Deus Ex: Mankind Divided unleashes potential of eye tracking

When Far Cry 5 arrives later this month, it’s looking to not only cement the reputation of the open-world action franchise within that genre, but also take on the likes of Minecraft.

The unexpected challenge to Minecraft’s throne comes courtesy of a brand new content creation mode, dubbed Far Cry Arcade. The feature gives players access to a huge library of assets and materials, and allows them to experiment at will. The end result is essentially a software suite within the game that lets the fan community create and play new levels, maps and challenges entirely divorced from the game’s core offering.

“Far Cry Arcade is a chance to give players the opportunity to be a part of the development community,” says Phil Fournier, associate producer on Far Cry 5. “Since Far Cry 2, we’ve given tools to players to build their own maps, create their own scenarios and be super creative. Far Cry Arcade pushes it to the next level, because now the [customisation] is even more accessible.”

Having played two examples of what can be created in Far Cry Arcade at a preview event, there’s huge potential in the mode, and not just for endless variations on shooting challenges. One, Upside Down, strips out all weapons and simply charges the player with escaping from a nightmarish three-dimensional maze. With corridors constructed out of ominous grandfather clocks and rooms unsettlingly populated by deer and other wildlife you might encounter in the main game, there’s no active threat, but ominous music and the time pressure make the mind-warping experience particularly tense.

The other map shown to WIRED dropped players into an assassination mission. Here, weapon load-outs can be chosen before beginning, and it even offered a master challenge level where you only have a handful of throwing knives. Here, stealth is important, as you make your way through a construction yard, taking out enemy agents until you can get to your prime target. Take him out, and suddenly the map becomes an escape run, where you must dodge foes until you can reach a big rig and drive to safety while avoiding a hail of gunfire. This offered a more conventional Far Cry combat experience, but one far more focused on stealth and rapid take-downs than the core game.

The final version of Far Cry Arcade will allow players to build missions in three gameplay modes – single player, co-op, and player-vs-player maps supporting up to six people. It also offers up more than 9,000 objects and assets to experiment with, drawing on not just Far Cry 5’s own components but elements of other Ubisoft games such as Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs.

“Ubisoft [studios] share everything, from assets to expertise,” says Fournier. “We’ve got a big, big library of assets and we were like ‘let’s just get that all in the hands of the players!’ Because we might have Assassin’s Creed fans that also play Far Cry and they want to create maybe a new version of Paris or London. Who knows what sort of crazy scenarios or crazy Inception-style maps and levels we’re going to see.”

While accessible from the main menu and given its own focus, Far Cry Arcade also exists within the core game as literal arcade cabinets. These are intended as a subtle bit of world building, crafting more realistic, ‘lived-in’ environments, while providing players respite from the main focus of the game – which revolves around freeing an isolated region of Montana from the control of the Eden’s Gate doomsday cult.

“It’s plugged into, and has purpose in, our main universe – you actually carry over all of your character customisation,” says Fournier. “You might want to show off your new wardrobe or new gun. It’s really there to supplement the main, core experience of Far Cry.”

Not every character upgrade you unlock in the solo campaign will carry over into Far Cry Arcade, but those that do – such as better weapons proficiency, or certain movement boosters – can similarly improve your performance in the user-created maps and modes. It feels like a nice way to add replayability as you try to get better times or improve performance, and adds a way to enhance your skills to take on tougher maps. Good performance in Far Cry Arcade feed back into the main campaign, too – there are 500 levels of progression to work through by completing maps, earning virtual cash and perk points to unlock more skills.

While Ubisoft will be adding its own in-house creations to Far Cry Arcade, players’ creations will also be able to be shared amongst the community. It’s this aspect that Fournier hopes will take off, and inspire Minecraft levels of creativity in both the player base and the developers.

“I hope that we’re gonna see some crazy world building that might even inspire us to release some different type of content later down the road,” he says. “I mean, this is all part of us wanting the Far Cry fans and community to be really active, and we want to listen to their feedback and build on what works and what doesn’t work.”

