Microsoft is returning to Gamescom this August to flaunt its Xbox wares once more, and would like you to know what happening this time around – including a first public hands-on of the intriguing Minecraft Dungeons and Gears of War 5’s Horde Mode.

This year’s Gamescom, once again being held in Cologne, will run for four days from 20th August. Microsoft, however, will be kicking things off a day early, holding a special Gamescom-themed episode of its Inside Xbox show, live from Cologne’s Gloria Theatre. The latest “news, games, accessories, and features” are promised, with proceedings scheduled to begin at 4pm BST on Monday, 19th August.

Should you be interested in tuning in, you’re not exactly short of options; it’ll be streamed via Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Mixer, and the official Xbox website.

Later in the week, from Wednesday, 21st August, until Friday, 23rd August, Microsoft will be holding a free public live event that it’s calling Xbox Open Doors, situated at the Gloria Theatre. This will play host to “community events, game tournaments, panel sessions and other exciting experiences”, and more details are due at a later date.

Within Gamescom itself, Microsoft’s Xbox Booth will feature a variety of playable games – including the aforementioned first public hands-on of Minecraft Dungeons and Gears of War 5’s Horde Mode – with Project xCloud also getting an airing somewhere along the line. Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition will make an appearance in Microsoft’s PC-focussed area, and there’s an official gear shop too.

Microsoft’s Xbox Booth can be found in Hall 8 of the Koelnmesse, for those Gamescom attendees keen to pop along and see what’s what.

Keemstar and UMG are continuing Minecraft Monday for another week.

The event went in a different direction in Week 3 as gamers participated in different minigames rather than just Hunger Games (last man standing). The change up in gaming led to Technoblade not winning the event for the first time (he and his partners won the first two weeks). Instead, Traves and Cscoop won Week 3.

Week 4 will follow a similar format as Week 3 by playing minigames, but the type of games have been changed. Those can be viewed below.

Will Technoblade get back to dominating the event? We’ll find out later today. Below is everything you need to know about Week 4 of Minecraft Monday.

When does Minecraft Monday start?

Date: July 15th

Time: 4 p.m. EST, 1 p.m. PT

How to stream Minecraft Monday Week 4

UMG will be streaming the event live above.

You can also watch live from individual streamers on their respective platforms (some stream on Twitch, others stream on YouTube, a rare few choose other outlets).

Minecraft Monday Week 4 teams, rosters

Minecraft Monday rules, scoring system

• Eliminations: +10 Score
• Victory: +30 Score
• Top 2 Teams: +20 Score
• Top 3 Teams: +10 Score
• Surviving: +2 Score (Whenever a team is eliminated all other remaining teams earn +2 Score)

An added note, scoring for placements, surviving and victories are split between teammates if both are alive. But if one member of the team gets eliminated, the score is awarded to the surviving teammate.

There’s no cheating allowed. Cheating includes no cross-teaming, no “feeding” to help another team no mods or resource packs that grant unfair advantages. Trash talk is allowed, but toxic trash talk could result in a ban.

UMG lists the games played as followed:

• 1. Hunger Games (MAP)
• 2. TNT Run
• 3. Dropper
• 4. Spleef
• 5. Battle Arena
• 6. Find The Button
• 7. Run From The Lava
• 8. Bingo Hunt
• 9. Hunger Games (MAP)

Minecraft Monday Week 4 results

The leaderboard above should update throughout the tournament.

The makers of Minecraft Earth launched a closed beta today in Seattle and London, the first time fans will be able to get their hands on the heavily hyped augmented reality smartphone game.

London and Seattle are the first two markets in the beta test, but it will steadily expand to other cities across the globe, Thomas Wiborgh, head of communications of Microsoft-owned Mojang wrote in a blog post Tuesday. Players can sign up hereto participate in the test.

Microsoft expects the test to eventually roll out to “hundreds of thousands of players,” according to an FAQ. The game requires a mobile device running iOS 10 and Android 7 or newer. As long as they are signed into the same Microsoft account, users can bounce between phones and tablets and bring their creations with them.

