Minecraft has proven to be such a massive success that its story will be forever entwined with the history of gaming. Even after years and years of success, the team at Mojang are still cranking out new content for the sandbox adventure on a regular basis. The latest update was revealed at X018, and its addition to the Minecraft experience is divined just through the title: Cats and Pandas.

That’s right, new cuddly creatures both big and small will soon be available in Minecraft. Cats can certainly help give that homey feeling for players who like indifferent furballs lurking around their house, and pandas… well, they’re just too cute not to include, right? Check out the stylish announcement trailer as presented during X018 in the video embed below.

It appears that there’s no set release date for Cats and Pandas in Minecraft just yet, but the team has been beta testing their addition since back in October. When they do finally make their fuzzy appearances, players can likely expect to see them lounging away in the MInecraft world across all major platforms.

Don’t miss a beat — catch all the latest X018 news by keeping it tuned right here to Shacknews.

It has been seven years since Mojang released Minecraft on Android. There used to be a demo on the Play Store back in the early Pocket Edition days, but it was removed in 2013. Well, that’s all in the past now. Mojang recently added a new demo listing to the Play Store, and it’s called Minecraft Trial. It’s a soft-launch title, so it isn’t available in the US just yet, but if the reviews are anything to go by, then it’s clearly available in a few other regions.

The Java version of Minecraft for PC has had a free demo since 2012, and even the newer multi-platform Bedrock edition has had a demo for the Windows 10 app since 2017. And while Android used to have a Minecraft demo, the new trial version means users can once again take the game for a spin without putting any money down, but there are a couple of catches. The first is that this is a soft-launch title, so only a few regions will have access. Another limitation is that there’s a time limit to the trial, and you’ll only have access to the survival mode since everything else is locked down. Still, this release serves as a solid entry point for those unfamiliar with the game.

I’m not entirely sure why it has taken Mojang so long to release a new demo for Android, but some of the current Play Store reviews may hint at why so few devs ever bother. There are more than a couple of users asking for the game to go completely free now that they’ve had a taste, which is more than a common occurrence for paid mobile apps. I’m sure it’s difficult for devs to make everybody happy, and self-indulgent reviews hardly outweigh the amount of exposure a trial version will provide. So good on Mojang for finally providing us with a new demo, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who will appreciate the release.

Minecraft: Education Edition has received an update recently, and with the update comes its new Code Builder. The new tool brings a code-editing interface to the Minecraft worlds, allowing players to perform various tasks, such as creating custom Minecraft commands.

The Education Edition has a user base of more than two million players, and children who have the new update can open the code builder by simply hitting the C key (or the Access button at the top on tablets like the iPad), which opens the UI that allows the child to drag and drop customizable elements of code onto the canvas. Children can customize the text in the colored segments by changing variables such as items, numbers, and actions.

“Voyage Aquatic” lets leaners put together code tiles to solve puzzles.

The Education Edition is available on Windows 10, iPads, and macOS devices, with iPads being a very recent addition. Windows 10 computers and iPads should see the update hit automatically, however Mac users might need to install the update manually.

Minecraft is widely popular for its open-ended structure, allowing players to mine, build, fight baddies or explore to their heart’s content. That structure has made it a surprisingly popular choice for modeling real-life buildings, including Microsoft’s new digital version of its upcoming campus.

Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Wa., covers 500 acres of land and includes over 100 buildings. The campus is undergoing a renovation, slated to be finished in 2022, that will see 18 new buildings, several new sports fields and retail shops. During the design process, Riku Pentikainen, former Microsoft director of global workplace strategies for its real estate and facilities group, was inspired by watching his son play Minecraft, especially how simple and intuitive it was to create builds and walkthroughs.

Microsoft worked with Blockworks, a company that uses Minecraft to model real buildings, to create a digital version of the new campus that employees could walk through and familiarize themselves with.

While Minecraft is less accurate and naturalistic than other CAD and BIM applications, it lets players move easily and somewhat naturally through buildings, as well as make buildings quickly and without advanced training.

“When you build in Minecraft, you build everything in the perspective of the player, constantly being aware of the sense of scale,” James Delaney, Blockworks managing director, told CNBC. “Traditional CAD tools don’t allow for that sense of awareness.”

This isn’t the first big building project Microsoft has done with Minecraft, which it acquired in 2014 for $2.5 billion. Earlier this year, it partnered with Great Ormond Street Hospital in London to develop a complete model of the hospital. The model was created so kids and parents could tour the hospital beforehand, allowing them to alleviate potential anxiety about visiting the hospital and develop a knowledge of the floorplan. The hospital model includes elevator buttons made with the in-game power source “redstone,” which lets people teleport from floor to floor. The project was part of Minecraft’s Education Edition, an initiative to help educators use Minecraft.

Anyone with a 365 Education subscription can take a tour around the Microsoft digital campus. Though, Microsoft said its far from finished with the model. Going forward, it plans to include details like more realistic building interiors and people strolling through the campus.

“We’re trying to be very, very selective in how we’re going to do updates,” said Andrew Yang, project manager. “We want to make sure the next update is going to be meaningful and isn’t going to be updated too quickly.”

Guinness World Records took Philadelphia Minefaire by storm the weekend of 13-14 October, offering live Minecraft record-breaking for attendees of all ages.

We partnered with Minefaire, the #1 Minecraft convention in the USA, to not only create a memorable and engaging fan experience but also introduce new readers to the Guinness World Records 2019: Gamer’s Edition.

Throughout the weekend, visitors had the chance to break three different Minecraft records, specially crafted for Philadelphia Minefaire.

Minefaire 3

Most sunflowers picked in one minute in the Sunflower Field in Minecraft (tablet)
The first record-breaking challenge presented to Philadelphia Minefaire attendees on 13 October 2018 was Most sunflowers picked in one minute in the Sunflower Field in Minecraft (tablet).

