Minecraft Nintendo Switch Edition REVIEW: The best game of Minecraft on the go

On paper, Minecraft’s basically an unlimited Lego simulator. Yet, thanks to expansive worlds, Survival mode, and countless mods, the virtual sandbox has become one of the best-selling games of all time, winning over the hearts of adults and children alike. Of course, it was only going to be a matter of time before Minecraft finally reached Nintendo’s latest console, the Switch.

While lacking the modifications available on PC — many via the game’s feverish fanbase — Switch Edition has quickly proven itself the ultimate handheld version of Minecraft. Building houses, defeated Nether monsters, and conceiving contraptions has never been so easily playable. Forget the iPhone version with difficult controls and lacking features, Nintendo’s latest has almost everything you could possibly want from Minecraft.

Without boring you with exactly what Minecraft is — if you’re not sure, either you’ve been living under a rock or missed our ‘what is Minecraft’ article — Survival and Creative modes are both playable on the Switch, as are some fun mini-games, Battle and Rumble. Thanks to running on a Nintendo product, the quite brilliant and extensive Mario skins are also available, coming with a built-in adventure mode to explore.

That’s everything you pretty much expect from a Minecraft game. Where Switch Edition lacks is mainly the draw distance which cannot match its PS4 and Xbox One counterparts but manages to beat last generation consoles. If you do own Minecraft on other consoles, you also won’t be able to port maps over. Another disappointment; when docked, the game also doesn’t run on 1080p, currently being locked to 720p.

On Switch, Minecraft remains the same fun and creative game the world has come to love. Nintendo’s latest console offers a brilliant portable versio, the only major drawback being that — unlike some other Switch games — you need another set of Joy-Cons, or a pro-controller, to play multiplayer. Playing two players with one set would have made Switch Edition almost perfect. As it stands, Switch Edition is another must-have for Minecraft’s gigantic fanbase and a fun sandbox for those who have never indulged in Minecraft.

Minecraft switch edition review: An almost perfect handheld version

Minecraft is no stranger to crossovers with other popular franchises and such, with a recent example being the Fallout 4 Mash-Up Pack. Today, Minecraft players will be able to grab the brand new Adventure Time Mash-Up Pack, bringing the acclaimed animated Cartoon Network series to the game.

The pack is said to include a host of character skins from the series, including Finn, Jake, Ice King, Marceline, Princess Bubblegum and more, with the announcement going on to describe what else arrives with the pack as follows:

This isn’t just another skin pack – goodness no – as the entire land of Ooo takes over your Minecraft world! Take Fionna and Cake on a tour of the Candy Kingdom, fight Ice King in the Ice Kingdom and even take a trip with Flame Princess to the Fire Kingdom! And much much more!

In celebration of this crossover, the announcement blog post even includes an interview with the creator of Adventure Time animated series, Pendleton Ward, regarding his gaming experiences.

The Minecraft Adventure Time Mash-Up Pack is now available for the Console Edition, costing $5.99. However, the pack will be delayed on the Wii U and Nintendo Switch by, at most, a day, with the Pocket and Windows 10 Edition slated to receive the pack at later date.

Meanwhile, the Magic: The Gathering skin pack is also now available for purchase on the Minecraft Console Edition with a $2.99 price tag. The skin pack was initially available only for the Pocket and Windows 10 Edition.

Minecraft Adventure Time Mash-Up Pack is now available for the Console Edition

Everything about the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is big: the hats, the sword battles, Johnny Depp’s eyeliner, and of course, the budgets — including one very specific budget. While some might scoff at the price tag for the two Gore Verbinski–directed follow-ups to the original Pirates ($225 million for Dead Man’s Chest and $300 million for At World’s End), those people clearly don’t know how much food it takes to feed pretend swashbucklers. According to Jack Davenport, who played the white-wigged, Jack Sparrow foil, Commodore James Norrington, the snack budget on the 2006 and 2007 sequels was quite astounding. Davenport recounted to The Hollywood Reporter a conversation he had with the craft services chef about the snacks budget:

“He looked me square in the eye and said ‘essentially unlimited.’ I was like ‘what does that mean?’ He was like ‘I don’t know, $2 million.’ I was like ‘For snacks?’ And he was like ‘yeah?’

