Minecraft Release Date and Time Officially Announced

Minecraft is set to launch today, giving fans access to the official "full" version of Minecraft 1.0.  The launch of the popular indie game coincides with MineCon – a convention taking place this weekend in Las Vegas involving all things Minecraft and Mojang.

Enough description, fans want the details.  When exactly will Minecraft release?

As expected, the official release will be today and thanks to Mojang's Tobias Mollstam we now have a timeframe.

"1 – 2:30 p.m. PST Keynote Address and Minecraft Launch with Notch," Tobias announced via Twitter.

While today marks the first time Minecraft 1.0 will "officially" be released, Notch and the development team actually unveiled a Release Candidate last weekend.  Despite today's official release date and time, you can actually download the Minecraft 1.0 Release Candidate right now!

The client, which can be found here was actually released last weekend, giving players their first taste of Minecraft 1.0.  This unconventional release format is something you'd never see from a AAA publisher, but it's this kind of personable relationship that Notch has formed with his fanbase that makes Mojang and the game so great.  Fans have been with Minecraft since the beginning and this early access is a testament to Notch's dedication to his fans.

Prior to that, Notch released the last version of Update 1.9. Minecraft Update 1.9 version 6 was released exactly one week ago and saw the addition of the ender fight.  Other than that, this update and the Release Candidate featured many bug fixes from the pre-releases and a lot of polishing to the game.

Reviews have already begun to roll in for the much anticipated game, and as expected they have all been great.