Microsoft announced today that it will bring a Holiday Update to Minecraft on Xbox and other consoles in December. This update will include new mobs, items, blocks and status effects, in addition to UI, game and tutorial updates, the firm says.
“Since adding banners, beets and polar bears with our last update in October, the team has been hard at work on our biggest Minecraft console update of the year – the Holiday Update,” Microsoft’s Jeff Rivait explains.
The Holiday Update is for what Microsoft calls the Minecraft: Console Edition, which includes the versions of the game for Xbox 360 and Xbox One, plus Playstation 3 and 4, PlayStation Vita, and Wii U. Microsoft also makes a Minecraft: Computer Edition for PC, Mac, and Linux, and Minecraft: Pocket Edition for Android, iOS, Windows phones, and Amazon Fire. It’s not clear if the Holiday Update will ship on these other platforms. Nor is it clear when or if Microsoft will ever consolidate these various products into a single line of compatible games.
Anyway.
Today’s announcement is just a sneak peek and Microsoft says it will reveal more next month. But Mr. Rivait included the following list of enhancements that we can expect:
Fly with the new Elytra. “If you’re sick of spending all your time walking on solid ground, just equip the new Elytra, which enables players to glide through the air!”
Updates to The End. “You’ll find your Elytra in The End, which has been updated to include End Cities, End Ships and all the Chorus Plants, Flowers and Purpur you can handle. Don’t say we didn’t warn you if one turns out to be a Shulker.”
New Potions. “Like potions? Use Dragon’s Breath to create Lingering Potions if you want to leave some status effects on the ground for a friend or foe to happen upon. Speaking of status effects, we’re adding a couple new ones as well – Levitation and Luck.”
Amplified Terrain (Xbox One only). “If you’re just getting started on a new world on Xbox One or PlayStation 4, you can turn on Amplified Terrain. This option makes the differences between mountains and valleys more extreme – so put that Elytra to good use!”
It’ll look familiar to those who’ve used introductory programming projects like Google’s Pencil Code or MIT’s Scratch: Commands take the form of Lego-like pieces you snap together into a sequence that controls an on-screen character. Puzzles alternate with video tutorials explaining new programming concepts.
Programming isn’t for everyone, but many schools and businesses are trying to expose students to it as a way to build skills for the 21st century, when tech is spreading beyond PCs and phones into cars, refrigerators, thermostats, and many other corners of our lives.
President Barack Obama has endorsed the Code.org effort.
“If we want America to stay on the cutting edge, we need young Americans like you to master the tools and technology that will change the way we do just about everything,” Obama said in a 2013 video. “Don’t just buy a new video game. Make one… Don’t just play on your phone. Program it.”
If you want your Minecraft Pocket Edition [$6.99] to look like a silly Saturday morning cartoon or as if you just had a breakdown and the whole world looks like a joke, then the latest texture pack is just the thing for you. Cartoon Textures, which was just added to the game, doesn’t change the environment that much but it makes a huge difference on how people and mobs look. I mean look at the image below; you can’t go much sillier than that. I can see this texture pack being great for those who like to stream multiplayer Minecraft because it will add a veneer of silliness on top of any shenanigans. The Texture Pack costs $2.99 and is available in the Store.
In addition to the texture pack, we got possible hints that music might be coming to the game. According to this reddit post, there’s been code discovered that talks about downloading the Minecraft Music to your device. While I don’t know how valid this post is, the developers have said in the past that if the game’s music makes it to the Pocket Edition, it will be as a separate download because of space considerations. Here’s hoping.
Minecraft is one of the most popular games in the world as it enables dedicated players to build whatever they imagine. However, it can also be a powerful learning tool through which we can appeal to kids in a variety of topics. Now, a new program wants to use Minecraft to teach kids how to code.
Code is already a valuable skill and it will become even more essential in the future. However, it can be difficult to pick it up at an advanced age and difficult for kids to learn it through the usual ways. However, games have always provided a simple and fascinating tool to teach kids. Microsoft, the owner of the game, has launched a new Minecraft Hour of Code Designer tutorial.
The program is part of the company’s Hour of Code campaign which is being held from December 5th to December 11th, during the Computer Science Education Week. The Minecraft tutorial is available for free the Code.org website. Anyone can access it and learn about coding through Minecraft, despite being designed for kids.
Although Minecraft tutorials for the annual Hour of Code is not entirely a new endeavor for Microsoft, the company does develop different types of tutorials within the game each year. For the current one, Microsoft has stated that their own developers, as well as a few from Mojang, have worked together to create it.
The tutorial itself is short, lasting one hour on average, in order to fit with the Hour of Code overall theme. It is also available in ten languages currently, but Microsoft plans to release for up 50 by December 5th.
In the tutorial, users are presented with a very small Minecraft world display where their chosen character is present. They gradually learn to control the character by dragging various blocks of code from a panel into the editor, after which they run their lines of code. Kids can create anything you can imagine in the Minecraft tutorial, setting rules which are ludicrous or as logical as you like.
The tutorial is specially designed to entice kids as young as six years old to learn more about coding by giving them a very basic idea of how the whole process works.
With spending for the holiday season expected to increase by 3.6 percent this year to $656 billion, according to WalletHub, you can bet a hefty chuck of that change is going toward gaming. With the debut of the Xbox One S, Microsoft is hoping to see aggressive sales of its smaller, faster console. And a lot of those purchases will take place on that magical day where people forget the fear of being trampled to death: Black Friday.
Thankfully, Xbox One and Black Friday go together like turkey and stuffing. We perused the circulars to find all the Xbox-y sales we could find arriving on Nov. 24 or a little earlier. You’ll find a lot of bundled consoles and hot games (in particular Minecraft and Battlefield 1 with a console that comes in military green).
