“Minecraft” is this generation’s Super Mario. It’s an international phenomenon. Unless you’ve been living on the moon, you probably already know these things.
It’s on computers, phones, tablets, and game consoles. It’s at your local mall, occupying kiosks with plushies and T-shirts. There’s a semiannual convention (“MineCon”) and an education initiative that’s got it in schools (MinecraftEDU).
But why is it so popular? We’re talking about a game that looks like this:
Microsoft
Keep in mind that there are games coming out on modern video game consoles that look like this:
Quantic Dream
And what do you actually do in “Minecraft?” Build stuff? Perhaps you’ve seen some of the incredible worlds people have created from within “Minecraft,” like this one of King’s Landing from “Game of Thrones”:
YouTube
Not bad! So how does a world go from a flat, grassy meadow to a pixelated re-creation of Westeros’ capital city? The answer to that question is half of the reason people love “Minecraft”: creation. The castles above were built block-by-block.
It’s a system for fitting pieces together to create something — sometimes amazing somethings — from nothing. “Minecraft” provides endless building blocks and a blank canvas. It’s up to you to create something incredible, or silly, or referential, or whatever, using the tools it provides. The tools are blessedly user-friendly, as are the systems for employing those tools.
The most basic unit of measurement is a single block. This is a dirt block:
Microsoft
This is the literal and figurative building block of the game. You start with nothing but fists and a massive, unexplored world, ripe for creation. You walk forward; you punch the ground below you and it begins to crack. Why is it cracking? And suddenly, POP! Where the ground once was is now an empty, square space. It looks like this:
The word “minecraft” is a portmanteau of two verbs: to mine and to craft. Punching a dirt block and retrieving a dirt block to build with is the first verb — the mining. When you start “Minecraft,” it’s the first thing you should do.
Once you’ve retrieved enough blocks, the second thing you’ll need to do is craft: combine the resources you’ve mined to create more complex tools. “Mining” for wood (punching a tree) enables you to create basic tools. Those basic tools enable you to mine more complex resources, which enable you to create more complex items and tools.
It’s this highly satisfying cycle of mining resources and creating from those resources that draws in millions of players around the world. And that’s the most basic level of “Minecraft.”
The other side of “Minecraft,” sadly not encompassed in the game’s title, is exploration. Every time you start a new world in “Minecraft,” it’s unique. That is, levels are randomly generated based on a set of parameters. There are some constants:
The levels always contain the same materials (dirt, trees, water, etc.)
There is a day/night cycle
At night, enemies appear and will attack you
You can only dig so deep below the world’s surface before hitting bedrock
The world that spawns always has stuff to discover, whether it’s crazy jungles or mountains or underground caves or whatever
Yes, there are enemies. You’ve almost certainly seen the iconic “Creeper” at your local Hot Topic. This guy (or lady?):
Microsoft
These green, exploding monsters are exclusive to the “Survival” mode of “Minecraft” — if you just want to create ad infinitum, there’s a “Creation” mode that enables exactly that. No day/night cycle. No enemies. No mining if you don’t want to mine. Just endless creation.
But be warned: If you don’t choose “Survival” mode, you’ll never experience the joy of discovering a labyrinthine cave network by accident, full of rare resources (diamonds!) and life-threatening lava. You’ll never know the thrill of narrowly escaping a mob of spiders, zombies, and Creepers into the ramshackle hut you’ve composed just in time to hide for the night. You’ll never know the heartbreak of a Creeper sneaking up and exploding the side of your carefully constructed homage to John Travolta’s face. Up your nose with a rubber hose, Creeper.
So forget all the hype. Forget the billions Microsoft spent buying “Minecraft” from its creator, Markus “Notch” Persson and his team at Mojang.
“Minecraft” is so incredibly successful and popular because it’s delightful. It’s relaxing. It’s joyful. It’s goofy. It’s an amazing interactive canvas to build anything you want.
Yeah, you’re “just punching blocks and placing them in different combinations.” And here’s a re-creation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous “Fallingwater” home:
You can play “Minecraft” online with friends, with strangers, or all by your lonesome. Some of the more complex worlds were created by whole teams of people working for months. Westeros wasn’t built in a day, you know!
