PlayStation 4 version of Minecraft will not support upcoming crossplay update
The PlayStation 4 version of Minecraft will not be getting the upcoming crossplay update that allows players to play together even if they don’t have the same console.
The 4K graphics and crossplay update was announced during Microsoft’s E3 2017 press conference earlier today and was said to allow players to play together on any device if they played the game on designated “massive” multiplayer servers.
According to rumors, Sony did not allow the game to support crossplay multiplayer functionality. The company has yet to officially comment on the matter.
Whether the 4K graphics update will still be making its way to the PlayStation 4 version of the game is still unknown.
The Minecraft crossplay update will be coming to PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS and several virtual reality devices.
PlayStation 4 version of Minecraft will not support upcoming crossplay update
Kingsman: The Golden Circle Is More Farce Than Satire
When Kingsman: The Secret Service landed in theaters two years ago, it was a surprising, if modestly guilty, pleasure. For more than 30 years—going back at least as far as Never Say Never Again—James Bond had been derided within his own franchise as a “dinosaur,” for his tailored suits, sexist attitudes, and proclivity for violence. Kingsman thus served as a kind of Jurassic Park for the Bondian gentleman spy, resurrecting him from prehistoric Connery DNA discovered in fossilized amber somewhere. It was, as I noted at the time, “reactionary bordering on retrograde bordering on reprobate [but] also a tremendous amount of fun.”
Pulling off such a satirical feat once was hard enough, and it seemed unlikely that the movie’s director, Matthew Vaughn, could manage it a second time. He doesn’t—quite. But Vaughn’s new sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, while not as fresh as its predecessor, is nonetheless better than one might expect: a goofier, more over-the-top treatment of a premise that was pretty goofy and over-the-top the first time around.
Or was he? The trailers for The Golden Circle have not been coy on this point, so I won’t be either. Within the first 15 minutes of the movie, Harry is revealed to have survived, even if he’s dealing with a certain degree of amnesia. (In related news: Finally, Warner Bros! As if anyone ever believed Superman wouldn’t be brought back to life for Justice League.)
When they arrive at the distillery, Eggsy and Merlin discover a parallel American agency, Statesman, founded at the same time as their own. Replace Kingsman’s bespoke suits with cowboy-wear, their Arthurian codenames with ones based on varying types of liquor, and—well, you get the idea. It’s worth noting here that, although Channing Tatum (“Tequila”) and Jeff Bridges (“Champagne,” or more colloquially, “Champ”) feature prominently as Statesmen in the film’s trailers and other marketing, their roles aren’t much more than cameos. More notable among Kingsman’s “American cousins” are Pedro Pascal (who was marvelous as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones) as “Whiskey” and Halle Barry as support agent “Ginger Ale.”
The story proceeds from there pretty much as one might expect. Kingsmen and Statesmen unite to tackle the Poppy problem, double crosses ensue, and numerous action sequences take place that are cleverly choreographed, comically violent, and spatially impossible without abundant CGI assistance. Heroes and villains alike deploy the kinds of gadgets that the Bond franchise grew appropriately embarrassed about long ago—cars with machine guns, cars that turn into subs, robot arms, robot dogs—and there are gags concerning John Denver and the war on drugs. We witness the eating of an exceptionally revolting hamburger and the placement of a diabolically naughty tracking device.
The returning cast is solid, but while Firth and Egerton don’t have quite the twinkle they showed in the previous outing, Strong throws himself fully into Merlin’s delightful brogue. Moore shows off her comic chops as the Happy Daysified supervillain, and Pascal is a charismatic onscreen presence even if his Texan accent occasionally falters.
Which brings me to the extended cameo by a generationally famous pop icon playing himself—I won’t say whom—which begins relatively understated but becomes considerably more gonzo as it progresses. Is it a rather cheap and cheesy bid for audience amusement? Of course it is. But it is nonetheless an effective one.
That is, in fact, a reasonable summary of The Golden Circle overall. Whereas the first Kingsman was a relatively focused spoof of the Bond genre, the sequel goes farther afield for its humor. (There is, after all, no real history of American cowboy-spy movies for Statesman to parody.) The movie is too long, too violent, too silly—too everything. Yet for those who enjoyed the original Kingsman, it is a more than adequate second act. To put it another way: first time satire, second time farce.
