Minecraft has demonstrated some magnificent feats of community creation, but now it's also offering a lesson in the volatile side of crowd-sourcing. Changing the language to Afrikaans, spoken in South Africa and Namibia, yesterday caused the title screen to display the phrase "You are a NIGGER." As Minecraft Forums user EgXPlayer commented, "Thats racist."

Mojang's Jens Bergensten apologized for the slur and encouraged fans to check the new translation via Crowdin -- the Afrikaans home screen now reads "enkelspeler," which translates to "single player," as it should.

Edmund McMillen's The Binding of Isaac, a dark, "Roguelike" exploration of childhood trauma, is close to selling 450,000 copies.

"It's just ridiculous, there's no reason for this game to have done well. It's nice for everyone involved," McMillen said in an interview with IndieGames.

"When I started development on Isaac, I wasn't even sure if I should charge for it, because I didn't think people would want it, in all honestly. I had to shop it around to a bunch of different developers, and say like 'Do you think I could sell this?', because I thought it was way too weird, I thought the content was too disturbing and creepy. I thought it would just rub too many people the wrong way and I thought the design was just too hardcore for any kind of mass amount of people to enjoy."

Due to the success of Isaac, McMillen and crew are currently working on The Wrath of the Lamb expansion, which will be $3 and launch "when it's done."

By this point, the shiny veneer of newness has worn off of Sony's rapidly approaching Vita and we're all pretty used to how the thing looks. Not everyone has seen it in person yet, granted, but we've all seen it, and its PSP-ish profile and itty-bitty analogue sticks have settled into that comfortable zone of mental familiarity.

The device could have been remarkably different, however. For instance, Sony designer Takashi Sogabe (responsible for the Walkman, among other things) had originally intended for the Vita to be a much more svelte device: "The original design of the PS Vita, for example, was very much thinner than the current retail product," Sogabe said during an interview with The Guardian. "From a designer's point of view, thinner is better-looking, but the engineers wanted to put all the features in. Maybe it will become thinner in the future, but the engineers would have to come up with a means to do that."

There was also a time when the Vita's shape had more in common with the DS than the PSP: "We came up with various patterns, including a clamshell one. Then we discussed it with a lot of publishers and settled on this shape." In the long run, Sony decided that it would be a better idea to transfer the PSP's brand equity to the Vita by having the devices look similar.

One major difference between the PSP and Vita, however, is the latter's massive screen, which at 5 inches makes it the biggest screen on any dedicated portable gaming device this side of an iPad. That figure had started at 5.5 inches, according to Sogabe, but was scaled back seeing as this is a portable device and everything. We like Sony's ambition with hardware design, but we'd still rather have the real Vita over a giant, wafer-thin abalone.

Dead Block, a zombie-themed action strategy title released on PSN and XBLA last year, is now available on PC. Dead Block didn't exactly set the world on fire when it was released, but those interested in its rockabilly take on the zombie apocalypse can pick it up from several download services for $10.

Find the full list of sellers -- missing Steam, notably -- after the break.

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Earlier this week, it was announced that Aliens: Colonial Marines would be delayed until autumn. Although upsetting, this news would not have seared itself upon my brain had Barry White's "You're the First, The Last, My Everything" not been playing on Spotify radio. Just keep looking at the above picture and listen to the song here. So inappropriate.

What's everyone playing?

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For those not content with simply downloading the PC version of Alan Wake next month, Nordic Games has some good news. The Swedish publisher will be releasing a boxed version of Alan Wake's PC outing, with an official launch date to be announced in "the next few days."

Like its downloadable cousin, the boxed version will also include both of Alan Wake's DLC episodes, "The Signal" and "The Writer."

Here at Joystiq, we pride ourselves on being inside your mind, knowing what it wants, knowing what it thinks. We're like a somewhat creepier, less linguistic Babel Fish. The one thing your brain has been demanding is an updated version of 2002's Command & Conquer: Renegade.

We'd like to bring to your attention Renengade X: Black Dawn, a "spiritual successor" created by fans at Totem Arts. Tomorrow, the group will release the full single-player "mini-campaign," which was built in the Unreal Development Kit, and later Totem Arts plans to release a new multiplayer installment using the UDK.

