by Stone Marshall | Oct 30, 2016 | Minecraft News |
Your blocky Minecraft worlds could soon invade reality.
During a Windows 10 event in New York City, Microsoft revealed that Minecraft players will be able to 3D print their creations next year. The same goes for what they build inside Paint 3D, the new art creation tool that Microsoft also unveiled at the event. This will be possible thanks to the Creator’s Update, which will hit the operating system in early 2017.
You’ll be able to upload creations from both to Remix 3D, a new Microsoft community where Windows users can share their work. Creations from the 3D modelling software SketchUp can also be put on Remix 3D. This is also where you’ll be able to 3D print these virtual objects.
Minecraft is one of the most popular titles of the $99.6 billion gaming industry, which is why Microsoft bought the game and its developer Mojang in 2014 for $2.5 billion. Minecraft is famous for user-generated content, and now its players can make their virtual creations real.
The social aspect has also been important for Minecraft. Remix 3D will give players a new place to check out friends’ creations without even having to boot up the game.
Microsoft’s Remix 3D lets you share and print 3D creations from Minecraft and Paint 3D
by Stone Marshall | Oct 29, 2016 | Minecraft News |
The Nov. 1 launch of a “Minecraft” version tailored for the classroom is exciting educators and parents alike.
“Phenomenal” is how Mark Minghella describes the test version of “Minecraft: Education Edition,” the new iteration of the popular building game.
“I’ve got an overwhelmingly … positive attitude toward ‘Minecraft’ in the classroom,” says Minghella, a technology teacher in the nation’s capital at the British International School of Washington. He says he was familiar with “Minecraft” thanks to his two kids. “It’s actually being used for education purposes and not just for students to play games.”
Minghella says the game can help students understand the concepts involved with building a sustainable community, as well as how to work collaboratively, overcome obstacles and prioritize tasks.
“Minecraft” gamers can build their own worlds. Stealth/YouTube
“Understanding that logical sequencing and systems thinking” is one of the many benefits of gaming for students, says Lisa Douthit, an emerging technology teacher with the Turner Unified School District of Kansas City, Kansas. “It’s all about logical thinking and critical thinking, and how it expands that student’s mind from that perspective.”
For Microsoft, the parent company of “Minecraft,” the foray appears to make sense, as the game-based learning market is expected to reap revenues of $4.9 billion by 2019. The company, which acquired “Minecraft” developer Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014 in one of the largest acquisitions in gaming history, announced the updated game version in January. The original “Minecraft” version has seen more than 100 million downloads on PCs alone since 2009.
Based on MinecraftEdu, a licensed game developed by TeacherGaming LLC and purchased by Microsoft earlier this year, “Minecraft: Education Edition” has been free to more than 35,000 students and teachers around the world taking part in an early access program. Since June, schools and students have been testing the new edition, providing feedback to the company to refine the game before its official launch.
“We have high hopes for this title to be a game-changer in classrooms around the world,” Deirdre Quarnstrom, director of “Minecraft” education at Microsoft, tells U.S. News. “Our first priority in the short term is driving awareness of the new title and getting continued educator feedback to finesse the experience as we go.”
“Minecraft: Education Edition” provides a team-play mode for up to 30 students and allows them to take pictures of their work for teachers to track their development. It also adds a chalkboard feature so teachers can post information or give instructions during the game. It has a single sign-on feature for privacy and security protection, and a non-player character function in the November version enables educators to act as guides within the game.
The technical nature of the game itself may impede classroom adoption for some, as it takes place in an open “sandbox” format in which players build worlds from scratch using 3-D blocks.
“For educators who know and love ‘Minecraft,’ the blank canvas is an exciting opportunity, but for those who are new to ‘Minecraft,’ this format can be overwhelming,” Microsoft’s Quarnstrom admits.
But features like an in-depth tutorial, lesson plans, a variety of templated worlds and a classroom mode can help reduce the learning curve. So-called “Minecraft” mentors will be available to aid teachers working to incorporate the game into classwork as well.
That schools and interested parents will adopt the game on a widespread level is the gamble Microsoft is taking. “Minecraft: Education Edition” will be available in the Windows Store for $5 per user per year from Nov. 1, while schools also can obtain the game under a districtwide licensing agreement that charges in the range of $1 to $2 per user per year, the “Minecraft” team tells U.S. News in an email.
