The E3 expo in Los Angeles is the gaming industry’s biggest event of the year, and Xbox kicked things off in style by unveiling the world’s most powerful console: The Xbox One X.

“It’s a monster”, proclaimed Xbox CEO Phil Spencer, and there’s no denying that the new machine packs some serious muscle, running at 6 Teraflops and boasting a custom 1172 MHZ GPU engine that kicks out so much heat it requires a vapour chamber liquid cooling system.

If that sounds like a whole heap of jargon and gobbledygook, in layman’s terms, this is the equivalent of a high-end, $2000-plus PC crammed into a living-room friendly console.

Formerly known as Project Scorpio, The One X has been designed to deliver true 4K graphics and take advantage of the latest Ultra HD TVs.

While you’ll need a high-end screen to truly appreciate its power, Spencer was keen to emphasise that there will be plenty of benefits for gamers using 1080p TVs. A process they’re calling “supersampling” and isotropic filtering means that games will look better, run smoother and load faster regardless of resolution.

Released on November 7, global time differences mean that Kiwi gamers will be the first on the planet to get their hands on the new hardware. Microsoft confirmed that it will retail at US$499, and although it’s yet to be officially confirmed, an Xbox source suggests we’ll probably be looking at a $749 price tag in New Zealand.

Forza Motorsport 7

Not content  to simply show us the latest edition of the world’s best-selling racing franchise, Xbox also gave us the first ever look at a brand new supercar, the Porsche 911 GT – not just on screen, but on stage.Obviously it features heavily in the game – and on the cover – but combining a car reveal with a driving game launch seems like such an easy win it’s surprising it’s not been done before.

The game itself looked stunning. Running at a native 4K and 60 frames per second, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a racing game look so smooth. Dynamic weather and some incredible lighting effects made it almost photo-realistic.

Although there was nothing to suggest that this game will push the boundaries in terms of what we’d expect from a Forza title, it  was so visually impressive that you’d forgive the lack of innovation. If you’ve got a 4K monitor, check out the trailer and you’ll believe the hype.

Sea of Thieves

Any new game from Rare is guaranteed to make headlines, but this shared world pirate game with an emphasis on exploration looks a little bit special.

As you’d expect from a high-seas adventure there’s plenty of treasure hunting and discovering sunken shipwrecks, but the sheer size and scale of the game, as well as its open-ended structure, makes it one to look out for.

The 10-minute gameplay trailer was one of the lengthiest and most extensive game previews we saw at the Xbox briefing. Some of the graphics and animation looked somewhat rough around the edges, suggesting it’s very much a work in progress, but if this game delivers half of what it’s promising, we’ll be in for a treat.

Minecraft unified

When Microsoft spent US$2.5 billion acquiring the rights for Minecraft from Mojang visionary Markus “Notch” Persson, everyone expected them to have something big in the pipeline for one of the gaming industry’s most lucrative franchises. Apart from dispersing it across every platform known to man, that didn’t quite happen.

Now it seems that spreading the seed as far and wide as possible was all part of the grand plan. The first big Minecraft reveal was that the whole block-building universe is going to be united. The game will be going completely cross-platform, meaning that Xbox, Switch, PlayStation and PC gamers will all play on one unified global server. For a game that’s all about collaboration and co-operation, this is a literal game changer.

This was followed up by the announcement that Minecraft will be receiving a complete overhaul with the “super duper” 4K graphics pack. Upscaling a game which has always been deliberately low-fi may seem like a strange decision, but the new look generated some serious whoops and roars from the Galen Center crowd.

Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds

One of the biggest breakout hits of the year and a true PC gaming phenomenon was always destined to come to consoles at some point, but securing it as an exclusive is a major coup for Xbox.

The 100-player, winner-takes-all battle royale has already spawned a devoted online community and topped the Steam charts since its release in March.

Playerunknown himself, Brendan Greene appeared on stage to announce the game and if the footage show on screen is anything to go by, this looks even better than the PC version .

The concept, where players parachute onto an island and scavenge for weapons and items in Hunger Games-style deathmatch is the perfect online multiplayer game and opening it up to console players looks certain to cement its place as one of the games of the year.

Xbox back-compatibility

At E3 2015, the almost off-hand announcement that Xbox 360 games would be playable on the Xbox one stole the show. This year, they’ve doubled down on the concept by confirming that original Xbox games will be added to the back-compat library.

A system that launched in 2001 might seem almost antiquated when compared to today’s 4K Ultra HD titles, but good game design is timeless and fans have been clamouring for all-inclusive Xbox compatibility for a long time. The only title shown at the briefing was Crimson Skies, but you can count on the fact that more games will be added to the library in the coming months.

The best of the rest

We could spend another 10,000 words on the rest of the games announced at the Xbox briefing, but here’s a brief rundown of some of the other big games scheduled for release over the next year or so:

• Metro Exodus
• Crackdown 3
• Assassin’s Creed origins​.
• Dragonball fighterZ
• ​The Desert mmorpg
• The Last night.
• The Artful Escape (coming when it’s damn ready)
• Codevein
• Super Lucky’s Tale
• Cuphead
• Ashen
• Life is Strange: Before the storm.
• Middle Earth:Shadow of War
• Anthem

​

– Stuff

Microsoft unveils Xbox One X: The world’s most powerful console

Microsoft is adding a new marketplace – and a brand new currency – within the video-game Minecraft, opening up the opportunity for businesses to sell their original content and creations to tens of millions of the game’s players for the first time.

Set to go live in the next few months, nine businesses will be selling feature packs within Minecraft – such as new storylines, in-game activities or landscapes to explore – with prices ranging between about $1 and $10 per creation.

Other companies can apply to be allowed into the marketplace over subsequent months. Users wishing to purchase content will need to buy a form of new currency – Minecraft Coins.

“For the first time we are going to enable creators to come in and put content into our store alongside the same content that Minecraft makes,” said John Thornton, the game’s executive producer at Microsoft.

“The real impetus is to let creators connect to players and help them make a living on top of Minecraft.”

A store within the game does already exist but is limited to only items created by the Minecraft development team. The change to allow third-party developers to sell their wares within the same ecosystem opens up an entirely new business model for independent creatives.

