Your kids want to make Minecraft YouTube videos – but should you let them?

Your kids want to make Minecraft YouTube videos – but should you let them?

Millions of children want to be the next Stampy or Diamond Minecart. How to do it is easy enough, but how to do it safely and appropriately is the bigger question

Minecraft has tens of millions of young fans – who are taking their crafting talents to YouTube.
 Minecraft has tens of millions of young fans – who are taking their crafting talents to YouTube. Photograph: Andrew Chin/Getty Images

That’s the dilemma facing a growing number of parents, whose children aren’t just watching YouTube Minecraft channels like The Diamond Minecart, Stampyand CaptainSparklez – they want to follow in their blocky footsteps.

“I want to make Minecraft videos and I want you to put them on YouTube,” was how my eight-year-old son put it recently. “I’ve been practising talking while I play, and I’m nearly as good as Stampy now.”

That’s some confidence. YouTuber Joseph “Stampy” Garrett has nearly 7.2 million subscribers to his channel, with videos that have been watched more than 4.8bn times.

His fellow Brit Dan “The Diamond Minecart” Middleton is even more popular, with just under 10 million subscribers and 6.3bn video views.

For tweens and teens around the world, these are the new pop stars. But whereas the historical cliche about pop fans has them miming with a hairbrush to their favourite stars’ songs, today’s children understand that they can do exactly what their Minecraft idols are doing, on the same stage – YouTube.

“I would say that the majority of my audience has tried making video, even if it’s just using their parents’ phone and filming the TV screen as they speak,” said Garrett, when I interviewed him for the Guardian in October 2015.

“Even if they’re not recording, they’re speaking as if they’re doing a video. At a recent event, I asked ‘who in the audience is a YouTuber?’ and the majority put their hand up: they all want to do it.”

For parents, this is sparking several questions. First, could their children really make Minecraft videos for YouTube, and if so, how? To which the short answers are “Yes” and “More easily than you think”.

A third question: should their children be allowed to make Minecraft videos for YouTube? That’s a bit more complicated, as I found out.

Stampy has inspired children to make their own Minecraft YouTube videos.
Pinterest
 Stampy has inspired children to make their own Minecraft YouTube videos.

Getting set up

In my case, the “how?” question had already been answered before my children – the eight year-old’s younger brother wasn’t going to be left out – developed their block-based broadcasting ambitions.

In 2014, I’d bought a £120 device called the Elgato Game Capture HD with the intention of producing some video reviews of apps. It sits in between your games console and computer, feeding video from the former into editing software on the latter. A USB Skype headset plugged in to the computer provided the means for spoken commentary while playing.

If your children play Minecraft on a PC or Mac, you don’t need the extra hardware (apart from a headset) – Google “screen capture” software and pick from options including Fraps, ScreenPresso, Ezvid, Bandicam and many more, with a range of prices.

The resulting videos can be uploaded to YouTube as they are, or edited using any video-editing software: iMovie on Macs, for example. Meanwhile, YouTube has clear instructions online for creating a new channel and uploading videos.

Parental guidance

With my sons demanding to try their hands at Minecraft YouTube videos, I had the kit and knowledge to do it. Deciding whether or not it was a good idea took a bit longer though.

YouTube has an increasingly diverse and fascinating community of creators making videos for children to watch, but I worried about allowing my kids to become creators themselves: from toxic comment threads to more general concerns about their privacy and safety offline as well as online.

With their teenage years ahead of them, my children will have ample opportunity to be made to feel awful by social media in the future. Would I be a bad parent for potentially exposing them to that even earlier?

I have no ambitions for my children to be the next Stampy or DanTDM, but like a lot of parents, I’d love them to find the ways they like to express themselves creatively – whether that’s writing stories, drawing and painting, making up songs and playing instruments, or other activities.

Making at least one Minecraft video and publishing it on YouTube seemed like a fun project, but one requiring some strict ground rules.

In our case, these included sitting both my sons down and explaining why I didn’t want them to use their real names in their videos – or to talk about their families, where they live or any other personal information.

Both had to make up their own characters, settling on “Percy Panther” and “Chickeny Chap”, and just as importantly remember those names while recording.

We agreed time limits on our recording sessions – half an hour per child split between three 10-minute episodes – and for my part, I learned how to disable comments on the uploaded videos.

Watching the results

So how was it for them, and for me? Our recording session was genuinely fun, with no worrying moments bar one son’s enthusiastic “HELLO! IT’S [FIRSTNAME] DREDGE FROM [TOWN NAME]” introduction when he forgot he was a virtual panther, requiring a swift restart.

Both children loved the creative challenge of making a good video: for example, switching to a camera view of their character at the start and end of each video to deliver their intros and sign-offs; and figuring out what the narrative arcs would be for the episodes beyond “wandering around and shouting”.

It surprised me how much they’d soaked up from watching their favourite online stars, too.

Sometimes that wasn’t such a good thing: both children nicked Stampy’s “BYYYYEEEEEEE!” signoff wholesale until I pointed out that their idol might be a bit miffed if he heard it.

But their ability to explain and entertain while building, fighting and tackling the Ender Dragon was hugely impressive. Today’s children are getting a broadcasting crash course whether in front of a camera or behind it with joypad.

One unforseen parental headache was the view-count aftermath of uploading each child’s first video to my YouTube channel. It really didn’t matter to me how many views they got, and I was secretly relieved that the totals were tiny: 31 and 14 respectively in the first few days after posting.

The problem, as any parent with more than one child will have spotted from that last paragraph, is that the totals weren’t the same: one son is twice as “popular” as the other, and he’s not shy of rubbing it in.

Foolishly, I hadn’t spotted that problem coming. On a more positive note, both are feeling proud as punch that they are “on YouTube like Stampy”, so the intense oneupmanship at home is hopefully being balanced by a boost to their playground credibility with their friends.

Having done it once, would I put my children on YouTube again? Yes, but not to make them famous. The joy of this process was in the making, not in the distribution.

I spent a couple of hours with my sons making something creative that they were excited about, with lots of laughter (and only a few stern rebukes about why the Chickeny Chap brand probably shouldn’t be so reliant on fart and bottom jokes).

I’m no Mrs Worthington, then. But in this case, responding positively to my children’s demands felt like a fun – and safe, with the ground rules – thing to do together.

Your kids want to make Minecraft YouTube videos – but should you let them?

Minecraft: Pocket Edition Realms Returning Soon

While Minecraft: Pocket Edition grows closer and closer to the full Minecraft experience with each new update, it is still missing some features. One feature it doesn’t have is the ability to use Realms, which is also one of the more puzzling exclusions due to the history behind it.

