Next week, the Aquaman live-action film may complete one of the most remarkable pop culture comebacks since the late ’80s. Jason Momoa stars as Aquaman, and the movie is tracking to be one of the year’s biggest superhero adventures at the box office. Momoa’s Aquaman has the capacity for comedy, but the title character is no longer the butt of the joke in his own adaptations. It only took the better part of eight decades to happen.

To comic book readers, Aquaman’s an original member of the Justice League and one of the top DC heroes. But, for decades, the King of Atlantis was considered to be pathetic. He wasn’t super or mighty, he was just the guy who talks to fish!

Casual fans may not realize it, but Aquaman has been around since 1941. When he was created by Mort Weisinger and artist Paul Norris, Aquaman wasn’t intended to be a joke or even comedic. As we recently noted, the early Aquaman was so personality-free that he didn’t even have his mythology in place until several years later.

How did Aquaman’s reputation sink so far? The blame lies largely in television. While Aquaman’s comic stories of the ’50s and ’60s were fairly lighthearted, they also fleshed out Aquaman and his supporting cast. That created enough material for The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure in 1967. That show was actually a pretty good take on Aquaman that was true to that era. Unfortunately, Aquaman was then prominently featured in Super Friends, starting in 1973. From there, his legacy began to suffer.

Aquaman Seahorse
It’s not too unusual for comic book adaptations to influence the source material for years to come. The Batman TV series starring Adam West created such a big impression on the general public that for two decades it was the most indelible portrayal of the character for people who had never read the comics. Even when the Batman comics returned to a more serious style in the late ’60s and early ’70s, it still took Tim Burton’s Batman movie to really convince the public that the Caped Crusader wasn’t the kitschy “Biff! Pow!” guy anymore.

Aquaman wasn’t as lucky, and the stench of Super Friends’ ineffectual portrayal stuck with him for decades. Super Friends turned all of DC’s biggest heroes into sappy-go-lucky stiffs. That helped the show make the characters kid-friendly, but it had the side effect of making Aquaman look like a fool, and it cemented his unearned reputation as a weaker hero. The creative team behind the show may not have intended it, but their version of Aquaman became the most commonly accepted. That’s why even decades after Super Friends ended, Cartoon Network couldn’t resist making Aquaman the butt of the joke in this PowerPuff Girls crossover short.

That’s pretty much how it went for years. The intriguing thing is that the Aquaman comics had already course corrected decades earlier. But there was still the occasional backslide, like the infamous Justice League Detroit era. That was the time that Aquaman insisted that the Justice League drop any members who couldn’t commit to the team full time. Instead of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, we got these losers.

Justice League Detroit
In the ’90s, DC was ready to be a little bit more radical with their take on Aquaman. Longtime Hulk scribe Peter David revitalized Aquaman by making him much tougher than before. He ditched the clean-cut look for a beard and long hair, and he replaced his left hand with a freakin’ harpoon. More than anything else, it’s David’s take on Aquaman that helped shape the hero’s portrayal in the upcoming movie.

A Crash of Symbols 5
Aquaman’s next cartoon appearance came in Superman: The Animated Series, which kept the classic look but added his ’90s attitude. When Justice League followed a few years later, it went for a version of Aquaman who even more of a barbarian than his comic incarnation. This was a hero so badass that he actually cut off his own hand so he could save his son.

That’s arguably more hardcore than our current live-action Aquaman. And even that wasn’t quite enough to shake the Super Friends Aquaman among the general public. Justice League was popular, but it didn’t quite have the reach of Super Friends.

Strangely enough, HBO’s Entourage series also dealt with Aquaman’s bad rep. In the second season, the show’s movie star, Vinnie Chase, was approached to headline an Aquaman movie directed by James Cameron (who appeared as himself). Within the world of the show, Aquaman became an even bigger hit than the first Spider-Man film. However, the show only shared a small clip from the actual “movie.”

Unfortunately, there was a slight setback for Aquaman’s pop culture comeback as a “cool” character. The Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series cast John DiMaggio as perhaps the goofiest Aquaman to date. He wasn’t an ineffectual hero, but he was a lovable buffoon.

That’s actually pretty funny, but for fans of a more serious Aquaman, that was kind of the problem. Brave and the Bold essentially him into a joke again.

For a while, Aquaman was somewhat radioactive in the comic book world. DC essentially gave up on Arthur Curry, and killed him off in Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis. His replacement was a younger hero who had a similar name. However, this take on the concept didn’t last long. In 2011, Geoff Johns and artist Ivan Reis relaunched Aquaman as part of the New 52 reboot. Johns even integrated Aquaman’s reputation as a joke into the comic, so Aquaman could confront it head on and demonstrate why he was on the same level as the rest of the Justice League.

The Trench 2
Johns’ portrayal of Aquaman went a long way towards repairing the damage that had been done with the character. It was also used in part as the basis for the live-action interpretation of Aquaman played by Momoa. The DC live-action films may have their flaws, but Momoa’s Aquaman came off very well in Justice League. It certainly helped that Momoa’s Game of Thrones experience gave him solid geek cred as Aquaman. But the most important thing is that the movie didn’t treat him like a joke. It also allowed Momoa’s natural charisma to shine through and make him a formidable hero.

Truthfully, Aquaman’s future rests in the hands of moviegoers. If Aquaman becomes a blockbuster, it’s going to spawn at least one sequel, if not more. It’s also going to be the new “definitive” take on Aquaman, as far as the general public is concerned. And we may finally be able to put all of those Super Friends Aquaman jokes behind us.

First off, Aquaman earned $19.7 million in its first two days in (non-China) overseas markets. The Jason Momoa/Amber Heard superhero flick earned $1.3m in both Russia and Brazil while earning $1.4m in Mexico. They have seven more markets opening today (including India) as they enter the weekend in 43 overseas territories. While it doesn’t open in North America until next week, WB is hosting an Atom Tickets/Amazon Prime-sponsored sneak preview nationwide tomorrow night. We’ll have a clearer idea of where the film stands overseas by Sunday, but it’s already showing incredible legs in China.

The film earned another $12.51 million in China on its second Friday, dropping a stunningly small (for a big Hollywood movie playing in China) 48% from its $24.5m opening day. That gives the film a $147.94m eight-day cume and puts it on a path for a possible $53m (-44%) second weekend and a $188m ten-day cume. If that comes to pass, it’ll be a smaller second-weekend dip than Venom (-53%), Wonder Woman (-64%), Captain America: Civil War (-67%), Justice League ($69%), Avengers: Infinity War (-73%) and Batman v Superman (-78%). So, yeah, folks over there like it and are telling their friends.

Its potential $188 million cume will also be above the $180m final cume of Civil War, making Aquaman the fourth-biggest Hollywood superhero movie of all time. It’ll be behind only Avengers: Age of Ultron ($240m in 2015), Venom ($267m in 2018) and Avengers: Infinity War ($360m in 2018). So, barring a fluke in either direction, it’s surely going to pass Age of Ultron and will probably end up between Venom and Infinity War. We’ve had two solo superhero flicks that have, just this season, done so much better than the conventional $90m-$120m normal.

This is evidence that either Chinese audiences are embracing the comic book superhero movie or that Aquaman and Venom are weird enough and fantastical enough to appeal to fantasy fans with a less inherent interest in superheroes. Either way, this means that Aquaman will enter is overseas global launch (China Film Group went a week early) with around $168 million ($148m in China and $19m overseas) and should be over $200m worldwide by the end of the day. No, I’m not answering the “Will Aquaman cross $1 billion worldwide?!” question quite yet, if only because I don’t think that should be the bar for success.

