From the site:
a game we felt was missing in the gaming market...elements from the collectible card game genre as well as from traditional board games.
Missing in the gaming market? Really? Like we don't have enough Collectible Card Games out there already. He goes from making one of the most revolutionary games in history to this?
I think he hinted there would be a physical element to it, I think this will play out like warhammer, where you have a strat before you go to the table, and then take actions on the table in real time
I also directly thought "WTF,
this is original?!" when I read that new webpage. Even if it promises "physical"/strategy elements, heck, I'm pretty sure I've played at least one such game before (was some sort of post-apocalyptic build-your-deck game with a board and base building stuff if I remember correctly, cant remember the name).
Minecraft itself ain't that original to begin with, to my knowledge it was based on some prototype indie game which was basically only block mining and building using the materials and nothing else.
I believe it was Infiniminer by Zachtronics Industries, if anyone cares.
I can see getting really bored with it unless he adds in a LOT more randomization. To carry itself it really needs at least ten times as much content, which might spring from greater randomization but who knows? Regardless, 10 to 50 times as much content is necessary.
I'd say what is needed is not pure randomization, as that mostly leads to psychedelic blandness if done badly, and is really hard to do well (and considering recent minecraft development originality/pace, I am seriously starting to doubt Notch was more than just a lucky guy, not some brilliant visionary that can truly make original things). What we'd REALLY need is proper mod support. I can guarantee that that would at the least push it to Oblivion-level staying-power on the community level, probably far more.