“Minecraft” launched nearly seven years ago, and with 144 million copies sold, still shows no sign of slowing down both in terms of sales and development.
During this weekend’s Minecon Earth 2018 event, Mojang announced the coming of another major update to the game.
The Village and Pillage update will populate the villages of the game’s Overworld with a slew of new and classic villagers. And to keep things interesting, the update will also deliver “pillagers” and their beasts to attack those freshly housed villagers.
The villages and those in it will all look and act differently depending on what biome they’re located in, said Jens Bergensten, lead developer at studio Mojang. The game will also add a few new professions for villagers.
“The pillage part of the update is that the village will be under threat from a new group of villagers, evil villagers,” he said. “They will raid in groups with pillagers and a new monster like a new miniboss.”
The major update is set for a release next year, but this holiday Mojang will be adding stray cats and pandas to the game. Pandas, Bergensten said, will bring with them bamboo forests and the ability to harvest bamboo and create scaffolding with it.
“We recorded real pandas in China to help create these,” he said.
Apple TV’s version of “Minecraft” will no longer receive updates or support, The Verge reported Thursday.
Sadly, Microsoft pulled support on Sept. 24, stating in a pop-up message on the Apple TV version of the “Minecraft” app that “We’re grateful to the Apple TV community for their support but we need to reallocate resources to the platforms that our players use the most.”
That few appeared to notice until now seems to prove that Microsoft made the right call.
For anyone who already purchased the game for the Apple TV, they can still play but won’t receive the support that other versions have. As such, Microsoft is issuing full refunds for anyone who purchased the Apple TV version in the last 90 days.
“Minecraft” is still a wildly popular title on other platforms, particularly among young players. The game could be seeing its first signs of diminishing popularity, though, as the playerbase for “Minecraft” actually experienced its first decrease this year, according to market research firm Interpret.
“‘Minecraft’s’ share of all gaming time by kids age 6-12 has dropped 5% since [2017], although it still commands a hefty 13% of total game time,” according to Interpret.
This could be in part to the increasing popularity of “Roblox,” which also attracts young players who like to build games and play already-created games within the “Roblox” community.
Plus, the ever-increasing popularity of battle royale game “Fortnite” can’t be discarded, which has become so popular with young players that some parents are even hiring “Fortnite” tutors to help their kids improve.
Mojang, creators of massive global hit “Minecraft,” are working on its first new major game in more than a decade: “Minecraft: Dungeons.”
The game is a dungeon crawler a bit like Blizzard’s “Diablo” titles but starring the blocky creatures, characters, and creations of “Minecraft.” The game, due out on PC in 2019, will support up to four players in cooperative play.
“This was a passion project from a small dedicated team at Mojang,” said Jens Bergensten, lead developer at the studio. “It lets players live the experience of spelunking, mining, and cave exploring in the sense of a classic dungeon crawler game.”
Bergensten said the game will feature both the well-known creations from the original game but also a bunch of new items and bosses.
“It’s a distilled version of ‘Minecraft,’” Bergensten said, noting that it won’t have building or block destruction. “We wanted to focus on making the dungeon crawler part of the game as good as possible. We talked about adding building a lot, but we were concerned it would distract from what the game is meant to be about.”
The adventure game will feature a story and is being built inside Unreal Engine, he said. There are plans for a beta, but it will be rolled out to a relatively small group of people.
The new game, which doesn’t yet have a price, was announced during the weekend’s Minecon Earth 2018.
Like death, taxes, and NCIS, Minecraft simply won’t stop. Nearly a decade has passed since the game first appeared in early access on the PC, the block-world franchise is still kicking. Fans have been excited for next year’s Village and Pillage Update, and the development team is holding a new contest that will allow one lucky player to have their cat immortalized in-game via a custom cat skin.
If you feel that your cat has what it takes to live forever in the digital block universe, you’ll need to submit a picture or video of it to either Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram while using the hashtag #Minecraftcatcontest.
Applications are being accepted now through November 12. The finalists will be formally announced on November 16, at which point the community will be able to cast votes for which of the three final cats will make the cut for inclusion into the game via a skin created by pixel artist Jasper Boestra. The winning cat will be announced by the Minecraft development team on November 19.
For a full rundown of all the official rules of the contest, please refer to the Minecraft Cat Contest rules page. Keep it tuned to Shacknews for more updates on Minecraft’s Pillage and Village update as they become available.
Amateur esports company Super League Gaming announced three distinct challenges for its Minecraft community all centered around the upcoming “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” movie on Monday.
Super League is gearing up for the Dec. 14 release of the animated film in style, with three competitions held between Oct. 27 and Dec. 9.
First up, Super League’s Minecraft City Champs tournament will have players battling it out in the new “Spider-Verse: Domination,” a mini-game inspired by the film that has teams of five battling to snatch up and then maintain points in a map of New York City based on the setting of the feature film.
The Minecraft City Champs competition will be held in select movie theaters across 16 competing, major markets in the US during four Saturdays in a row, starting Oct. 27. The competition is open to registered players 17 or under, and registration currently costs $49.99 for those who sign up by 12 p.m. PT on Monday. Participants will receive a special jersey and access to an early screening of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” In one of the cities (to be announced), a “Minecraft influencer” will greet the players in a red carpet style premiere, according to a press release.
Next up, Super League’s November Minecraft Monthly program’s theme will be “The Battle for NY,” and will also feature “Spider-Verse: Domination.” This competition will have players participating from the comfort of their homes every Sunday starting on Nov. 4. Players will compete in Super League Minecraft mini-games set in “film-based maps of New York City” for the chance to win some special prizes. The kickoff will include one “top Minecraft influencer” livestreaming as they play alongside the participants.
Finally, December will bring a build competition open to all American “Minecraft” players who want to try their hand at creating a “Spider-Verse” version of New York City inspired build. The competition will run from Dec. 1 to Dec. 9. The larger “Minecraft” community will be able to view these creations, which will feature “individual spots within New York City,” according to a press release, on Super League’s site.
Matt Edelman, the CCO of Super League Gaming, expressed his enthusiasm for the three competitions coming up soon.
“Super League Gaming is a player-first company – we constantly strive to bring more value into the player experience,” said Edelman. “Sony Pictures immediately understood that and encouraged us to design an authentic program to support ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ that would excite and delight our community. We can’t wait for it to launch!”
Minecraft developer Mojang has announced a new competition aimed at finding a new feline superstar. This is basically a fancy way of saying that your pet cat could end up being in the game next year. Cool, right? Cats are awesome, after all. Except when they wake you up at 3.00am just to see if you’re in the house.
Anyway, to enter all you have to do is take a snapshot or video of your furry friend and share it on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using the hashtag #Minecraftcatcontest. Just make sure you do your cat proud and have he/she looking their best, eh?
Mojang is giving you until November 12 to submit your chosen cat, after which point the community team will narrow down the submissions to the final three felines.
You can then vote on which cat makes it into the game via social media, with more details being shared on November 16, at which point voting stations will open. The winning cat will be announced on November 19, before joining Minecraft via the Village and Pillage update in 2019.
You can read up on more details regarding the competition https://minecraft.net/en-us/article/minecraftnet-cat-contest-terms .
