Minecraft has ascended into a gaming institution like Pokémon. And now, Microsoft is adding Minecraft to Xbox Game Pass. For $10 per month, you can get Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Crackdown 3, and — beginning April 4 — Minecraft.
“Since its launch in 2009, the Minecraft community has remained one of the most active and passionate in gaming, attracting over 91 million players [each month] of all ages from virtually every country in the world,” Xbox Game Pass marketing boss Parimal Deshpande said. “Those joining through Xbox Game Pass will enter a vibrant, global community that plays across 20 unique platforms like Windows 10, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and mobile.”
More people for Minecraft Marketplace
Minecraft is not free-to-play, but it still seems ubiquitous. But by adding Minecraft to Game Pass, Microsoft could amplify that effect. And it is simultaneously boosting Games while exposing more people to Minecraft’s in-game store.
“Xbox Game Pass players will also gain access to an ever-expanding array of content for purchase via the in-game Minecraft Marketplace,” said Deshpande. “[The Marketplace] contains over 1,000 pieces of content from 60 distinct creators.”
The Minecraft Marketplace is a major focus for Micorosft. It treats it more as an ongoing service. That’s why it’s available everywhere and supports cross-play. And enabling community creators to build and sell content is a part of that. This ensures the game continues to make revenue and players have an abundance of fresh content beyond The Minecraft Team’s frequent updates.
And now Game Pass players can hop into Minecraft without spending any extra money, and they may end up spending cash in the Marketplace instead.
That huge growth has come due in part to the attention that Microsoft and The Minecraft Team are giving the service. The developer has added features like search and real-money prices. And the team has also worked to regularly deliver free content to keep people coming back.
All of that has paid off, and now the Minecraft Marketplace’s future seems very bright.
“Get cracking with these starter skins and old favorites brought over from Minecraft editions of yore. Widen your wardrobe, turn out in a tux, or rock it as a croc.”
2. Purple Parrot Party Palace by Minecraft
“A celebration of all things purple parrot party and palace. Master the mechanics of fireworks, armor stands, jukeboxes, and banners. Traverse a jungle island to find a massive parrot temple. Part tutorial and part adventure, this map will make your parrot dance.”
3. Grid Runners by Noxcrew
“Take on Noxcrew’s Grid Runners: a mini-game map made of classic Minecraft challenges where you can craft, mine, and jump your way to victory. Compete against the clock for the fastest times and team up with all of your friends to find out who is the ultimate Minecraft champion. This is a free map created exclusively for Minecon Earth 2018.”
4. Abstraction: Minecon Earth by Jigarbov Productions
“Featuring the logos that were just begging to be played on, MineCon Earth has floating landmasses with a surprising amount of hidden secrets and challenges.”
5. Pet Shop by Pixelheads
“Welcome to Pet Shop. Choose between 17 lovely pets. Explore a town and earn coins by collecting poop or by catching stray animals. Play fetch with dogs, trim a poodle, or take a snake for a walk. Cats, hamsters, lizards, poodles, capuchin monkeys, snails, hedgehogs, snakes, German shepherds, parakeets, penguins, rats, piggies, ferrets, koalas, chameleons, and rottweilers.”
6. Luxury Life by Pixelheads
“Luxury Life is a world where you role-play life as a billionaire. Cruise the streets in a sports car or any of the 10 other vehicles, explore luxurious mansions and decorate with furniture!”
7. Dragons by InPvP
“Take one of six dragons to the skies and become a legendary dragon rider. Surprise your enemies with custom attacks. Shoot fireballs and drop TNT. Explore three huge castles and the beautiful custom landscape.”
8. Advanced Farming by GameMode One
“Farm your heart out with new machines, vehicles, animals, pets, vendors, characters, and lands to explore. Fully functioning machines and vehicles. New and improved farm animals. Huge custom farm and ranch. A peaceful and relaxing roleplay countryside experience. Progress through the economy and optimize your farm.”
9. Steven Universe Mash-Up by Minecraft
“Steven enters the Minecraft universe in this Diamond-worth mash-up. Contains Steven Universe themed skins, textures, and original music from the show and all your favorite locations, from Beach City to Homeworld. Believe in Steven.”
10. City Life by Pixelheads
“Cruise through the big city in City Life! Chase down a bandit in your police car, save the day as a firefighter or take your dog for a walk.”
