It’s like a very, very well-done mod. In Dragon Quest Builders, Square Enix has taken the thrill and almost tangible joy of building your own world, and coated it in a deep, glossy layer of Dragon Quest paint. If you don’t know Dragon Quest, it was the sworn rival of Final Fantasy in the Japanese RPG golden age. Then Squaresoft (FF) and Enix (DQ) became the same company. Oh, and if you don’t know Minecraft, where have you been, you monster?
It just looks so good. In comparison to Minecraft‘s chunky (and iconic styling), to see such a similar game with so much big-game-studio lipstick makes it feel like a very different title. If you’ve played a Dragon Quest game before, you’ll see familiar enemies and tropes. There are plenty of slimes to batter with a choice of weapons, and all the items carry the same names as in the iconic RPG series.
And that’s great. What’s not so great is how shallow it feels. There’s no first-person mode to admire creations (although the PS4 is at least capable of sharing creations easily enough), and while Minecraft typically felt limitless, in DQ:B, you can only dig down four layers before that typical video game barrier of invisibility stops your pickaxe. That said, maybe you want more direction in a Minecraft-style game. If so, then DQ:B could be a fit. In the trailer, you can see what looks like an appropriate protagonist, an aim (shady kingdom on the horizon) and a whole world to explore — if only just past the surface.
Dragon Quest Builders launches on PS4, PS3 and Vita in January 2015, but only in Japan. Square Enix hasn’t yet announced any plans for a wider release.
Today, Microsoft released updates for Minecraft Pocket Edition and Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta to bring support for cross platform play and a ton of new content for the Pocket Edition.
The Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta received support for up to five friends to play over Xbox Live, as well as enabling cross platform play with Minecraft: Pocket Edition on a local network. The changes for the Windows 10 Edition Beta seem to be more backend support to enable the new multiplayer features and cross platform play.
The changes for the Pocket Edition however bring a substantial amount of new content previously left out of the handheld version. Update 0.12.1 brings the mobile version closer to parity with the new Windows 10 Edition Beta; both with new content and the ability to play with up to five friends on either Windows 10 or the Pocket Edition.
The changelog lists the new features now available in the Pocket Edition which include a great deal for those familiar with the original PC version of the game. They include:
The Nether and all its inhabitants. Fight Ghasts and make friends with Pigmen
Cross platform play for up to five players between Pocket Edition and Windows 10
Revamped touch controls, controller support, and a controller mapping screen
Enhanced Weather effects! Accumulating snow and more
Ocelots! Try taming one with a fish
Experience, Anvils, Brewing, and enchantments. Time to up your game, crafter
Golems. We recommend you approach with caution
Flower pots. We recommend you fill them with flowers
Sneaking and sprinting! Express yourself through movement!
Loads of bug fixes that are too boring to list here
You can pick up the latest version of the Minecraft: Pocket Edition for Windows Phone in the game’s store page. The Windows 10 Edition Beta should download in the background automatically unless you have disabled automatic app updates. In which case, you can search for the update by click Downloads and updates in the Store app for Windows 10.
One participant works on his Minecraft structure at a competition at the Verona Public Library Saturday, Sept. 12.
Last weekend, Verona children spent their Saturday afternoon building giant structures. Each was constructed with formidable defenses and many surrounded by flames – and they did it all without leaving their local library.
The Verona Public Library hosted a Minecraft competition Saturday, Sept. 12 with prizes for the top finishers. The contest pitted 11 competitors against one another in the popular video game.
Minecraft, in its simplest form, is a game about breaking and placing blocks.
“At first, people built structures to protect against nocturnal monsters, but as the game grew players worked together to create wonderful, imaginative things,” the Minecraft website states.
The imaginations of locals came to life for the virtual competition Saturday.
Eleven participants, ranging from youngsters in the fifth grade to those in high school, entered the library around 1 p.m., but only one left as the winner.
The competitors had an hour and a half to build whatever they could imagine, and they were then judged by their peers. Out of the three tables of participants, each chose a representative to move to the next round. The players then voted for their favorite, based on the most creative design and which structure would best keep out potential zombie invaders.
In the end, the voters chose seventh-grader Hannah Davey as the champion. The key to the success of her design? Fire.
“Lava, bedrock, fire and more fire, and diamonds, and more fire,” she said of the key elements of her Minecraft creation.
It only took Hannah 15 minutes to make her prized achievement, she said. For her efforts, she brought home a foam sword, designed to look pixilated like an old-school video game.