While Davenport was quick to point out that this might not be as frivolous as it sounds — there were a lot of hungry people working both behind and in front of the cameras on those blockbusters — we can’t help but wonder how much of that money was dedicated to disappearing bottles of rum.

Pirates of the Caribbean Allegedly Spent $2 Million on Snacks for the Cast and Crew

Despite any talk of franchise fatigue at the domestic box office, or a splattering from Rotten Tomatoes, the larger story for Disney’s Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is told in its global tally, which as of this morning has a worldwide start of $326 million, the 20th-best worldwide debut of all time.

According to Deadline film finance sources, the consensus is that Pirates 5 is looking forward to an estimated profit north of $280M after all revenue streams are tabulated. This is based off an industry-projected final global box office haul of $850M. Keep in mind, Japan hasn’t opened yet, and that territory delivered the franchise’s best grosses out of any foreign country — re On Stranger Tides ($91M), At World’s End ($91M) and the first movie Curse Of The Black Pearl ($60M). Disney always knew that domestic wasn’t going to be that strong for Dead Men Tell No Tales, especially after On Stranger Tides six years ago delivered only 23% of its $1.045 billion global tally from domestic.

Our profit estimations for Pirates 5 aren’t attributed to Disney sources.

The added win here for Disney with Pirates 5 is how the $4.05 billion Pirates series spurs its theme park and merchandise businesses, something other major studios can’t count on with their franchises. Recently, the Licensing Industry Merchandisers Association attributed the $118 billion made in 2016 movie/entertainment global retail toy revenue to the year-round sale of Star Wars product for The Force Awakens and Rogue One. We currently hear that Pirates Of The Caribbean merchandise revenue is estimated at $65M (some think that number is too low), with Asian venues like Shanghai Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland key drivers.

With these long-in-the-tooth franchises waning sequel by sequel at the domestic B.O. — think Pirates, Transformers, Fast And The Furious — it’s the burgeoning markets and emerging middle classes overseas that enable Hollywood to keep making these tentpoles, even as U.S./Canada audiences arguably lose interest as underscored by their wallets. When building these titles financially, the majors acknowledge that the U.S. represents 4% of the world’s 7.5 billion population.

With $180.7M over four days, the just-ended Memorial Day weekend was the lowest in two decades, down 42% from the 2013 high of $314.2M. Versus last year, close to $25M was missing from this year’s holiday marketplace thanks to the soft Pirates 5 opening ($78.4M over four days) and Baywatch‘s blowout ($27.7M over five days). A month ago, both were projected at $90M-$100M and  $45M-$50M, respectively in their openings, but when sour Rotten Tomatoes scores hit, it impacted both pics’ estimates.

In all fairness to Disney, Pirates 5 pulled in $1.6M less than the lower end of its last recorded tracking of $80M last week.

Some have argued not to lump Pirates 5 and Baywatch in the same sentence in the Memorial Day frame; the latter is bound to lose significantly more money. But the bigger point here is the overall franchise fatigue taking place stateside following last weekend’s $36.1M start for Alien: Covenant (Baywatch, had it worked, would have certainly been a new cinematic series). Wonder Woman, though connected to DC, offers something new and fresh to moviegoers in that it’s arguably the first female comic-book superhero property to work onscreen. The Rotten Tomatoes rating for the Gal Gadot movie is currently at 97% off 64 reviews, and if that score can maintain itself, it could potentially push the pic’s domestic opening to $95M — though Warner Bros still sees it between $65M-$75M.