“Welcome to Pet Shop. Choose between 17 lovely pets. Explore a town and earn coins by collecting poop or by catching stray animals. Play fetch with dogs, trim a poodle, or take a snake for a walk. Cats, hamsters, lizards, poodles, capuchin monkeys, snails, hedgehogs, snakes, German shepherds, parakeets, penguins, rats, piggies, ferrets, koalas, chameleons, and rottweilers.”
2. Advanced Farming by GameMode One
“Farm your heart out with new machines, vehicles, animals, pets, vendors, characters, and lands to explore. Fully functioning machines and vehicles. New and improved farm animals. Huge custom farm and ranch. A peaceful and relaxing roleplay countryside experience. Progress through the economy and optimize your farm.”
3. Luxury Life by Pixelheads
“Luxury Life is a world where you role-play life as a billionaire. Cruise the streets in a sports car or any of the 10 other vehicles, explore luxurious mansions and decorate with furniture!”
4. Steven Universe Mash-Up by Minecraft
“Steven enters the Minecraft universe in this Diamond-worth mash-up. Contains Steven Universe themed skins, textures, and original music from the show and all your favorite locations, from Beach City to Homeworld. Believe in Steven.”
5. Dragons by InPvP
“Take one of six dragons to the skies and become a legendary dragon rider. Surprise your enemies with custom attacks. Shoot fireballs and drop TNT. Explore three huge castles and the beautiful custom landscape.”
6. City Life by Pixelheads
“Cruise through the big city in City Life! Chase down a bandit in your police car, save the day as a firefighter or take your dog for a walk.”
7. City Mash-Up by Everbloom Studios
“With over 1,000 hand-detailed rooms, there are stories, secrets, and mini-games around every corner. Build with the city’s full texture pack in your own worlds or take on any role you can imagine!”
8. Dinosaur Island by Pixelheads
“This once-idyllic island has been overrun by prehistoric beasts after the scientists lost control of their genetic experiments. Explore and discover the hidden mysteries of this intriguing island in a completely new adventure on Dinosaur Island.”
9. CampCraft by Blockworks
“A vast wilderness awaits you and your friends in CampCraft. Discover forest animals, ride camper vans, toast marshmallows, sit around the campfire, and set up your own camp.”
10. Shopping Time by Cyclone Designs
“It’s shopping time. Spend emeralds around town to buy furniture, cars, bikes, boats, pets, and much more. Decorate a pre-built house or build your own in a vacant plot and let your creativity and imagination flow.”
In the latest update to Minecraft, the game will no longer say “Made by Notch!” or “The Work Of Notch!” when you first boot up the game. Other messages will continue to show up randomly when you’re loading into the block-building phenomenon. But any reference to Persson is gone from that splash screen.Recommended Videos
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But this isn’t Microsoft trying to erase Notch’s contributions from the game. His name still shows up in the credits. But Microsoft no longer seems interested in celebrating him, either. While that may have more to do with establishing Microsoft as the sole owner and operator of Minecraft, it seems likely that the company does not want to associate with Notch’s edgelord shitposting behavior.
Microsoft deserves the credit for saving Minecraft from its creator
Notch, meanwhile, has turned into a lonely, bizarre internet creep. Despite having billions of dollars and a Beverly Hill mansion with towering candy dispensers all along one of its walls, he spends time trying to provoke people on Twitter.
He regularly makes bigoted remarks and claims to believe in conspiracy theories like QAnon, which isn’t worth explaining. It’s likely that he doesn’t care about what he’s actually saying. He just wants to trigger snowflakes.
And that is the person that Microsoft saved Minecraft from. Notch released Minecraft 10 years ago, but it’s still most popular among young kids. When children grow interested in the game, it’s inevitable that some will want to learn who is making it.
One option is to tell children that it is like a holy text that came to us from aliens.
But Microsoft is solving this by taking ownership over Minecraft on a cultural level. Microsoft is the company that released the Xbox One Adaptive Controllerto make games more accessible for disabled people. And now it’s the company that is tearing Notch out of Minecraft while continually building the game up. In the decades to come, Microsoft will get the credit for establishing Minecraft as a time-tested pop-culture icon.
