by Stone Marshall | Jun 28, 2016 | Minecraft News |
Minecraft has spawned action figures, a spin-off adventure game series, apparel, a convention, plush dolls, cosplay costumes, and more. On May 24th, 2019, arguably the most culturally significant video game since Super Mario Bros. will get its own movie.
The news comes from the blog of developer Mojang. The game studio and its ultra popular game were purchased by Microsoft in 2014 from founder Markus “Notch” Persson for $2.5 billion.
According to the Mojang announcement, the Warner Bros. produced Minecraft movie will be released in 3D & IMAX. Details about the film’s production remain sparse. In an interview with Collider in February, producer Roy Lee said the filmmakers and game designers were collaborating in some capacity on the project. “[Mojang] can give us insight into future updates so we can put things into the movie around the same time they relaunch newer versions of the game,” said Lee, “and at the same time, potentially taking ideas from the movie and putting them into the game.”
The Minecraft movie is coming in 2019
by Stone Marshall | Jun 28, 2016 | Minecraft News |
Great news, Minecrafters! The game has just released its first Battle mini-game. This is the first mini game in a series of mini-games that Mojang will release for the console game version.
The mini games were announced a while ago and Mojang also specified that they will be launched as an update for Minecraft on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Wii U.
There is no information so far on the content or release dates of the next mini games but that means that maybe fans could suggest some variants or possibilities to Mojang.
In the meantime, this is how the Battle mini-game works: players have to fight each other by using various resources and methods. Mojang says that it’s a last-minecrafter –standing type of game where players have to fight over weapons and resources found in a perilous arena, while at the same time protecting themselves from assassins and keeping themselves well fed.
Because the game was designed specifically for consoles, it’s very fast paced and accessible. Plus it can easily support both couch based competitions and online matchmaking.
As opposed to the well-known Minecraft play, there is need to craft things in this Battle mini-game and you can also loot inventories or equip armor. If you are eliminated by an opponent, you will not leave the game if you don’t want to, but you will come back as a spectating bat, flying around your enemy. That’s a pretty awesome feature, especially, if you really want to know what happens to your opponent next. Maybe they get eliminated as well and you’ll probably want to be there to watch it go down. We know we would!
The Battle mini-game is free for all console players, but if you are interested in additional maps for it, you’ll have to pay $2.99 for each one.
Minecraft Battle Mini-Game Available on Xbox One and PS4
by Stone Marshall | Jun 27, 2016 | Minecraft News |
Minecraft truly is a game of near limitless possibilities, and this colossal map is a real testament to what one (or many) can do in the game when they put their mind to it.
ShireCraft is the result of five years, 1500 players, and hundreds of builds. There’s even a working railway system, which is ridiculous in the best possible way.
Check it out:
Crazy, right? They’ve even got their own set of rules and regulations – hell, you even have to apply to join – this is a proper, thriving virtual community, and they’ll have none of your nonsense.
Of course, don’t expect to be able to just jump in and start building giant Minecraft dicks wherever you want in ShireCraft. Small projects must be built in the wilderness, at least 100 blocks away from other creations, while large projects actually need approval from a staff member.
Take a look at an extract on their rules for infrastructure:
The Shire Transit Authority will maintain all rail lines and highways connecting between cities. Please do not build any rail lines or highways without their consent or supervision. Specific standards have to be met and the STA is the only team qualified to do so. Contact STA Director Andy if you have questions or wish to set up an appointment with your local STA representative.
Honestly, you should check out their Wiki page because it’s seriously in-depth. I guess you can’t build such an impressive world without implementing a few rules.
Take a look at a video tour of one of ShireCraft’s most impressive cities below.
I don’t know whether I’m impressed, or terrified that the ShireCraft community will one day rise up and overthrow society.
I’ll leave you with a few more pics below.
1500 People Spent Five Years Making This Stunning Minecraft Map
by Stone Marshall | Jun 26, 2016 | Minecraft News |
I caught up with Microsoft Studios to discuss the future of Minecraft and to check out how the game will evolve in the near future.
Microsoft purchased Minecraft a couple of years back for a cool 2.5 billion dollars. Naturally, Microsoft has big plans for the franchise, and we were able to get a glimpse of those during E3 2016.
Minecraft showed off Realms for the Pocket Edition and Windows 10 tablet and PC version of the game at E3. Minecraft Realms allows players to rent a dedicated, persistent server, which friends and family can connect to and share without requiring a host to be online. Previously, Realms only supported the legacy PC and Mac versions of Minecraft, but eventually, the console versions of Minecraft will also be able to connect to a shared Realm.
In our demonstration session, we also saw how players will be able to further customize their experience across PC, tablets and phones. We also learned a bit about the future of Minecraft on Windows 10 Mobile.
