The Buddhas of Bamyan were two monumental statues carved into the side of a cliff in Bamyan Valley, central Afghanistan, during the 6th century. Though constructed directly from the sandstone itself, sculptors fashioned some of the more intricate details out of mud, straw, and carefully coated stucco. At 115 and 174 feet tall, they both stood as towering tributes to Buddha.
In March 2001, the Taliban destroyed both statues, reducing centuries of history and ancient expression—both artistic and religious—to rubble. It was a blow that will reverberate throughout the generations that will never get to experience its glory firsthand.
Many war-affected countries harbor similar stories of loss while younger generations miss out on not only the majesty but also the chance to truly place the deep cultural significance of these pillars. That is why the History Blocks project was launched in February.Minecraft | History Blocks
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With the support of the United Nations agency UNESCO, History Blocks allows students to collaboratively rebuild monuments that were destroyed during conflicts in the Middle East. The interactive program takes place within Microsoft’s Minecraft Education Edition platform. With the help of their teachers—and subjects like math, history, and government—students can “restore” notable landmarks like the Buddhas of Bamyan or the Temple of Bel within the legendary Minecraft world.
Developed by agency Africa in São Paulo, History Blocks is available to schools in over 30 countries. The team behind the project’s development hopes to expand to other nations, which would continue to close the gap between today’s generation and these relics.
“Unfortunately, many monuments have been destroyed by wars and conflicts … monuments which are a part of and tell our history,” said Sergio Gordilho, Africa’s Co-president and CCO. “Since we are unable to rebuild these monuments in the real world, at least we could make it so in the digital world.”
Running such a program under a name as widely recognizable as Minecraft further exemplifies the versatility of a video gaming industry that continues to battle a negative, violent perception. Lending a platform to such a pedagogic effort provides another inextricable link between video games and education.
“Technology is a tool to transform education and bring to life methods that used to be unthinkable when it comes to teaching,” said Daniel Maia, manager for academic projects at Microsoft Brazil. “The project on the UNESCO’s world heritage sites opens the door for students all over the world to study important monuments of our history.”
Microsoft has something big in store for Minecraft fans. The company used the start of Build 2019 to offer a teaser for an augmented reality Minecraftexperience for phones. The clip doesn’t say much about what the experience entails, although it’s safe to say you won’t be building entire virtual worlds in your neighborhood — the limitations of the real world will likely dictate what you can do.
The teaser promises more info on May 17th. This isn’t going to be as slick as the HoloLens take on Minecraft, but it might not have to be. If anything, this could be an introduction to AR for kids and other curious gamers who might otherwise be unfamiliar with the technology and what it can do.
Catch up on all the latest news from Build 2019 here!
Electronic Arts said today that the audience for The Sims 4 grew 35% in the past year.
In its earnings report, EA said that active players for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019, grew 35%. That’s a testament to EA’s live operations for the PC and mobile versions of the game.
Back in October, EA said The Sims 4’s expansions have been downloaded more than 30 million times. The Sims 4 launched for PC in 2014, with the Xbox One version following in 2017. The base game has sold well beyond 10 million copies.
The Minecraft Marketplace is continuing to attract fan engagement. Players showed up to the store for 3,705,978 downloads in March. That’s up from 3.32 million in February, and it’s also up more than 10-fold year-over-year from 321,317 downloads in March 2018.
The downloads are coming from a lot of familiar pieces of content and concepts. Ongoing hits like Dragons and Luxury Life are once again on both the top 10 most downloaded and highest grossing lists. City-based maps are also still extremely popular.
Top 10 most downloaded
2. Pet Shop
1. City Living — Noxcrew
“Cars, helicopters, private jets …. They’re all yours with Noxcrew’s City Living. Get the full lifestyle experience with luxury apartments, office buildings, and even drivable vehicles.”
2. Pet Shop — Pixelheads
“Welcome to Pet Shop. Choose between 17 lovely pets. Explore a town and earn coins by collecting poop or by catching stray animals. Play fetch with dogs, trim a poodle, or take a snake for a walk. Cats, hamsters, lizards, poodles, capuchin monkeys, snails, hedgehogs, snakes, German shepherds, parakeets, penguins, rats, piggies, ferrets, koalas, chameleons, and rottweilers.”