As the military buffs among you might have guessed from the name, Locked On introduces a brand new radar system. Various tanks, choppers, helicopters, and ground units benefit from the addition and are now able to scan the skies and detect hostile activity. Using this powerful new tool makes you visible to enemies, however, so you may want to occasionally forego the advantages it brings and turn the damn attention-bringing thing off.
Of the vehicular skirmish games out in the wild, few are as expansive as War Thunder – players have been battling across land, air, and sea since 2013. That’s a whole lot of warfare, but developer Gaijin Entertainment is rather good at keeping its fuel tank full – the latest top up comes courtesy of update 1.87, titled Locked On.
Update 1.87 also gives you access to somewhere in the region of 30 new vehicles. There are French helicopters, all manner of cruisers, a Japanese supersonic jet, the M1A1 Abrams tank, and the Soviet 2S6 Tunguska – the very first surface-to-air missile system (SAM) in the game.
On top of all of this there are also two new maps, so War Thunder’s latest update gives you loads of reasons to jump back into the cockpit.
GO FULL THROTTLE IN A SUPERSONIC JET
War Thunder has a new fastest jet: the Japanese Mitsubishi T-2. This imposing piece of hardware can reach an incredible mach 1.6, so if you ever invite it to a party, expect it to turn up about a week early. You’ll feel the speed in your heart, chest, and violently rippling cheeks, so make sure to bring a sick bag.
To level the playing field somewhat, update 1.87 also gives AA gunners a leg up. If you’re trying to tag a jet from an anti-aircraft gun, fear not, because you’ll now find a HUD that lets you track and lead more effectively. Just shoot at the little green icon that appears ahead of the aircraft and you’ll counter the intense speed on show.
SCAN THE SKIES WITH RADAR
Locked On adds the aforementioned radar system to an array of vehicles, including tanks, aircraft, and choppers. If you’re on the ground, radio detection is designed to safeguard your forces, helping you track and ultimately destroy aerial threats. But ground forces don’t get to have all the fun because aircraft and helicopters receive alerts whenever someone spots them.
Essentially, pilots have radar for the radar: aces are warned if they’re about to be shot out the sky, giving them enough time to evade an attack. In response, anti-aircraft vehicles can disable their radar to go radio silent and disappear from scanners in the sky. This tense electronic warfare adds a whole new dynamic to War Thunder’s pitched battles.
BLAST OPPONENTS WITH SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILES
A tracked SPAAW (self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon), the Soviet 2S6 Tunguska is a formidable beast. Armed with eight 9M311 SAM missiles it’ll soon put a dent in your opponents’ so-called air supremacy. If you see anything moving in the clouds, this 35 tonne bit of kit gives you full license to engage it. Unless it’s a bird, of course. There’s no need to kill birds.
You’re not strictly limited to aircraft, though. The Tunguska is able to combat armoured ground vehicles, too. Hey, missiles don’t discriminate – if you point one at something, it’s bound to blow up.
BATTLE IN NEW LOCATIONS
Finally, update 1.87 offers two new combined-arms locations. First up is the Alaska map, which plays host to some of the most intense fighting yet seen in the game. It’s a delightful combination of wide city streets that are perfect for rampaging tanks, and dense surrounding forests where precise driving and a keen sense of direction are key.
Second is Coral Islands, a gorgeous playground based in the Pacific. This setting is designed to give fleet vessels and aircraft a rush as they engage each other around a rocky atoll. Okay, that’s it from us – best of luck out there!
Launched in 2013, Warface is a military shooter built on a bedrock of satisfying gunplay, slick movement, and sharp visuals. That probably comes as little surprise given that it was originally created by Crytek, but the game has proven so successful that the development team has formed its own studio called Blackwood Games. Working closely with publisher My.com, Blackwood ensures Warface always offers fierce firefights, an array of competitive modes, and a set of engaging story-led cooperative missions.
This confection has been crafted in CryEngine 3.5, a rather powerful but convincingly scalable bit of tech. Thanks to that foundation, Warface runs well on a wide range of rigs and looks great doing so. This is the engine behind Crysis, after all, and it’s a boon to get those fantastic visuals – and the infamous nanosuit itself – in a free-to-play game.
On top of all that, a healthy stream of free updates ensures that Warface frequently provides fresh and exciting new stuff to see and do. That helps pull in the punters, of course, which means there’s always plenty of human targets waiting for your bullets. It all adds up to a package that offers a little more than your average free-to-play effort, and we’re going to show you why that’s the case.