Beta users must log on at least once a week, or risk losing their spot. Don’t be surprised if the game is reset and progress gets wiped away, that is pretty standard among beta tests as the teams update the game.

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The game takes Minecraft off the computer screen and brings the game into the real world — through the lens of a smartphone. Players collect items, go on quests and use their inventories to put together impressive structures that can be captured and shared. There’s important elements of cooperation in defeating bad guys in missions and collaborating on tabletop Buildplate structures that can be ballooned up to life-size scale.

While players will be able to transport “skins” over from traditional Minecraft, the team is setting up the game to stand its own. The game will be familiar to long-time Minecraft player, but the goal is for every item and creature in Minecraft Earth to come from that game.

Microsoft first teased the game at its Build developer conference in May and shared details a few weeks later. Minecraft has yet to give a release date for the full game.

The game is free to play, and executives in the past have demurred when asked about in-app purchases. However, we do know that Minecraft Earth won’t have loot boxes, a popular trend in the gaming world of grab bags full of items that users have to buy with either real money or in-game currency.

Minecraft Earth is part of rising trend of smartphone games layered over the real world. The immediate name that comes to mind when talking about games like this is Pokémon Go. And the company behind Pokémon Go, Niantic, just put out a brand new Harry Potter-themed augmented reality game based on the real world. Speaking with GeekWire when it first unveiled Minecraft Earth, the team behind it said “we don’t see ourselves as a clone” of anything that’s out there today, which they referred to mostly as “geocaching games.”

“It’s not just a geocaching game with like 2 percent of it in augmented reality,” Torfi Olafsson, game director for Minecraft, told GeekWire in May. “We decided to go head-first and build the game from the ground up as an experience that you play both in your immediate environment — when you’re home — and out in the world, like in parks, in cities.”

Microsoft Pokémon Go-alike Minecraft Earth has begun rolling out to its first group of beta testers – those who previously signed up and live in either London or Seattle.

Anyone with early access is free to post gameplay videos and impressions – and from these we have a good idea what’s in the game currently.

The Map screen looks very familiar to Pokémon Go, with things (“Tappables”) to click on in a radius around your avatar. It’s here you’ll find blocks, items and mobs.

One nice touch is that, when playing in a car, your avatar is shown riding in a minecart.

Then there’s the Buildplate screen, where you use your collected Tappables to create Minecraft builds. Different sized Buildplates are available as you level up, with varying biomes.

Here’s the best footage I’ve found of more advanced builds available in Minecraft Earth. YouTuber SethBling demonstrates a couple of redstone creations such as a TNT cannon and a life-size human speedometer which reminds me of something I’d probably have to do in PE.

It’s worth noting, as SethBling does in the video, Microsoft provided him with extra redstone parts to complete his creations. Otherwise, they’re only available as a rare drop, he said.

Missing from the beta at present are Adventures – Minecraft Earth’s AR encounters with mobs I got to test out at E3. The app’s in-game store is also unavailable while in beta.

There’s no word yet on when Minecraft Earth’s beta will open up to more users, but you can still pop your name down on Microsoft’s official site.

What you need to know

• The closed beta for Minecraft Earth is opening in two cities.
• The game is available in Seattle and London.
• Anyone living in those two cities who has signed up for the closed beta could get an invite.
• You can still sign up for the closed beta right now.

Minecraft Earth is an upcoming augmented reality (AR) game that aims to bring the world of Minecraft to your phones, in the vein of something like Pokémon Go. While it’s still early, the team at Mojang has shared some great news: the Minecraft Earth closed beta is beginning in Seattle and London right now!

If you live in Seattle or London and you’ve signed up for the closed beta, go check your email because there’s a decent chance you’ve been invited. “Thousands” of invites have already been sent out and more are no doubt coming. If you don’t live in either Seattle or London, keep in mind that the closed beta is just now rolling out, it’ll expand to other cities in the future.

If you haven’t signed up yet, don’t worry: you can still register for the closed beta right now. If there’s anything else you want to know about Minecraft Earth, our Xbox Senior Editor, Jez Corden, has a cohesive wrap-up right here. How does monetization work? Just what are players allowed to do? Do you have to walk around everywhere like in other AR games? The questions to all these and much, much more are covered.

