by Stone Marshall | Dec 20, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
We’ve already seen the holidays bring a ton of different sales on the Xbox One S, but the latest may take the cake . If you have yet to pull the trigger on a console of your own, Microsoft is offering the Minecraft Xbox One S bundle for an impressive $229. The only catch? The discount is only available today, December 16.
Given this bundle usually goes for $299, and most of the discounts we’ve seen so far have only dropped the console to $249, this is a pretty darn good deal. On top of the 500GB console, the bundle packs in Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta, Minecraft: Xbox One Edition Favorites Pack and the Minecraft Builder’s Pack. As the cherry on top, you can also add in an extra select game for free.
In any case, if you’re up for saving $70 on the Minecraft Xbox One S bundle, you have through the end of today, December 16, to take advantage of this discount at the Microsoft Store and other retailers.
Pick up the Xbox One S Minecraft bundle and an extra game for $229
by Stone Marshall | Dec 19, 2016 | Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
WELCOME TO THE NEW MINECRAFT.NET
Not just a reskin. A whole new model
Hi everyone,
Minecraft.net is due for a revamp. For years, we’ve wanted this website to represent every bit of our game, from the YouTubers to the impractical creeper mugs. Now, thanks to the slinkiest devs and hottest wordsmiths in the business, that day has finally come.
The humble Mojang blog has served us well. We’ve reported on updates, new editions, DLC packs, billion dollar acquisitions, multiple Minecons, charity game jams, unexpected EULA tweaks, and lots, lots more. Despite all that, it’s still felt like an inward-looking place.
The new Minecraft.net has a wider perspective. Though we’ll still report on all of the above (hopefully no more EULA stuff – that kinda stressed me out), we’re planning to highlight the incredible things you create on a daily basis, introduce you to the Mojang staff, give insight into development, and riff on all things Minecraft, from our favourite mobs to the humble grass block.
Honourable word-goblin, Marsh has been preparing a selection of articles to get you started. Marsh comes from a background in journalism and illustration and joined Mojang almost a year ago. He’s a keen artist, baker, and reader of historical novels about naval battles.
I’m Owen. You’ll see a lot of my work on the site. Though it feels like a distant past (I’ve been here for almost five years!), I also share a background in games journalism. When I’m not writing introductory posts I enjoy playing games, riding bikes fast, and painting Blood Bowl teams.
I’m particularly pleased with our snazzy quote box. It makes everything you say look super clever and important, even when it’s me being quoted – and that’s some achievement!MARSH DAVIES
We’ve split our content into four vague categories and even included a fancy filter that sorts the grid according to your disposition. Don’t be shy! Give it a try!
Culture is dedicated to the amazing folk who’ve made Minecraft what it is today: the community! YouTubers, modders, Add-On creators, server owners, cosplayers and even the deviant artists. Check out our interview with Jesper Öqvist, creator of the outstanding rendering tool, Chunky, or feast your eyes on this amazing console build, Valley of the Iris, to get started.
Insider is a peek behind the curtain. It digs into development secrets, inspiration behind our updates, DLC, game mechanics, and more! This is where you’ll become a Minecraft and Mojang expert, learning about who we are and what we’re up to. The Secrets of Shrunk is a deep dive into one of 4J’s Battle Mode maps. Discover the games that made prolific Minecraft developer, Searge, into the man he is today in our Top 5 feature.
Merch shows off the cool things made by our partners around the world. But don’t worry – it’s not just a bunch of adverts. We’re picking our favourite bits and giving some insight into why they’re special.
Then there’s News. As you might have guessed, this section hosts the most up-to-date info about all editions of Minecraft. It’s basically what Mojang.com has been until today, so if you’re just looking for the cold hard facts, go there and be square. Not really. Please read the news. It’s super important.
OK! Enough from me. Thanks for visiting the new Minecraft.net and come back soon – there’s a lot more on its way!
WELCOME TO THE NEW MINECRAFT.NET
by Stone Marshall | Dec 19, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
Rad irradiated skins, map and more – on consoles soon!
In a flash of brilliance not unlike nuclear fusion itself, Minecraft will soon be melded with Fallout, Bethesda Softworks’ much-loved, post-apocalyptic RPG series. So strap on your thickest welding goggles and keep your eyes on the horizon for the mash-up pack’s radiant arrival on Console Edition in the coming days. Or lie under a table. Whatever makes you feel calmer.
Working in the depths of their bunker complex, our artists and builders have been busy blasting Minecraft’s glorious overworld into an irradiated wasteland fit for Fallout fans to wander. Friendly cows, gently sauteed in the light of a thousand suns, have now sprouted second heads, while the familiar supersized spiders have made way for other overgrown arachnids, who scuttle through the dark wielding brutal stingers.
These are not the only mobs to get a little bit melty. Lurking in the shadow of the series’ familiar landmarks – like the Capitol building or Tenpenny Tower – are ghouls, mutants and madmen of many kinds. Vault Dwellers beware: you may be S.P.E.C.I.A.L., but the wasteland is a very dangerous place indeed.