The November launch comes as efforts to connect more classrooms to the internet have ramped up in recent years, involving advocates such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the nonprofit world and the Obama administration on the federal level. Yet concerns about children and teens spending too much time watching television or using other media devices remain prevalent, with the American Academy of Pediatrics recommending parents set consistent limits on such activities.
“Minecraft” encourages logical thinking and critical thinking, educators say. Stealth/YouTube
But while some may balk at the idea of making gaming a focal point in the classroom, most of the educators contacted by U.S. News say they have overwhelming support from parents.
“There are definitely parents who would not agree to applying gaming, but I would like to think that it is a function of not understanding the association with the learning objectives,” says Steven Isaacs, a game design and development teacher at William Annin Middle School in New Jersey, who also will be serving as a “Minecraft” mentor.
Minghella says his school did receive a complaint from a parent who was not convinced about the benefits of applying gaming to the classroom. But he says most parents have been very supportive.
“I think that some parents play games and as such, get the idea. Some don’t play games but understand that we can harness games to enhance education. Finally, some don’t play games and can’t see past games as being anything more than just games,” Minghella says.
He also thinks efforts by schools and teachers can mitigate parents’ worries. The British International School of Washington, for example, hosted a “Minecraft for Parents” event to let parents experience the game and see what the students can learn.
Mark Blair, a technology specialist with the Douglas County School District in Colorado, says some teachers testing the game did have technical difficulties getting it running. But he thinks those issues will be minimized in the new edition, in which teachers will simply have to create a world for the students to operate within after joining.
“Because they added some new modifications for teachers to better manage their class, and to be able to do things like coding and other things that teachers are interested in, it’s just easier for teachers to adopt it,” says Mimi Ito, research director of the Digital Media and Learning Hub at the University of California—Irvine. Ito also is a co-founder of Connected Camps, a for-profit online learning organization through which teenage coaches use “Minecraft” to teach younger children computer coding and Spanish.
Some educators and after-school programs already using the standard “Minecraft” version may be reluctant to switch to the education edition, worried it may pale in comparison to some of the original’s more powerful features, such as modded weapons, characters and game modes.
Whether students can continue their learning at home using the education edition is another question for users. While Microsoft has said kids can play the game at home as well, Ito notes their particular identity in the game is tied to where they currently attend school, meaning switching to another may force them to start from scratch or scrap the game altogether.
“What’s very important for our learning model is that it’s about having a social relationship, a community, being a part of a shared ‘Minecraft’ server community,” Ito says. “And in order to do that, kids need to be able to connect from home and need to be able to maintain that ‘Minecraft’ identity, which is different from the education edition where the school is going to buy the accounts and the school owns the account for whatever period of time that they want to subscribe their kids.”
However, Douthit says she’s excited to see how the new version evolves.
“Obviously they are developing their regular version of ‘Minecraft,’ so I have great confidence that they are gonna do the same with the teacher version,” she says.
Microsoft Aims to Build on ‘Minecraft’ Success
by Stone Marshall | Oct 29, 2016 | Minecraft News |
Today’s Apple event might be about new Macs, but the company is taking time to detail updates for its other products too. First up: Apple TV. On stage today, CEO Tim Cook said that the box now offers access to over 8,000 apps, and will soon become home to one of the most popular games on both consoles and mobile: Minecraft. That’s right, Microsoft’s huge open-world sandbox game will be available on Apple TV “by the end of the year.”
Apple has provided no additional details about what is in store but you’ll likely want to invest in a third-party controller to get the most from the title. Sure, Apple’s new wireless remote sports a touchpad and hosts more buttons than the minimalist silver remote that shipped with the company’s older streamers but we imagine it won’t be the best tool to help you (or the little ones) build that all-important End Portal. We’ve contacted Microsoft and Mojang for more details and will bring you more information as we get it.
