When I saw Minecraft briefly appear in that Microsoft HoloLens demonstration video a few months ago, I muttered the word hype. I muttered the word hype so many times during that video it sounded like I was hyperventilating (hype-ventilating?). As with every new technology, it’s only once HoloLens gets into the wild that’ll we’ll discover what it will be used for in practice.
However, now that Minecraft has been shown off on the HoloLens for real, I have to step up to the plate and draft an actual response instead of assuming it was just some CGI vaporware thing.
So you can now explore Minecraft on your coffee table, provided you wear a gizmo on your head. I admit that there may be some cool aspects to this alternate vision of the game, “Minecraft God Sim” – but it’ll be nothing like the Minecraft we know and love. In Minecraft, you can inhabit another world in which you can build pretty much anything you want. You can make a stone cathedral or a lava cave or a zombie prison and wander about your own creation. Minecraft VR would really be something but HoloLens offers not virtual but augmented reality.
When I remove my rose-tinted HoloLens, all I see is uber-expensive hardware downgrading Minecraft into a virtual set of building blocks that can sit on your coffee table or living room floor.
Save your money and go buy some Lego instead. It does pretty much the same thing and is already in the shops.
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