Future Minecraft updates won’t come to last-gen consoles
After years of continued updates and support, the Minecraft team has announced that the coming Update Aquatic content drop will be the last significant update to hit the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita, and Wii U versions of the game.
Mojang notes that the decision to leave these versions behind was driven by a need to support the platforms where most of Minecraft’s player base dwell and, all together, the legacy systems listed above only account for less than 5 percent of the game’s active players.
Additionally, the studio notes that players using the older Xbox One and Nintendo Switch versions of Minecraft won’t be receiving the update, but downloading a free upgrade to Minecraft’s latest release on those platforms will grant players on those platforms access to Update Aquatic when it drops.
Though the game first officially released in 2011, Minecraft hit the Xbox 360 in 2012, PlayStation 3 in 2013, Vita in 2015, and WiiU in 2015. In the years since, Mojang has continued to deliver updates to both legacy and current generation versions of the game, but now notes that, going forward, only Minecraft’s Java Edition (PC), PlayStation 4 Edition, and “Bedrock Engine” releases of Minecraft for mobile, Windows 10, and consoles will be supported by future updates.
Minecraft to discontinue updates for older consoles after upcoming “Update Aquatic”
Microsoft announced today that the Minecraft Update Aquatic will be the last update for legacy console editions of the game. The update is set to arrive “a little while” after launching on current Java Edition and the new Bedrock Engine and will mark the last big development effort for Minecraft on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PS Vita and Wii U.
The Minecraft team noted they would “love” to keep bringing new content to all players, but have data to prove that Minecraft on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PS Vita and Wii U is not popular. They cited that older generation of consoles makes up less than 5% of active players, and also explain their decision-making proccess:
We’ve made the difficult decision to focus our efforts to support players where they play Minecraft the most and where we plan to add new features: on Java, PlayStation 4 Edition and the versions of Minecraft made with the Bedrock Engine on other consoles, mobile, and Windows 10.
On another note, those still playing the older versions of Minecraft on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch won’t be receiving the Aquatic features. It is encouraged for these users to get the newer version of the game for free on Xbox One, or to wait for a patch on Nintendo Switch which will enable the install of the new version of the game for free.
Minecraft to discontinue updates for older consoles after upcoming “Update Aquatic”
Minecraft’s next update will be the end for last-gen consoles
Minecraft‘s developers announced the next update is coming to older consoles — and that it’ll be the last one available on those machines.
The details: Minecraft‘s next update, Aquatic, is coming to the versions of the game available on PS3, PS Vita, Xbox 360, and Wii U (as well as the PS4, though that one will still receive updates). The developers stated they were cutting off last-gen consoles because most of their audience doesn’t use them any longer:
Although we’d love to keep bringing new content to all our players forever, the older generation of consoles now make up less than 5 percent of our active players…
This marks another milestone in the twilight years of these last-gen consoles — though I still maintain the Vita has a lot of life left if Sony bothers to keep it around.
But wait, there’s more: The developers specified the new versions of the game available on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch would be available with Aquatic included — and urged those who were still using the old versions to upgrade, which both of them can do for free. This means you’ll need the game on one of those consoles, PC, mobile, or PS4 in order to have the most up-to-date version of Minecraft.
Regardless, if you do have one of these legacy consoles and Minecraft, Update Aquatic will probably keep you occupied for a while, as it adds new underwater action and animals.
Minecraft’s next update will be the end for last-gen consoles
MAGNETIC PIXELS THAT BRING MINECRAFT TO LIFE
A little less painstaking than plugging Lego blocks together, the Pixio are much more natural to use, allowing you to build in the real world the way you would on Minecraft. Individual pixels snap to one another, creating low-resolution artworks, while giving you the freedom to build whatever it is you want. Coming in a set of 800 individual blocks divided across 16 colors (50 blocks per color), the Pixio presents itself as an absolutely delicious looking cuboid of hues and shades, just waiting to be pulled apart and put together in a variety of ways. With colors and freedom (to use them how you see fit) you would expect from play dough, and a simple snap to fix system that refines the Lego experience, the Pixio is a deserving winner of the A’ Design Award (for the year 2018)!
