Thankfully, the discussion of media literacy is very prominent during Superbowl season. At this point, we are used to analyzing the commercials.

It must be one of the greatest accomplishments in advertising—talking about the ads is considered part of the tradition. People even say proudly, “I only watch for the commercials.” We start talking about the commercials weeks before they air. And people elect to watch them for fun on YouTube for weeks afterwards. It is absurd. Being sold stuff we don’t need has become an event.

I’m not unique in observing this. The conversation about body image and gender identity, in particular, is ubiquitous. Mostly, the focus is on girls and body image. But Common Sense Media leads the way with great articles about how to talk to your kids about gendered stereotypes during both the commercials, halftime and the actual game. Thankfully, they look at the impact on both boys and girls.

Here’s a quote from an excellent article entitled “What Are Boys Learning from the Super Bowl?”

Though there may or may not be a direct line between bone-crushing hits on the field and bullying at schools or between the objectification of women in commercials and the epidemic of sexual assault on college campuses, I do believe it’s our responsibility to investigate how valuing hypermasculinity in such a prominent way — as we do during the Super Bowl — might reinforce unhealthy gender norms. That said, there’s room for multiple conversations to give our kids even a slight filter with which to consume this overwhelming flurry of gendered images and ideas. Not only should we point things out to our kids while consuming this media, but we should encourage our friends and colleagues to do the same.

It is easy to find this kind of excellent writing during Superbowl season. And even during the rest of the year there’s a pretty healthy discussion of gender and media available. In fact, I might argue that the only good thing about the GamerGate fiasco is that it has brought more awareness about sexism in video games to the forefront of our consciousness.

But this culture of accusation, although sometimes necessary, tends to do more to antagonize than it does to educate our children. If we really want to raise a generation of thoughtful consumers who think critically about the media they consume, we also need to constantly teach them critical thinking skills in an ongoing and systematic way. We must do it in ways that aren’t always critical.

In my house, I do as much as I can to encourage critical thinking about media by talking about the video games my kids love to play. But it is not enough to just talk about it, I also have to encourage behaviors that nurture critical awareness to media and video games. Here are 3 ways I do it:

1. Play Without A Controller

All games are basically simple mathematical puzzles assembled using a series of complex algorithms. But we don’t see that side of games when we’re playing them. To a player, the game is an immersive fantasy world full of challenges and obstacles. Put simply, games are made up of mechanic and narrative scenarios. The mechanics are the rules of the game, the challenges players are expected to accomplish. The narrative is the story that makes the game interesting.

Most of the thinking about representation in video games is about the story. I’ve written a bit about the ways messages get baked into the mechanics, as have exceptional writers like Ian Bogost and Jane McGonigal, but the majority of the critical writing around games focuses on the narrative tropes. That’s okay, the narrative is a great place to start.

It is important to get kids to begin thinking about these narrative components and one way to do it is to get them thinking about the games’ characters outside of their devices, beyond the controller. Encourage them to draw pictures of their favorite characters. Encourage them to write stories about their favorite characters. Encourage them to imagine the characters outside of the games’ particular scenarios. And encourage them to imagine other characters in the same game worlds.

What happens is that by imagining game characters behaving differently in various scenarios, or other characters in the same scenarios, kids start to see that the game they’re used to is only representative of one narrative possibility. They realize that it could also go in a plethora of different directions. This opens the door to conversations about the kinds of messages particular narratives send and teaches kids that the commercial or mainstream message is not necessarily “normal” or “correct.”

2. Construct Your Own Reality

The primary part of learning to think critically about video games is learning that they are constructed.

Young players don’t give much thought to the fact that teams of developers and designers have to construct the games which seem so perfect. Once you’ve gotten them to realize that the games’ narrative components are not assembled from fixed possibilities, but rather from an infinite pool of variables, how do you get them to realize that narrative messages and characters are actually just thrown atop complex code? Teach them to make their own games.

There are many platforms that aim to teach young kids to make games by themselves. My personal favorite is Gamestar Mechanic. It uses a simple drag and drop interface to let kids assemble interactive systems-thinking based scenarios. Scratch is another great platform that is not as game oriented. It was developed as part of MIT Media Labs’ Lifelong Kindergarten project. It focuses on teaching basic coding through a drag and drop interface.