The first person to break to record was Sean Rosario (USA) who collected 65 sunflowers in 60 seconds. Shortly afterwards, eight-year-old Ezra Lyngdoh (USA) beat the record set by Sean, by collecting 68.

Later that afternoon, Nathan Cunningham (USA) wowed the crowd and broke the record again by picking 73 sunflowers in one minute.

Fastest time to climb to the top of Cliffside Village in Minecraft (tablet)
This proved to be the toughest challenge of the weekend as it challenged gamers to reach the roof of the house at the top of the ‘Cliffside Village’ while keeping the map selected for the duration of the attempt and without placing any blocks.

10-year-old Madie Mento (USA) was the first to break to record with a time of 1 minute 29.70 seconds. Minutes later, Garrett Muraesky achieved a new record with a time of 1 minute 19.99 seconds.

Fastest time to build all 3 utility mobs in Minecraft (tablet)
In a flurry of excitement on the Sunday, four separate challengers achieved this record.

The record was first set by Nathan Sepinwall (USA) with a time of 37.91 seconds. Minutes later both Vincent Watson (USA) and Ryan Mack (USA) smashed the record with times of 32.14 seconds and 25.88 seconds respectively.

The last record-breaker of the day was nine-year-old Chloe Hensley (USA) with a time of 25.08 seconds.

Minefaire 2

Love these records? You can learn more about the Minecraft Reader Challenges in Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2019.

According to teams with Microsoft Roanoke County is among the world’s top consumers of Minecraft globally. And teachers are using that to their advantage.

That includes second grade teacher Deede Clifford, who spent the day being the student.

“I can’t believe more teachers don’t use it,” she said of the game, “which is why I’m glad we’re having more in-services so more teachers will be on board with it.”

She’s getting trained by Microsoft teams on Minecraft in the school district’s administration building.

“I simply click on that download icon,” said the instructor, leading them through an exercise.

Minecraft is the video gaming sensation every kid and a few teachers are raving about.

“They love it and they ask every day to do Minecraft.” Clifford said of her students, ‘like they never wanna miss school, because they’re so afraid if they’re gonna miss if we do something with Minecraft one day.”

“I have achieved celebrity status at the elementary school,” said Meg Swecker, a Technology Resource Teacher.

She’s been using the educational version of Minecraft to teach students concepts they’re already supposed to be learning about.

“There’s a whole new way for them to be paying attention to what we want them to know,” she said.

The game is kind of like a hybrid of Tomagatchi and The Sims meets Legos: an interactive world where players have the freedom to build with an avatar.

For students that means using their imaginations to create the plant cells, maps and storybook scenes they’re learning about.

Most recently, Swecker was using it to have students recreated the Jamestown settlement.

If it seems a little complicated, don’t worry, say the teachers.

“You don’t have to know anything, the kids will teach you,” Clifford said. Which is really cool!”

The kids think it’s cool too, which is why these teachers are more than willing to meet them halfway.

Microsoft’s refreshed campus is scheduled to open in 2022, with 18 new buildings.

Designers are using the game Minecraft to give employees an early peek of how it will look.

Microsoft bought Minecraft parent Mojang in 2014 for $2.5 billion.

Four years ago Tuesday, Microsoft closed its $2.5 billion acquisition of Mojang, developer of the video game Minecraft. It was Satya Nadella’s first multibillion-dollar deal since taking over as CEO in February 2014.

As it turns out, Minecraft had more to offer Microsoft than just a wildly popular game with 91 million monthly active users and 250 million downloads. The technology is now being used to help employees get acquainted with a refresh of Microsoft’s sprawling campus in Redmond, Washington.

Earlier this year, Microsoft enlisted Blockworks, a company that uses Minecraft’s digital building blocks for designing real-world projects, to create a miniature rendering of the campus facelift, which is scheduled for completion in 2022. They’re using graphics that are far more immersive than two-dimensional photos and videos.

Microsoft’s corporate headquarters occupies 500 acres of land and houses more than 100 buildings. Rather than setting up an entirely new campus (or two) like Amazon, or following Alphabet, Apple and Facebook in expanding into new areas, the software company is updating its existing one, tearing down old buildings and erecting new ones, while also adding cricket and soccer fields and room for retail businesses.

Phil Spencer
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It’s official, today we welcome Mojang to the Microsoft Studios family. We’re excited for the possibilities ahead w/the Minecraft community.

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While Minecraft was designed for gamers, its immersive nature and the ability to quickly move around and construct edifices makes it easy to see how new buildings will look when inserted into an existing landscape. Microsoft recognized the potential of the game and introduced an education edition two years ago. It has racked up 35 million licensed users.

“When you build in Minecraft, you build everything in the perspective of the player, constantly being aware of the sense of scale,” said James Delaney, a managing director at Blockworks, which says on its website that it uses Minecraft “to create experiences, communities and learning environments.”

It’s only natural that a kid was involved in the idea of using Minecraft to miniaturize the new campus.

Riku Pentikainen, who until recently was director of global workplace strategies inside Microsoft’s real estate and facilities group, saw his son playing Minecraft earlier this year and was intrigued by how the game could help the company with its transition. Employees could learn and get excited about the remodeling long before they could check it out on foot, and in a more dynamic way than what was available through typical renderings.

Microsoft brought in architecture firm Gensler, along with Andrew Yang, a project manager, to work with internal staff, including Peter Zetterberg of Microsoft Studios, and Amy Stevenson, Microsoft’s archives manager, who provided pieces of history about campus landmarks. They got approval from Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s executive vice president for gaming, to use Minecraft for the project, Yang said.

From there, the group issued a request for proposals, ultimately deciding on Blockworks, which had done work for Disney, Warner Bros. and the Museum of London, as well as Microsoft. The mandate for Blockworks was to have a virtual campus set up within a few weeks, in time for a Microsoft hackathon on July 27.

Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp.
A half-dozen people at Blockworks began constructing buildings off drawings from Gensler. Delaney said Minecraft forces designers to sacrifice some accuracy because structures in real life don’t always have the game’s squared-off look, but the speed and ease of use more than made up for those deficiencies. It might take just 10 minutes to wrap up a single building, he said.

Minecraft also appeals to a broader audience of younger people, who might not know how to use computer-aided design, or CAD, programs, which require extensive training and aren’t as collaborative.

“Traditional CAD tools don’t allow for that sense of awareness,” said Delaney, who explored the use of Minecraft as a way to democratize architecture during his studies at the University of Cambridge.

Microsoft employees — and anyone else with the education edition of Minecraft — can now take a digital tour of the new campus and see how plans are developing. Outside of Microsoft, that access requires a subscription to Office 365 Education.

Yang said people are impressed with what they’ve seen, but improvements are coming. For example, he expects to add details like more realistic building interiors and additional people walking around the campus.

“We’re trying to be very, very selective in how we’re going to do updates,” Yang said. “We want to make sure the next update is going to be meaningful and isn’t going to be updated too quickly.”

Researchers have developed a Minecraft modification that uses artificial intelligence to help players improve their in-game architecture skills.

Minecraft is a popular 3D video game where players build and navigate their own digital environments. The modification will tell players whether their buildings fit into certain architectural styles and offer ideas for how the structures could be improved.

“One of the things that’s important to learn when you’re a kid and throughout life is creativity, abstraction—how to envision what you want and then create it,” says senior author Ross Knepper, assistant professor of computer science at Cornell University. “This is a tool that helps people not get discouraged, maybe if they’re beginning at Minecraft and don’t know how to use their imagination right off the bat.”

Minecraft temple
Erik Andersen created a model in Minecraft of a temple in Bangkok. (Credit: Cornell)
A.I. TEACHING PLAYERS
Based on buildings Minecraft players created and uploaded for others to use, the researchers created a deep neural network—a kind of machine learning trained to predict whether data belongs in a certain category. Through that network, players could learn whether their building is medieval, modern, Asian, or classical—four especially popular tags Minecraft players use. Once the building is classified, another algorithm can show the users similar buildings to inspire them to make improvements to their own.

“People are really interested in having more design spaces in Minecraft, and being able to build certain types of architecture, but there weren’t any design tools as far as we were aware that could teach them,” says first author Irene (Euisun) Yoon.

Yoon curated the data set to make sure the buildings were labeled correctly, since their algorithm was less accurate than they would have liked because it was trained with fewer than 1,000 player-created buildings. Ideally, they could train such an algorithm with tens or hundreds of thousands of pieces of data.

“If you ask an architect to tell you what a building’s style is, the architect will say, ‘OK, it’s one-and-a-half stories, it has dormers, it’s a Cape Cod.’ Deep learning is doing that but it’s doing it in a black box way (hidden from view). It learns patterns, but not necessarily the same patterns an architect would say are the key things,” Knepper says. For example, if all the modern-style houses in a data set have pools on the roof, the computer could assume that rooftop pools are a requirement for modern houses.

PLAYERS TEACHING A.I.
For Knepper, a roboticist by training, the Minecraft project helped answer questions about how a robot might follow a human’s instructions.

“If I say, ‘Build a house,’ today a robot is going to say, ‘I don’t know what that means.’ ‘Which brick should I put where?’ is the level at which robots need instruction,” Knepper says. “We’d like humans to be able to interface with robots more like we interface with each other. So if I tell it to build a medieval house or an ancient house and give some of the high-level details, it would know at that point how to turn it into a plausible thing that does everything you want. We’re not there yet, but this is the first step towards that goal.”

Coauthor Bharath Hariharan, assistant professor of computer science, approached the research from the perspective of his own work in computer vision. In trying to interpret an image, scientists can train a computer to pick up cues such as shape and solidity, but may have trouble processing perspective or scale. Using people’s intelligence through their Minecraft structures and tags can help computers learn to solve those problems.

“When you’re working with images, it’s really hard to actually get at the essence of what something is,” Hariharan says. “A machine observing how people build can actually learn quite a bit about what shape is, what structure is, what buildings are.”

The researchers will present a paper on their work at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment in Canada.

The paper is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation.

Source: Melanie Lefkowitz for Cornell University

Original Study

With Aquaman set to hit theaters next month, we figured it would only be a matter of time before we saw the powerful Justice League member’s world pop up in DC Universe Online. And just like clockwork, it has.

Today, Daybreak Games has announced the arrival of Atlantis, one of the company’s largest expansions for the popular online multiplayer game since its launch seven years ago. The expansion is available now across all platforms, including Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, with a “brand new underwater world to explore, iconic DC characters and swimming.”

With Corum Rath set to try and take over the Throne (and conspiring with Deluge parties to work alongside him), it’s up to Aquaman and the DC Universe characters to come together and fight back, in an effort to save the Crown from falling into the wrong hands.

The brief launch trailer above gives you an idea of what to expect from this immaculate world, which is jam-packed with space to explore and details from the forthcoming Aquaman film.

Here’s a rundown of the new content that you’ll find in this expansion:

Vast Underwater World – For the first time ever, players will be able to visit and explore the underwater Kingdom of Atlantis. Everything from swimming, combat, and lighting has been re-imagined for a fully submerged environment. Swim through the ocean and explore everything Atlantis has to offer.
New Missions – Travel throughout Atlantis including the Throne Room, the city streets and more to take on dangerous missions and fight deadly foes.
New Raids – Fight for the Crown of Thorns, challenge Corum Rath, or take on a massive sea monster in these new raids that are only available in Atlantis.