The Minecraft Marketplace will not be available on all platforms – a notable exclusion being Microsoft’s own Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation games consoles – but will be available on Windows, iOS, Android, as well as the Apple TV, the Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR virtual reality platforms, and even Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

Developers are free to set prices for their creations. “We don’t have a strong price cap,” said Thornton.

“If we have content that shows up that everybody agrees is of significant value that a consumer might want to pay more than that, we’ll have that conversation. Ultimately it’s up to the creator to decide.”

The new coins can be bought via any supported device that features an app store, such as iOS, Android or Windows.

These coins will live in a user’s Microsoft Xbox Live virtual wallet and be accessible for marketplace purchases on any platform. Microsoft would not confirm the exact figure developers would receive from the revenue share after it and app stores took their cut, but Thornton said it would be over half.

“We have a model that allows us to give more than 50 per cent of revenue to the creators,” he said. “They’re all happy with that revenue split and we’re happy with that as well.”

There are restrictions, however, to protect Minecraft’s large numbers of young players.

“Every piece of content in the store is reviewed by Minecraft,” said Thornton, so much like Apple’s app store nothing is likely to hit virtual store shelves without it being vetted first.

By adopting an in-app payment model, Microsoft is moving into a territory well-trodden by so-called freemium mobile apps. Pokemon Go, which is free to download, generated almost a billion dollars of revenue in 2016 through in-app payments, according to data compiled by research group App Annie.

 – Bloomberg

Minecraft to get its own currency

One of the most popular video games of all time is helping students combine innovation and education.

Opaheke School is one of 400 around the world taking part in the Microsoft Showcase School digital learning initiative.

The project was launched by the technology giant to prepare students for the workplace using up-to-date resources, mobile and online tools.

Students at the school are now using the computer game Minecraft to assist with learning in different subjects as part of the project.

The game, which has sold more than 70 million copies worldwide, requires students to build their own worlds using 3D objects and materials.

The school’s new digital learning hub, which opened last year, was designed through the ideas students came up with through the game.

It’s also being used for literacy and science subjects where students create the worlds they are learning about.

Associate principal and programme leader Nikkie Laing says digital education is helping teachers and students explore new ideas.

Minecraft is helping students “visualise ideas in a more constructive way” and it’s more than just entertainment, she says.

“It’s pretty obvious they are learning and not time wasting… it’s purposeful and productive. It’s another hook for us teachers and the students can work and create together.

“Communication, problem solving and collaboration are the skills the kids need,” she says.

Laing recently travelled to Budapest as part of an educator exchange conference hosted by Microsoft and won an award for best presentation. She spoke about the impact online tools are having in keeping students and teachers connected.

Year eight student Callen Trethowen​ recently used the game for a school project on Antarctica. It helped him explore the features of the Scott Base research facility while interacting with research scientist Regina Eisert​.

Fellow student Hannool Lee says Minecraft is “a fun way of learning”.

“It’s making us want to do school work because we get to use our computers,” he says.

The school has three specialist teachers driving the project and they work closely with Microsoft to share ideas and innovations with other schools.

Minecraft part of students’ learning at Opaheke School

Minecraft PS4 will continue to get updates from Mojang despite Sony not agreeing to implement its Better Together update, which enables cross-play.

Writing on the official blog, following Minecraft update 1.52, Mojang confirmed it will support the PS4 edition going forward.

Here’s the full quote:

“As you probably know, we’ll soon be bringing you the Better Together Update, which will combine console and mobile editions into one super-lovely version of Minecraft – but that doesn’t mean we’re twiddling our thumbs in the meantime! Console Edition will still be getting updated with new features, and those platforms which won’t support the Better Together Update will continue getting updates even after it lands.”

The Better Together update will allow players of PC, mobile and Xbox to use their saves on any platform.

The Minecraft developer has apparently been trying to persuade Sony to change its mind about implementing the next major Minecraft update, but it appears that Sony isn’t budging.

Still, it’s good news that Minecraft PS4 players can still look forward to future updates of the stupidly popular sandbox adventure.

Minecraft PS4 updates to continue despite Sony’s stance on cross-play

Minecraft PlayStation, Xbox versions updated with new features; Nintendo Switch, Wii U update coming tonight

For some perspective, that means it has been watched more than all five Super Bowls over that same time period combined. Way more.

Middleton, better known as Dan TDM, may not be a household name yet, but he’s one of YouTube’s brightest stars and biggest successes. For five years, he’s mixed real-world video footage with gameplay from the video game Minecraft to draw a giant audience of kids and parents.

Now he’s bringing his first-ever live tour to Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall to see if the pug-filled, evil-twin-inhabited digital world he’s created will translate beyond the Internet.

“You’ll see quite a few of the characters from YouTube, like scientist Dr. Trayaurus and my evil twin, Evil Dan,” Middleton said.

And yes, that includes the pugs, which appear in the show, but are also Middleton’s real-life pets.

“We love them because they’re quite lazy so it gives me ample time to make videos,” he said. “I won’t say they don’t bug me, but they’re just really great at chilling out.”

The storyline for the stage show involves Dan TDM being kidnapped by Evil Dan, who gives him a series of gaming challenges. During some of those games, the entire audience participates from their seats. At other points, some audience members are brought on stage.

There’s a giant screen where the gaming happens, which includes a level custom designed for the live show by the online social gaming platform Roblox. It usually goes smoothly, but Middleton concedes that when you’re playing a game live in front of an audience, “unexpected things can happen.”

It’s a busy time for Middleton. Late last year he released his first graphic novel, Trayaurus and the Enchanted Crystal, and he wants to do another one. He continues to release daily content on YouTube while he’s traveling for the tour, lugging hard drives worth of material around with him, and even filming and editing in planes and hotel rooms along the way.

“I just love what I do I guess. I think you have to, in order to have a crazy schedule like this,” he said. “But I just find it really

YouTube’s Minecraft sensation Dan TDM brings live show to Clearwater

Minecraft—the wildly popular video game that lets you build things out of virtual bricks—has emerged as a favorite of architects and enthusiasts eager to make everything from imaginary Brutalist buildings to miniature cities. But Su Yijun, a 22-year-old aspiring architect in Zhuhai, China, has created a true Minecraft marvel: a detailed replica of Beijing’s Forbidden City covering a site of 100 million blocks.

