Fancy construction sets are nice, but there’s plenty of building to do in Minecraft proper. The first wave of Minecraft Adventure Figures from Jinx are the perfect way to just hang out at your desk with Steve and the gang.

Available this month at Walmart, Target and collectible retailers like Gamestop (they also dabble in video games), Minecraft Adventure Figures are a series of six lovingly-crafted vinyl statues celebrating the life and death of Steve, Alex and their various enemies.

I’m not normally one for toys that don’t actually do anything, but there’s something about the design of these that implies action without actually imparting any. The slight curve to the characters’ bodies, the sway of their blocky arms. They are ready for adventure, even if that adventure never comes.

The initial assortment includes Diamond Steve, Enchanted Alex (aka Hawkeye), Zombie, Zombie Pigman, Skeleton (or jack-o-lantern with Skeleton friend) and, of course, a Creeper. They run $9.99 apiece and surprise—they are sold in window boxes, so you don’t have to worry about doubles.

Check out some shots of the Minecraft Adventure Figures in relative action in the slideshow below.

You can’t go wrong with good old Diamond Steve. While staying true to texture, the Minecraft adventure figures give the characters’ bodies a slight curve, adding a sense of momentum to the stationary toys. He is charging towards a thing, and that thing is probably adventure.

When It Comes To Minecraft Toys, Sometimes Simple Is Best

The World Lets Out A Confused Sigh As Turkey Considers Banning Minecraft

Microsoft and Mojang have made good on the promise from E3 2017 that Minecraft would become a cross-platform gaming experience. With the “Better Together” update, players from mobile, Xbox One, and Windows 10 platforms can all play together. It should also be noted that while the Nintendo Switch version is still in development (with a “soon” release date at best) it will be cross-platform compatible upon its release.

Being able to play with your friends regardless of platform is a great step in the right direction for gamers as a whole and adds value to whichever edition players get theirs hands on. That being said, Sony opted out of being a part of this togetherness, meaning neither the PlayStation 3 nor PS4 versions will be compatible. Whether or not the comments in the video about the universe not exploding and everything being better together are meant at Sony directly will probably never be answered.

Xbox One is the only console that this update will take effect on, currently. Further, it should be noted that at the time of writing this that there has been a bit of word of lag-related issues in the community when playing on servers. While this is not ideal, Mojang and 4J Studios have been known to keep a steady stream of updates flowing, meaning that anything that needs ironing out post-update will probably be tended to.

Minecraft has launched across nearly every platform since its 2009 debut on PC, spanning Android, iPhone, X1, X360, PS3, PS4, Windows 10 and a future port to Nintendo Switch. The game features both local co-op and online across the platforms via split-screen and internet, respectively.

If you have any questions about what features or versions of the game are supported, Mojang put together an FAQ on the minecraft.net website.

Minecraft does an outstanding job of incorporating the co-op that we here at Co-Optimus are so fond of; you can read our review here (short version: we gave it a 5 out of 5, it’s amazing.) meaning that this update is just frosting on the cake. Will you be playing together with your friends, or has the lure of caves, monsters and diamonds wore off of you? Let us know in the comments below, and for all things co-op, stick with your friends here at Co-Optimus.com.

Minecraft Update Brings A Promising Future

Microsoft has announced a new update for the building and exploration game Minecraft. The new update will introduce several new features to the game.

The new update will introduce 4K graphics rendering, crossplay support and “massive servers”. When the new update hits, players will be able to play together regardless of which device the player plays the game on, if they are playing on special designated servers.

The new graphics update will bring 4K resolution rendering to the Xbox One version of the game. The PC version of the game already supported 4K resolution rendering. Both the PC and Xbox One versions of the game will also be able to make use of updated 4K resolution textures.

The Minecraft “Super Duper Graphics Pack” update launches this fall for PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS and several virtual reality devices. The PlayStation 4 version will not support crossplay multiplayer functionality.

Minecraft to get 4K graphics and crossplay update this fall

While the rollout of the Minecraft Better Together Update is being promoted as, well, and update to Minecraft: Xbox One Edition, it is actually a completely new Minecraft video game that is replacing the Xbox One Edition version and being sold separately (though current owners of the Xbox One Edition do get the new version for free).

While browsing the Store on the Xbox One, the listing for Minecraft: Xbox One Edition can still be found and its Game Hub still functions but it can no longer be purchased. Meanwhile, a new listing for the new version of the game, simply called Minecraft, is now discoverable and has its own new Game Hub. It’s unclear why such a shift was made though one reason could be that it makes it easier to discern which Xbox Live friends are playing which version when online. If someone is playing Minecraft: Xbox One Edition, they would be unable to join a multiplayer game on Minecraft for example.

What do you think? Do you like this fresh start for Minecraft players? Sign-off in the comments below.

