“Microsoft Monday” is a weekly column that focuses on all things Microsoft. This week, Microsoft Monday includes details about Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition, a document scanning feature in the Pix app, new privacy controls coming to Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, PWAs coming to the Windows Store, full HD capture coming to the Xbox One and much more!

Minecraft Is Now Available On Nintendo Handhelds

Mojang

Minecraft for New Nintendo 3DS

Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition is now available on the Nintendo eShop. Plus a physical version will be coming soon. You can play Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition on the New 3DS, New 3DS XL and New 2DS XL. But it will not work for the original Nintendo 2DS, 3DS and 3DS XL. The new Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition has creative mode, survival mode, five skin packs and two texture packs. On the lower touchscreen, you can access the crafting, inventory and mapping tools.

“We want to stress that the game is only on the New Nintendo 3DS series, and we’ve used all the technical might of the dual-screened wonder machine to give you world sizes of 2016×2016 and 128 blocks high! Multiplayer won’t be available at launch but we’ll have more to share on the feature later. This edition’s closest equivalent is 0.15.4 of Minecraft: Pocket Edition, and we’ll be continuing to update from there!” said Mojang in a blog post.

New GIX Building In Bellevue Named After Steve Ballmer

Microsoft is a founding partner of the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX), which is a partnership in science and technology between the University of Washington and Tsinghua University. And Microsoft announced $40 million in financial support when the partnership was announced in June 2015. By providing support, Microsoft was able to decide the name of a new GIX building in Bellevue, Washington. And Microsoft decided to name the building “The Steve Ballmer Building” in honor of former CEO Steve Ballmer.

The Steve Ballmer Building will be welcoming a 44 student batch later this month. And at the grand opening of the Steve Ballmer Building, current CEO Satya Nadella and President Brad Smith were in attendance.

At the building opening, Nadella told a story about when he first met Steve Ballmer in 1992. “Steve stopped by my desk and gave me one of the infamous high fives that only he can do,” said Nadella via GeekWire. “He expressed his immense enthusiasm for me joining Microsoft. I was an entry level guy at that time at Microsoft and here was the CEO walking by my office and sort of giving me this high five. In some sense, I was a changed person after that.” Nadella added that it was a privilege to learn from Ballmer and witness his “contagious ability to create energy in everything he does, the passion with which he approaches all of his work.”

At the event, the GIX also revealed eight members of the new Academic Network: École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Indian Institute of Science, Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, National Taiwan University, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Tecnológico de Monterrey and the University of British Columbia. And there are new members of the Industry Consortium: ARM, Baidu, Boeing HorizonX, and T-Mobile. Plus Hainan Airlines is signed up as a “Valued Partner.”

Microsoft Pix App Can Be Used To Scan Documents

Microsoft

Pix app update

Microsoft has updated the Pix camera app for iOS to detect when photos of whiteboards, business cards and documents are being taken. Then the app uses artificial intelligence to improve the images by cropping the edges, boosting the color tones and sharpening the focus. The algorithms used in the Pix app are similar to what is used in the Office Lens app. And then you can save the files in OneDrive or convert it into editable files for Word and PowerPoint.

“We have data that shows people are taking a lot of whiteboard photos at work, they are doing a lot of document scanning,” said Josh Weisberg, a principal program manager in the Computational Photography Group at Microsoft’s research group in a blog post.

Windows 10 Fall Creators Update To Include New Privacy Prompts For Apps

According to The Verge, Microsoft is adding some privacy improvements to the Windows 10 privacy controls. In the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, users will be able to see the full privacy statement during setup. And there will be a “learn more” section for every privacy setting during the setup — which will be more understandable. Plus Microsoft will be extending a dialogue box to apps in regards to location-based data. And the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update will show prompts for gaining access to the camera, microphone, calendar, contacts and other personal data.

New Redstone 4 Update Reveals Features Coming To Windows Next Year

Last week, Microsoft rolled out a new version of Redstone 4 (Build 16362) to Windows Insiders — which previews some of the features that will be coming to Windows next year. For those of you in the Skip Ahead part of the Windows Insider’s fast ring, you will notice that several improvements have been added to the Windows 10 boot experience, the Windows Shell, the Edge browser, Narrator and the gaming experience.