In recent years, Disney is the only major studio in town that can win on all fronts with its Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar, live action-group and animation labels: beaming A- or higher CinemaScores, awesome B.O. results, and glorious certified ruby red Rotten Tomatoes ratings. Truly, they are the envy of all. However, stateside critics have loathed Pirates since the second installment, with the most recent one registering the lowest at 31% Rotten, and Disney has yet to turn that boat around. Of the five movies, Pirates 5 reps the fourth-best stateside opening. Some attribute the ease here to marketing, others to Johnny Depp and his controversial image which can turn off moms, but the fact is that at the end of this weekend, Disney is yo-ho-ho-ing all the way to the bank.

Pirates 5 also assisted in propelling the Burbank studio past the $1 billion mark stateside, the first of any major this year, and $3 billion globally.

While box office analysts love to take digs that this summer at $777.9M is down 9% versus last year through its first four weekends, and that Memorial Day was in shambles, overall the theatrical marketplace in the U.S. and Canada this year is healthy, counting $4.4B to date per comScore, 2% ahead of 2016’s banner year which yielded $11.4B.

Scroll down to see this weekend’s Memorial Day actual box office figures.

‘Pirates’ Tells Profit Tale

Stream Est. costs Est.  revenue Est. profit Domestic B.O. $175M Foreign B.O. $650M Worldwide B.O. $825M Domestic Rental $96M Foreign Rental $292M Net Global Home Entertainment $130M-$140M Net Global TV $75M Merchandise $65M+ Est. Total Revenue $663M+ Production Cost $230M Global P&A $150M Total Costs* $380M Est. Profit $283M+ *before profits, residuals, participations

Final weekend actuals for Memorial Day weekend, per ComScore

1.). Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (DIS), 4,276 theaters / 3-day cume: $62.9M / Per screen average: $$14,729 / 4-day cume: $78.4M / Per screen: $18,353 / Wk 1

2.). The Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (DIS), 3,871 theaters (-476) / 3-day cume: $20.9M / Per screen: $5,401 / 4-day cume: $27.1M / Per screen: $7,024 / Total cume: $340.5M / Wk 4

3.). Baywatch (PAR), 3,647 theaters / 3-day cume: $18.5M / Per screen: $5,074/ 4-day cume: $23.1M / Per screen: $6,336 / Total cume: $27.7M (Wednesday bow) / Wk 1

4.). Alien: Covenant (FOX), 3,772 theaters (+11) / 3-day cume: $10.6M (-71%) / Per screen: $2,814 / 4-day cume: $13.3M / Per screen: $3,548 / Total cume: $60.2M / Wk 2

5.). Everything, Everything (WB/MGM), 2,801 theaters / 3-day cume: $6M (-49%) / Per screen: $2,148 / 4-day cume: $7.6M / Per screen: $2,737 / Total cume: $23M / Wk 2

6.). Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (FOX), 3,174 theaters (+17) / 3-day cume: $4.47M (-37%) / Per screen: $1,409 / 4-day cume: $6.1M / Per screen: $1,929 / Total cume: $15.3M / Wk 2

7.). Snatched (FOX), 2,658 theaters (-853) / 3-day cume: $3.9M / Per screen: $1,497 / 4-day cume: $5M / Per screen: $1,913 / Total cume: $41.3M / Wk 3

8.). King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword (WB/VR), 2,503 theaters (-1,199) / 3-day cume: $3.3M / Per screen: $1,319 / 4-day cume: $4.3M / Per screen: $1,719 / Total: $34.9M / Wk 3

9.) The Boss Baby (Fox) 1,342 (-729), 3-day cume: $1.7M / Per screen: $1,286 / 4-day cume: $2.4M / Total cume: $169.7M / Wk 9

10). Beauty And The Beast (DIS), 1,076 theaters (-716) / 3-day cume: $1.4M / Per screen: $1,360 / 4-day cume: $2M / Per screen: $1,872 / Total cume: $501M / Wk 11

How Much Profit Will ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men’ Tell?

Pokémon Cobalt and Amethyst is a new Minecraft mod that takes the intersection of the two gaming worlds to an entirely new level.

If a game allows mods, you can be sure a fair share of them will be Pokémon-inspired. And while there are no shortage of similar projects created using Minecraft, Cobalt and Amethyst is by far and away one of the most ambitious. It’s also one of the more unique for being a map rather than a mod, meaning that anyone who has the vanilla Minecraft version 1.8.8 can simply download it and begin playing.