But it does now stand a shot at displacing Venom ($853 million-and-counting) to be the biggest “under-$1 billion” earner of the year. Considering the extent to which audiences, in China and elsewhere, are embracing unapologetic weirdness in their IP-specific entertainments, Colin Trevorrow might want to rethink that “no dino attacks in the big city” promise in regards to Jurassic World 3. Audiences can and will embrace insane dino carnage even if the dinos don’t wield machine guns. Oh, and if Aquaman 2 can give me my dolphin fight, that would be super!

I’ve studied the film industry, both academically and informally, and with an emphasis in box office analysis, for 28 years. I have extensively written about all of said subjects for the last ten years. My outlets for film criticism, box office commentary, and film-skewing s… MORE

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While some actors dream of playing a superhero, that wasn’t the case for the cast of “Aquaman.”

“I knew nothing about this,” Amber Heard, who plays Mera in the James Wan-directed action film, told Variety at the movie’s Los Angeles premiere. “I knew nothing about comic books in general. I didn’t know anything about this world. What a way to be introduced, huh?”

It sure is. The $350 million movie stars Jason Momoa as Aquaman and Nicole Kidman as his mom. Patrick Wilson co-stars as Aquaman’s half-brother and archnemesis King Orm. Rounding out the cast are Willem Dafoe, Dolph Lundgren, Michael Beach, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Temuera Morrison.

Momoa admits he “wasn’t a fan” until comic book writer Geoff Johns “kind of created this role for me.”

Kidman was convinced to jump on board because of Wan. “I knew James Wan was going to do something really interesting and really fun and I’ve wanted to work with him since he started out in Australia in low-budget horror, and I’ve followed his career,” the Oscar winner said. “I do this with directors, I follow certain directors. So I’ve been following James. And then he showed me some of the drawings [he was] doing, and he said, ‘See this is why you have to be in the movie, because I’ve drawn her to look like you.’”

For Wilson, the movie brought back memories from his childhood when he had an Aquaman action figure. He laughed, “I had many baths with Aquaman.”

“Aquaman” hits theaters on Dec. 21.

In today’s film news roundup, “Aquaman” has already grossed more than $150 million outside the U.S., Michael Masini joins “Birds of Prey,” and Freestyle buys the documentary “Shamanic Trekker.”

BOX OFFICE

Warner Bros.’ tentpole “Aquaman” has taken in $152 million overseas in 36 markets, with $135 million of that from China, where it opened on Dec. 7.

The Jason Momoa vehicle has become the highest China grosser in the DC Universe and surpassed the lifetime grosses of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Black Panther” in the Middle Kingdom. Mexico debuted with $1.4 million on Thursday on 3,517 screens while Russia and Brazil each took in $1.3 million.

Indonesia has taken in $2.2 million in two days and the U.K. generated $1.8 million in two days of previews. Taiwan’s two-day total is $1.4 million and the Philippines generated $1.1 million. In the U.S., Amazon Prime is holding advance screenings of “Aquaman” on Dec. 15 amid expectations of a $65 million opening weekend in North America on Dec. 21-23.

CASTING

Michael Masini (“Modern Family”) will join Margot Robbie and Ewan McGregor in the Warner Bros. Harley Quinn spinoff film “Birds of Prey.”

The film will be directed by Cathy Yan and begins filming in January. The studio has dated the project, a spinoff from 2016’s “Suicide Squad,” for Feb. 7, 2020.

Sue Kroll, Robbie, and Bryan Unkeless are producing. Robbie announced last month that the title will be “Birds of Prey: (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).” Masini’s credits include “Blue Bloods” and “NCIS.”

ACQUISITION

Freestyle Digital Media has acquired North American rights to the documentary “Shamanic Trekker” for release on Jan. 8.

The film focuses on the Q’uero tribe of the High Andes and the sacred rituals and ceremonies of the indigenous shamans. The Q’uero are potato farmers, weavers, and alpaca herders living in stone houses without electricity, running water, and plumbing.

“Shamanic Trekker” is directed by Emmanuel Itier and Kristen White, written by Kristen Schwab, and produced by Kristen Schwab & John Schwab.

“The shamanic descendants of Machu Picchu are alive today and have something powerful to share in modern media,” said White. “We are grateful to the team at Freestyle Digital Media for making it possible to share this powerful message.”

AWARD

Thee US-Ireland Alliance will honor Aidan Gillen at the 14th Annual Oscar Wilde Awards, which will be held at J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21.

Gillen’s credits include “Game of Thrones and “The Wire.” He is currently in production the BBC/Netflix series “Peaky Blinders” and is about to star in the Robert Zemeckis-produced History series “Project Blue Book.” On the big screen, Gillen recently appeared in A24’s “The Lovers” and “Maze Runner: Death Cure” and currently appears in Fox’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Trina Vargo, founder of the US-Ireland Alliance, said: “Aidan’s body of work is rich with a range of diverse and memorable roles that span television, theater and film. While his career his taken him to London, Los Angeles and beyond, he has remained loyal to working Ireland as well.”

“Aquaman” is an improbable movie, which in many ways makes James Wan the ideal person to direct it.

The latest chapter in the Warner Bros. series based on DC comic book superheroes, “Aquaman” provides an origin story for this much-maligned undersea adventurer (played by Jason Momoa of “Game of Thrones”) as he teams up with Mera (Amber Heard) against the nefarious Orm (Patrick Wilson) for control of Atlantis.

When it opens on Dec. 21, the kaleidoscopic and willfully offbeat “Aquaman” will find itself bearing the weight of the larger DC franchise, which continues to be perceived as an also-ran to Marvel. Aside from “Wonder Woman,” the series has struggled to find an entry that’s excited audiences and critics, even as it rakes in millions of dollars.

Wan, 41, a spirited, quick-talking filmmaker with a plume of reddish-purple dye in his hair, is used to being an underdog. Born in Malaysia and raised in Australia, he found early success with his genre-redefining 2004 horror feature, “Saw.” But he struggled for years to find a worthy follow-up before re-establishing himself with hit supernatural thrillers like “Insidious” and “The Conjuring.” That led him to mainstream Hollywood blockbusters like “Furious 7” (the seventh entry in the “Fast & Furious” series) and finally to “Aquaman.”

On a recent visit to New York, Wan spoke about the unusual trajectory that brought him to Atlantis and the unexpected pressure now on the film. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.

Aquaman is a well-known superhero, if not a widely respected one. His powers — swimming fast, talking to fish — surely paled next to Superman’s. Was he important to you, growing up?

I did grow up reading comic books, but his books weren’t the ones I read. Later, as I got older, it became apparent that people out there were making fun of him. Sure, he was somewhat disrespected and made the joke of the superhero world. But I always found him endearing.

How did the movie first become a possibility for you?

Having made “The Conjuring,” I was part of the Warner Bros. family, and I knew they were doing their DC thing. I spoke with Kevin Tsujihara [the Warner Bros. chairman and chief executive] at a premiere and I said, “I’m interested in the properties that you have at DC.” A few months later, I was in a general meeting with DC and they floated two properties that didn’t have filmmakers on board: the Flash and Aquaman.

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Patrick Wilson in “The Conjuring.” Wan made the horror movie for Warner Bros., which led to directing “Aquaman” for the studio.
Credit
Michael Tackett/Warner Bros.

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Patrick Wilson in “The Conjuring.” Wan made the horror movie for Warner Bros., which led to directing “Aquaman” for the studio.CreditMichael Tackett/Warner Bros.
Why did you choose Aquaman?

I felt the Flash had been done before. It had been on TV twice at that point. The one that had not been done was Aquaman. I realized, wow, his character resides in this crazy, big world, and I could do something very interesting with it. I look up to people like Spielberg, Cameron, Lucas, John Carpenter. I’m a fan of genre filmmaking, naturally. So I thought I could make “Aquaman” a genre film, meaning a horror monster movie. DC basically said, yes, you can make Aquaman versus sea monsters if that’s what you want.

How were you selected to direct “Furious 7”? Was that an important step in being considered for other big-budget projects like “Aquaman”?

