Telltale Games has a way of making games based off of characters or stories that already have impressive stories and making them better. With Minecraft: Story Mode, however, they managed to create an entire universe and story based off of a game that didn’t necessarily have either of those. We’ve seen our hero, who is meant to play the role of your average Minecraftplayer, traverse the overworld with his friends, each who represent different types of players, in order to meet his favorite band of heroes. Of course, not everything goes as planned as chaos ensues and Jessie and his friends are put in a position as the only ones capable of saving the world from the Wither Storm. This episode, though, is much after those events with Jessie being in charge of the new Order of the Stone, fighting monsters and searching dungeons for loot. They’ve become what the old Order used to be and are loved by the common folks but hated by other adventurers who do the same thing but aren’t as well known as them.
The game begins with the newly formed Order of the Stone infiltrating a dungeon that Ivor tipped them off to. They manage to find a treasure room that contains what appears to be an enchanted flint and steel. After escaping the booby trapped dungeon, they come across the former Ocelots and their leader Aiden. They don’t seem too happy with the fact that you reached the dungeon before they did, Aiden mostly, and they begin to spew hurtful comments to the new team. Ambushed by the former Ocelots, now known as the Blaze Rods, Jessie and his friends explore an entirely new area only known as Sky City where resources are plentiful but nothing exists below the world. the world is conceived using what is only knows as the Eversource, a material that has the power to create all materials. Aiden convinces the city’s ruler that the Order is up to no good so that they can be punished and he could take the Eversource for himself. While this episode may be jam-packed with story and new characters, be warned; this will not be the last we see of Minecraft: Story Mode.
The episode in itself offers a lot of promise for the rest of the announced episode, but it also cuts them short. The next slew of episodes will be adding new story arcs to the new Order of the Stone as they go on new adventures to build up their legacy. That being said, in the two hours it took to finish the episode to its completion, it made the entire premise feel very unimportant. So much had happened and so much story and character development was involved that Telltale could have made the entire plot itself into a single season if they wanted to. Some characters could have definitely used some development to give the story a little more depth and the entirety of Sky City itself has so much more that could have been explored. It’s a little bit of a shame that what could have become a great season based on the new Order of the Stone’s adventures was downgraded into a single episode that takes place over the course of about two days.
The episode also alludes to death; a lot. Considering the fact that both Olivia and Axel are completely omitted from the episode save for the prologue, there is basically no comic relief. Not that you should play a game simply for its humor, Minecraft: Story Modehas a reputation for having humor and making friendship stand above all else. While this episode does focus on friendship and how your decisions can shape the future, death always seems to be around the corner and everyone you come in contact with seems to want you to die, or at last Aiden openly expresses it. It also doesn’t help that Aiden and the Blaze Rods were basically considered obsolete until now, so it’s difficult to really believe that he would want to do this to the citizens of Sky City just because he’s jealous. Had this episode focused on why they are being brought back rather than throwing them into a whole new story, the episode would have made a little more sense.
The episode in itself offers a lot of promise for the rest of the announced episode, but it also cuts them short. The next slew of episodes will be adding new story arcs to the new Order of the Stone as they go on new adventures to build up their legacy. That being said, in the two hours it took to finish the episode to its completion, it made the entire premise feel very unimportant. SO much had happened and so much story and character development was involved that Telltale could have made the entire plot itself into a single season if they wanted to. The entirety of Sky City itself has so much more that could have been explored and so many more characters could have been introduced, but the story was limited to a couple of hours of gameplay. It creates a new kind of gameplay that forces you to pay attention and actually play the game rather than just putting your controller down and making a decision every once in a while.
Closing Comments:
Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 5: Order Up!shapes up to be an incredible introduction to the Order of the Stone’s newest adventures, but still manages to fall a little short. Telltale introduces new concepts, characters and worlds, but their biggest mistake was shoving it all into a single episode. Had they created a separate season talking about the events of Sky City and expanding a little bit more on the environments and characters, this episode would have been much more successful. That being said, however, this episode does deviate from previous installments as being much more adult and changes the characters as once being small time builders to being full-fledged heroes risking their lives to save common folk. Hopefully Telltale will continue to capitalize on that aspect of the characters and convey it in the following episodes.