Minecraft Realms are an alternative to regular online servers. You subscribe to a paid service which lets you set up a special Minecraft world, or realm, that only certain users can access. It doesn’t cost anything for participants, only for the player who hosts it. In this way, you can create a world for you and your friends without worrying about networks, IP addresses, etc.

While not all players consider Minecraft Realms worth the subscription fee, it’s a great alternative for people who prefer its convenience.

It’s not surprising that this feature wouldn’t be available in the mobile game, except that it was for a time. Minecraft: Pocket Edition had Realms until April 2014, when the feature was removed. Why? Some fans believe Mojang was just testing it, but it’s likely there was some problem with the system that prevented it from running ideally in the game. Whatever the case may be, Realms were no longer a part of Minecraft: Pocket Edition.

Fans found workarounds, but nothing was quite the same as Realms. Due to that change, in a curious reversal, Realms are available for the PC/Mac version of Minecraft, but not for Pocket Edition.

Ever since then, players have waited for Pocket Edition Realms to return.

Well, the long wait might be almost over. Mojang software engineer/game developer Philip V. sent out a Tweet on March 23 saying Realms was working with the Minecraft: Pocket Edition servers. When a fan asked if this meant Realms were returning, he replied that they’re putting the final touches on Realms for the beta, but he couldn’t give a release date yet.

Even without a release date or window, this shows Minecraft: Pocket Edition still has Realms in the future. For a while, it was such a thing of rumors and speculation, some players thought it would never come to pass.

We’ll keep you updated as we learn more about the Minecraft: Pocket Edition Realms beta. Have you ever used Minecraft Realms? Is it a feature you’d like to use, or would you rather avoid it and its fee? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Minecraft: Pocket Edition Realms Returning Soon

Get in line for Minecraft’s first live concert

We’ve seen a working phone coded inside Minecraft, we’ve also even seen someone build a terminal so you can code on a computer inside it, now its legions of fans will be able enjoy the platform’s first live concert.

Electronic music artists from the UK and Norway are set to open Norwegian tech festival The Gathering with a live gig that will also be played out inside Minecraft as the real thing happens.

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“There have been plenty of other music experiences in the Minecraft universe, but not like this,” Gathering organizer Erik Heisholt told Norwegian website The Local. “This will be the world’s first live Minecraft concert.”

It’s also being promoted on billboards inside the game and will be livestreamed at 9PM (CET) tomorrow at the opening of the event.

Those who want to join inside Minecraft will have to be quick though as the server being used can only accommodate around 3,000 people watching.

Here’s a preview that gives you some idea of what to expect.

Åpningsshow TG 16 i MinecraftDette blir så kult! Artistene har siste gjennomkjøring på scenen akkurat nå. Er du klar for å kjempe deg gjennom Minecraft-verdenen for å komme først til scenen? Følg også vår live stream fra Vikingskipet på https://stream.tg16.gathering.org/

Posted by The Gathering on Tuesday, 22 March 2016

 

 Norway to host world’s first Minecraft concert [The Local via Mashable]

Featured image credit: The Gathering

Get in line for Minecraft’s first live concert

Top 10 Alternative Minecraft Games

Top 10 Alternative Minecraft Games

Here are ten video games you’ll want to play if you love Minecraft!

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Minecraft has been available since 2009 and while the game has received its fair share of updates, the core remains the same. After all, why mess with the formula that just works so well? We’re not sick of Minecraft by any means but it’s tempting to take a break and enjoy some video games that make for a great alternative. Luckily there are plenty of great titles worth playing if you loved the gameplay and style from Minecraft. From clones that add their own unique spin on the Minecraft gameplay to titles that were developed highlighting the creators influences, here’s ten must play Minecraft alternatives.

Terraria

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Developer: Re-Logic

Platforms: PC, Android, iOS, 3DS, PS3, PS4, PSV, Wii U, Windows Phone, XB 360, XBO

Terraria and Minecraft are often compared to each other as they play out very similarly. This title was developed by Re-Logic in 2011 for the PC but has since released to several platforms such as the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Much like Minecraft, Terraria is an endless title where players explore, collect resources and battle enemies within a randomly generated world.

While collecting resources and defeating enemies, players can build structures which can eventually be filled with NPCs where in return these characters can offer gamers items or services to purchase. One key difference Terraria has from Minecraft is that the game is featured in a side-scrolling 2D world. Regardless, Terraria has been picked up over ten million times and it’s available for practically every current platform.

Rust

rust

Developer: Firepunch Studios

Platforms: PC

You may have heard of Rust before early in the development process, Firepunch Studios went for a title that played out similar to DayZ though the developers later scrapped the idea of fighting strictly zombies and worked for a more wilderness survival game. Much like Minecraft, Rust tosses players into the wilderness with the goal of surviving. At first, players are equipped with very basic tools though as they progress, players will find new blueprints to craft more advanced items and weaponry.

Unlike Minecraft, Rust only contains an online multiplayer mode which is one of the key aspects that keep Rust a tough game to master. Not only will gamers have to face against wild animals as the gather resources and blueprints but they may be pinned against other hostile players.

It’s highly advised within the world of Rust to join or start a clan in order for further protection against other groups along with having the luxury of housing with clan members as you prepare for raids and looting. Besides hostile players and animals, gamers will have to keep track of other minor daily occurrences to keep alive such as maintaining how much their character consumes food and their body temperature.

Fortnite

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Developer: Epic Games, People Can Fly

Platforms: PC

Fortnite is an upcoming co-op sandbox survival title that is described as Minecraft meetsLeft 4 Dead. This video game will have players working together in a randomly generated world in which their overall goal of  the game is to build a structure for protection from the swarms of monsters that come each night. Players can build a structure to their liking and imagination along with constructing to better suit their needs for fighting off the hordes of monsters that appear at night. A total of four classes will be available to choose from, each of which will have their own unique attributes such as the Ninja class which are characters best suited for melee based weapons such as a Katana.

As players progress through the game and level up, new aspects will become available. After each round, players can further tweak their structure and decide on what resources such as wood, stone, or metal should be swapped out for another. Furthermore, players may find new spots to fortify or to rig a hidden trap.

Landmark

Landmark

Developer: Daybreak Games

Platforms: PC

Landmark is a small fragment of the upcoming EverQuest Next. Within the game ofLandmark, players are tasked with exploring and building whatever they please and so far we’ve seen some truly remarkable creations. While the game does offer some resources and items to collect, Daybreak Games mainly wish players to make creations which may be used for the upcoming EverQuest Next video game. Another aspect of the game is the DGC Marketplace where gamers can buy or sell items within the game. Currently, Landmark is in closed beta with no clear indication when the game will become open for everyone.