Believe me, “Furious 7” was difficult to make, if not the toughest of my career. But that movie really allowed people to look at me as a more complete filmmaker.

“The Conjuring” hadn’t come out yet, but Chris Morgan, the producer-writer of the “Fast & Furious” franchise at the time, had seen “The Conjuring” and he loved it. Around that point, Justin Lin was finishing “Fast & Furious 6,” and I think he just needed a break. He wasn’t going to come back to do “7.” So they were kind of scrambling. I talked about what I wanted to bring from my horror filmmaking into the “Fast & Furious” world. By that, I meant I wanted to create suspenseful, tension-filled set pieces. And they were excited with what I had to say.

You broke through professionally with the original “Saw” movie, which seems like every filmmaker’s dream. But what happened next?

“Saw” exploded in a big way and created this big, big franchise. But then I couldn’t seem to get out from under its shadow. I only directed the first one, but my name became synonymous with “Saw” and therefore all the negative connotations — I became the father of torture porn. I went off and did “Dead Silence” and “Death Sentence,” two movies that worked hard to break away from the image of “Saw” and ultimately did not work, from a commercial standpoint. That was two strikes against my name and I’m thinking, am I in director’s jail? All the projects that were coming my way were just copycat projects that weren’t special for me. And so, I just held out. Then my buddy Leigh Whannell and I just thought, screw all this. Let’s go back to our low-budget filmmaking roots. That was when we made “Insidious.”

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A scene from the original “Saw,” directed by Wan, who came to regret that his name became synonymous with the franchise.
Credit
NBC Universal

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A scene from the original “Saw,” directed by Wan, who came to regret that his name became synonymous with the franchise.CreditNBC Universal
Were there any lessons from this frustrating period?

I learned what it means to be artistic and commercial at the same time. It made me very aware of the projects I need to do. It needs to be artistically fulfilling, but it needs to have commerciality as well. I’m always walking that tightrope: I know I need to make a movie that works financially, because in Hollywood, that’s how you get your next film.

“Aquaman” is obviously a piece of a larger franchise. Did you still feel you were able to put your stamp on it?

It’s pretty crazy. For as big a movie as “Aquaman” is, I could not have had more freedom. I had all the big tools and the budget to paint on a really big canvas, but with the freedom I had on, let’s say, “Saw” or “Insidious.” So if the movie works, or doesn’t work, I have no one to blame but myself.

Did you have any say in the casting of Jason Momoa and Amber Heard, who were introduced in previous DC movies?

Even though Zack [Snyder] was making “Justice League,” I was kept in the loop by DC and Warner Bros., and they really wanted my input into the two leads. The great thing about casting Jason is, any jokey perception that people have of Aquaman goes right out the window. He completely nullifies any disrespect that people have for this character. Everybody knows how tough and strong Jason Momoa is. I wanted to show people the more lighthearted side of him, the goofy side of him. I worked very hard to pull it out of him, and Jason would be the first to say that I took him out of his comfort zones, quite a few times. [Laughs]

James Wan, second from left, directing Amber Heard, Jason Momoa and Willem Dafoe in “Aquaman.”
Credit
Jasin Boland/Warner Bros. and DC Comics

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James Wan, second from left, directing Amber Heard, Jason Momoa and Willem Dafoe in “Aquaman.”CreditJasin Boland/Warner Bros. and DC Comics
It’s no secret that, though they were commercially successful, DC films like “Justice League,” “Suicide Squad” and “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” were creative and critical disappointments. Did that response affect your approach to “Aquaman”?

I was definitely aware of that. The irony is, I picked “Aquaman” because I thought, here’s a superhero I can make that is fully under the radar. No one’s going to [care] about this film. I can just do whatever I want. Make it easy with no pressure. Fast-forward to three years later and now there’s a massive spotlight on it. So, to answer your question, obviously there was a sense of pressure. But I try not to let any of that cloud my vision for the film. I just plow ahead and continue to make the movie I wanted to make.

So creating an underwater universe that’s vivid and multicolored, that’s not a response to the drab, darker palettes of previous DC movies?

If people go back and watch “Furious 7,” they’ll see how bright and colorful that movie is. Beautiful blue skies, beautiful beaches. People associate me, primarily, with my horror films, and they expect a darker look than “Aquaman.” That serves a narrative that people are trying to get at as well, like I’m reacting to the criticism of these films. My biggest inspiration is actually from the comic book. The comic book is just full of magical creatures and weird and wonderful worlds, and the only way to do an “Aquaman” movie justice is to pay homage to the 70 years’ worth of source material.

A scene from “Furious 7,” which Wan directed. That film, he said, has a colorful look not typically associated with his work.
Credit
Universal Pictures

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A scene from “Furious 7,” which Wan directed. That film, he said, has a colorful look not typically associated with his work.CreditUniversal Pictures
There are many scenes that take place entirely underwater, which creates lots of challenges for you. How did you film these sequences?

There really aren’t a lot of visual cues from existing films to pull from. That was exciting for me, because I get to create a new world. In terms of the technicality of it: It was a pain. The actors would be suited up in their costumes, and placed inside these really awkward, uncomfortable rigs. Then visual effects would come in and add the flowing hair, the floating costumes and capes, and then paint in the entire world. A simple scene of two people talking underwater would just take days and days to shoot.

Looking ahead to other DC movies like “Shazam!,” “Wonder Woman 1984” and “Birds of Prey,” what’s your sense of where Warner Bros. wants to take the franchise next?

I don’t know what the bigger picture is. But I think it’s really cool to take chances with the lesser-known characters and story lines. It’s good if all the other films have their own flavor, so they don’t force them to feel the same.

So you don’t necessarily want a role in steering the larger DC movie operations?

It’s taken me so long just to finish this movie. [Laughs] I don’t want to think about somebody else’s movie at this point. I just want to survive this one.

You’re one of very few nonwhite directors who’s been able to make a studio movie at this scale. What’s needed to ensure that other filmmakers from diverse backgrounds get these opportunities?

I think the willingness to take chances on different kinds of films and filmmakers. I never thought, for the life of me, that I would ever see a movie like “Crazy Rich Asians,” where the cast is Asian, and for the movie to do well and be well received, it’s incredible. It starts at the top, the willingness to reach out to these filmmakers and take chances. I get it — when you’re making a movie that’s really big and expensive, they want filmmakers that have proven track records. But there’s really no excuses for not looking at more diverse filmmakers.

Another patch has hit the various different versions of Minecraft with Update 1.8 bringing cat & pandas to the game along with three new achievements. As well as the Xbox One version of the game, you can play with these new animals in the Android, Gear VR, iOS, Kindle Fire, Nintendo Switch, Windows 10, and Windows Phone versions of the title.

The black and white rolling pandas are a new mob in the game. They are cute and cuddly but also very protective of their children and they love bamboo. Cats have also been redesigned as well as scaffolding and the mentioned bamboo. You can also get to grips with a new crossbow and its enchantments. However, you will need to use the “activate Experimental Gameplay” toggle in the world settings to even use the weapon.

Minecraft players have a new update to apply, and it comes with some nifty changes.

Minecraft’s Bedrock update 1.8.0 is out in the wild, and sure it contains a new climbable block, but who cares about that: it now has pandas and better cats.

What could be considered a bit disappointing is ocelots can no longer be tamed; however, players can still gain their trust y feeding them, which works I guess.

With the update comes a new biome featuring bamboo. The plant can be found while fishing in jungles and will appear in some chests. Spawning naturally in the world will come in a future update.

Bamboo jungle biomes will see pandas spawn either as a single mob or in duos. Pandas will have random personalities, and while absolutely adorable, they are also “fiercely protective” of their cubs, so don’t trust them to be passive. Because they eat bamboo, players will find pandas will drop blocks of it.