On top of that, Daybreak has also confirmed that players will be able to earn new feats, as well as discover new collections to add to their lineup. You’ll also be able to collect a variety of new gear, including items inspired by Aqualad, Corum Rath and more.

But keep in mind that in order to access the event portion of Atlantis, you’ll need to have a level of 10 or more. Fortunately, it shouldn’t take that long to get there if you haven’t already.

We’ll be talking with the team behind the expansion soon. But in the meantime, you can check out DC Universe Online now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. Also, Aquaman opens in theaters on December 21.

We already know that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is primed to be a holiday blockbuster, thanks to its massive opening weekend. But Activision has provided a little more detail as to how the multiplayer-packed sequel is performing on the market.

Call of Duty 2
The company posted details from its earnings report earlier today, and sales statistics show that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has already sold enough copies to lap Call of Duty: Black Ops III on a 3-to-1 basis. That’s quite a leap, considering that the game doesn’t have a single player campaign like Treyarch’s previous game did.

The game is particularly selling well on the PC front, which is good news since Activision put a primary focus into the performance of that version, although it gave just as much love to the console versions for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

As a result, Black Ops 4 has become one of the fastest-selling games in the series. And it helps that it had the inclusion of its take on Battle Royale, Blackout, included in the package right from the get-go. Call of Duty’s main competition, Battlefield V, won’t be introducing such a mode until at least March 2019.

In addition, Activision confirmed that engagement numbers are higher for Black Ops 4, with a 16 percent increase over Black Ops 3, along with a 20 percent increase in hours played.

Keep in mind that this is before release of additional content which will soon be offered through the company’s Black Ops Pass. Although a plan for said content hasn’t been revealed yet, it’s expected to arrive within the next few weeks, especially with the holiday season coming up. We’ll let you know as soon as the company reveals what’s coming our way.

For now, Black Ops 4 looks to be a leading factor for Activision’s big holiday push, although the company also has Destiny 2: Forsaken on the market; and Spyro Reignited Trilogy, which features a three-pack of classic Spyro the Dragon adventures, arrives this Tuesday after a lengthy delay.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC through Battle.net.

If you’ve been waiting to pick up Super Mario Party until you have enough controllers, or just wanted to snag a couple of JoyCon peripherals in the same shot as the game, we’ve got some good news, fans.

Nintendo has announced that it’s finally releasing a Super Mario Party game and Joy-Con bundle for the U.S. market, after it previously became available in Japan, Europe and South Korea. The bundle will go for $99.99 and will include a copy of the game, as well as special neon green and neon yellow Joy-Con controllers.Nintendo confirmed the news earlier today, with the bundle dated to arrive in stores next week, starting November 16.

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Get the party started with the new #SuperMarioParty bundle for #NintendoSwitch, featuring the game and a pair of Neon Green/Neon Yellow Joy-Con! This bundle arrives 11/16 and will retail for $99.99.

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The bundle provides a very good value, since the game goes for $59.99 and the Joy-Con controllers can go as high as $64.99. That gives you an estimated savings of about $25 by getting both of these in one shot.

And the fact you can only play Super Mario Party with Joy-Cons makes it easier to have them on hand, since it doesn’t support either handheld play (with the Joy-Cons attached) or the Pro Controller.

This bundle is about the same color as the one that was offered in Japan. However, the European bundle came with a neon pink and neon green Joy-Con controller. It looks like Nintendo of America changed it up here so that it wouldn’t be confused with the Splatoon 2 Nintendo Switch console bundle, which comes with pink and green Joy-Cons.

So if you’ve been looking to get in a Party mood with your friends, or just want to pick up a copy of the game for that beloved member of your family or group for the holiday season, this bundle will likely be for you.

Super Mario Party is available now for Nintendo Switch.

While Red Dead Redemption 2 set some impressive sales records in its own right within just eight days, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is certainly no slouch. It saw a huge record weekend in its own right; and a new entry on the PlayStation Blog indicates that it’s performed well enough to beat out Redemption as the best-selling digital game for PlayStation 4 for the month.

Call of Duty
Based on the top ten listing for PS4 games, Black Ops 4 sat pretty in the first place slot, followed closely behind by Red Dead Redemption 2. Rounding out the top five were Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, FIFA 19 and Battlefield 1, which no doubt found a resurgence thanks to EA giving away free content for the game. The top ten list is as follows:

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Red Dead Redemption 2
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
FIFA 19
Battlefield 1
Marvel’s Spider-Man
NBA 2K19
Soul Calibur VI
Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night + Rondo of Blood
WWE 2K19
From the looks of things, Soul Calibur VI and WWE 2K19 had solid debuts as well; and Castlevania Requiem was quite popular with the retro crowd.

As for PlayStation VR, the engaging platformer Astro Bot Rescue Mission topped the list, followed by Superhot VR and Job Simulator. No doubt the just-announced Beat Saber will be getting some attention later this month.

As for free-to-play games, nothing could beat Fortnite: Battle Royale, which took the number one slot. Close behind in second was Warface, followed by H1Z1’s new Battle Royale mode.

As far as PlayStation Classics go, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas continued to be a big hit with fans, but Rockstar Games also benefited from strong sales with Bully, which landed in the second place spot; and Metal Slug Anthology found a good spot in third place. Surprisingly enough, War of the Monsters found a fifth place position, finding good popularity with the Halloween crowd.

As far as how November’s numbers will shape up, it’s too soon to call. Battlefield V is on the way; and Spyro Reignited Trilogy is set to spark things up as well. We’ll see where the cards fall by this time next month.

Considering that the movie just had a very positive screening, it looks like the Detective Pikachu film could very well have its time in the sun. And that means we won’t have to wait too much longer for the trailer.