RoBlox

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Developer: Roblox Corporation

Platforms: PC, iOS, Android, XBO

RoBlox has been available since its beta in 2006 and since then the game has continued to go strong with new players interested in one thing, creating. The heart and soul of RoBloxis about creating whatever a gamer can imagine with a heavy influence of social gameplay. Players can meet together, build their own incredible world, and do as they like within that world. This is one title that’s a must play if you’re into the creation side of things withinMinecraft.

DayZ

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Developer: Bohemia Interactive

Platform: PC, PS4, XBO

We’ve mentioned about DayZ earlier within the game Rust. This is an open-world video game title that places gamers in a heavily populated post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies and other players. As a survivor, players will have to embark on a journey of collecting resources to further stay alive such as food, water, medicine, and weapons. An interesting aspect to DayZ is the permadeath which means when players die they start over with nothing leaving it tough to trust other players, especially those within groups.

As of right now DayZ is still very much in the development phase with Bohemia Interactive considering several new upcoming features to include in the game when it officially launches. We may see more buildings players can enter, the ability to build bases, security systems, and even programmable computers.  Although it’s uncertain just what features will make the official release launch.

Guncraft

Guncraft

Developer: Exatogames

Platforms: PC

It’s obvious the influences behind the development of Guncraft and even though it can be confused as simply a Minecraft clone, Guncraft offers a unique gameplay. Yes, players can build and construct their own creations but the heart of the game is a first person shooter. Players will duke it out with a variety of firearms and even vehicles such as helicopters and hover drones. Another key point with Guncraft is the highly destructible environments that you can first build for specific matches such as capture the flag or deathmatch.

Starbound

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Developer: Chucklefish Games

Platforms: PC, XBO, PS4, PSV

Starbound takes place in the future where players start off the game fleeing their homeworld. As their shuttle shoots off into the deep space our protagonist finds himself landing on a habitable planet where the players adventure truly begins. Though the game does feature quests and  story driven missions, players are free to explore and collect resources. However, besides the story missions, developers have started that players can choose their own path within Starbound such as farming to sell crops to building and managing places for rent for the various traveling NPCs.

There’s a total of seven playable races to go through the game as, each of which will have their own reasons in fleeing their homeworld along with their different beliefs and background information. Starbound released on December 4, 2013, as Steam Early Access title though it’s unclear just when we’ll see the game make its way to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita.

Don’t Starve

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Developer: Klei Entertainment

Platforms: PC, PS3, PS4, PSV, Wii U, Xbox One

Don’t Starve takes the elements of Minecraft by dropping a player into a dark dreary world with little instructions on what to do while the design looks as if it came directly from a Tim Burton film. Players control a scientist named Wilson as he must make his way through the night with monsters and supernatural enemies hot on his tail. Similar toFortnite, players will search and scavenge the world during the day in order to gather supplies for firewood and food to survive the nightfall. Gamers attempt to survive for as long as they possibly can while exploring the world and reaching the end island. Since the game released, there has been DLC which offers news characters, creatures, and seasonal effects.

Planet Explorers

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Developer: Pathea Games

Platforms: PC

Set in 2287 players are aboard the first colony ship sent out by Earth. As the colony ship approaches a planet known as Maria, a creature causes the ship to crash leaving the survivors stranded on a hostile alien planet. Within the game players will explore the alien world, build, gather resources, and claim their new home. There is an included storyline with NPCs and missions though it’s completely up to the player to go through the campaign or completely ignore it to create their own story. Multiplayer is another aspect within Planet Explorers where players can go through a coop of the adventure mode or a versus mode which is based on the amount kills, built objects, and resources mined by the contenders.

 

Top 10 Alternative Minecraft Games

AlunaGeorge to play virtual Minecraft concert The band’s performance will be recreated live in the videogame world

AlunaGeorge will perform a first-of-its-kind concert that will be recreated live in the virtual world of videogame Minecraft.

The actual concert is being held in Hamar, Norway as part of an annual tech festival, the Gathering, but the band will also simultaneously appear in pixelated form in the hit videogame.

A team of volunteers will control avatars modelled after the performers, matching their every movement in the game.

In a trailer for the event, a horde of boxy characters run towards the show while AlunaGeorge’s new single ‘I’m in Control’ plays in the background.

Ahead of the concert, users have created billboards and flyers inside Minecraft advertising the performance. Due to server constraints space will be limited, with enough room for a few thousand fans.

“I’m sure they’ll be able to accommodate around 2,000 to 3,000 people, so this will have the same sort of feel as seeing a show in small concert venue,” said Erik Heisholt, a Gathering organizer and founder of the tech company Heisholt Inc.

The concert is scheduled to begin at 8pm this evening (March 23). Watch below.

AlunaGeorge to play virtual Minecraft concert The band’s performance will be recreated live in the videogame world

Minecraft: Story Mode continues with three more episodes later this year

Minecraft: Story Mode is getting three more episodes this year, Telltale Games announced today. That means Episode 5, which launches March 29, won’t be the last chapter of the series, but will instead bridge it with the rest of the story to come.

Those who want to play Episodes 6, 7 and 8 will need to have purchased at least the first episode of Minecraft: Story Mode, which debuted back in October.

The fifth installment, titled Order Up!, sends the player protagonist Jesse and his or her friends to an abandoned temple, where they are ambushed and find themselves in an entirely new world. The ruler is told the group of heroes, the New Order of the Stone, are up to no good, setting up the conflict and showdown of this story.

Minecraft: Story Mode stars voice actors Patton Oswalt and Catherine Taber as Jesse (depending on the player’s gender choice); Paul Reubens of Pee-wee Herman fame as bad guy Ivor; and Sean Astin of The Goonies (OK, OK, also The Lord of the Rings trilogy) as Reginald. Melissa Hutchison, who voices Clementine in Telltale’s acclaimed The Walking Dead adaptation, features in Episode 5 as a new character.

For more, see Polygon’s review of the first episode, “The Order of the Stone.” The game is available on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Mac, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation Vita, and Android and iOS.

Minecraft: Story Mode continues with three more episodes later this year

Piper: A Minecraft Computer For Budding Inventors

Who doesn’t like playing games? If your high school and college educations had been all playtime instead of studying, you probably would’ve liked it all a lot more. Well, even though you’re all grown up now, the child in you is going to rejoice that you can learn electronics and engineering using the fun of Minecraft, now for 18% off. Make learning awesome again with this hands-on, interactive way to master these essential computing skills.

Level by level, the game play here will walk you through the rungs of building a computer from scratch. You’ll get to tinker with buzzers, motion sensors, LED lights, switches and more and connecting these hardware pieces will bring you steps closer to the Raspberry Pi. From there you’ll build a totally self-contained computer that runs on a Raspberry Pi project board. All the hardware challenges can be played as Minecraft game levels, making it super fun to build at every stage. For extra levels and more sharing opportunities, simply connect to WiFi.

