Who needs a vacation to the Carribeans when you can just boot up this lovelyAssassin’s CreedHavana map inMinecraft? The majority of people, probably. But hey, it’s still a pretty cool build.
It’s cool enough to have its very own trailer, even:
It’s understandable, considering the map has been under construction since 2013. It was created by a team of builders led by Xtr3mScorch, who also made a similar map forAC: Revelations’Constantinople, tracking progress for both projectsin this Minecraftforum thread.
The Havana map comes with its own resource pack, which you’ll pretty much have to use, else everything will look like a weird mishmash of random blocks:
If you’d like to explore yourself, you can download the map following the link in the trailer’s description here. Otherwise, here’s some screenshots, with the in-game pics I’ve snapped at the bottom:
Dayshot is an image-based feature that runs every morning, showcasing some of the prettiest, funniest game-related screenshots and art we can find. Send us suggestions if you’ve got them.
Could Minecraft be part of your child’s curriculum someday?
Microsoft has acquired MinecraftEdu and is looking for ways to help develop young problem-solvers with analytical minds. Is this a good idea?
Image: Microsoft News
An Official Microsoft Blog post byAnthony Salcito, published on January 19, 2016, announced thatMicrosoft has acquired MinecraftEduand is investing in a customized version of the game Minecraft that could be used as a classroom learning tool. Like me, your first reaction to this news is probably one of skepticism and perhaps even derision. But when you think about it more deeply, the concept of using a game environment as a teaching mechanism for children, if implemented correctly, is really not a bad idea.
Minecraft
Without going into much detail, Minecraft is a virtual environment where the players build, refine, change, and destroy a virtual world of their creation using building blocks. What gets made in this virtual world is limited only by the players’ imaginations. There are also multiplayer environments that allow players to cooperate in the creation of their world.
Each building block has properties that can be used to create simple procedural programs. By combining many simple procedures, players can create very complicated machines. One of my favorites is thisscientific calculator(video). Using Minecraft, this person created what is essentially a virtual mechanical scientific calculator. This takes some incredible focus and organization of thought.
If students using Minecraft as an educational tool can achieve even a small improvement in critical and analytical thinking, it is well worth the unconventional nature of the activity.
Gaming raises skill
As someone who has played video games since the early 1980s, I can attest to the power of gaming to help shape the mind. The strategy games I played back then (and still do today) helped me learn how to think both tactically and strategically. The adventure games taught me the benefits of thinking outside the box. Later, the first person shooters honed my abilities to think quickly and focus.
Back in the “old days,” gamers not only had to know how to play a game, they also had to know how to get a game to run in the first place. Under DOS, to get games to work, one had to know about batch files, and subdirectories, and file structures. This is how a career devoted to explaining how technology works was started.
Work of the future
The Information Age has changed the way society does just about everything. At TechRepublic we have been talking aboutbig dataand theInternet of Thingsfor years now. However, these concepts are no longer phenomena of the future; they are a reality. The amount of data being collected on everything you and I do, on every transaction that takes place, is mind-boggling.
To sift through this ever increasing mountain of data we are going to need well-trained minds. We need minds that can analyze trends, that can see patterns, that can formulate plans of action, and that can imagine where those actions will eventually lead.
Microsoft funding a project to transform Minecraft into a learning tool that educators can use to help develop those analytical minds we need is a good thing. Sure it’s a bit unconventional—and some skeptics will downplay the benefits. But any attempt to create people who can analyze and solve problems on the fly is well worth the effort, don’t you think?
Minecraft: Pocket Edition gets a beta update — here’s what new and different
Above: Minecraft is changing on your smartphones and tablets.
Image Credit: Mojang
Minecraft on iOS and Android is still well behind its PC and console counterparts, but it is slowly catching up.
Developer Mojang updated the beta version of Minecraft: Pocket Edition to version 0.14.0 today. This patch introduces a number of widely requested features, such as cauldrons and slime blocks. With more than 30 million copies of Minecraft: Pocket Edition sold, this is one of the most successful premium-priced games ($7 in the App Store and on Google Play) ever released for mobile devices. And those fans will likely welcome this update that closes the gap between their preferred version and Minecraft proper.