Detective Pikachu
A report from Trailer Track suggests that a trailer will make its debut for the film as soon as next week, as Warner Bros. is reportedly getting it ready to run alongside the forthcoming film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

The movie, directed by Rob Letterman and featuring Deadpool himself, Ryan Reynolds, reportedly has a trailer that’s been rated by Alberta Film Ratings, suggesting that it’s good to go for distribution. That said, the site warns that it won’t be arriving online before the premiere of the Fantastic Beasts film. More than likely, we’ll see it debut as soon as next Friday, November 16.

The trailer has been given a rating of “PG,” and more than likely, Warner Bros. will seek a similar rating for the final film when it arrives next summer.

The positive reception for the early screening of Detective Pikachu should get fans hyped, and once the trailer premieres, we’ll have a better idea of what to expect from the live-action approach, even though we’ve already got a good idea of what the storyline is about. But for the time being, you can read the impressions over at Super Bro Movies, in which the site notes that the movie has “easter eggs, good performances, and a great script,”

The film features Reynolds as the voice of PIkachu, but also stars Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Ken Watanabe, Bill Nighy, Suki Waterhouse and Rita Ora in live-action roles. It’s set to premiere on May 10 in both the U.S. and European markets.

As expected, we’ll let you know as soon as the trailer is making its premiere and share our thoughts on it. But it sounds like it’s going to be a lot more fun than some skeptics expected it to be. Besides, you have Reynolds voicing Pikachu. Isn’t that magic in itself?! (Yes, you can tell him we said that.)

Minecraft’s newest textures are now available for some players with Version 3 released for Java platforms before coming soon to the Bedrock version of the game.

Mojang’s Tom Stone announced the release of textures Version 3 in a post on the Minecraft site that encouraged Java players to try out the new looks for the Minecraft world’s many blocks. The third downloadable pack of new textures comes 10 months after the second one released in January, Stone said, and as of November 3rd, the latest official texture pack from the Minecraft team is now available for Java players.

“Minecraft: Java Edition players can try Version Three today!” Stone said about the release. “This pack will also be coming to all versions of Minecraft that have the Minecraft Marketplace very soon as a free download and we’ll update this story as soon as it’s available.”

The tweet below from the official Minecraft account showed off some comparison images with the previous texture packs on the left and Version 3 shown to the right. For Java players who want to experience the new textures for themselves, Mojang provided a step-by-step list of instructions for copying the new files over to their game to replace the textures.

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Minecraft
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@Minecraft
We spoke to @JasperBoerstra about the new Minecraft Textures! Java players can download Version 3 of the texture pack from http://Minecraft.net today, and it’s coming VERY SOON to bedrock!https://minecraft.net/article/try-new-minecraft-textures …

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Players should start getting used to the new textures when possible because what’s found in Version 3 will eventually become the default textures. Stone asked Minecraft texture artist Jasper Boerstra what would happen to the old textures with the artist responding to say they’d be replaced before long, but not before more changes are potentially made.

“These new textures will eventually replace them all and become the default textures of Minecraft,” Boerstra said about the texture changes. “They’re not yet final though, and still in development, that’s why I’m taking in all the community feedback first. The original textures will be available for free later. This might be directly in the game or somewhere else. We haven’t decided yet.”

Boerstra mentioned the main feedback he’d received was that blocks and other things looked blurry due to the use of anti-aliasing and Minecraft’s inherent low-resolution nature, so he cut back on the use of the art technique to give everything a crisper look.

Minecraft’s Version 3 textures are now available for Java players with the full releases for all platforms coming later.

Minecraft developer Mojang plans to make a handful of libraries from the Java build of the game open source, giving fellow game devs the ability to peruse, tweak, or use in their own projects (with credit).

The first two libraries getting the open-source treatment are Brigadier, or the command engine that Minecraft uses for its in-game developer console, and DataFixerUpper, a system that updates old in-game data into something that a current version of Minecraft can use.

As demonstrated in the blog post detailing the open-source plans, the Brigadier system deals with text commands keyed into Minecraft’s chat by suggesting possible commands as they’re being typed and translating the resulting command into an action in the game like giving a certain user an item or changing the game mode.

While Mojang says Brigadier is fairly straightforward and user-friendly, DataFixerUpper is more or less just the opposite.

“When we load up any world in Minecraft right now, you can have some data that has not been touched for six years, because that chunk was last played six years ago,” explains Minecraft Java dev Nathan Adams in the post. “So we need to know: ‘OK, this level actually looks really old. Now we’ve got to turn that old data into what it should look like now – in a way that the game can currently read.”

“We have one little unit which uses DataFixerUpper that just says to Minecraft: ‘this is how to turn anything into the data format that the game is going to use.’ And so the game is now only saying ‘This is how the data looks, so this is how I’m going to read it,” he explains. ”Basically, before Minecraft actually loads the chunks, it goes through DataFixerUpper and that turns it into what it should currently be now.”

Both Brigadier and DataFixerUpper can be downloaded right now from the company’s Github page and Mojang notes that it plans to update that original blog post when more systems are made open source as well.

As a dog owner, I can’t say I’m hugely excited by this competition – but I’ve heard some people like cats, so here I am.

Minecraft is looking for its next cat superstar, and it could be your very own pet. According to Mojang’s blog post, entrants need to take a picture of their photographic feline and share it on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #Minecraftcatcontest. The post has to be publicly viewable, and submissions have to be made by November 12th. So don’t sleep on this one – make sure those cat snaps are up soon.

The winning cat will be chosen by Minecraft’s community team, although the selection criteria remains mysterious. Is it the fluffiest? The roundest? No – probably the squarest.

Naturally, many people have already started to submit photos of their cats (as if the internet didn’t have enough already). If you’re having your lunch break, you can do worse than having a quick scroll through the hashtag – there are plenty of cute furballs there, even if I do say so myself. Some people are taking the competition a little more seriously than others. The last one is a particular stand-out for me. Seems legit.

