With Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them coming up, J.K. Rowling has revealed the origins of the American wizarding school Ilvermorny.

Pottermore has released a new installment of the ‘Magic in North America’ series, which introduces the new story by J.K. Rowling all about Ilvermorny:

In the video, we learn that Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was founded by a young Irish girl named Isolt Sayre, with a unique stolen wand.

And there’s much more on Pottermore! Not only is there an Ilvermorny sorting quiz, but a lengthy story by J.K. Rowling reveals that the American school was founded in the seventeenth century, and that it’s located on top of Mount Greylock in Massachusetts.

As a young girl, Isolt was kidnapped by her aunt Gormlaith Gaunt (yes, that Gaunt!), a “fanatical pure-blood” who was revealed to have killed Isolt’s parents.

Isolt, a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, wasn’t allowed to go to Hogwarts. Once an adult, Isolt disguised herself as a man and escaped to America. From there, the tale really begins to take shape; we learn about how she came up with the four house symbols (particularly the Horned Serpent), and how she eventually fell in love.

“If the Horned Serpent wants the student, the crystal set into its forehead will light up. If the Wampus wants the student, it roars. The Thunderbird signifies its approval by beating its wings, and the Pukwudgie will raise its arrow into the air,” Rowling writes.

Further, we learn more about what the four Houses represent: “It is sometimes said of the Ilvermorny houses that they represent the whole witch or wizard: the mind is represented by Horned Serpent; the body, Wampus; the heart, Pukwudgie and the soul, Thunderbird. Others say that Horned Serpent favours scholars, Wampus, warriors, Pukwudgie, healers and Thunderbird, adventurers.”

While it’s not totally the same as Hogwarts, we can definitely see the similarities (Horned Serpent = Ravenclaw, Wampus = Gryffindor, Pukwudgie = Hufflepuff and Thunderbird = Slytherin), though the correlation isn’t absolute. It makes sense for them to be so similar though, considering that Isolt grew up hearing stories about Hogwarts, and always wished to go there herself.

Most excitingly, you’re also able to get sorted into a House! Take the quiz and tell us what you got!

Pottermore releases Ilvermorny sorting quiz, J.K. Rowling writes detailed backstory

The hyper-popular Minecraft game franchise is coming to the big screen in 2019: The movie will be competing with the Star Wars and Avengers finales!

Warner Bros. plans for a Minecraft movie just got a little more specific: Via Variety, we now have an official release date!

Minecraft: The Movie (or whatever they’re calling it) will hit theaters on May 25, 2019, meaning that its debut is just three years away.

That’s not a long time in Hollywood years, but it is somewhat of a gamble — we don’t doubt the enduring popularity of Minecraft as a franchise, but since there’s no inherent story in the game to draw crowds, perhaps its target audience will have moved on to bigger and better things by 2019?

Especially considering that the Minecraft movie will end up competing with two massive franchise conclusions (and possibly the biggest films of all time): Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2 and Disney’s Star Wars: Episode IX. Yikes.

Nonetheless, we’re curious to see what Warner Bros. will do with the Lego-adjacent block world and characters.

Minecraft is essentially a builder/battler game, giving you endless worlds to populate and construct to your liking. In online multiplayer mode you can engage with battles with friends or strangers, carving out a position of authority in a pixelated alternate reality.

The best version possible of this film would probably take the Lego Movie approach and try to incorporate some of the franchises Minecraft has the rights to. Like, uh… Minions? Okay, never mind.

Minecraft was originally set to be directed by Shawn Levy, from a script by Kieran and Michele Mulroney. They departed the project in 2014, however, and now it’s in the hands of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia‘s’ Rob McElhenney.

Considering the lukewarm reception to the Angry Birds movie, we’ll put this one in the ‘maybe’ column — but hey, we’re sure kids will love it!

Warner Bros. sets ‘Minecraft’ movie for May 2019

Minecraft Battle is the new mini-game for consoles that was announced back in May.

It’s the first in a series of mini-games being introduced to all console versions of the game and takes its inspiration from the PC community’s activities.

While Battle Mode is free and comes with three maps, you can pick up additional map packs for £2.39, or fork out for the season pass at £7.99 that includes all four of the map packs that will eventually be released.

You can pick up the first pack today to unlock Temple, Medusa, and Lair maps.

Minecraft Battle Mode is out now for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, and PS Vita.

Minecraft’s new Battle Mode is free on consoles right now

Let’s be honest, by now you and the kids probably own several versions of Minecraft across computers, consoles, and mobile devices. Do you need another one for the Wii U? If you’re a Super Mario fan, absolutely.

1. The retail version is now on store shelves and comes pre-loaded with the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack. Before this month, you could only purchase the Wii U version of Minecraft through the Nintendo eShop. But you can now find Minecraft: Wii U Edition in stores across the country.

