Pi-ning for Minecraft

Yes, the Raspberry Pi will run Minecraft

"Minecraft: Pi Edition" coming soon, will be a free download.

Raspberry Pi owners, commence salivating.
Raspberry Pi owners, commence salivating.

The people who built the Raspberry Pi say there's a question they're asked almost every single day—does it run Minecraft?

The answer for most of the Pi's history was no, not yet. But now the answer is yes—and you'll be able to download it soon, for free. It won't be an exact replica of the Minecraft game PC users are familiar with. Instead, it will be a port of Minecraft: Pocket Edition for Android and iOS called Minecraft: Pi Edition.

"It’ll carry a revised feature set and support for several programming languages, so you can code direct into Minecraft before you start playing. (Or you can just—you know—play.)," Raspberry Pi community manager Liz Upton wrote in the announcement.

Free is a good deal, especially as Minecraft: Pocket Edition costs $6.99. Plus, the Raspberry Pi itself only costs about $35. The little computers have been somewhat difficult to acquire because of demand outstripping supply, but a bunch of them were sent to Minecraft creator Markus Persson and the developers at Mojang to work on the port.

With Minecraft on the Pi, "the possibilities are massive," according to a quote attributed to Owen Hill and Daniel Kaplan of Mojang. "You could organise the cheapest LAN party of all time, or use the Pi to learn the fundamentals of programming on a minuscule budget. It’s like hacking your way into Minecraft and modifying the game world with code, a bit like being Notch, Jeb, or Nathan, but arguably more fun and less stressful."

The unveiling of Minecraft: Pi Edition was over the weekend at Minecon in Paris. Exactly when the free download will become available isn't known, but Upton says "we hope [it] will be very soon."

Channel Ars Technica