Cobalt and Amethyst doesn’t just insert creatures and mechanics from the series into Minecraft either, it creates an entirely new Pokémon adventure. According to the creators behind the project, the story lasts over 60 hours and includes 136 Pokémon, mixing creatures from all over the series. While the map is supposed to be reminiscent of the original Game Boy versions, using classic sound effects and borrowing some of the music, the actual playable campaign is completely different.

The game itself isn’t entirely pretty, but the depth of the world building is impressive in its own right. According to its lead producer, Phoenix SC, the map includes everything from battling, capturing, and training Pokémon to challenging individual Gym Leaders.

“The map places itself in a never-before-seen region, featuring a new set of 136 Pokémon and a new story dominated by an antagonist threatening to release a Legendary darkness that demands tribute. It is your task to seek the truth with the help of the region’s Professor and your rival – either capture it before it’s too late, or take Team Tempest down while saving the lives of those closest to you.”

The team behind the map have even started putting together a walk through for the entire game. Phoenix SC claims to have recently beaten the game in approximately 70 hours with a team of Pokémon all around level 50. Which is nothing when you realize the project took nearly three years to complete.

You can download the Cobalt and Amethyst map here.

Mod Builds An Entire Pokemon Game In Minecraft

It’s no fantasy land or sci-fi expanse, but it’s still impressive: a team of Minecraft builders are recreating the centre of Chicago, one block at a time.

Their work isn’t done, but what’s there is very impressive, as it captures everything, from building details to street signs to trees on the sidewalk.

It’s called The Loop, and if you want to try it out you can download it here.

Building Chicago In Minecraft

Good news! The Nintendo Switch gets its own version of Minecraft today, and it’s good. In fact, it’s made me want to play Minecraft more than I have in a long time.

Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition comes out this afternoon on the Nintendo eShop, with a physical version coming “at a later date.” Nintendo sent us codes a couple days ago, and I’ve played a few hours of the game. I’ve had a great time. I mean, of course I have! It’s Minecraft. I like Minecraft on PC, on consoles, and even in virtual reality. It feels particularly at home on the Switch, however, and I can actually see myself playing more of this version than I have since I first bought the game on PC all those years ago.

For the most part, this version of Minecraft isn’t particularly different from other console versions of the game. It runs at 60fps docked and undocked, and both versions look crisp and play well. The draw distance is noticeably longer when docked, but only if you put screenshots of the two versions side by side.

It supports online play for up to eight players, and split-screen local play for up to four. It comes with the standard survival mode as well as creative mode, which lets you freely build things without worrying about getting it blown up by a creeper, and minigames like battle mode, where players duke it out for bragging rights.

Like the Wii U version, the Switch version comes with a Mario texture pack, as well as a bunch of Mario character skins. There’s also a pretty cool pre-made Mario-themed world you can load up, which you can see in the screenshots up top.

Minecraft has always been a lot of fun in multiplayer, and I love the idea of local Minecraft co-op in particular. (I remember writing this article about how much I liked concept waaaaaaay back when the idea of playing Minecraft on a game console was novel.) Switch split-screen works fine both docked and undocked, at least with two players. I was able to pop the Switch out of its dock and my two-player split-screen game kept going at what looked like a solid 60fps.

Online multiplayer is no-frills but functional, at least as far as I’ve tested. I invited my colleague Eric Van Allen into my game, by which I mean I sent him a DM using our work chat and asked him to join. As far as I can see, there’s no way to invite someone to your game using the actual game interface—you simply see which of your friends are actively in a game and decide if you want to join them. Eric picked my game from under the “Join” tab in the main menu and voila! We were playing Minecraft together.

