Hands-on with Minecraft for the Gear VR, and why it’s John Carmack’s favorite platform

by Stone Marshall | Mar 20, 2016 | Minecraft News | 0 comments

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Microsoft and Oculus VR held a press event yesterday to demo Minecraft on the Gear VR for the first time. Oculus’ chief technical officer, John Carmack, was on hand to give his thoughts, and it turns out he’s been strapping smartphones to his face for a while now. But the demonstration showed that the game is still not quite performing up to its potential.

“About a year ago I got Minecraft on the Gear VR and I couldn’t tell anyone about it,” said Carmack. “And it was extremely frustrating because I was playing this game and I could spend hours playing. […] I thought it was the best VR experience that we had available. For anything.”

The reason the Gear VR is the ideal platform for Minecraft, Carmack said, is because there are no wires tethering the user to a computer. With all the processing power built into the headset itself — in the form of a Samsung smartphone — there’s nothing holding the user back from moving in any direction.

“In VR, I want to go explore the world,” Carmack said. “I think that the ability to be wireless, to spin around and have that freedom, really makes this a unique experience. […] Minecraft hits all of those buttons very, very well. It is the quintessential open-world game, and being able to explore that world in VR was what I always thought the core of this was all cracked up to be.”

To enable that kind of experience, the demo space was littered with spinning office chairs and Gear VRs fitted with Samsung Galaxy S7 phones.

But while Minecraft has been up and running on the Gear VR for some time, it still has no release date. Looking at Minecraft: Pocket Edition side by side with Minecraft on the Gear VR, it’s easy to see why; right now, the view distance is remarkably shorter in VR.

The play space designed for journalists to experience was very narrow. While the frame rate was acceptable — I had no issues with nausea — the grand vistas I’ve come to appreciate in Minecraft were almost entirely absent.

Once I broke free from the prepared environment and ran off into the world, I immediately noticed how details were only visible out to a stone’s throw away, a distance of perhaps 40 or 50 blocks. Past that, the edge of the rendered space manifested itself as an opaque white wall. Underground, in the pitch dark, that wall actually lit entire caves, meaning I could glitch the game into giving me enough light to see.

RIGHT NOW, THE VIEW DISTANCE IS REMARKABLY SHORTER IN VR

Inside the prepared environment, it seemed as if I could see farther up and down than I could see out into the distance.

Despite these technical issues with view distance, the locomotion system was particularly well-refined. Jumps had been smoothed out, and felt more like mantling obstacles in a third-person shooter than leaping into the air.

That freedom of movement was a recurring theme in Carmack’s short speech.

“Knowing that you don’t simply control your character to turn 90 degrees this way, to move over here and turn around, but instead to actually turn your body all the way around [is powerful],” Carmack said. “You know that you’re 200 meters away this way down the hill and around the bend from where you started, and that sense of being in a big world is wonderful.”

Carmack closed by reaffirming his belief that Minecraft would be available in VR for consumers very soon.

“I said this was my grail for VR, that this was the most important gaming application that I could do, or that I could be involved with, and so I’m very proud for the part that I’ve had and I’m happy to have worked with Microsoft and Mojang to get this at the point that it’s at. I’m excited to be supporting it in the coming years as things continue to improve.”

Hands-on with Minecraft for the Gear VR, and why it’s John Carmack’s favorite platform

The best Minecraft seeds for beautiful, interesting worlds

by Stone Marshall | Mar 19, 2016 | Minecraft News | 0 comments

Seeds are pretty important in Minecraft—and not just because they’re the key to amassing a mighty army of virtual chickens. World seeds, the magical strings of numbers that generate the game’s terrain, are an excellent tool to help you kick-start your adventure. Bored of spawning into flat, uninspiring plains? Wearing out your blocky booties searching for a decent spot to set up shop? Get seeding, and take advantage of exotic locations filled with possibility.

Whether you’re after unique strongholds to loot, floating islands to build upon, extreme landmasses to scale, survival challenges to face or simply a cosy spot for your swanky new pad, our essential list has you covered.

It couldn’t be simpler. Step one: check that the seed version matches up with the version of Minecraft you’re running. Step two: plug those delicious digits into the seed field when creating your new world. Step three: enjoy some of the best Minecraft world seeds ever discovered. (Optional step four: move in that sinister chicken army of yours.)