Personally, I prefer the relaxing experience of playing it alone while listening to podcasts. The game’s music is a mix of soft, atmospheric melodies that can be easily kept at low volume, leaving me to concentrate on the project at hand.
Unlike so many other games, “Minecraft” enables an outlet for artistic expression — however shallow — that makes time spent in its worlds feel meaningful.
Terracotta is notable for being perhaps the most textured construction block added to the game to date – look at those geometric colours, shapes and patterns, which come in four flavours. Who even needs texture packs now?
A new texture pack is available for Minecraft‘s mobile and Windows 10 versions.
The Candy Texture Pack introduces a “dentist-weepingly high amount of sugar into your game.” It does so by replacing all textures with sweet treats. Really. Take a look at the image below to get an idea for what to expect.
Already available for the console versions of Minecraft, the Candy Texture Pack costs $3. Itcomes to the mobile and Windows 10 versions through the 1.03 update; the update is free, but the texture pack is not.
As outlined on Minecraft’s website, this update also adds localization support for Dutch and makes a variety of bug figures. For example, it fixes a crash scenario when a player enters a mutated biome. The patch also makes it so bats spawn more often, because who doesn’t want that to happen?
Minecraft 1.03:
New Features:
Added Candy texture pack
Added Dutch localization
Tweaks:
Fixed some spacing when truncating bolded text.
Tweaked spawn point selection to be “smarter” (e.g. avoid lava).
Tweaked the textures of flower/mushroom blocks.
Assorted texture fixes.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed a crash when a server/Realm would first start.
Fixed an issue causing servers to blink between online and offline status
Fixed a Realms crash when a player exits
Fixed a crash when using some items
Fixed a server crash when a player entered a mutated biome
Fixed an issue that caused pressure plates, buttons, and other Redstone items to become stuck
Fixed an issue with hoppers not ticking the proper order
Fixed an issue when destroying a door
Fixed an issue with item duplication
Fixed an issue allowing a player to incorrectly obtain End Gateway blocks
Observer block’s arrows should now point in the direction of power
Observer blocks will no longer be placed upside-down
Fixed an issue where realms members that were not your friends were not being displayed
Bats should spawn more often!
Fixed an issue with End Gateway textures on mobile devices.
Fixed an issue where buttons & other redstone devices could get locked when a redstone lamp activated.
Fixed some rendering geometry which created weird results
The Resident Evil movies are undoubtedly gigantic hits at the box office, having raked in over $244 million since the premiere of the first film in 2002. While these movies are definitely a departure from the games that inspired them, we’re treated to the sight of some of our favorite characters on the big screen. Milla Jovovich’s Alice, the film-exclusive protagonist, might be the star of the show, but we can’t help but check out the other characters and see how they compare to their game counterparts. Let’s put the likes of Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, and other Resident Evil mainstays under the scope, and check how faithfully they were brought to the silver screen.
Chris Redfield
Chris Redfield is one of most iconic characters in the Resident Evil series, and many fans know him for bashing in doors and the heads of bio-organic weapons — or B.O.W.s — in Resident Evil 5. His enormous, bulging muscles were his true weapons, but he still whipped out a firearm to get some real work done.
In the films, he’s played by Prison Break alum Wentworth Miller. who is probably not as jacked as Chris, but just as tough. While he doesn’t fully resemble the beloved BSAA agent, we can at least tell who he’s playing. His outfits, however, are far from what Chris Redfield wore in the video games. Instead of short sleeves with BSAA patches on them, he wears some kind of tactical field jacket. He’s got plenty of gear strapped onto his torso, but his all-grey ensemble just makes him look like a failed Ghostbuster, or an overzealous maintenance man. But that’s all we’ll say about that subject, lest we find ourselves on the receiving end of those guns.
Claire Redfield
Ali Larter breathes life into Claire Redfield, sister to Chris and heroine to Resident Evil fans everywhere. In the films, Claire doesn’t get her signature ponytail, but she does retain her vest. It’s a little more crimson than pink, but we think that’s for the best. We’re not sure where you can pick up vests that feature little sheathes for combat knives, but we’re going to assume it’s not a thing in real life.
