Minecraft

This is a game deserving of your attention, and I think your money, as well.

I bought Minecraft back in February with version Beta 1.2. I started playing again this week (Beta 1.8). The commercial model is a bit different from most games: rather than raising capital to develop the game, have a free beta, then charge for the release, they charge for the beta to fund development of the game, and the price will go up for new customers when the game is 'finished.' It currently costs $21.95. There are currently more than 3 million paying customers.

This game is different, to say the least. The vast majority of the (enormous) world is simulated in meter cubes. The entire world is modifiable. You can construct buildings, farm land, hunt animals, and spelunk caves. At night, the monsters come out. Nearly every useful item has to be constructed from raw materials. The point of the game is to build, explore, and survive.

The graphics are primitive and beautiful. It runs in Java, so OS compatibility is not an issue. I think this would be a good game for kids, too.

It supports multi-player, and there are servers available, but this doesn't interest me so much as running a private server for friends to explore and cooperate in developing the same world. If you might be interested, let me know.

(Above: sunset from on top of my cabin, overlooking my small wheat farm.)