by Stone Marshall | Dec 16, 2014 | Minecraft News |
As live-action adaptations of comic book properties are currently dominating the media landscape, it’s easy to forget that there are a number of interesting video game movies in development as well. Despite the stigma attached to such films – with the quality of past video game-based movies lending credence to the involuntary cringe at the very mention of them – we’ve broken down how the future of video game adaptations could be bright.
Despite that potential, this year’s Need For Speed proved underwhelming, and many of the most promising projects (BioShock, Uncharted) are still in development or have been delayed. Meanwhile, we learned about a year ago that Warner Bros. was looking to adapt the popular “open world” game Minecraft with Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy apparently tapped to direct.
Well, Levy was indeed involved, but while making the press rounds in advance of the upcoming Night at the Museum: Secrets of the Tomb, Levy spoke with The Wall Street Journal‘s online outlet WSJ Cafe about why he ended up leaving the Minecraft adaptation and what his approach to the film would’ve been. Watch the full video above.
For anyone unfamiliar with Minecraft, it’s a game with a unique, lo-fi look and feel, wherein players have to use 3D cubes representing various elements (stone, dirt, sand, etc.) to construct anything from shelter to weapons; players will also have additional difficulties like the weather to deal with, even as monsters called “creepers” attack once night falls.
Levy provided an overview of how he got involved, saying that:
What happened, simply, is Warners asked me to develop, kind of, how could this ever be a story for a movie? Because it’s not a narrative game. And we came up with an approach that felt good to us, and I discussed it with Mojang, the game-makers who make Minecraft and they’re like, that doesn’t sound like what we want for – if we see a movie get made – we don’t know what we want but that doesn’t feel right. So I said okay, well, that feels like – that’s a movie I can envision, and so I’m not sure what happens next.
Levy went on to share that he has four movies he’s working on for 2015 and that the Minecraft film “wasn’t a right fit narratively, and so I’ve got to kind of focus on the other ones.” When asked to elaborate on what his take for such a tricky property could have been, Levy replied:
It wasn’t a comedy… I guess it had a bit of a Goonies flair, like kind of a – I’m not even allowed to speak of it as much as I have but, it was an adventure movie. And I thought it could have been a lot of fun, and fulfilled a lot of the qualities that people love about the game, but you know what, it’s not my game. They know what they’re doing and the truth is there is a long history of trying to make great movies out of games and they’re rarely done well. And so I think Mojang is still figuring out what they want. We gave it a shot and it wasn’t the right fit and these things happen.
Levy’s comments reflect the differences between adapting a comic book property and a video game – with major players DC and Marvel, the big Hollywood studios have folded those companies into their own. Game companies like Ubisoft (Assassin’s Creed) are developing their IPs internally, and it sounds like Warner Bros. has promising Minecraft‘s Mojang AB a great deal of creative control.
Still, a Minecraft movie with a Goonies feel actually sounds like something many people – gamers or not – might have been interested to see. The completely open, non-story nature of Minecraft really does allow for countless interpretations. There’s no way to guess what Mojang has in mind, but it wasn’t a presumably broad, 1980s-type adventure film.
Minecraft is still in development, with no official release date.
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 15, 2014 | Minecraft News |
Popular sandbox game Minecraft, which was only available for Android and iOS mobile devices until now, has finally made its way to Windows Phone devices.
“Starting today, you can enter the world of Minecraft from your Microsoft Lumia or other Windows Phone and turn your imagination into reality-one block at a time,” noted Adam Fraser on the Lumia Conversations blog post on Wednesday.
Mojang had announced a Windows Phone version of its hit game back in October after Microsoft’s $2.5bn purchase of both the game and studio.
The Minecraft Windows Phone version boasts every single feature found in the other mobile versions, including Survival mode, Creative mode, and multiplayer over Wi-Fi, infinite worlds, and all the usual stuff.
The popular gaming title has been downloaded 100 million times on PC and has sold more than 21 million copies on iOS and Android. It is the most popular online game on Xbox, and the top paid app for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating system in the U.S.
The game is already available for PC, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, iOS, and Android.
Minecraft Pocket Edition can now be purchased from the Windows Phone app store for £4.99 ($6.99), the same price as the iOS and Android Pocket Editions.
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 15, 2014 | Minecraft News |
Minecraft has finally become available in all relevant mobile phone platforms.
Mojang and Microsoft announced that the popular game’s mobile version has become available for the Windows Phone.