Minecraft development team discusses “Super Duper Graphics Pack” in new developer diary video
Mojang, the development team behind the building game Minecraft, has released a new developer diary video in which they discuss the game’s upcoming “Super Duper Graphics Pack” update.
The update was announced during Microsoft’s E3 2017 press conference last week and was said to bring 4K graphics to the Xbox One version of the game, along with a range of other graphical enhancements.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 as well as other graphical enhancements such as specular maps, emissive maps, updated shadows, updated water rendering and animated foliage.
A cross-play update is also expected to be released this summer for almost all consoles, except for the PlayStation 4, that will enable players to play together regardless of which device the player plays the game on, if they are playing on special designated servers.
The Minecraft “Super Duper Graphics Pack” is expected to launch this fall.
Minecraft development team discusses “Super Duper Graphics Pack” in new developer diary video
‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ Review: An Overstuffed Joy Ride
The Kingsman are teaming up with the Statesmen and just like in America, they made everything bigger. Not necessarily better.
It’s hard to live up to expectations when the first time around, there were none. Kingsman: The Secret Service was the sleeper hit of 2015, as no one really knew what to expect from the movie going in. While doing press for that film, writer and director Matthew Vaughn kept saying that he had great ideas for a sequel and to build upon the characters we knew in the first one, and just needed the public to like the first one enough to get it made. Flash forward to 2017, with Kingsman: The Golden Circle now in theaters and fans asking themselves, “So where’s that movie?”
It’s been a year since Valentine was defeated by Eggsy (Taron Egerton) and Merlin (Mark Strong), and Eggsy has settled nicely into his role as Galahad. When a familiar face reappears, the entirety of Kingsman is wiped out, forcing Galahad and Merlin to go into “Doomsday protocol” and team up with the Statesmen, their American cousins. There, Agents Whiskey (Pedro Pascal), Tequila (Channing Tatum), Ginger Ale (Hallie Berry) and Champagne (Jeff Bridges) offer their assistance and resources to the remaining Kingsman agents (and a “surprise” appearance by the original Galahad, Harry Hart (Colin Firth)) to stop the Golden Circle, headed by Poppy (Julianne Moore).
Egerton is once again a driving force in the film, giving audiences the same charm, emotion, and humor that won them over in the first film. Eggsy’s journey to become a Kingsman hasn’t ended yet, as he struggles to hide his emotional response and step into the shoes of a true gentleman spy. But by the end, it’s clear that even his mentor sees his emotion as a strength, not a weakness. Though cliche, it’s a nice touch considering how much Eggsy has changed from the punk he once was, and how Egerton has built such a complex character.
One unexpected positive was the increase of Mark Strong’s role. Merlin was simply a helping hand in the first film, but he feels more like a co-worker in this one. Strong’s chemistry with the other Kingsman agents was great before and becomes stronger as his chemistry is mostly with Eggsy now. With Harry gone for the first half of the film, Merlin fulfills the role of his mentor, and Strong slips into it like he was playing Harry. It was a touching arc for a character that became bigger as the film went on.
Harry Hart’s return was not a surprise to anyone, as they revealed his return with a custom poster back in April 2016. The excuse for the return is just as unoriginal as the idea of bringing back an actor killed off (Think something as ridiculous as the super blood from Star Trek: Into Darkness). Outside of his reappearance, Firth’s return to the role is better than the last time. Eggsy failed to get closure with Harry before his untimely death, and the film recognizes this. There’s a touching conversation between Harry and Eggsy that shows Harry has a little more compassion this time around. If their relationship felt like a father-son relationship before, it even more like that this time around.
It’s hard to rate anyone else’s performance in this film because these actors had little to work with in terms of a script. Though the original Kingsman agents got their own arcs and grew, the Statesmen agents were given the leftovers. The only character trait we really get for Tatum’s Agent Tequila is he’s the agency’s “resident bad boy” as stated by Ginger Ale in the film. Agent Whiskey just feels like a modernized version of Pascal’s character in Game of Thrones and Jeff Bridges as Champagne is just straight up wasted. Even supporting characters like Arthur, Roxy and Charlie from the first film got more characterization than any of the Statesmen. There are so many new additions to the cast that it becomes impossible to flesh out all of these characters properly.