A new Minecraft version for PC has been released and it comes with many new features, combat options and monsters. With other words, if you ever wanted to simultaneously wield a sword and a shield in Minecraft, you can do it now.
The Minecraft 1.9 patch brings a new inventory slot that’s named “off-hand” and can be used in a few ways. As we’ve told you above, the “off-hand” slot can be used for holding a shield, but you will also be able to hold a torch or arrows. The shield can be used to protect yourself from arrows, which is quite good, while the arrows can be used when you shoot with your bow.
The new patch also upgrades the combat system as it adds cooldown for attacks. With other words, from now on, Axes will deal big damage, but instead, you will attack very slowly with them. With other words, each weapon has now a cooldown and depending on the damage it deals, the lower its cooldown will be. So, if you will use an axe and you will attack with it by spamming your mouse’s left button, you will notice that it will not hit as fast as it used to. In addition, Mojang has added different timing of each type of weapon depending on the material it’s created from. With other words, attacking with a wooden axe won’t feel the same as when attacking with a diamond sword.
Minecraft’s two main weapons (axes and swords) will now have some unique attack abilities. The sword will have “sweeping” attack that will damage multiple enemies, while the axe will come with a “crushing blow” attack that has the same effect. Unfortunately, the developer hasn’t detailed how these new weapon skills will work, so you will have to test them yourself.
However, even if the Minecraft 1.9 patch is called “Combat Update”, it’s not only about the combat. The new patch also expands the End biome, which now hosts a new type of dungeon that’s named “End Cities”. There is also a new mob called “Shulker”, a new flying cape named “Elytra”, new blocks and more.
It’s already on practically every other gaming system, and now Minecraft is finally coming to a Nintendo console.
Nintendo announced today that the insanely popular brick-builder is coming to Wii U on Dec. 17, priced at $30. Minecraft: Wii U Edition will be available to download from the Nintendo eShop and will feature off-TV play, so you can build and fight on your console while someone else is watching TV. It will come complete with some of the most popular current add-on packs, and additional DLC will be available to buy through Nintendo’s online store.
Microsoft paid $2.5 billion for Minecraft developer Mojang last year, and that’s because Minecraft is such a strong, popular brand with millions of fans worldwide. It’s sold over 20 million copies on Mac and PC, over 30 million on mobile devices, and 20 million on Xbox One and Xbox 360 combined. It’s also available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita. Finally having Minecraft available on Wii U could help give Nintendo a massive sales boost with families this Christmas.
“With so many included add-on content packs, Minecraft: Wii U Edition brings an exciting collection of Minecraft content and experiences to Nintendo fans,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America’s president. “Wii U players will have plenty of reasons to keep coming back to this iconic gaming experience.”
Even better is that we won’t have to wait long at all! Minecraft: Wii U Edition will be debuting on the Nintendo eShop on December 17th, just over a week from now. This marks the first new console port of the open sandbox game since Microsoft purchased Minecraft developer Mojang.
Nintendo was fairly quiet on all the details of Minecraft: Wii U Edition, but did confirm that the game can be played solely on the console’s GamePad controller, eliminating the need for a TV. In addition, several content packs will be included with purchase, while another 16 will be available to buy individually, with more on the way. Also interesting is that Nintendo said it was working directly with Mojang on developing its own unique theme packs, most likely skins and textures based on Nintendo’s own games and characters.
While Microsoft has direct ownership of the Minecraft franchise, in addition to its own Xbox One and Xbox 360, it continues to support development on rival platforms, including PlayStation 4, PS3, iOS, Android, and now the Wii U.