Next year, Minecraft players can look forward to the Village and Pillage update. Plus, there’s Minecraft: Dungeons coming next year too. It’s the first major spin-off of the popular game and is playable solo or with up to three friends.

Today’s patch notes are a bit long, so know that before diving in below. Links to additional information included where applicable.

This update is now available for Xbox One, Windows 10 Edition, iOS, Android and Nintendo Switch.

Minecraft – Bedrock update 1.8.0 patch notes
New Features
Pandas now spawn in jungles where they roll, lounge, and laze around
Stray cats now spawn in villages
Cats can be tamed using fish
Ocelots are no longer tameable
Players can now feed ocelots to gain their trust
Bamboo can now be found while fishing in jungles and will appear in some chests (Spawning naturally in the world will come in a future update)
Scaffolding – A climbable block that can be crafted using bamboo
New Achievements
Where have you been? – Receive a gift from a tamed cat in the morning (20G)
Top of the World – Place scaffolding to the word limit (20G)
Zoologist – Breed two pandas with bamboo (40G)
Added
randomTickSpeed game rule
For Map Makers and Add-On Creators
Updated templates for 1.8.0 with new assets and behaviors can be downloaded from minecraft.net/addons
Updates to Add-Ons that allow players to add new entities, particles, and animations. See aka.ms/MinecraftAddons for more details and enable Experimental Gameplay in your world!
Functions have come to Bedrock! Functions allow players to write the commands their worlds use in an external file, not just Command Blocks. See the Minecraft Wiki for more information
Experimental Gameplay
(Only available when Experimental Gameplay is enabled in world settings)

Crossbow weapon with new enchantments

Multishot
Piercing
Quick Charge
Changes
Phantoms are now afraid of cats and will not swoop down while cats are around
Increased the size of Tropical fish (MCPE-35877)
Skeleton Horse and Zombie Horse foals now have a chance of being spawned using a spawn egg
Added a crafting recipe for Packed Ice
Separated Bone Meal, Ink Sac, Cocoa Beans, and Lapis Lazuli into their own dyes and unified all dye names
The splash screen now has an animated loading bar
The following commands can now be run in-game without enabling cheats:
/gamerule showcoordinates
/gamerule dofiretick
/gamerule tntexplodes
/gamerule domobloot
/gamerule naturalregeneration
/gamerule dotiledrops
/gamerule pvp
A warning now appears when attempting to change settings on a world template, as it could change the creator’s intended experience
Command blocks now have the default name of ! instead of @
More skin packs are now shown in the skin picker menu, and each pack can be opened and viewed in its own page
The autocomplete list for player mentions now works in slash commands
The Remix3D upload service on Windows 10 is no longer available, but creations can still be exported as .glb 3D Object files
Text-to-Speech can now be enabled on Nintendo Switch
Minecraft Marketplace:
Content can now be sorted by ‘Updates Available’ in your inventory
Content can now be sorted and filtered by rating when browsing the Marketplace
Bundles of content can now be purchased
Fixes
Crashes/Performance

Fixed several crashes that occurred during gameplay
Fixed a crash that would occur if the player was disconnected while loading resource packs
Fixed a crash that would occur on Xbox One if the player signed out too quickly after signing in
Fixed a crash that could occur during the splash loading screen on Windows 10 Mobile
Fixed a crash that could occur on startup for Gear VR
Fixed a crash that could occur due to a recent Windows 10 update (MCPE-36274)
Fixed a crash that occurred when hovering over a renamed firework charge (MCPE-37822)
Using a bucket of fish in a dispenser no longer crashes the game (MCPE-38194)
Fixed a crash that would occur when using lava buckets on fish
Fixed a crash that could occur when kelp grows
Fixed a crash that could occur when suspending and resuming the game on the main menu (154576)
Fixed a crash that could occur in worlds that contained locator maps
Fixed a crash that could occur when leaving the Realms settings screen
Fixed a crash that could occur when downloading or saving data on Nintendo Switch
Fixed a crash that could occur on Switch when split screen players broke a large chest
Fixed a crash that occurred when killing and summoning a salmon with its navigation component removed
Improved performance on some devices with less available memory
Fixed a bug where multiple UI screens could be opened at once, causing the game to crash
Shulker boxes that contain tropical fish buckets no longer cause performance issues (MCPE-27167)
Fixed a bug that caused a significant performance drop when rendering chunks (MCPE-37192)
Improved the loading time of various game files
Fixed delayed touch response on the bottom of the screen on iOS (MCPE-29718)
General

Fixed the bug where the player would unexpectedly turn in a random direction on touch screens (MCPE-35910)
The “Body Guard” achievement can once again be unlocked after creating an Iron Golem (MCPE-33686)
Fixed an issue with custom player permissions that might not apply correctly in multiplayer (MCPE-34864)
Worlds larger than 1GB can now be copied and exported on Windows 10 (MCPE-37269)
Fixed an error that occurred when attempting to start a split screen session with a guest on Xbox One
Split screen players no longer get stuck on the loading screen when re-joining Old worlds
Gameplay

Lightning no longer strikes if the destination is in a cold biome (MCPE-19015)
Players will no longer teleport when standing against a non-full block and reloading the game (MCPE-31242)
Fixed rare enchantments being too hard to get at higher levels
Potion of Slow Falling will now slow down Elytra descent (MCPE-34926)
The player locator map marker now faces the right direction when aboard a boat
Players will now face forwards when entering a boat (MCPE-36795)
Explosions will now drop blocks if the default game mode is Creative and Tile Drops are enabled (MCPE-23498)
Planting crops continuously will no longer skip blocks (MCPE-35857)
Items

Fixed a bug where only white firework stars could be crafted
Crafting multiple cakes using the recipe book will now return the correct amount of empty buckets to the player (MCPE-37387)
Dyed beds now have the correct crafting recipe
Fixed an exploit where rails could be duplicated (MCPE-36917)
Fixed an exploit that allowed Tridents to be duplicated (MCPE-37900)
Fixed Enchanted Tridents being lost from anvils following a server disconnect (MCPE-37526)
Flower pots that contain saplings will once again drop the correct type when broken (MCPE-37328)
Mobs

Large Slimes and Magma Cubes now have the correct sized hitbox based on their size (MCPE-18518)
Fixed mobs not always taking fall damage when they should (MCPE-37257)
Tamed wolves will now tilt their heads when the player is holding meat (MCPE-17144)
Magma cubes no longer inflict damage during their death animation (MCPE-14426)
Blocks

Kelp will now only grow into water source blocks or full downward flowing water, and no longer creates a new source block (MCPE-37155)
Pistons no longer drop as items when being pushed or pulled (MCPE-37492)
The hitbox of piston arms now matches the size and shape correctly (MCPE-13758)
Players no longer fall through Shulker Boxes as they open (MCPE-28812)
Double wooden slabs can now be placed regardless of crosshair position (MCPE-13799)
When the player has just moved out of a block space, they can no longer place a repeater or comparator that can’t be powered (MCPE-36762)
Mobs in minecarts no longer activate adjacent detector rails (MCPE-21863)
Realms

Fixed the bug where players on Realms could be instantly killed in one shot by a Blaze fireball attack (MCPE-19535)
Graphical

Fixed a bug that caused horses (and variants) to show flashing colors on certain devices (no more disco horses!) (MCPE-31726)
Fixed a bug where players could see through solid blocks when swimming
Water now renders correctly when surrounded by Barrier Blocks
Wall signs no longer show different types of wood particles when being broken (MCPE-16141)
Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause black visual glitches to appear around blocks when riding a horse
The player’s hands are now properly rotated and positioned when aboard a boat and holding a bow
Fixed the Ghast projectile firing animation
Audio

Ghast sounds are no longer repeated when they are shooting fireballs (MCPE-19156)
User Interface

