Fan of Magic: The Gathering? Me neither! But the guys at Microsoft have come to some conclusion that a huge amount of their player base are, by releasing a skin pack for the card game.
Now obviously I’m kidding, Magic: The Gathering is actually really fun, and has amassed quite a huge following all around the world – which obviously constitutes the release.
The pack essential lets you play as a legendary Planeswalker Including favourites like Liliana Vess, Avacyn, Ajani Goldmane, and more. Some of the skins are available for free, but If you do, however, end up loving them, you can buy the remaining skins for just a few bucks.
Unfortunately, It’s currently only available for download on the Pocket and Windows 10 editions of Minecraft. However, the developers promised that console versions would be on digital shelves in the near future — so hopefully that includes the PS Vita Edition.
For only $2.99 CAD comes a total of 15 skins to choose from.
In other Minecraft news, the Switch will reportedly run at 60fps and will feature “Medium Sized Worlds”
If you are looking at getting Minecraft of the Nintendo Switch, we have some exciting news for you: Mojang has announced that the Minecraft Switch Version will run at a glorious 60FPS, will feature “Medium Sized Worlds” compared it’s Xbox One and PS4 counterparts) and will have Wii U world transfers.
According to Microsoft, developing on the Switch has been rather easy, and the game will be updated to Minecraft‘s January update when it’s released on May 11.
Finally, the Switch will feature world transfers from the Wii U so that you can keep working on your existing projects – however, this functionality will, unfortunately, not be available on the launch date.
The latest new feature in Minecraft: Education Edition makes it possible for students to learn how to code while playing the game.
Known as Code Builder, the feature is available today in beta for Minecraft: Education Edition. Code Builder is a tool that shows up in the game as a robot. Users can interact with the game through the robot via learn-to-code platforms such as Tynker, Scratch and MakeCode. In essence, they program actions that the robot performs.
“I can build a wall by making a for loop, and then that wall is going to show up in the game,” said Michelle Dauphiny Becker, executive producer on Minecraft, in a video about Code Builder.
The feature isn’t limited to those introductory platforms — Becker added that “you can go as far as you want with the tools that we provide in Code Builder.” For instance, people who know JavaScript can code directly in that language without the in-game robot, according to The Verge.
Minecraft: Education Edition is open to students, teachers and staff at K-12 schools, colleges, universities, libraries, museums and other qualifying institutions. It is available on Windows 10 and Mac OS.
We kick off this week’s podcast talking about the drama of the week surrounding Apple cutting affiliate payments, making us entirely dependent on our Patreon. We’ve also got an Amazon referral link set up on http://toucharcade.com/amazon, and would really appreciate it if you do your shopping on Amazon through that to support the site! It costs you nothing! (Well, other than what you’d buy on Amazon anyway.) From there, we get into a pretty awesome podcast featuring the following games: Robot Unicorn Attack 3 [Free], Match Land [Free], Family Guy: Another Freakin Mobile Game [Free], Penarium [$1.99], Super Senso [Free], and Suck It Up [Free].
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Last month, the latest minigame “Glide” was added to Minecraft: Xbox One Edition and Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. Launching with only a single map, Mojang promised later updates would include additional maps. Some will be free, while others will be available for purchase in various packs or as part of the Glide Season Pass.
The first paid pack, “Glide Beast”, launches today on both consoles at US$2.99 or your local equivalent, with the promised Season Pass turning up simultaneously at US$9.99. “Glide Beast” draws inspiration from mythological creatures and contains three maps.
Yeti
You can choose to dodge yetis and ancient fossils in the Ice Biome inspired map “Yeti” or fly alongside fire-breathing reptiles in “Dragon”. Alternatively you can face the “Kraken”, flying straight past the terrifying beast as it takes on two ships.
Kraken
Alongside the release, a small patch fixes some bugs and makes minor improvements. The patch notes are identical for both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions of the game.
Minecraft: Pocket Edition [$6.99] continues to prepare for the introduction of the Minecraft Marketplace, but in the meantime it continues to add new skins. This week, we got an unexpected Skin Pack based on the iconic CCG Magic the Gathering. The skin pack includes some of the most iconic figures of Magic, including necromancy master Liliana Vess, Ajani Goldmane, and archangel Avacyn. The skins looks pretty cool and definitely add a different tone to your Minecraft adventures. Even if you don’t care about Magic, you might still want to grab these skins.
According to Sarah Kisor, one of the Minecraft skin artists, this pack was quite an interesting challenge because they had to translate these very complex characters into the simplicity of Minecraft. It took time to make it so these skins are instantly recognizable for fans of Magic. The Magic skin pack is available now on the Minecraft Pocket Edition Store.
The special schools edition of popular construction and exploration title Minecraft is adding a programming twist with a Code Builder add-on that controls a special assistant within the game.
Announcing the feature at the May 2 MicrosoftEDU event in New York, Code Builder is available within Minecraft: Education Edition right away.
“Learning can be done best when you don’t think that you’re learning… you’re enjoying yourself, you’re making something,” explained Hadi Partovi, CEO of Code.org, in a video introducing the Code Builder suite.
His company is committed to increasing interest and participation in computer science education in the US, especially among female students, underrepresented minorities, and those from less well-off backgrounds.
“Code Builder is a natural extension of the game that students know and love, and a welcome into the world of programming,” said Minecraft Executive Producer, Michelle Dauphiny Becker.
Learn-to-code packages like ScratchX, Tynker, and Code Studio will be able to connect with Minecraft: Education Edition through Code Builder, the game edition’s blog announced.
Microsoft bought Minecraft as a whole, along with its developer Mojang, for US$2.5bil (RM10.82bil) in 2014.
It licenses Minecraft: Education Edition to schools through the use of a subscription-based account system that launched at US$5 (RM21.64) per account per year. — AFP Relaxnews