In its current form, Renegade X is an updated version of the original game's multiplayer, made in Unreal Tournament 3, and has been playable for some time. If you want to partake, you'll need to own a copy of Unreal Tournament 3 with the latest updates.

Or, you know, just wait a day.

[Thanks, ssjChris!]

Lumbering manly mech news now, with Double Fine and Microsoft confirming the launch price of next Wednesday's substantial Iron Brigade (Trenched) expansion, "Rise of the Martian Bear." In exchange for 400 MS Points, or five Earth bucks, the DLC grants you four new maps (two of which can be played in Survival mode), a new boss fight, a diverse armory of beefed-up weapons, more customization options and, most importantly, a sombrero.

Those disappointed by Iron Brigade's lack of ambidextrous salutations will be pleased to hear about the free title update launching alongside the patch. It'll jolt your character's left arm to life, allowing it to perform gestures just like the one on the right. Oh, sure, the patch also ensures compatibility between regular and DLC-equipped players, but you have to appreciate the little things -- even when the game's about big stuff stomping around.

The Binding of Isaac: Unholy Edition is a DRM-free PC and Mac version that includes a free Steam gift key, the full soundtrack, a poster and a 40-page art book. Developed by Edmund McMillen of Super Meat Boy's Team Meat, The Binding of Isaac premiered on Steam in September along with an adorable plush from the Team Meat Shop on Etsy.

If you don't yet know why that darling doll is crying, go ahead and pick up The Binding of Isaac on Steam for $5, or wait for the Unholy Edition to launch at an unknown price. Or you can just listen to this song, whose recurring line is "To the basement, people, to the basement / Many surprises await you / In the basement, people, in the basement / You hid there last time, you know we're gonna find you."

Imagine Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy, but with a guitar-wielding rocker slicing zombies apart instead of cutely rendered Final Fantasy characters meandering through peaceful meadows. This isn't just a psychotic thought exercise -- it's the premise of Zombie Slayer Diox, the second 3DS eShop game from UFO Interactive and the second UFO game to feature both guitars and zombies.

Players control Diox, a guitarist from the year 20xx looking for an amp with infinite zombie killing power, and destroy lines of zombies by swiping in prescribed directions. You'll find your zombie killing instrument on the eShop in "early 2012."

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Microsoft's language filter on Xbox Live is strangling the linguistic skills of Quarrel players, banning such words as "help," "train," "balls" and "shaft" from being played. While we can understand the potential risque-ness of some of these words -- especially "help," which we're sure was added at the request of the XBL customer-service team -- without context we don't see the harm in them.

These words are fair game in singleplayer (with the Family Setting turned off), but Microsoft adds an extra filter to Live play, developer Denki's Gary Penn told Edge: "Quarrel uses the Collins official Scrabble dictionary comprising over 110,000 words up to eight letters in length, including a huge collection of words deemed 'offensive' by Collins, such as 'arse', 'shit', 'wank' and 'fuck.'"

Other banned words include "start," "skid," "poop," "hung," "dice" and "god." We're stumped on how to use "dice" in an offensive manner, but we've seen "fag" flung around Xbox Live chat with alarming, unfiltered regularity, so we're not going to try to figure out Microsoft's regulation process here.

This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that.
Good news and bad news.

The bad news is that today's column will be my last. I've accepted a full-time job elsewhere and I won't be able to write for Joystiq anymore. It's been a blast talking about JRPGs with you all, and I hope you enjoyed reading my articles almost as much as I enjoyed writing them.

The good news is that I'm taking this opportunity to write about one of the best JRPGs of all time, a game I always fervidly rank at the top of every "Best Games Ever!!!" list. Few games know how to tell a story this poignant, this engaging, this memorable. Few games blend narrative and mechanics together this smoothly. Few games are so powerful that they convince you to ignore some significant flaws, like bizarre bugs and a terrible translation effort. But this one is.

It's called Suikoden II.

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Resident Evil: Revelations was announced to have a $50 price tag last year, mostly because of its 4GB cartridge, which is 2GB larger than most 3DS games'. After "weeks of effort," Capcom has dropped that price to $40 -- standard for the 3DS -- without infringing on the cart size, Capcom's Brett Elston announced.

Elston said he thinks the title is still worth $50, which is why it's so great that Nintendo's Circle Pad Pro, which we feel is necessary to properly enjoy Revelations, will be an extra $20.