Both of these great web based options allow children to construct their own interactive media. And when they construct their own interactive worlds they begin to understand the way that mechanics and narrative elements interact to create a game.

Once they begin to see how it all works, they’ll approach the games they play in a different way. Not only will they be players, along for the ride, they’ll also become critics as they imagine what it took to construct the game that they are playing.

3. Face The Music

What about the more subtle components of the game? How do you get your kids to be thoughtful about the less explicit parts of media?

Top Score with Emily Reese is a Minnesota Public Radio program about video game music. My kids and I have been listening to the podcast regularly for the past few months.

Emily Reese, the host, interviews composers of video game music to talk about how they compose scores. She also plays tons of clips and explains the way video game scores are assembled.

I trained as a classical musician when I was a teenager and I’ve spent a good deal of time in professional recording studios. Still, despite my familiarity with music theory, I knew practically nothing about scoring video games prior to listening. The jargon of modern scoring—words like “stems”—was completely new to me.

This may not teach them to think about the political, social, and cultural ramifications of the games that they play, but it does nurture critical thinking skills in a way that doesn’t seem antagonistic or critical.

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Have you come across the series that teaches everything for dummies and newcomers?

It’s usually for TOEFL, SAT and many other competitive exams but now Minecraft for Dummies, a brand new teaching guide, is about to get launched.

The game has been really popular and is now available on almost every other platform you could think of. It got launched on the PC as another indie title by Mojang but today the game which has been purchased by Microsoft has grown to heights that it contributes to their overall revenue by over seventy percent.

That’s something unthinkable but this small title made it possible. Minecraft PS4 and Minecraft Xbox One are some of the popular titles on new gen consoles but it’s also there on Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PS Vita and even Android.

Encouraging new players

Even though, Minecraft is largely popular, most people might find themselves lost because of the jargons and the gameplay techniques. It has an action packed first person game integrated into RPG and survival elements. For those who like to learn and join the community, this book is expected to be a really popular guide. With its launch, it wouldn’t be surprising if the game gains more followers and millions of new players play the game during the coming months.

Authors Behind it

Minecraft for Dummies has been conceived and written by Jacob Cordeiro. He’s not the only author of this hugely expected book but there’s also Jesse as well as Thomas, who are the popular father son duo. The authors confirm that even though the game will cover all topics for beginners as well as moderately experienced players, it will not be very confusing and it doesn’t have any jargon.

Another advantage of the book is that it will teach players how to play the game on all platforms and will have platform specific guidance as well. So, you can use it to learn how to play Minecraft on PS Vita, or on the android, iPhone as you please. Players can learn how to break the blocks, different types of tools, and learn ways to defeat the powerful Ender dragon. There will be specific tips for veteran players as well which makes it a complete book.

The Minecraft for Dummies book will be published both in printed as well as a digital e-book format in the month of February. It is expected to be priced at $15 but prices may vary in different regions.

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“Minecraft.” You may have heard of it. With 60 million copies sold across all platforms, your child has likely played the video game or will hear about it as soon as he or she makes it to school age.

The game, now owned by Microsoft, is one of the most addictive games ever created, but is it good for young children? And what do you need to know about it as your kid becomes obsessed?

Follow along on a guide to this popular game for parents and other adults who want to know more about the Creepers, YouTube videos and torches that fill their kids’ time.

The object of “Minecraft” is simple: create, explore, and above all, survive. Players wander through a virtually unlimited world that consists of cubes you can break apart or combine together, similar to Lego.

In survival mode, players must locate and manipulate simple materials such as wood, stone, soil and water. A typical approach is for a player to find a tree and break it apart into pieces of wood that can be used. Eventually, players need to build a shelter for the night to protect them from monsters that come out when it’s dark.

Even at its most simple stage, players quickly have plenty of choices. Create torches first? Build a house? Or fashion a pickax to mine ore? Don’t delay too long, though, because it sure helps to find a cave or build a house to protect yourself from monsters in the game.