You can be sure you’ll look the part, too, with a choice of 44 skins based on beloved characters from the series, including the likes of Fawkes the philosophical supermutant; robo-sleuth, Nick Valentine; Tinker Tom; Paladin Cross; Jangles The Moon Monkey and Vault Boy himself.
Even the UI has been given a retro-futuristic overhaul in honour of Fallout’s wristmounted computing device, the Pip-Boy! The mash-up also comes with a soundtrack combining familiar tunes from across the Fallout series – so you can keep dancing til the end of the world.
The pack will soon be available for $5.99 USD or your local equivalent for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. I’m not sure we’ll accept bottle caps as payment, though.
FALLOUT MASH-UP PACK INCOMING!
by Stone Marshall | Dec 18, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
The success of Minecraft has led to many people claiming that they too once had the idea to create an elaborate game of digital building blocks. When you hear these claims, you tend to just nod your head and smile politely. When Shigeru Miyamoto starts talking about a Minecraft-like vision he once had, however, it’s fairly notable.
In an interview with Glixel, Miyamoto shared his admiration of the Minecraft series and his regret that he never followed through on similar ideas that he had in the past.
“I do like Minecraft, but really more from the perspective of the fact that I really feel like that’s something we should have made,” said Miyamoto on whether or not he plays any non-Nintendo games. “We had actually done a lot of experiments that were similar to that back in the N64 days and we had some designs that were very similar. It’s really impressive to me to see how they’ve been able to take that idea and turn it into a product.”
The fact that Miyamoto’s nearly unmatched level of success in the video game industry makes him an unlikely candidate for professional exaggeration certainly helps the validity of this claim, but it’s actually not that difficult to imagine Miyamoto shaping a Minecraft-style game many years ago. He’s always been a huge proponent of slightly bizarre experiences that emphasize child-like creativity (such as Mario Paint), and games that draw upon fairly common real-life experiences.
So why didn’t Miyamoto ever finish working on this project? If there’s a reason, he’s not saying, but it seems likely that it was just one of many Nintendo projects that was worked on for a time but ultimately never led to anything tangible. It’s also fairly interesting to hear Miyamoto praise Minecraft so openly given how long Nintendo resisted bringing the game to Wii U.
Should Miyamoto ever decide to finish that particular project, we’re sure that the world wouldn’t have a problem with that particular clone.
Shigeru Miyamoto imagined a Minecraft-like game for N64
by Stone Marshall | Dec 18, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto has admitted that Nintendo almost made a Minecraft-style game at one point.
In an interview with Glixel, it was mentioned that Miyamoto plays the cat-collecting mobile game Neko Atsume. He was then asked if there are any other games that he enjoys playing. “Not really,” he stated. “I do like Minecraft, but really more from the perspective of the fact that I really feel like that’s something we should have made. We had actually done a lot of experiments that were similar to that back in the N64 days and we had some designs that were very similar. It’s really impressive to me to see how they’ve been able to take that idea and turn it into a product.”
The next Mario title is Nintendo’s first big game to come to mobile devices: Super Mario Run. This past weekend, the game received both a new trailer and a television commercial. The television ad was filmed with live actors, showing people around the world running and jumping. The trailer shows gameplay of the upcoming runner, and teaches players what they can do in the game, as well as how to do it.
Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto says Nintendo nearly made a Minecraft-style title
by Stone Marshall | Dec 17, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
Even before Minecraft became a big hit that brought millions of revenues to its sole creator, Nintendo also had an almost exact same game design and concept but did not seem to materialize.
Coming from Nintendo ‘s Shigeru Miyamoto Himself
The revelation is more than just hearsay. The statement came directly from Shigeru Miyamoto himself during an interview with Glixel, as per IGN.
As the creative mind behind some of gaming’s most successful franchises such as Donkey Kong, Mario, and Pikmin, Miyamoto admitted to liking the Swedish-developed game.
But unlike initial perception about the statement when cut halfway, his liking of the game is leaned more towards the idea that the game itself is something they “should have made.”
Elaborating on the idea, Miyamoto revealed that back in the N64 era, they had been doing some experimental designs when developing some games for the console. Some of these designs closely resemble the Mojang-developed title.
The notion, however, does not surmise that there is an infringement in one of game developing company’s intellectual properties. The project which Shigeru Miyamoto was referring to did not actually pass the planning stages because they find one critical element to the game missing: a compelling gameplay, as per VG247.
Miyamoto later admitted he surprised on how the sandboxed game title turned out to be a success in the West given that it did not fare as well in Japan, in terms of gameplay.
The Growing Success of Minecraft
Since entering beta testing in 2011, the originally one-man project has sold over 100 million copies throughout the years. Apart from the original PC title, the game has also spawned a number of iterations across different platforms which further add success to the franchise.
Although there is no telling of how a game similar to Minecraft would fare in the N64 back in the day, Nintendo has nonetheless given their own twist to the existing Wii U title of the same game called the Super Mario mash-up pack.
Nintendo Had Their Own Unfinished Version of ‘Minecraft’ Back in N64, Says Miyamoto
