One of the best things about Minecraft: Pocket Edition [$6.99] is how it can become a canvas for your stories, like how you went about building your “masterpiece,” or how you and your friends have created this very cool Realms server. If you have a cool Minecraft-related story to tell, Mojang wants to hear it and, if it’s cool enough, post it on the Minecraft webpage. If you haven’t been checking this webpage, Mojang has been posting some pretty cool stories that talk about various community builds, mini-games, and all kinds of other things. Now, the developers have put out a request for things like cool building projects, accounts from people who play Minecraft differently than most others, and so on.
If you do have a story to tell, you can go here and email Mojang (Microsoft), and who knows, your story might end up on the front page of Minecraft.net, which wouldn’t be a bad thing at all. Any stories you want to share?
Microsoft is planning to launch a new Minecraft online store for third-party generated adventure maps, skins and texture packs.
Minecraft Marketplace, due to arrive this spring, will also host the company’s own goods. It’s planned as a curated store that offers the best Minecraft-related worlds and assets. Mods, which have traditionally been free, will not be included.
In the past, the company only sold its own first-party goods via an online store. Third-parties sold goods via their own online sites, but were restricted to only a few platforms.
Purchases will be made using a virtual currency called Minecraft Coins that can be bought with real money. The Marketplace will be attached to the user’s Xbox Live account. The currency cannot be earned through in-game activities. Third-party content creators will take at least a 50 percent share of income, according to a spokesperson for Microsoft, after retail fees have been extracted.
Minecraft MarketplaceMicrosoft
The Minecraft Marketplace will be available for all PC, tablet and mobile platforms, though not games consoles. These may be added at a later date.
At a press event last week, representatives from Microsoft’s Minecraft team demonstrated some of the packs that will be available for purchase. Nine creators have been chosen to launch the service including Sphax, Blockworks, Imagiverse and Noxcrew. New packs include:
Skyfair: A set of floating islands featuring funfair-style mini-games.
Pastel Skin Pack: Play in a pretty pastel art style.
Pirate Map: Sunken galleons and swashbuckling combat map.
Fairy-tale Adventure Map: Explore a world inspired by well-loved tales.
Stone Age Texture Map: Dinosaurs and cave-dwellers.
Scorching Sands: A post-apocalyptic role-playing map.
Automaton Dreams: Cyberpunk adventure map.
A Microsoft spokesperson said that the company has been working on the store almost since it bought Mojang, back in 2014. The team decided on a curated offering in order to avoid IP issues and large numbers of poor user-generated offerings. Map-making is extremely popular in the Minecraft community
The company hopes the new store will inspire quality additional content, such as adventure maps and stories that use Minecraft almost like a game engine. Would-be creators can find out more at a website that launches today. Microsoft is only accepting applications from registered businesses.
Minecraft Marketplace will launch alongside the 1.1 Discovery Update, which includes concrete and glazed terracotta blocks, llamas, ability to effect behavioral changes to mobs (such as allowing zombies to fly), new evil villagers and an option to export in-game creations for 3D printing and editing in Microsoft Paint.
As part of a campaign to expand its share of the educational marketplace, Microsoft has created a new Code Builder tool that works in conjunction with Minecraft Education Edition and also integrates with Tynker, MIT’s ScratchX and the Microsoft MakeCode open source platform.
CodeBuilder was unveiled at a MicrosoftEDU event that took place in New York on May 2nd as one of several initiatives to spread Microsoft learning tools across K-12 classrooms – including Windows 10 S which we have already reported on.
At the event Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said:
“Democratizing education opportunity must be inclusive of everyone, not just a select few. To me this is extremely personal. This includes students with disability and different learning styles.”
Microsoft’s Minecraft Education Edition, an educational version of Minecraft specifically designed for classroom use, was announced in January 2016 and released in November after a beta test that opened in June. It costs $5 per year per user but is only available for purchase by schools, libraries, museums, and “participants in nationally recognized home-school organizations”.
The Code Builder add-on allows users to drag and drop commands to a virtual assistant, in the guise of a robot, who will perform tasks in the Minecraft world. It also supports switching into Javascript.
The beta of Code Builder for Minecraft is now available for schools to try with both the Windows 10 and macOS versions of Minecraft Education Edition. New users can get a free one-year trial from the Microsoft Store for Education and both Minecraft Education Edition and the Code Builder add-on.
Another new facility for Minecraft Education Edition is to use it with Microsoft MakeCode, which is described as:
an open source is a platform that combines the magic of Making with the power of Coding as a more inclusive approach to computer science education.
This video from the team shows the new MakeCode for Minecraft in action:
The restriction with taking advantage of this is that you’ll need an Office 365 for Education account, and so have to be an educator, administrator, or student at an eligible institution, something that has attracted adverse comments from people who don’t have this access. However, at the Windows 10 S launch it was stated that:
All new machines that ship with Windows 10 S will also come with a free Minecraft Education Edition subscription.
which might provide a new way in for those willing to buy new hardware.
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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