There’s no built-in voice or text chat, or even any sort of emote system, so you’ll have to coordinate communication using an outside chat or voice service. This version of Minecraft also doesn’t take advantage of some of the Switch’s other features: Each player needs a full controller, so you can’t play the game in split-screen with individual joy-con controllers, nor is there any touch screen functionality when in handheld mode. Those things haven’t bothered me much, though I am concerned about the lack of cloud saves and the Switch’s continued lack of way to backup your saved games. Bad enough that I might lose my Zelda save if I break or lose my Switch, now I’ll also lose all my new Minecraft creations! The more games the Switch gets, the more urgently Nintendo needs to add some sort of backup functionality.

Let’s put all of those bullet points and feature comparisons down for a minute, though. I really like playing Minecraft on Switch. In fact, I can easily see it becoming one of my most-played Switch games. It’s fine on the big screen, and easier to play split-screen that way. That’s nothing I haven’t seen before. But this game is also fantastic on the go, and the Switch does on-the-go Minecraft better than I’ve ever seen. Tablet and phone versions don’t control in a way I like, unless I want to bring along an external game controller. The Vita version is fine, but doesn’t run all that well. The Switch version finally hits a sweet spot between performance, ease of use, and controls. It also looks terrific on the Switch’s screen. The fact that you can play split-screen with a friend on the go is just a bonus.

The Wii U got Minecraft too late. It was such an obvious fit for the console, but by the time a port arrived in late 2015, the Wii U was already on life support. Mojang apparently decided not to make the same mistake with the Switch, and I’m glad for it. All they really needed to do here was put a good version of Minecraft on the Switch, and that’s what they’ve done. It’s a great game, made much better by the Switch’s portability. For the first time in years, I think I’m going to actually sink some time into Minecraft again.

Minecraft Feels Right At Home On The Nintendo Switch

The first half of 2017 was crammed with exceptional games. That high tide ebbed in May, and I’ve spent the last couple of weeks going back and catching up on what I missed. I’ve also spent a lot of time playing Minecraft, a game that came out almost six years ago.

I’ve played a lot of different versions of Minecraft over the years. I spent dozens of hours playing the game on PC when it first came out, back when I needed to keep a crafting guide open on my phone to have any hope of making anything useful. I played for a week on PS4 a year or so ago, and again in virtual reality a bit after that. These past couple of weeks I’ve been back at it, this time on Nintendo Switch. What began as a test run to see how the game worked on a new portable console has become a bonafide new Minecraft save file. I’m invested.

So far I’ve got a pretty good house going, with a nice front yard.

I cleared out a room for a basement/wine cellar down below. I’m still not sure what I’m gonna do with it.

I dug into the naturally-occurring chambers below my house and cleared out the monsters, so I’ve got a working mine.

I built a window into the corner of the house so I can see the sun set on a nearby mountain.

I’m a boring Minecraft player. I don’t play online, I don’t play on PC with mods, and I don’t spend any time on servers. I don’t know how to make complicated mechanisms or what to do with rare materials or monsters. I play in straight-up survival mode, and my creations are rarely all that ambitious. It works for me. Other games demand so much more; more skill, more focus, more attention. I find comfort in Minecraft’s predictability.

I rent an apartment in real life, but I imagine Minecraft to be like a low-stress, low-consequence version of home ownership. There are always a few things I keep meaning to take care of, just like there would be if I owned a house. The crucial difference is that nothing costs me any money, and if I commit to a renovation I don’t like, I can easily undo it. My todo list isn’t stressful; it’s relaxing. I’m clearing out the back yard, but have been meaning to finish up the roof on the wine cellar. And what would happen if I built a second lookout podium along the north side of the house? That might be nice.

Minecraft holds a spot alongside a tiny group of modern games—Spelunky and The Binding of Isaac among them—that seem like they’ll be around forever. Whenever someone makes a new gadget with a screen and some sort of input method, it’s only a matter of time before Microsoft puts Minecraft on it.

Each time I download Minecraft to a new system, I start out the same way. I build three walls and a roof. I chop some wood and make a crafting table. Soon I’ve got a house, a bed, and the makings of a plan. There’s just one question left, and the possible answers are infinite: What will I do next?

The Unending Appeal of Minecraft