It turns out that Minecraft is getting a visual update after all, just not the one that was originally promised. Overnight, graphics card makers Nvidia announced a new update for the game that will add Minecraft to the growing list of PC games that support real-time ray tracing.
“Ray tracing is one of the key innovations that we think is next for Minecraft,” said Saxs Persson, the game’s creative director, in a video announcing Nvidia’s update. “In normal Minecraft a block of gold just appears yellow but with ray tracing turned on you really get to see the specular highlight, you get to see the reflection, you can even see a mob reflected in it.”
In a brief trailer, you can see how much more vibrant and organic Minecraft’s world feels. Lava glows against nearby blocks, streams of water shimmer and show reflections of what’s nearby, and sunlight filters through a series of vines to create a soft, warm glow on the ground. Of course, players will need Nvidia RTX graphics card if they want to see any of this in their own version of the game.
While Nvidia has also announced that ray tracing support is coming to a bunch of upcoming games including Control and Watch Dogs: Legion, Minecraft is interesting because the game was originally due for a much broader graphical update called the Super Duper Graphics Pack. Announced at E3 2017, the pack was supposed to add much more detailed and realistic lighting effects to the game, as well as other enhancements, including support for 4K.
Now you can play some old-school Minecraft in your browser.
Minecraft, a game developed by a disembodied spirit and dropped here on Earth under mysterious circumstances, was once the game people asked me about when I told them what my job is. “Oh you play games?” they’d ask. “Do you know about Minecraft?” Now that That Game is Fortnite, it can be hard to remember how all-encompassing and influential Minecraft was. Playing Minecraft Classic, which is now available to play in your browser, helped me remember where that magic once came from.
Minecraft Classic only offers eight blocks to build with, and is in Creative mode by default, because that is the only option. You’re not going to be fighting Creepers or Zombies in this game. Instead, you can build and mine. Those two mechanics aren’t all that different in Classic than what they are now. Still, seeing the game stripped of all the biomes, mobs, and complicated recipes reminded me how compelling those two core mechanics are. Every time I dug downward into some rock and found a neat cave or a new type of block, it was still exciting, even if there wasn’t much to do with it. The novelty of each world being created just for you, hiding secrets within, was enough.
Over on the Minecraft subreddit, a new trend has popped up in the last week or so where players use in-game blocks to build giant skeletons. Some are designed to look like humans or giants, others are built to look like large, dead versions of Minecraft animals or enemies.
As usual with these trends, it is hard to pinpoint the exact start, but about a week ago the Minecraft subreddit community started posting screenshots of creepy giant skeletons. These became popular, with some of the bigger and better creations earning thousands of upvotes and hundreds of comments.
After a few posts blew up, others began jumping on board the trend and uploading their own images of giant, dead things.
There is something slightly creepy about these large skeletons of long-dead giants. Imagine building something like this in a world, then inviting your friend to come play with you and not telling them. They would be probably be shocked to suddenly find a dead giant leaning on a hill.
Now, something a lot of folks don’t know is that there are actually giant skeletons in Minecraft already. These large fossils have a very, very, small chance of spawning in Minecraft worlds, but they do exist. I only recently found out about them and checking out Reddit posts about these rare fossils, it seems many other players are unaware they exist in the game. In fact, they’ve been around for a few years now.
But if you can’t find one of these rare giant fossils in Minecraft, just make your own as all these other players have done.
Halloween isn’t that far away. Building a giant skeleton monster might be a perfect way to get into the spooky season spirt.
Celeste, One of the best platformers of this generation, will be getting its Chapter 9: Farewell free DLC in just a few days.
A blog post on developer Extremely OK Games’ website explains Celeste will be sent off with this free chapter that will be available to download for everyone who owns the game. This Chapter 9: Farewell DLC will be available on all platforms on September 9, though the Xbox One version may see a slight delay.
Chapter 9: Farewell will add over 100 new levels to the game, bringing Celeste to over 800 levels in total. These levels also come with new music and mechanics and can be unlocked by completing Chapter 8.
The release of this final DLC also means that the limited physical release of Celeste will soon be put into production for those who were holding out.
For everyone who has supported Celeste, the blog post also mentions a change in the development team. Thanks to the commercial success of Celeste, the team now has an official office in Vancouver and was able to bring the team over to all work together in person. Matt Makes Games will now be known as the previously mentioned Extremely OK Games, or EXOK, to commemorate the expansion.
If you haven’t heard of Celeste, it’s one of the few games to receive the coveted 10 out of 10 for our review here on IGN. We strongly recommend you give it a look.
Hope Corrigan is an Australian freelance writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Mojang has unveiled an official DuckTales-themed DLC for Minecraft, which includes skins and new quests.
Available in the Minecraft Marketplace Store, the mash-up pack is the latest Disney property to enter the Minecraft universe after Pirates of the Caribbean and Toy Story previously got the block treatment.
According to the official announcement on Minecraft’s website, the DLC includes “the show’s most iconic locations – from the city of Duckburg and the halls of McDuck Manor, to legendary locations like the Pyramid of Toth-Ra or heights of Mount Neverrest. Solve a mystery or rewrite history as Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, or any of the other 30 characters available.”
There are also two new storylines, multiple quests, and 50 new collectibles that can be displayed in the McDuck trophy room once found.
The 1987 DuckTales cartoon was rebooted in 2017 for modern audiences, but still follows the adventures of Scrooge McDuck and his nephews, including Donald Duck. The new Minecraft DLC’s launch coincides with the release of the third season.
