This time, they weren’t really explictly teaching me anything about “Minecraft,” but I learned something anyway: “Minecraft” is a lot more than a video game. It’s a cultural touchstone; a thing that so many kids have in common that it just becomes a part of their lives.
This Christmas, we were joined by the kids’ cousins, who live a few hours down the road, meaning that they only see each other a handful of times per year. “Minecraft” gave them a common language. They just had to pull out their iPads, and they were off and playing.
Oh, sure, they play more action-oriented games like “N.O.V.A. 3,” a first-person shooter with robots in the “Titanfall” mold. Or they have this car racing game that I can never seem to remember the title of.
But they always come back to “Minecraft,” where they work together to build things, explore caves, and cause the ocassional explosion, forest fire, or massive volcanic eruption. Even though they were attached to their screens, they were still managing to spend quality time with each other.
(Reddit) A working Game Boy made entirely from “Minecraft” bricks.
And because they were able to visit each other’s “Minecraft” worlds, they were able to show off the things they had built, the villages and cave systems they had discovered, and the armor and weapons they had forged. They experimented and tried building new things.
Looking back, it’s probably a little healthier than all the hours that my cousins and I sunk into games like “Mortal Kombat Trilogy” and “GoldenEye 007” at family gatherings.
Then there’s the other thing I learned: One of the kids found and used an unauthorized app that lets them cheat at Minecraft, getting all the items and supplies they could ever want in the game’s more challenging Survival Mode. In a game that’s supposed to be about building, it’s a letdown that kids would want to short circuit the process. But also totally expected.
Ultimately, though, I find it really heartening that kids have settled on something that’s ultimately constructive as the defining video game of a generation. They could be shooting each other or running each other over, but they’re choosing to build instead.
Before Nathan Drake, there was Lara Croft. This is important to note because recently, for a good number of years, Nathan Drake was Lara Croft. Shrewdly, developer Naughty Dog took the cinematic action baton and ran far, far away with it. The Sony subsidiary was so effective in copping from Tomb Raider that it actually made Lara feel like a relic of a bygone era, just as old as the treasure she was always chasing.
Square Enix eventually reinvented the Tomb Raider property under the tutelage of the Crystal Dynamics studio. Ironically (or maybe just fittingly), this was done by, you guessed it, copping from the Nathan Drake Uncharted formula. So, if you’re keeping score at home, the Uncharted franchise was hugely successful for being better Tomb Raider games and then Tomb Raider later took that influence to become even better versions of Uncharted games. Crazy, eh?
The parallels between the two aren’t exactly tenuous either. Just a month back, Steven was moved to write an editorial wondering if the newest Crystal Dynamics game, Rise of the Tomb Raider, is simply the best Uncharted. It probably is, because, if nothing else, it has the benefit of coming out a few years after the latest Uncharted. That’s how cyclical this relationship will likely be as long as both franchises continue to see success.
It’s enough to make you wonder why exactly Crystal Dynamics isn’t held in the same public regard as Naughty Dog. It’s certainly making games that are the same quality. The pedigree is there. That’s nowhere more evident than in November’s Rise of the Tomb Raider, the developer’s best title yet.
We’re giving Rise of the Tomb Raider some hardware as the Best Xbox One Game of 2015. In a year where so many of Xbox One’s best experiences could also be found elsewhere, Rise of the Tomb Raider is a true (timed) exclusive that helps justify owning the big black box. It’s not just good under the qualifier of “…for an Xbox game;” it’s one of 2015’s standouts, period.
It seems right to saddle Lara, an adventurer who spends so much of her time after fortune, with the treasure of an end-of-year award. And, because Uncharted 4 doesn’t come out until 2016, this is one of the few times Lara Croft and Nathan Drake won’t have to jockey for position.
[Incomplete products like Steam Early Access titles and episodic games that are not fair to assess as standalone experiences, without a full episode count, were not eligible for this year’s awards. The cutoff for entry into Destructoid’s 2015’s Game of the Year awards is December 4, 2015.]
Brandon Relph, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, spends a few hours each night on his business – and now employs 23 people across 13 countries
A tech entrepreneur has built up a computer game business employing more than 20 people and made £10,000 at the tender age 15.
Brandon Relph, who started his business last year, employs 23 people across 13 countries who help him build whatever his clients want in the mega-popular game Minecraft.
Brandon, who started his business goCreative with a German teenager called Florian, said: “I was first introduced to Minecraft when I was about 10 or 11.
Entrepreneur: Brandon Relph has already made his first £10,000
“The game cost me £10. That was the best £10 I have ever spent.
“My aim now is to make £10,000 by my 16th birthday and I am already there with that one.”
Plan: The boy combines his business with school and a busy social life
The teen began coding at the age of ten and since the age of 15 has spent a few hours each night working on his business, while still finding time for his homework.
Brandon, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, and Florian are currently reinvesting their profits with a hope to expand further.
Brandon added: “We both live with our parents and we don’t really need to take much of an income from the business.”
Dream: The young man wants to become a spy
Businesses pay goCreative to advertises their products or services within Minecraft.
For instance, a film production company may want to recreate a scene from their film within the game.
Ambitious Brandon is aiming for A* grades in his GCSEs and hopes to study computer sciences at either Oxford or Cambridge so that he can fulfil his dream of being a spy.
If you’ve done all that you can do in Rise of the Tomb Raider, you may want to take a look at this DLC that just dropped today. It’s called “Endurance Mode,” and essentially adopts the core Minecraft gametype (yep, that game isn’t just about building things) — scavenge and craft by day, and survive at night when the enemies come out. The developer is billing it as an “unforgiving” mode, where you need to actually build fires and find fuel to survive, and so on. I can’t vouch for it but it sounds cool on paper.
As a reminder, Rise of the Tomb Raider‘s exclusivity is likely going to die off soon with the PC release next month.
Mike & Molly—which Melissa has starred in since 2010—will end after its upcoming sixth season, which has been cut to just 13 episodes.
CBS Cancels ‘Mike & Molly’ After Six Seasons
Rondi Reed—who plays Mike’s mother Peggy on the show—wrote on Facebook: “[T]his is the final and sixth season of Mike & Molly on CBS…. We are done taping as of January 27th. Other venues were explored by [Warner Bros. TV] and [Chuck Lorre’s] Bonanza Productions after CBS announced their intentions, but did not turn up a future for our show (sic).”
During her time on the show Melissa has seen her film career go from strength-to-strength, with an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for Bridesmaids in 2011.
Earlier this week she also received her first ever Golden Globes nomination for her role in the movie Spy and will compete against Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Schumer, Dame Maggie Smith and Lily Tomlin for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture—Comedy or Musical.
She also recently launched her own fashion collection, the Melissa McCarthy Seven7 line.
