So Minecraft is officially coming to Android phones at some point, starting with the Xperia Play.
This is great news for a number of reasons; the non-dual-core-ness of the Xperia Play means that it ought to run on other single-core Android phones like the HTC Desire S as well as the Samsung Galaxy S2 (II) and other dual-core bad boys. What we’d really love to see though is Minecraft working on a big 10-inch tablet like the Xoom.
Anyway, those are distant pipe dreams for the time being. Until then, we recommend that you raise your picks up and try out Minebuilder. Available now from the Market for just 86p (converted from $0.99), Minebuilder is the closest thing you’ll get to Minecraft on an Android phone ‘til the real deal arrives.
We’ve been playing around on Minebuilder all afternoon and can say that it’s at worth a quick play around, if only to prepare yourself for the sensation of chopping down trees on a 3 to 4 inch screen.
Minecraft veterans will find it a tad limited – there aren’t any zombies to keep at bay so it feels a little lonely. The controls were also a little fiddly and slow to respond on our trusty old Nexus One; these are due to get an upgrade in the next version, along with the ability to grow crops and trees is also due to arrive in the next update.
The developer Bram Buurlage says that Minebuilder has been tested on the HTC Legend, Desire and Desire HD as well as the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 and Samsung Galaxy S. So if you’ve got a last-gen Android phone running 2.1 and above, chances are you can run this.
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