The virtual project had broken ground with the help of volunteers back in 2013, but when Su joined the group in 2014, they decided to start again from scratch. Su eventually became the project’s chief organizer, researching traditional Chinese architecture in order to perfectly replicate the palace’s nearly 1,000 buildings. He researched structure, decor, materials, and architectural history, even visiting the real-life site to learn details he couldn’t find elsewhere.

But this was tricky too: “Many areas are not open to the public,” Su told Sixth Tone. “And because of the exhibits, the interior decorations in the Palace Museum were not the same as how they originally appeared.”

Su worked with fellow Minecraft players to build the replica, but at one point their construction team was down to just him and another player. The effort, though, was worth it: “Through this, I hope to impart some knowledge about architectural aesthetics,” Su said, “and share my thoughts on architectural design.”

Minecraft replica of Forbidden City covers a grid of 100 million blocks

The game update will bring graphical updates, cros-platform servers and many new features to add fun to the game: stained glass, books, and banners. The later can be placed on walls or lie on the ground and they are made out of wool. The banners are the perfect medieval decorations. If you want an adventure map, then you can use books and quills. Your imagination will also be tested with the stained glad feature.

This new feature of the “Minecraft” Better Together update will allow you to design buildings in several colors and you will also be able to change Beacon colors. Regular glass block will probably fade in front of the new stained glass. Many “Minecraft” fanatics have written online what other new features they would like the game to have.

The update expected this summer will unify the Nintento Switch and Xbox One versions with the PC (Windows 10) and mobile versions of the game. This cross-platform play will be possible with the help of the Bedrock Engine. Players from any device will be able to gather together and enjoy the game. Play Station 4 will also be added to the cross-platform play. This coming together of players using multiple devices will help the expansion of the content creator and “Minecraft” Marketplace.

So far, the “Better Together” update, announced at the Xbox E3 press-conference, seems very promising and fans are very excited for its release. The PC version will be the only one to have a subtitle: “Minecraft: Java Edition”. The game will only be called “Minecraft” with other devices: Xbox, Nintendo Switch, VR and mobile versions.

Console players are excited to receive this news, especially if PlayStation 4 owners will also be able to enter this platform. Nintendo’s vision seems to be about unification and getting all players together in one place.

Minecraft Better Together Update Announced at the Xbox E3

Minecraft is one of the biggest games ever, and with that comes with one of the largest communities ever. From mods to fanfiction and more, people are finding interesting and unique ways to be a part of their favorite game.

One of the biggest contributions to the community are videos about the game. Here are five fan-made videos about Minecraft that are worth your time.

1. Minecraft Hardcore – PBGGameplay

YouTuber PeanutButterGamer is best known for his series of longform comedic videos of various video games. However, he also has a very successful let’s play channel. And by far the most beloved series on that channel is his Hardcore series.

The premise of Hardcore is that PeanutButterGamer and a bunch of other YouTubers and friends set out to complete the main quest of a game. The catch is that if a person dies, they’re out for the rest of the game. The rest go along until either they complete the quest or they all die.

It’s pretty much a live and more genuine version of something like The Walking Dead, zombies and all. In between the threat of death, everyone on the team is all goofing around and bonding with each other. And when they inevitably die, it’s all the more heart-wrenching. Seriously, for all the silliness that goes on, some of the deaths in Hardcore are really sad. Everything is accentuated by the impeccable editing, which use music and special effects at just the right moment to really drive the mood.

PBGGameplay has five seasons of Hardcore for Minecraft, though I recommend the fifth one as that has the best production values and most memorable moments. He also has Hardcore seasons for other games like Terraria and MineZ.

2. Brentalfloss’ Minecraft Song – Brentalfloss

There are tons of musical parodies of Minecraft, but few are original songs. Enter YouTuber Brentalfloss, who does a brilliant job of summing up the appeal of Minecraft in a one and a half minute song. Describing it here would only spoil the experience, so take a look for yourself.

Brentalfoss has many other musical spoofs of video games in his extensive “With Lyrics” series, taking the melody of a popular video game song and adding lyrics that both celebrate and lampoon the game.

3. Lion King in Minecraft (Circle of Life) – CraftedMovie

This video recreates the opening sequence of Disney’s The Lion King but with the mobs from Minecraft. Watching this video side by side with the original, its amazing to see just how much this video gets right. The setting, camera angles, character acting, and original a cappella music are all spot on. It’s impressive in how authentically it recreates the mood of the original movie.

4. An Egg’s Guide to Minecraft – Element Animation

An Egg’s Guide to Minecraft is one of the better known animation series on Minecraft, also also one of the better ones. Featuring fun characters, jokes, and well-made animation, there’s a reason this series has lasted from 2012 to 2016.

The series is so well known, in fact, that the voice of the villager was featured in an April Fools update to the actual game in 2014 where the voice replaced the sound of the mobs and music. The update can also be accessed by downloading a mod.

If that doesn’t prove its prominence, I don’t know what does.

5. Realistic Minecraft – Nukazooka

Hardcore Henry meets Minecraft Hardcore in this fan film. The first-person perspective mends beautifully with the special effects to create a surprisingly intense yet humorous take on what Minecraft may look like in real life. Personally, I think this should be a new feature. Augmented reality, anyone?

Minecraft YouTube Videos: 5 Fan-Made Works You Need to See

Microsoft announced during its pre-E3 press event that Minecraft will be updated this fall with 4K graphics and complete cross-platform play, meaning that players on PC, consoles, and mobile devices will all be able to play together—with the one notable exception of Sony, which declined to join the party. The reason for that seemingly odd refusal, PlayStation global sales and marketing head Jim Ryan told Eurogamer, is that Sony believes it’s “got to be mindful of our responsibility to our install base.”

“Minecraft—The demographic playing that, you know as well as I do, it’s all ages but it’s also very young. We have a contract with the people who go online with us, that we look after them and they are within the PlayStation curated universe,” Ryan said. “Exposing what in many cases are children to external influences we have no ability to manage or look after, it’s something we have to think about very carefully.”

