With Microsoft’s new OS, Windows 10, launching tomorrow, an extra goody is here to celebrate the occasion. There are 20 million or so players who own Minecraft for PC/Mac. Those who also have Windows 10 can get the new Minecraft Windows 10 Edition for free. Just go to Mojang.com and log into your Mojang account. You can then redeem your free copy of the game. Keep in mind that Minecraft Windows 10 Edition is beta software, so there are likely some bugs hiding here and there.

So, what is so special about Minecraft Windows 10 Edition? Probably the best thing about it is that it is not written in Java like the original game. It is essentially Minecraft Pocket Edition, which is written in C++. C++ is of course faster than the Java nonsense that the original game is written in, so you get better performance in-game. In fact, if you have Minecraft Pocket Edition, it can see Minecraft Windows 10 Edition servers. You can’t join them yet due to a version mismatch, but that will likely get fixed in the future. Unifying Minecraft so that different versions can all play together would be a great thing, and this version may be the first step towards that future. Don’t expect a bunch of huge new features in this version, at least not yet. It’s brand new after all, but that will change in time.

I should mention that you may have trouble redeeming your copy of the game at first since the server is pretty busy with many people trying to get it. After a handful of tries, I was able to redeem and download my copy of Minecraft Windows 10 Edition Beta. If you love Minecraft, there’s really no reason not to nab your copy. Just remember that you must already own Minecraft for PC/Mac, and have Microsoft’s new Windows 10 operating system.

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