If you’ve been waiting to check out Minecraft Earth (Mojang’s  Pokémon GO-style augmented reality reimagining of its hugely popular game, Minecraft), good news: it’s starting to roll out to some people now.

The catch? It’s only available to a slice-of-a-slice of the world, at first.

After opening a registration system for its closed beta just a few days ago, the company says that it sent out the first batch of beta invites this afternoon.

The beta is being rolled out on a region-by-region basis, with randomly picked players in Seattle and London getting access at first. Mojang says more cities should go live in “the next few days,” but doesn’t get any more specific than that.

It’s also worth noting that the beta is iOS only for now; Android support is on the way, but it won’t land until later this summer.

Our own Devin Coldewey went hands-on with an early build of Minecraft Earth a few months ago — check out his first impressions here.

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Lion King, in theaters Friday nationwide.

Disney’s live-action adaptation of The Lion King doesn’t make a lot of changes to the overarching narrative of the 1994 animated classic. Although somewhat understated, its few alterations are to character motivations. A handful of the supporting players are tweaked here and there, contributing new layers.

And no one receives as much of an update as Shenzi (Florence Kasumba), the leader of the hyena pack. The original movie featured her more as a just another goofy member of the comically inept henchmen for Scar. But in the new film, Shenzi is a much more intimidating and serious character. None of her dialogue is played for laughs, and she’s given a lot more imposing moments to make herself a true threat to the lion pride.

EXCLUSIVE: We’re hearing from non-Disney sources that Jon Favreau’s The Lion King reboot is doing some smashing business tonight with an estimated $22M-$25Moff showtimes that largely started at 6PM (there were 5pm select fan screenings). Again with these estimates, sometimes they can fall outside the range we’re hearing from sources, but overall, it’s a great start.

While that’s not a July Thursday night preview record —Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2‘s midnight shows of $43.5M looks to still hold this record– Lion King‘s Thursday night cash stash is on the low-end above Captain Marvel‘s $20.2M (which repped 33% of its opening day Friday for a $153.4M opening) and on the high-end just under Black Panther‘s $25.2M (33% of Friday, for a $202M 3-day opening).

Bringing tonight within comparisons of Disney live-action adaptations of its classic toons, Lion King is already burying Beauty and the Beast‘s $16.3M Thursday night preview which yielded 26% of its opening day for a $174.7M opening. Heading into the weekend tracking estimates were between $180M-$192M. If Lion King clicks past Deathly Hallows 2‘s $169.1M, then it’s the best domestic opening ever for July. One rival studio marketing executive marveled today, “This film has had a 98 total awareness on tracking for a long time — that’s unheard of!” First choice for The Lion King is leaning heavier toward females than males.

Further evidence that Simba is bound to have a royal weekend: Fandango reports that the Favreau film is the second best pre-seller of 2019 behind Avengers: Endgame. Bad reviews with that Rotten Tomatoes of 56%? Well, Lion King is just all Hakuna Matata about all that when it comes to RT impacting its B.O. prospects.

Tomorrow, Lion King opens in 4,725 theaters becoming the widest domestic theatrical release of all-time, unseating Avengers: Endgame‘s first weekend footprint of 4,662. Abroad Lion King has already roared past $100M, a bulk of that from China. We’ll have more updates for you in the morning.

Take the real-world exploration of Pokémon GO and mash it up with the building elements of Minecraft and you get Minecraft Earth.

While there’s no launch date for the game, Mojang  has been saying for a while now that a closed beta would go live sometime “this summer.” If you’re looking to get in early, good news: they just opened up registration.

You can find the beta registration page here.

Alas, because it’s a closed beta, registering doesn’t guarantee you access — but in its FAQ about the beta, the team notes that they’re planning to open it up to “hundreds of thousands of players” eventually, so your odds of getting in probably aren’t too bad. You’ll need to be over the age of 18, have a device running iOS 10/Android 7 or newer and a Microsoft or Xbox Live account to get registered.

TechCrunch’s Devin Coldewey got a super-early look at the game back in May — you can find his thoughts on it right over here.