Even though many of the film’s key points were revealed through the various promotional materials, a decision that Vaughn himself criticized, there was still plenty of action and twists to keep audiences entertained. The film chooses to take the favorite pieces of the first film and make them greater, which many critics have been panning. The violence, crude humor, and alcoholism have all been kicked up to a new level, and whether you like it or not, it fits inside the film’s branding. It makes the film fun, whether it gets praised or panned by critics. The film does feel extremely bloated though, with many plot line that seems like they’re starting, but get quickly smashed and forgotten about. According to Vaughn, the film’s first cut was over 3 hours long, so that explains a lot.
The term “sequel fatigue” has been thrown around while talking about the summer box office a lot these past few weeks. Kingsman: The Golden Circle doesn’t avoid this, but it’s the least affected by this curse. It manages to pull a few new punches and offer up a good amount of fun at the theater. The film isn’t original or breaking barriers, but it doesn’t have to. In a summer full of superheroes, animals, bachelorette parties and stunt drivers, it’s good to see the gentlemen spies taking it home.
‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ Review: An Overstuffed Joy Ride
Minecraft cross-platform multiplayer update “Better Together” beta now available on PC and Android
Mojang has announced that the beta version of the cross-platform multiplayer update for Minecraft titled “Better Together” is now available on PC and Android.
The update was announced in June during Microsoft’s E3 2017 press conference and is said to allow players to play together on any of the supported platforms via special multiplayer servers.
According to a recent press release, the “Better Together” update is designed to unify the console, mobile and Windows 10 PC versions of the game under one single Minecraft edition, which will include infinite worlds, the community Marketplace and community servers.
The update also introduces the “biggest collection of new features ever” to players on PC and mobile devices. Players will notice the long awaited and much in demand stained glass, fireworks, customizable banners, armor stands, jukebox and music discs, recipe book and ravines.
For multiplayer, the update adds the ability for hosts to set player permissions and host options, along with other helpful tools, including new 3D model import features.
The beta test is now available on PC and Android and will be available on Xbox One at a later date. The PlayStation 4 version of the game will not be getting cross-platform multiplayer capabilities.
Xbox One and PC beta testers are required to download the Xbox Insider app, and players on Xbox One will need to own a digital copy of Minecraft: Xbox One Edition. Beta testers on Android will need to have a device that support Google Play and own a copy of the game purchased through the Google Play Store.
Minecraft cross-platform multiplayer update “Better Together” beta now available on PC and Android
Minecraft “Better Together” multiplayer update now available
The Better Together update for the building game Minecraft is now available for PC, Xbox One, Android and iOS. The update allows players to play together on any of the supported platforms via special multiplayer servers.
According to a recent press release, the “Better Together” update is designed to unify the console, mobile and PC versions of the game under one single Minecraft edition, which will include infinite worlds, the community Marketplace and community servers.
The update also introduces the “biggest collection of new features ever” to players on PC and mobile devices. Players will notice the long awaited and much in demand stained glass, fireworks, customizable banners, armor stands, jukebox and music discs, recipe book and ravines.
For multiplayer, the update adds the ability for hosts to set player permissions and host options, along with other helpful tools, including new 3D model import features.
The update is now available for PC, Xbox One, Android and iOS. The PlayStation 4 version of the game will not be getting cross-platform multiplayer capabilities because of Sony’s “no crossplay multiplayer” policy.
The Nintendo Switch version of Minecraft is expected to get the update within the next couple of weeks.
Minecraft “Better Together” multiplayer update now available
Kingsman: The Golden Circle review – sneering spy spoof sequel
This is a code-red warning. I repeat, code red. You may be in the mood for a piece of trashy fun this weekend. You might have embraced the slick anarchy of the first Kingsman movie. But on no account let that persuade you to part with your money for a ticket to this sour-spirited and glib sequel. Taron Egerton returns as Eggsy, newest recruit of the elite secret agency Kingsman. He does a decent job of the two key requirements of the role: wearing suits and hitting people. But an early plot twist requires him to emote, at which point the whole house of cards tumbles down.
I didn’t think it was possible for someone to both grieve and smirk at the same time, but apparently it is. In fact, the whole film is a knowing sneer of a movie that shrugs off its plot holes along with a particularly unsavoury attitude to violence and a tendency to use female characters as the decorative punchline to jokes. Most annoying is that the film ignores the basic rules of physics, with a profoundly stupid cable-car action sequence that gave me the absolute rage.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle review – sneering spy spoof sequel
Fans of Minecraft Are Sure to Dig this Nationwide Museum Fest
The indie hit is the perfect game for a day devoted to unearthing knowledge
A Minecraft rendering of the Smithsonian Castle in Washington, D.C. Participants in Minecraft: Education Edition online festivities will be able to let their own imaginations run wild this Museum Day. (Museum Day Live!)
