The good news for the movie business this weekend was that a sequel did better than projected at the box office after weeks of them earning less than the originals (“Alice Through The Looking Glass,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows”).
The bad news: The $160 million “Warcraft” crashed and burned.
“The Conjuring 2” took in an estimated $40.3 million to win the weekend at the domestic box office, according to Exhibitor Relations. Coming in second was “Warcraft” with a dismal $24 million on 3,400 screens.
The summer blockbusters are struggling at the box office this year and “Warcraft,” based on the popular video game, is the latest example. However, the movie has earned over $280 million already overseas, showing that audiences abroad who are fans of the game came out in droves.
However, “The Conjuring 2” proved that sequels are not completely being ignored this summer. The beefy opening (for a horror) is just below the $41.8 million the original had its opening weekend in 2013 (the second largest all-time opening weekend for a horror).
In third was “Now You See Me 2” with around $23 million, which didn’t slip much from the illusion-heavy original that opened with $29.3 million in 2013.
So talk of audiences being burnt out from sequels might have been a little premature.
Another sequel will definitely take the box office next weekend, as the much-anticipated Pixar movie “Finding Dory” opens and is projected to earn some major coin.
While Minecraft competitor Roblox isn’t as popular as Minecraft, that doesn’t mean that the game isn’t a real threat to it.
Roblox is a massive multiplayer online game created with children and teenagers between 8 and 18 years old in mind. In this game, you are able to create your own virtual world where others players can enter and socialize within the blocks of varied colors, sizes, and shapes. In addition, the game in Roblox can be scripted using Lua 5.1, allowing you to create different in-game scenarios. Speaking of which, if you encounter issues with Roblox, here’s how to fix them.
Robux is a virtual currency that the company is using in order to gain revenue from this game. The players can purchase Robux with real money which they can use to get Builder’s Club access, a status that gives some virtual benefits to the gamers. In other words, Roblox is a FREE game, which is not the case for Minecraft.
As you can see, aside from the virtual currency that can be purchased with real money, Roblox is quite similar to Minecraft. However, Roblox is also focusing more on creating games as many users have already created millions of games accessible for free from their website or from their mobile or desktop apps. These games are usually for multiplayer and include racing, combat, or paintball.
We are not sure yet why Microsoft is allowing Roblox onto its Windows Store as this could tempt many Minecraft fans into testing out this game. In other words, Minecraft might actually lose user because of this addition.
Are you a Minecraft fan? Have you played Roblox yet? Tell us your thoughts about games and which one you prefer most!
It seems that VR is the next big thing, with such big companies as Facebook and Microsoft heavily supporting it. Gaming is definitely going to be amazing and here at WindowsReport everybody is excited where this is going to lead in the near future.
Minecraft Windows 10 Edition coming to the Oculus Rift
Microsoft recently made quite a couple of gaming announcement, and one of them involves Minecraft, which is also their game since they’ve acquired Mojang a while back.
Microsoft and Mojang are teaming up with Oculus in order to provide the first-ever demos of Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition on Oculus Rift. Thus, users will be able to Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition in Creative or Survival mode in full 3D using the Xbox One controller that ships with every Oculus Rift.
We’ve known since the beginning of last summer that Oculus Rift will ship with an Xbox One controller in the beginning of 2016, and now it seems that Minecraft is among the first games you will be able to play. However, you should know that Minecraft is one of the 100 games which will be made available by the end of 2016 for the VR headset.
Have a look below at a gameplay of Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition on Oculus Rift and let us know by leaving your comment at the end whether this is something you’d be interested in playing or you’re going to wait for more immersive games.
Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition with Oculus Rift support will be available through the Windows Store and Oculus Store this spring, and we’ll make sure to keep you update as to when exactly that happens.
Minecraft on the Xbox turns 4 today and to celebrate, Microsoft is giving away some goodies to all its fans on either the Xbox 360 or the Xbox One.