1. Gorgeous Extreme Hills

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Hope you’re wearing your enchanted flip-flops and have a hankering to scale ridiculous terrain. It could well take you several Minecraft days to climb these Extreme Hills… but just look at the view you’ll be clocking on the way up. Waterfalls cascade through the air, enormous swathes of rock overhang verdant plains, and hollows in the mountain practically beg to be excavated and explored. Just imagine how awesome your base of operations would look built into this natural structure.

2. Flower Forest and Ice Plains,

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The Ice Plains Spikes biome is a rare variant of the Tundra biome, featuring huge sculptural pillars of Packed Ice and, er… not a lot else, actually. It doesn’t half make a lovely backdrop though—which is why this seed is so spectacular. You spawn in a picturesque flower forest, the ocean lapping at one side and a frigid paradise skirting the other. The perfect setting for an Adventure Time tribute build, perhaps.

3. Jungle Oasis,

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It’s worth uncorking this version 1.4 vintage for the chance to dip your toes in one of Minecraft’s most gorgeous natural pools. Jungle biomes are somewhat rare, and finding such an exquisite example of one as a randomly-generated archipelago rarer still. But this little looker is more than just a pretty place. It’s chock-a-block with animal life and rich in easily-accessible resources—a fine choice for playing Survival mode in style.

4. Giant Floating Island feat. Ominous Abyss

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Paradisiacal islands are all well and good, but if you fancy something a little more existential, why not try this highly improbable seed? A gigantic grassy landmass hovers in the air with a flagrant disregard for the laws of physics, overlooking the dark, hopeless maw of a perversely alluring ravine… But before you go flinging yourself in in search of treasure, we should mention there’s a jungle temple just across the river. Slightly less drastic.

5. Lava-filled Desert Mountain with Splash of Greenery

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Normally, I’d deem throwing all your favourite things into a blender and mixing them together madness (step away from your cat, please). With this particular seed, however, the Frankenstein fusion of biomes really works. A vast desert setting; an Extreme Hills mountain; a high-altitude forest; an inexplicably-lush base camp area; a village; a desert temple… It all comes together to produce endless potential for a variety of adventures.

6. Beautiful Mesa Forest

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As if layer upon fudgy layer of colourful clay wasn’t a tasty enough prospect for you, this mesa seed boasts several other interesting quirks. You start in a ravine where thick clusters of oak trees grow: a short stroll up onto the plateau, and you’ll notice a wide-ranging mesa forest with a lake inside a deep crater. Find the cave hidden around the rim of the crater, and you’ll drop right into an extensive system of underground tunnels.

7. Minimalist Survival Island

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As Gandhi once remarked, “To achieve true enlightenment, one must isolate themselves upon an unforgiving Minecraft survival island seed”. This pared-down setting might well inspire some soul-searching. Essential supplies are practically non-existent here, the nearby squid your only friends—not counting Mr. Grass, Mr. Sand and Señor Gravel. After some time you too may find yourself anthropomorphising inanimate blocks. Best survival seed ever; 10/10, would go mad there again.

8. Village Surrounded by Snow

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Best return to civilisation, eh? There’s no NPC village more scenic than this one, a diminutive hamlet nestled in a thawed patch of Cold Taiga biome. You’ve a friendly neighbourhood blacksmith, a quaint little farm for food, and there are even diamonds to, erm, borrow, if you poke about. If you’re after something to build a thriving metropolis off of, and are a sucker for a snowy backyard, this is the seed for you.

9. Landlocked Mushroom Biome

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Minecraft’s shroomy kingdoms are normally rather lonely affairs: tiny little landmasses far out to sea, with a few Mooshrooms sprinkled about for good measure. This seed, however, generates a uniquely landlocked Mushroom Biome. Upon spawning, you’re at liberty to leg it into the emerald wilderness, butarmed with just a wooden bowl and your wits, it’s possible to craft a fungal abode and live on infinite mushroom stew. Going veggie has never been so simple.

10. Hollow Mountain, Hello Zombies

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Being an aspiring Minecraft supervillain in this day and age is no picnic. In fact, it’s a logistical nightmare. Where to find room to install an intimidatingly large lava wall? How to conceal your TNT-powered superweapons? And the bodies? Well, this seed has a solution: a 244-block-high hollow mountain practically made for housing all your dastardly designs. There’s even an exposed zombie dungeon at the summit for unlimited XP farming.

The best Minecraft seeds for beautiful, interesting worlds