“I’m a pro,” she said after the win.
The seventh-grader was one of the 11 competitors to bring either a laptop, tablet or smartphone to compete.
Precious Mack, Verona’s young adult librarian, said she heard about similar competitions at other libraries, so she decided to bring it to town.
Minecraft was originally released in 2009 and has since sold over 20 million copies, according to its website.
More than one contestant left with a prize.
Storm Van Derzee, a fifth-grader, finished in second place and won a foam axe, and Matthew Brown placed third.
Storm said he had a lot of fun in the competition and did not think he would place as high as he did.
“I play a lot,” he said. “I find it to be very fun and relaxing most occasions, but sometimes I get angry with it. Like [when] I’ll lose all my stuff.”
The top-two finishers each have grand plans for their prizes.
Storm said he plans to hit his sister with his foam axe, while Hannah said she will use her sword to remind the boys that they lost to a girl.
Fans of the worldwide block-building phenomenon Minecraft are in for a big update. For the first time ever the game is now allowing up to five players to play together even if they’re using different platforms. Users on Windows 10 PC, Windows Phone, iOS or Android can play with one another despite being on separate devices.
This news comes as one of the biggest updates for the Minecraft Pocket version. It features revamped touch screen controls, controller support, enhanced weather effects, and potion brewery. Even the action has upped its ante with golem and ocelot encounters, exploring the Nether and the ability to sprint and sneak.
It seems like the whole mobile-focused corner of the internet is reaching astronomical hype levels which can only be described by using the Lennie emoticon for the impending release of Minecraft: Pocket Edition [$6.99] version 0.12. Like most Minecraft updates, a bunch of new stuff is going to be added, but I’m most excited for redstone which allows players to build basic electronic circuitry in game… Which people of course have taken to the extremes of creating computer processors, in game, using redstone.
Anyway, bad news, while the update was supposed to land today, it’s apparently still in App Store review purgatory over at Apple. It’s really kind of fascinating that this even happens to huge releases like Minecraft, but, hey, that’s our walled garden.
So, I guess this week will be the week of obsessing over when the iOS (and Android) games get randomly updated… Which is super fun for people like us, who already had a story written expecting the update to go live now and not me posting this weird “Actually, it’s not coming yet” post instead.
If you visited Telltale at PAX Prime last month, you might have gotten a sneak peek at Minecraft: Story Mode, or at least seen a pretty darn cool booth. No worries if you didn’t make it out to Seattle though, because we can announce today that you’ll be able to get your hands on the season premiere of Minecraft: Story Mode next month! Episode 1 — The Order of the Stone will debut digitally for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 on Tuesday, October 13th, and at retail on Tuesday, October 27th.
Each episode will be available to purchase individually via PlayStation Store, or you can pick up the season pass to get access to Episodes 1-5 as they release. The retail edition will ship with the premiere episode on the disc, and will grant access to the subsequent four episodes in the season as they become available to download via online updates. The season will also be coming to PS Vita — stay tuned for more details on exact dates.
As per usual, we’re keeping plenty of exciting details under wraps so you can have the fun of discovering them for yourself. We can give you a little taste of what to expect, though…
In Minecraft: Story Mode, playing as either a male or female hero named 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, Jesse’s 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.
We’ve been working closely with the people at Mojang to ensure that Minecraft: Story Mode absolutely feels like a part of the world that Minecraft players already know and love, with a cinematic story and trademark Telltale choice-based gameplay. We know how important customization is to the creative minds who play Minecraft, so we’ve paid special attention to implementing that in Minecraft: Story Mode, too. This is the first Telltale game where YOU get to choose the appearance of the player character. Not only do you get to play as either a male or female version of Jesse, you’ll also be able to select from 3 different looks for each.
We’ve also managed to snag some seriously all-star voice talent for the season. Male Jesse is portrayed by Patton Oswalt (you might recognize his voice from Ratatouille and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D), while female Jesse is voiced by Catherine Taber (she’s been in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Marvel Heroes). The season will also feature Brian Posehn, Ashley Johnson, Scott Porter, Martha Plimpton, Dave Fennoy, Corey Feldman, Billy West, and Paul Reubens — and there are still more cast details to come! We couldn’t possibly be more excited to be working with such an amazing group of actors.
And one quick note for those looking forward to the season finales of Tales from the Borderlands and Game of Thrones — they are shaping up to be two of our most ambitious finales yet! Look out for more news on those coming out soon.