Also noticeably absent are the gloves and Claire’s black, short-sleeved turtleneck. The end result is that Larter’s Claire looks and feels like more of a badass than the original Claire. Together, she and Wentworth Miller’s Chris make up a deadly pair of siblings that we’d love to have on the front lines against an army of zombies. And given that a ponytail can be easily grabbed by the undead and other monsters, maybe letting her hair down was a good, tactical decision.
Jill Valentine
Tube top? Check. Short, brunette hair in a bob cut? Check. Mini-skirt? Check. Sienna Guillory’s Jill Valentine seems to be the most accurate portrayal of a Resident Evil character in the movies. The former S.T.A.R.S. member probably shouldn’t keep so much skin exposed when there are zombies everywhere that are looking to bite and infect her, but we appreciate the risks she takes to looks good.
In Resident Evil: Retribution, she returns as a blonde, now the villain of the movie. She even looks the part of her superpowered, antagonist form from Resident Evil 5, complete with the device on her chest and the one-piece outfit. We’re glad that the fimmakers did their homework on this one.
Albert Wesker
As far as bad guys go, Albert Wesker is certainly one of the most arrogant. If his glowing, red eyes weren’t a dead giveaway that he’s evil, then maybe his frosted tips might. In Resident Evil:Afterlife, we see him played by actor Shawn Roberts. He’s got the sunglasses to hide his ocular peculiarities, and those tips definitely seem frosted, but something about him still feels a little … off. Perhaps it’s because Shawn Roberts was only in his mid-20s when he filmed the role and Wesker is supposed to be much older, but the one thing we couldn’t get past was his youthful, good looks.
Other than that, and the prominence of Roberts’ widow’s peak, the costuming was pretty spot on. Leather and bad guys go together, and Wesker is definitely the type to rock it in all-black
Leon Kennedy
Leon Kennedy may not be as brawny as Chris, but he’s still one of the coolest characters in the series. There are some stark differences between his appearance in Resident Evil 4 and actor Johann Urb’s character in Resident Evil: Retribution, but it’s probably difficult to find someone with bangs like Leon’s. In an interview with Collider, director Paul W.S. Anderson confirmed as much, saying, “You have no idea how difficult it is to find someone with Leon Kennedy’s hair. It is just not the easiest thing in the world. He has to be manly and has to have these long bangs.”
Urb doesn’t rock Leon’s signature leather jacket in the film, but he does have a nice, winter coat with a fur-lined hood. But, going by what Anderson said, getting the hair correct seemed to be the most important thing.
Ada Wong
Ada Wong’s acrobatic skills and penchant for gunplay have earned her a spot in every Resident Evil fan’s heart. We see her portrayed by actress Bingbing Li in Resident Evil: Retribution, wearing her signature red outfit. This is actually a fairly faithful representation of the character, from the hairstyle down to the yellow butterflies on her dress. We’re so impressed with how accurate the portrayal is, we could have sworn Ada stepped out of the game’s code and into the movie. She even performs that incredible disarm using a front handspring kick in the movie, adding to her cool factor.
Carlos Oliveira
Carlos Oliveira’s first video game appearance was in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, where he helps Jill Valentine escape the zombie-infested Raccoon City and the clutches of the Nemesis. In the films, he’s portrayed by Oded Fehr, who you might remember from The Mummy movies as Ardeth Bay. For some reason, Fehr just can’t escape the undead in any of their forms.
As you might be able to tell, there’s a stark contrast between the game character’s appearance and Fehr’s. Carlos is more youthful-looking with medium-length hair, whereas Fehr is more mature, with a shorter haircut. Even the costuming is different, with Oded’s Carlos featuring less pouches and straps, with more of a desert soldier look. We don’t really mind the departure from the original character’s look, but it’s just a little jarring when most of the other characters’ signature looks are so accurately depicted.