He acknowledged that Nintendo, which has a far more obvious appeal to younger gamers, was happy to get on board, saying, “Everybody has to take their own decisions.” And he also left the door open, ever so slightly, for the situation to change. “I don’t think anything is ever a done deal,” he said. “Anybody who is dogmatic in that manner is typically a fool.”

Microsoft made its position on the matter clear shortly after the cross-platform update was announced.

Sony won’t allow Minecraft cross-platform play on PlayStation consoles

Skyler Roberts is getting tired. For the past nine months, the 20-year-old has been on a solo journey across the United States. He has walked over 3,600 miles, and he’s still got a long way to go. Or as he puts it, “just 600 miles” to go. Just.

From his starting point near Ontario, Canada, Skyler has hiked through dozens of states, from New York to Texas to Washington. The finish line is San Francisco. On the way, he’s worn out seven pairs of shoes. He’s been stopped by police 20 times (without incident). He’s eaten countless packages of instant mashed potatoes and ramen noodles. He’s also found 16 spoons.

He did this to visit some online friends he met playing Minecraft.

Generating level, building terrain

It started as a joke. Skyler was in middle school when Minecraft entered public alpha, and he caught the bug almost immediately. He started playing just before the release of the Nether and has since logged thousands of hours across several servers, including his own ultra hardcore server (‘UHC’ is a survival death-game mode, and isn’t that fitting) and the Jsano fan server, an offshoot of the Mindcrack community.

One day, he told his far-off friends in server chat that he’d walk over sometime. He laughed it off at first, but somehow the idea stuck with him as he waded through high school. By his junior year, he was so busy with schoolwork and his part-time job that he didn’t have much time for Minecraft. He was feeling the pressure of graduation. What next? He wasn’t sure.

After graduating in June 2016, Skyler didn’t want to immediately commit to anything and risk exploding “like a bed in the nether,” he said on Reddit. He wanted to unwind. So he got a second job, worked 60-hour weeks, saved up around $5,000 Canadian and charted a gap year across America. You know, to cool off. He also wanted to sell his parents—his mother in Canada and his father in the U.S.—on the idea, which actually went pretty smoothly.

“From the get-go I was like ‘awesome!’” says Paul Roberts, Skyler’s father. “I raised him to be capable of these kinds of things. I trust him and believe in him and he thought about it … he thought about this for a while before he ever pitched the subject, and I could tell that, so I was like ‘yeah, you go!’”

In speaking with the Roberts, I get the sense that fear doesn’t run in the family. That being said, Skyler’s mother, Esther Roberts, was understandably concerned for his safety. She wanted to know where he would stay, how he’d get there and how he would fund his journey. Skyler started mulling over the same questions before he approached either of his parents, and because he had good answers, his mother had no qualms trusting him.

“You know, I have protected my kids to a certain extent,” she says. “And all of my family was shocked, you know, ‘how could you let him go?’ Well, how could I keep him back? You don’t really have a lot of control as a parent when they get older. If he was 16, I mean, absolutely not. I would be screaming bloody murder, absolutely you’re not going anywhere when you’re 16. But when you’re 20, that’s a whole different thing … he knew I would ask five million questions and he had the answers to all of my questions. He’d thought those through.”

With his proud parents behind him, Skyler started gearing up. He was an accomplished camper long before he punched a tree in Minecraft. Most of his 50 pounds of gear was leftover from previous, considerably shorter trips—among other things, a tent, a sleeping bag, a jetboil stove, a sturdy phone, a portable charger and a laptop that sadly can’t run Minecraft at a decent framerate.

Far lands or bust

It would be doable, but it wouldn’t be easy. Just getting acclimated to the walking regimen was tough enough. Skyler departed August 14, 2016, and by December his hip was killing him, so he exchanged his backpack for a jogging stroller. That eased the pain but also made passing through stretches like New Mexico’s Jemez Mountains even more of a slog. The day I spoke with him, his hip was hurting again, but Skyler is anything but discouraged.

“I’m really looking forward to this next month. A few months ago, I was more scared to do things,” he says. “A few months before that, I couldn’t even imagine being finished. Before that I was still getting my sea legs on. It’s interesting how it’s evolved. By this point I’m ready to be done. I’m excited for this last portion and I don’t want to rush it too much.”

Skyler was never in a hurry. His journey was always about meeting people and seeing new things. He had a rough route in mind when he set out, but his only goals were to “outrun winter” on his way south and visit as many Minecraft friends as possible. He originally wanted to meet seven, but he’s already up to nine. Skyler makes up the rest as he goes, all the while diligently chronicling his travels via his subreddit, YouTube and Instagram, always eager to share the day’s stories and scenery.

“I purposely didn’t read any books by people who have [travelled across the US]. I did my best to because I wanted this trip to be my own,” he says. “I just wanted to do it. I didn’t want any expectations going in. I just wanted to experience it for myself.”

And what an experience it’s been. Skyler can only spend a few days with each friend, so most of his weeks are raw travel. And though his route is malleable, he does have places to be, so he keeps to a schedule. Sunrise is his alarm clock and sunset his curfew, and there’s often little but walking in between. “Before, I was doing 10 to 15 miles a day,” he says. “Now I’m doing 20 to 25 … some days I’ll just never stop walking, just keep walking for seven or eight hours straight or even more. When it gets to an hour or two before sunset, I start looking for a place to camp.”

Skyler regularly rooms with local Couchsurfing hosts, and he’s spent plenty of time in churchyards and parks. Some nights saw less likely shelters, including the Kentucky Downs horse racing track.

“It was getting dark and there was no security around so I snuck in and camped right in the middle of the field,” says Skyler. “I got out before sunrise because it probably wouldn’t have been good if I was there too late on a weekday.”

He spends about half his nights indoors but he’s only paid for housing twice—once due to severe weather and again when his stroller broke. His GoFundMe campaign helped with that, not to mention all the shoes. I asked him what his most dangerous moment was and he told me about an eventful night near a small town in Idaho.

“I was about 10 miles outside of it and I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it there. The sun was starting to set, there was rain going on, so I was just going to find a place to camp. I started knocking on people’s doors—and this was really rural, so we’re talking houses a quarter-mile apart.