Minecraft: Xbox One Edition no longer available digitally

Sure, the latest update for Minecraft is a notable one for introducing cross-play to the wildly popular game–that’s all well and good. But it’s the bug fixes located in the patch notes that I think are the real highlight.

The latest instance of “patch notes that are much funnier than they have any right to be” comes with this week’s Better Together update for Minecraft. There are a wide range of new features and tweaks, including the aforementioned cross-play support, but it also fixes so many bug fixes that developer Mojang decided not to share them all. Luckily, it did include a few.

Among them: This patch “stop[s] llamas from creepily turning their heads to stare at you while riding them.” Not being a hardcore Minecraft player, this is something I was admittedly unaware of–you can seemingly see it in the image above, which comes from this YouTube video by Aiden Art. Suffice it to say, it’s something I will forever regret not being able to experience myself.

Other bug fixes in this update include the return of cats purring (they’re good for the soul) and bats losing the ability to swim underwater. The patch is out now for the Xbox One, PC, VR, and mobile versions, with cross-play support also coming to the Nintendo Switch version. Minecraft on PS4 won’t offer cross-play support, at least yet.

Llamas Stop Creepily Staring At You Thanks(?) To Minecraft’s New Update

Minecraft’s Better Together Update Adds More Cross-Play Functionality

Dir: Matthew Vaughn, 140 mins, starring: Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Channing Tatum, Halle Berry, Pedro Pascal, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges

Matthew Vaughn loves his gadgets. Spy sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle is full of them. X-ray spectacles, umbrellas that act as weapon shields, “alpha gel” that miraculously preserves characters you think have been shot dead, London taxis with technology that puts Apollo skyrockets to shame, robotic attack dogs and prosthetic arms are all thrown into the mix. In James Bond movies, Q provides 007 with one or two gizmos. The problem here is that the film is absolutely bulging with them. There is a new toy or piece of hardware or software for every new scene.

Vaughn also has a fetishistic obsession with tailoring: with the suits, ties, watches, boots and shoes the male characters in particular wear. The preoccupation with style gets in the way of the storytelling. He has a formidable cast here including several Oscar winners (Julianne Moore, Colin Firth and Jeff Bridges) but all of them are only allowed to give the most cartoonish of performances.

You can’t fault the stunts. As an action movie, The Golden Circle passes muster. It is packed with explosions, chases and visual spectacle. It is often quite witty too in its own tongue-in-cheek and macabre fashion. The evil villainess Poppy Adams (Moore) likes to put her enemies through the mincing machine and turn them into hamburgers. She has kidnapped Sir Elton John (played by himself) and is keeping him in captivity deep in the jungle, where she has built her own compound in the shape of an old American shopping mall. (It has cinemas, fast-food joints and lots of fluorescent lighting.)

Sir Elton doesn’t get much in the way of meaty dialogue but we do see him at the piano from time to time and when one of the heroes asks for tickets to a concert, he replies in magnificently camp fashion: “Darling, if you save the world, you can have a backstage pass!”

The British filmmakers are keen to show off their patriotic credentials. That much is obvious from the car chase/fight sequence which opens the movie. We’re plunged straight into the action. Eggsy, the youngster from the council estate who was turned Pygmalion-style into a super-suave spy in the first film, is caught up in a vicious fight with his nemesis Charlie Hesketh (Edward Holcroft), in the back of a black cab. Vaughn stages the scene as if it is the chariot race in Ben-Hur but set in Piccadilly and around Hyde Park Corner rather than in a Roman amphitheatre. Vaughn and his collaborators are doing their part for the export drive. It’s hard not to admire the shameless way that even at the most fraught moments, the filmmakers manage to showcase the best of British.

Eggsy (again engagingly played by Taron Egerton) remains remarkably cheerful in the face of setbacks which would floor a lesser spy. He is advised early on that there is “no room for emotion” when you’re working as a Kingsman agent. Whether a pet dog dies, a best friend is killed, he is covered in sewage or his beloved but skittish Scandinavian princess girlfriend (Hanna Alstrom) threatens to leave him, he always keeps calm and carries on.

There are continual and often very disorienting switches in location. After the explosive London-set opening, we’re quickly whisked away to Kentucky where a sister organisation to Kingsman called Statesman is run from a bourbon distillery. Kingsman’s most cerebral operative Merlin (Mark Strong) is very sniffy about the local brew, much preferring single malt from his native Scotland.

Statesman is presided over by the gun-waving Tequila (Channing Tatum in Magic Mike groove), the stetson-wearing patriarch Champagne (Jeff Bridges), the brilliant analyst Ginger Ale (an underused Halle Berry), who would far rather be an agent in the field, and the whip-cracking Whiskey (Pedro Pascal, from Game Of Thrones and Narcos).