EMBARK ON PVE MISSIONS WITH YOUR SQUAD
There are many free-to-play shooters vying for your time, but few offer dedicated co-op campaigns. Warface does, and this variety makes it stand out from the crowd. Its story-driven PvE mode consists of nine special operations that test your five-person squad’s reactions and tactics. One such operation, The Great White, is a wave-based survival mission set in a glimmering glass and chrome skyscraper. Alternatively, you could try your hand at Anubis, in which you must destroy a cyborg factory inside an Egyptian pyramid. For an even hotter time, give Volcano a go, where your team launches an attack on an African research station before having a showdown with a security turret called Ursula. She’s very upset and cries bullets.
Each mission is replayable, offering different rewards at higher difficulties. For example, normal mode provides twice the amount of rewards easy does, but according to the stats just 7% of all squads are successful – so you’d best prepare yourself for a challenge. The most able players can double their currency rewards in pro mode, where enemies that deal enormous damage call for intimate class knowledge and coordinated teamwork. Given the odds offered for success in normal, however, we don’t fancy our chances much.
IT’S GOT BATTLE ROYALE
Battle royale is all the rage now, and Warface has joined the party. The mode takes the game’s robust mechanics and applies them to the familiar every-person-for-themselves setup, although there’s slightly less jumping out of buses in this one. Featuring 32 players fighting for survival, it may be smaller than the traditional 100-player versions of the mode you’re used to, but it’s the biggest skirmish Warface has seen to date, and it gives you a large-scale alternative to the game’s signature tight, close-quarters matches.
Warface’s take on battle royale was originally limited to Mojave, a desert map baking under the hot sun, but the mode has since extended to the Pripyat-set Exclusion Zone map, too. The devastation wrought by Chernobyl works as great lore for Exclusion Zone, with radioactive particles spread by a massive storm shrinking the playable area until there’s just one soldier left. While battle royale is only one part of Warface, it could be the mode that draws you in first.
WAGE WAR ACROSS 20 MAPS AND TEN MODES
Warface’s PvP offers exactly the kind of multiplayer mayhem you’d expect from a development team that honed its craft on Crysis. And thanks to constant support and updates, the game’s community has remained consistently active, meaning you’ll always be able to find a game.
Competitive players can do battle across ten different modes, from the aforementioned Battle Royale, to classic picks such as Team Deathmatch and Plant the Bomb. Also in the mix are more inventive modes such as Storm, in which the attacking team must capture specific objectives as the defenders attempt to disrupt them, and Destruction, where you utilise radios to call airstrikes on opposition bases.
In terms of locations, there’s a generous smattering of oil depots, hangers, farms, forests, and downtown districts across Warface’s 20 maps. Collectively they offer a good mix of close, medium, and long-range encounters, which helps the game feel fresh and varied from match to match. There are plenty of good hiding spots, too.
IT REALLY IS COMPLETELY FREE TO PLAY
You don’t have to buy a single unit of currency to enjoy Warface, which is nice. There’s no restrictive paywall, and you won’t be swamped with prompts to buy anything. However, should you choose to, you can spend the in-game currency you earn through playing on a variety of items in the microtransaction store.
Completing PvP matches or PvE missions rewards you with currency, which is used to rent weapons, buy armour, and obtain new skins. Vendor Points fuel progression through the Arsenal tree, which features three categories of weapons, attachments, and equipment. You’ll earn all this currency at a steady rate, but if you want to speed up the process, you can purchase VIP Booster packs with premium currency. Crucially, however, this is always optional and never mandatory.
REGULAR UPDATES KEEP YOU COMING BACK
Blackwood Games continually updates Warface to give players new and interesting content. The most recent addition is the new Sanctuary map, which features beautiful pink blossom trees, a cascading waterfall, and a well-tended rock garden. It’s the perfect tranquil paradise in which to open fire. And talking of weapons, a devastating SAP-6 pump-action shotgun that knocks enemies flying is now available.
Modes refresh too, with new challenges added daily to the PvE missions. There’s also a regular stream of weapon and body skins to help you stand out. We’re partial to the Crysis Nanosuit ourselves, which acts as a nostalgic nod to the development team’s past at Crytek. Oh, and for an extra incentive, you also get daily login bundles of cash and items. Warfaceis truly a living game, because there’s something new to try every day. We’ll see you online.