“It’s very much like Lego, because there are so many ways to play the game,” said Ben Bajarin, a principal executive with San Jose-based Creative Strategies. “It is a very productive and educational game. It is similar to a digital version of Lego for a new generation of players.”

“If you can think of what you want to build, with enough dedication and time, you can build it,” said Jeff Haynes, a senior games editor with Common Sense Media.

The basic game is available on a variety of platforms, including personal computers, video game consoles such as the Xbox or PlayStation, and Android, Apple and Windows smartphones. To avoid spending too much on this hobby, attempt to buy the game for only one platform, but many parents end up purchasing “Minecraft” several times — the console game that is easier to play with two players in the same room and costs $20 to $30; the mobile game to keep them busy while on the go, which costs about $7; and the PC version that is the most capable for modifications and online use and costs about $27.

Simple modifications such as enhanced skins are usually free, though some cost $1 or more.

Once your child begins to play “Minecraft,” they may become obsessed, spending an exorbitant amount of time playing the video game or begging for help on more advanced tasks.

“Parents might be a bit concerned about the amount of time their kids are putting into ‘Minecraft,’ “ said Jeff Haynes, senior games editor with Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that provides advocacy and education for families about technology.

Instead of fighting this, it is possible to channel that energy into more productive avenues.

“’Minecraft’ has incredible learning value,” said Tanner Higgin, a senior manager of education content with Common Sense Media.

“Teachers have set up controls so that a lot of the elements of the game are learning tools. Chemistry, social, studies, physics, history and other subjects are being taught this way,” she pointed out, with tutorials for these types of activities available online.

People can play either self-contained games in which they are the only players, or they can engage in multiplayer games online. One possible concern with online games are risks from strangers, especially since “Minecraft” is popular for all ages, not just children.

“Like any online community, there is trolling, there is flaming, and there are bad apples,” Higgin said. “As with any activity, parents should look for moderation. But older kids do benefit because when people cooperate with each other, they can build extraordinary things they couldn’t create on their own.”

Aside from the actual game, many children flock to YouTube to learn how to accomplish specific tasks in the game, or to check out worlds others have built. While the gameplay exhibited in these videos is just as kid-friendly as the game, beware of bad language coming from the video creators or music and other entertainment they may be listening to while creating the video.

To be safe, you can find a specific “Minecraft” video creator who is kid-friendly and limit viewing to them — one of the most popular with younger children is Stampylonghead, who has many videos with more than a million views.

Just about the only practical limits to “Minecraft” are the imagination, creativity and persistence of players.

Independent tinkerers and gaming enthusiasts have wielded their creativity to fashion an array of worlds that go well beyond the basic environments through which people can wander and attempt to survive, as well as fresh codes that can introduce new characters and twists to the game.

More than a few of the independently created worlds available to visit and even help to build are straight out of the realm of popular television shows and real life, such as a “Game of Thrones” world and even a rebuilt Disneyland, while software patches can introduce new animals or other in-game treats.

“I like to go to the ‘Game of Thrones’ world,” said Tanner Higgin of Common Sense Media. “I love that server and it’s great to see how far they’ve gotten with that world.”

These “Minecraft” servers and modifications –”mods” in fans’ parlance — are for mainstream enthusiasts, and not merely a digital 1 percent of game creators, experts say.

“The consumer essentially has access to the same tools that game developers have,” said Jeff Haynes of Common Sense Media.

However, these advanced scenarios are likely going to mean parents getting more involved, especially for younger children — visiting public servers increases the chance of a child running into a bad apple, and downloaded mods can be bundled with, or actually be, dangerous and spammy software. And if your child wants to create his own “Minecraft” world for others to visit, you’ll need an advanced setup.

“You will need a certain type of server with plenty of capacity and speed, and you need a certain level of broadband,” said Ben Bajarin, principal executive with San Jose-based Creative Strategies, a tech market research firm.

Getting more involved can be beneficial, though, offering a bonding experience and teaching your child more about computers. Bajarin said he often plays “Minecraft” with his two daughters.

“It’s not mind-numbing, let’s dumb ourselves down with mindless entertainment,” he said. “It’s quite productive.”