Away from its arcade, Far Cry 5 is shaping up to be a real treat in its own right, and potentially the best instalment in the series since 2012’s Far Cry 3. While 2014’s Far Cry 4 and 2016’s [Far Cry Primal were fine additions to the series, the former felt like a redux of the third game, while the latter seemed more like an experimental spin-off – almost like a test-run for a new franchise Ubisoft wasn’t quite confident enough in. In comparison, Far Cry 5 feels like a real evolution, with new ideas and features that enhance the base model without feeling like a departure from what the series fundamentally is.

Playing a near-final build, it proves immediately more immersive, with an opening mission to arrest the dangerous Joseph Seed going badly wrong, and stranding you – as a newly appointed deputy sheriff – in Montana’s wildlands. The core threat of the Eden’s Gate cult feels more relevant and contemporary compared to past Far Cry villains, particularly given the rural American setting. They’re believable in a way that the caricaturish likes of Pagan Min from Far Cry 4 never managed to be.

It also feels truly open, without the linear mission structure of past games. The fictional Hope County is split into three regions, each overseen by one of Seed’s warped children – militaristic Jacob, who enforces a credo of ‘the weak shall perish’; sadistic John; and the seemingly pacifistic Faith, who ensures dedication to the cult through a psychedelic drug called Bliss – and while the goal is to bolster resistance efforts in each area and take back control, you’re left to liberate each one as you see fit.

“I think one of our breakthroughs is really how you interact with the story, with a quest, and with the narrative,” says Fournier. “It’s not about a character going from point A to point B, it’s really about you kind of being distracted and going and choosing your own adventure.”

“I think it’s the first Far Cry where after the intro, you’re really dropped into that world and you can experience and explore every different area,” he adds. “There’s no more secluded islands or bridges to connect you to a different part of the game. You can really go into the three different regions and explore to your will, push back against the cult.”

Although the main campaign is largely single-player focussed, you can hire certain Hope County residents as Guns for Hire and, more interestingly, key animal partners as ‘Fangs for Hire’. Ubisoft revealed Boomer, a canine ally, soon after the game’s announcement, but once left to my own devices, I found myself far more interested in recruiting the newest animal comrade – Cheeseburger, a bear from the local zoo.

After completing a quest to rescue him, battling against the cultists turned into the kind of anarchic fun Far Cry does best, with Cheeseburger tearing into enemies and scattering their ranks. However, Cheeseburger presented a unique challenge for Ubisoft’s recent experiments in artificial intelligence.

“I think to this day, we don’t really have a keen sense of how a bear thinks,” says Fournier. “For Boomer, we all know what a dog should act like, how it behaves – we all have dogs around us. For Cheeseburger, it was a different sort [of challenge] but we actively wanted to give him a gameplay purpose.”

For Fournier, that turned into making Cheeseburger “more of a tank – they’re out front and then you take care of the rest [of the enemies] in the back. But it’s so weird at the same time, to be able to pet the bear – I really invite players to do that when they play the game! We want people to care about those Fangs for Hire – they’re really there to support the experience and support the narrative of the game.”

Liberating Hope County – with or without the aid of AI ursines – remains Far Cry 5’s raison d’être, and it gives players far more freedom in how to achieve that goal than past entries have. It’s the addition of Far Cry Arcade that feels like the greatest innovation though, and with its potentially infinite array of maps and challenges, could see the game occupy a similar space as Grand Theft Auto Online – beloved by fans and relevant years after release.

Far Cry 5 launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on March 27.

Far Cry 5 Arcade could be the Minecraft of action games

If you worry that your child has too much screen time you aren’t alone. A 2015 poll found that Australian adults rated “excessive screen time” as their top child health concern, ahead of youth suicide, family violence and bullying.

Screen time is seen by many as harmfully addictive, taking young children away from more desirable activities like reading, playing with physical toys or playing outside and getting exercise. There is little hard evidence to back up these fears, but any parent reading the Australian Department of Health and Ageing’s updated official guidelines on screen time could be forgiven for being worried.

They recommend no screen time at all for children aged under two and no more than an hour a day for children under five. Even for children as old as 12, screen time should be limited to no more than two hours a day.

So what are children actually doing when they play on their screens, and is it bad?

In fact, based on our own emerging research on children playing the popular Minecraft game, playing on screen may well be a lot like playing off screen. And no one says playing is bad for children.