From Kentucky, we’re taken back to Britain for an excruciating Ab Fab-like sequence set, for no very good reason, at the Glastonbury Festival. Eggsy has to seduce It Girl Clara (Poppy Delevigne) in order to plant a tracking device deep within her. Other random stop-offs include the Alps (an excuse for a dizzying cable car scene and a few nods in the direction of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) and Cambodia, where drug baroness Poppy is hiding out. She comes up with a ludicrous idea for holding the world to ransom by contaminating drug supplies. Anybody who touches the wrong kind of cannabis or cocaine comes out in blue splotches, becomes manic, paralysed and then dies. Poppy is the only one who has the antidote.

To anyone who saw the first film, the presence of Colin Firth’s Harry is disconcerting. It feels like cheating on a Bobby Ewing-like scale to bring him back from the dead. As first encountered here, he has lost much of his memory and has a strange obsession with butterflies – but he’s still as dapper as ever.

Just as in the original movie, the filmmakers are absolutely relentless. When one action set-piece falls flat, they’ll follow it immediately with another to distract us. Some of the visual gags (Keith Allen upside down in a sausage machine) are very funny. Others are laddish and crass in the extreme but there is never a moment to pause or reflect on what is actually going on or why. Lasting for well over two hours, this is a gilded hamster wheel of a movie. Enormous energy is expended but it still feels at the end as if the filmmakers are going around in exactly the same circles as at the beginning.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle film review: ‘A gilded hamster wheel of a movie’

NINTENDO Switch fans can expect a big new streaming app soon, as Inside is pencilled in for a Nintendo release.

Nintendo Switch NEWS: Netflix app FINALLY ready, Halo on Switch, MASSIVE indie games boost

Eggsy, the street kid turned well dressed spy, is back to save the world in Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

A short time after the events of the first movie, Eggsy (Taron Egerton) is living the life of a spy while still mourning the loss of his mentor Harry Hart (Colin Firth). After all the Kingsman are eliminated by an evil drug dealer named Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore), Eggsy and Merlin (Mark Strong) are forced to head to Kentucky to get help from America’s version of the Kingsman known as Satesman.

The Statesman group is headed by Champagne aka Champ (Jeff Bridges) and is supported by special agents Tequila (Channing Tatum), Jack Daniels (Pedro Pascal), and tech expert Ginger Ale (Halle Berry). Yes, those names are real. I’m shocked they didn’t have a Shirley Temple on staff.

Eggsy and Merlin learn their old pal Harry is still alive and being held at Statesman’s headquarters. Harry was “killed” in the last movie after the insane church shootout. Ginger Ale provides a super ridiculous science-y explanation for how Harry survived a point blank gunshot to the head. Anyone who is all in on a laser lasso and an underwater car should be ok with absurd life saving technology. Of course, one of the side effects from saving Harry is temporary amnesia – action movies love using amnesia as a trope.

With no Kingsman, Eggsy must team up with his new found allies to stop Poppy before her designer drugs kill millions around the world.

As much fun as 2014’s Kingsman: The Secret Service was The Golden Circle is not as fun. It does some of the same action with none of the interesting things that made those sequences fun. A big part of what made the first film work was Samuel L Jackson’s incredibly fun performance as Richmond Valentine. Jackson saw the ceiling that said over-the-top and kept going. He was comically evil and that’s perfect for the type of film he was in.

As great of an actress as Julianne Moore is, her character Poppy reduced to a Susie homemaker villain and given very little to do. Poppy is menacing and feared by her team during the opening and the story steers away from at as the story moves forward. You can’t sideline your big bad in an action movie.

The action, much like the action from the first film, includes fun gadgets and tons of slow motion. The best sequence is chase scene/fight at the beginning of the film. It’s the type of strong opening that fans expect in an action movie. There’s more action scenes sprinkled throughout that remind audiences why they love Kingsman so much.

The best villainous action comes courtesy of Charlie (Edward Holcroft) who has a grudge against Kingsman after his run in with Eggsy in the last film. Charlie’s robotic arm is used brilliantly during the fight scenes.

The Golden Circle should’ve taken a hint from John Wick 2 and delved deeper into the spy world of Kingsman. Instead, the story is crippled by a pointless love story between Eggsy and Princess Tilde (Hanna Alstrom). Eggsy’s love story feels completely forced and is the most boring part of the story. The runtime is only 12 minutes longer than the original. The Golden Circle being 40% less fun makes those 12 mins feel like 45 mins.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle had potential to be a fun sequel that told us more about Kingsman and the undercover spy world that supports it. It settled for more of the same in Kingsman, and even more of the same once they arrive at Statesman. It’s not a lazy sequel but a sequel that doesn’t build on anything new.

Grade: B-

Review: Kingsman: The Golden Circle