The lock screen will now display how you personalized it with details like Windows Spotlight, the Calendar, Cortana status, etc. You can customize the Lock Screen under Personalization within Settings. And you can opt out of the personalization feature within the Privacy section of the Sign-in options.

There are also new choices for controlling Narrator. The Narrator feature speaks highlighted text on the screen. You will be able to select the audio channel for Narrator speech output under the Narrator section of Settings. In that section, there is a new option called “Sounds you hear.”

Microsoft Edge has several new improvements like a bug fix that causes multiple apps to crash if users log into Facebook. In some instances, Edge seems to crash after some users try to pin websites to the Start menu. And the build also fixes a number of bugs in the Windows Shell such as issues that affects Action Center and Start.

Progressive Web Apps To Launch On The Windows Store

According to Windows Central, Microsoft announced at the Edge Web Summit 2017 that it will be bringing Progressive Web Apps (PWA) to Edge next year. Microsoft will actually crawl the web for PWAs and add them to the Windows Store. Microsoft Teams will be one of the first PWAs to arrive in the coming months. PWAs can function offline and it has support for Live Tiles and the Action Center.

Xbox One To Be Able To Capture Streams In Full HD

Soon the standard Xbox One Game DVR will be getting an increase to 1080p from 720p at 30 fps. And you will be able to save those full HD recordings to an external hard drive. This is advantageous because it will save storage on your Xbox One and external hard drives previously only worked for saving games and apps.

Currently, this feature is limited to Alpha Insiders. The full HD recording feature should be fully rolled out later this year.

Microsoft To Fix Windows 10 Game Stutter Problem

There are many Windows 10 users that have reported that they are experiencing a stuttering problem while playing Mass Effect, Overwatch and Rocket League. Fortunately, Microsoft is aware of the issue and is actively working on fixing it.

“We have been analyzing the traces from your feedback and have identified several different problem sources surfacing as stutter in games. We have a fix for one of them in the Windows Insider build that flighted to the ‘Fast’ ring (build 16273 and above),” said a Microsoft engineer in the Feedback Hub via Neowin. Build 16273 was released on August 23rd and it seems most likely that a patch will be issued to fix the problem shortly after the Fall Creators Update is released on October.

Beware Of Phishing Scams On LinkedIn

According to researchers at Malwarebytes, hackers are actively running a phishing campaign against LinkedIn users. The hackers are using compromised LinkedIn accounts to send messages containing malicious links to victims in order to steal personal information. So far, the hackers were successful at hijacking several LinkedIn users, including many Premium accounts. The malicious files often appear as a Google Drive link in the form of a shortened URL.

Once the user clicks on the link, they will see a login screen that looks similar to the real version of the website. If the user actually enters their Google, Yahoo! or AOL login information, then that information could be captured by the hacker. It is believed that about 250 people clicked through the phishing link so far.

Google Hires Former Skype Engineers In Stockholm

Back in March, Microsoft announced it would be shutting down the Skype office in Stockholm. Variety learned that Google is hiring a number of those former Skype engineers. And most likely, Google will have those engineers work on its messaging apps such as Duo video chat and the Meet video conferencing service.

Bill And Melinda Gates Release Goalkeepers Report

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has released the first annual Goalkeepers report, which will be published every year until 2030. The Goalkeepers report highlights public health milestones and acknowledges that there is a lot more work to do. On the plus side, there have been significant declines in poverty, childhood mortality and HIV infections. But equality for women and family planning has a lot of room for improvement.

“It’s a huge challenge to reach children in countries in conflict or in remote regions hours away from any infrastructure whatsoever. But it’s doable, and it’s more doable now than ever before,” said Melinda Gates in the report.

Bill Gates said that in the early 2000s, the world made a “huge investment” to address the AIDs crisis. However, the outlook for prevention is concerning because the rate of decline in new infections has been slowing down. AIDs has taken the lives of 35 million people, which Bill Gates says the “worst humanitarian disaster” in his lifetime. “A 10% cut in funding for HIV treatment could cost the lives of an additional 5.6 million people,” said Bill Gates in the report.