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Jan Puzak
@JanPuzak
Venus the two faced cat should be added.#Minecraftcatcontest

4:08 PM – Oct 14, 2018
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Spooky time 💀
@CalebDaBubble
Look at this wonderful boi #Minecraftcatcontest

9:42 PM – Oct 13, 2018
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Rezuru
@Rezuru
my cat is a little weird looking but please put her in, it would be epic #Minecraftcatcontest

6:12 PM – Oct 14, 2018
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Building volcanoes, caves, and other features in an “open-world” computer game is an engaging way to teach the next generation about Earth.

Imagine yourself in a world where everything is made up of cubes. Colorful blocks represent rocks, trees, water, and animals. An erupting volcano produces blocks of flowing lava. A cave contains cubes of iron and gold ore.

Sound familiar? This is the world of Minecraft, a hugely popular “open-world” construction-based video game in which players can move around freely and build virtual creations by “mining” and placing textured blocks with different properties. You can build elaborate cities and ships—even the Eiffel Tower or Tolkien’s Minas Morgul. You can also build a working computer that can perform calculations.

But what if you could build your own Earth features and explore the real-life science behind them?
This is what we do at Science Hunters, an outreach program at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. In the blocky world of Minecraft, we task players with building dinosaurs, rockets, volcanoes, caves, and even whole planets. From seeds to space, they can explore and relate the processes they interact with in the game to the real world around them.

In workshops run by Science Hunters, children use Minecraft to gain skills in creative thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and communication, all while exploring complex scientific concepts through experiences that are simply not possible in everyday life. How else can you play with molten lava?

Hot Cubes
Each Science Hunters workshop involves a theme, such as volcanoes or oceans. First, away from computers, we introduce the topic with hands-on demonstrations of real-world examples.

In Minecraft, lava and water interact to help students learn about Earth and geoscience.
(top) In Minecraft’s creative mode, lava can be cast from a bucket onto the ground. (bottom) Pour a bucket of water in the vicinity of this lava, and the hottest parts will turn into obsidian, as seen here. Credit: Minecraft/Mojang, build by Mohi Kumar
For example, in the volcano theme, we show students real examples of obsidian, rhyolite, and pumice. We talk about their formation, along with hazards associated with them and how we might protect ourselves against these. Then we ask the students to enter the Minecraft world in creative mode and start building their own volcano.

Water, lava, and obsidian play a role in advancing objectives in Minecraft’s survival mode game play, so many students come to sessions with Minecraft-related knowledge of these block types. For example, water and lava blocks in Minecraft flow downward and spread out—just like they would under Earth’s gravity—and vegetation may be set alight by lava. We take that baseline knowledge and help the student go steps farther.

In real life, obsidian—volcanic glass—can form when lava comes in contact with water and cools instantly, so that crystals do not have time to develop. In Minecraft’s creative mode, obsidian can form when you take a bucket of lava from your inventory and cast it over the ground. The lava mounds into a tiny hill; the “source” and hottest part of the lava flow, from which the mound is “erupting,” is the very first lava block you placed down from your lava bucket. Cast a bucket of water—also found in your inventory—near that source of lava, and if the water hits it, that source block will turn into obsidian. Other blocks in the lava flow, moving outward from this source block, are coded to be not as hot; these blocks will solidify as the water runs over them, but they do not create obsidian. Instead, they turn into blocks that represent crystalline lava rocks.

These behaviors reflect real-world geologic processes, which gives us an opportunity to talk with the children about the differences between crystalline rocks and volcanic glass, crystal sizes and growth rates, subaerial and subaqueous cooling, and properties of dynamic flows and solid rocks. We also talk about the impact of the volcano they build on the ecosystem surrounding it and villages nearby.
We discuss all these things while the students dig, build, and play. Each session revolves around a Minecraft challenge. In the volcano theme, we encourage students to create volcanoes complete with plumbing, eruptions, lava-water interactions, and external structures that need protecting from hazards when they erupt.

The World in Blocks
We use a version of Minecraft specifically designed for educational use, which means that we can ensure that game play functionality is appropriate for the classroom. Operating the game in its creative mode is key: This mode gives players an unlimited number and very wide range of blocks to build with. It also means that players don’t have to keep themselves alive in the game, as they would in its survival mode. Another perk is that players can fly around in their virtual world.

This version and mode open a wealth of possibilities to explore science through virtual creation. Think of it like playing Legos, except that you have infinite blocks with dynamic properties in all the colors of the rainbow. Just imagine what you could build!
Through Science Hunters, we invite students to imagine with us. In addition to the class on volcanoes, we run a variety of other sessions, each focused on a different theme: dinosaurs, caves and minerals, rockets, planets, mining, ice and snow, and oceans, to name a few.

For example, we guide children through dinosaur and pterosaur classifications and use scientifically accurate toys as well as templates of real dinosaur footprints to show sizes and scales of dinosaur features. The students then use this information to build a model of a Mesozoic creature, either reconstructing a known example or designing their own.

In a different session, we show children a variety of mineral samples, discuss the differences between stalagmites and stalactites, and then set them to work to dig down and construct their own caves. Going extraterrestrial, we show students models of the structure of the solar system and of individual planets. Then, using a planet-themed Minecraft world and a resource pack that enable a virtual space environment, students can build their own planets from core to crust.

Bricklaying
Minecraft can be used as a teaching tool to construct more than just natural features. It can help teach students how the built environment—buildings, agriculture, transportation routes—influences nature.

For example, how are we going to produce enough healthful food in the future, as our population expands and builds on the very farmland we need to produce that extra food? Through one of our classes, children inspect raw, unprocessed real-world samples of foodstuffs represented in Minecraft. Then they design and build their space-saving solutions to this dilemma in the game, making use of the game’s crops, which respond to sources of light, water, and fertilizer as they grow.