Play is so strongly linked to positive social, developmental, cognitive and physical outcomes that the UN has declared the opportunity to play as a fundamental human right for children globally.

Existing research work on children’s digital play has looked primarily at the use of games in education. But, there is another strand of work, including ours, that is more concerned with children’s self-directed, leisure time play. This play, in whatever setting, is strongly associated with positive outcomes like the development of abstract thinking, self-reflection, communication skills, resilience building, empathy, and feelings of accomplishment.

Minecraft is a timely and appropriate case study of contemporary play with upwards of 120 million copies sold. According to our survey of 753 parents, almost half of children aged 3-12 play the game, mostly on tablet devices.

Working with co-researchers, Dr Marcus Carter at the University of Sydney and Associate Professor Martin Gibbs at the University of Melbourne, we found that parents associated a wide range of positives with playing Minecraft.

The most commonly mentioned of these was creativity. Parents spoke about the game ‘fostering creativity’ or ‘allowing the child to be creative’, either in a general sense, or in relation to specific game elements like design, construction, and problem solving.

Parents also noted the highly social nature of playing Minecraft. Even when children are not playing in the same ‘game world’, the verbal commentary and negotiation of in-game plans and actions provided opportunities for collaboration, negotiation, and teamwork – as well as conflict resolution.

But some parents were worried about what they thought were the excessive amounts of time children dedicated to the game. Parents in our survey talked about time on Minecraft taking away from desirable activities like non-screen based play.

But what does play actually look like in Minecraft? How does it compare with different forms of traditional play, and what are the connections and consistencies between the two? These are the kinds of questions our research is seeking to address.

Take ‘symbolic’ play for example. In a physical playground this might be something like a child using a stick as a horse or a sword as part of an imaginary story. In Minecraft, this might be a child assigning a role to an in-game object other than the role intended by the developer.

For example, in a recent Minecraft session with my three children, our avatars visited a swimming pool. I had my character jump straight into the water but was promptly informed by my five-year-old that it was of course quite silly to go swimming fully clothed. Upon further instruction I learned that the game’s diamond plated armour was to be worn as bathers, over the top of clothing mind you.

In ‘socio-dramatic’ play children enact real-life scenarios like playing ‘shops’ or ‘schools’. I’ve seen similar socio-dramatic play take place in Minecraft. My children once ran a restaurant in their Minecraft world that was supplied by a farm managed by my eldest child, who was also the town’s bus driver and the restaurant’s sole customer.

Other researchers have noted connections between digital and non-digital play. Seth Giddings in his book Gameworlds: Virtual Media and Children’s Everyday Play, gives numerous examples of children incorporating digital game features like objects, plots and game mechanics, into play that happens outside of digital spaces.

I have heard of children ‘playing Minecraft’ in school playgrounds where they substitute elements from Minecraft with readily available items like gum nuts instead of the in-game blocks of iron.

Children’s play worlds are informed by elements of both the physical, imaginary and digital worlds. For children, the boundaries between these worlds are porous and less consequential than they are for adults.

In the next phase of our research we will be documenting children’s Minecraft play in the same way that scholars have long documented traditional play. A crucial component of this process will be hearing from children themselves.

What would they like us adults to know about their Minecraft play? What sorts of play do they identify in Minecraft? What place do digital games have in their overall play worlds?

Ultimately we hope to identify possibilities for leveraging aspects of digital games to facilitate these consistencies and connections with the traditional types of play that are already highly valued. This isn’t about finding reasons to allow children unfettered access to devices. It is about looking at the reality of children playing Minecraft.

We know that parents value explicitly educational content in games, but what about play that is ‘just for fun’?

Screen based play that at first may appear a waste of time, might have more in common with the highly revered free-play of children outside ‘screens’ than we have previously given it credit for.

Banner Image: Minecraft/Microsoft Studios

What are kids getting out of playing Minecraft?

BY MADELINE BODIN

The video game Minecraft has become a new tool for community engagement.

FROM THE MARCH 2018 ISSUE OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE.

In Anaheim, California, the children couldn’t wait to show Pamela Galera, ASLA, the zip lines and tree houses in their parks. As she visited their creations, Galera, a landscape architect and planner for the City of Anaheim, saw the road on one side of the site and the river on the other, just as they are in real life. The landscapes, created by the kids using the video game Minecraft, were blocky by nature, but three dimensional, and from their laptops, they could explore the park designs from all directions.

