They’re a passionate bunch! Harry Potter fans took Twitter by storm on Friday, Nov. 27, after author and series creator J.K. Rowling responded to a fan question about the connection between the titular protagonist and polarizing character Severus Snape.
“Why did you pick Snape to name Harry’s kid after?” a fan asked. “I’m genuinely curious as he was nothing but abusive towards everyone.”
“Snape died for Harry out of love for Lily [Harry’s mother],” Rowling wrote in response to explain why Harry named one of his sons after the curmudgeonly Hogwarts professor. “Harry paid him tribute in forgiveness and gratitude.”
Fans of the fantasy series quickly jumped on social media to squabble over Rowling’s explanation and on Snape’s ultimate role in the beloved books and films.
Rowling, 50, chimed in 20 minutes later to marvel at her fans’ passionate responses.
“I’ve got to say this: you lot have been arguing about Snape for years,” she wrote. “My timeline just exploded with love & fury yet again. Never change.”
Later on, the British author returned to Twitter to weigh in once more.
“There’s a whole essay in why Harry gave his son Snape’s name, but the decision goes to the heart of who Harry was, post-war,” she wrote, referencing the fictional Second Wizarding War.
After attempting to leave the heated debate behind, Rowling checked back in only to find “the great Snape debate still raging,” so decided to add in a few final words.
“Snape didn’t die for ‘ideals,’” she wrote. The controversial professor was murdered by Lord Voldemort, who mistakenly believed he was the master of the immensely powerful Elder Wand. “He died in an attempt to expiate his own guilt. He could have broken cover at any time to save himself, but he chose not to tell Voldemort that the latter was making a fatal error in targeting Harry. Snape’s silence ensured Harry’s victory.”
I know that many Minecraft: Pocket Edition [$6.99] players have been anxiously waiting for redstone to be added to the game, and we are finally very, very close to at least trying to build amazing contraptions. MCPE developer, Tomasso Checchi, mentioned out of nowhere the other day that the 0.13 update had been submitted to Apple a while ago. The quite short cycle of this update bodes well for the game’s future because in the past, we had to wait a lot between updates. Now, the road to version parity appears to be both shorter and smoother. Depending on when the update was actually submitted, we might even get it this week, which would be great.
In case you haven’t been following the game’s news, the 0.13 update will bring redstone circuits, redstone lamps, redstone torches, levers, tripwire hooks and tripwire, daylight sensor, pressure plates, buttons, weighted pressure plates, detector rails, activator rails, trapped chests, note blocks, faster boats (finally), bouncing rabbits, iron doors, desert temples, and more. No pistons or dispensers, yet. This is a pretty huge update that will help me add a steampunk aesthetic to my castle. Trust me, simply being able to walk into your castle without having to manually open the door (courtesy of pressure plates) saves so much time.
The third entry to Telltale Games’ new series “Minecraft: Story Mode” has finally been released, and if the last two games were able to keep your attention, you’re bound to know what’s in store for this title.
The third episode is titled “The Last Place You Look” and takes place right where the last episode left players hanging. Along with introducing a new part of the “Minecraft” world, the mysterious creatures known as the Endermen are brought to this entry and play a major role.
Here are what the critics are saying about the third chapter:
Gamespot
Gamespot finds this entry to be the best in the series so far despite being noticeably short.
“Minecraft Story Mode’s third episode is the best so far, weaving action and story in a tight, focused package. This is another short episode (my first playthrough clocked in at less than 90 minutes), which makes Story Mode a little on the brief side compared to recent Telltale offerings. But that brevity is my biggest complaint, which, if you look at it from the most charitable view, means the game never outstayed its welcome. Story Mode remains a great experience–especially if you’re playing with younger fans of Minecraft–and my anticipation for the next episode remains high.”
We Got This Covered
We Got This Covered found “The Last Place You Look” to be a huge improvement from the last entries and advises Telltale Games keeps up the pace.
“The Last Place You Look is undeniably a major improvement over the last outing, and hopefully Telltale can keep this momentum going for the remaining episodes. They’re continuing to get an impressive amount of material out of a license many fans doubted, and while it would still be nice to get longer installments, people who enjoyed the first portion of the season will get another very enjoyable outing here.”
God is a Geek
God is a Geek concurs that the series is on an incline with this title, but still believes there’s a lot to be desired from the developers.
“This is the strongest entry to date in Minecraft: Story Mode. It still isn’t hitting the heights of some of Telltale Games’ best work, but this episode makes good strides in that direction. It has a lot more action than the previous two, and the narrative is tighter, with greater focus on character development and progression. I’m interested to see how the next episode plays out, and going on the release schedule for the first three episodes, hopefully we won’t have to wait too long.”
Game Informer
Game Informer highlights the entry’s progression in narrative and action, which makes it the best out of the three so far.
“With a feeling of real narrative progression, strong action sequences, and a script that draws you in to the events unfolding in the story, The Last Place You Look is Minecraft: Story Mode’s best episode yet. Episode 3 gets the series back on track and make any fears I had stemming from Episode 2 feel like a distant memory.”
Two new updates are coming to the Minecraft game on Xbox consoles. A new holiday pack for the Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3: The Last Place is now available for the Minecraft fans that are playing this game from their Xbox consoles.
Telltale Games and Mojang have worked on the Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3: The Last Place and it seems that this new episode is finally available on both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles.
Lawrence Hryb (aka Major Nelson), director of programming at Microsoft, made the announcement a few days ago, on November 24, 2015, that the Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3 : The Last Place is available for download on Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
We remind you that two other episodes from “Minecraft: Story Mode” are expected to be released for Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. To get access to all five episodes, the players will need to pay 24.99 dollars for the PC version or 29.99 dollars for the Xbox 360 or Xbox One version.
Minecraft: Holiday Pack for Xbox One
In another post, Hryb announced that the Minecraft: Xbox One Edition has received a new holiday pack. In concordance with WinBeta, the holiday pack for the Minecraft game on Xbox One will contain a full digital version of the game along with a number of DLCs.
Even if Christmas is not here yet, the game also includes the Festive Mash-up DLC which features Santa Skins, new music, snow textures and a “festive world”. In addition, the holiday pack comes with three texture packs: City Texture Pack, Minecraft Fantasy texture Pack and Nature Texture Pack.
In addition, the players will notice that they will have two skin packs: Beasts skin pack and Battle Skin pack that will allow them to customize their characters. If you are a Halo fan, then you should know that you will receive some “Halo” textures, music and skins along with a “Halo” themed Minecraft world.
In “Ant-Man,” Hank Pym mentors Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) to help him embrace his inner hero and unlock the amazing abilities of the Ant-Man suit! Considering his impressive filmography, stars Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly and director Peyton Reed explain the feeling of working so closely with such a talented actor. Watch the video above to learn more about the experience!
In a deleted scene, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) details a number of applications for the technology developed a Pym Industries thanks to his leadership. Reed provides commentary for this scene to explain why the scene didn’t make the theatrical cut of “Ant-Man” and points out a specific tattoo of an actor. Learn more about the tattoo from Reed and Rudd in the clip below!
Buy your copy of “Ant-Man” now! Make sure to follow @AntMan on Twitter and like “Ant-Man” on Facebook for all the latest news and updates.
