Ricky is at the home of Minecraft in Stockholm, Sweden, to find out what goes into making one of the most popular computer games of all time!
Minecraft was first created in 2009 and later released by the Swedish games company Mojang. Since then, it’s sold more than a massive 120 million copies around the world.
Even though American tech giants Microsoft bought Mojang in 2014, Sweden’s capital city of Stockholm is still the home of Minecraft. It’s where the teams who make the game work.
But it’s not all fun and games – many of you have told us about the problems you have with bullying in Minecraft, or ‘griefing’. What are the people who make the game doing to keep you safe?
Ricky got an exclusive look around the game’s HQ…
Your Minecraft questions
Minecraft’s Jeb answers your questions
One person who’s worked there since the early days of Minecraft is Jens ‘Jeb’ Bergensten. He’s the man in charge of what’s in the game and how it looks.
So who better to answer YOUR questions about Minecraft?
Working in the gaming industry
How to game your way into a job
If you love gaming, the idea of working for a company that makes games might sound like a brilliant idea.
But what does it really involve, and what can you do now to help yourself when you’re older and wanting to get a job?
Lydia Winters works for Minecraft and here are her top tips…
Surprise! Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition is out today on the Nintendo eShop, with a physical version coming in the future. The game is playable on the New 3DS, New 3DS XL and New 2DS XL — leaving original 2DS, 3DS and 3DS XL owners in the dust.
Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition features survival and creative modes, five skin packs and two texture packs. Inventory, crafting and the map shows up on the lower touchscreen, and players are able to use buttons or the touch pad itself to navigate their cube-infested worlds.
With the new Minecraft update today on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita, 4J Studios has added support for the Glide Myths Track Pack and Strangers: Biome Settlers 3 Skin Pack. The update is out now in Europe/Japan and will be coming to North America later today.
“Stretch your wings in this legendary Minecraft Glide Track Pack. Drift through the clouds of Icarus, dive into conflict in Excalibur and ride with the Kelpies in Celts,” the PlayStation Store says of Glide Myths, which is £2.49. The Skin Pack is £1.69 and the description says, “Get this pack and make your home in distant lands or ocean depths!”
Here’s the full patch notes for Minecraft update 1.56:
Additions
Added Glide Myths Track Pack; Drift through the clouds of Icarus, dive into conflict in Excalibur, and ride with the Kelpies in Celts.
Added “Strangers – Biome Settlers 3” Skin Pack.
General
Endermen and Endermites should always be hostile to each other.
Polar Bears should not attack the player when in peaceful mode.
Wither Skeletons no longer fear daylight, and will attack anything that lives.
Skeleton Horses can now be tamed and leashed.
Zombie Horses can now be leashed
Skeletons shouldn’t attack Village Golems.
Strays now flee from Wolves.
Wolves should not become hostile against mobs that they can’t directly see.
Crafting any kind of Boat now requires a Wooden Shovel.
String can now be crafted from Web.
Purpur Stairs and Slabs can now be crafted from both Purpur Blocks and Pillars.
Stone Slabs, Redstone Repeaters, and Redstone Comparators can now be crafted from Stone, Granite, Andesite, Diorite, and their Polished variants.
Observers should register changes to Item Frames.
Observers should register changes to Doors.
Observers should register changes to Flower Pots.
Observers should not output extra signals for fire block state changes.
Observers should not output multiple signals when lava or water is place in front of them.
Pistons can now push Daylight Sensors.
Potion durations have changed.
Fixes
Fixed slow moving mobs in water.
Fix for Farmer Villagers not planting seeds often enough.
Fixed area in the Mini Game Lobby that caused players to become invulnerable in the Mini Game if they were in this location when the round started.
Fix for MCCE-5523 – Pick Block in Creative
Fix for MCCE-5549 – Hotbar is not centered in splitscreen battle (PS4, PS3 only)
Fix for MCCE-2000 – Zombies get stuck in water
Fix for MCCE-2868 – Levitation effect all in Capitals
The Xbox One/Xbox 360 version of this update is out, and the Wii U/Switch version of this update will be out today or tomorrow.
As a reminder, the Better Together update for Minecraft isn’t planned for PS4, but Mojang is still in talks with Sony about it.
With plans to bring a local multiplayer component to the New 3DS version of the game, how far will the updates go?
Aubrey Norris who is part of the Minecraft team recently replied to a fan on Twitter regarding a question about the upcoming “Better Together Update” which will unify the Windows 10, mobile and console editions of Minecraft – including the Nintendo Switch version.
While the New 3DS version may miss out on social unification, it’s still impressive how the team at Other Ocean Interactive – who are behind this 3DS adaptation – have managed to provide world sizes that are 2016 x 2016 and 128 blocks high. These dimensions exceed the sizes of the maps in the Wii U version of the game. Not bad for hardware based on a device originally released in 2011.
Let us know in the comments if you have bought Minecraft on New 3DS yet and what your thoughts are about it are so far.
The incredible popularity of Minecraft has seen it launch for numerous platforms, but despite its sizable install base, the 3DS has not been among them. That changes today, although not everyone with a 3DS will be able to play it.
Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition, as it’s called, is titled as such because it doesn’t work on all platforms in the 3DS family. It’s restricted to use on the New 3DS and New 2DS systems, both of which feature more powerful hardware than the standard 3DS and 2DS systems. This version of the game features both the Survival and Creative modes, as well as two control schemes: standard buttons and touch controls. Additionally, it includes special skin and texture packs, which will presumably be the Nintendo-themed ones we’ve seen on Wii U and Switch.
The game was announced today during the Nintendo Direct presentation. You won’t have to wait long to dive in–an Eshop release for the game is coming today. If you’d prefer a physical copy, however, that is coming, but not until some unspecified point in the future.
In case you hadn’t already heard, Minecraft is out on the Nintendo 3DS. While having Minecraft on 3DS is pretty awesome it will unfortunately not be getting the Better Together update.
For those unfamiliar, the aforementioned update will be unifying Minecraft across consoles, Windows 10, and mobile devices.
It seems, however, the 3DS version of the game will be using its own custom version of Minecraft. This means the game will be limited to local multiplayer on the portable console, but it’s pretty awesome seeing it on 3DS at all.