To commemorate the milestone, the company is offering up 4 Skin Packs to spice up your game. All packs represent the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th birthdays of the game. We understand that outside of the 4th Skin Pack, the others are just an added bonus and will only be available for download until May 16, 2016.
We’re not certain how long the 4th Skin Pack will be available for, but it is not forever. Here’s what Microsoft had to say via its Xbox News outlet:
It’s hard to believe it’s been four years since Minecraft arrived on Xbox consoles, and we’ve enjoyed every minute of it. We all know birthdays call for a celebration and we want to make sure that you can dress up for the occasion, so starting today through May 16 you’ll be able to download the 4th Birthday Skin Pack for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition and Minecraft: Xbox One Edition for free.
It still feels like yesterday Minecraft was first released on the Xbox 360, and this is probably due to how successful the game has become since then — and how much successful it still is now. This is a game that is on almost all major platforms with players of every age.
Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 6 – ‘A Portal to Mystery’ is now available on the Xbox One and Xbox 360 for download. This is the first of three add-ons designed to be played by those with the original series.
The original series launched to much fanfare, but did not go on to become that memorable in the long run. The games are good, but not great, though our opinion will no doubt differ when compared to others out there.
Here’s the full description of the title:
As Jesse, you’ll embark on a perilous adventure across the Overworld, through the Nether, to the End, and beyond. You and your friends revere the legendary Order of the Stone: Warrior, Redstone Engineer, Griefer, and Architect; slayers of the Ender Dragon. While at EnderCon in hopes of meeting Gabriel the Warrior, you and your friends discover that something is wrong… something dreadful. Terror is unleashed, and you must set out on a quest to find The Order of the Stone if you are to save your world from oblivion.
For those interested, Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 6 – ‘A Portal to Mystery’ will cost games a cool $4.99 for each individual episode. Folks seeking the full experience can purchase the Adventure Pass for $14.99 USD that includes this episode and others.
Minecraft is one of the most played video games around the world today. It came on the scene for the first time back in 2011 as a PC exclusive, then managed to find its way on the Xbox 360 before hitting the current generation of consoles. Versions of the game can now be found on mobile devices, with a much anticipated HoloLens in development now.
There’s also the Battle Mini Game coming to the console version of Minecraft in the future. Furthermore, if you’re a Nintendo Wii U owner, you can enjoy the exclusive Super Mario theme available for Minecraft on that console.
Being the new owner of Minecraft, Microsoft is looking to make as much out of this franchise before. Don’t believe us? There’s a live-action movie in the works, so that alone should be proof enough of Microsoft’s intentions.
The new Minecraft game can be purchased here via the Xbox Store.
Microsoft wants to get Minecraft into schools, and it’s starting by trying to get teachers on board. Minecraft: Education Edition, which was announced in January, goes into an open beta today that’s meant to let teachers try it out before the game’s public launch in September. Microsoft’s hope is that teachers will use Minecraft as a way to help younger students engage with lessons, allowing them to, for example, step into a blocky re-creation of a historical world or a scenario from a book.
Minecraft: Education Edition is almost identical to standard Minecraft, but it includes a handful of features designed for the classroom. A couple smaller features were announced in January — like an in-game camera for taking screenshots — and some more substantial ones are being announced today. That includes adding in-game chalkboards that can display large blocks of text and letting teachers place characters that’ll say things when a student walks up to them.
Microsoft
The biggest new feature won’t come until September, when the game launches. It’s called Classroom Mode, and it’s essentially a control panel for teachers. Teachers will be able to use the interface to grant resources to students, view where everyone is on a map, send chat messages, and teleport people to specific places, which will be useful should students run off or get lost.
Teachers will be able to use Minecraft: Education Edition for free until September. At that point, Microsoft will begin licensing it to schools for anywhere from $1 to $5 per student for a year’s use. There remains a very legitimate question around how effective Minecraft is as an educational tool — teachers have to learn the game and figure out ways to make gameplay educational, largely without Microsoft’s help — but the fact that kids are excited to play Minecraft may be enough to make it worthwhile.
Microsoft