Microsoft Says There Are 330 Million Active Monthly Edge Devices

“Microsoft Edge users are active on 330 million monthly devices!” said the Microsoft Edge development team in a tweet. During a webinar, Microsoft also said that this number more than doubled since the Edge summit last year. It is unclear what these numbers are based on because it is unknown what the definition of “active” is in this case. And Microsoft used the words active monthly devices instead of active users.

Xbox One Games Will Not Require A Full Download To Play

According to GameSpot, Microsoft is designing a way to play Xbox One and Xbox One X games while using less hard drive space. The new system is known as Intelligent Delivery and it will essentially split game content into select chunks. And the players will be able to decide which chunks they want to play the game rather than downloading the whole game. This will especially come in handy so users do not have to download substantial 4K digital content for the Xbox One X after buying a game.

Another storage savings opportunity has to do with games with multi-language support. For example, players do not have to download audio assets in languages that they do not want. This is a big storage savings opportunity especially for sports games.

It is unknown when Intelligent Delivery will be arriving. But most likely, it will be released shortly after the Xbox One X launches on November 7th.

Microsoft To Combat Fake News With ‘Fact Check’ Label On Bing

Microsoft is adding “Fact Check” labels to Bing in order to combat fake news. The “Fact Check” labels will inform visitors whether certain news stories have been debunked. This label will either be applied to individual articles or certain websites as a whole.

Microsoft will utilize schema.org ClaimReview markup when scanning pages and stories to determine whether to apply the “Fact Check” labels.

Microsoft Monday: Xbox One Full HD DVR, Windows 10 Privacy Controls, Minecraft For New Nintendo 3DS

Halo will finally land on a Nintendo platform – in the shape of the Microsoft franchise’s Minecraft mash-up pack.

The skin and texture pack has been available in Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions of Minecraft for years – but has never been appeared on a rival console.

That will change later this year when Minecraft’s new cross-platform version – cunningly just dubbed “Minecraft” – launches.

This iteration of Minecraft is the one Microsoft has dubbed the Better Together Update, which will let Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows 10, Android and iOS, Oculus Rift, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung Gear VR owners all play together. (Sony turned down PlayStation’s invite to the party.)

The Halo Mash-up Pack will be available to all of these platforms.

Minecraft’s platform-specific DLC has, until now, been a big question mark. It is listed by Microsoft in a recent blog update as something it is “still working on”.

“Custom skins are awesome, and we know you love them! Getting them to work on consoles requires some work on the platform holders’ side to enable things like this,” Microsoft wrote. “We’re working with them to get everything in place to enable this in a future update.”

The most high-profile example now Halo is sorted is perhaps the Mario Mash-up Pack available in Minecraft on Wii U and Nintendo Switch. Would Nintendo allow it on other platforms? It seems unlikely… but with Halo appearing on Switch, perhaps anything is possible.

Halo is coming to Nintendo Switch… in Minecraft

In-world advertising is always a fun tactic for gaming brands. And now, Minecraft has gotten into the act, enlisting ad agency 215 McCann to build a giant machine inside the Minecraft world—whose mismatched components serve as marketing for a special update to the popular building game.

For years, the various versions of Minecraft—mobile, Xbox One, PCs—haven’t been compatible with each other. If you build your world on platform, and a friend builds a world on another platform, you can’t visit each other.

For the first time in the history of Minecraft, tens of millions of players will be united across different platforms and devices and able to play together regardless of whether they’re playing on mobile, Xbox One, or Windows 10 PCs.

But yesterday, that all changed. Microsoft explains:

The big day is finally here!

It’s probably the most significant update we’ve made in Minecraft’s recent history – we’re releasing a new version of the game that lets players on Xbox, mobile, VR and Windows 10 play together!

And not only that! It lets you access oodles of player-made goodness on Marketplace! It lets you take that Marketplace goodness from one device to another! It lets you play your Realm on console (for example), hop off, then pick up where you left off on your phone! It lets you join massive servers, with communities numbering in millions of players and eccentric minigames to suit every taste!