Among the in-game changes this update brings (which we’ll list below), Mojang is considering using this as a jumping off point for eliminating support for iPad 1 and iPod Touch 4 because. Those devices do not support iOS 7, and almost no one uses them, according to the game’s developer.
We’ll see if that drastic update goes through when 0.14.0 leaves beta later this year.
As for the rest of the changes, here are the big additions in 0.14.0:
New achievements
Maps
Witches
Cauldrons: For brewing potions
Droppers: Let you quickly drop items into a chest
Hoppers: Also drop items into a chest
Dispensers: A block that can dispense stored items on demand
Slime blocks: Craftable blocks that you can bounce on
The forthcoming Minecraft: Education Edition, written in C++, looks faster and smoother than the old Java version, but won’t be compatible with all the old mods. If Microsoft mis-handles the transition, a split could damage the Minecraft community that underpins the game’s stunning success….
Image credit: Microsoft
This summer, Microsoft will release a beta ofMinecraft: Education Editionwritten in C++ rather than Java, which looks like removing the performance problems associated with running the current version of Minecraft. The Education Edition should run well on the types of Windows laptop commonly found in schools, and in homes.
Microsoft announced the Education Edition at the BETT 2016 educational technology exhibition held last week in London. Microsoft also announced that it hadpurchased MinecraftEDU, an educational version of Minecraft, from Teacher Gaming LLC. (SeeMicrosoft acquires MinecraftEdu from Teacher Gaming.) MinecraftEDU will not be developed any further, but most of its features will be implemented in the Education Edition.
Minecraft: Education Edition also builds on and extends the Windows 10 version of Minecraft. This is based on the Pocket Edition of Minecraft (MCPE), which is written in C++, not in Java. At BETT, a Microsoft programmer told me that the aim for the Education Edition was to support all the features of the Java version. It will also include extra features that will enable teachers to control large multi-player sessions, including new commands such as Build Allow and Build Deny.
In schools and colleges that use Office 365, students will be able to log on to Minecraft using their Office credentials. Alternatively, the Education Edition can easily be set up on a peer-to-peer classroom network, without a server.
At BETT, early versions of the Education Edition were running impressively smoothly with high-resolution graphics settings on the Minecraft stand.
It remains to be seen how much of the Java version can be incorporated in the C++ version, which runs on Windows 10 PCs, tablets, smartphones and games consoles. It should be possible to import worlds, skins, maps and similar mods. However, mods written in Java code will not be compatible.
The Education Edition is both a solution and a problem for both Microsoft and the Minecraft community. It looks like providing the higher performance that Minecraft players have wanted for years. However, removing the ability to create Java-style mods might well diminish the community supporting the game. That would be extremely bad news for Microsoft, and for its$2.5 billion investment in Mojang, Minecraft’s developer.
What follows is speculation….
At the moment, it looks as though there will be two versions of Minecraft – a Standard Edition and an Education Edition – with the latter feeding off the former. At first, these will have somewhat different features and capabilities, and different target audiences.
In the future, however, it seems likely that most Minecraft players will learn the new C++ version first, either in schools or on their own Windows 10 laptops, or via the Pocket edition on smartphones, tablets, and games consoles. The old Java version could therefore see a relative decline: its users may become just a small minority of the expanded market.
Obviously, Mac OS X and Linux have no problems running C++ code, but it remains to be seen whether Microsoft will port the Education Edition to these rival platforms. If it doesn’t, Windows 10 will have an advantage in the education market. If it does, it could be the beginning of the end for the Java version. Why support two code-bases if you only need one?
Blizzard finally dropped the full theatrical trailer for Warcraft, the story that takes place before the World of Warcraft game. The film seems like it’ll depict the arrival of the brutal orc-race on the world of Azeroth. It looks as though it’s mostly centered on the orc and human races, but you can be sure we’ll be seeing some dwarves and trolls in there, and, with any luck, a few more notable races as well. And you can also be sure a big contingent of gamers are absolutely going to hate it.