2. The controls are a little different. The buttons are switched around, so if you and the kids are used to one console’s layout, be prepared for a few destroyed bricks until you get the hang of it. In tutorial mode, there’s a handy key at the bottom of the screen to help you keep track of what button does what.

3. Minecraft: Wii U Edition makes some use of the GamePad. You can use the GamePad for more than just a separate screen–you can also use the stylus to navigate the inventory, which is a nice feature particular to the Wii U. Other than that, though, there’s not much else you can do with it; you can’t place or destroy bricks with the touchscreen. The Pro controller is also supported.

4. The game also includes a new online Battle Mode feature. Unfortunately, it wasn’t working at the time of this post, but the Wii U Edition also includes a Battle Mode mini-game.

5. The Super Mario Mash-Up Pack is the real reason to pick up another version of Minecraft. Nintendo and Mojang enlisted the help of professional Minecraft builders to create an incredible Mushroom Kingdom unlike any other.

It takes just seconds to load and jump into the world, which is filled with Super Mario themed texture packs, mobs, background music from Super Mario 64, and jaw-dropping creations such as towering Mario statues and castles.

Working warp pipes, airships, and more are all yours to discover throughout the Mushroom Kingdom. My 7-year-old gasped in delight when she discovered just a few of the secrets of the Mario-themed world, from a minecart mini-roller coaster to Bowser’s Castle in the Nether. You’ll even find homages to Super Mario 3 and Super Mario World.

For a close look at the Mario-themed skins and server in action, there’s no better person than Minecraft expert Stampy Cat to walk you through it:

Minecraft: Wii U Edition is now available in stores and online for a suggested retail price of $29.99.

5 Things You Should Know About ‘Minecraft: Wii U Edition’

Some Genius Made ‘Minecraft’ In ‘Fallout 4’

Here’s when that ‘Minecraft’ movie is finally coming out

Minecraft has spawned action figures, a spin-off adventure game series, apparel, a convention, plush dolls, cosplay costumes, and more. On May 24th, 2019, arguably the most culturally significant video game since Super Mario Bros. will get its own movie.

The news comes from the blog of developer Mojang. The game studio and its ultra popular game were purchased by Microsoft in 2014 from founder Markus “Notch” Persson for $2.5 billion.

According to the Mojang announcement, the Warner Bros. produced Minecraft movie will be released in 3D & IMAX. Details about the film’s production remain sparse. In an interview with Collider in February, producer Roy Lee said the filmmakers and game designers were collaborating in some capacity on the project. “[Mojang] can give us insight into future updates so we can put things into the movie around the same time they relaunch newer versions of the game,” said Lee, “and at the same time, potentially taking ideas from the movie and putting them into the game.”

The Minecraft movie is coming in 2019

Great news, Minecrafters! The game has just released its first Battle mini-game. This is the first mini game in a series of mini-games that Mojang will release for the console game version.

The mini games were announced a while ago and Mojang also specified that they will be launched as an update for Minecraft on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Wii U.

There is no information so far on the content or release dates of the next mini games but that means that maybe fans could suggest some variants or possibilities to Mojang.

In the meantime, this is how the Battle mini-game works: players have to fight each other by using various resources and methods. Mojang says that it’s a last-minecrafter –standing type of game where players have to fight over weapons and resources found in a perilous arena, while at the same time protecting themselves from assassins and keeping themselves well fed.

Because the game was designed specifically for consoles, it’s very fast paced and accessible. Plus it can easily support both couch based competitions and online matchmaking.

As opposed to the well-known Minecraft play, there is need to craft things in this Battle mini-game and you can also loot inventories or equip armor. If you are eliminated by an opponent, you will not leave the game if you don’t want to, but you will come back as a spectating bat, flying around your enemy. That’s a pretty awesome feature, especially, if you really want to know what happens to your opponent next. Maybe they get eliminated as well and you’ll probably want to be there to watch it go down. We know we would!

The Battle mini-game is free for all console players, but if you are interested in additional maps for it, you’ll have to pay $2.99 for each one.

Minecraft Battle Mini-Game Available on Xbox One and PS4

Minecraft truly is a game of near limitless possibilities, and this colossal map is a real testament to what one (or many) can do in the game when they put their mind to it.

ShireCraft is the result of five years, 1500 players, and hundreds of builds. There’s even a working railway system, which is ridiculous in the best possible way.

Check it out:

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Crazy, right? They’ve even got their own set of rules and regulations – hell, you even have to apply to join – this is a proper, thriving virtual community, and they’ll have none of your nonsense.

Of course, don’t expect to be able to just jump in and start building giant Minecraft dicks wherever you want in ShireCraft. Small projects must be built in the wilderness, at least 100 blocks away from other creations, while large projects actually need approval from a staff member.

