Valve has finally vanquished a few more bugs in Half-Life 2. We might never get to play the conclusion, but at least we can rest easy knowing that NPCs can blink once again.
Half-Life 2’s NPC have been stuck in this nightmare since 2014, when Steam switched to the SteamPipe content distribution system. The change caused problems for a lot of Source mods and games, but the absence of blinking was definitely the most eerie.
Despite the visibility of the bug and the mountain of threads bringing it up year after year, Valve seemed content to let its NPCs stare for eternity. Unofficial patches solved the issue, but now Valve’s finally put out an official fix. An update went out yesterday and deals with a few other lingering issues.
Fixed a hitch when saving games
Fixed SteamVR running when entering the settings menu
Fixed missing sounds on combine soldiers
Fixed NPCs not blinking
Half-Life 2: Episode One and Two, Lost Coast and Half-Life: Source have also been updated.
I just started a new game to see for myself, and both the G-Man and the NPCs on the train have full control over their eyelids again. Revolutionary! I’m sure they’re very relieved.
Microsoft will begin releasing the highly anticipated augmented reality mobile game Minecraft Earth in October, following several months of beta testing.
Like the smash hit Pokémon Go, Minecraft Earth layers its universe over the real world, and that takes a lot of planning and computing power. The company is planning a phased release to make sure the game remains reliable as new users jump on board.
The “Early Access” rollout begins next month in a “few smaller markets,” according to Microsoft. The game will roll out to new countries every few days and weeks, with a goal of global availability by the holiday season. Starting today, users can sign up for a notification when the game goes live in their country.
When it debuts, Minecraft Earth will still be a work in progress. The Early Access version is the minimum feature set for a strong experience, but more content and features will be added in future updates.
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.
Microsoft first teased the game in May at its Build developer conference and unveiled it a few days later. and The beta test began two months later in five cities, including Seattle.
Microsoft bought Minecraft maker Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014.
The Minecon 2019 event revealed tons of new information for Minecraft, Minecraft Dungeons, and Minecraft Earth this week, showcasing the future of the biggest video game franchise in the world. If you weren’t able to catch the live stream, we rounded up the key information you need to know from the show, right here.
Minecraft Earth is heading to open beta in October, inviting players from all around the world to begin testing and playing an early version of the game. The rollout will take a few months to fully complete, starting with the game’s current closed beta territories of the UK, U.S., Sweden, Japan, and Mexico. Microsoft expects Minecraft Earth to be fully rolled out across the world by the end of 2019, with the exception of China.
Microsoft notes that the slow rollout is to ensure player safety is maintained, as well as global server stability. This version of Minecraft Earth will also include Adventures, which are augmented-reality (AR) experiences where players can fight mobs, obtain rare rewards, and so on, using their phone cameras. It also includes crafting and smelting, all based on the same systems from the Bedrock version of the game.
For more information on how to sign up for Minecraft Earth’s open access, head over here.
Minecraft Dungeons is an upcoming Diablo-like dungeon crawler set in the Minecraft universe. Players will be able to loot, battle, and level up their characters in a variety of ways, along with a wide variety of fantasy warrior archetypes like wizards, archers, and warriors. Microsoft unveiled the cinematic intro trailer during Minecon and also showcased how co-operative play works with local users.
Minecraft Dungeons should hit PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch in the spring of 2020.
Minecraft’s Nether Update
The next big update for Minecraft brings some much-needed attention to the hellish Nether dimension, adding new biomes, new mechanics, new atmospheric visual effects, and an all-new race called Piglins. Piglins, who are essentially unzombified Zombie Pigmen, build settlements in the same way as overworld traders. They are, however, hostile, and will attack the player unless they’re wearing a suit of gold armor. For more information on the Nether update, hit the link below.
Minecon viewers also voted for Mojang to update mountains first after the Nether Update, which will add new types of snow and resources, goats, and revamped generation to make ranges “more majestic.”
Bees, beehives, and now honey
Microsoft also revealed that, along with the bees update, Minecraft will also now get a new honey block, bringing with it a ton of new sticky mechanics. Players walking on a honey block cannot jump or run, but they also work with pistons, which could lead to interesting contraptions. Honey is harvested from beehives that have been pacified by campfire smoke. If you try to harvest honey without campfire smoke, nearby bees will attack you. The bees update should hit Bedrock and Java “before the holidays.”