The new update to the game is called “Better Together.” And to help market it, 215 McCann built a colossal in-game machine—which players will soon be able to visit—that embodies this sense of togetherness. The “Togetherness Machine” uses claws to grab pieces of the game’s separate platforms and brings them together in a unified village.

The point is to remind players that they can engage with building and breaking cities in real time with other players on different platforms.

Here’s footage of the Togetherness Machine:

It’s great placement, as the cross-platform capability is good news for existing players at least as much, or not more so, as it is for would-be players. The machine will be available in-game in about a month.

CREDITS
Client: Microsoft Xbox
Title: “The Togetherness Machine”
Agency: 215 McCann
Chief Creative Officer: Scott Duchon
Creative Director: Neil Bruce
Copywriter: Andy Holdeman
Art Director: Zach Lepine
Editor: Carson Bell
Producer: Sarah Sweeney
Director of Integrated Production: Alex Spahr
Business Director: Peter Goldstein
Account Director: Drew Porter
Account Executive: Sam Brody
Group Strategy Director: Brian Wakabayashi
Strategy Director: Cassidy Wilber
Communications Strategist: Amy Tucker
Production Company: Blockworks
Recording Studio: One Union Recording
Mixer: Joaby Deal
Original Music: Robot Repair

Minecraft Built a Colossal Machine Inside the Game to Advertise a Special New Update

Minecraft is getting a huge update with new items, achievements, and cross-platform play

The big ‘Minecraft’ cross-platform update is live, but not on Switch

Do you remember the video Nintendo used to show off the Switch for the first time? The one where hip 20-somethings would bring their Switch consoles everywhere, breaking them out at parties for some local multiplayer action, or playing Mario Kart in the back of a van en route to a real go-kart course. It seemed more aspirational than practical at the time. Sure, the Switch was a machine designed with flexibility, but who would actually use it like that? Turns out, I would. And one of the reasons is the steady stream of solid multiplayer games Nintendo has been releasing since the console debuted back in March.

Local multiplayer has always been a core part of the pitch for Nintendo’s new platform. It’s meant, at least in part, to be a device that you can carry around and use for impromptu gaming sessions with friends. The included Joy-Con controllers are generally serviceable, if not ideal, for two-player action in most games. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the first major release to make good on this concept, though it was preceded by a pair of launch titles, the quirky (and adorable) puzzle game Snipperclips and mini-game collection 1-2-Switch.

Since then, Nintendo has released a handful of titles that further flesh out the lineup. Chief among them are the colorful fighter Arms, which launched in June, and pokémon battler Pokkén Tournament DX, out today. And while paint shooter Splatoon 2 is largely an online-focused experience, it does offer the ability to link up multiple systems for local play.

Both Mario Kart and Pokkén are updated versions of games that originally appeared on the Wii U, Nintendo’s previous console. This makes them perfect examples of how much the Switch hardware can change the experience. Both games were already pretty solid from a design standpoint, and the Switch ports don’t add all that much in that respect. Mario Kart features a few new characters and some useful accessibility features, while Pokkén includes some additional fighters and a handful of game modes. But fundamentally they’re the same games.

What the Switch versions really offer, though, is the ability to easily play these games with your friends, on your own terms. Pokkén, in particular, is a game that doesn’t stand on its own as something you’d want to play much by yourself. It originated as an arcade game, and is at its best when you’re furiously battling against someone sitting right beside you.

The nature of the Switch means it’s much easier to have that kind of experience — there are simply more ways to play. With a console like the Wii U, playing with a friend meant you both had to be sitting in a specific room at a specific time. The Switch is much more flexible. You can play in the living room, on a train, or basically anywhere. It doesn’t have to be something you plan out in advance. It also doesn’t hurt that games like Arms, Mario Kart, and Pokkén Tournament are designed to be easy to get into.

This flexibility also extends to games not made by Nintendo. In fact, a number of ports of third-party games have added multiplayer functionality specifically with the Switch in mind. Venerable adventure game Cave Story was recently updated with a two-player co-op mode that’s exclusive to the Switch, while the ubiquitous Minecraft has a perfectly suited split-screen mode. Cars-meets-soccer game Rocket League is also making a belated debut on the platform. When it does arrive, it will include a two-player split-screen mode that, on the surface, seems like an ideal fit.