“Nobody answered until like the third or fourth house. The guy who answered, old guy, he didn’t feel comfortable with me camping in his yard, but he told me about a half-mile down the road there was a barn and I could stay in there for the night. So I left and I was going to head back to the road, and as I was going back this guy in a white pickup truck just comes barreling towards me. He stops right in front of me and his first words were ‘what the fuck do you think you’re doing knocking on people’s doors out here?’ And I was like ‘oh, shit.’”

After hearing Skyler’s story, the man stowed his rifle, which had been sitting in the front seat of his truck, and gave Skyler a ride to a nearby park. He bought him breakfast the following morning. It started with a threat, but ended with a meal. Skyler has mostly met friendly people during his journey and says he’s grown comfortable talking with strangers along the way, though he knows the dangers.

Before the trip, “tons of people” told Skyler he couldn’t do it. He’d be murdered or robbed, they said. He listened, but went for it anyway. “It’s good to keep what people say in mind,” says Skyler, “but not to let other people’s fears prevent you from living your own life, experiencing the world for yourself.”

“The people he comes across, a lot of them are fearful of the unknown,” says Paul Roberts. “There’s so much stuff out there in the news about bad things happening, so he looks like someone who isn’t from [parts of the country], and you kind of have to overcome that fear with folks. And he’s good at it. He’s really good at it.”

Friends list

I also spoke with Chris Kreidler, who Skyler visited a few weeks ago. Kreidler has known Skyler since 2013, but while they’ve cracked jokes online for years, he never expected to spend a weekend together. But when Skyler posted a Skype message asking if anyone was near his northwestern route, Kreidler reached out.

“He got here Friday evening. I drove about 20 miles to pick him up because he didn’t make it all the way to [my home in] Seattle,” Kreidler says. “Then he was here for Saturday and Sunday. We went out and did some stuff Saturday, then he spent a bit of Sunday just writing some blog posts and we did a couple things later, then he packed up Monday morning. So two full days.”

Kreidler has made many friends through Minecraft, and met many of them in person through events like Minecon, but Skyler’s visit was more personal. He thought things might be tense since they’d only ever interacted online, but it didn’t take long for old habits to kick in.

“The very first part when I met him was a little awkward because I don’t really know him that well, but after a few minutes it’s not much different from talking online,” Kreidler says. “It went better than I expected it to. I was worried beforehand that it’d be awkward the whole time and that we wouldn’t really have anything in common, but it’s not too hard to start talking to him. And he had a lot to talk about, obviously.”

It’s testament to how easy it is to bond over games, and how legitimate and valuable those friendships can be. “I think having online friends is great, and [that] the Internet is great for making friends,” Kreidler says. “Because if you meet online you automatically have something in common. He and I had Minecraft in common. That would make for a really great real-life friendship as well.”

Thousands of miles later, Skyler is every bit as supportive of making and visiting online friends. “I would say go for it, definitely do it. It’s worth the experience 99 times out of 100. I can’t even articulate it,” he says. “I totally support anybody doing this, or anyone taking any sort of trip to experience more of life than you normally would.

“Meeting people is fantastic. I think walking across a country to visit friends is maybe not for everybody—probably not for everybody. But I think driving down or flying down and meeting someone and having some fun for a weekend, that’s something a lot of people can do and a lot of people should do.”

Meet the man who walked across America to visit his Minecraft friends

Ah, the Sydney Opera House. The name implies it’s all about opera, but don’t be fooled: in 2011 I watched gameplay footage of Rage on a big cinema screen in there, with the crowd hooting and hollering with every brutal murder. No, the Sydney Opera House isn’t just a place for high-falutin ruling class flim flam. It’s also a place for video games.

And that will become amply obvious when Minecraft at the Sydney Opera House kicks off next month – a festival celebrating all things Steve. Dubbed a “true choose-your-own-adventure experience”, it definitely seems to be geared towards younger Minecraft fans, but “devotees of all ages” are invited to attend.

“The Opera House’s grand Concert Hall and Northern Foyers will be transformed into a Minecraft extravaganza spanning three sessions over two days. Attendees can come and go between the main competition on stage and the activities in the foyer,” reads the press release.

There will be a bunch of Minecraft-related competitions, as well as appearances by Minecraft lead creative designer Jens Bergensten and Mojang brand director Lydia Winters. Tickets go on sale Thursday June 8, but pre-sales are on now.

Minecraft is coming to the Sydney Opera House

A couple of offers on console bundles have popped up recently on eBay. The first, from NewEgg’s portal, has the Xbox One S Minecraft bundle for the low price of $200.

The bundle includes a white, 500GB Xbox One S, and a copy of Minecraft. This is a pretty good price, even if you’re not interested in Minecraft. The deal is available for 29 days, or until supplies last.

Then we have the PlayStation 4 Uncharted 4 bundle from seller Antonline. Priced $210, this one comes with a PS4 Slim and a copy of the game. This is also the 500GB version, available until supplies last.

One thing to note with the PS4 bundle, though, is that you can only see the price at checkout.

For a limited time, get the PS4 Uncharted 4 bundle for $210, Xbox One S Minecraft bundle for $200

Saturday AM writethru after Friday 3rd UPDATE: Paramount is seeing slightly better numbers on a film that opened this past Tuesday in previews and has been stuck in second gear. The latest pic in its franchise —Transformers: The Last Knight — is on track to take in about $40M+ for the three-day and is looking at a $63.9M five-day, which would be the lowest opening in the series of five films. The last time out, Transformers: Age of Extinction grabbed $100M in its opening weekend in 2014 also in June. It seems the studio and Hasbro has squeezed every drop out of this film franchise; audiences are clearly growing tired of it.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros./DC’s Wonder Woman cleared the $300M mark yesterday with $7.3M and is expected to hit $319.4M by Sunday. Currently, the Patty Jenkins-directed movie is expected to pull in $26.17M for the weekend, which would inch out Dark Knight ($26.11M) to become the best fourth weekend for a Warner Bros. release ever at the domestic box office. Soon, Wonder Woman will overtake Suicide Squad ($325.1M) and Batman v. Superman ($330.3M) to become the third highest grossing DC title ever after The Dark Knight ($534.9M) and The Dark Knight Rises ($448.1M).