The one notable difference, however, is that Minecraft on Wii U will support off-TV play, so that you can play it on the Gamepad when your TV is otherwise occupied. The game will also be launching alongside a bevy of downloadable content, including skin packs based on everything from The Simpsons to Star Wars. Nintendo also says that it is working with developer Mojang to create “new content for Nintendo fans to be released at a future date.” Expect to hear news on that soon.
BRIDGETON – Cumberland County Library’s Children’s Club recently met for a Minecraft Night. The participants enjoyed building new worlds with Legos and learning the beginning steps of the Minecraft video game.
The club meets from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays at 800 E. Commerce St.
For library information, call (856) 453-2210 or visit www.cclnj.org.
A few minutes into exploring a Minecraft world in Samsung’s Gear VR head-mounted display, I started digging a hole in the ground. After getting a few meters into the earth, I faced dirt in every direction. Despite knowing in my heart that I was in a safe room with Oculus representatives and dozens of media professionals, I started to panic.
This is Minecraft: Gear VR Edition. Oculus VR held a special event during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco last week to show off a nearly complete version of the block-building phenomenon running in Samsung’s phone-holding virtual reality device (it’s also coming to the high-end Rift). I spent around 30 minutes exploring the game, and that experience made it clear that this is an application that could instantly show people the promise of VR. Minecraft is notoriously simple looking, but that didn’t prevent it from giving me moments of exhilaration and panic, and that’s something a lot of people will respond to. Analysts are already expecting mobile VR to generate $861 million in spending this year, and it should also keep pace with console devices like Sony’s PlayStation VR as well as PC peripherals like HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. By 2020, research firm SuperData suspects mobile VR will represent $15.6 billion of a $40.4 billion virtual reality business worldwide.
Unlike Rift, Vive, and PSVR, Gear VR is not a high-end device that tracks your body or the tilt of your head. The result is that it is technically “less immersive,” but that’s not something you’re thinking about when digging through caverns in Minecraft.
Instead, Minecraft: Gear VR Edition puts you into its low-fi world better than any previous version. I played with an Xbox-style controller, and I had no issues walking around and digging up dirt and fighting off enemies. Instead of aiming with the analog stick, I controlled my targeting by looking around. This is something I’ve done in other VR games, but it was nice to see how quickly it made sense in a game I’ve already played for dozens of hours outside of VR.
Above: That’s a long fall, and it feels like it when you’re in VR.
Image Credit: Microsoft
At the event, Oculus had me sit in a swivel chair. This mean I could spin around to do a quick 180-degree turn to look the other way. Having a chair that can pivot along with a controller is probably the ideal way to play, but I also tested out what it’s like if you can’t swivel (like if you were in an airplane chair, for instance). And the game uses the standard snap-turning function that you’re going to see in a lot of VR games. This has you changing where you’re looking by jumping the camera in 10-degree increments. You might think that you’d want the camera to move smoothly when you use the right stick, but most people get motion sickness when they do that.
Beyond the movement, Minecraft in VR gave me some incredible sensations I never really had playing the game on PC. When I first started walking around in the world, the scale smacked me right in the nose. I could see huge mountain peaks and deep valleys flowing with water. It made me feel like a tiny person in a sprawling world. The level Oculus had us in had some Iron Golem creatures walking around, and it was something else to approach them and have to look up to see their faces. I have a memory of one standing right in front of me that I’m recalling right now. That’s imprinted on my brain as if it was something I truly experienced.
After my run in with the Golems, I started digging my aforementioned hole in the ground. And I can’t get over the real sense of claustrophobia I was feeling. It was dark, and I could only barely make out the low-resolution textures a few digital inches in front of me. Like with the creatures I met, I have a memory of having my body crammed into a small pit. On the verge of panic, I thankfully remembered the torches I started the demo with. I popped one onto the wall, and that brought me back from the edge. I’m delighted that I did not have to rip off my headset screaming in embarrassment.
That might sound like a nightmare, but I can honestly say that enjoyed it. It introduces a level of immediacy and presence to something that has a million other things going for it. And having the option to pop on a Gear VR anywhere you want is going to make this game an excellent showpiece for early virtual reality.