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Take a look at an extract on their rules for infrastructure:

The Shire Transit Authority will maintain all rail lines and highways connecting between cities. Please do not build any rail lines or highways without their consent or supervision. Specific standards have to be met and the STA is the only team qualified to do so. Contact STA Director Andy if you have questions or wish to set up an appointment with your local STA representative.

Honestly, you should check out their Wiki page because it’s seriously in-depth. I guess you can’t build such an impressive world without implementing a few rules.

Take a look at a video tour of one of ShireCraft’s most impressive cities below.

I don’t know whether I’m impressed, or terrified that the ShireCraft community will one day rise up and overthrow society.

I’ll leave you with a few more pics below.

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1500 People Spent Five Years Making This Stunning Minecraft Map

Medical Minecraft uses IBM Watson to teach students about infectious diseases

I caught up with Microsoft Studios to discuss the future of Minecraft and to check out how the game will evolve in the near future.

Microsoft purchased Minecraft a couple of years back for a cool 2.5 billion dollars. Naturally, Microsoft has big plans for the franchise, and we were able to get a glimpse of those during E3 2016.

Minecraft showed off Realms for the Pocket Edition and Windows 10 tablet and PC version of the game at E3. Minecraft Realms allows players to rent a dedicated, persistent server, which friends and family can connect to and share without requiring a host to be online. Previously, Realms only supported the legacy PC and Mac versions of Minecraft, but eventually, the console versions of Minecraft will also be able to connect to a shared Realm.

In our demonstration session, we also saw how players will be able to further customize their experience across PC, tablets and phones. We also learned a bit about the future of Minecraft on Windows 10 Mobile.

What’s the deal with Minecraft on Windows phones?

One of the first questions I asked the Minecraft team was about the Windows Phone versions of the game. As Windows Central readers are no doubt aware, Windows on phones is in a strange place right now, where even Microsoft aren’t prioritizing development for some of its apps on the platform. Minecraft is no different, as the iOS and Android versions of Minecraft now support achievements, while the Windows Phone 8.1 version does not.

I asked what the plan was for the Windows Phone version of the game. Would the Pocket Edition be replaced a Windows 10 UWP version? Would it support Continuum? I mentioned how cool it would be to utilize the new Bluetooth Xbox One S controller to play Minecraft via Continuum on my Lumia 950 XL, for example.

Microsoft told me that those ideas and questions are exciting, but they have nothing to announce right now regarding their roadmap for Windows on phones. They said that the idea is prioritizing players where they’re at, effectively hinting that Windows Phone’s market share is to blame for the sluggish pace of development.

However, they did tell me though that the goal for Minecraft is 100% parity between all versions. Windows Phone, Windows 10, Xbox One, and beyond. They assured me that Windows Phone users would not be forgotten, but whether or not they hold true to their word remains to be seen. I certainly hope we do see some of the upcoming improvements to Minecraft, given how cool some of them are.

Exposing Minecraft’s code to players

Minecraft is switching to a data-driven architecture which allows players to totally customize and mod the game. Microsoft demonstrated this briefly at their E3 conference, showing how players can easily create aliens and UFOs to add to an existing game’s world.

Using simple editors, such as Notepad and Microsoft Paint, players will have access to the game’s textures and JSON files, allowing them to customize the game easily as they see fit. Those files can then be uploaded to your personal Realm server, and any changes you’ve made will appear for all players who connect to your Realm.

To demonstrate this, Microsoft showed off an athletic creeper, complete with sports gear and heightened speed. Changing the numerical value for “speed” in the game’s files and then reloading the game updated the creeper’s behavior. Similarly, they demonstrated how you could change the color of the creeper’s texture using something as basic as Microsoft Paint, swapping the color of his jersey from white to blue with the paint bucket tool.

The files to edit Minecraft on the Pocket Editions and Windows 10 PC version will be accessible via the each platform’s file explorers, and Microsoft said that it’s impossible to break the game by inputting the wrong JSON syntax. If Minecraft detects a code error, mob behaviors will just revert to their defaults.

Watching a bunny zombie eating carrots, and then proceeding to make baby zombies was particularly hilarious.

A speedier Creeper was relatively cool but nothing too impressive. Microsoft Studios then kicked it up a notch. They showed how you could add extra points to a zombie’s model to add texturing for bunny ears. They also demonstrated how you can transplant the entire brain of a rabbit into a zombie, simply by copy and pasting the code out of the JSON files. Watching a bunny zombie eating carrots, and then proceeding to make baby zombies was particularly hilarious.

The studio also showed how you can customize the death behavior of mobs, and even how mobs react to different events. They spawned a herd of cows that picked up the death behavior of exploding on ignition. The result was a veritable bovine nuclear apocalypse, and it was glorious. They showed us custom robot skins made in Microsoft Paint, and described 100-foot tall creepers and other wacky creations.

