arena combat is coming to Minecraft in an official capacity, Mojang has announced.

Console versions of the game will soon gain a mode called Battle, a "last-Minecrafter-standing deathmatch" that pits players directly against one another.

Taking place in specially-designed arenas, each with different rules and hazards, the arena mode is designed to be fast-paced and tactical, with loot offering an added risk/reward mechanic.

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We’re excited to announce that Minecraft: Gear VR Edition is here! We worked closely with the Minecraft team to let you step inside your Minecraft world with friends. Now you can build, explore, battle mobs – and all your other favorite Minecraft activities – with the power of mobile virtual reality.

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Minecraft is now playing host to artificial intelligence programs in an attempt to improve machine learning.

Operating out of a New York-based Microsoft Research lab, Project AIX is an attempt to train an artificial intelligence to learn naturally in a complex world.

The program spawns into Minecraft knowing nothing about its environment, but learns based on interactions.

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Mojang is beefing up Minecraft's combat in today's 1.9 "combat update."

The biggest change is the addition of dual-wielding, which for example lets players carry a torch and a weapon to avoid Doom 3-ing through dark areas, or with the new shield item, engage in sword-and-board style gameplay.

Weapons have new attacks - a sweep for swords, a crushing blow for axes - and attacks now operate on a cooldown timer, making fights more tactical.

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Hear what educators are saying about using Minecraft to transform classroom learning.

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Microsoft and Mojang have teamed up with non-profit computer science organisation Code.org to teach coding with Minecraft.

The three have created a coding tutorial using a 2D approximation of Minecraft, where players must assemble blocks of code to accomplish in-game tasks.

It is designed to teach students six and over the basics of coding, using a visual interface similar to various block-based game creation tools.

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It’s mythical Greece at your thumb sticks in this new Minecraft Mash-up pack! Greek gods, fantastical creatures and epic locations are all sculpted into our dedicated game world. We've even made a bespoke texture set and themed UI, and wrapped it all up with an orchestral soundtrack. This is the stuff of legends! Go make your own!

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Australia's love affair with mining is well documented, so it may come as no surprise that its government is very eager to address some scientific inaccuracies that may have made their way into the public's consciousness via Microsoft's Minecraft.

Seemingly concerned that a new generation of young Australians may actually attempt to make armour out of diamonds, Geoscience Australia has released a public service announcement to set the record straight.

"Cobblestones do not form from water and flowing lava", cleared up the Australian government. And don't attempt to create a stone by putting cobblestones in a furnace, as "it would, in fact, achieve nothing but a very warm rock."

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A Minecraft exhibition will be a part of the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s commemorative Anzac Day programme marking the centenary of the Gallipoli Landings.

Gallipoli in Minecraft will give families a chance to explore the Gallipoli campaign through the game when the exhibition opens on Friday April 24.

Gallipoli was created in-game over the course of a year by students from Alfriston College in Auckland.

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Minecraft players can bring their favorite characters from The Simpsons to life in The Simpsons Skin Pack, the newest downloadable content for Minecraft Xbox 360 and Xbox One editions, available for $2.99 USD. Create your own blocky version of Springfield with the entire Simpsons family—Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie— plus 19 of Springfield Elementary School’s beloved characters from the Emmy Award-winning animated show and the longest-running scripted show in television history.

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Around 125 people have recreated about 70 percent of Game of Thrones' Westeros in Minecraft.

The project, called WesterosCraft, first caught the public's attention in early 2013. Since then, the team has been very busy.

“I would say the world is at around 70 percent completion," project lead Jacob Granberry told Kotaku. "Since we last spoke, we’ve developed a custom launcher for the game that comes packed with our WesterosBlocks mod which includes over 50 new custom blocks and textures specifically made for our server."

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Telltale has announced that it's collaborating with Mojang to create Minecraft: Story Mode.

The game will be made with the help of the Minecraft community, said Telltale.

"We’re not intending on creating an 'official' story for Steve, or explaining the world of Minecraft in detail. It will be a cool game," said Mojang.

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Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition will be available to download from October 16, developer 4J Studios has announced.

The Vita edition is Cross-Buy and therefore free for anyone who has already bought Minecraft on PlayStation 3 (but is not free for those who have the game on PlayStation 4).

"We're now working on an update for all Minecraft console editions to move up to the equivalent of Java 1.6.4 version," 4J Studios explained via Twitter. "It may take some time!"

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The sale of Minecraft and Mojang to Microsoft was actioned to keep Mojang co-founder Markus "Notch" Persson sane, he says.

In a post on his personal blog, Persson – the creator of sandbox phenomenon Minecraft – has detailed how he felt so overwhelmed by Minecraft’s staggering success that selling the game ended up being the only option.

“It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity,” he wrote.

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As rumoured, Microsoft has acquired Swedish developer Mojang and smash hit sandbox title Minecraft for US$2.5 billion.

As a result of the sale, Mojang co-founders Markus "Notch" Persson, Carl Manneh, and Jakob Porsér are all leaving the company

Mojang's Owen Hill shed some light on why Notch made the decision to sell and leave Mojang in a post on the company’s blog.

