Writing on Twitter this weekend, Microsoft confirmed it has nothing to announce regarding any of its games outside ofMinecraftcoming toWii U.
This comes after a tweet from the Microsoft Studios account suggested that the company might be open to the idea of bringingXbox One‘sRare Replayto Nintendo’s console.
“We appreciate all your suggestions!” Microsoftsaid. “However, we have no information of any games coming to the Wii U other than Minecraft at this time.”
As for the initial tweet that started all of this, here’s what happened. On December 7, someone asked if, in addition to Minecraft, Microsoft might bring Rare Replay to Wii U. Microsoft responded by saying anyone who’s interested in that should take it up with the Microsoft-owned UK developer Rare.
This led some to believe Microsoft was open to the idea of Rare Replay one day coming to Wii U. Interestingly, Microsoft’s statement ends by saying it has nothing to announce “at this time,” which leaves open the possibility of some announcement being made down the road.
Update brings Live Photos and 3D Touch support to Tumblr’s iOS app
Live Photos is offered only on the Apple iPhone 6s or Apple iPhone 6s Plus, and using iMessage, they can be zapped between owners of the two newest iPhone models.
Most importantly, iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users can now share their Live Photos on Tumblr in all their Harry Potter wizardry. An update to microblogging app Tumblr now brings support for the feature, along with support for 3D Touch.
Apple’s Live Photos have largely been stuck inside the iPhone 6S’s camera roll since the day the phone launched, but they’re slowly turning into something you can actually share. “That’s how you spot ’em”. While Tumblr does support Live Photos, they’re only viewable within its iOS app. Other updates to the Tumblr app include the ability to send a post to any Tumblr user and messaging. You can share a Live Photo to Tumblr just like a standard photo. On Tumblr’s Android app, Live Photos show up as a frozen image. Deep pressing the Tumblr icon on the homepage will surface a Quick Action shortcut to search through Tumblr.
When browsing Tumblr, you’ll recognize Live Photos by the same standard icon in the top right corner. iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users can 3D Touch (press the display firmly) to animate the photo and hear audio playback.
It’s been a big year for Minecraft on Pocket Edition. Earlier this year, we announced that 30 million Minecrafters are enjoying breaking and placing blocks on mobile. But we are always looking for ways that we can make Pocket Edition better than ever, and the team has been hard at work this year making all kinds of fun things for you!
So, we’ve made a special trailer to bring you up to speed on all the things you can now do with Minecraft: Pocket Edition.
Here’s a sampling of all the spiffy things you can do in Pocket Edition now:
Upload your own custom skin, or try one from the various packs that we’ve made!
Ride in a boat with your doggy companion!
Throw things at mobs from inside your boat! (So antagonistic!)
Catch fish from inside your boat! Or from not inside your boat!
Make your old worlds infinite in size!
Decorate with all sorts of stone brick variants
Collect rotten flesh dropped from slain zombies and feed it to your dog (Gross!)
Drink milk to cure nastiness caused by enemy mobs
Play cross-platform together with friends using the Windows 10 Edition Beta
Gather your bravery and explore the Nether
Tame ocelots and start your very own in-game cat ranch
Build golems (Threatening!)
Enhance your stuff with anvils and enchantments
Whip up some fancy potions in Brewing Stations
Pick up experience and manage your hunger like the true wild survivor you are
Bunnies <3 (Careful, they will eat your crops!)
Enhance your worlds with basic redstone-powered components
New things to attack you! Spider Jockeys, Cave Spiders, Chicken Jockeys, and Baby Zombies
More passive mobs – Squids in the water and bats in the cave! (Sounds like a great metal song.)
Explore and discover the treasures and danger of Desert Temples!
Did you know that all those things are in Minecraft: Pocket Edition?
Haven’t gotten into Minecraft: Pocket Edition yet? Don’t worry! You can check it out for $6.99 or local equivalent on Windows Phone, iOS, android, and Amazon Underground.
Happy crafting!
PS – If you like the fun set pieces we used to make this new trailer and you have Pocket Edition on Android or the Windows 10 Edition Beta, you can download them and play with them for free. Have fun!
“Microsoft Monday” takes a look back at the past week of news related to Microsoft. This week, “Microsoft Monday” includes details about Minecraft coming to the Nintendo Wii U, making peace with Apple for the holidays, a HoloLens app idea competition, criticism by former CEO Steve Ballmer, the new FindTime app, how Memphis police officers replaced a kid’s stolen Xbox, the open sourcing of Chakra, a focus on employee diversity, the Halo 5: Guardians December update, the Microsoft Lumia 550 release and more.
Minecraft Is Coming To The Wii U
Today Forbes contributor Paul Tassi published an article about how Minecraft will be available for the Nintendo Wii U later this month. Minecraft will be released for the Wii U on December 17th with six DLC packs included. The retail price of Minecraft for the Nintendo Wii U will be $30 when it is released.
