Minecraft, the indie sandbox building game, will be available for the iPhone, iPad and other Apple mobile devices starting today, Nov. 17.

Available in the Apple App Store, Minecraft - Pocket Edition will be a scaled down version to its PC counterpart.

The version for iOS won't feature the popular survival mode. Like the desktop edition, worlds are randomly generated. Users are free to use 36 different kinds of blocks to build. Users can play multiplayer with friends, although over a local wireless network rather than the online server. Users are also allowed to save multi-player worlds on their iPhones.

Mojang's Minecraft - Pocket Edition is available at $9.99 in the U.S. and $7.49 in Australia. The game will be compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices. The 2.9 MB game will require iOS 4.3 or later.

Early buyers have been complaining of the scaled down version for the iOS, suggesting that infinite generation, day/night, monsters, crafting and switching between survival and creative mode should be added.

At the MineCon at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas Nov. 18 and 19, Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson will show for the first time the full version of the desktop edition, dubbed Minecraft 1.0. The game has a huge fan base, is highly addictive, and has reaped citations for providing a unique outlet for creativity.

Video game developer Mojang has already sold more than 4 million copies of the beta version of Minecraft, which has been continually updated and patched since an alpha version was released in 2009. The official version, Minecraft 1.0, will be available for $28.95. Gamers who have purchased the beta version (at $21.95) can update to the full version starting Friday.

An Xbox 360 version of Minecraft is also in production and is set to launch sometime in 2012.