Xbox Live Arcade is an excellent platform that's delivered some of our favorite games over the years, but the approval process for XBLA titles (and their subsequent updates) isn't quite as expedient as other platforms. For ever-changing games like Minecraft, where updates are as vital as they are frequent, this can create potentially destructive brand fragmentation where two distinctly difference experiences exist on two different platforms.

Microsoft is aware of the issue, however, and as such will be streamlining the update process for 4J Studio's port of Mojang's runaway hit. "Microsoft knows that to do a similar thing that's on PC where they constantly update it, that's a very difficult thing to do on Xbox because you have to go through the full tests," said chief technology officer Paddy Burns during an interview with Edge. "But they are quite keen to move towards that - they do see it as the future, so I think we might be the first to do constant updates."

Realistically, Burns never expects updates for the XBLA port to come as frequently or as easily as on the PC, but he does believe that "every two months" is within the realm of possibility. Upon release, XBLA's version of Minecraft will be based on the Beta 1.6.6 version of the game, which released just before last year's E3. Burns hopes to reach parity with retail version 1.0 as quickly as possible.

Posted: Jan 21, 2012 1:15 pm

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/21/minecraft-on-xbla-working-toward-constant-updates/#comments