Microsoft said they have no plans to have a marketplace for custom skins or behavior files, and that they’d put it in the hands of the community to decide how distribution would work.

Bringing Minecraft players together

Microsoft closed by emphasizing that the goal is to bring all Minecraft players together. Part of that is ensuring their new moddable Minecraft is fully forwards compatible with future versions, but also that all versions must reach parity over the coming months.

The plan for Minecraft is to expose as much of the code as possible, to allow players to create the game they want — and with Realms, when they want. In the very near future, you’ll no longer have to wait for your friends to be online before getting back to work on that castle you started building together, nor will you have to copy and paste all your modded skins and behaviors from one version to the next. Through Realms, everything will just work, exemplifying Microsoft’s overarching dedication to computational mobility.

Obviously, the most powerful application for these new features is education. An easily editable Minecraft will not only teach kids the basics of texturing models in video games, but also the fundamentals of programming. As Minecraft progresses, it’s clear that Microsoft’s primarily ambitions weren’t necessarily about cashing in on the never-ending licensing bucks (although that’s a definitive side bonus), they want to use the game to train the next generation of software engineers. And with initiatives like Minecraft for Education, it’s already begun.

The new editing capabilities described above are heading out to players on Windows 10, iOS and Android in the Fall. At this point, we can only hope that Microsoft keeps their promise to bring updates to Minecraft for Windows mobile devices.

A glimpse at the future of Minecraft with Microsoft Studios

Minecraft players on Android or iOS devices undoubtedly know about the former limitations of playing Minecraft Pocket Edition line. Whether you rented a server or figured out how to host your own, the experience wasn’t all that fun: Mobs and animals were missing, and the maps were rather boring.

Last week, Microsoft updated Minecraft Pocket Edition for iOS and Android, adding Realms, the official multiplayer hosting service for Minecraft. If you’ve been looking for a better Minecraft online experience, here’s what you need to know about Realms.

You gotta pay to play

New subscribers of the $7.99 plan will get a 30-day trial to test out the new wares, while subscribers of the $3.99 plan will start paying right away. The difference in the two plans outside of cost is the more expensive subscription allows for you and 10 friends (11 players total) to be in a realm at the same time. The less expensive option only allows you and two friends, or three total players, in the realm at any given time.

All billing is done as a subscription service through Apple’s App Store or the Google Play store.

Well, one of you has to pay

At first glance, it would appear you’ll need a subscription to connect to the Realms server. That, however, is not the case.

Only one person needs to pay the monthly fee to keep the server active, meaning if you can convince enough friends and family members to join and split the cost, each person won’t have to pay all that much.

Owner’s capabilities

Keep in mind, however, that the owner of the server has complete control. Meaning, he or she can kick you out, reset the world to a brand-new state, switch between creative and survival modes. And if he or she decides to cancel the subscription, the realm and all of your accomplishments disappear.

Xbox Live account required

Before you can join or create a realm, you’ll need to log into an Xbox Live account within the Minecraft Pocket Edition app. The good news is you don’t need a paid Gold account in order to connect to a server and start crafting away.

You can sign up for a free Xbox Live Silver account, as can your friends (or in my case, my kids) and access Realms without issue.

Platform compatibility

While adding Realms capabilities to Minecraft Pocket Edition is welcome and opens up a whole new world of possibilities, there are some limitations. Primarily, users of Minecraft Pocket Edition are only able to join and play in Realms from compatible platforms.

iOS, Android and Windows 10 versions of Minecraft all play nicely together, while the PC and Mac versions of Minecraft will not work with a Pocket Edition Realms server.

In other words, if you have an iOS device and your buddies are all on Android, you can still play together. But don’t expect to connect with your friend who plays on a Mac.

You’ll need Wi-Fi

Before you get too excited and expect to work on your farm while traveling down the highway or standing in line at a coffee shop, keep in mind that in order to connect to the Realms service you’ll need to have an active Wi-Fi connection. Bummer, huh?

You can read more bout Minecraft Realms and other small caveats to the service here.

6 things you should know about Minecraft Realms for iOS, Android

Minecraft has a storied modding scene, but you’ve primarily had to play on PC to enjoy those up to this point. With its new add-ons, Mojang is bringing that magic to players on smartphones.

The Minecraft developer announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo tradeshow last week that the new add-ons feature is coming to Pocket Edition and Windows 10 Edition this fall and will enable players to remix everything in the game. Microsoft and Mojang demonstrated how this worked for GamesBeat at E3.

This is how you’d get an alien: The process is as simple as drawing up new character skins in Paint for Windows and editing some text files to give zombies pointy ears, projectile weapons, and other slight changes to their artificial intelligence. Microsoft wants to hand this power over to everyone playing Minecraft, and it also wants its fans to know that this is safe.