Multiple items can be collected when trading with villagers again when using touch controls (MCPE-32635)
Fixed incorrect interact buttons appearing briefly for certain mobs on touch screen devices
The right bumper button now correctly scrolls through the tabs in the game menu on Nintendo Switch
Reassigned Page Up and Page Down keys are now labelled correctly on the Settings screen
The multiplayer toggle is now accurately shown when using platform restricted content on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch
The Achievements button no longer appears in the pause menu if not signed into Xbox Live
Controller hints now show the correct usage of “Open” and “Use” when looking at containers
Health Boost and Absorption effects no longer have the same icon
Fixed the buttons used on the startup message for players using Windows Mixed Reality
Removed “MCPE!” from the list of splash screen messages (MCPE-36741)
Search results in the Marketplace are now more consistent when searching through all content
Only templates are suggested in the “Get More Templates” menu now
Fixed incorrect message when accepting an invite from a notification on Nintendo Switch with certain parental controls set
Commands

Running the ‘title’ and ‘subtitle’ commands will once again override any titles and subtitles currently on screen
Relative coordinates in commands are once again consistent below 3 on the y-axis (MCPE-35130)
Using Shift + Tab to reverse cycle through slash command auto-complete suggestions now properly cycles to the end of the list
Lava blocks no longer appear green in the command autocomplete area (MCPE-33788)
Player names that are made up of only numbers are now surrounded with quotation marks when using autocomplete for slash commands
Add-Ons:

‘minecraft:navigation.walk’ can now be used in component groups without causing the game to crash
Added a underscore to “frozen_river” in the ‘biomes_client.json’ file so it matches the other vanilla Resource Pack entries (MCPE-36799)

The latest Minecraft update is now available to download for Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android and Windows 10 PCs. The update adds panda bears, revamps cats and has a few other new features as well. Of course, the usual list of bug fixes and other tweaks have been added as well. A trailer for the new update can be watched below.

Minecraft 1.8 Patch Notes
The full Minecraft 1.8 update patch notes are as follows:

New Features:
Pandas now spawn in jungles where they roll, lounge, and laze around!

Stray cats now spawn in villages

Cats can be tamed using fish

Ocelots are no longer tameable

Players can now feed ocelots to gain their trust

Bamboo can now be found while fishing in jungles and will appear in some chests (Spawning naturally in the world will come in a future update)

Scaffolding – A climbable block that can be crafted using bamboo

New Achievements

Where have you been? – Receive a gift from a tamed cat in the morning (20G)

Top of the World – Place scaffolding to the word limit (20G)

Zoologist – Breed two pandas with bamboo (40G)

Added randomTickSpeed game rule

For Map Makers and Add-On Creators:
Updated templates for 1.8.0 with new assets and behaviors can be downloaded from net/addons

Updates to Add-Ons that allow players to add new entities, particles, and animations.

Functions have come to Bedrock! Functions allow players to write the commands their worlds use in an external file, not just Command Blocks.

Experimental Gameplay:

Only available when Experimental Gameplay is enabled in world settings)

Crossbow weapon with new enchantments

Multishot

Piercing

Quick Charge

Changes:
Phantoms are now afraid of cats and will not swoop down while cats are around

Increased the size of Tropical fish

Skeleton Horse and Zombie Horse foals now have a chance of being spawned using a spawn egg

Added a crafting recipe for Packed Ice

Separated Bone Meal, Ink Sac, Cocoa Beans, and Lapis Lazuli into their own dyes and unified all dye names

The splash screen now has an animated loading bar

The following commands can now be run in-game without enabling cheats:

/gamerule showcoordinates

/gamerule dofiretick

/gamerule tntexplodes

/gamerule domobloot

/gamerule naturalregeneration

/gamerule dotiledrops

/gamerule pvp

A warning now appears when attempting to change settings on a world template, as it could change the creator’s intended experience

Command blocks now have the default name of ! instead of @

More skin packs are now shown in the skin picker menu, and each pack can be opened and viewed in its own page

The autocomplete list for player mentions now works in slash commands

The Remix3D upload service on Windows 10 is no longer available, but creations can still be exported as .glb 3D Object files

Text-to-Speech can now be enabled on Nintendo Switch

Minecraft Marketplace:

Content can now be sorted by ‘Updates Available’ in your inventory

Content can now be sorted and filtered by rating when browsing the Marketplace

Bundles of content can now be purchased

Fixes:

Crashes/Performance

Fixed several crashes that occurred during gameplay

Fixed a crash that would occur if the player was disconnected while loading resource packs

Fixed a crash that would occur on Xbox One if the player signed out too quickly after signing in

Fixed a crash that could occur during the splash loading screen on Windows 10 Mobile

Fixed a crash that could occur on startup for Gear VR

Fixed a crash that could occur due to a recent Windows 10 update

Fixed a crash that occurred when hovering over a renamed firework charge

Using a bucket of fish in a dispenser no longer crashes the game

Fixed a crash that would occur when using lava buckets on fish

Fixed a crash that could occur when kelp grows

Fixed a crash that could occur when suspending and resuming the game on the main menu

Fixed a crash that could occur in worlds that contained locator maps

Fixed a crash that could occur when leaving the Realms settings screen

Fixed a crash that could occur when downloading or saving data on Nintendo Switch

Fixed a crash that could occur on Switch when split screen players broke a large chest

Fixed a crash that occurred when killing and summoning a salmon with its navigation component removed

Improved performance on some devices with less available memory

Fixed a bug where multiple UI screens could be opened at once, causing the game to crash

Shulker boxes that contain tropical fish buckets no longer cause performance issues

Fixed a bug that caused a significant performance drop when rendering chunks

Improved the loading time of various game files

Fixed delayed touch response on the bottom of the screen on iOS

General

Fixed the bug where the player would unexpectedly turn in a random direction on touch screens

The “Body Guard” achievement can once again be unlocked after creating an Iron Golem

Fixed an issue with custom player permissions that might not apply correctly in multiplayer

Worlds larger than 1GB can now be copied and exported on Windows 10

Fixed an error that occurred when attempting to start a split screen session with a guest on Xbox One

Split screen players no longer get stuck on the loading screen when re-joining Old worlds

Gameplay

Lightning no longer strikes if the destination is in a cold biome

Players will no longer teleport when standing against a non-full block and reloading the game

Fixed rare enchantments being too hard to get at higher levels

Potion of Slow Falling will now slow down Elytra descent

The player locator map marker now faces the right direction when aboard a boat

Players will now face forwards when entering a boat

Explosions will now drop blocks if the default game mode is Creative and Tile Drops are enabled

Planting crops continuously will no longer skip blocks

Items

Fixed a bug where only white firework stars could be crafted

Crafting multiple cakes using the recipe book will now return the correct amount of empty buckets to the player

Dyed beds now have the correct crafting recipe

Fixed an exploit where rails could be duplicated

Fixed an exploit that allowed Tridents to be duplicated

Fixed Enchanted Tridents being lost from anvils following a server disconnect

Flower pots that contain saplings will once again drop the correct type when broken

Mobs

Large Slimes and Magma Cubes now have the correct sized hitbox based on their size

Fixed mobs not always taking fall damage when they should

Tamed wolves will now tilt their heads when the player is holding meat

Magma cubes no longer inflict damage during their death animation

Blocks

Kelp will now only grow into water source blocks or full downward flowing water, and no longer creates a new source block

Pistons no longer drop as items when being pushed or pulled

The hitbox of piston arms now matches the size and shape correctly

Players no longer fall through Shulker Boxes as they open

Double wooden slabs can now be placed regardless of crosshair position

When the player has just moved out of a block space, they can no longer place a repeater or comparator that can’t be powered

Mobs in minecarts no longer activate adjacent detector rails

Realms

Fixed the bug where players on Realms could be instantly killed in one shot by a Blaze fireball attack

Graphical

Fixed a bug that caused horses (and variants) to show flashing colors on certain devices (no more disco horses!)