What’s the deal with Minecraft on Windows phones?
One of the first questions I asked the Minecraft team was about the Windows Phone versions of the game. As Windows Central readers are no doubt aware, Windows on phones is in a strange place right now, where even Microsoft aren’t prioritizing development for some of its apps on the platform. Minecraft is no different, as the iOS and Android versions of Minecraft now support achievements, while the Windows Phone 8.1 version does not.
I asked what the plan was for the Windows Phone version of the game. Would the Pocket Edition be replaced a Windows 10 UWP version? Would it support Continuum? I mentioned how cool it would be to utilize the new Bluetooth Xbox One S controller to play Minecraft via Continuum on my Lumia 950 XL, for example.
Microsoft told me that those ideas and questions are exciting, but they have nothing to announce right now regarding their roadmap for Windows on phones. They said that the idea is prioritizing players where they’re at, effectively hinting that Windows Phone’s market share is to blame for the sluggish pace of development.
However, they did tell me though that the goal for Minecraft is 100% parity between all versions. Windows Phone, Windows 10, Xbox One, and beyond. They assured me that Windows Phone users would not be forgotten, but whether or not they hold true to their word remains to be seen. I certainly hope we do see some of the upcoming improvements to Minecraft, given how cool some of them are.
Exposing Minecraft’s code to players
Minecraft is switching to a data-driven architecture which allows players to totally customize and mod the game. Microsoft demonstrated this briefly at their E3 conference, showing how players can easily create aliens and UFOs to add to an existing game’s world.
Using simple editors, such as Notepad and Microsoft Paint, players will have access to the game’s textures and JSON files, allowing them to customize the game easily as they see fit. Those files can then be uploaded to your personal Realm server, and any changes you’ve made will appear for all players who connect to your Realm.
To demonstrate this, Microsoft showed off an athletic creeper, complete with sports gear and heightened speed. Changing the numerical value for “speed” in the game’s files and then reloading the game updated the creeper’s behavior. Similarly, they demonstrated how you could change the color of the creeper’s texture using something as basic as Microsoft Paint, swapping the color of his jersey from white to blue with the paint bucket tool.
The files to edit Minecraft on the Pocket Editions and Windows 10 PC version will be accessible via the each platform’s file explorers, and Microsoft said that it’s impossible to break the game by inputting the wrong JSON syntax. If Minecraft detects a code error, mob behaviors will just revert to their defaults.
Watching a bunny zombie eating carrots, and then proceeding to make baby zombies was particularly hilarious.
A speedier Creeper was relatively cool but nothing too impressive. Microsoft Studios then kicked it up a notch. They showed how you could add extra points to a zombie’s model to add texturing for bunny ears. They also demonstrated how you can transplant the entire brain of a rabbit into a zombie, simply by copy and pasting the code out of the JSON files. Watching a bunny zombie eating carrots, and then proceeding to make baby zombies was particularly hilarious.
The studio also showed how you can customize the death behavior of mobs, and even how mobs react to different events. They spawned a herd of cows that picked up the death behavior of exploding on ignition. The result was a veritable bovine nuclear apocalypse, and it was glorious. They showed us custom robot skins made in Microsoft Paint, and described 100-foot tall creepers and other wacky creations.
Microsoft said they have no plans to have a marketplace for custom skins or behavior files, and that they’d put it in the hands of the community to decide how distribution would work.
Bringing Minecraft players together
Microsoft closed by emphasizing that the goal is to bring all Minecraft players together. Part of that is ensuring their new moddable Minecraft is fully forwards compatible with future versions, but also that all versions must reach parity over the coming months.
The plan for Minecraft is to expose as much of the code as possible, to allow players to create the game they want — and with Realms, when they want. In the very near future, you’ll no longer have to wait for your friends to be online before getting back to work on that castle you started building together, nor will you have to copy and paste all your modded skins and behaviors from one version to the next. Through Realms, everything will just work, exemplifying Microsoft’s overarching dedication to computational mobility.
Obviously, the most powerful application for these new features is education. An easily editable Minecraft will not only teach kids the basics of texturing models in video games, but also the fundamentals of programming. As Minecraft progresses, it’s clear that Microsoft’s primarily ambitions weren’t necessarily about cashing in on the never-ending licensing bucks (although that’s a definitive side bonus), they want to use the game to train the next generation of software engineers. And with initiatives like Minecraft for Education, it’s already begun.
The new editing capabilities described above are heading out to players on Windows 10, iOS and Android in the Fall. At this point, we can only hope that Microsoft keeps their promise to bring updates to Minecraft for Windows mobile devices.
A glimpse at the future of Minecraft with Microsoft Studios
