by Stone Marshall | Nov 23, 2014 | Minecraft News |
Today Minecraft developer Mojang is launching a beta program for the Pocket Edition of its absurdly popular sandbox game. Anyone who purchased Minecraft on an Android device via Google Play is eligible to join. This will give you early access to new, experimental features before anyone else and allow you to provide feedback that could impact future versions of the title.
To enter the beta program, interested players simply need to request to join the Minecraft Pocket Edition Test Group on Google+. Once inside, they will be provided with instructions, but there is one caveat to keep in mind. Beta users will still be updated to the final version of Minecraft, and any worlds they create will work just fine with the final release. However, worlds created in the beta version may be corrupted when attempting to downgrade back to an older stable version.
Update: Here is a lengthy changelog of what to expect in the pre-release version.
Mojang is hoping to release version 0.8.0 out before Christmas, and the team reserves the right to limit the number of testers in the future if demand becomes too strong. Given the popularity of Minecraft, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if they do.
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by Stone Marshall | Nov 22, 2014 | Minecraft News |
This book’s original edition relied on the Bukkit modding server and library which was taken down due to a copyright dispute in September. Andy Hunt has now produced a completely revised edition that replaces Bukkit with the CanaryMod library – but otherwise it has the same content. In his review of the first edtion, Mike James gave it a rating of 4.5, recommending it as ” a really well written book,” Concluding “I can’t imagine a better introductory book on the same topic. If you want to learn how to create Minecraft plugins and learn Java on the way this is the place to start.”
Author: Andy Hunt
Publisher: Pragmatic Bookshelf
Date: May 25, 2014
Pages: 284
ISBN: 97819412229432
Print: 1941222943
Kindle: B00PKTGM26
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by Stone Marshall | Nov 22, 2014 | Minecraft News |
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Catherine Brunzos didn’t expect to be the worldwide winner of a video-game tournament.
But the 13-year-old Federal Hill resident, part of a two-member team representing the Providence Community Library, came out on top last weekend in the International Games Day Minecraft Hunger Games against 94 other teams.
“In the middle of it, I was kind of nervous,” she told The Providence Journal Tuesday evening. “And then I thought, ‘I might win it!’ ”
Catherine, an eighth grader at Nathan Bishop Middle School, is the daughter of Martha Brunzos, a licensed mental health counselor, and Christopher Brunzos, a direct-service staff member for Resources for Human Development of Pawtucket. Martha Brunzos said she wished her daughter good luck as she left Saturday for the tournament, and then got an excited message: “I’m in the finals!”
Catherine said she thought that she won because “people cheered me on.” She added: “I would consider myself pretty good at the game of Minecraft.” And, she said, she thought people at the library would agree.
Catherine, a patron of the library’s Rochambeau branch whose username is “Catybrun,” participated in the tournament with teammate Elijah Caldwell, 12, from the Washington Park branch. The competition, which took two days, was linked to International Games Day @ Your Library, held Saturday. Providence Community Library was the only Rhode Island library to take part in the tournament.
The competition was modeled after the “Hunger Games” of movie and book fame, in which a team of a boy and a girl enters from each competing district and the contestants battle until one victor is left.
Minecraft, one of the most popular video games of all time, has over 33 million registered users. Providence Community Library hosts a Minecraft server that anyone with a Minecraft login at any PCL library can access.
Martha Brunzos noted that both she and Catherine’s father work in social services. But Catherine said that’s not her ambition.
“I want to be a computer programmer,” she said.
CORRECTION: The original version of this story gave the wrong age for Catherine Brunzos. It also included another teammate who ended up not playing.
The original version of this story was posted at 4:29 p.m.
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by Stone Marshall | Nov 17, 2014 | Minecraft News |
Everybody loves animals and so do I. however, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) definitely loves them more and is going to bring you an animal friendly Minecraft server as soon as tomorrow!
The official website of the organization has a post announcing what they have done for the game alongside a sneak peak trailer at what is in store for you with their servers:
True to PETA’s mission—and unlike on other Minecraft servers—no animals, not even digital ones, can be harmed on our dedicated Minecraft server! Visitors to PETA’s custom-made digital island will explore vast expanses of landscapes where the animals of Minecraft roam free.
They can also visit extensive vegetable and flower gardens, walk through a fantastic re-creation of PETA’s HQ, and discover an abandoned and decaying slaughterhouse.
Oh well, okay. Maybe the part about ‘no animals, not even digital ones, can be harmed!’ is a bit overkill but hey we do have people who love animals so much that they wouldn’t want a computer generated imagery of an animal to be killed by another computer generated imagery of a man.
Yeah, sounds about correct.
So the Minecraft server in question is going live for the public on this Saturday, November 15 that is tomorrow. When that happens PETA will also hold certain building competitions combined with a ‘pro-animal rally.’
I have no idea what the latter is going to do in the game but PETA has asked that we should back with them on Saturday for more information.
Looking at the video above, I am sure many of you are going to be glad about the things they have done. For starters, it is a whole new region for you to explore and it also comes with a cause!
So what do you think of the animal friendly Minecraft server of PETA?
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by Stone Marshall | Nov 16, 2014 | Minecraft News |
Mojang, the company that created Minecraft, is now owned by Microsoft. Back in September Microsoft announced that they are purchasing Mojang and the process will finalize sometime toward the end of 2014. This deal was completed and now Markus Persson, also known as Notch, has left the company as he promised he will do.