Fixed a bug where players could see through solid blocks when swimming

Water now renders correctly when surrounded by Barrier Blocks

Wall signs no longer show different types of wood particles when being broken

Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause black visual glitches to appear around blocks when riding a horse

The player’s hands are now properly rotated and positioned when aboard a boat and holding a bow

Fixed the Ghast projectile firing animation

Audio

Ghast sounds are no longer repeated when they are shooting fireballs

User Interface

Multiple items can be collected when trading with villagers again when using touch controls

Fixed incorrect interact buttons appearing briefly for certain mobs on touch screen devices

The right bumper button now correctly scrolls through the tabs in the game menu on Nintendo Switch

Reassigned Page Up and Page Down keys are now labelled correctly on the Settings screen

The multiplayer toggle is now accurately shown when using platform restricted content on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch

The Achievements button no longer appears in the pause menu if not signed into Xbox Live

Controller hints now show the correct usage of “Open” and “Use” when looking at containers

Health Boost and Absorption effects no longer have the same icon

Fixed the buttons used on the startup message for players using Windows Mixed Reality

Removed “MCPE!” from the list of splash screen messages

Search results in the Marketplace are now more consistent when searching through all content

Only templates are suggested in the “Get More Templates” menu now

Fixed incorrect message when accepting an invite from a notification on Nintendo Switch with certain parental controls set

Commands

Running the ‘title’ and ‘subtitle’ commands will once again override any titles and subtitles currently on screen

Relative coordinates in commands are once again consistent below 3 on the y-axis

Using Shift + Tab to reverse cycle through slash command auto-complete suggestions now properly cycles to the end of the list

Lava blocks no longer appear green in the command autocomplete area

Player names that are made up of only numbers are now surrounded with quotation marks when using autocomplete for slash commands

If you’re into your Minecraft you may have heard of Hypixel – it’s one of the biggest Minecraft servers in the world and home to some seriously dedicated creators.

Today brings the announcement of Hypixel Studios, a new indie team made up by the Minecraft server’s co-founders to develop an entirely separate game, and backed by League of Legends maker Riot Games, among others.

The game is named Hytale – and here’s a trailer:

It looks hugely ambitious, with several modes planned aping Minecraft’s own. There’s a creation-focused mode designed to encourage the building of new mini-games, and an adventure mode with hand-crafted dungeons and bosses.

Alongside those are a suite of tools to help code new things in the game, create cinematics and design/edit 3D models.

More than 40 people are currently working on Hytale, and development has been ongoing since 2015.

The project has attracted some serious backing. Riot Games and a group of industry veterans including ex-Blizzard senior designer and producer Rob Pardo, have all invested in it.

“Since meeting the Hypixel team in 2016, we’ve been blown away by their support for their community, vision for the future of sandbox gaming, and belief in individual contributors working toward a common goal,” Riot Games boss Dylan Jadeja said. “Their ambition and commitment to quality gives us a ton of confidence, and from everything we’ve seen of Hytale, we haven’t been let down.

“Supporting Hypixel is also an opportunity to support a game that will reach players at multiple stages in their gaming journeys, across age groups, genres, and play styles. We can’t wait to dive into the world of Hytale.”

Which is all good news for Hypixel, its founders conclude:

“This investment means that we’re able to level up our production values across many disciplines, and to provide stability for our team. It also allows us to avoid many common pitfalls of game development, like feeling pressure to release too early or over-reliance on crowdfunding. This is our first game as a newly-formed studio, but we’re excited to embrace the challenges that lie ahead.”

Hypixel Studios is creating a new game called “Hytale” with some help from “League of Legends” developer Riot Games, it announced in a blog post on Thursday.

“Hytale” is a sandbox RPG with procedurally generated environments and a “Minecraft”-inspired art style. It also boasts a number of interesting features like community servers, minigames, modding tools, and the ability to watch movies together.

“Hytale’s” similarity to “Minecraft” is no accident. Hypixel is the studio behind one of “Minecraft’s” most popular player-made servers, which has reportedly hosted more than 14 million players and won four Guinness World Records, including “most popular independent server for a video game.” The studio said the server’s success allowed it to self-fund development of “Hytale,” but it’s also secured outside funding from investors like Riot Games and former Blizzard Entertainment executive Rob Pardo.

“It’s humbling and exciting to be learning from these veteran game developers and industry experts,” Hypixel said. “Many of us on the team grew up playing their games, and it’s incredible to think that some of their sons and daughters are now playing Hypixel.”

Hypixel said its “Minecraft” server will continue to be actively developed by its own dedicated team. It also said it’s grateful to Mojang and Microsoft, “whose forward-thinking support for content creators from day one has allowed us to produce work that we’re proud of.”

Hypixel plans to launch “Hytale” on PC and Mac, but said it will explore the possibility of releasing on other platforms during development.

Just in case you thought it wasn’t popular anymore

At this point people who refer to Minecraft as a fad are just as ridiculous as the folks who said the same thing about Pokemon in the early 2000s. It’s just as popular as ever, appeals to pretty much all ages and skill levels, and is now universally playable across pretty much every platform on the planet (even VR!), most of which are connected with cross-play. It’s one of the most accessible games of all time.

That accessibility has translated to sales and a still-active playerbase. Speaking to Business Insider, Minecraft Studio Head Helen Chiang confirmed that Minecraft currently boasts over 91 million active players monthly, which beats out the 78 million Fortnite numbers. A lot of those players not only purchased the base game, but additional platforms for family members, skins, texture packs, and possibly monthly server subscriptions. That’s a lot of revenue streams to rely on. And with over 150 million sold they’re the second-best selling game ever: only behind Tetris.

While people are quick to point to Twitch to showcase Fortnite’s popularity, it just goes to show that streaming isn’t everything: Fortnite generally breaks over 100,000 concurrent viewers daily and at the time of this post Minecraft is at 4,000. A lot of people still don’t watch streams, spend their days on YouTube, or spend it playing Minecraft.

Panda-Moneyium

Microsoft has announced a new costume pack for hugely-successful build ’em up title Minecraft, with aims of raising cash for animal-friendly charity The World Wildlife Fund.

The “Paws and Claws” pack will be the first of the WWF-themed charitable initiatives to feature in Minecraft, containing a selection of cat and panda-themed skins. All net proceeds from every pack sold between launch and December 11, 2021 will be donated to the WWF.

As an added incentive, Microsoft will donate a further $100,000 once 10 million “Bamboo Blocks” – which were added to Minecraft in the latest update – have been placed in-game, so better get building! You can check out a trailer about the new promotion below. It’s important to note that this promotion only applies to the Bedrock Edition of Minecraft.

Minecraft – Bedrock Edition is available now on Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch and iOS and Android devices.

A team of community modders for Minecraft have banded together to form a fully-fledged games studio.

Hypixel Studio is the new company from the team behind the Hypixel server network, one of the most popular independent Minecraft servers.

The developer was founded with the help of an investor group thast includes Riot Games, ex-Blizzard exec Rob Pardo, Pardo’s fellow Bonfire co-founder Min Kim, pro-gamer Dennis ‘Thresh’ Fong, university professor Anthony Borquez, and investors Peter Levin and Jeff Lo.

Some of these investors have formed an advisory group to guide the studio forward.

Hypixel is already hard at work on its first project, Hytale. This will be a sandbox roleplaying game complimented by a mini-games platform and a variety of accessible tools enabling users to create and customise their own content for the game.

Work on Hytale actually began in 2015 — two years after the Hypixel server network was established — and was initially funded by the success of the servers, before the team sought the investment needed for the transition from modders to development studio.

“Founding Hypizel Studios is a huge step forward for our team, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Riot Games and our advisory group of investors,” said co-founder Simon Collins-Laflamme.