The beauty of the open-world video game Minecraft, which remains wildly popular more than eight years after its release, is the sweeping creative freedom it affords to its players. Given the same basic array of natural resources, different individuals will come up with totally different ideas as to what to build, what materials to build with, and how to expand on their initial concept as days and weeks pass by. Player designs run the gamut from massive medieval fortresses to gleaming metal skyscrapers; the only real limit developer Mojang imposes on players is the imagination.
Minecraft’s exploratory ideal is well realized in Museum Day Live!, the annual nationwide event founded by Smithsonian magazine. This year’s Museum Day Live! festivities—in which upwards of 1,000 distinct museums across the country will be participating on Saturday, September 23—will be complemented by rich Minecraft: Education Edition resources online. Children and adults alike will be able to draw on the museums they visit to create their own worlds, via a series of highly interactive Minecraft lesson plans put together by Smithsonian and Microsoft.
The game perfectly embodies the imaginative optimism of the Museum Day spirit. Museums, like the realm of Minecraft, are full of treasures just waiting to be discovered, and what one makes of those treasures is entirely up to him or her. Just as digging into bedrock in search of valuable metals provides a thrill, so too does entering a museum knowing you’ll emerge with a more complete understanding of the world around you.
Minecraft players place a high value on knowing what things are made of; so too does tinkerer and photographer Todd McLellan, whose traveling “Things Come Apart” exhibition is on view at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, Virginia. To produce the images in the exhibition, McLellan deconstructed everyday mechanical devices (computers, hair driers, stereos, wristwatches, you name it), laid out their myriad components in a methodical and aesthetically pleasing way, then photographed the whole ensemble. His work shows visitors the wonder lying beneath the seemingly mundane.
Fans of Minecraft know that the pickaxe is an invaluable tool for unearthing the secrets of the natural world—paleontologists do too. At the Burke Museum in Seattle, a team of paleontologists will spend Museum Day publicly examining a recently unearthed 65 million-year-old T. rex skeleton, focusing on its extremely well-preserved 1.5-ton skull. Dinosaur lovers should take heed—this is only the 15th such skull ever excavated worldwide.
The progression of technology is a central theme in Minecraft—players gradually craft stronger and stronger equipment for themselves, building on their past innovations to carry them into the future. In many ways, this is also the story of America, and the larger world beyond. At the Aviation Museum in College Park, Maryland, Museum Day guests can delve deep into the history of the helicopter, and will get a chance to interact with a revolutionary human-powered copter recently engineered by the University of Maryland’s Aerospace Engineering department. In nearby Baltimore, at the B&O Railroad Museum, a refurbished B&O #25 Civil War-era locomotive will take viewers back to an age of industrial marvels. And at Florida’s St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, a demonstration on the handicraft of ship modeling will illustrate how naval technologies have evolved across time.
Understanding the history of a place is important to Minecraft players, who ask themselves critical questions upon reaching a new location: Who has occupied this space before me? What human and animal life has shaped this land? How can I build on what has already been done here in a responsible way? It is with these sorts of thoughts in mind that we should confront our own histories, both as Americans and as citizens of the world. Museum Day will offer ample opportunities to do so.
At the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, for instance, visitors will be invited to peruse painting, sculpture and photography tying together more than 150 years of Southern U.S. history. Meanwhile, Honolulu, Hawaii’s Pacific Aviation Museum will be enlightening both young and old as to the enduring significance of Pearl Harbor in the national consciousness, and telling the visceral story of the Pacific campaign of World War II through the medium of period photography. And at the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford, distant memories of the Revolutionary War will be vivified through displays of weapons, uniforms and handwritten letters.
In Minecraft online play, community is everything. The experience of shaping the world around you is most fulfilling when you are among friends, and the opportunity for communities across the Minecraft fandom to engage with one another has contributed immensely to the game’s enduring appeal.
Community will be the focus of Museum Day Live! activities at the Ohio History Center in Columbus—specifically, the LGBTQ community, and its rich history both in the region and all across the U.S. A number of transgender veterans will be reflecting on their experiences overseas with the military, and the stars of the locally made documentary film Kings, Queens and In-Betweens will be discussing their own experiences as a panel following a screening.