Above: An example of a .JSON file.

Image Credit: Mojang

The files, which are in the JavaScript Object Notation (.JSON) format that uses plain-language values that humans can easily parse and edit, contain the behaviors for each character in the game as well as things like their size and speed. Mojang is exposing all of this data, and that means you can now take one behavior from something like a zombie and put it into a rabbit. In one demonstration, Microsoft showed us how players can take a chicken and make it explode by adding that specific character trait from the creeper mob. After copying and pasting that behavior (which you’ll have no trouble finding in a .JSON editor) from the creeper to the chicken, you’ll basically have a self-frying bowl of KFC walking around your Minecraft world.

In another example, Microsoft took the ghost-like Ghast mob and turned it into a UFO to help flesh out a series of mods it was making for an alien-invasion scenario. This is a bit more complicated than making a chicken explode, but the development team is adamant that it expects kids to pick up these skills quickly now that they have unfettered access to Minecraft’s files.

“It’s really not that difficult,” Minecraft senior producer James Webster told GamesBeat and a small room of other reporters. “It’s just a matter of creating the geometries, which is just a bunch of points in space. And then adding the textures to that. It’s really simple to make these massive changes. Add-ons, we hope, are going to encourage people to be super creative. It’s a simple thing to change things, but then they can take things a step further by remixing all of these elements to come up with brand new ideas.”

Add-ons can change the look and behavior of anything in Minecraft. And the key here is that you don’t need to go and download a bunch of extra software or tools to start making your own content. Instead, all you need is a text editor on a PC or your smartphone to edit Minecraft’s .JSON files. If you want a bit more guidance, a .JSON editor can help. With that kind of tool, you can go into the .JSON for the creeper and find where it mentions its speed and change the number in the brackets as low or as high as you want. It’s that simple.

At E3, Microsoft demonstrated its alien invasion in action:

Microsoft is focusing on making this super-easy for anyone, and it also wants people to feel confident about making changes to their games without the fear that they’ll break something.

“This is safe because you’re just editing text files,” said Webster. “Literally, all you have to do is delete your new files, and the game will default back to its original state.”

Webster also wants to let people know that Mojang and Microsoft have thought about this effort in an all-encompassing long-term way.

“It’s going to be cross-platform on Windows 10 Edition and Pocket Edition,” he said. “You can share your add-ons. You can create a Realm and bring in your add-ons so that everyone who jumps on your server will see the same modifications as the host.”

Microsoft is also promising that these add-ons will not go out-of-date. On PC, a lot of people run old versions of the game because certain mods wouldn’t work. Add-ons is built in a way to address that problem. Anything you build for the game using the add-on method should continue to work in Minecraft forever and — eventually — on all versions.

“For right now, we’re focusing on the Win10 and Pocket Edition,” said Webster. “Our long-term goal is to have this kind of customizability across all of our platforms.”

Finally, Microsoft is on an interesting path with Minecraft, where it could turn its massive player base into a connected economy of content creators. If you build the exact UFO I want, you can share it with me, but not sell it to me. When I asked the company about something like a player-created-content marketplace, it didn’t say no to the idea. But it also made it clear that if it were to pursue something like that, it wouldn’t happen for quite some time and the company is in no hurry to replace the many Minecraft skin servers that already exist.

“One step at a time,” Minecraft producer Saxs Persson told GamesBeat. “First, we open it up. Next, get it so everyone is playing the same version of the game. That’s not currently how it works. Then, in terms of sharing, we’ve already seen — with skins, for example — there are fantastic skin servers that we could never replicate. They have the editor, the sharer, the rating — we’d much rather, in the beginning, have the community figure out how they want to share rather than us dictate it.”

When pressed about whether Microsoft has any plans for a Minecraft marketplace at some point in the future, Persson again would only say that they don’t have anything planned today.

Minecraft’s new add-ons turn you into a modder

During this year’s E3 event, which took place on 14^th of June at the Los Angeles Convention Congress, best game developers took the podium to announce their upcoming games for consoles, PCs, and mobile devices.

Surprisingly, few games were announced for the latter. This could either mean mobile game developers disregard E3 or the gaming industry is just fed up of Android and iOS devices. Nonetheless, we’ve managed to compile a list of some fascinating titles announced at the event, some of which are already available while others will arrive in the coming months.

Pokémon Go-Niantic/Nintendo

Pokémon fans will be able to catch Nintendo’s adorable creatures this July. Pokémon Go, developed by Niantic in conjunction with Nintendo, will launch this July but with a completely new experience, it will be played in augmented reality, taking the experience of mobile games to the next level. That simply means players will be catching these creatures without looking at their smartphones, but via wrist-worn wearable called Pokémon Go Plus that will alert users of nearby Pokémon so that they can capture it. The device is sold independently at $35 and is open for pre-orders.