Barry Burton
Whenever we think of sandwiches, we think of the majestically-bearded Barry Burton. The character is famous for exploring the Spencer Mansion with Jill in the first Resident Evil game and saving her from becoming a Jill Sandwich. In Resident Evil: Retribution, the beard is brought to life by Kevin Durand, who wears a red vest similar to that of the original character design. There’s something about the heroes of Resident Evil and wearing red and vests, but we don’t judge.
While his costume features the same kind of leather straps and holster from the game, the biggest difference is that Kevin Durand’s face is a little more good-natured than Barry’s. The video game character looks a lot more hardened in later iterations of the series, but we respect the attention to detail on the outfits. It’s almost enough to make us forgive how nobody spoke of sandwiches. Almost.
Gamification, the practice of using gaming techniques and games such as Minecraft to increase consumer engagement, has long proved its worth in the retail sector.
Now, the world of museums is increasingly waking up to its potential to immerse audiences, create loyalty and deliver a new way of learning.
An early adopter in this sector was Tate who launched Tate Worlds in 2015. The application used the popular Minecraft gaming platform to create a series of 3D maps based on a number of key artworks owned by the Tate. Users can explore these ‘worlds’ while learning about the works and the artists in a dynamic, involving way.
Inspired by the success of Tate Worlds, the Museum of London launched its Great Fire 1666 project last year which recreates the City of London in 3D as it was before and during the fire. A third map about rebuilding the city after the fire is due to be released in February.
In this, the first of two Blooloop articles on gamifying museums, we spoke to Adam Clarke, Lead Artist and Project Manager on Tate Worlds and Josh Blair, The Museum of London’s Digital Learning Coordinator.
101 Ideas for Minecraft Learners
Adam Clarke, well-known to Minecrafters as Wizard Keen, is a digital artist who saw Minecraft’s potential for education years before he became involved with the Tate project.
“I had started a YouTube channel, creating a series of videos called 101 Ideas for Minecraft Learners, ” he says. “It was really to fill a space that I felt wasn’t being filled: parents and teachers and young people needed ideas and legitimacy. I had, and continue to have, so many ideas about how Minecraft can be used for education.”
Experimenting with map-making, Clarke had created a map of Cumbria using real satellite data. He then imported it into another programme and painted on the historic monument, Hadrian’s Wall. This led to a Museums at Night project at Tullie House in Carlisle, a museum close to Hadrian’s Wall.
With a major museum project under his belt, he now qualified for entry to the Tate’s annual IK Prize competition.
“My wife (the poet Victoria Bennett) said: This IK prize – are you going to go for it? I said: I don’t know. When is it for? She said: Tomorrow.
“This was at dinner time. So, we put our son to bed and we wrote down a proposal.”
Walking Into Artworks
Clarke knew exactly what he wanted to create:
“It would be about walking into artworks, using Minecraft as a tool to create immersive art history projects that can be experienced. We’d use the engagement of Minecraft, which seems to be a place where young people are confident. It speaks directly to them about worlds they’re super-familiar with. Minecraft continues, unlike Facebook, to be a place where Mum and Dad tend (only tend – I play it every day) to shy away from.”
Clarke then forgot about the IK prize so, when he was short-listed, it came as something of a surprise.
“We were the only proposal in the North of England to be chosen. We weren’t ‘professionals’, it was me and my wife – just artists thinking and being curious about how this stuff could be used – round a kitchen table. And, we had a seven-year-old who plays Minecraft quite a lot.”
Tate Worlds
Although Clarke and his wife didn’t win, their idea had created a spark at Tate.
“Two weeks later, the Tate got back in touch. They had some money, and thought our idea was really great and would like to produce it in some form or other. How, they wondered, could we do that?”
Thus Tate Worlds was born.
“We’ve produced several maps for Tate Britain, and have another two maps to produce, ” he says.
Tate Worlds proves, as Clarke knew it would, that Minecraft could be used by museums and galleries as a highly compelling, interactive, educational tool.
Players are encouraged to enter and explore the virtual worlds inspired by particular artworks, learning art history by problem-solving.