On Dec. 10, game developer Mojang announced that Minecraft: Pocket Edition, the mobile version of Minecraft, is now available for Windows Phone. The game is already available for Android and iOS.
“Windows phones just got significantly cooler. Now you can play Minecraft: Pocket Edition on the darn things! Hooray for Minecraft! Hooray for Windows phones! Hooray for portable gaming devices,” the company said.
Similarly, Windows announced that the game became available on Windows Phone.
“Windows Phone users can join the vast community of more than 100 million Minecraft players today with the launch of Minecraft: Pocket Edition for Windows Phone 8.1,” the announcement said.
“With a local Wi-Fi network, players can engage in multiplayer gameplay and team up with friends to explore new biomes, fight monsters, and craft infinite new worlds together,” they explained further.
Available for $6.99, the game requires the latest version of Windows Phone but, according to PC Gamer, the game’s download size of 12 megabytes should allow it to work on phones with a mere 1 gigabyte of RAM.
Since Windows purchased Mojang earlier this year for more than $2 billion, it makes sense the company would finally release a mobile version of the game.
Aside from this new release of Minecraft: Pocket Edition, there is bad news. The planned Minecraft-based movie has hit an obstacle.
Shawn Levy, slated to direct the film, as well as writers Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney have left the Warner Bros. project, according to Variety.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Levy said he left over differences on the movie’s script. Mojang did not like the idea Levy envisioned, which was an adventure story with “a bit of a ‘Goonies’ flair.”
According to Variety, Warner hopes to find replacements after the new year begins.
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 14, 2014 | Awesome Book News |
J.K. Rowling‘s first Harry Potter #PottermoreChristmas surprise has been revealed, and it’s a little heartbreaking.
The creator of the hit book and film series on Friday (Charlie Weasley’s birthday, in case you forgot) published on the community site Pottermore the first of several new pieces of bonus material related to her wizard world. She reveals something about the past of Severus Snape, the greasy-haired, grumpy Hogwarts professor, Slytherin house leader and spy who loves to give Harry Potter a hard time. In the movies, he is played by Alan Rickman.
Rowling has shared new Harry Potter content on the website in the past. Pottermore was established after the last movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, was released in 2011. The website had teased that starting on Friday, fans could “unwrap” a “daily surprise” on the site in the days leading up to Christmas eve and that some of the material would be new pieces of writing by Rowling.
VIDEO: What does Harry Potter Butterbeer ice cream taste like?
The new material is a relatively short piece of text in which Rowling reveals that the street Spinner’s End is located in the “dilapidated,” industrial English town of Cokeworth (that, by the way, doesn’t actually exist).
We already knew that the street was located near Snape’s family’s house and that the town was once home to his late childhood crush, Harry’s mother Lily, and her Muggle (non-magical) sister Petunia. Now it is confirmed that Snape and Lily grew up in the same area, suggesting his love for her spans back even further than many of us thought originally.
In the first book (but not in its film adaptation), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (also titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone), Petunia and her husband Vernon, who raised Potter after Voldemort murdered his parents, and their son Dudley escape to a hotel in Cokeworth after receiving at their home a barrage of Hogwarts admission letters for Potter.
In the sixth novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Narcissa, the mother of Harry’s school nemesis Draco Malfoy, and her sister Bellatrix speak with Snape at his parent’s old home in the town, which is unnamed and which the latter woman calls “a Muggle dunghill.” Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow to protect Draco.
To read Rowling’s new piece of writing on Pottermore, you must answer a riddle: “In a house on Spinner’s End, a meeting takes place, a mother begs help for her son, tears on her face. Agreeing to help, though he doesn’t know how. Which potions master performs an unbreakable vow?”
The answer is “Professor Snape.”
Past new Harry Potter content posted on Pottermore includes a story about a little-known sorceress named Celestina Warbeck and a reunion of Harry Potter and his friends at the Quidditch World Cup Finals.
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 14, 2014 | Awesome Book News |
Pottermore, an interactive website from J.K. Rowling for fans of the Harry Potter books, is releasing surprises everyday between December 12 to December 23 at 8 am EST. The surprises are offered to readers after answering a rhyming riddle and include new “moments” (illustrated scenes), ”potions” (online games), and most importantly new stories by Rowling. The Telegraph reported that the new pieces of writing include a piece on Potter’s blonde nemesis Draco Malfoy. Rowling fueled the Potter cult by releasing several new stories on Halloween, including an essay on the book’s witchy character Dolores Umbridge.
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