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The next date and location for the next MineCon Minecraft convention was finally announced by Mojang on Monday. The convention took the year off for 2014, but it returns for 2015. Now the question is how it will look now that Mojang and the uber-popular open-world sandbox game are under the Microsoft umbrella.

Those that are able to snag tickets will be able to get discounted hotel pricing through Mojang. So, the developer suggests not booking any rooms just yet.

Mojang is also looking for MineCon volunteers, panel hosts and exhibitors. Information for volunteers and panel hosts will be made available soon, with panel submissions opening up in March. Exhibitors looking for booth space are asked to contact Mojang at minecon@mojang.com.

This will be the fifth MineCon convention hosted by Mojang. The very first was a small affair in 2010 that took place in Bellevue, Washington. There were only 50 people that attended that convention and got the chance to meet with Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson.

The 2011 MineCon took place in Las Vegas, Nevada and was the first for the newly founded Mojang. That event saw more than 5,000 people show up and it’s only gotten bigger since then.

MineCon 2013 in Orlando, FL.

Disneyland Paris served as the host for the 2012 MineCon, which came with plenty of unique challenges and weird anecdotes from the Minecraft creators. The book “A Year With Minecraft: Behind the Scenes at Mojang” detailed the troubles the game maker had with local French union workers who had no problems taking off before the show was completely setup. This sent the Mojang employees on-site scrambling to complete the work they could by themselves.

The 2013 MineCon was the last with Persson as the head of Mojang, though we didn’t know it at the time. It took place at Disney World in Orlando, Florida and was attended by over 7,500 fans. The studio then took 2014 off because it did not have the time or resources, and needed a break.

That brings us to 2015 where the landscape of Minecraft has changed greatly with its purchase by Microsoft. That should put even more resources behind MineCon, but Mojang’s note makes it clear that the convention will still be very much focused on and driven by the game’s community.

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Greetings Bleeding Coolers! Welcome to the fourth installment of The Geek Shopping Ninja Strikes. Each week I will be your personal shopper and provide you with five delightfully geek-tastic things that might pique your interest. This week’s theme is all things Minecraft! I still remember the day that I spent $15 dollars to buy the beta version. It was a glorious day filled with tons of gaming, and it’s amazing how large the empire has grown since then…

1. 1. Minecraft Board Game T-Shirt from Threadless.com

($9.95)

I absolutely love the design of this t-shirt. It’s like Candy Land meets Minecraft. A very unique way to show your love of the game.

2. 2. Minecraft Light-Up Torch from ThinkGeek.com

 ($19.99-24.99)

Light up your room with this essential tool! You can never have enough of these bad boys…

3. 3. Minecraft Plastic Creeper Face Mug from Jinx.com

($12.99)

…especially when these dudes come around. Although it is kind of cool to drink your morning coffee out of a Creeper’s head.

4. 4. Minecraft 5″ Baby Sheep Plush from HotTopic.com

($14.50)

It’s so fluffy and cute! Cuddle up with one of the most adorable (but drives me nuts because of the “baa”-ing in game) animals featured in Minecraft.

5. 5. Minecraft Creeper Anatomy Deluxe Vinyl Figure from Jinx.com

($39.99)

I’ve been a fan of vinyl collectibles for a long time. This one in particular is super creative. It’s different than most of what I’ve seen out there, so if you’re a fan of the game…you should totally display this on your dining room table.

I know that there are so many things I have yet to discover about the advancements of the game, but I’m about to log on right now and start digging away at a new world. That’s the thing about Minecraft, for me anyway, I always like to start a new world when I’ve been away for a while. Do you guys feel the same? Thanks for joining me for the The Geek Shopping Ninja Strikes! Be sure to check back next week for some more tempting merchandise!

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Mojang, the game development studio behind Minecraft, has made a few massive announcements regarding their indie voxel-building game and another title of their’s within the past week. The studio has revealed Minecraft has achieved over 1.4 million concurrent players last weekend, and the Minecraft Xbox One version helped to contribute to that impressive player count. This shouldn’t be too surprising, as the indie title has been making waves for years now. The recent buy-out by Microsoft has only cemented the game’s status in the games industry.