Generally, the Black Friday prices are the same wherever you go so don’t panic if one outlet runs dry—you can probably get the same price elsewhere.
Turtle Beach Ear Force Stealth 420X Plus Gaming Headset: $99.95. Down from $149.95, this wireless gaming headset with detachable microphone is perfect for gaming with friends or just watching Xbox One content without disturbing others.
You might not think of Kohl’s as a place for electronics, but it has a doorbuster sale (in stores and online) starting at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day that will serve up the Xbox One S 500GB Minecraft Console Bundle for $249.99. The purchase also earns the buyer an extra $75 in Kohl’s Cash.
In the store, Black Friday technically starts at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. Online, you get free shipping only if you order over $50 of merchandise at Walmart.com. Better yet, do in-store pickup.
Best Buy
Get $50 off any Xbox One console or bundled console, OR get a free Xbox Wireless Controller with purchase of any Xbox One S 1TB console on Nov. 24.
Xbox One S White 500GB Battlefield 1 Bundle for $249.99 plus $40 gift card. The best deal yet on this bundle, as it includes an extra gift card bonus. Regular price is $299.99 without the gift card.
Minecraft/Xbox One S 500GB Bundle: $249.99 (down from $299.99), which includes Minecraft Favorites Pack, Builder’s Pack, and a version for running on Windows 10.
Gears of War 4 Xbox One S 1TB Bundle: $299.99 (down from $349.99), which has a full version of Gears on game disc, plus playable version for Windows 10.
Nyko Charge Block Duo: $24.99 (down from $29.99)$50 off any new Xbox One console starting at 5 a.m. on Nov. 24. Let’s dive right in:
Dell
Xbox One S White 500GB Battlefield 1 Bundle with Gears of War 4 and an extra wireless controller for $249.99. This is among the best Xbox One S deals out there because it includes an extra controller. The regular price for the bundle is $419.99. Sales begin at 9 p.m. ET on Nov. 24.
Amazon.com
Amazon starts Black Friday early by having ridiculous deals all the time, and is planning to run a lot of them through Dec. 22—at least when it’s not rotating savings to new products without warning.
After months of development and testing, Microsoft has finally launched Minecraft: Education Edition, a learning-focused version of the game that’s been designed for the classroom.
To the uninitiated it might have seemed like a slightly odd development move from Microsoft. It’s all about building huts and fighting walking cacti-looking things, right?
But when Minecraft started development on the game, it was already being used in over 7,000 classrooms in over 40 countries in the form of MinecraftEdu, a third-party education-focussed build of the game. Sensibly, Microsoft seized on this and acquired MinecraftEdu, using it as the basis for the game it’s now rolling out to classrooms in 11 countries.
What is it?
So, how is Minecraft: Education Edition any different from standard Minecraft? Well, not that much different it seems. It’s the same basic gaming experience (crafting, building and creativity-fuelling teamwork) and visuals (blocky) but with extra tools added to effectively integrate it into a classroom environment.
The aim of Education Edition is to use the open plan Minecraft world to promote creativity, problem solving, and collaboration between students.
There are lesson plans in a wide range of subjects, including science, technology, engineering, math, history, languages, and art for a variety of ages.
Examples of lessons include exploring and understanding deforestation by having students create Minecraft worlds which show the before and after effects of deforestation and discuss calls to action for slowing the process.
There are also geometry lessons which have classes construct shapes in order to learn about the concepts of perimeter and area and recreations of historical settings.
Why is it worth your time?
The lessons enabled by Minecraft are much more visual and immersive than anything students could get from a textbook or physical group work. For students who struggle to get their heads around things like fractions by looking at numbers alone, seeing them used in these familiar digital settings could be a huge help.
According to Microsoft, the use of play-based learning in a virtual environment that students are familiar with is much more engaging for students.
Not only that, it’s an organised and more manageable way to enable students to collaborate. In classes with larger numbers of students, it can be difficult for teachers to control multiple groups of students working on different projects.
Minecraft: Education Edition includes classroom specific tools that make it easier for teachers to bring creative collaboration into the classroom and make sure all of their students are getting the most out of a lesson. The tools include a map through which teachers can track the location of their students in the game, as well as in-game chalkboards, and worlds themed around the lesson plans.
Who’s it for?
Minecraft: Education Edition is primarily to be used in classrooms. At the moment there are lesson plans for students from the ages of 5 all the way up to college level.
Microsoft says the game is supposed to create “unique and creative learning experiences for educators and students alike”. However, it seems like it could be an added pressure for educators.
Though the Microsoft website is already populated with a wide range of creative and interesting lesson plans, these aren’t endless and Microsoft is counting on teachers to add more worlds and lesson plans themselves.
The problem is, creating a Minecraft world is a time consuming process, even for someone familiar with the game. To help teachers completely new to the Minecraft world, Microsoft offers a Minecraft Mentor program which will teach them how to effectively integrate the game into their classroom.
It’s great that Microsoft is able to offer this. However, it seems unfair and impractical to expect that teachers should spend their days teaching lessons and their evenings not only planning future lessons, but building virtual worlds for them too.
Is it worth it?
Microsoft: Education Edition certainly offers students a dynamic and interesting learning experience. But it’s unlikely that it will take over the classroom considering the pressure it puts on educators to create worlds and plan lessons that use them effectively.
As well as this, the software isn’t free. Costing $5 (around £4 / AU $7) per student for a year’s subscription, it’s a costly addition to the classroom and requires students to have regular access to computers equipped with either Windows 10 or macOS, which not all schools can manage.
For a fun home experience, you’re better off with standard Minecraft. However, for any schools or home educators looking to get started with the Education Edition, you can get check it out on the Microsoft website.
Minecraft isn’t just helping students, it’s also teaching AI a thing or two