Unfortunately, it will not be ready at launch, Nintendo confirmed. The smartwatch-like device will connect to iOS and Android devices through Bluetooth and a player will tap a button to catch a Pokémon. Generally, Pokémon Go is all about hunting for Pokémon in a real-world location. Gamers look through their smartphone cameras to see Pokémon appear in the local environment then capture them.

Batman- The Telltale Games

Telltale series announced a five episode series based on Dark Knight’s adventures. Players will have the opportunity to wear the suit of scandalous billionaire Bruce Wayne and Batman’s well-known mask. The game tells the story in a comical manner and focusses on action, drama, crime, corruption and treachery in Gotham city. The first 15 minutes of an E3 demo shown by Telltale rep showed Batman stalking some heavily armed men who have invaded the city hall.

During the event, the rep said Bruce Wayne is as important as Batman, implying the game may see more of Wayne than Batman. There is a hidden Bat cave where Batman keeps his wide range of gadgets, the costume, and the Batmobile, which resembles a car. However, the game focusses on the complicated life and the fractured psyche of Bruce Wayne.

Minecraft Realms-Mojang

Minecraft is one of the most renowned mobile games. The title’s Pocket Edition has established itself at the top of the chart of paid-for games in App Store and Google Play Store. However, the game’s mobile fans have been grumbling of the inability to play with their colleagues on the other platforms. Mojang responded in time at the E3 event when it announced Minecraft Realms that has been included in Minecraft Pocket Edition 0.15 update (The Friendly Update), which also adds goodies like new texture packs and mobs. Minecraft Realms player-server service will let players on phones and tablets join their colleagues on the other platforms like Xbox Live, Windows 10 and Samsung Gear VR. Minecraft Realms will be available for free 30-day trial by new players, who will be required to pay at least $7.99 per month thereafter.

Severed-Drinkbox Games

Drinkbox Games first showed Severed back in early 2014. Finally, the game will be released later this summer after a two-year wait. The game is centered on one-armed warrior lady (fights on with a single sword) who adventures into the world in search of her family. She encounters all kinds of monsters, which she will involve in fiery battles. Drinkbox did not give a concrete release date, but hopes are high that it will be one of the best mobile games to hit the iOS platform this summer.

The Elder Scrolls: Legends-Bethesda

The Elder Scrolls fans will be pleased with the announcement of the Legends, Bethesda’s created strategy card game set in the Elder Scroll Universe. Players will approach rivals in three game modes. Moreover, they will craft decks by combining two of these five game attributes; Agility, Endurance, Intelligence, Strength, and Willpower. Each crafted deck takes a different class. For instance, if a gamer combines Agility and Strength, he will be able to build an Archer deck while combining Willpower and Intelligence yields a Mage deck. You will be required to use your own insight and tactics to decide on the best pick suitable for the situation at hand.

Pokémon Go, Minecraft Realms and the Best Mobile Games Announced at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2016

Microsoft, the new owner of Mojang, attended this year’s E3 event and announced the new Minecraft: Pocket Edition 0.15 update, which was named “The Friendly Update”. From now on, players will have access to Minecraft Realms – the subscription-based service that will allow them to rent official Minecraft servers, and they will be able to play with their friends who own an Xbox 360 or Xbox One console, thanks to cross-platform play support.

Previous updates for Minecraft already brought support for cross-platform play among PC, Android, iOS and Windows Phone versions, and 0.15 now allows players to join servers along Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles. Another nice addition is the Minecraft Realms integration, which exempts players from hosting games on their devices, in order to allow others to access their shared sandbox anytime, as this subscription-based server hosting service will give them the possibility to rent Minecraft servers. The pricing for Realms servers starts at $7.99 a month, but the first 30 days are free, so players will decide a month later if it’s worth investing money in Microsoft’s servers.

Minecraft: Pocket Edition 0.15 update comes also with new sounds for jumping on blocks (version exclusive); a skins button; a new store button used for buying skin packs and resource packs; Achievements for iOS and Android (version exclusive); Resource packs; a new UI for the main menu and skins menu; Blocks: pistons and sticky pistons; new gameplay involving pig riding with new sound when accelerates (version exclusive), Interact buttons, Boost – used when riding a pig with a carrot on a stick etc.

Items available in the new update are: Raw mutton, Cooked mutton, Fire charges, Spawn eggs, Horse (zombie horse and skeleton horse in version exclusive), Donkey, Mule, and for version exclusive have been introduced Stray, Husk and Wither skeleton horses. Other items are: Name tags, Leads, Carrot on a stick, Tipped arrows made with potion cauldrons (version exclusive), Horse armor made of leather (version exclusive).