This announcement was made on Twitter also by Phil Spencer, CEO at Microsoft Game Studios, who said that the purchase is now official and welcomed Mojang into Microsoft Studios big family.
Persson mentioned that he sold the company not for the money, but more for his sanity. Now, Mojang is the second wholly studio owned by Microsoft in Europe. After the news regarding Microsoft buying Mojang, a lot of people were worried that Microsoft will make Minecraft exclusive for their consoles and Windows PC. Microsoft replied that they don’t plan to do this and Minecraft will keep working on all the consoles and when an update will come, all the consoles will get it, regardless if they are Sony’s consoles or Microsoft’s consoles. There are over 54 million copies of Minecraft sold across all platforms, which makes it one of the best selling games in history.
At the same time, Microsoft said that even if they paid 2.5 billion dollars for Mojang, they expect to earn this amount of money until the end of this year. Analysts have been wondering how will Microsoft will do this, but the American multinational corporation didn’t say what their plans are and how they will succeed doing that.
Phil Schiller, the head of Xbox, wants to get the mods from the Minecraft: PC version to the console versions. The PC version and the console version are quite different, because first of all, the PC version has a lot more content in the form of these mods that are created by the community for Minecraft. The console developers of Minecraft, 4J Studious, said that they will release a new update for the game, which will bring donkeys, horses and other mobs to the console version of Minecraft.
You will be able to breed and tame horses and the update will firstly be delivered for the Xbox One but it will come to other consoles too.
Now, the big question is: Will Microsoft keep their word and update Minecraft for Sony’s consoles or will they use this in their advantage and keep Minecraft outdated for their rival’s consoles?
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by Stone Marshall | Nov 15, 2014 | Minecraft News |
Seventeen-year-old Sean Fay Wolfe, a senior at South Kingstown High School in Rhode Island, is already an experienced writer – and multitasker. An Eagle Scout and a four-time All-State viola player, who holds a second-degree black belt in karate, Wolfe is the self-published author of the Elementia Chronicles, a fan fiction trilogy based on the popular game, Minecraft, and he is about to release book two.
The series obviously benefits from the enormous popularity of the game. which Microsoft purchased from Mojang earlier this fall for $2.5 billion. Tie-in books from Scholastic helped push its revenue up 2% in the fiscal year that ended May 31. As of the week ending October 26, five Minecraft titles were on PW’s nonfiction juvenile bestsellers list. Sky Pony Press has a bestselling fiction series as well: GameKnight999, written by Mark Cheverton.
Wolfe’s trilogy is set in the world of the Minecraft server Elementia and focuses on three new Minecraft users who become friends: Stan, Charlie, and Kat. When the trio stands up to the prejudice that they see against new players on the server, they end up in a race against the perils of Minecraft, the forces of Elementia’s king, and the mysterious Mr. A. The first book, Quest for Justice, from Wolfe’s Diamond Axe Studios, came out in January. The second volume, Noctem Ascension, will be out in mid-December or early next year. The trilogy closes with Herobrine’s Message, slated for late 2015.
To write the books, Wolfe carried around a notebook at school in which he would jot down ideas. Soon he decided that what was going to be one book needed to be more. When he finished writing the first book at age 16, he showed it to his parents. “After reading it, they said they had a lot of faith in it,” says Wolfe. That meant that his mother did extensive editing on the 420-page book, which was reworked 10 times. She also handles the book’s publicity and marketing. Wolfe’s father helped with the backend, including the book trailer and website. His parents also paid to publish the book in print and in digital format. It’s currently available at Amazon, BN.com, Kobo, Smashwords, Scribd, Oyster, and several Rhode Island bookstores.
Although Wolfe likes independent publishing and believes that it is going to grow and get easier to self-publish, he says that he is “blown away” by the effort that it required. At the same time he calls traditional publishing “a double-edged sword.” “In order to get traditionally published, you need luck,” he explains. “In order to get noticed if you’re self-published, you need luck. The three things you need to succeed are: talent, perseverance, and luck.”
Despite the extra effort that independent publishing takes, it is working for Wolfe. The paperback edition of volume one currently ranks in the low 7,000s at Amazon, a number many older, traditionally published authors might envy. Wolfe’s local independent, Wakefield Books in Wakefield, R.I., is also doing well with it and has sold close to 200 copies. “Everybody’s eagerly awaiting the next book,” says bookseller Sue Martin, who notes that volume one is shelved in the store’s local author display and Wolfe comes in regularly to sign copies.
Librarian Pat Horton, at the Blue Hill Public Library in Blue Hill, Maine, has been equally enthusiastic about the book. She posted this comment online: “I have been a Youth Services librarian for over 12 years and have never had such a successful Young Adult program as I did when Sean Wolfe came to the Blue Hill Public Library. Yes, Minecraft and pizza seem like a sure hit, but Sean’s presentation was way beyond what I had expected. The 40-plus boys and girls were excited, engaged and educated during the evening and I haven’t seen the two copies of his book since!”
As for Wolfe, in addition to the finishing touches on book two, he’s also completing his college applications. His “ultimate goal” he says is to be able to write fulltime. He would like to attend a school where he can study creative writing and computer programming, as well as make time to finish book three.
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