Knowing how to build systems like this can really amp up your career potential. Use this excuse to play games for hours on end because you can pretty much call it work or school, ramping up your engineering and electronics prowess. Playing Minecraft has never been so productive and now it’s all 18% off. Check out the link below for more details on how you can level up to a Raspberry Pi master.

Take 18% Off the Piper Kit in the Boing Boing Store.

Piper: A Minecraft Computer For Budding Inventors

‘Minecraft’ in VR is exactly what you’d hope it would be

If there’s one word that accurately describes the experience of slipping into a virtual realityMinecraft world, it’s “VAST.”

Minecraft has always been a huge game. Its randomly generated worlds stretch on forever, serving up new mysteries, new treasures and new dangers as you range further and further into the blocky landscape.

Incredibly, virtual reality makes all of that feel somehow bigger.

By now you know that Minecraft: Pocket Edition is coming to the Gear VR headset. It’s eventually coming to Oculus Rift as well, though Microsoft isn’t quite ready to get into those details.

The mobile version is more than up to the task of immersing you in Minecraft like you haven’t been before. Even if you’ve messed with the “Minecrift” mod, which makes the PC game work with Oculus dev kits, this is a step forward.

There are two ways to play Minecraft in a Gear VR. If you’re looking for something less intense, there’s always the option of playing the game on a virtual big screen TV in a Minecraftified living room.

IMAGE: MICROSOFT

It’s cool, but you can also give the Gear VR touchpad a tap to teleport yourself into that virtual TV, for more of a “full” virtual experience.

Here’s what you need to know: it works. This is Minecraft with console-style controls — you need a Bluetooth gamepad to play it — except the headset makes it feel like you’re inside the world.

The big difference with the controls is the camera, which moves from the right analog stick to your head. Sitting in a swivel chair helps if you want to completely rely on head tracking for turning inside the virtual space.

That’s not to say the right stick is useless. Moving it to the left or right turns you in that direction, but it’s not a smooth movement like you’d find in other first-person perspective games. It’s a stuttering turn, as if the frame rate dropped significantly.

“It’s almost like a palette cleanser for your eyes,” Minecraft development manager Mike Weilbacher told Mashable.

“It’s almost like a palette cleanser for your eyes.”

“We have some psychology behind it now. We … understand that, depending on how big the gap is, [that helps determine] how much more comfortable it can be. People have different gap sizes.”

The final game’s options menu will include a slider that allows you to adjust the gap size. If motion sickness isn’t a problem for you in VR, you’ll be able to turn off the gaps completely. In that situation, the right stick turns your perspective to the left or right smoothly, as it would in a standard first-person perspective game.

Other than that, the VR version of Minecraft: Pocket Edition carries forward all the features that the game currently boasts, and all the ongoing updates that fans have come to expect.

“It’s still Minecraft,” Weilbacher said. “You can still use Redstone, you can still make contraptions, you can still go online. It’s still the base game. We’ve just tweaked some of the edges to make it feel more comfortable.”

IMAGE: MICROSOFT

The game even allows for cross-platform play, just like the standard mobile edition. You can be running around in a Gear VR while your friend is playing the Windows 10 version on a computer. Once the Rift edition comes out, cross-platform with that will be possible as well.

But what about the Xbox One version of the game? Microsoft recently gave developers the go-ahead to add cross-network play support into their games, allowing Xbox players to link up with PC (and perhaps even PlayStation) users as well.

Will cross-network play allow Minecraft fans on Xbox One to connect with their VR-equipped friends?

“Potentially,” Weilbacher said. “We’re just not talking about it right now.”

Minecraft: Pocket Edition is coming to Gear VR sometime this spring. The build we sampled at the 2016 Game Developer’s Conference felt great, but there’s more work to be done.

“We’re doing some optimization to get the performance better and make it more comfortable,” Weilbacher said. “We really want it to be a polished experience.”

‘Minecraft’ in VR is exactly what you’d hope it would be

Microsoft is opening up the world of ‘Minecraft’ to Gear VR

Microsoft is opening up the world of ‘Minecraft’ to Gear VR

Next step for the game: Samsung’s virtual reality headset.

The Oculus Rift isn’t the only virtual reality platform getting a piece ofMinecraft’s pie. Today, at a GDC 2016 event, Microsoft and Oculus are set to announce that the open-world phenomenon is also coming to the Gear VR, a spokesperson for the companies confirmed to Engadget. For many people, Samsung’s headset is a far more accessible option than the consumer Rift, so this is good news for anyone who wants to playMinecraft in VR without breaking the bank.

This new version is expected to be similar to the one from an Oculus Rift, which we played recently and found quite impressive. As of yet, there’s not any information on how much Minecraft for Gear VR will cost or when you can download it, but we’ll let you know as soon as we have those details. At least now you’re aware it’s official, not just a thought.

Microsoft is opening up the world of ‘Minecraft’ to Gear VR

Immersive ‘Minecraft’ Experience Ready To Hit Samsung Gear VR This Spring

If it was tough to pull the kids away from their screens while playing Minecraft, it’s going to get even tougher when they’re completely lost in the game while wearing a VR headset.

The first major virtual headset manufacturer to pull off a truly immersive Minecraft world is Samsung. Announced in San Francisco during the annual Game Developers Conference, theMinecraft virtual reality experience is coming to the Gear VR this spring.

Microsoft bought the game franchise two years ago along with Mojang, the studio that developed it, for $2.5 billion. Since then the company, which also has its own augmented reality headset called HoloLens, has pushed the game onto as many platforms as it can.

Minecraft in virtual reality is seemingly the last frontier in terms of platform play to bringing the block-building universe as close to real life as possible. It’s like playing Legos but in a video game that players can actually lose themselves in, and that’s an entirely plausible reality.

Three years ago, Microsoft announced that Minecraft players have spent countless hours playing the game on the Xbox 360. That’s just on the Xbox and that’s just on a 2D screen. It will be interesting to observe its impact in a virtual reality environment on multiple virtual reality and augmented reality systems.

Samsung got first dibs, and first movers always tend to get a nice, big lead, but some reviewers have deemed the Samsung port of the game rather “mehhh.” It could be that in order to push that game out quickly, Microsoft simply slapped a 2D version of Minecraft onto the Gear VR’s eyepieces. Reports of a wonky in-game camera, unfriendly inventory and health menu UIs as well as small text were some of the complaints.

After the Gear VR, however, Minecraft will be coming to Facebook’s Oculus Rift headset, which has considerably more computing power behind it than Samsung’s smartphone-connected VR solution.

Of course, the Oculus Rift is without a doubt incredibly expensive compared to the Gear VR and that’s just for the headset. The added cost of a PC that’s powerful enough to run the device is another expense to consider. Nonetheless, Minecraft on the Oculus Rift is expected to offer a much more immersive experience.