There’s also a lot to look forward to on the multiplayer front. An expanded version of Snipperclips, complete with all-new content is coming on November 10th, while the Switch version of FIFA 18 will include split Joy-Con multiplayer support. Even the tentpole release Super Mario Odyssey will feature rudimentary co-op. Then there are the games launching next year and beyond, like the four-player Kirby Star Allies and the inevitable Switch version of Super Smash Bros.

Most of these games would be just fine on another platform. But what the Switch offers is a level of freedom and spontaneity that’s not possible on a traditional console, or even a portable device like the 3DS. At any point, you can pull a Switch out of your bag and start racing on Rainbow Road — and look like you’re in a Nintendo commercial in the process.

The Nintendo Switch has slowly turned into a fantastic portable multiplayer machine

Nintendo is updating Super Mario Run with a new character, mode, and world

You can now use two-factor authentication to secure your Nintendo account

Minecraft has been available on tons of different devices in the past. Now, Microsoft is finally bringing all those platforms together with the “Better Together” update, which is rolling out today for Xbox One, mobile devices, and Windows 10 PCs. The Nintendo Switch is still set to get the Better Together update, too, although that’s been delayed until later in the winter.

The update essentially takes the different versions of Minecraft that have been available on PC, Xbox, iOS, and Android, and consolidates them into one master version, with the same features, functionality, and content no matter where you play. That means that the console versions of Minecraft on Xbox One (and eventually, the Nintendo Switch) will now run the same version of Minecraft as PCs, mobile, and VR, built on what Microsoft calls the Bedrock Engine.

But the biggest advantage to creating a single version of Minecraft across all these platforms is that cross-play will be possible between Minecraft games. This means that you’ll be able to play Minecraft on your PC with a friend playing on an Xbox, while your buddy joins in from their Android phone. Microsoft is calling this the first time a game has offered cross-play across all these platforms, and with the addition of the Nintendo Switch to the mix, Minecraft could be one of the first true platform-agnostic titles, which is an incredible thing.

You may notice that the PlayStation 4 is glaringly absent from that list. That’s because Sony has — once again — decided to sit out on cross-platform play, an unfortunately familiar refrain from the company this console generation. Similar issues have come up with Rocket League, and most recently Fortnight, which accidentally enabled Xbox One and PlayStation 4 cross-play before pulling the feature. Sony has offered numerous explanations for avoiding cross-play in the past, including citing concerns of protecting children online, but given that the console still has a considerable competitive lead when it comes to users and sales, it’s unlikely that it will be budging on that issue anytime soon.

In an interview with Engadget, Microsoft Studios CVP Matt Booty commented, “We just flat-out couldn’t get those two completely in sync,” in regard to getting Minecraft cross-play with the PlayStation 4. Although, he noted that Microsoft is continuing to talk with Sony on the issue.

Also missing are the Mac and Linux versions of Minecraft, which will continue to exist alongside the original PC version as the renamed Java Edition for now. It’s supposed to continue to receive updates and get them along a similar time frame as the Bedrock Engine version.

That said, the unified Bedrock Engine version will be the canonical Minecraft title moving forward, with the original PC title and older console-specific versions getting appended “Edition” names like Minecraft: Wii U Edition and Minecraft: Java Edition to tell them apart from the core Minecraft title.

Minecraft’s cross-platform update is now available on Xbox, PC, and mobile

Creators using Mojang’s Minecraft Marketplace have made more than $1 million since the service launched in June, the company has announced.

The program, which allows Minecraft community members to make money from their user-generated in-game content, runs alongside the Minecraft Store, and has seen users create everything from their own adventures, worlds, texture packs and characters skins over the last few months.

Microsoft, who now owns Mojang, also released a statement saying it is continuing to expand the Minecraft Marketplace team. Since the service launched in June, the number of partners has risen from nine to 12, with plans to keep adding more as the months go on.

Highlights from the Minecraft Marketplace so far include Dinosaur Island, which lets players confront wild raptors, tame triceratops and raid ruins while they explore the island’s mysterious ruins, and Infinity Dungeon EX, a randomly generated dungeon adventure. July also saw the release of the colour-coded Cyber Space Team Pack and a pet-themed skin pack, as well as a variety of mini-games and extra kingdoms.