Mojang also released a video teaser this afternoon, wrapping up much of what the game will offer in just under three minutes:

The best scene in Disney’s incredibly photo-realistic remake of The Lion King features a computer-generated beetle rolling a ball of computer-generated dung across a computer-generated African landscape. It might sound mundane, but this particular ball of dung is carrying a tuft of fur from the runaway lion Simba, and its eventual discovery will renew hope that the rightful king of the savanna is alive and well. It’s a funny, touching reminder that in the circle of life, every little creature and every lump of waste has an important role to play.

The best thing about this scene is that it’s completely wordless, and it convinced me that this Lion King would have been far better as a silent movie, one that treated its newfangled visual style as more than just a digital face-lift. But that wouldn’t have suited Disney’s game plan: to produce an essentially risk-free remake of the 1994 animated film that remains one of its all-time greatest hits.

The Hamlet-inspired plot is nearly identical to the original. So are Elton John’s memorable songs and Tim Rice’s less memorable lyrics, this time sung by a solid voice cast that includes Donald Glover, John Oliver and Beyoncé. (The soundtrack also includes a new Beyoncé song called “Spirit.”) The crucial difference is that, instead of the original’s gorgeous hand-drawn visuals, the new movie looks and feels like live-action, an illusion achieved through a sophisticated mix of digital imagery and virtual-reality techniques.

The result plays like a Hollywood blockbuster disguised as a National Geographic documentary, or perhaps the world’s most expensive safari-themed karaoke video. The movie feels both overwhelmed by its technical virtuosity and shackled by its fidelity to the source material. It begins with a nearly shot-for-shot re-creation of the first film’s famous opening sequence: The sun rises over the landscape; the lush, soaring melody of “Circle of Life” rings out; and some very persuasive-looking elephants, zebras, giraffes and other critters gather to celebrate the birth of Simba, an adorable little cub destined to succeed his father, Mufasa, as king of the Pride Lands.

As shot by the cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, it’s a majestic, if redundant, sequence, a sign that we’ve seen this all before. Then the familiar plot kicks in, the characters start talking and singing, and your sense of wonderment may turn to confusion. The animals’ lips may match their dialogue, but there’s next to nothing going on behind the eyes: Who knew photo-realistic lions were this bad at emoting? You can’t fault the actors: James Earl Jones, who voiced Mufasa in the earlier film, reprises that role here with his signature gravity. And Chiwetel Ejiofor strikes the right note of menace as Mufasa’s brother Scar, who plots to kill both father and son by luring the unsuspecting Simba down into a gorge, placing him directly in the path of a wildebeest stampede.

Within minutes, Mufasa is dead and a heartbroken Simba is on the run, leaving Scar and his vicious hyena allies to take over the savanna. At this point, the movie shifts abruptly into zany comedy mode, as Simba befriends the amiably loud-mouthed duo of Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog. They’re voiced by Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen, and their energetic banter and their performance of that classic slacker anthem “Hakuna Matata” — it means “no worries” — give the story an undeniable lift.

Laughing at this movie is a lot easier than taking it seriously. Soon the grown-up Simba, now voiced by Donald Glover, is reunited with his childhood friend Nala, played by Beyoncé. But when they launch into “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” not even the actors’ lovely voices can bring these lions’ dead-eyed come-hither expressions to life.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of the original Lion King, which beneath its brightly entertaining surface has always struck me as too emotionally calculated by half. But that film feels like a triumph of form and content next to this movie, because its story about a fictional animal kingdom feels so vividly and gloriously cartoonish in every detail. The new Lion King is so realistic-looking that, paradoxically, you can’t believe a moment of it. And although it was directed by Jon Favreau, who previously shepherded a wild menagerie in his recent remake of The Jungle Book, it has none of the imagination that made that movie more than just a high-tech retread.

Disney is in the midst of an ongoing campaign to update its beloved animated classics for a new generation, from the recent Dumbo and Aladdin to upcoming versions of Mulan and The Little Mermaid. Some of these remakes have been more inspired than others, but few have felt quite as futile as The Lion King. This isn’t the circle of life; it’s more like a creative dead end.