3. Dragons — InPvP
“Take one of six dragons to the skies and become a legendary dragon rider. Surprise your enemies with custom attacks. Shoot fireballs and drop TNT. Explore three huge castles and the beautiful custom landscape.”
4. Luxury Life — Pixelheads
“Luxury Life is a world where you role-play life as a billionaire. Cruise the streets in a sports car or any of the 10 other vehicles, explore luxurious mansions and decorate with furniture!”
5. Springtime — CubeCraft
“Spring is here! Dress up as a cute Easter bunny or choose from a variety of pastel coloured outfits. Show your friends you have the best style with one of our adorable onesies.”
6. Teens! HD — Pixel Squared
“Teens are back! We’ve revisited one of our favorite skin packs and re-created these teens in HD! Enjoy some of your favorite outfits again, but this time in even more detail! There are matching skins here for everyone, so grab your friends and adventure in style as any of these fashionable pairs.”
7. Steven Universe Mash-Up — Minecraft
“Steven enters the Minecraft universe in this Diamond-worth mash-up. Contains Steven Universe themed skins, textures, and original music from the show and all your favorite locations, from Beach City to Homeworld. Believe in Steven.”
8. Dinosaur Island — Pixelheads
“This once-idyllic island has been overrun by prehistoric beasts after the scientists lost control of their genetic experiments. Explore and discover the hidden mysteries of this intriguing island in a completely new adventure on Dinosaur Island.”
9. City Life — Pixelheads
“Cruise through the big city in City Life! Chase down a bandit in your police car, save the day as a firefighter or take your dog for a walk.”
10. City Mash-Up — Everbloom Studios
“With over 1,000 hand-detailed rooms, there are stories, secrets, and mini-games around every corner. Build with the city’s full texture pack in your own worlds or take on any role you can imagine!”
Top 10 highest grossing
2. Pet Shop
1. City Living — Noxcrew
“Cars, helicopters, private jets …. They’re all yours with Noxcrew’s City Living. Get the full lifestyle experience with luxury apartments, office buildings, and even drivable vehicles.”
2. Pet Shop — Pixelheads
“Welcome to Pet Shop. Choose between 17 lovely pets. Explore a town and earn coins by collecting poop or by catching stray animals. Play fetch with dogs, trim a poodle, or take a snake for a walk. Cats, hamsters, lizards, poodles, capuchin monkeys, snails, hedgehogs, snakes, German shepherds, parakeets, penguins, rats, piggies, ferrets, koalas, chameleons, and rottweilers.”
3. Dragons — InPvP
“Take one of six dragons to the skies and become a legendary dragon rider. Surprise your enemies with custom attacks. Shoot fireballs and drop TNT. Explore three huge castles and the beautiful custom landscape.”
4. Luxury Life — Pixelheads
“Luxury Life is a world where you role-play life as a billionaire. Cruise the streets in a sports car or any of the 10 other vehicles, explore luxurious mansions and decorate with furniture!”
5. City Mash-Up — Everbloom Studios
“With over 1,000 hand-detailed rooms, there are stories, secrets, and mini-games around every corner. Build with the city’s full texture pack in your own worlds or take on any role you can imagine!”
6. Steven Universe Mash-Up — Minecraft
“Steven enters the Minecraft universe in this Diamond-worth mash-up. Contains Steven Universe themed skins, textures, and original music from the show and all your favorite locations, from Beach City to Homeworld. Believe in Steven.”
7. The Nightmare Before Christmas — Minecraft
“A nightmare? Before Christmas? With thousands of blocks over there and more redstone than I can bear? Looks scary, but also fun! Could it be I got my wish? Should I play, or should I run? A Christmas pack so nightmarish!”
8. Dinosaur Island — Pixelheads
“This once-idyllic island has been overrun by prehistoric beasts after the scientists lost control of their genetic experiments. Explore and discover the hidden mysteries of this intriguing island in a completely new adventure on Dinosaur Island.”
9. City Life — Pixelheads
“Cruise through the big city in City Life! Chase down a bandit in your police car, save the day as a firefighter or take your dog for a walk.”