Microsoft, too, probably has even bigger plans to bring a bigger version Minecraft to its HoloLens headset. Since HoloLens offers an augmented reality experience, the device will meld our real world with Minecraft’s block-building world. Of that, reporters have described early builds of the game on the HoloLens as “so damn cool.”

Immersive ‘Minecraft’ Experience Ready To Hit Samsung Gear VR This Spring

John Carmack Told Us What Makes Minecraft VR So Special

“I think this is going to be the most important game in VR this year”

Minecraft for Samsung’s Gear VR is happening, and here’s the weird part: there’s no official announcement. It’s just happening, sometime this spring, which is also the timeframe Microsoft has promised to roll out a version for the much pricier Oculus Rift.I had a chance to take a near-final version of the game for a spin at a special Oculus-helmed Game Developers Conference event in San Francisco on March 15. It looks fantastic—effectively as sharp and responsive and immersive as on the Rift. Considering the Rift is going to cost $600 when it launches on March 28 and require a high-end PC to boot, that’s kind of a big deal. Gear VR costs just $100, and requires a Samsung Galaxy smartphone you may already own.

At one point Oculus VR chief technology officer John Carmack (co-creator of video game classics like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake) addressed those gathered to demo the game, explaining why he got involved withMinecraft on Gear VR. He said that he thinks the budget VR headset already trumps Rift because you can swivel 360 degrees without tangling yourself in cables.

Oculus’ original vision for virtual reality had focused on designing comfortable experiences that “minimized the likelihood of anyone getting sick,” said Carmack. “So we had all these experiences where people sat down and things happened around you.”

“I kept rebelling against that, saying ‘That’s not what I want to do in VR,’” explained Carmack. Instead, he said he wanted to explore new worlds, adding that “Minecraft hits all of those buttons very very well.”

Getting it off the ground was another matter. “The drama in all of this, the way development went up and down through all of this was… ‘It’s going to happen! It’s not going to happen. It’s going to happen! It’s not going to happen. We really think it’s going to happen now.’ And now it finally is happening,” he said. He then boldly declared: “I think this is going to be the most important game in VR this year.”

Microsoft isn’t saying whether existing Minecraft mobile owners will get the VR version for free, or if it’ll be sold as something standalone. But spring is right around the corner.

John Carmack Told Us What Makes Minecraft VR So Special

Oculus shows off first-look of Minecraft for Gear VR and it’s mehhh

Minecraft in all its blocky glory is setting up shop on mobile virtual reality on the Samsung Gear VR.

I had a chance to demo the game at an Oculus media event during GDC in SF this week and there was a decent amount of hype surrounding the wildly popular game making its mobile VR debut. Microsoft is already set to launch a version of the game for the Rift sometime this spring.

My VR Minecraft experience left a bit to be desired.

Gameplay takes place in full VR and cinema modes and requires an external bluetooth gamepad, which does give the mobile headset a substantially beefy gaming feel. I will say that Gear VR is probably not a good platform on which to start playing Minecraft if you’re not used to the way the game operates.

When it comes to porting existing game experiences to virtual reality, one of the toughest things to do is nail camera angles, and this title was largely hit or miss in that regard. The camera moves in jumpy ticks, so there are no smooth transitions, despite having a gamepad that should easily let you move the camera the way you desire.

The most bothersome feature of the game is the lazy way they chose to add inventory and health menus to float in space in front of you. It doesn’t work that well and, unless you have the headset positioned perfectly on your face, it’s pretty impossible to read any of the info as it’s far too small.

Full VR mode is oddly a bit disorienting despite the fact that it’s such an iconically basic blocky game, but there was something odd-feeling about it. Cinema mode is the most comfortable to play through, but, as with other games, there’s the nagging feeling that playing in 2D is a waste of the platform.

It was fun to experience such a major title on Gear VR, and its launch speaks to the clout Gear VR is earning as an actual piece of gaming hardware. But porting the same experience of console VR to mobile VR is a pretty dangerous move here. Hopefully the teams at Microsoft can make some updates before there is a full release on the Oculus store.

Oculus shows off first-look of Minecraft for Gear VR and it’s mehhh

BetterGeo turns Minecraft into an immersive tool for teaching geology

Minecraft may have started out as a crafting and survival game, but it’s evolved into a wonderfully complex virtual environment. Now, a team from Sweden has turned it into an amazing tool for teaching about geology.

The basics were already there, of course. You could mine rock to fashion tools and weapons or build structures, turn iron ore into a suit of armor, and stockpile sand to make into glass. BetterGeo expands on what’s already there in a major way. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a mod that was developed by a group from the Geological Survey of Sweden. BetterGeo adds numerous minerals and metals, including aluminum, feldspar, garnet, titanium, tourmaline — and even lithium and rare earth elements (both useful for those of you who plan on manufacturing cell phones from scratch inside Minecraft).

What about rocks? BetterGeo has those, too. Igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary — they’re all accounted for. You can stockpile basalt, gneiss, limestone, and shale. And for any Minecraft players out there that share my dad’s penchant for combining geological puns and potty humor, you’ll be glad to know that BetterGeo will let you make a big pile of schist.

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A kimberlite pipe with diamond deposits, just like the ones they work in Africa.

As for how they’re placed throughout the world, SGU tried to keep things authentic. “Ore deposits are limited to realistic geological sequences,” they say, “which increase(s) the thrill of exploration.” No true geek can argue with that logic!

The mod doesn’t stop there, though. There are a bunch of new items that you can craft, too. Don the fire proximity suit, mix metals in the alloy furnace, or whip up some rechargeable batteries and a charger that can supply power to your new defribillator. You can even build display cases to show off the rare specimens you mine.

What are you waiting for? Download BetterGeo now and install it to add its geological wonders to your Minecraft world.

BetterGeo turns Minecraft into an immersive tool for teaching geology

Hands-on with Minecraft for the Gear VR, and why it’s John Carmack’s favorite platform

 
Microsoft and Oculus VR held a press event yesterday to demo Minecraft on the Gear VR for the first time. Oculus’ chief technical officer, John Carmack, was on hand to give his thoughts, and it turns out he’s been strapping smartphones to his face for a while now. But the demonstration showed that the game is still not quite performing up to its potential.

“About a year ago I got Minecraft on the Gear VR and I couldn’t tell anyone about it,” said Carmack. “And it was extremely frustrating because I was playing this game and I could spend hours playing. […] I thought it was the best VR experience that we had available. For anything.”

The reason the Gear VR is the ideal platform for Minecraft, Carmack said, is because there are no wires tethering the user to a computer. With all the processing power built into the headset itself — in the form of a Samsung smartphone — there’s nothing holding the user back from moving in any direction.