In its second weekend out, Cars 3 should drive past the $100M mark for Disney/Pixar, depending on how strong the family audience attendance is today and Sunday. That would mean a 52% drop for $25.6M. The picture that is just tanking in its second weekend is the Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyez on Me, which kept its theaters but it sinking like a stone in its sophomore frame, down possibly 78% with $5.88M.

More interesting are the performances of films in the Specialty box office. The Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan comedy The Big Sick from Amazon and Lionsgate could pull off $80K per screen in its five theaters its first weekend out. To date in 2017, that’s the best opening theater average beating Beauty and the Beast‘s $42K. The husband/wife duo promoted this film at CinemaCon earlier this year and it was one of the highlights of the convention, primarily because Nanjiani had everyone in stitches. As reported exclusively by Deadline, Amazon scooped up The Big Sick at Sundance for $12M. Can they make their money back? Given the notable per theater here, an expansion is obviously in store. The movie is certified fresh by Rotten Tomatoes at 97% and that equals more foot traffic.

Sofia Coppola’s drama The Beguiled, which premiered this year at Cannes and stars Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning, is also in a handful of theaters and may pull in a per screen average of around $65,6K from its four theaters. The Beguiled is also in its first weekend. While Beguiled is 74% fresh, it has the distinction of having Cannes kudos best director for Coppola as well as Nicole Kidman’s special 70th anniversary prize.

Other indies, like the Mike White/Miguel Arteta satirical comedy Beatriz for Dinner expanded to 491 theaters after a great performance for distributor Roadside Attractions’ last weekend. The film, which has been getting critical kudos since it premiered at Sundance, stars Salma Hayek and Jonathan Lithgow. And you gotta give kudos to the marketing team on this one for the fun trailer and visuals.

Here’s the chart as of Saturday AM:

1). Transformers: The Last Knight (PAR), 4,069 theaters / $15.65M Wed. (includes Tuesday preview of $5.5M) / $8.1M Thurs. / $13.7M Fri. / 3-day cume: $40.1M / Total cume: $63.9M / Wk 1

2). Wonder Woman (WB), 3,933 theaters (-85) / $7.3M Fri. / 3-day cume: $26.1M / Total: $319.4M / Wk 4

3). Cars 3 (DIS), 4.256 theaters (o) / $7.65m Fri. / 3-day cume: $25.6M (-52%) / Total: $100.3M+ / Wk 2

4.). 47 Meters Down (ENT), 2,471 theaters (+201) / $2.2M Fri. / 3-day cume: $6.9M (-38%) / Total: $23.7M / Wk 2

5.). All Eyez On Me (LGF), 2,471 theaters (0) / $1.89M Fri. / 3-day cume: $5.88M (-78%) / Total: $38.7M / Wk 2

6.). The Mummy (Uni), 2,980 theaters (-827) / $1.7M Fri. / 3-day cume: $5.8M / Total: $68.5M / Wk 3

7.). Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales  (DIS), 2,453 theaters (-68) / $1.6M Fri. / 3-day cume: $5.4M / Total: $160.1M / Wk 5

8./9). Captain Underpants  (DWA/20TH), 2,328 theaters (-44) / $1.46M Fri. / 3-day cume: $4.8M / Total: $66.3M / Wk 4

Rough Night (SONY), 3,162 theaters (0) / $1.58M Fri. / 3-day cume: $4.8M (-40%) / Total: $16.7M / Wk 2

10). Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2  (DIS), 1,468 theaters (-72) / $876KFri. / 3-day cume: $3M / Total: $380.2M / Wk 8

11./12) DJ Duvvada Jagannadh (BSKY), 190 theaters / $608K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1.8M /Wk 1

Beatriz At Dinner (RSA), 491 theaters (+414) / $558K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1.8M (+140%) / Per screen average: $3,6K / Total: $3M / Wk 3

NOTABLES:

Book of Henry (FOC), 646 theaters (+67) / $311K Fri. / 3-day cume: $972K (-32%) / Per screen: $1,5K/ Total: $3.1M / Wk 2

The Big Sick (AMAZ/LGF), 5 theaters / $134K Fri. / 3-day cume: $401K / Per screen: $80K / Wk 1

The Beguiled (FOC), 4 theaters / $89K Fri. / 3-day cume: $262K / Per screen: $65,6K / Wk 1

Figures as of Friday night:

1). Transformers: The Last Knight (PAR), 4,069 theaters / $15.65M Wed. (includes Tuesday preview of $5.5M) / $8.1M Thurs. / $13.6M to $14M+ Fri. / 3-day cume: $40M to $42M / Total cume: $65M+ / Wk 1

2). Wonder Woman (WB), 3,933 theaters (-85) / $7.5M Fri. / 3-day cume: $27.5M to $27.8M / Total: $319M / Wk 4

3). Cars 3 (DIS), 4.256 theaters (o) / $7.7M to $8M Fri. / 3-day cume: $26M to $27M (-52%) / Total: $100M+ / Wk 2

4.). 47 Meters Down (ENT), 2,471 theaters (+201) / $2.2M Fri. / 3-day cume: $6.57M (-38%) / Total: $23.5M / Wk 2

5.). The Mummy (Uni), 2,980 theaters (-827) / $1.7M Fri. / 3-day cume: $6.1M / Total: $68.9M / Wk 3

6.). Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales  (DIS), 2,453 theaters (-68) / $1.8M Fri. / 3-day cume: $6.4M / Total: $161M / Wk 5

7.). All Eyez On Me (LGF), 2,471 theaters (0) / $1.8M Fri. / 3-day cume: $5.4M (-79%) / Total: $38.2M / Wk 2

8.). Captain Underpants  (DWA/20TH), 2,328 theaters (-44) / $1.87M Fri. / 3-day cume: $5.5M to $6.4M / Total: $67M / Wk 4

9.). Rough Night (SONY), 3,162 theaters (0) / $1.6M Fri. / 3-day cume: $4.5M to $5M (-44%) / Total: $16.5M to $17M / Wk 2

10). Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2  (DIS), 1,468 theaters (-72) / $1M+ Fri. / 3-day cume: $3.4M to $3.7M / Total: $380.8M / Wk 8