‘Minecraft’ is coming to Apple TV
by Stone Marshall | Oct 27, 2016 | Awesome Book News |
In the 15-30 minutes of downtime I corner in a day, I have a tendency to dive into comic books. Old, new, Marvel, DC, IDW, Dark Horse – you name it, I read it. It’s been this way for years, which have given me some wild insight into this creative universe. It’s also gifted me with an extensive knowledge of comic monsters. Today’s focus are a few of the monsters ruling the Marvel Comics universe. These are beasts who deserve their own films. But not those family friendly comic adaptations, we’re talking full bore horror films. Check out 10 Marvel Comics characters that deserve their own horror movies!
Morbius
Uh… Morbius is a living vampire. Yeah, you read that right: He’s a living vampire! He consumes blood, he attacks the unsuspecting, he stalks the streets under light of the moon. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about anything other than sinking his incisors into your neck and draining every last drop of your blood. Assuming Blade can’t track the man down, he could really run roughshod on a group of intoxicated 20-somethings.
Venom
Come on now, Venom is already one of the coolest and most imposing villains Spiderman has ever had the misfortune of facing. You know he’s a bad ass. You know he’d just as soon kill a speedbump as opposed to slowing for it, and you know that, while that symbiote is really worked up, he’s completely remorseless. This beast would make for a paralyzing villain in a horror feature.
Calypso
A psychopathic voodoo priestess of Haitian nationality… hmm, just imagine the possibilities! Seeing genuinely menacing female antagonists is always great. When they just so happen to be as unpredictable as Calypso, well, that just adds to the fun. This is a character that’s often gone underappreciated, but with the right casting, she could be one genuinely vile beast fully capable of fronting a horror film!
Carnage
Carnage is basically the ultraviolent version of Venom. In fact, in many ways Carnage makes Venom look like a boy scout. If you want to see a Marvel character that could make for a horrendously bloody film, you want to see Carnage. The dude more than lives up to his name, and you can bet were this feared commodity given the chance to front his own film we’d see an absurd amount of extremely grahic violence. We’re talking Hard-R, at the least!
Deathlok
Deathlok is a reanimated monster enhanced by cybernetics. He’s basically a cross between a zombie and the Terminator. If that’s not the kind of character who could take heads (and maybe eat a little brains in the process) and leave viewers stunned at his murderous aggression, I simply don’t know who, or what is!
Wolverine
Let’s just cut the crap and forget all about the X-Men flicks, and the Wolverine flicks we’ve seen. In each of those pictures Wolvie was displayed as a good guy with an angry streak. But let’s just imagine Wolverine on a true rampage, a mission to slaughter anyone and everyone. That could be the darkest Marvel movie ever created. And the blood… goodness the blood!
Jack O’Lantern
This dude just looks awesome. In fact, the villainous Jack O’Lantern makes Ghost Rider look like an anorexic weirdo with a BIC lighter affixed to his neck. What’s also cool about this character is the fact that he could totally and completely own a Halloween-themed genre pic. He might even give the Headless Horseman a good run for his money!
Legion of Monsters
Is this cheating? It sure feels like cheating. With Dracula, the Mummy, a hideous Wolfman and more on deck, this group seems like a very obvious selection for a big screen transfer. In fact, in some ways we’ve already seen this. And I’m not talking about classic Universal Monster Crossovers, I’m talking about the 80s flick we all hold so dear to our hearts: The Monster Squad.
Not that we’d be against a new rendition featuring these specific Marvel characters!
Man-Thing
A cross between the Swamp Thing and Cthulu, this character is destined to front a violence packed, blood-flinging flick in which vengeance at the core. Ted was wronged by those he trusted. They betrayed him in his quest to create the super soldier. But when he consumes that serum himself it turns him into something vicious… a monstrous killing machine and you can bet, there isn’t a single soul safe in the beast’s presence! Awesome flick in the making? We think so!!
Scarecrow
This dude was certifiably insane. He slaughtered too many innocents to count. He beefed with just about every noteworthy superhero on the Marvel roster. And through it all, he clung to that insanity, and then slaughtered more unsuspecting victims. In short, he’s a killing machine, and given his cool getup and ice cold demeanor, he could make for an absolutely magical horror film. Just keep all the Avengers away from him while he does his evil bidding!
10 Marvel Comics Characters that Deserve Their Own Horror Movie
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