“In VR, I want to go explore the world,” Carmack said. “I think that the ability to be wireless, to spin around and have that freedom, really makes this a unique experience. […] Minecraft hits all of those buttons very, very well. It is the quintessential open-world game, and being able to explore that world in VR was what I always thought the core of this was all cracked up to be.”

To enable that kind of experience, the demo space was littered with spinning office chairs and Gear VRs fitted with Samsung Galaxy S7 phones.

But while Minecraft has been up and running on the Gear VR for some time, it still has no release date. Looking at Minecraft: Pocket Edition side by side with Minecraft on the Gear VR, it’s easy to see why; right now, the view distance is remarkably shorter in VR.

The play space designed for journalists to experience was very narrow. While the frame rate was acceptable — I had no issues with nausea — the grand vistas I’ve come to appreciate in Minecraft were almost entirely absent.

Once I broke free from the prepared environment and ran off into the world, I immediately noticed how details were only visible out to a stone’s throw away, a distance of perhaps 40 or 50 blocks. Past that, the edge of the rendered space manifested itself as an opaque white wall. Underground, in the pitch dark, that wall actually lit entire caves, meaning I could glitch the game into giving me enough light to see.

RIGHT NOW, THE VIEW DISTANCE IS REMARKABLY SHORTER IN VR

Inside the prepared environment, it seemed as if I could see farther up and down than I could see out into the distance.

Despite these technical issues with view distance, the locomotion system was particularly well-refined. Jumps had been smoothed out, and felt more like mantling obstacles in a third-person shooter than leaping into the air.

That freedom of movement was a recurring theme in Carmack’s short speech.

“Knowing that you don’t simply control your character to turn 90 degrees this way, to move over here and turn around, but instead to actually turn your body all the way around [is powerful],” Carmack said. “You know that you’re 200 meters away this way down the hill and around the bend from where you started, and that sense of being in a big world is wonderful.”

Carmack closed by reaffirming his belief that Minecraft would be available in VR for consumers very soon.

“I said this was my grail for VR, that this was the most important gaming application that I could do, or that I could be involved with, and so I’m very proud for the part that I’ve had and I’m happy to have worked with Microsoft and Mojang to get this at the point that it’s at. I’m excited to be supporting it in the coming years as things continue to improve.”

Hands-on with Minecraft for the Gear VR, and why it’s John Carmack’s favorite platform

The best Minecraft seeds for beautiful, interesting worlds

Seeds are pretty important in Minecraft—and not just because they’re the key to amassing a mighty army of virtual chickens. World seeds, the magical strings of numbers that generate the game’s terrain, are an excellent tool to help you kick-start your adventure. Bored of spawning into flat, uninspiring plains? Wearing out your blocky booties searching for a decent spot to set up shop? Get seeding, and take advantage of exotic locations filled with possibility.

Whether you’re after unique strongholds to loot, floating islands to build upon, extreme landmasses to scale, survival challenges to face or simply a cosy spot for your swanky new pad, our essential list has you covered.

It couldn’t be simpler. Step one: check that the seed version matches up with the version of Minecraft you’re running. Step two: plug those delicious digits into the seed field when creating your new world. Step three: enjoy some of the best Minecraft world seeds ever discovered. (Optional step four: move in that sinister chicken army of yours.)

1. Gorgeous Extreme Hills

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Hope you’re wearing your enchanted flip-flops and have a hankering to scale ridiculous terrain. It could well take you several Minecraft days to climb these Extreme Hills… but just look at the view you’ll be clocking on the way up. Waterfalls cascade through the air, enormous swathes of rock overhang verdant plains, and hollows in the mountain practically beg to be excavated and explored. Just imagine how awesome your base of operations would look built into this natural structure.

2. Flower Forest and Ice Plains,

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The Ice Plains Spikes biome is a rare variant of the Tundra biome, featuring huge sculptural pillars of Packed Ice and, er… not a lot else, actually. It doesn’t half make a lovely backdrop though—which is why this seed is so spectacular. You spawn in a picturesque flower forest, the ocean lapping at one side and a frigid paradise skirting the other. The perfect setting for an Adventure Time tribute build, perhaps.

3. Jungle Oasis,

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It’s worth uncorking this version 1.4 vintage for the chance to dip your toes in one of Minecraft’s most gorgeous natural pools. Jungle biomes are somewhat rare, and finding such an exquisite example of one as a randomly-generated archipelago rarer still. But this little looker is more than just a pretty place. It’s chock-a-block with animal life and rich in easily-accessible resources—a fine choice for playing Survival mode in style.

4. Giant Floating Island feat. Ominous Abyss

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Paradisiacal islands are all well and good, but if you fancy something a little more existential, why not try this highly improbable seed? A gigantic grassy landmass hovers in the air with a flagrant disregard for the laws of physics, overlooking the dark, hopeless maw of a perversely alluring ravine… But before you go flinging yourself in in search of treasure, we should mention there’s a jungle temple just across the river. Slightly less drastic.

5. Lava-filled Desert Mountain with Splash of Greenery

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Normally, I’d deem throwing all your favourite things into a blender and mixing them together madness (step away from your cat, please). With this particular seed, however, the Frankenstein fusion of biomes really works. A vast desert setting; an Extreme Hills mountain; a high-altitude forest; an inexplicably-lush base camp area; a village; a desert temple… It all comes together to produce endless potential for a variety of adventures.

6. Beautiful Mesa Forest

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As if layer upon fudgy layer of colourful clay wasn’t a tasty enough prospect for you, this mesa seed boasts several other interesting quirks. You start in a ravine where thick clusters of oak trees grow: a short stroll up onto the plateau, and you’ll notice a wide-ranging mesa forest with a lake inside a deep crater. Find the cave hidden around the rim of the crater, and you’ll drop right into an extensive system of underground tunnels.

7. Minimalist Survival Island

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As Gandhi once remarked, “To achieve true enlightenment, one must isolate themselves upon an unforgiving Minecraft survival island seed”. This pared-down setting might well inspire some soul-searching. Essential supplies are practically non-existent here, the nearby squid your only friends—not counting Mr. Grass, Mr. Sand and Señor Gravel. After some time you too may find yourself anthropomorphising inanimate blocks. Best survival seed ever; 10/10, would go mad there again.

8. Village Surrounded by Snow

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Best return to civilisation, eh? There’s no NPC village more scenic than this one, a diminutive hamlet nestled in a thawed patch of Cold Taiga biome. You’ve a friendly neighbourhood blacksmith, a quaint little farm for food, and there are even diamonds to, erm, borrow, if you poke about. If you’re after something to build a thriving metropolis off of, and are a sucker for a snowy backyard, this is the seed for you.