“In terms of engaging new audiences, and young people who find it difficult to get a foothold in cultural events or information, what the Tate did was to legitimise Minecraft for that audience.”
Project-Based Learning
Clarke is an enthusiastic advocate of the way Minecraft allows children to learn actively, without being ‘taught’ in a conventional sense.
“I come from an art background, and from an arts practice way of looking at things. How do we solve a problem? We gather information, we do research, we put it all together and we might use a design process – we can produce a range of outcomes, and then be selective about those outcomes.
“This is about project-based learning, project-based solutions.”
Clarke and his wife have chosen to home educate their son.
“Minecraft has been a key component of his own learning, and his sense of how to solve problems and collaborate with other people, ” he says.
“The way Wonder Quest is made is very much in that collaborative spirit.”
“I get on a Skype call at 4pm with Stampy, and with the two writers and producers in Los Angeles, and together we might get in touch with Dragnoz who is a guy based in Spain, ” explains Clarke.
“We have these different people all over the world coming together in a Minecraft server, using lots of different bits of technology to create an entertaining little show.
“We’re all connected to a Minecraft server, plus we might be using Skype, plus we’ll probably be using Dropbox at the same time to share skins and content that we need to have instantly. And, a person who’s sitting at a desk in Los Angeles is typing up something I’m able to read instantly, and we’re both working in a Minecraft environment.
“There’s a three-dimensionality; an environmental space that we’re working in, almost like a TV studio or a set – it’s a theatrical space.”
With the advent of shows such as Wonder Quest and the Minecraft Education Edition, the game is now finding its way into the classroom. Exactly where it should be, according to Clarke.
“I’m interested in how we might use technology in the future – what do we learn from video games, and the skill-sets we’ve acquired – how might that affect the future of the quality of the communication that we give to each other?”
At the end of last year, he was in Canada and the US at a number of museum conferences, including Museum Next, talking about the role of engagement in Minecraft.
Interactive Clay
One gets the sense that what Clarke has created so far is just the tip of the iceberg:
“Minecraft continues, for me, to be one of the most exciting spaces to work in. I don’t see it as a video game, but more as a platform where I, as a creative artist, can still find new things to play with. Some people say it’s digital Lego. I say it’s much more like interactive clay, and I use it as an artistic medium. It’s a new digital space that I’ve been seeking for a long time.
“I think kids like it because it’s so unintimidating. They have full access to something that is easy to use from the very beginning. Unlike adults who are completely intimidated by it, kids can just pick it up and use it in moments, and get a huge amount of pleasure out of it, and feel like they own it, as well. Nobody’s telling them what to do; nobody’s telling them how to do it. They have to discover it for themselves.
“There are very few places where all those things come together; where kids get autonomy and to be creatively playful at the same time.
“Kids are turning to video games to find it, and Minecraft is ideal.”
Museum of London’s Great Fire 1666
Having seen Tate Worlds, Josh Blair and his team were quick to see the potential of Minecraft for the Museum of London’s Great Fire 1666 project.
Clarke, who had been talking about doing the Great Fire of London for a couple of years, was more than a little pleased when Blair approached him.
“I bit his hand off, ” says Clarke.
“We’re completing that project at the moment: there’s a third part that’s going to come out in February 2017 which is the rebuilding of London, so we’re working closely with the School of British Architects as well, who have all the historical stuff and original plans from the 17th Century. It’s fascinating.”
Josh Blair, Digital Learning Coordinator at the Museum of London, was the project leader on the Great Fire 1666. Part of a team of three that work within the learning department, he is in charge of the digital learning that happens on site at the Museum of London, and at the Museum’s other two sites, Museum of London Docklands and the Archaeological Archive.
“We have a series of learning sessions that use digital technologies. Within that, we harness the power of digital as well as our collections and the stories we tell. We use this tool to help learning and to create different experiences.
“So, we primarily use iPads, use different apps – we have things with green screens, we use photography, we use animation, we use mind mapping apps across all our programmes. Now, we’re looking to use digital not as a magic bullet, nor as a quick sell to get kids interested, but as a tool that helps us tell the story.”