In other sessions, we give students a tour of Lancaster University’s own wind turbine. We examine its energy production through statistics and the turbine’s online live data feed to demonstrate generation and use of renewable energy. Then we ask the children to design and build renewable energy production mechanisms. This can be a stand-alone task or an expansion of our exploration of town planning, in which children build their own cities, including power networks, onto grid systems.

A Minecraft wind turbine, modeled after a real instrument at Lancaster University.
A Minecraft wind turbine, modeled after a real instrument at Lancaster University. This virtual turbine was built at the Science Hunters’ regular Minecraft Club, aligned with the current wind direction at the time based on live data from the university’s turbine. The real turbine can be seen by all attendees as they travel to and from club sessions. Credit: Minecraft/Mojang, build by Science Hunters
Built environment lessons can also envision scenarios off our world. After leading students through a discussion on what they’d need if they were to live on another planet, we turn students loose in a premade barren Minecraft landscape, reminiscent of Mars or the Moon, to design their own space station.

Virtual Ecology
Minecraft contains a range of representative ecological biomes, so we created instructional packets containing booklets, posters, and stickers that we sent out across the United Kingdom (with the support of the British Ecological Society) to guide families through ecological explorations on their own time at home. We supply an introduction to biomes and their associated animals, plants, habitats, and foods, all clearly linked to the equivalent features in Minecraft, with building challenges to complete in Minecraft along the way.

We also provide a series of experiments and identification activities. For example, we give families seeds to grow cacti and food crops found in Minecraft, along with fertilizer to demonstrate how, just like in the game world, real plants can get a growth boost when fertilizer is added. We also provide some wood samples of tree species present in the game, linked to information about the biomes in which those trees are found.

Our workshops also investigate flora and fauna through Minecraft, delving into how organisms adapt to their environments. We first experiment, outside of the game, with analogies such as insulated versus noninsulated beakers of water to explore heat retention and loss, to which animals adapt through features such as fur coats and large ears. Then we ask students to use these concepts to build an animal that would flourish in the Minecraft biome they are playing in.
Cold biomes are particularly useful as a basis for discussing how snow and ice form, why igloos are not cold inside, and why every snowflake is unique. In our sessions, students can roam around snowy Minecraft plains building igloos and designing their own intricate models of radially symmetric snowflakes.

At other times, we dive into ocean environments, exploring the undersea world and learning about its inhabitants in our own seas before students build their own seascapes. This topic also offers a great opportunity to talk about pollution, plastics, and microplastics in the oceans, and from there students often turn to considering their own environmental impacts.

Geosciences Through Gaming
Science Hunters activities take place in schools, at public events such as community festivals, and at a regular on-campus club offered to local children with autism. We work with children of all ages, with a core audience of around 7–11 years, in several different areas of the United Kingdom. Our team encourages children to play in pairs to support their development of social communication and teamwork skills.

Sessions and content are highly adaptable to the ages and needs of the children taking part; we may be working with 4-year-olds who have been in school for only a few months, highly able students, or high school students with special educational needs.
We aim to embed the idea that science learning can be fun, engaging, and open to anyone. We also hope to inspire an interest in science beyond the confines of the classroom.

Minecraft is an ideal medium for science outreach and engagement, as it is generally very popular with children. Lane and Yi [2017] described it as one of the most widely used and important games of the current generation. Just a mention of the game draws children’s attention and interest.

Learning by Playing
A 7-year-old girl examines a slide using a research microscope at a Science Hunters public event.
Science Hunters aims to make science learning fun and accessible to everyone. Here a 7-year-old girl examines a slide using a research microscope at a Science Hunters public event. Credit: Steve Pendrill
Since the program’s inception in 2014, feedback collected from all areas of the project has been overwhelmingly positive. Children appreciate the opportunity to explore new topics, participate in hands-on demonstrations, and ask in-depth scientific questions to people with relevant scientific knowledge and expertise. They tell us that using Minecraft makes the session fun and different from their usual lessons and helps them to understand the topics. And when we ask them to tell us something that they’ve learned, every one of them can do it. We’ve even heard “This is the best day of my life!”

Parents and teachers often tell us that during Science Hunters sessions, children who often find it difficult to participate in standard lessons are engaged and absorbed in the session. We’ve seen enthusiastic teamwork from children whom we’ve been told have a history of interacting poorly with others. Some of these students even high-five their partners at the end of the lesson. In addition, we’ve found that through using Minecraft, children can both demonstrate what they’ve learned within the session and, by consolidating their learning through the game, remember it later.

Inspiring the Next Generation
The irony here doesn’t escape us: The virtual world of Minecraft allows us to bring the real world into the classroom.Our use of Minecraft presents a novel and inclusive way of inspiring interest in geosciences in a new generation. The irony here doesn’t escape us: The virtual world of Minecraft allows us to bring the real world into the classroom. It allows us to teach students about the outdoors from indoors in a way that wouldn’t be possible outside. And our program gives students the tools and support they need to build their understanding of the outdoor real world, block by virtual block.
For more information, access to our program, and ideas about how to structure Minecraft-based geoscience learning for your students, your children, or yourself, visit our website or contact us directly.

A unicorn-clad daughter on her dad’s shoulders and a boy with a Pokemon Pikachu hat and green “Creeper” sweatshirt clapped their hands excitedly as they entered the doors to Minefaire, a world of wonder for kids and parents alike who enjoy Minecraft, the sensational Lego-style adventure video game that has more than 33 million users worldwide.

Created as a traveling fair for fans of the popular game in which players use pixelated cubes to build their own worlds, Minefaire draws thousands to each convention. The one at the North Charleston Convention Center was no different, transformed into every Minecrafter’s dream, from live lego stations to a virtual reality playing center to a puzzle-oriented escape room.

Even Charleston-based video game creators, like Travon Santerre who just released dungeon-crawling RPG game “Infinite Adventures,” were on site with stations for kids to take a crack at their games.