9. Landlocked Mushroom Biome

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Minecraft’s shroomy kingdoms are normally rather lonely affairs: tiny little landmasses far out to sea, with a few Mooshrooms sprinkled about for good measure. This seed, however, generates a uniquely landlocked Mushroom Biome. Upon spawning, you’re at liberty to leg it into the emerald wilderness, butarmed with just a wooden bowl and your wits, it’s possible to craft a fungal abode and live on infinite mushroom stew. Going veggie has never been so simple.

10. Hollow Mountain, Hello Zombies

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Being an aspiring Minecraft supervillain in this day and age is no picnic. In fact, it’s a logistical nightmare. Where to find room to install an intimidatingly large lava wall? How to conceal your TNT-powered superweapons? And the bodies? Well, this seed has a solution: a 244-block-high hollow mountain practically made for housing all your dastardly designs. There’s even an exposed zombie dungeon at the summit for unlimited XP farming.

11. Seaside Mega-Taiga

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Live out all your wildest lumberjackin’ fantasies in this Mega Taiga seed, which contains an absolutely massive redwood forest. You’ll spawn by the cave seen at the bottom of this picture, so you can get your shelter or mineshaft started quickly, leaving more time to enjoy your surroundings. One of the two paths inside the cave leads to a dead end—but the other leads you to a gorgeous ocean vista.

12. Crazy Crater

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I’m not entirely sure how Steve survived the End Times, but this seed proves that it must take a whole lot more than a piddling shower of flaming meteors to kill him. A giant, perfectly-circular crater in the earth leads deep down into an underground network of caves, ravines, and mineshafts. There’s tons of ore to mine, including plenty of sparkly diamond goodness. The crater’s also a handy natural mutton-generating trap. Sorry, sheep.

13. Mountainous Snowy Island

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Not all islands have to be tropical, you know. The highest points of this Extreme Hills island are dusted with snow and covered with clouds. The downside is that there are no animals living on the island, so your lunchtime BLT ain’t happening here. It’s far from a hostile place, though: there’s tons of exposed coal in the cliffs, and plenty of trees and grass to get you up and running.

14. Ravine Stronghold/Library

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Don’t be fooled by your spawn point—that’s not the ravine you’re looking for. Want a glimpse of a true underground wonder? Head towards coordinates 236 68 -704. Peeking into the chasm, you’ll spot an oaken, open-plan (alright, it’s just missing a few walls. Let us play estate agent) library intersecting a stronghold. Ladders and bookshelves line the walls: you might need a few tomes to enchant your gear, seeing as though the end portal is nearby…

15. Witch Hut on Stilts

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You’re probably used to coming across the odd Witch Hut (then booking it in the other direction lest you’re poisoned to a sticky pulp). But a Witch Hut on stilts? Well, it’s possible. Mosey on over to coordinates 207, 66, 614 and take a gander at those long, loggy legs extending into the ground. Heading southwest from spawn brings you to a village: there’s a loot-filled abandoned mineshaft directly below it.

The best Minecraft seeds for beautiful, interesting worlds

‘Minecraft’ Update 1.10 Already In Development With A New Mob, Says Mojang Lead

“Minecraft’s” lead developer at Mojang has revealed that work on the game’s 1.10 update has already begun despite just releasing 1.9 a few days ago. Apparently, a new mob is in the works!

The news comes to Design & Trend straight from the Twitter account of “Minecraft” lead, Jens Bergensten. In one tweet, he gave franchise fans a sneak peek at content that’s likely many months away.

(Photo : Jens Bergensten/Twitter)

The tease is obviously quick, but it came when one fan asked what’s planned for the game’s future patches up to a hypothetical version 1.10. Bergensten quickly replied that he “started working on a new mob today,” which makes it seem likely to debut in a future tweak.

For those not too invested in the “Minecraft” craze, mob is a term that generally applies to all the creatures found within the world. There are over 40 different mobs on the platform today, and they all serve various purposes. Creepers and Skeletons, for example, can harm players. Chickens and Cows litter the environment to make some areas of the map feel more populated. As far as this unnamed new mob is concerned, we don’t know what role it will fill.

“Minecraft” has been on the market for a number of years, but new mob additions don’t happen too often. For the most part, they’re saved for major version number updates. The last mob to be officially introduced was the Rabbit in July of last year. It was a huge draw of the 1.8 revision.

That being said, it will likely be a long while before version 1.10 comes to fruition. The gap between 1.8 and 1.9 lasted well over a year, which leaves many fans wondering if the same time span will be the norm from here on out. “Minecraft” enthusiasts were certainly rewarded for their patience, however, considering the latest release offers a complete overhaul of the game’s combat system. Fresh mechanics like Attack Strength were added, as well as a swath of new forms of defense.

With Mojang just beginning its development process, it’s hard to say what the team’s immediate focus will be in the future.

Do you think “Minecraft” 1.10 will take a while to release? What mob would you want to see in the next big update? Tell us in the poll and comments section!

‘Minecraft’ Update 1.10 Already In Development With A New Mob, Says Mojang Lead

Minecraft’s combat update is live: shields, dual-wielding, sweep attacks and more

Minecraft just got a whole lot more aggressive with the 1.9 Combat Update on PC.

Players will now be able to hold two items at the same time and use them independently. You can equip one of the new shields for instance, alongside a sword or axe. Or a weapon and a torch for better visibility during night fights.

There are now sweeping attacks for swords, and a cool down for attacks. If you swing wildly and constantly you’ll do less damage than timing a more accurate blow.

There’s also a bunch of different arrows added to the game, new sound effects and other changes. Check out all the big changes below.

  • Added shields
  • Attacking now has a “cool-down” delay, making it more important to time your attacks
  • You can now hold items in both hands (default quick key to swap items is ‘F’)
  • Swords have a special sweep attack
  • Axes have a special crushing blow attack
  • Added the elytra
  • New mob: Shulker
  • Expanded The End
  • Added Chorus plants
  • New Purpur blocks
  • New End Rod block
  • Added dragon head block
  • Ender Dragon can be resummoned
  • Added beetroot and beetroot soup (from MC:PE)
  • Added grass path block
  • Added igloos
  • Armor protection values have been lowered
  • Added tipped arrows
  • Added spectral arrows
  • Added Frost Walker enchantment and frosted ice block
  • Added a whole bunch of new sound effects
  • Added sound effect subtitles
  • Brewing Stand now requires Blaze Powder to activate
  • Added skeleton riders
  • We believe we’ve fixed MC-10 and a whole bunch of other issues
  • Removed Herobrine

Minecraft’s combat update is live: shields, dual-wielding, sweep attacks and more

‘Minecraft’ 1.9 Combat Update Consoles: The PC Version Has Lots Of Awesome Stuff We Don’t… Again

For a brief period, the stars were aligned and the PC and Console Editions of Minecraft reached near parity. The Minecraft 1.8.8 update for consoles rolled out a huge list of changes and updates, bringing Minecrafton consoles closer than it had ever been to the PC version. At that point, us console players really had everything we could want, besides persistent serversand unlimited worlds and those sorts of things. It was good times. It still is good times—the new update is fantastic and really breathes new life into the game. But at the same time, the PC version has soldiered on, getting even better and more exciting than before. With the official release of Minecraft 1.9 on PC, available now, the original version of the game has lots of new and exciting stuff we don’t have. This is no complaint… it’s just new stuff for us to look forward to in future Minecraft updates.

