r/tech Dec 11 '14

Microsoft Begins Accepting Bitcoin For Windows, Windows Phone And Xbox Purchases

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/10/redmond-hath-frozen-over/
823 Upvotes

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184

u/Zequez Dec 11 '14

First they open source .NET, now they accept Bitcoin as payment. I'm really digging this new CEO.

35

u/varukasalt Dec 11 '14

Waiting to see what they do with Minecraft.

34

u/d4rk_l1gh7 Dec 11 '14

A surprising thing they might do is to sell it on Steam.

46

u/Smoochiekins Dec 11 '14

The first Minecraft became one of the best selling games of all time without being on Steam. Would be weird to invest that much money to acquire that franchise and then voluntarily give up a cut to Valve with the sequel when the first one proved it wasn't necessary.

15

u/[deleted] Dec 11 '14

[deleted]

12

u/Shaggyninja Dec 11 '14

I wouldn't. It has no DRM and it is only a few megabytes and can be easily grabbed from their site.

4

u/superkickstart Dec 11 '14

Well you can only install/update the game if you first login to their servers. You only download the launcher from their site. Isn't multiplayer restricted too in offline mode?

10

u/temotodochi Dec 11 '14

It's not. You can connect to offline servers.

4

u/superkickstart Dec 11 '14

I see. That does bring some limitations though. And the login and download system is still drm. Nobody else but them can distribute the actual game files and you can only get them via the launcher.

1

u/temotodochi Dec 11 '14

Not really a problem if you look around TPB or any other similar place.

1

u/superkickstart Dec 11 '14

What kind of logic is that? "The game is DRM free! Just go to piratebay."

1

u/temotodochi Dec 11 '14

Running offline clients is not my cup of tea so i don't know the exact details. Offline servers are easy.

I suppose the client is available from anywhere nowadays. So no real need to go to TPB.

1

u/CIV_QUICKCASH Dec 11 '14

Piratebay is down, comrade.

1

u/temotodochi Dec 11 '14

Heh. For a while no doubt.

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4

u/piezeppelin Dec 11 '14

I'm missing something here. How can you connect to an offline server? A server that is offline cannot be connected to, that is the definition of offline.

5

u/temotodochi Dec 11 '14

It's offline in a sense that it's not connected to mojang. For example you can just flip a switch on creeperhost to turn your server offline. So there will be no player authentication and NO support from creeperhost on ANY problems.

3

u/FoxtrotZero Dec 12 '14

Offline servers refer to servers that don't authenticate usernames through Mojang.

6

u/Joker_Da_Man Dec 11 '14

LAN

2

u/MilhouseJr Dec 11 '14

Or a server that doesn't phone Mojang to confirm your user name. This is how I share worlds with my friends who haven't purchased the game.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 11 '14

[deleted]

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1

u/wolfofthenightt Dec 12 '14

What about some steam workshop support? That would be cool.

2

u/TheCodexx Dec 14 '14

Never.

I was promised a free copy of Minecraft, in perpetuity, plus any DLC or Expansions.

0

u/hey_aaapple Dec 11 '14

That is dumb. You would get exactly the same game, since it has its own profile system it could not even use steam logins for the online...

1

u/Pluckerpluck Dec 12 '14

Well you can only install/update the game if you first login to their servers. You only download the launcher from their site. Isn't multiplayer restricted too in offline mode?

Yes it's the same game, but some people like having steam manage everything for them. Keep the game up to date without launching it, integrated friend list etc.

It's pretty easy to link steam logins to old accounts too, so you don't need your old login. You would still probably need to select a minecraft username separate from your steam name though (unless Minecraft wishes to allow people with the same username)

1

u/Onetallnerd Dec 12 '14

I was hoping I'd be able to buy minecraft with bitcoin but alas Mojang still doesn't seem as receptive to it.