A Platform Children Automatically Understand
The Great Fire 1666 recreates the City of London in Minecraft before the fire, during the fire and after the city is rebuilt.
“It’s been an amazing project to be part of, ” says Blair.
“Minecraft is an incredible game that captivates and inspires users of all ages around the world. Its reach and versatility offers museums a fantastic platform to share our knowledge and collections, and to create engaging experiences.”
He had been using Minecraft as a teaching tool before the project’s inception:
“We used Minecraft within our learning sessions, on tablets, and we used it in our archive as part of whole day of sessions. We had children rebuild certain landmarks in London using Minecraft in teams, looking at foundations, looking at archaeology, looking at realistic resources. It’s a platform that children automatically understand, have a passion for and are excited by. They were doing things that were just fantastic using Minecraft, so we saw that this was an amazing learning tool that we could use to engage people.”
A Tool for Telling Stories
Last September was the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire so the museum was already busy creating a new exhibit and a brand new website dedicated to the Fire.
“We also thought that the work we had done with Minecraft so far really lent itself to this story. It lent itself to the idea of building a city, playing through the story, understanding the story, being able to spread our message and give children a learning experience. And, also, trying to engage and have as many people as possible experience the collections, sharing the knowledge that we have here.
“With the Great Fire story we create an immersive experience which is primarily fun – it’s interesting, you’re exploring and seeing the city like you’ve never seen it before. We haven’t just put dry information everywhere and said, this is what this looked like. Actually seeing it, they’ll understand it far better than if we explained it through text. It gave us this ability to be able to show people what London was like in 1666.
“The people we worked with were incredibly creative and managed to recreate it pretty much as it would have been.“
For the project, Clarke assembled the same team he had worked with on Tate Worlds: the professional Minecraft building team at Blockworks, and the game designer, Dragnoz.
Blair: “We had seen, when researching the project, what museums were doing. We thought what had been done with the Tate was fantastic.
A Fully Explorable, Fully Playable New World
“Adam was really excited about the prospect of this project. We were able to team up our collections, knowledge and the historical artefacts we have within the museum with his Minecraft expertise and standing, to create this fully explorable, fully playable new world.”
Children played a key role in the development process of the learning sessions at the museum.
“Lots of the learning we had early on in the smaller sessions with Minecraft came from what children told us they enjoyed as they were feeding back on our sessions.
They were suggesting, ‘We could do this – why don’t we link up into servers? If you gave us 45 minutes instead of 30 we could do this. If you said we couldn’t use certain things, certain resources, it would be more interesting’. They were really leading our learning, and getting to educate us, which was fantastic.”
From the outset, there was a certain lack of understanding within the museum itself.
“It was quite difficult to educate the museum about what we were doing. They’d heard about this phenomenon, but didn’t quite know what it was. There were a lot of conversations and a lot of translations from the Minecraft side of things into museum language.
“It was a fascinating conversation to have, and now most of the museum knows what Minecraft is and have played it, and love it.”
Historically Accurate Minecraft Maps
The Museum of London’s Great Fire 1666 project is in three parts.
“We sat down with Adam and with James Delaney from Blockworks who were mapping out what this could be. There were a million different iterations we could have created, but we thought as the current exhibition, Fire Fire, is split up into three sections, and the website Rhiannon (Looseley, Digital Learning Project Manager) was building was in three sections, tackling the story in three parts felt quite natural: before, during and after the fire.”
The three Minecraft maps are very different.
“The first is the recreation of the city as it was in the 17th century. Blockworks built it for us to be as historically accurate as possible. They used maps from our archive so they could map each road exactly as it was in 1666.
“We selected notable landmark buildings which we would then recreate, including the old St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, London Bridge and the Royal Exchange. Then, they created this huge city that is fully explorable.”
The first map is that exploration: players look around the city, discovering what it looked like in 1666:
“The houses were made of wood; they were quite close together; there were lots of open flames everywhere. This map is about understanding the kind of factors that influenced the fire then, and why it was such a terrible disaster.
“Within that, we had Adam and Stampy record audio facts for us about the fire.