Combat Update For Console Edition?

Technically, that brief period of alignment between Minecraft PC and Console just ended. Until the release of the Combat Update, the latest release of Minecraft on PC was very similar to the current console release, minus a few bells and whistles. However, the newest major PC update is finally available. Lots of people are playing it already.Minecraft 1.9, the so-called Combat Update, is a major revamp. It changes the basic combat dynamic, adds a left hand, shields, new types of arrows, and all kinds of things to make combat more challenging and exciting.

But that’s not the juicy stuff. The Combat update also adds some new gameplay features to explore. First off, igloos. There are igloos now! Pretty cool as far as structures go. More notably, the Combat Update revamps the PC version of the Ender Dragon fight to be more like the one in the console version, but it also adds an endgame following that fight (which can now be repeated).

After the Ender Dragon, the PC player can now explore something truly new—the outer islands of the End, which are home to End cities and the new types of monsters that inhabit them. There are beautiful chorus trees, awesome new purple blocks, major structures hovering over the Void. And there are End ships, filled with danger and treasure and a truly rare artifact, the Elytra, that lets players fly—after a fashion. It’s a huge expansion to the end-game content in Minecraft, at least as exciting as the Ocean Monuments. And someday it will surely come to Minecraft on consoles.

When will the Combat Update come to Minecraft on PS4, Xbox One, Wii U and everything else? It’s going to be a long while. Remember, the Update just came out on PC on Feb. 29. Now that it’s locked and loaded, the countdown for the update on the Console Editions starts. And even after that, it’ll be a long wait. 4J Studios takes its time with the updates, although the last one (which took a year!) was a bit of an exceptionbecause of its sheer breadth and size.

Don’t expect the Combat Update anytime soon.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t start getting excited for it.

‘Minecraft’ 1.9 Combat Update Consoles: The PC Version Has Lots Of Awesome Stuff We Don’t… Again

Minecraft 1.91 Update Out in Two Weeks; Minecraft: Pocket Edition 0.15.0 Nearing Release?

 

On March 9, Mojang made the Minecraft 1.91 Pre-Release 2 download available to players.

Pre-Release downloads are not the actual updates to the game. Rather, as the name suggests, they’re released beforehand to help catch bugs and fix issues before the update is rolled out to everyone. As a result, it’s recommended you only download the Pre-Release if you’re experience enough to know how to properly use the files.

While 1.91 Pre-Release 1 added many new elements, such as better AI and Elytra sound effects, Pre-Release 2 mainly smooths out issues players had with the first one. There was a crash which has been fixed and the cooldown mechanics have been changed.

Minecraft 1.91 Pre-Release 1 changed the way cooldown works to make it less confusing for players, but that received considerable criticism, as several fans felt the new system threw off the game’s balance instead. So far, it seems as though Pre-Release 2 is an attempt to find a middle ground between that and the old cooldown system.

But the biggest news for most Minecraft players is that the official Minecraft 1.91 update will be out in two weeks, after GDC.

Meanwhile, there are rumors that a new update will soon arrive for Minecraft: Pocket Edition as well. After last month’s update to 0.14.0, fans are eagerly anticipating what might be included in Version 0.15.0. Popular rumors include the addition of resource packs (which will come to Minecraft: Pocket Edition eventually, even if not in this next update), the addition of music, and pistons.

Previous comments from Mojang have suggested music is planned, but still a long way off for Minecraft: Pocket Edition, so that one is unlikely. However, resource packs and pistons are both viable possibilities for Minecraft: Pocket Edition 0.15.0. We don’t know when the update will arrive, but it shouldn’t be too much longer.

Whether you play the original Minecraft or Minecraft: Pocket Edition, you have a lot to look forward to. Minecraft 1.91 is due out in two weeks and Minecraft: Pocket Edition 0.15.0 will probably arrive in the near future.

Do you play either or both of these games? How have you felt about the previous updates, and what do you most want to see in updates yet to come? Have you tested 1.91 Pre-Release 2? Share all your thoughts with us on Minecraft, Minecraft: Pocket Edition, and their upcoming updates in the comments below.

Minecraft 1.91 Update Out in Two Weeks; Minecraft: Pocket Edition 0.15.0 Nearing Release?

Minecraft updates are incoming for PC, Mac and Pocket Edition

Both versions of Minecraft are due to receive an update very soon. Pocket Minecraft will be receiving update 0.15.0 for all supported devices and Minecraft will soon be seeing the the combat update 1.9.1.

Fans of Pocket Minecraft have been eagerly awaiting news about the next update after the release of update 0.14.0 last month. The content for this update has only been hinted to by people involved with the development. New biomes have been heavily suggested by Tommasco Checchi however players will need to create a new world in order to play with them. New resource packs are also on the way for the Pocket Edition, additionally Redstone Phase 3 will be implemented and pistons will be added with this update.

There is some hope and suggestion from fans that Realms will return to the Pocked Edition of Minecraft; Minecraft Realms is a purchasable service from Mojang that allows players to buy a small server. Pocket Realms was removed from Pocket Edition several updates ago which has prevents players from playing together in large groups.

The Combat Update is the first big update to come to Minecraft in 2016; it was originally due for release at the end of 2015 but was delayed due to bugs and the team were reluctant to release such a large update during a time where they would be unable to patch out any issues. It was released at the end of February which added a wide array of new features to Minecraft.

The next update is going to tweak and adjust some of the new features, there are some new features being added to the game also but nothing major. The 1.9.1 update will be adding a new language, sound effects and an option to disable weapon cooldowns. Smaller changes have also been made to remove some bugs, improve AI and make sure the features are working correctly; for example, this will patch out the ability to attack with a weapon recharge bar of under 70%. Minecraft fans can expect to see smaller updates for a few months now as the game is tweaked and bugs are removed, the next major update will be 1.10 and is rumored to add a new mob to the game.

All versions of Minecraft will be affected by these updates and fans can suggest ideas for the Pocket Minecraft 0.15.0 update. For those not playing Pocket Minecraft, the 1.9.1 update should be released in the coming month for all other platforms.

Minecraft updates are incoming for PC, Mac and Pocket Edition