“We feel very lucky to have built relationships that not only fund the development of Hytale, but provide us with insight and advice that will be instrumental in making Hytale as good as it possibly can be.”

The green fields of France frame our latest Battlefield V: Unsung Heroes episode – or, to be more accurate, the airspace above them does. Here, brave pilots weave between the clouds in breakneck dogfights for air supremacy. Soaring fighters duck and dive as they trade cannon fire before finally landing the decisive burst that sends targets spiralling back to Earth.

You needn’t be a fully trained aviator to hop in the cockpit – in Battlefield V, any class can spawn inside an aircraft. If there’s one going spare, simply select it from the spawn screen, and you’re instantly ready to command the skies in one of DICE’s authentic single-seater planes. On the Allies side are manoeuvrable but fragile machines such as the Spitfire, while the Axis wields the equally fearsome Messerschmitt.

The biggest clash between RAF and Luftwaffe forces happened in Battle of Britain (July 1940 to June 1941), the first military campaign fought entirely by aircraft. In it, Hitler attempted to cripple the RAF before launching his land invasion, Operation Sea Lion. Of course, this particular episode takes place before all that, with the Germans still contesting France. There was plenty of aerial fighting to be done in and around the Low Countries, and if you happened to lose your plane, lots of scraps to join in on the ground, too.

You can experience the thrill of air combat by playing Battlefield V, available now on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Simply hop into the War Stories mode to learn of brave missions previously unexplored by other World War II videogames. Or, should you be more about online action, up to 64 players can fight for victory on some of gaming’s largest, most detailed multiplayer maps.

Nearly a decade on, Minecraft is still bringing us jaw-dropping creations, including massive cities of such scope and scale that they shouldn’t be possible inside a humble block builder. But they are, and in an effort to justify the time we’ve spent browsing these creations on the clock we’re going to share some of the coolest things we’ve found with you.

The image at the top comes from the Sayama City Project, which Kotaku shared back in August – though the project itself has been going on for years. Every time it comes back up, it’s astounding, and as everyone has repeatedly remarked, it’s tough to tell the difference between this Japan-inspired Minecraft city and a real-world photo. You can download the town for yourself via Planet Minecraft, or check out a video if you prefer to admire from afar.

Now you’re probably thinking ‘sure, this all looks pretty, but how realistic can a Minecraft city be?’ Luckily, YouTube’s City Beautiful has us covered there. The channel breaks down urban planning in digestible ways, and its biggest hit came a few months ago with a quick let’s play of SimCity 2000. Now we’ve got a set of reviews on Minecraft cities.

Those projects include the Vancouver-inspired Mattuopolis, the self-proclaimed “largest city in Minecraft,” Greenfield, and perhaps most intriguing, the GDMC Competition, which aims to build Minecraft settlements through AI generation. You can follow those links to mess around with them yourself, or you can watch the video below to get some walkthroughs with a dose of education on real-life city building.

Check out the best Minecraft maps if you’re looking for more cool creations – whether those be cities, castles, adventure maps, or horror excursions. Be prepared to lose your weekend amid this reminders that Minecraft is very cool.

Sega and Paramount Pictures have released the first teaser image for the new Sonic the Hedgehog movie, due to arrive next year – and, well, Sonic’s weirdly lithe new look will certainly be haunting my dreams tonight.

Inexplicably, the production team has opted to transform Sonic’s smooth, slightly rotund classic look, into something resembling an excessively hirsute human with a bulbous Sonic-shaped head and a punishing anaerobic fitness regime. Who is also blue. The overall effect, I’d argue, is more ‘limbering up for a sweaty night out down at the fetish bar’ than ‘endearing reimagining of a beloved video game character for a new family friendly movie franchise’.

Sonic’s teaser reveal comes via IGN, and is accompanied by a few words from executive producer Tim Miller. On the subject of Sonic’s top-to-toe fur makeover, Miller suggested, “It would be weird and it would feel like he was running around nude if he was some sort of otter-like thing. It was always, for us, fur, and we never considered anything different. It’s part of what integrates him into the real world and makes him a real creature.”

More fascinating still is Miller’s brief mention of Sonic’s eyes, not shown in the reveal image. “I don’t think Sega was entirely happy with the eye decision, but these sorts of things you go, ‘It’s going to look weird if we don’t do this'”, he explained. So goodness knows what nightmare-inducing ocular monstrosities could be lurking among the shadows.

Sonic The Hedgehog is being directed by Jeff Fowler, and stars Parks and Recreation’s Ben Schwartz in the lead role. The movie is currently scheduled to launch in the US on November 8th next year and on December 26th in the UK.

Square Enix has announced that Final Fantasy 15’s multiplayer expansion, known as Comrades, will finally get its previously announced standalone release today, December 12th, in the US, and tomorrow in the UK.

Comrades, which originally launched at the tail-end of last year, unfolds six months after the concluding events of the main game. Players take on the role of a Kinsglaive soldier (conjured into being via a flexible character creation tool), and, starting at their base in Lestallum, must collect meteor shards to restore power to the kingdom of Lucis.

Meteor shards (as well as money for upgrading weapons and the like) can be acquired through missions, all playable co-operatively with up to three friends. Missions are predominantly focussed around monster hunting, using a modified version of the core game’s combat system, and turning in meteor shards will unlock new missions and more areas of the map.

When Comrades originally launched, it was available as part of Final Fantasy 15’s season pass on PS4 and Xbox One, or on its own for £15.49. Those that played it seemed to quite enjoy its distinctive take on brisk co-operative questing, despite its fairly unintuitive demands when attempting to gather friends together in order to actually start a multiplayer session.

Although Comrades previously required a copy of Final Fantasy 15’s base game to run, its new, completely standalone version on Xbox One and PS4 won’t. Square previously announced that this separate version will add new creatures, such as the powerful Daemon Melusine, and that all new features will be available as a free update for those that already own Comrades.

Last month, Square Enix announced the departure of Final Fantasy 15 creator Hajime Tabata, resulting in the cancellation of the majority of DLC episodes planned for 2019.

Microsoft has announced a new initiative to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund through Minecraft, starting with the launch of the new Paws and Claws costume pack.

Paws and Claws’ release follows the recent arrival Minecraft’s latest update, which adds bamboo blocks, scaffolding, and, more importantly, pandas and redesigned cats. The costume pack (or “Cosplay Pack”, as Microsoft would have it) features 17 cat and panda skin, and all net proceeds on every sale – that’s 62.5% – will be donated to the WWF until December 11th, 2021.

Additionally, Microsoft has pledged to donate another $100,000 USD to the World Wildlife Fund once players have managed to place a total of 10 million bamboo blocks in Minecraft. This follows a similar event last year, in which a donation was made to The Nature Conservancy after Minecraft players laid down 10 million coral blocks.

In order to get involved in Microsoft’s charity initiative, either via some dedicated block placing or by purchasing the Paws and Claws pack, players will need to be using Minecraft’s Bedrock Edition, which is available on Windows 10, Xbox One, Switch, iOS, and Android.

Markus Persson, the creator of Minecraft, may be not as busy in the world of video game development as he used to be, but he is quite active on Twitter where he has 3.69 million followers.

As you may know, Persson — also known as “Notch” — has found himself amidst controversy due to some of the content he has tweeted out in the past. For example, in 2017 he had some unpleasant words to say about people who don’t support Heterosexual Pride Day, though he eventually walked back the Tweet.

Later in the same year he once again found himself on the other side of a barrel of criticism for tweeting out “it’s ok to be white.”

Fast-forward to this month, and Persson is once again vocalizing some controversial and political takes. Here’s a drive-by of some of it:

Notch
✔
@notch
There clearly is an agenda against white men.

