Minecraft avatar items now available on Xbox 360

Minecraft for the Xbox 360 is still a ways off, but Microsoft is helping fans get pumped for the game's eventual console release.  Now available on Xbox LIVE are Minecraft avatar items ranging from Creeper T-Shirt to a Pet Pig to Notch's hat!  Now you can turn your avatar into the bearded coding guru!

Below is the entire list of Minecraft items now available for Xbox 360 users:

• Creeper T-Shirt – 80 MP
• Creeper Head – 160 MP
• Minecraft T-Shirt – 80 MP
• Creeper T-Shirt – 80 MP
• Minecraft Cape – 80 MP
• Sword – 160 MP
• Pet Wolf – 240 MP
• Pet Pig – 240 MP
• Pet Creeper – 240 MP
• Notch Hat – 80 MP
• Minecraft T-Shirt – 80 MP
• Steve Head – 160 MP

Personally, I'm a little bummed they didn't include his epic beard.

Minecraft for the Xbox 360 is expected to release in Spring of this year, but Mojang has yet to confirm an exact launch date.

The plan for the Minecraft on Xbox 360 is to release a conversion of the PC's beta 1.6.6 version and then continually release updates to eventually catch up with version 1.0, or the official "final" release of the game on PC.  This led to the belief that Minecraft on console could help pave the way for changes to the Xbox 360 update process.

Mojang recently confirmed that the game will support four-player local splitscreen and eight players over Xbox LIVE; however, Kinect compatibility won't be ready for launch.