Minecraft remains one of the most popular games, not just within the indie category, but of any category. With the recent release of Minecraft Xbox One and the PS4 version, the game is doing nothing but growing. Nathan Adams, a game developer at Mojang, spoke on Twitter, revealing last weekend the studio saw over 1.4 million players on at one time.

Saturday tends to be the busiest day for Minecraft across all systems, and Mojang previously almost beat their record for concurrent players earlier this month. However, only this past weekend has managed to surpass their previous player count achievement. This is certainly a milestone for the studio and one that really do need to celebrate.

The other piece of news Mojang announced was in regards to their title Scrolls, which is currently available within the most recent Humble Bundle for as little as $1. A portion of the money can go to charity, like most Humble Bundle bundles of games. If you’re feeling charitable and pay more than $12 you can receive the Scrolls Deluxe Pack.

Emma Watson’s new role as Belle in Beauty and the Beast has more in common with Hermione Granger than just being bookish

Emma Watson, best known for playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies, has been cast in Disney’s live-action version of Beauty and the Beast and thus is stepping into another role as a beloved nerdy girl. Hermione and Belle are probably the two most well-known bookworms in pop culture — and it turns out they have a lot more in common than their mutual love for the written word:

1. They’re both bookworms

Obviously, the casting directors for Beauty and the Beast wondered, “What other female character spends all her time with her nose in a book?” The best they could come up with was Hermione.

2. Everyone thinks they’re strange

Because Belle and Hermione are both beautiful women who love to read, everyone thinks they’re weird — obviously. Hermione is ostracized by her peers (including her future husband Ron Weasley) in J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter book for being a know-it-all, while the townspeople sing about Belle in the opening scene of Beauty and the Beast, “Look there she goes that girl is strange, no question. / Dazed and distracted, can’t you tell?” People are the worst.

3. They love beastly things

While Belle shows her affection for the Beast, a creature who repels most, Hermione is kind to the gentle giant Grawp, half-brother of Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper. Grawp, however, never turns into a handsome prince.

4. They are humans that enter a magical world

When Belle comes to Beast’s castle, she finds an enchanted world where teacups and candelabras can sing and dance. Hermione is a muggle whose first major introduction to the magic is at Hogwarts where the ceiling can change from night to day and ghosts wander the halls.

5. They both live in castles

The Beast’s home and Hogwarts? They’re both massive, old and awesome magical castles. Emma Watson will feel right at home on the Beauty and the Beast set.

6. They both have major dress moments

Remember when Belle appears at the top of the stairs in a billowing yellow dress before her dance with the Beast? Remember when the exact same thing happens on top of another staircase as Hermione shows up in that gorgeous dress to the Yule Ball? They even have the same hairstyle! Here’s a reminder:

7. They’re friendly to all creatures

Belle defends her beloved horse, while Hermione is always a helper to the house elves (RIP Dobby). She even launched a Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare.

8. They both get hit on by terrible men

Gaston, a detestable human being, is relentless as he hits on Belle. Hermione, too, must suffer through the amorous advances of Cormac McLaggen at Potions Professor Slughorn’s holiday party. Both are smart enough, of course, to run away from their loathsome suitors.

9. They love wandering into restricted places

Don’t tell these ladies where they can and cannot go. Belle wanders into the forbidden west wing of the castle even though the Beast warns her not to do so. Hermione passes off an autograph from Professor Gilderoy Lockhart as a note that allows her to enter the restricted section of the library in Hogwarts.

10. They’re judgey about table manners

Hermione makes fun of Ron for eating like a slob, just like Belle throws shade at the Beast for eating his oatmeal like, well, a beast.

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Minecraft developer Mojang revealed on Wednesday how the usernames and passwords of 1,800 accounts were recently stolen. The studio reassured gamers that it wasn’t hacked and instead blamed the theft on a phishing attack. Essentially, these Minecraft gamers were tricked into providing their usernames and passwords when directed to fake Mojang/Minecraft websites.

“If you haven’t received an email from us, you don’t need to worry. No one has gained access to the Mojang mainframe,” Mojang reported. “Even if they did, we store your passwords in a super encrypted format. Honestly, you don’t need to panic.”