10. Advanced Farming — Gamemode One
“Farm your heart out with new machines, vehicles, animals, pets, vendors, characters, and lands to explore.”
The oddest cameo in Avengers: Endgame isn’t from Stan Lee or co-director Joe Russo. The cameo by Fortnite, the popular online battle royale game, is the one with the biggest ramifications for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And that’s because it raises an awkward question: does Fortnite’s Thanos modealso exist in the Avengers universe? And if so, what does that mode look like in a post-Snap world?
The limited-time Thanos game mode shook up the traditional Fortnite formula, forcing players to team up to fight against the super-powered, Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Mad Titan. Yes, Fortnite’s Thanos mode, and the subsequent Avengers: Endgame mode that succeeded it this year, are marketing tools for our universe’s Avengers movies, which probably don’t exist in the Marvel world, unless there are some very, very dedicated documentarians out there.
But we do know from Infinity War that Avengers-branded tie in products exist: in Avengers: Infinity War, Doctor Strange and Wong reference Stark Raving Hazelnuts and Hunka-Hulk-a Burning Fudge flavors of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, implying that this kind of licensed tie-in is fairly commonplace in the Marvel world. And Spider-Man: Homecominghas shown that these heroes are essentially celebrities, so the possibility of an Avengers video game tie in is at least within the realm of possibility.
Still, we need to address the logistics of how Fortnite exists in a post-Snap world, let alone how it’s still so popular five years after the Snap (so in 2023, six years after it launched in our world) that Thor and Korg can matchmake with opponents easily, despite connecting from the extremely rural town of News Asgard / Tønsberg, Norway.
After the Snap, we’re told that the world plunged into chaos for a time: governments, armed forces, doctors, first responders, and so forth have all been halved. But that may explain Fortnite’s ongoing popularity: even after the world returns to something resembling equilibrium, the number of video game developers, producers, directors, marketing teams, etc. would also have been halved. Worldwide chaos and internal company chaos would have both dramatically slowed down new releases. Halving the player base also means fewer potential sales, which would hurt the bottom line for gaming companies as well — giving them every reason to lean hard on expanding existing popular products instead of focusing on new ones.
So updating and maintaining servers for a free-to-play game like Fortnite would be a viable long-term plan to keep the lights on at a game studio. The entire video gaming world likely saw a condensing post-Snap, but that reduced player base would also explain why Korg apparently keeps running into the same annoying “Noobmaster69” opponent, which is unlikely in our world’s version of the game, given the larger player pool and the random matchmaking system.IN A POST-SNAP WORLD, FORTNITE STILL SURVIVES
But does the average person even know Thanos exists? For those who weren’t on the battlefield in Wakanda with the Avengers, it would have been tough to immediately know what caused the Snap, and “genocidal purple space tyrant” probably wasn’t on most people’s list. Still, in Endgame, both Captain America and Ronin reference Thanos to non-Avengers — Cap at his support group, and Ronin when hunting down gangsters in Japan — so it seems the heroes have shared the news about him with the general populace.
But still, would there be a Thanos mode in the MCU version of Fortnite? It’s hard to see Epic Games developing one, given that Thanos is the worst mass murderer ever to exist within the Avengers’ world, and putting him in a video game as a playable character whose sole goal is to wipe out everyone else on the map would no doubt be the height of cultural insensitivity. (Plus, they would have had to develop it post-Snap.)
Then again, video game studios aren’t always knownfor making the best decisions, and it’s possible that a Thanos mode could still exist in the MCU’s Fortnite — but likely in a very different style. While our universe’s Thanos gamemode is almost comically distasteful in an MCU context, it’s possible that a more cathartic mode — for instance, where players could work together to exact some sort of fantastical revenge on the universe’s greatest villain — could exist at some point. In the same way own modern games — like the Call of Duty series, which have made an artform of cashing in on human tragedies like World War II — draw on real-world atrocities for video game plots.
Still, if there was a Thanos mode in the MCU, Korg probably wouldn’t play it in Endgame. At least not while Thor’s around, given howsensitive Thor is about hearing the Mad Titan’s name. Then again, that’s what headsets are for.
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