“We also put some paintings and items from our collections into Minecraft form, hiding them around so people can find and collect them. This encourages people to look round the city as much as possible.”
A Learning Resource
The second map, released in September 2016, records the actual fire.
“You play through mini games explaining what happened in the fire. So, you wake up in Pudding Lane and have to escape the fire; you meet Thomas Farriner and have to try to put the fire out. Dragnoz created brand new Minecraft models based on our collection’s items from that era. He created fire squirts and buckets and an old fire engine. So, you can experience the tools they would have used to fight the fire at the time.
“There are games about saving people’s possessions, blowing up houses to create fire breaks. One, which is much more involved and interactive, focuses on helping Samuel Pepys.”
The third map, due to be released next month, will be about rebuilding the city.
“One of the cool features of Minecraft is building, so it really lends itself to this activity. We’re going to use the sketches of Christopher Wren and John Evelyn and Robert Hooke, the architects of the time. There were lots of differing visions of what London could look like, as it rose from the ashes. So, we’re going to examine them. We’ll look at the different ways that London could be, and help people rebuild the city as it was. Or, as a vision of what it could have been.”
The first two maps are available for free download on Mac or PC for anyone with a Minecraft account.
Democratising Museums
“One of the things we wanted to do was to show how children could use Minecraft for learning, ” explains Blair.
A key feature of previous projects has been to encourage parents and children to cooperatively build or explore.
“We wanted to show parents what Minecraft is. We wanted to show how important it is to children, how creative it is and how powerful it is.
“A lot of the feedback we got from parents early on simple. ‘My God – this is Minecraft – this is what s/he does all the time!’ Or, ‘This is what my child does the moment s/he comes home – I’ve never really looked at it before’.’
“So, with the Great Fire 1666 project we wanted to create a learning resource. Something that visitors could use either before coming to our exhibition, or after. Or, independently from it at home or in a different country. We wanted to show everyone what’s possible with it, and to encourage parents to understand that this is actually a very different kind of video game.
“Digital is part of the world now. Everyone has phones, tablets, lots of different digital devices. Museums have digital departments. People visit museums with their devices expecting free WiFi and museums are responding by providing digital experiences. There are trails and tours and augmented reality and virtual reality. This gives a lot more scope to open up the collections and give people experiences around the stories you have. There’s a lot happening with museums and digital right now.
“All museums have millions of artefacts that aren’t on show. This is a way of making them available, democratising museums and giving people access, whoever and wherever they are.”
A new Minecraft update is heading out for PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, and pretty much every other platform that the massively popular open-world game is available on. This isn’t a massive update, but it is big enough to warrant checking out the extensive patch notes. It looks like all versions are getting pretty much the same patch, so just keep reading to see what to expect from this new Minecraft update.
Minecraft Update 38 on Xbox One or 1.41 on PS4 has a long list of bug fixes that it addresses, all listed in the patch notes. You can click here for the full list from 4J Studios, but we’ve pulled out a few highlights that seem like more impactful changes for the game.
This Minecraft update includes: “Fix for Horses not jumping to the correct height. Re-entering a tutorial area while the playing the Tutorial will reset the chests. Fix for Slab blocks not blocking light. Fix for Chickens not dropping Cooked Chicken when they die on fire. Fix for Blazes not dropping Glowstone Dust when they die. Fixed the drop grate of Gold Nuggets. Fix for Zombie Pigmen not dropping Gold Ingots when they die. Fix for tamed Ocelots remaining hostile to anything they were attacking before being tamed. Fix for crash when spawning too many Shulkers. Added new 11 achievements/trophies for Survival. Added new 7 achievements/trophies for Tumble.” And more.
Minecraft updates are always a nice time to jump back into the long running game. I always seem to hit the game in waves, playing it extensively for a few weeks or months before I kind of get tired of it, or my friends get addicted to some other new game. Then a new update hits and I’m right back in the mine, desperately searching for diamonds. When was the last time you were truly hooked on Minecraft? Let us know in the comments.
Microsoft
Quantic Dream
YouTube
Microsoft
Microsoft