LORE CHANGES Hardcore WoW gamers love their lore, and when it comes to the story of how orcs came to Azeroth, there’s more than enough to occupy you for hours. Which means it simply can’t all make it into the movie. Will the film feature the same Dark Portal? Probably. Will we meet the human sorcerer Medivh who helped the orcs come to Azeroth? Yep, he’s played by Ben Foster. Will we get really in depth into the Burning Legion and Gul’Dan and drinking demon blood and orcs changing colors and Sargeras and other words we couldn’t fit into this paragraph because they make no sense to you if you’ve never played the game? Maybe not so much.
RACES AND CLASSES This movie will tell the story before the story, and that’s a significant thing for fans to remember. If all you know is World of Warcraft, you may expect this movie to be brimming with panda bears and goblins. However, the movie is likely much closer to the original PC game, which involved a lot of resource-gathering and town-building, and was much lighter on story and characters than WoW. The result is that you can probably expect a total lack of Undead, since they shouldn’t even exist yet, no Night Elves, no Blood Elves, no Death Knights, no Worgen, no Horde Paladins, no Draenei, and also very few of the characters that exist in current lore, since this movie is mostly about their forefathers. That said, maybe we’ll get an easter egg or two.
WHO’S THE BOSS? Every gamer takes a bit of pride and ownership of their adventures, and it’s no different in Warcraft. Ironically, this is part of the downfall of any movie based on a game, too. It tasks you with becoming the viewer instead of the hero, and you watch with a critical eye towards all the things that should have been different. Sure, this may be the story of Anduin Lothar, but if you were playing him you’d totally have better weapons and you’d absolutely hit up the Horde village with a badass raid from your guild and crush them all before the credits even finished rolling, so what the hell is the point of this movie anyway? Our point is that gamers like being in control of the story. The movie makes you watch someone else in control, and unless it’s on Twitch or YouTube, watching someone else play is always going to make hardcore gamers a little antsy.
EPICNESS “Epic” is a regular part of our vocabulary these days thanks in large part to Warcraft, which set the standard for MMORPG’s and how you gear up. You have regular gear, you have good gear, and you have epic gear. Everyone wants to be epic. Everything must be epic, and this is true for a movie as well. Every fight must be more epic than the last, and every new character must be more epic than the one we just met. The movie must build in all things, and that means heading into the inevitable sequel, when everything has to be bigger and better and flashier—or WoW fans will be let down. Why? That’s simply the way the game works.
IS THAT AN ORC? Quick, what color is an orc supposed to be? Brown? Grey? Green? Hell, red? “Yes” is sort of the answer, and so is “no” as far as Warcraft is concerned. Orcs started off green, and then that story got changed a little bit. Then the orcs were brown, and then someone drank some cursed blood and some orcs turned red and some turned green—and some orcs are more war-like than others as a result. And basically whatever the movie chooses to do—and it looks like they went both green and brown—some people are just going to say it’s wrong. Because when it comes to orcs, we just can’t see past skin color.
THE ADAPTATION BLUES If you’ve ever heard “the book is better than the movie,” you know where this one is coming from. The original medium in which a story is presented to people is often the one they fall in love with. It’s not just the story, it’s how the story is told. In Warcraft, that’s via gameplay. That can never be replaced for some people and, in fact, can only be ruined by trying to translate it into anything else. You see this all the time with anything from TV to movies, or movies to video games. No matter what way the translation goes, something will be lost and fans of the original will curse it like it’s riddled with the plague.
TOO MUCH KNOWLEDGE Warcraft fans are cursed with knowing the future of the franchise when it comes to this movie, and also with just how every character should be able to react to every other character. If Gul’dan is the first warlock, then we know he has a demon minion somewhere. If this guy is a paladin, we know he can heal himself and he should be able to bubble before the next round of attacks. And if there’s a mage in the fight, why isn’t he opening a portal so we can get reinforcements anyway? Just put the hunter’s pet on aggressive so it distracts everyone for a second.
When the movie deviates from what fans think the characters should do, it’ll just be met with scorn. Just look at how uppity fans get when Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings adaptations strayed from source material—and that was only a couple of stupid books. This is a video game. It’s serious.