Perhaps the most fundamental joy one derives from Minecraft is the creation of something beautiful and original where once there was only empty space. In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts will highlight just this sort of achievement on Museum Day, as it welcomes visitors to take in artworks and artifacts spanning more than 300 years of architecture and design history. The bare beauty of the items from each time period will provide a unique look at how taste and style have morphed both in and outside America.
All in all, anyone possessing the exploratory itch celebrated by the game Minecraft will have no shortage of stimulating options to pick from as Museum Day Live! 2017 rolls around. You need only survey the landscape, choose an appealing location, and start digging.
Fans of Minecraft Are Sure to Dig this Nationwide Museum Fest
Five to Try: Minecraft adds cross-platform fun, and XOutOf10 gives Android that iPhone X look
Itching for some fresh fun with your Android phone? Look no further, because our weekly Five to Try column rounds up the week’s biggest new app and game releases, as well as the most impactful updates. In fact, it’s the updated version of Minecraft that leads this week’s roundup, as the new Play Together edition connects various platforms with both solo and multiplayer benefits.
Elsewhere, XOutOf10 is a freebie gag app that mimics the upcoming iPhone X’s rather distinctive top screen notch, MyNBA2K18 turns basketball into a competitive card game, Apple Music adds some needed features, and Terra Battle 2 offers up an even larger fantasy role-playing adventure to dive into. Hit the Play Store and check these apps out this weekend!
Minecraft
IDGMinecraft: Pocket Edition isn’t the Pocket Edition anymore—it’s just Minecraft ($7). Why? Because now there’s parity between the Android version and the other computer and console editions available today, as they’re sharing the same codebase. And more importantly, now they’re all connected together via the new Play Together update.
Released this week, Play Together links together several versions of the game, including Android, Windows 10, iOS, Xbox, and VR, with Nintendo Switch support on the horizon. Now you’ll be able to start your game on one device and pick it up on any other, plus the unified approach makes it easier to get online and play with lots of other people on public servers. It’s still the familiar Minecraft at core, of course, but now it seems a whole lot larger on Android.
XOutOf10
IDGThe upcoming iPhone X looks to be Apple’s larger threat against high-end Android phones, more so than today’s iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, but there’s something a bit… odd… about the screen. It’s the notch. Apple’s phone has a new front-facing camera system with an infrared sensor, and it needs a decent chunk of space on a phone that’s otherwise all-screen on the front—so Apple wrapped the screen around an empty, black notch at the top.
And now you can simulate Apple’s curious notch with the XOutOf10 app, which puts a constant faux camera array at the top of your screen. Why ever would you want such a thing? You wouldn’t, practically, but as a simple (and free) gag app, it’s pretty funny. Use it to playfully taunt (or dissuade) any pals who are holding out for iPhone X.
MyNBA2K18
IDGWe’re still waiting for NBA 2K18 to hit Android after launching on other platforms this week, but if you’re a big hoops fan, at least you can check out MyNBA2K18 in the meantime. Its main attraction is a card-based game that lets you amass a team of NBA stars and then try to outmatch other players in head-to-head battles. Amusingly, you’ll see the cards on the court (not the players), but they’ll still block shots and nail audacious dunks. The whole thing is strongly freemium, however, and you’ll need to spend plenty of time and/or money to find success here.
If you play NBA 2K18 on a console or PC, then the app also serves a second purpose as a companion for the main game. You can use it to snap your photo to create a custom player, for example, or earn extra in-game currency to use in the console experience.
Apple Music
IDGThis week’s release of iOS 11 brought a bunch of new features and tweaks to iPhones and iPads, but Apple also took the opportunity to enhance its Apple Music app on Android. The latest version brings a couple of pretty significant updates that address previous omissions. For example, now Apple Music has voice search, letting you say “OK Google” or hold your phone’s home button to request songs, artists, and more.
The new update also adds an optional home screen widget, plus it brings some new social functionality that lets you link up with friends to share playlists and see what they’ve been listening to. It’s not exactly a revival of Apple’s reviled Ping feature from iTunes years back, but really more akin to what Spotify offers for paired-up pals. All told, however, this is a pretty meaty update for Apple’s streaming music app.
Terra Battle 2
IDGHironobu Sakaguchi created the original Final Fantasy 30 years ago, spawning one of the most beloved franchises in all of gaming. These days, his Mistwalker studio has found another success on mobile with Terra Battle, a streamlined, free-to-play take on tactical role-playing. After notching more than 2.5 million downloads of the original, Terra Battle 2 is here with some tweaks to the formula.