Minecraft also demonstrated its previously revealed Character Creator, which will bring additional options to skin your characters across the Bedrock versions of the game, including Minecraft Earth.
Alongside capes hitting Bedrock for the first time, the Character Creator will also bring exclusive cosmetics for certain challenges. For example, long-time players will be able to don a special super-long beard to show off their dedication. The Character Creator will also bring emotes to the game.
And everything else!
Microsoft is introducing a new subscription tier for Minecraft Realms, dubbed Realms Plus. Realms Plus will effectively be the same as regular Realms with 10 player slots, however, it’ll also include more than 50 items from the Minecraft Marketplace, with new content added for subscribers each month. Microsoft is working with Ravensburger to produce a Minecraft board game dubbed Builders & Biomes. It’s a strategic board game complete with mob battles and block resources to mine, and it should be available in the U.S. in November, and a little bit earlier in October for Europe.
The team at Mojang also demonstrated new developer tools for mod creators. Mod creators can now select crops and blocks and instantly change their parameter states, including colors and block types, rather than physically place new blocks, speeding up the map creation process. They’re also adding a “TNT wand” which allows mod creators to instantly destroy large areas of the map. Map creators and scripters will also be able to transform entire areas into a TNT block, which then explodes into a pre-created structure. They demonstrated houses being created instantaneously using a special TNT block, which will help marketplace sellers create areas much more quickly.
Did you catch Minecon 2019? What do you think of the news? Hit the comments, let us know.
The next big Minecraft update will overhaul the Nether by adding multiple new biomes, including Soulsand Valley and Netherwart Forest, as well as a new civilization called the Piglins who you can steal from or barter with.
The Piglins, which look a bit like Zombie Pigmen, will live in the Nether and guard chests of gold. They’re immediately hostile to the player, unless you wear gold armor, in which case they’ll only attack you if you try to pinch loot from their chests. You can also barter with them by throwing gold in their general direction, and they’ll respond by spewing out new, unannounced items. You can see them in this video from yesterday’s Minecon.
The Piglins won’t be the only new mob: they’ll hunt Piglin Beasts, which look like a cross between pigs and warthogs. They’re also hostile to the player, and gold won’t do you any favors with them. However, slaying them will get you meat, which makes them the first reliable source of decent food in Minecraft’s Nether. The Piglin name is still up for debate, and Mojang is asking fans to suggest and vote on other names here.
The Nether update, which doesn’t yet have a release date, also adds biomes to the underworld, two of which were shown off at Minecon. They were Soulsand Valley, a surreal, eerie chasm full of stalactites and blue flames, and the Netherwart Forest, which has a variety of different, weird trees. You can see Soulsand Valley here—the forest comes soon after in the same video.
Lastly, the update adds a new block called a target block: if you fire an arrow at it, it triggers a redstone reaction that can lead to fireworks, an upbeat tune on note blocks, or whatever else you care to program. You can watch the full reveal of the Nether update, starting with the target block, in the video below.
Minecraft‘s character creator, currently in beta, will sync your avatars between the Windows 10 Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Earth, the upcoming augmented reality spin-off for mobile unveiled in May, Mojang announced at Minecon yesterday.
The tool is a streamlined way to customize your character without using skins, and will come with lots of options for clothes, skin color, eye color, hair, facial expressions and prosthetic limbs. Many options will be free, but you’ll have to pay for some. At Minecon yesterday, Mojang said the character creator will also let you pick capes and unlock items as you complete achievements: chopping down your first tree gets you a lumberjack shirt, while crafting your first hoe nets you a wheat toothpick. Check out some of the items in the video above.
Each player can create up to five characters, and they’ll all sync between Minecraft Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Earth, which enters early access on mobile devices next month.
The character creator is still in beta, and if you’re keen to try it out you should follow Mojang’s instructions. You’ll need to use the Xbox Insider Hub app: if you’re playing on the Java edition, you can get a redeemable code for the Windows 10 version if you bought it before October 19, 2018 by logging into your Mojang account.
If you want to customize your character the old fashion way, browse our list of the best Minecraft skins.
To read about Minecraft’s Nether update, also announced at Minecon, click here.