Mojang didn’t go into detail about the phishing attack, but instead requested that Minecraft players use a unique password when logging into their account. That way, if Mojang does get hacked in the future, the crooks won’t have access to other online accounts used by Minecraft gamers such as email and banking.

Microsoft, which purchased Mojang for $2.5 billion back in September 2014, indicated on Wednesday that there was no sign of foul play on the server side. However, the company admitted that it quickly reset the passwords of the affected Minecraft accounts after the published list of account info surfaced.

Mojang and Microsoft provided instructions on how to create a great password right here, noting that a good password should be easy to remember but difficult for hackers. Avoid using obvious phrases like a pet’s name or a birthday. Passwords should also not only include a long line of numbers and letters, but at least one capital letter.

“You need to pick a really strong password, something that not even the most powerful computer can crack within a reasonable amount of time,” Mojang stated.

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Mojang has advised Minecraft players to change their passwords and make it a stronger one for security reasons following the leak of more than 1,800 Minecraft users’ e-mails and passwords.

Minecraft gets Title Update 20.Facebook

Responding to the hacking rumours, Mojang said in its official website, “No! We haven’t been hacked. A bunch of bad people have tricked some of our users into disclosing their account information. We’ve emailed everyone affected, and reset all compromised passwords.”

It further clarified that no one was able to get access to “Mojang mainframe”. The company, while asking players not to panic, revealed that it stores the passwords in “a super encrypted format”.

Microsoft, which had acquired the Minecraft franchise some time back, also came out with a similar statement. “We can confirm that no Mojang.net service was compromised and that normal industry procedures for dealing with situations like this were put in place to reset passwords for the small number of affected accounts,” said a Microsoft spokesperson, CNET reported.

News of the leak was reported earlier this week by Heise, a German news website. The leak contained e-mail addresses and their passwords from Minecraft users. Post this, many wondered if Mojang.net was compromised by hackers. However, investigation that followed the incident have revealed that it was the result of phishing attacks or malware.

“The bad people got their hands on other people’s passwords by using an evil technique called ‘phishing.’ That basically means they pretend to be Mojang and fool people into entering their private details onto fake websites,” said a Mojang post.

Mojang further advised players to use different password for each of their internet logins. When users have an identical password for all their accounts, hackers can easily break into all of them if they reciver the password of just one.

Minecraft is a phenomenon in the gaming industry, with more than 16,645,000 people having bought the game, Daily Mail reports.

Title Update 20 Released

Last Week, Mojang released the full patch notes for Title Update 20 that consists of new additions and makes some changes to Minecraft. The update fixes bugs and many other issues in PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Below are the full patch notes of Title Update 20 for Minecraft (Minecraft Forum):

• Fix for various Redstone issues.
• Fixed a crash when breaking an Item Frame containing a map.
• Fixed a crash when a Dispenser is dispensing water or lava when the Dispenser is blocked.
• Fix for placing a boat on harmful surfaces causing the game to crash.
• Updates to horse and other animal de-spawning to take into account Saddles, Saddle bags, Leads, Armor and Nametags.
• Fix for Stonebrick stairs recipe.
• Fix for issue where player is able to stay alive with zero hearts in their Healthbar.
• Fixed an issue in the Host Options menu in Adventure mode causing options to be set wrongly.
• Fix for issue where animals don’t stop running after being hit.
• Fix for issue where destroying planted Pumpkin and Melon Seeds drops an incorrect number of seeds.
• Librarian villagers now have a small probability of offering nametags for sale.
• Add a rare probability of spawning Skeletons/Wither Skeletons in the nether.
• Brought forward change so that Witches naturally spawn, rarely, anywhere that’s dark.
• Fix for issue where Wither Skeletons stop spawning in the Nether when the difficulty is set to Easy from Peaceful.
• Changed Minecart riding behaviour back so that the player turns with the Minecart.
• If mob griefing is turned off, sheep shouldn’t change grass blocks when they eat them.
• Fix for TNT cart exploding despite ‘TNT Explodes’ option being turned off.
• Fix to Noteblock fall-off distance so they can be heard further away.
• Fix for player legs not being rotated correctly when riding.
• Fix for Wolf heal tooltip.
• Fixed improper tooltip displayed when Player is holding a Lead and aiming at an aggressive mob.
• Fix for Potion of Weakness effect description having incorrect values.
• Fix for issue where Creepers hover off the floor.
• Fixed issue where Name Tags do not appear to work correctly on the Wither, Iron Golem and Wither Skeleton.
• Fix for player nametags not being colored.
• City Texture Pack – Daylight sensor changed to look more like a solar panel.
• Fix for issue where a horse wasn’t rendering while riding it.
• Fixed Save Transfer issue.