Galera had no experience with Minecraft until recently, when Mojang, the company that created Minecraft, asked the City of Anaheim to use the game to help design a park. The design project would be featured at a Minecraft convention held in the city. “I am not a video game player,” she says, “so I had my concerns.” Mojang (now owned by Microsoft) had worlds of experience. In 2012, Mojang partnered with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) to launch an initiative called Block by Block, which employs Minecraft to help communities reconceive public spaces.

Block by Block’s first project was a playground in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2012. “Young people are a big part of the population in much of the world,” says Pontus Westerberg, the program officer for UN-Habitat’s urban planning and design branch. Yet it’s rare for young people to attend public planning meetings. Block by Block brings city officials and design professionals together with residents, especially children. The group is presented with an accurate and scaled Minecraft model of the existing space. These models are created for Block by Block by two third-party organizations, Minecraft Mexico and BlockWorks. Small groups of stakeholders then build their vision for the site using Minecraft.

A traditional design concept drawing of the play area after the children’s input. Image courtesy MIG, Inc.

“It can be hard to communicate the constraints of a project,” Galera says. Reading plans and elevations and being able to imagine a three-dimensional design from a two-dimensional drawing are skills that take time to learn. Most people, but particularly children, pick up the conventions of Minecraft more quickly. Just about everyone intuitively understands Minecraft’s three-dimensional models. “That’s why Minecraft is valuable,” Galera says. “We can share ideas in a way that’s understandable to everyone.”

The Block by Block program quickly expanded beyond playground design to all kinds of public spaces, and now is responsible for 50 projects around the globe, Westerberg says. Anaheim was a pilot for a U.S. expansion of the project that will train local professionals in the Minecraft-based community engagement method. After just a few weeks of working with Minecraft, Galera felt confident using it. So did the children who had never used Minecraft. “They just took off,” she says. “In a long career, it was a fulfilling moment.”

LANDSCAPE GAMES

Dragon Quest Builders Screenshots

In DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS, players are tasked to construct a wide variety of structures as they receive ever-more extravagant requests from expectant citizens eager to find a new home. Explore with the freedom of sandbox gameplay, combined with an immersive and charming DRAGON QUEST story – battling with iconic DRAGON QUEST monsters and interacting with gorgeously designed 3D characters along the way.

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Dragon Quest Builders (Nintendo Switch)

£34.99 £34.99

Dragon Quest Builders Nintendo Switch REVIEW: Minecraft meets Zelda RPG is no bad thing

OMAHA — Patrick Burkholder isn’t exactly a video game aficionado.

But from his hospital bed on Monday, the 18-year-old picked up an Xbox controller and sent his avatar zipping through the blocky world of “Minecraft.”

“It’s been a while,” Burkholder said of the last time he played the game.

The Omaha teen was one of the first patients at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center to try out one of five new gaming carts donated by local video gamers.

The gaming kiosks, called GO Karts, were added to the Omaha hospital’s existing fleet of video game systems. The carts, constructed by the Michigan-based nonprofit Gamers Outreach, carry Xbox One S devices that are loaded with nine games.

Two of the carts were donated by LanFest Netwar, a volunteer group that hosts video game events for charity. The other three carts were donated by local gamer James Gittins, who raised money at a Michigan gaming event. Each cart cost about $3,500.

Video games are in demand at the hospital, particularly for patients who are in isolation and can’t visit the activity rooms on each floor, said Terry Patterson, manager for family resources at the hospital.

“This is about normalization for kids,” Patterson said. “It’s not only about good health care. We want to continue to provide the same social and recreational outlets as home.”

It’s been something different for Burkholder to do while cooped up in his hospital room. He’s been in and out of the hospital since January for a series of digestive issues.

“It’s an amazing thing because it takes his mind off it,” said Tisha Burkholder, Patrick’s mother. “It’s a normal activity, even if it’s only for an hour.”

Each cart has a game console tucked under a desk with all cords out of sight. A monitor and two controllers sit on top. After being wheeled into patient rooms, the height of the carts can be adjusted. The medical-grade kiosks are wiped down after each use.

