Minecraft launcher starts as a java application with the java logo and unable to play

Recently I have just built my own pc and have installed windows 8. I know for a fact that minecraft does work with windows 8 as my friend has windows 8 too. Everytime i click on the minecraft launcher to launch minecraft it starts differently than how it should (see picture attatched) as if it is some unknown java application? When I try to login to the launcher it just says 'Can't connect to minecraft.net'. Now i have tried doing installs after installs of different java versions e.g Java 7, Java 6 etc.. and have also done clean installs on minecraft for a number of times and still it loads exactly the same. Next I then tried to play minecraft on the browser and even that didn't work although I successfully downloaded the minecraft files it didn't manage to load properly and minecraft froze when trying. Furthermore, I then tried to login once again and use the play offline option but inevitably it gave me a black screen int he minecraft launcher. I have also updated all my drivers to the latest version such as graphics cards. Could someone help me please ?