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If for some reason you play Minecraft to slay dragons, then you’ll be interested to know that slaying the Ender Dragon is about to change. According to a Tweet by Mojang developer Nathan Adams, the forthcoming 1.9 update will turn the current Ender Dragon into one more closely resembling the console versions. That’s not as bad as it sounds, as the console Ender Dragon actually boasts more moves than the PC version.

Adams also assured current players that they’ll be able to spawn the new Ender Dragon without starting a new game.

Bringing the PC Ender Dragon up to speed with his console brethren is not the only change coming to the endgame beast, though Adams refused to specify any other details. He also hinted that patch 1.9 will introduce other, much more significant changes. “Don’t worry,” he wrote. “This isn’t all I’m doing for 1.9. Not by far, but I’ll save the best for later.”

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It was only a matter of time before more competitors jumped feet first into the live-stream gaming pool. Paris based streaming video site Dailymotion has announced that it will make a major push into the space with Dailymotion Games. The new streaming service will target both amateur gamers and professional content creators who are currently sharing their gameplay on other platforms. Dailymotion Games will also seek to tap into the increasingly lucrative world of professional e-sports and competitive gaming.

The game streaming market has been dominated by Twitch, the live-streaming service that was acquired by Amazon last year for an estimated $970 million. That deal proved to be the final word on the rapid growth of both streaming and competitive gaming. Since the Twitch deal proved the value of streaming audiences, a number of competitors have have attempted to jump into the field and snatch Twitch’s crown. E-sports giant Major League Gaming made waves when they lured YouTube’s biggest gaming name, PewDiePie, to their streaming platform MLG.TV. More recently Valve, the company behind indie gaming market Steam, launched a beta version of its own streaming platform.

While MLG and Steam bring experience with gaming and gamer culture to the table in their bids to unseat Twitch, Dailymotion is uniquely situated to support creators in a different way. Prior to its recent foray into live-streaming, Dailymotion has been a leader in the hosting and streaming of user generated video content. Like YouTube, Dailymotion hosts its own community of video content creators and could easily offer those same advantages to gamers. While Twitch has historically operated as an unofficial companion to YouTube, Dailymotion has the ability to host live and pre-recorded content all in one place, an advantage that is likely to appeal to gaming content creators who are tired of jumping from platform to platform to reach their audience.

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When we talk about YouTube stars it’s often the vloggers that get the bulk of the attention, but now it seems Minecraft gamers are finally getting their due. Gaming is one of the fastest growing corners of the YouTube universe and Minecraft is by far its most popular subgenre. A study released by YouTube parent company Google recently found that Minecraft is the second most searched term on the site after music. Minecraft creators are some of YouTube’s most popular and bankable, despite that fact that many of them don’t even show their faces, preferring to let their elaborate in-game builds or superior game play speak for them. Now a new documentary will recognize some of Minecraft YouTube’s reigning superstars.

Minecraft: Into The Nether will feature some of the biggest names in the game. Minecraft YouTubers and Twitch streamers have built massive followings and hugely successful careers creating content in and around the game. The film will follow Alastair “Ali-A” Aiken, Olajida “KSI” Olatunji and Tom “Syndicate” Cassell, and chart the Minecraft phenomenon through their meteoric rise to online fame. It also promises to provide a behind the scenes look at the life of some of YouTube’s biggest creators. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a big-name gamer, this documentary is for you.

You can check out the trailer above. The film itself will be available to rent or buy on iTunes starting January 27^th.

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