Gaming zones, battle stations, learning labs and crafting corners took over the floor, and kids, with their parents in tow, were wide-eyed and wandering from booth to booth.

Zurie Wood, a 6-year-old Minecraft fan whose online name is RainbowCat217, was most excited about meeting some of her favorite YouTube stars, like OMGChad, who were on site signing autographs, talking with gamers and leading workshops and build battles.

She made it up on stage for one build battle, in which she created a virtual volleyball court in five minutes for the “beach” theme, winning the challenge.

Her dad Thomas is also a Minecrafter, and the whole family had traveled down from Conway for the one-of-a-kind weekend. In fact, Thomas (CaptainMot) was going to be speaking at a YouTuber panel later in the afternoon. Both father and daughter are part of the 77th Combine, an online realm of gamers who were meeting up for the first time at the Charleston Minefaire. One of the members had even traveled from Vancouver.

Elsa Mullen, dressed as a shy Minecraft jungle creature called an ocelot, had traveled with her dad and brother from Charlotte for the occasion. The 8 year old had been playing Minecraft for about a year on PlayStation 4. Though her favorite animal in the game is a llama, she had decided to dress as an ocelot, making her costume from leftover felt pieces of her dog costume for Halloween. Her dad, Pete, had helped her make the boxy head to emulate the Minecraft character.

“When I was in college, back in ’92, ’93, I was the first person in my class to use Windows. My best friend’s laptop needed two floppy disks to even turn on, and I had the Sears version of an Atari,” said Pete, who is new to the Minecraft world. “Now, my kids don’t know how good they have it. They have a PS4. It’s a whole different world.”

He had promised to take his kids to Minefaire as part of their Christmas present as a follow-up to a Lego Fest in Raleigh. Face painting, Plinko, purchasing plushes and playing with pixelated swords were all on the agenda, along with participation in the afternoon’s costume contest.

Minefaire lasts through the weekend, open again from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are still available for $39-$69 at http://minefaire.com/charleston-schedule-lineup.

Talk about a blast from the past — a long lost Commodore 64 classic is making its way to the Nintendo Switch for a great, low price. And with a few remastered features, no less.

Saboteur! originally released for the fan favorite system way back in 1985, bringing the kind of ninja action that you just don’t see in games anymore. But now you will again, as the game is set to debut on the Switch for just $8 with this Thursday’s forthcoming update.

The game has been remastered by its original creator, Clive Townsend, but as you can see from the trailer above, it retains its old-school goodness as you clean house with your badass ninja.

“Now after 33 years, SimFabric, in collaboration with Clive Townsend prepared (a) special remastered version of Saboteur! for Nintendo Switch. In the game you’ll experience original mission from (the) 1985 version. Additionally the story will continue with new levels and enemies. Now you’ll be able to know more about Saboteur and his dark and secret story,” the developer announced on its page, in loose translation.

As for the special features you can expect from the game, here’s the breakdown:

Original mission from 1985 in two versions ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64
New levels
New enemies
New story
New soundtrack and music
Over 10 hours of gameplay
5 times bigger than original version
9 retro consoles graphic modes
8 language versions
22 special achievements
Secrets and easter eggs to reveal

The official product page for Saboteur! can be found here, jam-packed with old-school action. It’s certainly something for Commodore fans to get excited about, as if the just released stand-alone plug and play system wasn’t enough.

Check out the trailer above and get into a retro frame of mind. NINJA!

Saboteur! releases on November 9, and, again, goes for just $8.00. If you’re looking for more ninja excitement for the Nintendo Switch, make sure you check out The Messenger from Devolver Digital as well. It’s pretty awesome, as you can find out in our full review.

Now then…how about some Ninja Gaiden love for Switch, Nintendo? We certainly could use more of it aside from NIntendo Switch Online…

Minecraft’s newest textures are now available for some players with Version 3 released for Java platforms before coming soon to the Bedrock version of the game.

Mojang’s Tom Stone announced the release of textures Version 3 in a post on the Minecraft site that encouraged Java players to try out the new looks for the Minecraft world’s many blocks. The third downloadable pack of new textures comes 10 months after the second one released in January, Stone said, and as of November 3rd, the latest official texture pack from the Minecraft team is now available for Java players.

“Minecraft: Java Edition players can try Version Three today!” Stone said about the release. “This pack will also be coming to all versions of Minecraft that have the Minecraft Marketplace very soon as a free download and we’ll update this story as soon as it’s available.”

The tweet below from the official Minecraft account showed off some comparison images with the previous texture packs on the left and Version 3 shown to the right. For Java players who want to experience the new textures for themselves, Mojang provided a step-by-step list of instructions for copying the new files over to their game to replace the textures.

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Minecraft
✔
@Minecraft
We spoke to @JasperBoerstra about the new Minecraft Textures! Java players can download Version 3 of the texture pack from http://Minecraft.net today, and it’s coming VERY SOON to bedrock!https://minecraft.net/article/try-new-minecraft-textures …

11:59 PM – Nov 3, 2018
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Players should start getting used to the new textures when possible because what’s found in Version 3 will eventually become the default textures. Stone asked Minecraft texture artist Jasper Boerstra what would happen to the old textures with the artist responding to say they’d be replaced before long, but not before more changes are potentially made.

“These new textures will eventually replace them all and become the default textures of Minecraft,” Boerstra said about the texture changes. “They’re not yet final though, and still in development, that’s why I’m taking in all the community feedback first. The original textures will be available for free later. This might be directly in the game or somewhere else. We haven’t decided yet.”

Boerstra mentioned the main feedback he’d received was that blocks and other things looked blurry due to the use of anti-aliasing and Minecraft’s inherent low-resolution nature, so he cut back on the use of the art technique to give everything a crisper look.

Minecraft’s Version 3 textures are now available for Java players with the full releases for all platforms coming later.