[UPDATE] Sphax texture pack never coming to consoles, thanks to bad PR move

Now that texture packs and mash-up packs are being designed and developed by 4J Studios for Minecraft Xbox 360, and hopefully in the future Minecraft PS3 Edition, the door is open as to what the first texture pack developed by an independent developer will be released for Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition. At least we know for sure that the popular Sphax PureBDCraft texture pack, used by popular YouTube channels like The Yogscast frequently, won't be among them.

The Sphax pack has been trying to get the attention of Mojang and 4J Studios (the company that ported Minecraft to consoles) since Minecraft arrived on consoles. The pack has existed on Minecraft for PC for years, gaining popularity through popular YouTube channels. They have set up a page on their site asking people to tweet to Mojang and 4J developers about Sphax for consoles. It seems last night was the tipping point, as hundreds of accounts in unison spammed Markus Persson's Twitter account (@Notch). Notch posted this morning "So far today, I've blocked like 20 people all tweeting the exact same message about a texture pack."

The official Twitter account for Sphax replied, "Why not discuss? Don't want to annoy, just get your attention and then discussing." Notch finally replied, "Because of the spam, I can guarantee you we will never ever include that texture pack." Notch seems to feel symathy for Sphax, but does not regret his action to blockade Sphax for consoles saying "I agree it's a shame." Sphax has tweeted on their account that they had nothing to do with the attack, but they did put the tools in place by adding Tweet buttons on their page about bringing Sphax to consoles.

Meanwhile, Sphax appears to be on the defensive, saying on their Twitter "I wasn't able to discuss with him since 1year now. That's the first time I get attention from him. Sadly, the wrong way probably." Many people are taking notice of the attacks, accusing Sphax of encouraging the spam and vowing to never use their textures. However, many are leaning towards Sphax saying tweets like "don't listen to @notch. @jeb_ makes the call now.. If notch really liked the community he would allow sphax on consoles." Sphax continues to keep the position that the spam was not their fault, and is constantly retweeting tweets regarding Sphax as innocent in the matter.

4J Studios has yet to comment on the matter, and neither have any other Mojang developers. It is not currently clear if Notch intends to hold his position of blocking Sphax on consoles, and if Sphax has hurt the chance of other third-party textures from ever arriving on Minecraft console ports. From how Notch sounds, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Update: We asked Sphax through Twitter why he claims to have stopped the tweets when the page in question is still live, he answered "[the page is] Up but no tweet to Notch or any other person anymore. Just MojangTeam, Xbox/Playstation to listen the community" Marc, Mojang's main support manager, said to us "I was kind of wondering why they didn't bother Daniel or Patrick. They're business guys, and get less tweet spam. I thought it was silly that they'd bother the creator and former dev of the game, but I guess I have a different organizational perspective (I am not encouraging anyone to bother these two. I was just puzzled).

Source: Twitter