NOTABLES:

11). Beatriz At Dinner (RSA), 491 theaters (+414) / $526K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1.7M (+140%) / Per screen average: $3,450 / Total: $2.9M / Wk 3

Book of Henry (FOC), 646 theaters (+67) / $325K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1.1M (-21%) / Per screen: $1,741 / Total: $3.2M / Wk 2

The Big Sick (AMAZ/LGF), 5 theaters / $105K Fri. / 3-day cume: $322K to $400K / Per screen: $64K to $80K / Wk 1

The Beguiled (FOC), 4 theaters / $68K Fri. / 3-day cume: $210K / Per screen: $52,190 / Wk 1

— Anita Busch reported Friday night numbers. Anthony D’Alessandro handled Saturday AM writethru

2nd UPDATE, Friday, 12:24 PM: Paramount’s Transformers: The Last Knight is looking at an estimated $12.5 million today based off of midday matinees, with a current outlook that’s just under $60M over five days. That number could fall if these estimates don’t maintain themselves into the night. Three-day already is estimated at $36.5M.

Again, this is a waning property stateside, which many in town believe Paramount strictly made for China, which is bound to clear a $100M opening per Deadline’s Nancy Tartaglione. That territory repped close to a third of Age Of Extinction‘s $1.1 billion take. And even though China for Last Knight is pacing ahead of Extinction by 69%, some analysts believe it may not even finish in the $300M-plus range when all is said and done.

After drawing a profit of $250M on the last movie (merchandise alone generated $30M), it only made sense financially for Paramount to make another Transformers film, and a prolific writers roundtable led by Akiva Goldsman cannot put these robots back together again when there’s the dominant, repetitive, hyper-CGI vision of director Michael Bay (who apparently says its his last Transformers). As we’ve pointed out, critics have zero patience for Last Knight and moviegoers’ interest is on the decline.

Warner Bros/DC’s Wonder Woman, which is clicking past Universal’s Mamma Mia! on a worldwide basis to become the highest-grossing live-action movie directed by a female with $610M, will stay planted in second place with an estimated $26M take (down a marvelous 37%). By Sunday, the Patty Jenkins-directed movie will hurl itself past $319.2M, just $5.8M shy of taking out Suicide Squad and another $11.1M before Wonder Woman shows Batman V. Superman ($330.3M) who exactly is the boss at the box office. Wonder Woman is looking at an estimated $7M today.

Disney/Pixar’s Cars 3 is also driving toward $7M today, but as of this minute is expected to come in under Wonder Woman in third with $23M, down 57% from last week, for a running 10-day take of $97.7M by Sunday.

Lionsgate’s Codeblack Entertainment’s All Eyez On Me is expected to gross $2.7M today for a second weekend of $8M, down 70%, for a 10-day total of $40.8M.

We’ll have more updates tonight.

PREVIOUS, Friday 7:32 AM: Thursday wasn’t expected to be high for Paramount’s Transformers: The Last Knight at the domestic box office, but the downer $8.1 million day, off 48% from its $15.65M opening, doesn’t help the Hasbro pic’s five-day opening.

Through two days, Last Knight counts an estimated $23.7M at 4,069 venues, and some analysts even think there’s a chance the Michael Bay title may even fall below $60M in its five-day opening. Last Knight cost a reported $217M before P&A and will rely on overseas ticket sales to get it to any profit point. The last movie, which grossed a then-domestic final low of $245.4M, minted $1.1 billion worldwide good for a $250M profit after all post-theatrical streams were counted. We’ll have a better idea by noon where domestic lies for Last Knight, and overseas results will be coming in soon. What’s interesting is that no other studio dared to counter-program Last Knight, which is funny because it’s not like the movie is vacuuming up the weekend’s business.

While the fifthquel declined to a B+ CinemaScore from the A- earned by its previous chapter Age Of Extinction, ComScore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak even shows a tiring among audiences between installments. Moviegoers gave Last Knight a mundane 75% positive score versus 84% on Age Of Extinction. Word of mouth has even declined from a 69% definite recommend on AOE to 55% on Last Knight. PostTrak shows mostly men occupying seats at Last Knight, at 61%. How that breaks down: men 25+ (33%), men under 25 (29%), women 25+ (23%), and women under 25 (16%). Most people are watching Last Knight in 3D at 53%. A bulk of Last Knight‘s sales are from walk-up business, with 80% purchasing tickets at the theater. Forty-four percent of moviegoers attended Last Knight because it’s part of a franchise they like, while 16% came for star Mark Wahlberg.

Disney/Pixar’s Cars 3 made $4.4M yesterday in second place, raising its week’s cume to $74.7M, off 10% from the first week of Cars which made $83.3M in seven days and ended its stateside run at $244M.

Warner Bros/DC’s Wonder Woman grossed $4M in third at 4,018 for a running three week cume of $293.2M. Entertainment Studios’ 47 Meters Down rose up in the daily rankings to fourth with $1.2M at 2,270 and a week’s cume of $16.7M. Lionsgate’s Codeblack Entertainment’s All Eyez On Me made $1.09M at 2,471 and a week’s tally of $32.8M. Where’s Sony’s Rough Night? All the way down in eighth place with $878K and a seven-day take of $11.9M.

Meanwhile, hope resides for the Culver City studio with their romantic action title Baby Driver, opening Wednesday, and currently maintaining a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.

‘Transformers’ Still Rusty At $63M+; ‘Wonder Woman’ Soars Past $300M – Saturday AM Update

Coding curricula is sweeping into classrooms across the country, thanks to programs such as Code.org. According to the Education Commission of States, about 20 states now require that districts allow students to apply specified computer science courses toward completion of mathematics, science or, as a foreign language. But is coding preoccupying the hearts and minds of students after school hours? This is the question that researchers at the MIT Media Lab are asking.

It was there that one of the most popular learn-to-code tools, developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten group, was born in 2007. And while it has inspired a flurry of copycat offerings from other developers, Scratch has retained a loyal following: Today the platform claims over 100 million users around the world.

So what keeps these users, er, scratching their itch to code?