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The PlayStation 4 version of Minecraft has failed its final certification, making an August release unlikely.

Developer 4J Studios – which is responsible for all of the game’s console ports – revealed yesterday that Sony found flaws in what was to be the build that shipped to retail.

The Xbox One version of Minecraft is also supposed to release in August, although a date has yet to be announced.

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Minecraft: Playstation 4 Edition will be released on the PSN this month. It brings significantly bigger worlds and a greater draw distance than Playstation 3 + Vita Edition.

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Minecraft: Playstation 4 Edition will be released on the PSN in August. It brings significantly bigger worlds and a greater draw distance than Playstation 3 + Vita Edition.

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Former Epic Games designer Cliff Bleszinski has slammed Markus “Notch” Persson for dropping plans for an Oculus version of Minecraft.

Upon hearing news of Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus earlier this week, Persson publicly declared that a deal to bring Minecraft to the Oculus Rift had been dropped because in his words, “Facebook creeps me out”.

In a short addendum to a post about Oculus on his personal blog, Bleszinski called the move childish.

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Marcus "Notch" Persson says he has cancelled plans to bring his indie blockbuster Minecraft to Oculus, following news that the virtual reality headset company has sold out to Facebook.

“We were in talks about maybe bringing a version of Minecraft to Oculus. I just cancelled that deal,” said Persson. “Facebook creeps me out.”

In a longer entry on his blog, Persson went into detail on his decision, and outlined a recent visit to Oculus headquarters, which left him both impressed and excited about partnering with the company.

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Mojang is in talks with Warner Bros to create a movie based on indie gaming hit Minecraft, says creator Marcus "Notch" Persson.

“Someone is trying leak the fact that we’re working with Warner Brothers on a potential Minecraft Movie. I wanted to be the leak,” tweeted Notch.

“It’s for real. I think every part of that tweet was real, including me wanting to be the one to spill the news about a potential movie,” he continued.

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The owner of the "Putt-Putt" mini golf trademark has sent a cease and desist letter to Mojang claiming that Minecraft infringes on said trademark.

The evidence provided by Putt-Putt president and CEO David Callahan in the letter is a printout of a Google search for “Putt Putt craft”, which has returned many videos of mini-golf levels labelled "putt-putt" created and uploaded by Minecraft fans.

“We feel that Mojang AB’s use of the Putt-Putt® name has benefitted Mojang AB to the detriment of Putt-Putt,” said Callahan, despite Mojang's complete non-involvement with the videos.

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To the surprise of precisely no-one, Minecraft was the most-purchased game on Xbox Live Arcade in 2012, according to Microsoft.

The cross-platform boredom simulator sold more than five million copies on XBLA alone in 2012, even though it wasn’t available on the platform until May.

More than a million of those sales happened in a single week.

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Minecraft is the most-played game on Xbox Live, Microsoft’s Major Nelson has announced.

The blocky world-building game surpassed perennial first place holder Modern Warfare 3 in terms of global unique users last week.

The only other Arcade title to even break the top twenty is the recently-released Happy Wars, Xbox Live Arcade's first free-to-play game.

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Patch notes for the much-anticipated Adventure update for Minecraft’s Xbox 360 version have been released by 4J Studios.

The update players finally adds Creative Mode to the game, which removes the game’s survival element, enables flying, and allows unlimited resources.

A heap of new items are also included, such as ender pearls, webs, melons, and vines.

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United Nations Habitat has partnered with Minecraft in a bid to improve neighbourhoods in third-world countries.

The three-year partnership is part of an initiative called “Block by Block”, which aims to upgrade 300 public spaces by 2016.

A special version of Minecraft loaded with virtual representations of existing communities will be given to students who may then use the game’s tools to plan and design their own neighbourhoods.

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A year ago, Notch stated that Minecraft wasn’t on Steam because “openess is awesome” – because his company wouldn’t be able to “sell capes or have a map market place on minecraft.net that works with Steam customers in a way that keeps Valve happy”.

Since then changes to Steam appear to have nixed these concerns, but Persson was still reluctant to see Minecraft on the service.

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Over the weekend, Markus "Notch" Persson announced via Twitter that his company was being sued for alleged patent infringement in the development of the Android version of Minecraft. The suit centers around the game's use of a certain form of copy protection.

Uniloc claims that Mojang has breached patent law "by or through making, using, offering for sale, selling and/or importing Android based applications for use on cellular phones and/or tablet devices that require communication with a server to perform a license check to prevent the unauthorized use of said application, including, but not limited to, Mindcraft [sic]".

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Markus "Notch" Persson, co-founder of the Stockholm-based developer, has confirmed the sales figure on twitter.

The last totals released indicated Minecraft on XBLA had sold around a million copies back in May, meaning that an additional two million sales have been achieved in a little over two months.

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Minecraft now holds the record for most Xbox Live day-one sales, snatching the title from Trials Evolution.

The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft became profitable within an hour of being offered for sale on XBLA, Mojang’s Markus Persson tweeted.

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