Microsoft recently announced a limited edition Minecraft Xbox One S bundle, which is due to hit shelves on September 12th. The console, which features a unique voxel-based design, also comes with a special Creeper-themed controller.

Minecraft Marketplace community partners have earned over $1m since June

Minecraft’s Better Together Update Delayed to Fall 2017

Outside of painted cardboard boxes and foam, toys are the best way to play with Minecraft in the real world. Jinx’s second series of Minecraft Craftables vinyl toys feature nine collectible kits that combine together into three iconic Minecraft locales.

The first wave of Craftables, currently sold out at Jinx but possibly available elsewhere, were singular builds. The nine kits in the series each featured a character, creature or combination of the two. Opening one of the blind boxes revealed a set of small vinyl bits that combined into a larger vinyl bit, and the constructing was done.

Series two does things a little differently. Each of the nine kits available still function as a solo piece, but this time around the pieces combine into a larger scene. For example, here is the Ender Dragon, freshly removed from its box.

Once assembled we’ve got a nifty little figure of the dragon perched on a tower, blowing a lovely translucent gout of purple pixel flame.

Here’s another kit. This one is Alex and Steve, outfitted in diamond armor. It’s kind of a weird pose, with the two facing one another. Are they quarreling among themselves?

And what of the mysterious Enderman, which refuses to be photographed without blur no matter how I tried?

Once the three sets are combined, it all makes sense. Alex is defending against the dragon’s flames, while Steve prepares to loose an arrow in the Enderman’s direction, like that will help. These two heroes are so dead.

Meanwhile, in the Nether, Steve stands poised to battle . . . something.

Or maybe he’s running away from the zombie pigman, whose base connects to Steve’s set, adding a stream of molten lava to the mix?

Or maybe, just maybe, the two of them are teaming up to fight against the creepy Ghast, floating above a bed of translucent orange?

My favorite of the three combined sets begins with a pig peeking out of a window. Had I received no other sets but the pig peeking out of the window, I would have been perfectly happy.

I would have also accepted the horse with its head stretched over a fence, chewing on some grass. You can’t go wrong with a blocky horse.

Especially a blocky horse with a duck attached to its tail.

I probably wouldn’t have been as happy had I just received the village priest. With his high forehead and what looks like Burt from Sesame Street’s nose, the dude creeps me out.

Put them all together, however, and suddenly he’s not so bad. We now see that the pig feels the same way I do, and the cow couldn’t care less. He’s got a mouthful of grass and a tail duck.

All in all, Minecraft Craftables series two is pretty sweet, definitely a big improvement over the original. The only problem is the delivery method. Since these come in blind boxes, fans will either have to pray they get the right nine or purchase a full case of 27, selling off the extra two sets. Considering how well these all come together, that shouldn’t be too hard a task.

Minecraft Craftables series two goes on sale on September 15 at Jinx.

Mini Minecraft Building Sets Are Just Darling

The brand new patch for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds hit the game’s test server this morning, and players were delighted to find a brand new set of buildings on the map.

Located in the Northeast corner of the map, the new town is called Kameshki and it takes up a spot that was previously mostly empty. It is closest to Stalber, which also got a bit of an upgrade with the addition of a few buildings as well.

Where Kameshki now stands, there used to be just a few small buildings. Now there is plenty to loot, and it offers yet another spot for players to drop at or head towards in a game of PUBG.

Even Stalber seems worth looting now as a number of buildings have been added, as can be seen in the image above. Overall, these changes make the Northeast area of the map way more worthwhile to visit than ever before.

These new changes are now available to play on the test server, and the update should hit PUBG’s live servers some time this week if all goes according to plan.

PUBG’s map has a brand new town to loot

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ new desert map is still many months away, but the game’s players are still very excited about it.

We’ve seen numerous teaser images of the map, but no real information has come out about it—until today, thanks to a post on Reddit. The minimap for the new unnamed desert map has been revealed via a test server datamine, and it looks pretty cool so far.

