Hands-on with Minecraft on Xbox, Scrolls, and Cobalt multiplayer.

MineCon was held this past weekend in Las Vegas with all the Notch and Mojang you can shake a pick at! ZAM's newest Staff Writer Mike aka Krelumian was in attendence, and he got a chance to see all the gaming goodness Mojang had to offer.

With Minecraft on showcase for the Xbox 360, and playable versions of Scrolls and Cobalt, there was plenty of ground to cover. Let's get on with it!

MineCon kicked off with a bang, with 23 countries in attendance. Over the two day convention, participants were able to get hands-on with some awesome games as well as potentially walk out as contest winners with their very own Minecraft themed Xbox.

The first game that was playable at MineCon was a multiplayer version of Mojang's newest game, Cobalt (there's a video teaser below). The game has been in the works for over 2 years, and is looking to be an addictive hit. Cobalt comes with a competitve multiplayer mode that integrates 4-player competitive gameplay in both Team Deathmatch and Capture the Plug [Flag]. With various weapons spawning all around the room, ranging from grenades to rocket launchers, this free-for-all was reminiscent of Super Smash Bros meets The Matrix. Cobalt mixes bullet time effects with rolling, jumping, and dodging for a truely competitive experience. 

Unfortunately, the game can only support up to 6 local players on PC and won't have a multiplayer component, but if you have enough controllers to plug in with some nearby friends, you won't want to miss this deathmatch! There should be a working beta of Cobalt later this year.

The other game up Mojang's sleeve was it's controversial titled "Scrolls." The game has not been in development as long as Cobalt, but we know it's coming to both PC and Mac platforms, as well as (hopefully) the iOS App Store and Android Marketplace. This game was more of a turn-based strategy card game, where players place creatures on the board to attack and destory at least three of five of their opponent's idols. To do so, you will have to sacrifice the cards in your hand to build resources. These resources can then be used not only to summon creatures, but to cast spells as well. This will lend itself to an ever evolving deck of "Scrolls" that Mojang will release as more time passes. The catch is that these Scrolls or Booster Packs are going to be managed through microtransactions.

There is definetly a place in the ever growing microtransaction MMO world for a Scrolls Marketplace, so I know I'm looking forward to seeing more over the coming months on Mojang's take on virtual strategy card games.

The convention came to a close on Saturday night with a slew of contest winners, which included a Jones Soda contest winner who proceeded to propose to his girlfriend once he got on stage. As well, there was a wonderful after-party DJ'd by Minecraft advocate DeadMau5! All in all, MineCon has set the bar high for itself in the coming years for future MineCons to come!

-Music for MineCon in 60 Seconds provided by - Negative pH

Mike "Krelumian" Schafnitt, Staff Writer.