Upon entering the offices of the Lifelong Kindergarten groups, one immediately notices images of the whimsical orange “Scratch cat” plastered all over the walls. It is clear that the project has become a source of pride and the center’s claim to fame. That’s where we met Natalie Rusk, one of Scratch’s creators, who is now researching how kids find and sustain the motivation to code.

To conduct this research, she interviewed over a hundred Scratch users who are active on the platform not just during or after school, but even after a student has graduated and moved on to another school. The key, Rusk found, are what she calls “interest-based communities” that play a strong role in keeping students engaged and learning to code long after school is over.

Scratch was originally built as a program to introduce children to basic programming concepts. Yet the online communities that have sprung suggest the tool wields a much larger influence. “Too often people are positioning Scratch as a stepping stone to other things, whereas we see from our interviews that Scratchers keep going deeper and broader and contribute back either online or offline to other people,” says Rusk.

She describes the Scratch community as a youth development program where many users start, some leave, but others stay and become leaders on the platform. The community, similar to those on other platforms like Reddit, is difficult to quantify since it simply consists of active members who engage with each other to the point that they call one another “friends.” Users do find ways to act on those friendships, celebrating “Scratchaversarys” (similar to an online birthday), by offering coding projects and comments as gifts to one another. Reading through the comment streams on projects, one can easily get a sense of the communal atmosphere where users congratulate each other on getting featured, wish each other happy Scratchaversarys, make jokes with one another and even share personal details about their lives.

“Initially I was the one who questioned the word ‘community.’ I mean, they were posting projects and writing comments. How is that community?” says Rusk. But when she interviewed many of the users to see why they stayed on the platform, she found that many of them referred to each other as “friends.”

“We interviewed one kid from England who said he wanted to give back on the site because he benefited so much,” explained Rusk, “But when we asked him if he also did that in school he said, no, because he moved around [to different schools] so much.” She says several students share a similar sentiment—especially those whose friends and sense of community come from the coding platform. It is those types of students who she sees as lifelong Scratchers, ready and excited to code for life.

Rusk hopes to cultivate these online communities by allowing them to explore programming projects specific to their hobbies in music, arts and games. It is their theory that by allowing students to engage in interest-based groups that they will become engrossed in the community and code beyond the classroom.

Perhaps the only online coding community that could compete with Scratch for kids’ attention is Minecraft, which aims to provide kids with a similar sense interest- and peer-based exploration. Recently its developers released a coding addition to the game that has sold over 121 million copies.

Its developers at Microsoft hope to cultivate a large, open community for teachers and students around coding. “Before we launched the Education edition [of Minecraft] we spent about a year out with the Minecraft community, listening and learning,” said Neal Manegold, a senior manager at Minecraft Education, in an interview with EdSurge.

Educators told Manegold that most of their students spend a lot of time on Minecraft projects outside of the classroom, but they don’t view the projects as educational in nature as many of them are simply playing the game.

There was already a strong community of Minecraft users, but to maximize learning on the platform, he had to build an active community of educators as well. To do this, the Minecraft team offered a mix of in-person training and online sessions, including forums, Twitter chats and live streamed workshops where educators can teach each other, something Manegold says is important to keep them engaged and creative.

Manegold says that teachers have already been using Minecraft to teach subjects such as History and Engineering by having students recreate three-dimensional replicas of ancient ruins, and he sees the addition of coding expanding the opportunities for educators to use the software for interdisciplinary learning.

“Adding coding to the platform has brought people who were coding-focused, but not necessarily Minecraft focused on to the platform,” says Manegold. “They bring a depth of expertise for people who are interested in Minecraft but don’t have expertise in Computer Science. It is exceedingly valuable to all involved.”

How Scratch and Minecraft Developers Hope to Keep Kids Coding For Life

Following on from the recently announced “Better Together” update for Minecraft: Xbox One Edition at E3, Mojang have now revealed their next DLC in the form of a graphics pack, the “Super Duper Graphics Pack”. They do point out that this upgrade is optional, so if you like things the way they are, you don’t need to change it.

This Fall, along with a free update that will allow Minecraft to be played with 4k graphics, the “Super Duper Graphics Pack” will improve a whole bunch of aspects of your game. Some of these include – “features like dynamic shadows, lighting that streams through fog, movement in leaves and grass, new textures for mobs and villagers, directional lighting, edge highlighting and more”. It all sounds very impressive, and to show it off a little bit more, we’ve got a trailer to share with you too.

The “Super Duper Graphics Pack” will be arriving, along with the 4k update, this Fall. It will be available for Xbox One, Xbox One X and Windows 10, with Mojang pointing out that this pack will be “performing best on high-end PCs and the Xbox One X”.

Minecraft Reveals Super Duper Graphics Pack

Minecraft is a global phenomenon. Nowadays it’s rare to find a gamer unfamiliar with the title itself. What originally started off on PC has expanded to nearly every device. Consoles, mobile — some gamers can even play it on their streaming devices.

Mojang made its presence felt at E3 2017. Aside from the Xbox One X 4K update, big news was revealed for fans of the series. Gamers can soon play Minecraft with friends on nearly every platform thanks to new servers. These servers will support Xbox One, PC, Switch, VR, and mobile. Check out the update reveal below.

The “Better Together” update is set to drop this summer.

Minecraft Will Feature Cross Platform Online Play

It was just announced at Microsoft’s E3 conference that Minecraft will become a cross play title. This means that gamers will be able to play with their friends across multiple platforms including Windows 10, VR, and console. This functionality comes with massive servers and a community marketplace in the “Better Together Update”.

The “Super Duper Graphics Pack” will also be available for the game this fall. This update is a 4K visual upgrade for the Xbox One X. Check out the trailer for it below.

Both of these updates will be coming later this year, so prepare for cross play and some blocks that are about to look a whole lot better.

Minecraft Cross Play and 4K Update

One of the big announcements for Minecraft this E3 was that nearly all versions of the game — Playstation consoles aside unfortunately due to a decision on Sony’s end — will be able to play with each other following the game’s upcoming “Better Together” update.

Following on from that announcement, Jens and Saxs from Mojang discuss the update a little bit more with Julia Hardy.

The “Better Together” update as well as the 4K update announced at the same time should both be coming to Minecraft later this year.

Mojang Discuss Minecraft Better Together Update At E3