As before, the head-to-head fights take place on a grid-based battlefield using character tiles, which you’ll move around to trigger attacks and abilities. But now there’s an open world map outside of combat, letting you explore the environment and find new fights as you please, as well as freely arrange your characters for a strategic edge in battle. It’s still a free-to-play game, but the first one found plenty of fans, and there’s been some solid hype surrounding this sequel.
Five to Try: Minecraft adds cross-platform fun, and XOutOf10 gives Android that iPhone X look
Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition Review
Have you ever heard the saying, “There’s no such thing as bad pizza?” No matter what, pizza’s good by virtue of being pizza. A similar thing could be said for the many different versions of Minecraft. There really isn’t such a thing as “bad Minecraft,” just versions that aren’t as good as the others. That’s why, in spite of its many shortcomings, the New 3DS version is still an enjoyable Minecraft experience, even though it’s not a great version.
Fitting Minecraft onto the New 3DS is not without its sacrifices, and if nothing else, those sacrifices make up the biggest problems with this new portable version. Graphically, it’s unmistakably Minecraft, but draw distance takes a major blow. I found my time in my Minecraft world almost claustrophobic, even on the surface. I had to make sure to pay close attention to my map early on because if I got a few dozen blocks away from my shelter, it would disappear into the fog. Draw distance looks to be about five chunks, putting it on par with the Vita version. It definitely hindered my desire to explore my surroundings and risk being unable to find my way back home.
Controls in this version also take some getting used to. The jump button isn’t easily tapped when maneuvering with the New 3DS’s right stick, but thankfully there’s an auto-jump option in the menu. Moving around with the right stick feels odd at first, and it never really settled into a place that felt great. Shoulder buttons control actions, like using crafting tables and swinging a pickax, which allows movement while performing actions. Like all the other console versions, the guesswork is gone from crafting thanks to a provided list of items you can create. I feel like this takes away some of the magic of Minecraft, but for the benefit of at a glance convenience.
There are so many different ways to play Minecraft, and the 3DS version fails to set itself apart.
All of the crafting and inventory management is handled on the touchscreen, and it’s exciting that this version takes advantage of that when the Wii U port didn’t. It definitely streamlines the process of moving and crafting things in the inventory, but the small screen size makes it feel cramped. To fully see what’s in a chest requires scrolling down, and double chests require double the scrolling. Oddly, if you aren’t showing an empty row on the screen, it won’t allow you to put more items into the chests or inventory even if there’s room. I found this frustrating when managing my items after a mining session, as I just wanted to dump off my stuff and get back to the search for diamonds.
There are also two huge, head-scratching omissions from the New 3DS version of Minecraft: the Nintendo skins and texture packs that were included on the Switch version. It’s especially odd given the fact there are other skins and texture packs included: Biome Settlers Packs 1 and 2, Redstone Specialists, Journey to the West, and the Holiday Skin Pack from 2015. While I definitely enjoy being able to fight back the zombie hordes in a full Santa Claus outfit, it would have been better to battle and mine as Waluigi. The two texture packs included, Plastic and City, are also an unusual fit.
Perhaps the most disappointing feature missing from Minecraft for New Nintendo 3DS is the lack of 3D. It would be amazing to feel a sense of depth in the Minecraft world, and would be the only official 3D version – unless you count VR on the PC. Supposedly, it’s going to be added in a future patch, and having that feature alone could do a lot to help make up for its other current shortcomings.
Another rough part of Minecraft on New 3DS is the auto-save system, which pauses gameplay entirely as it writes to the MicroSD card. Thankfully, you get plenty of warning beforehand, with messages not much different to playing on an online server, but it’s still annoying to have the flow of playing interrupted every 20 minutes. Additionally, since it writes to the MicroSD card instead of the system or cartridge memory, saves are tied to the system itself.
I’ve been playing Minecraft in one form or another, sometimes several at once, since version 0.6 on PC, so I’m happy to report Minecraft on 3DS is still, at its core, Minecraft. It didn’t take me too long to settle into a familiar pattern of harvesting, mining, and crafting as I build a shelter I’d inevitably abandon for greener pastures. But there are already so many different ways to play Minecraft, and the 3DS version fails to live up to the standards set by the other versions. It’s not a bad slice of pizza, but there are so many better choices.