Minecraft is a construction/exploration game created originally by Markus Persson and since developed by his company, Mojang (sold to Microsoft in 2014), and 4J Studios, an independent games design firm in Scotland.
Since its initial appearance on the PC, Minecraft has been developed for a number of different platforms by Mojang: Playstation 3&4, Android, IOS and Raspberry Pi, and for the XBox 360 & XboxOne by 4J Studios. Each of these platforms has its own version of Minecraft, none of which is compatible with each other for multiplayer games.
The PC version is the "default" version of the game and features regular updates in functionality, content and bug fixes. Unusually for a modern PC game, Minecraft can run on relatively low-spec hardware, which has undoubtedly been a factor in its incredible success. It was released in public alpha and beta versions from 2009-2011, and a full PC version was released late in 2011; it is this version which has been regularly updated via Internet downloads.
The PC version of Minecraft is the only one which accesses the full dataset of items, resources, creatures and other features of the game, and can be modified ("modded") with a vast array of free- and paid-for content generated by its huge user base. Users can also change the look ("skin") of their characters to others' designs, or use software tools to generate their own designs. The combination of a huge enthusiastic creative user base, the ubiquity of the PC and the wide range of low-cost or free software tools means that the PC version of Minecraft has the largest amount of free extension content of any game on any platform.
Minecraft on the PC also allows for the largest gaming worlds to be created of all the platforms, and its huge server-based worlds can accommodate hundreds players simultaneously. The mouse-keyboard functionality which the PC offers also allows the most finely tuned use of the game's user interface, which is helpful when Minecraft involves a great deal of selection-and-dragging of small items, and is also conducive to effective character/first-person navigation using the tried-&-trusted WASD keys & mouselook combination familiar from first-person shooter games.
Another key driver in the success of Minecraft has been its appearance on home gaming consoles such as Microsoft's XBox360/One and Sony's Playstation 3 & 4. Interestingly, it has never appeared on the other of the popular home consoles, Nintendo's Wii, which may be a contributing factor in that platform's declining sales.
The PS3 and XBox360 versions of the game are have a lot in common and updates and developments occur along very similar lines. Both systems allow multiplayer via 4-way splitscreen on a single console, and also up to 8-player multiplayer on a single world if played via the Internet/LAN. Because, unlike on PC, the online games are not hosted on traditional Internet servers, but rather users' own home consoles, on the XBox 360, players must be "friends" (XBox contacts) with another player to play with them on a hosted game. A positive aspect of this is the relative ease of setting up multiplayer games on the consoles as opposed to the greater level technical/scripting abilities required to configure and run a PC Minecraft server.
As well as having all the same game modes as the PC version available, the console versions also feature a helpful "on-ramp" tutorial system for new players. However, both the PS3 and XBox 360 versions have considerably smaller worlds, reduced number items/recipes/creatures etc and are usually some months behind development of the PC version of the game, resulting in fewer up-to-date features for the console versions.
The Playstation 4 and XBoxOne versions of the game are very similar to their previous-generation console versions, with the primary exception of much larger (though still not as large as the PC version) game maps and faster processing speed, resulting in smoother movement. They too, do not have the full range of items, creatures, etc.
The XBox360 and XBoxOne both require the player to have and connect through an XBox Live account to be able to play the game, while the PS3 and PS4 versions allow offline play and saving of worlds, but require a Playstation Plus account to play or save online games.
All console versions allow for mods to be downloaded and used in their versions, but there are a tiny number of these mods available than for the PC version, they often cost money and there is only a very small number of development tools and few opportunities for users to generate new content.
Minecraft Pi is also available for the small hobbyist Raspberry Pi computer, and because of the more technical nature of owning and using this machine, there is a great deal more scripting and using the Python programming environment IDLE to operate the game. While this version also features far fewer resources, creatures, etc, than on the PC version, and the development of updates is at a slower pace than the other versions, Minecraft Pi allows its users to create and share mods/content with other users to the same extent the PC version does, engaging its (already technically-minded) community with the game to a greater degree than the console versions , in terms of community development.
The final platform(s) which feature Minecraft are the two main mobile operating systems: Google's Android and Apple's IOS. Their version of the game is known an Minecraft PE ("Pocket Edition") and, despite the relatively low hardware specifications (compared to PCs), the most recent versions feature infinite-sized maps (previously only available on the PC version) and a wide range of resources/creatures etc. Unfortunately, the limited connectivity of the PE versions of the game means that, unless one pays for Mojang's online Pocket Realms service, multiplayer is only possible via a third-party application or LAN-based play of up to ten players, with the games hosted on one player's device. User-driven mod/skin etc development is more limited for the PE versions, but there are several tools available for each OS.
MinecraftEDU is an organisation which offers tools, mods, activities and lessons, and a specialist version of Minecraft to be used in the classroom by educators and students. This version will run on recent Windows, Mac or Linux personal computers which run the Java environment.
The growth of Minecraft continues apace; its open worlds and community-driven success has become a model for engaging both children and adults in creating, sharing and learning from their experiences.
