The Word of Notch has the announcement that Minecraft is nearing the beta testing stage, saying the beta for this indie sandbox game will begin a week from today on December 20. Minecraft is available at a 50% discount while it is still in alpha testing, and once the beta launches the price will change to 14.95 Euro, and in addition, Notch says: "We will also change the license to remove the line that promises all future versions of the game for free. Please note that this change only affects people who buy the game after December 20, so if you got the game for during alpha, you will still get all future updates for free, despite this change. A promise is a promise. Buying the game during beta will include all updates up until release, of course, and bug patches will be free."