Minecraft Pocket Edition 0.15 Update Brings Xbox Cross-platform Play

LOS ANGELES — In Minecraft, you can build just about anything you want, unless those things happen to be different enemies, behaviors or scenarios. Modders cracked the Minecraft software and started adding onto it long ago,  but doing so it not easy for the average user, which is why Microsoft has begun to add simple, no-nonsense modification (“modding”) options that let players tweak Minecraft with only a modicum of programming know-how.

Microsoft showed me how the process worked during a press demonstration at E3 2016 yesterday (June 14). Enemies in Minecraft follow simple scripts written in JSON, a robust and workable JavaScript-based language. In a future update for the Windows 10, iOS and Android versions of Minecraft, users will be able to access these files. Whatever they update will appear in-game as soon as they restart the session. It’s really that simple.

To show us how the authorized-modding options worked, a Microsoft representative showed us a quick level he’d created that was populated by creepers, Minecraft’s signature exploding green bad guys. With a quick trip into Microsoft Paint, he altered a creeper’s image file to give it googly eyes and gym clothes. Then, he opened the JSON script and tweaked the creeper’s speed. As soon as he closed and reopened the session, the silly-looking creeper zoomed around the stage, giving the rep no time to react before it exploded right on top of him.

By adjusting a few simple values — height, width, speed and so forth — users can create very different variations on their favorite creatures simply by adjusting a few numbers in a text editor. If they want to get slightly more ambitious, users can even swap enemy behaviors. This involves some copying and pasting, but it’s still well within the grasp of anyone who’s ever programmed an HTML page.

The representative took the creeper protocols, opened up the JSON document that controlled the behavior of chickens, then swapped a few parameters. When he loaded up the game again and spawned a whole field full of chickens, he lit one on fire. Seconds later, the entire flock of poultry erupted into a cataclysmic explosion. It’s not hard to see how important this functionality could be.

Budding script kiddies with a little time on their hands could make some even more radical changes to the enemies without the modding tool. Microsoft showed off how it created a whole race of alien invaders, and black-suited G-Men to fight the aliens, using nothing more than existing character models, some height and behavior modification, and whole lot of time and effort.

While Microsoft’s modding tool is not that robust yet, there still seems to be a lot a creative player could do, and Microsoft hopes to implement even more modding abilities in the future. The initial update will hit sometime this fall, and while Microsoft has no plans for an in-game editor, it does plan to make documentation available to show average users how to manipulate JSON files.

Better still: If the modders screw up, they can just delete their attempted mods, and the game will repopulate the defaults automatically.

Make Chickens Explode with Microsoft’s Minecraft Mods

Minecraft Wii U Edition

Looking for some new apps to help make your everyday phone use even more efficient? Or do you just want to have a bit of fun on your phone this weekend? We’ve got you covered on both fronts with our latest Five to Try column, which spotlights some new and updated Android options in the Play Store.

Evie is an interesting pick, as it shakes up the usual Android launcher approach by building the interface around an intelligent universal search bar, while Dango is designed to get you the contextual emoji and GIFs you need during conversations. Meanwhile, Minecraft: Pocket Edition got a huge update this week with dedicated servers and wider cross-platform play, while _PRISM is an alluring puzzler and Toca Life: Vacation is a perfect pick for the kids.

Evie’s home screen search bar taps not only into your local apps, but also info, maps, and services from the web.

Tired of hunting around your phone for the right app or service to complete a task? Evie could help: it’s a new home screen launcher built around a search bar. Start typing in a query, such as the name of an app, restaurant, movie, or nearby hotspot, and it’ll serve up options not only from your device but also the web, Yelp, and other services.

And from there, it’s even more useful. You can tap on a restaurant listing, for example, and have one-tap access to the correct app for placing a delivery order, as well as the ability to make a reservation or beckon an Uber or Lyft driver (with a cost estimate to boot). Search can often be siloed to just point you at apps or search within a single app, but Evie seems to bridge the gap and impresses as an all-in-one option for varying needs. If you spend far too much time digging through menus, it’s worth a look.

This week’s E3 gaming convention might have been mostly about big console and PC games, but even the years-old Minecraft took center stage for some big news of its own: Pocket Edition on Android now has cross-platform multiplayer that lets players link up over Xbox Live to play with iOS, Windows 10, and Gear VR players. And there’s another big feature in this week’s update—dubbed “The Friendly Update”—as the game now has support for dedicated servers.

Want to play online with one friend—or up to 10? Mojang’s Realms feature lets you pay a monthly fee for access to a server that continues on even when you’re not there, letting you create persistent worlds to share with friends. It’s $4/month for two total players or $8/month for up to 10 in the same space, although there’s a free month-long trial available for the larger plan.