LanFest Netwar will host another fundraising event on March 16. Proceeds will go toward purchasing three additional carts for the hospital, said Travis Kreikemeier, founder of the group.

Gittins was looking for a way to give back to others and drew off his own hospital experience as a child. He spent four days hospitalized after a severe case of pneumonia.

“I remember waking up and seeing a Super Nintendo there for me to play,” Gittins said. “It made me feel less like I was in a hospital and more like I was with my family playing games.”

Gaming carts donated by gamers provide sense of normalcy to hospitalized kids

The Pawling Library & Front Street Gallery present

Open Call for Entries: “A New Chapter” a group show

Extended Deadline: March 26

Opening: April 28

Alexander Graham Bell said, “When one door closes another door opens.” Opportunities abound and what many fail to realize is that we make our own opportunities. We are not required to follow a preordained map. Our story can go in any direction. The unfolding is unending, as our soul searches for what brings us the greatest joy: the fulfillment of experiencing who we truly are. In the journey there is freedom to explore, and always a desire for more. One chapter ends and a new chapter begins.

Important Dates
March 26: Deadline–submissions must be emailed or received by 12am.
March 21: Notification of accepted work sent to artists
April 13-15: Delivery of accepted work to gallery
April 28 Opening Reception at Front Street Gallery

Artwork in all mediums will be considered. We prefer that some of the work be created for this show, keeping in mind the theme.

Up to four images may be submitted. Email images to submit.frontstreet@gmail.com. Image files jpegs, at least 6 inches on the longest side. Please label image files clearly: Artist name, title, medium, dimensions of work and price of each item submitted. Links may be submitted as long as all of the above information is included.

Hanging fee: $25 for each accepted work. Fees due upon delivery to gallery. An artist statement reflecting the body of work represented is optional. Curated by Jeanette Rodriguez. If you have any questions feel free to email us at info@frontstreetgallery.org. Or call 917 880 5307.

Eligibility: Hangable artwork including prints, drawings, photographs, paintings, and mixed media, plus sculpture. Works may not exceed 48″ in any dimension. All works must be suitably prepared to hang and include wire or fixed hardware. No sawtooth hangers. All work must be for sale. A 40% commission will be charged by the gallery, and must be included in artist’s set price. Hanging fees are non-refundable. Every care will be taken to provide for the safety of all artwork. FSG its officers and agents will not be responsible for any loss or damage. FSG does not insure entries and exhibits. Works will be handled and exhibited at artist’s own risk. Front Street Gallery reserves the right to reject or replace any work that it deems substantially different from the work as represented in digital form and description. All packaging material must be removed by the artist at the time of drop off. Packing material WILL NOT be stored or provided at time of drop off and pick up. Reasonable requests will be considered.

Open Call for Entries: “A New Chapter” a group show Extended to March 26

Minecraft at the Kent Public Library in March. Minecraft sessions will be Mondays March 12th, and 26th 5:00-5:45. Program is for those ages 7-12.  Registration is required for each session. First registration opens at 10:00 am on Monday, March 1st, and the second registration for the 26th opens on Thursday, March 15th at 10:00 am. You may register for the program by going to www.kentlibrary.org or calling the Kent Public Library at 845-225-8585.  The library is located at 17 Sybil’s Crossing, Kent Lakes, NY 10512.

Minecraft at Kent Library March 12 & 26

Remember how Amazon were selling the Minecraft 1TB Xbox for $298 yesterday? Well for whatever reason, that same console is now a hell of a lot cheaper.

As pointed out by matt1234 and TAYbie regular Trikeabout, Amazon Australia has updated the price on their Minecraft limited edition 1TB console.

Yesterday you could grab the 1TB bundle, with a month of Xbox Game Pass and Minecraft, for $298. Now, because why not, that same bundle will cost you $219.98:

Definitely the same bundle. And definitely a lot cheaper (I logged into a couple of Australian accounts to make sure).

If you’re looking for a new console or just a 4K Blu-Ray player, you will 1000% not find a better deal than this. And I have no idea how long it’ll be around for, but I wouldn’t wait too long. Find out more over at Amazon Australia.

Amazon’s 1TB Minecraft Xbox One S Bundle Is Now $220