Minecraft is already available for Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Phone, Microsoft Xbox One, Microsoft Xbox 360, Apple Mac OS X, Apple iOS, Sony PS3, Sony PS4, Sony PS Vita, Google Android, Linux and the Raspberry Pi. Even though Nintendo will be late to the Minecraft party, better late than never! Minecraft has sold over 70 million copies across all of the aforementioned platforms already and it still seems to be going strong.
Minecraft is coming to Nintendo’s Wii U console. Better late than never!
Mojang and Nintendo said today that Minecraft: Wii U Edition will be released for $29.99 via the Wii U’s digital store on December 17. The Wii U version of the game will include some of the game’s more popular content add-on packs that have been released over its life on other platforms, and additional content packs, mostly with branded content like The Simpsons and Dr. Who, will be available for in-game purchase.
Great, great. So what took Nintendo so long?
Minecraft really shouldn’t have taken Nintendo by surprise. The block-building, survival-themed, creative kids’ masterpiece was already incredibly popular in the spring of 2012, when Microsoft and Mojang released the game for the Xbox 360’s download store. Nintendo at that point should have aggressively pursued a similar deal, working alongside Mojang to craft a unique Minecraft experience for Wii U’s GamePad controller, which would lend itself quite well to Minecraft‘s creative building gameplay.
Currently, there are disc-based versions of Minecraft for Xbox 360 and One, PlayStation 3 and 4. Combined, these games were the 10th-best-selling retail title in the United States in September, even though they were released months or years ago. And that’s not counting digital sales, or the mobile versions, or the original PC game.
Finally, Wii U gets to join the party. And this release does indicate that Microsoft, which acquired Mojang in 2015 for $2.5 billion, plans to be platform-agnostic with its Minecraft property. It could simply cancel any other versions and require you to own an Xbox or Windows platform to play it, but instead it’s expanding Minecraft‘s reach. (Microsoft and Nintendo have historically been buddy-buddy anyway; other Microsoft properties have appeared on Nintendo platforms in the past.)
Would a more timely release of Minecraft have saved Wii U? It’s impossible to know, but in 2012 a well-executed version of Minecraft would have been a killer app. Too bad Nintendo at the time seemed more interested in chasing ports of Call of Duty and Mass Effect that ultimately sold nothing.
But that’s a bunch of pixelated water underneath the blocky bridge.
What can Minecraft do now? Well, Nintendo should get a disc version out as soon as possible, and then release a console bundle with Minecraft packed in and prominently displayed on the box, assuming its deal with Microsoft would allow such a thing. This would be at least a minor boost to Wii U’s fortunes.
The real question, though, is what Minecraft could do for NX, Nintendo’s next dedicated game device. If a Wii U version of Minecraft now means that NX can play Minecraft on day one, then perhaps this should be seen as less of a hail-Mary for Wii U and more of Nintendo getting all its blocks in a row for a real run at its next generation.
If you have children, you will know about Minecraft. If you have children and know about Minecraft, the chances are you will have heard of Stampy Cat too.
Stampy Cat is a YouTube star (real name Joseph Garrett) with over six and a half million followers worldwide. Kids love him and the videos he makes and will happily sit in front of a computer screen and watch him for hours. He got famous making Minecraft videos, where you can follow the exploits of Stampy Cat and his friends. Most of them have their own YouTube channels too you know.
Anyway, back to Stampy and some important news for the youngsters among you. He is going to be on the BBC today (December 3 2015). The RSE’s (Royal Society of Edinburgh) Christmas lecture broadcast by BBC Scotland, will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer. Stampy is giving the one off lecture to 2000 Tayside schoolchildren, where he will talk about his career, how he makes the videos and will be making one in front of the kids too.
Now to put things into perspective, I mentioned that Stampy has over six and a half million subscribers to his YouTube channel. Compare that to a prime time TV show like East Enders, which regularly gets between seven and seven and a half million viewers and you start to see how big services like YouTube have become.
Is it really surprising though, when the gaming industry is larger than the film industry, that the two should start to blend together? We have seen films based on games, rather than the other way around and there is even a dedicated YouTube service just for gamers at https://gaming.youtube.com/ where players can upload games they are playing for their avid followers to watch.
In case you are worried about your kids spending too much time in front of a computer (it used to be TVs right?), then think about this. The success of people like Joseph Garrett and his Stampy Cat channel can give kids something to aspire to and demonstrates that anyone can become a star. All it takes is a little imaginating, dedication and above all practice and you too could become the next big thing.
Anyway, I am off to watch my kids’ favourite YouTuber on BBC iPlayer now. Byeeeeeeeeeee.
