The film premiered on Xbox Live this weekend and officially goes on sale tomorrow... even though you can now download it for free.

What's that saying again? If you can't beat 'em

2 Player Productions officially debuted its big gaming documentary this weekend on Microsoft's Xbox Live platform, but before you get upset that you, a PlayStation or Nintendo Wii owner (or console hater in general), have no way to view Minecraft: The Story of Mojang, a little something strange happened.

By that, we mean that 2 Player Productions decided to go ahead and upload its movie directly to The Pirate Bay - even though the filmmakers intend to sell the film as an $8, DRM-free stream or a $20 physical disc starting Dec. 23. Why, then, would they ever want to release it for free on a file-sharing site?

"We wanted to come here first because we knew the movie would end up here eventually, and the best thing to do seemed to be opening a dialogue," the company said. "Torrents and piracy are a way of life and it probably won't be going anywhere anytime soon. There are many people that want to punish you for that, but we have a more realistic outlook on things."

"We've been there. We've all needed to do it at some point. Maybe you don't have the money. Maybe you want to try before you buy. Maybe you're pissed at us for premiering the movie on Xbox Live. These are all fine reasons. But if you feel that piracy is, in Gabe Newell's words, 'a service problem,' please consider that we are selling DRM free digital downloads that you can watch in whatever manner you please," reads the torrent's description.

The 2.52GB movie is up to just under a thousand seeders and more than a thousand current downloaders as of this article's writing. As a testament to 2 Player Productions's plan, however, reactions to the movie being released as a downloadable torrent actually seem to be meeting the filmmakers' intent.

"Wow. You guys are awesome. I had a lot of respect for you before, but uploading your own production for torrent is just a new level. Just because of this, I will buy it. Well done on all your hard work; you deserve every penny no matter how good or bad this movie is," commented one member of The Pirate Bay.

"Was going to use some of my visa gift card for the steam sale, but you guys just won eight of my dollars. Thank you," said another.

It remains to be seen just how long the movie's "official" torrent will stay on The Pirate Bay or whether 2 Player Productions only intends to keep it the torrent online for a brief period of time once the film's sales go live.

According to The Verge, Minecraft: The Story of Mojang initially raised more than $210,000 as part of a Kickstarter campaign. Nevertheless, the three members of 2 Player Productions also said that they plunked plenty of their own cash into the project to get it off the ground.

For more tech tidbits from David Murphy, follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@thedavidmurphy).