Both versions of Minecraft are due to receive an update very soon. Pocket Minecraft will be receiving update 0.15.0 for all supported devices and Minecraft will soon be seeing the the combat update 1.9.1.
Fans of Pocket Minecraft have been eagerly awaiting news about the next update after the release of update 0.14.0 last month. The content for this update has only been hinted to by people involved with the development. New biomes have been heavily suggested by Tommasco Checchi however players will need to create a new world in order to play with them. New resource packs are also on the way for the Pocket Edition, additionally Redstone Phase 3 will be implemented and pistons will be added with this update.
There is some hope and suggestion from fans that Realms will return to the Pocked Edition of Minecraft; Minecraft Realms is a purchasable service from Mojang that allows players to buy a small server. Pocket Realms was removed from Pocket Edition several updates ago which has prevents players from playing together in large groups.
The Combat Update is the first big update to come to Minecraft in 2016; it was originally due for release at the end of 2015 but was delayed due to bugs and the team were reluctant to release such a large update during a time where they would be unable to patch out any issues. It was released at the end of February which added a wide array of new features to Minecraft.
The next update is going to tweak and adjust some of the new features, there are some new features being added to the game also but nothing major. The 1.9.1 update will be adding a new language, sound effects and an option to disable weapon cooldowns. Smaller changes have also been made to remove some bugs, improve AI and make sure the features are working correctly; for example, this will patch out the ability to attack with a weapon recharge bar of under 70%. Minecraft fans can expect to see smaller updates for a few months now as the game is tweaked and bugs are removed, the next major update will be 1.10 and is rumored to add a new mob to the game.
All versions of Minecraft will be affected by these updates and fans can suggest ideas for the Pocket Minecraft 0.15.0 update. For those not playing Pocket Minecraft, the 1.9.1 update should be released in the coming month for all other platforms.
It hasn’t been that long since we got the 0.14 update forMinecraft Pocket Edition[$6.99], and yet I’m already waiting for update 0.15 to hit because I want those pistons for my completely-unnecessary secret chamber entry. After a relative silence of a couple of weeks, the developers surfaced once more with our first look at the pistons coming toMCPEhopefully in the 0.15 update. The animation looks smoother than the PC one (at least in my eyes), but that could be because I haven’t played the PC version in a while. Regardless of that, the fact that we are finally seeing pistons in action is a sure sign that technical issues are getting resolved and that we should (emphasis on should) get the pistons in the next update. I’m sure pistons will make a lot of you happy judging from how players have been asking for them constantly.
0.15 should bring more than just the pistons to the game; we might get texture packs (which I cannot wait for since I like clear glass), possibly new biomes, and maybe even the return ofPocket Realms. These are well and fun, but I really want to see music come to the game. It’s been my number one feature request for many, many updates, and I hope it’s not too far away. For me, theMinecraftexperience is intertwined with that fantastic music, so I can’t wait for it. We don’t have any clues for when 0.15 will release, but hopefully it’s not too far away.
Announced initially back in September, Oculus is bringing the ever-popularMinecraftto both the Rift and Gear VR. Next week at GDC 2016 we’ll get our first glimpse of the game’s mobile version.
During an invite-only event at GDC 2016, Oculus will be showing offMinecraftrunning on Samsung’s mobile Gear VR headset (which the two companies collaborated on). Famed developer and Oculus CTO John Carmack, who played an important role in bringingMinecraftto the platform, will be in attendance, likely to talk about the technical hurdles involved with optimizing the game’s Android version for virtual reality.
Back in September at Oculus’ developer conference, the company made the surprise announcement thatMinecraftwould be coming to the Oculus Rift and Gear VR. Carmack took to the stage saying that getting the sandbox building game into VR was his “quest.”
With more than 70 million copies of the game sold, Carmack knew that havingMinecraft ready for VR could be an important vector for bringing mainstream gamers to virtual reality.
“Minecraftwas something that I was desperate to get into virtual reality, because I thought it would be critically important,” he said. Adding that the game already embodies “so many things people think about the Metaverse” while enabling exploration of the sorts of “magical vistas” that create lasting memories.
At the event we expect to go hands-on with the game, which will likely require a bluetooth gamepad to be played on Gear VR.
Oculus recently showed off the Rift version of Minecraft as well, which would seem to indicate that the company is slowly building toward a launch. However, release dates for either VR version of the game have not been announced.
Prior to the game’s official VR implementation, a prominent third-party mod known asMinecrift, which added VR capability to the game, had been in development for some time. Oculus actuallyoffers the mod through their ‘Share’ games store, though it’s fate now is uncertain.
What we’ve got here is a “Minecraft-Like InfiniteVoxelWorld” built in Unreal Engine 4. In layman’s terms, it’s a very pretty but limitedMinecraftdemo running in a triple-A game engine.
While it’s looking similar to Minecraft, my intention was not to create a game similar to Minecraft, but just to see how easy it is to make a voxel based game with good performance usingBlueprintsonly in Unreal Engine 4. The Minecraft look then later came when I searched for textures, and actually the whole internet is filled with public domain texture packs for Minecraft. So it was the best way for me to get textures for a voxel based project, since I am no artist. And let’s be honest, it does not look bad like this, having the graphical power of UE4 combined with the pixel look of textures which were intended to be used in Minecraft.
Essentially the demo behaves like a very basic version ofMinecraft. You generate a world using a seed, and then, you can dig:
Mine:
Go down to bedrock level:
Build a crappy cobblestone fort:
Chop wood:
Build a crappy wooden hut:
And so on. You can collect a few types of blocks and build with them, but there isn’t any crafting involved, and there’s no biomes to explore, resources to gather, mobs to hunt, or treasure to loot.
Gameplay-wise you’d get a lot more out of properMinecraftwithshader modsinstalled, of course. Still, it’s a pretty impressive proof of concept, and a lot more interactive than your average UE4 demo. Check it out in motion:
Dayshot is an image-based feature showcasing some of the prettiest, funniest game-related screenshots and art we can find. Send us suggestions if you’ve got them.
Questions? Comments? Contact the author of this post at andras-AT-kotaku-DOT-com.
Amy Morley took full advantage of the extra day in February and popped the question to her partner David Pepper
Proposals are always romantic, sometimes surprising and, in the case of this marital message, thoroughly unique.
Taking full advantage of the leap year, Amy Morley, fromSaltburn, went to all of the effort of popping the question to her partner David Pepper by designing a Minecraft video game – and he absolutely loved it.
Gaming fan David, 22, said: “We both love Minecraft and often play it together, so for Amy to make something so personal to us is really special.
“I knew she was up to something but I didn’t know what. After the first few seconds of watching the video I could see where it was going.
“Just as the words ‘Will you marry me’ appeared on the screen, I turned and saw Amy holding a ring. I couldn’t believe it.”
David Pepper and Amy Morley are both Minecraft fans
The rollercoaster video, which Amy, 24, overlaid with the song Love Is An Open Door from Disney’s Frozen film – has been a huge hit online, having been shared thousands of times.
The two minute clip is made extra special with a picture of the couple’s five-month-old son Joel asking the all important question.
And did he say yes? Of course he did!
“It was a really cute idea,” added David, who met Amy two years ago.
“A lot of people may find it embarrassing for a woman to propose to a man, but we don’t.
“I’m absolutely over the moon and can’t wait to start planning the future.”