Jonathan Morales
@JonathanM0ral35
Replying to @notch and 2 others
notch why are you like this please stop acting like there’s an agenda against white people

8,483
4:01 AM – Dec 9, 2018
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2,397 people are talking about this
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Notch
✔
@notch
They are what everything else that isn’t perfectly in line with the hard left is: russian nazi cis scum bots.
It’s literally evil versus the rest of us.

Pedro Paco
@MillionMistake
Replying to @notch
what about the right? where do they stand on the morality scale?

525
6:06 AM – Dec 6, 2018
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89 people are talking about this
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Notch
✔
@notch
If we were allowed to discuss IQ differences between populations, there’d be fewer conspiracy theories.

🇵🇱Scrable🇩🇪
@TherealScrable
@notch Do you love jews?

6,012
4:10 AM – Dec 7, 2018
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2,408 people are talking about this
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Notch
✔
@notch
Reminder that the creator of Atari missed out on a lifetime achievement award because sexist dickfaces made up (proven lies) about him because gaming hadn’t “had it’s metoo moment yet.

If you’re still on the left, PLEASE wake up. You are evil.

6,861
5:54 AM – Dec 6, 2018
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As you may know, Persson is no longer involved with Minecraft. Back in November 2014 when Mojang — the company behind Minecraft that Persson helped create — was acquired by Microsoft for $2.5 billion, the creative left the company he helped propel to the top of the video game development world.

Since he departed Mojang, Persson has been much more, let’s say, vocal, on Twitter, and in a heightened political climate that has seemingly seeped into every facet of life, he has found himself in a fair share of controversy. Or, at least Internet controversy. Suffice to say, without being tied to Mojang — or more importantly, Microsoft — he has been able to share his takes as freely as he likes, which aren’t always inherently political.

Notch
✔
@notch
· Dec 9, 2018
Replying to @notch
These people are politicians, they’re large corporations.
They’re your crazy ex and your demanding parent.

They’re you, last weekend.

Notch
✔
@notch
Money is paper you think you have to value.
Words are vibrations you think you have to honor.

Relationships, friendships, movement, are all labels you think you can’t change without good reason, so you sacrifice yourself for man made label.

779
4:07 AM – Dec 9, 2018
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Notch
✔
@notch
Boys and soys: do not fall for this narrative. Women are attracted to stable men who speak their mind and get stuff done. Be assertive in who you are and what your values are, be nerdy and excited about projects.
Your strongest currency is undivided attention.

emily dont care
@emichka7
Replying to @notch
dude u look like the classic fedora neckbeard type, just more put together because of the millions of dollars u have in ur back pocket, no ones gonna WANT to exchange contact info with u, in fact if someone that looked like u flirted w me id be extremely uncomfortable sorry lmfao

Read more online: https://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/12/08/minecraft-creator-markus-persson-twitter/

Today, Apple unveiled the list of the most popular apps and games (free and paid) for iPhone and iPad in 2018 and you’ll find below the top 10 charts for each category.

This year, Battle Royale-style games like Fortnite and PUBG Mobile dominated global gaming culture with exciting, last-player-standing action, while innovative apps like Fabulous, Shine, 10% Happier and Headspace expanded the practice of wellness around the world to make self-care more accessible than ever before, said Apple.

Atherton Research’s Take

In the free app category, Google’s YouTube was the most downloaded app on both iPhone and iPad, while Messenger, the Facebook app, Gmail, Netflix also appeared in the top 10 for both iOS devices.

On the iPhone, the most popular apps are predominantly for communication (Instagram, Snapchat, Messenger, Facebook, Bitmoji and Gmail), whereas apps on the iPad tend to be more video-oriented (YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube Kids).

On the iPhone paid apps side, selfie-editor FaceTune ($3.99) and drawing iPad app Procreate ($9.99)—which was also awarded best iPhone app of the year by Apple “editors”— took the top spots.

In the free games category, Fortnite is the absolute winner on both iPhone and iPad. Hole.io, Rise Up, Helix Jump, Love Balls, and Rules of Survival were also popular on both iOS platforms.

Froggipedia is an augmented-reality educational app which explores the life cycle and intricate anatomical details of a frog and won Apple’s 2018 iPad App of the Year award.DESIGNMATE

In paid games, Heads Up! ($2.99) won the crown on iPhone—it was also the #5 most popular paid games on iPad—while Microsoft’s Minecraft ($6.99) was the most popular on the iPad and the second most downloaded app on the iPhone. Geometry Dash, Bloons TD 6, and The Game of Life were also popular paid games on both iOS platforms.

On a side note, Apple also named its own favorites apps, selected by “editors” working at the tech giant.

On the iPhone, Apple selected drawing app Procreate Pocket and Donut County (a story-based physics puzzle game where you play as an ever-growing hole in the ground) as its app and game of the year, respectively.

On the iPad, the Silicon Valley company chose Froggipedia (an augmented-reality educational app which explores the life cycle and intricate anatomical details of a frog) and puzzle-game Gorogoa as this year’s app and game, respectively.

Top 10 Free iPhone Apps:

YouTube
Instagram
Snapchat
Messenger
Facebook
Bitmoji
Netflix
Google Maps
Gmail
Spotify Music
Top 10 Paid iPhone Apps:

Facetune ($3.99)
Kirakira+ ($0.99)
Dark Sky Weather ($3.99)
HotSchedules ($2.99)
PlantSnap ($2.99)
AutoSleep Tracker for Watch ($2.99)
Sky Guide ($2.99)
1 Second Everyday: Video Diary ($4.99)
The Wonder Weeks ($2.99)
Afterlight 2 ($2.99)
Top 10 Free iPhone Games:

Fortnite
Helix Jump
Rise Up
PUBG Mobile
Hole.io
Love Balls
Snake VS Block
Rules of Survival
Roblox
Dune!
Top 10 Paid iPhone Games:

Heads Up! ($2.99)
Minecraft ($6.99)
Plague Inc. ($0.99)
Bloons TD 6 ($4.99)
Pocket Build ($1.99)
Bloons TD 5 ($2.99)
Geometry Dash ($1.99)
The Game of Life ($2.99)
Papa’s Freezeria To Go ($0.99)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas ($6.99)
Top 10 Free iPad Apps:

YouTube
Netflix
Messenger
Facebook
Amazon Prime Video
Google Chrome
Gmail
YouTube Kids
The Calculator
Amazon Shopping
Top 10 Paid iPad Apps:

Procreate ($9.99)
Notability ($9.99)
GoodNotes 4 ($7.99)
Toca Life: Pets ($3.99)
Duet Display ($9.99)
Toca Life: After School ($3.99)
XtraMath ($4.99)
Toca Hair Salon 3 ($3.99)
MyScript Nebo ($7.99)
Toca Kitchen 2 ($3.99)
Top 10 Free iPad Games:

Fortnite
Roblox
Kick the Buddy
Love Balls
Helix Jump
Color by Number Coloring Game!
Bowmasters – Multiplayer Game
Hole.io
Rise Up
Rules of Survival
Top 10 Paid iPad Games:

Minecraft ($6.99)
Geometry Dash ($1.99)
The Game of Life ($2.99)
The Room: Old Sins ($4.99)
Heads Up! ($0.99)
Bloons TD 6 ($4.99)
Goat Simulator ($4.99)
Five Nights at Freddy’s ($2.99)
Lego Jurassic World ($4.99)
Terraria ($4.99)
Jean Baptiste “JB” Su is Vice-President and Principal Analyst at Atherton Research, a global technology consulting and intelligence firm advising clients plan, build and deliver successful go-to-market strategies. You can follow him on LinkedIn (https://goo.gl/z5zGlx) or Twi… MORE
Author: Jean Baptiste is a Vice-President and Principal Analyst at Atherton Research, a global technology intelligence firm advising clients deliver successful go-to-market strategies.

Read more online: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeanbaptiste/2018/12/04/apple-unveils-2018s-most-popular-apps-youtube-fortnite-minecraft-and-more/#d59c1460dcd8