Minecraft Xbox 360 Skin Pack Gets 2 Game Skins and a Release Date, Xbox 360 Also Gets Self-Publishing Rumours

While 4J Studios has been hard at work bug-fixing the much-anticipated Minecraft Xbox 360 TU 12, there are updates for the accompanying Skin Pack 5.

As per their official Twitter account, several updates were sent over the weekend, announcing two games that will be joining the Skin Pack 5 edition.

A retweet from Origin goes, "Dead Space is joining Minecraft: Xbox 360 Ed. in Skin Pack 5--out July 31^st. you can snag it for just 160 MSP!"

Aside from Dead Space, Borderlands will also find skins in the Skin Pack 5, so there really is a lot to look forward to even before the TU 12 hits.

The Examiner adds that apart from Borderlands 2 and Dead Space, there's also the addition of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, which will also be hitting the Skin Pack 5 on the same date as the other two skins.

The skin packs allow for Minecraft Xbox 360 gamers to get avatar appearances. As per the report, this is the only way to get customized skins, unlike in the PC version of the game.

Xbox 360: A new indie haven?

After announcing a friendlier stance with independent developers when it recently announced another upturned policy, this time on the issue of self-publishing, rumours have now turned to Microsoft's current-gen console for the same capabilities.

According to Joystiq, Xbox 360 game developers may be given the chance to self-publish their games as well on the Xbox Live Arcade. The report even puts in a date for this August on when developers can start with the new policy.

However, Microsoft has not yet made any official announcements, going so far as to say that there have not yet been any changes made to the publishing policy allotted for the Xbox 360.

It may be a stretch to want to change the policy for the Xbox 360 this late in the game, but it's hard to tell with Microsoft these days on how it would react to the public's reaction or retaliation to their policies.

The company has been building a reputation for being one that overturns policies, supposedly of their own accord, but on another level, could also be interpreted as their reaction to the public's outcry.

Among the policies that have already been reversed since the official reveal of the Xbox One last May include the DRM, used game sharing, and the self-publishing for independent developers. The question for Microsoft now may be what's next to be reversed?