Like Evie up top, Dango is an app designed to speed up everyday use of your phone… albeit in a very different way. See, Dango is an artificially intelligent app built to help pull up the emoji, animated GIFs, and stickers you need at any given moment. Once installed, it puts a little pink face in any chat or messaging above the keyboard; as you type, it reads the context of your message and suggests an ideal emoji to fit your note.

Tap the pink icon and you’ll see a wider range of suggestions, including several emoji, pop culture GIFs based on mood, and more. Better yet, Dango doesn’t just suggest images based on your in-progress messages, but also the ones sent your way, gaining context from conversation. If you’re a heavy GIF and emoji user, it could save precious seconds with every single missive.

Looks just like the pineapple-man I met on my last vacation…

Toca Boca is one of the premier developers for ad-free, kid-friendly apps, and its latest offering is perfectly primed for the summer school break. Released this week, Toca Life: Vacation ($3) drops you onto a tropical island resort, letting you choose from an array of characters and interact all around the locale, including at the hotel, beach, and even the airport.

Your cartoonish avatar can leap on the bed, x-ray a suitcase, fly an airplane, wander the boardwalk, and take on all sorts of other appropriately-themed activities. Toca Life: Vacation isn’t heavy on complex interactions, nor are there extensive games to play; rather, it’s a colorful and kid-centric way to have a little tropical fun wherever you are, and hopefully spur a little creativity in the process.
This might look totally confusing, but it makes sense once you start rotating the shape and touching the symbols.

Thanks to their multitouch screens, phones and tablets are ideal for the kind of puzzle games where you must push, pull, rotate, and otherwise manipulate objects. That’s why The Room trilogy has been so successful, and also why ­_PRISM ($3) might turn your head this week. It doesn’t have the spooky atmosphere or narrative threads of the former series, instead putting a mystical, serene spin on the act of solving these faux-physical brainteasers.

You’ll draw slide glyphs into place, rotate and shift icons, and hunt around each geometric shape to find the next input needed to expand the puzzle to its full size, with a mysterious and and colorful aesthetic throughout. _PRISM isn’t terribly long, promising about an hour’s worth of gameplay on average, but it’s well-designed, nicely presented, and should be a treat for fans of brainy-yet-tactile challenges.

Five to Try: Evie rethinks the Android launcher, and Minecraft gets friendlier than ever

It’s been quite a while since Minecraft was a PC game. It’s on just about every platform you can imagine nowadays. One difference between the PC platform and every other platform out there, though, is the extraordinary modability of the former. While none of the countless mods created for Minecraft to this point have been officially supported, you can do all kinds of things to the game with user-created content.

Because none of those mods are supported, though, and because they’re made using reverse-engineered or extracted code, any update to the game can render the mods useless. Players end up playing years-old versions of the game just to keep their mods working, the devs say. I’ve done exactly that, so I know, at least anecdotally, that that’s accurate.

That’s exactly what the Minecraft team at Microsoft is looking to change with the new Add Ons initiative.

On top of working to let different platforms play together, as they’re already working on with the Windows 10 and mobile platforms, the team wants to let players make their games almost unrecognizable with custom worlds, tilesets, and monster behaviors. If you want to make chickens flammable and explosive, that’s definitely a thing you can do. You an make zombies behave like rabbits, right down to eating and mating. You could, as they showed, do a whole-world conversion and be playing in a city with aliens.

The plan is for these mods to eventually work on all platforms, including typically closed systems like consoles and iOS, explained senior producer James Webster in a hands-off preview at E3.

So how do you get in there and start modding?

What the team has done is make all the swappable parts of the game visible to the player in the form of text and image files. The text files, built in a format called JSON (Java Script Object Notation), look pretty intimidating at first, but looking for a few more seconds reveals that a lot of what’s in there is incredibly simple. A Creeper’s speed is set to 0.2. Crank that up to 1.0 to make creepers not just startling but downright terrifying. Save the the file and reload the mod pack and you’ll see creepers move with a new zest for life.

I expect that, in this age of YouTube tutorials, even the younger players will figure this system out in short order and start doing some absolutely wild stuff with this new access.

The idea behind making these add ons official is to make them secure and future-proof, meaning that you can’t break the game with these mods and they’ll work with all future versions of the game, so that you can upgrade when patches come out without fear.

The whole initiative seems very community-focused, and Webster and his team have a lot of faith in the community. They’re not worried about creating apps to assist with modding because they know their players will do that for them in short order. For example, I’m waiting for a mod that lets you paint textures directly onto the models, rather than using the somewhat confusing texture image files that look, as Webster described, a bit like taking the wrapping off a gift and laying it out flat.

Minecraft is one of the biggest communities out there, but the variety of platforms and the obsoletion of mods through upgrades have both done a lot to fragment the community. Letting platforms play and mod together will help to reunify that community and give one of the biggest games out there and even longer life.

Minecraft Add-Ons will change the game completely while unifying the game’s huge community