using windows 8 with java 7.0.450-the following occurs-
.

[21:11:43 FATAL]: Fatal error launching game. Report this to http://mojang.atlassian.net please!

java.lang.NullPointerException
at net.minecraft.launcher.GameLauncher.cleanOldNatives(GameLauncher.java:419) ~[launcher.jar:?]
at net.minecraft.launcher.GameLauncher.launchGame(GameLauncher.java:206) ~[launcher.jar:?]
at net.minecraft.launcher.GameLauncher.onDownloadJobFinished(GameLauncher.java:619) [launcher.jar:?]
at net.minecraft.launcher.updater.download.DownloadJob.popAndDownload(DownloadJob.java:120) [launcher.jar:?]
at net.minecraft.launcher.updater.download.DownloadJob.access$000(DownloadJob.java:12) [launcher.jar:?]
at net.minecraft.launcher.updater.download.DownloadJob$1.run(DownloadJob.java:89) [launcher.jar:?]
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Unknown Source) [?:1.7.0_45]
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source) [?:1.7.0_45]
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source) [?:1.7.0_45]
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source) [?:1.7.0_45]
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source) [?:1.7.0_45]