The map has some very interesting names for towns and cities in place. The biggest city is known as “Hard Luck,” with other areas labeled “Kill Box,” “Wasteland,” “Mishap,” and “Murderland.” These names are likely placeholders, but they definitely invoke a certain kind of mental image, don’t they?

The layout is different enough from PUBG’s original map, Erangel, while being similar as well, with numerous towns and cities with large open areas and small towns in between.

Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene recently revealed that this new map will be “roughly” the same size as Erangel, as well as posting a teaser image of what looks like a large city—most likely the “Hard Luck” area seen on the map.

The minimap for PUBG’s new desert map has been datamined

At least 150,000 cheaters have now been banned from PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, according to Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene.

Greene revealed the news on Twitter today, a little over a month after confirming that 50,000 cheaters had been banned at the beginning of August, up from 25,000 at the end of June.

BattlEye is an anti-cheat client employed by many games, including PUBG, which automatically bans someone who attempts to use cheats like aimbots or other hacks, before they’re even able to use them in-game. The bans are permanent.

Players can buy another copy of the game under another Steam account, but if they try to cheat again, they will most likely be banned again.

Greene also said that 8,000 players had been banned in the past 24 hours alone. These numbers are big, but it’s to be expected with such a huge playerbase, which now stands at over 10 million. PUBG is consistently at or near the top of the list for concurrent players on Steam on a daily basis now.

Even if a cheater somehow slips through the cracks, the game employs a report button so players can instantly flag their killer if they think they have been cheating.

150,000 cheaters have been banned from PUBG so far

Epic Games’ crafting survival game Fortnite has a brand new mode that might as well be a carbon copy of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and H1Z1.

Everything from the parachutes to the floating transport that drops players into the world screams PUBG, albeit with a subtle twist—crafting.

Fortnite’s new competitive mode has everything that you would expect a Battle Royale to have. 100 players, PVP, huge maps, weapons to find and, of course, the last man standing wins.

What sets it apart from PUBG and other titles, however, is the world itself. Everything is destructable and buildable, and players can choose to create traps and structures from materials scattered around the world to create their own defenses.

Building takes some time and could make you a bigger target, with structures being a big giveaway to your location—but it’s a nice touch.

Fortnite went into early access on July 25 and has steadily been adding content and modes ever since. Last month the game released its zombie survival mode and Epic is looking to continually add content to the game before its official release sometime in 2018.

The game will be free-to-play, allowing anyone to jump in and enjoy themselves on either PS4, Xbox One, or PC.

What happens when you combine PUBG and Minecraft? Fortnite’s new competitive mode

Minecraft has come to another platform. During the September 13, 2017, a New Nintendo 3DS version was announced during the Nintendo Direct. It is immediately available via the eShop, with a physical release to arrive at a later, unspecified date.

The New Nintendo 3DS version of Minecraft has standard and touch controls. There are Survival and Creative modes. Five Skin Packs are included, with the Mooshroom Tamer, Artisan, Red Boy, Santa Claus, and Tundra Tamer shown in the trailer. It also comes with two Texture Packs.

Minecraft Now Available On New Nintendo 3DS

A low key but probably still popular announcement came in the first few minutes of the latest Nintendo Direct.

Nintendo Directs are curious things. Naturally, Nintendo uses them to showcase a few upcoming console titles in pretty nice detail, but it also just casually info dumps a bunch of stuff in other segments, including, in this case, Minecraft.

Yep, the first few minutes of this Nintendo Direct were devoted to Nintendo 3DS and 2DS games, one of which just happens to be a handheld version of the game your kids still can’t get enough of.

Playable only on the New Nintendo 3DS units, this version of Minecraft can be played with touchscreen or button controls and is actually out right now via the Nintendo eShop.

Despite the fact that Minecraft seems like it’s already on every video game platform known to mankind, it had yet to receive a version specifically for the New Nintendo 3DS, so we can cross another one off the list.

Plus, while many things in a Nintendo Direct are coming months later or even next year, this Minecraft comes with the best possible release date, which is immediately. Head to the eShop and check it out now.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled geeking out over upcoming Nintendo games.

Minecraft is available for New Nintendo 3DS right now