Designers: Ivan Khalus & Oleh Berezovskyi.
Final Fantasy XV skin pack brings Noctis and friends to Minecraft
Final Fantasy XV hasn’t shied away from crossovers, with elements of Assassin’s Creed, The Sims, and Half-Life all appearing in the game in some way. Now you can add Minecraft to that crossover list, but going the other way.
Mojang today launched the Final Fantasy XV Skin Pack on the Minecraft Marketplace. Of course, the pack includes the four main protagonists from the game: Noctis, Ignis, Prompto, and Gladiolus. But in addition, there are skins for villains like Ardyn and Astrals like Ifrit and Shiva.
In all, there are 43 skins to choose from, all of which are drawn from creatures, villains, heroes, and others from around the world of Eos. Personally, I’m going Moogle and Cactuar skins.
The Final Fantasy XV Skin Pack is up for grabs now on the Minecraft Marketplace.
Final Fantasy XV skin pack brings Noctis and friends to Minecraft
Avengers: Infinity War smashes global opening weekend box office record
Avengers: Infinity War made history by earning an estimated $630m (£457m) worldwide on its opening weekend.
That’s way ahead of the previous first weekend record of $542m set by The Fate of the Furious last year.
And the new Avengers movie, in which Marvel superheroes unite to battle Thanos, hasn’t opened in China yet.
It is also likely to take the all-time North American opening weekend record after making an estimated $250m. Star Wars: The Force Awakens took $248m.
Industry tracker Exhibitor Relations made the estimates and official figures will come out later on Monday, but they rarely vary significantly from the estimates.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESInfinity War, directed by brothers Joe and Anthony Russo, cost between $300m and $400m to make.
Actors including Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman and Chris Pratt, star in the sequel, the first of two parts. The conclusion is set to be released in May 2019.
The films with the all-time top five opening weekends are all sequels and spin-offs.
| Top five global opening weekends | ||
|---|---|---|
| Film | Takings | Release |
| Avengers: Infinity War | $630m | 2018 |
| The Fate of the Furious | $542m | 2017 |
| Star Wars: The Force Awakens | $529m | 2015 |
| Jurassic World | $526m | 2015 |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 | $483m | 2011 |
Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds congratulated the Avengers on their success by posting a letter supposedly written by Tony Stark (AKA Iron Man) to Deadpool, rejecting his request to join the Avengers.
Reynolds wrote: “From a guy who never knows when to quit, I’m glad you guys never did. Congrats #Avengers.”
Ryan Reynolds✔@VancityReynolds
From a guy who never knows when to quit, I’m glad you guys never did. Congrats #Avengers.
Avengers: Infinity War comes 10 years after the release of Iron Man, which kicked off a series of high-profile superhero films.
The first Avengers came out in 2012. It held the previous record opening for a Marvel film, making $207.4m domestically. Age of Ultron, the second Avengers feature, debuted with $191m.
Avengers: Infinity War smashes global opening weekend box office record
SPOILERS: AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR Cleared Up The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Confusing Timeline
Thanks to Spider-Man: Homecoming, there’s been a lot of confusion about the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s timeline but it turns out that Avengers: Infinity War may have finally cleared things up for us…
Spider-Man: Homecoming kicks off with a flashback to the events of The Avengers and that’s followed by a title card reading “8 Years Later.” That immediately confused fans as it would mean Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, and Black Panther all took place in 2020, something which doesn’t make a lot of sense when The Avengers was supposed to take place in 2012 and the MCU moves in real-time.
However, things are cleared up in Avengers: Infinity War when Iron Man’s conversation with Doctor Strange reveals that Loki and the Chitauri’s invasion of New York took place six years ago. That places this movie in 2018 as there’s no way Spider-Man: Homecoming was set two years after this one.
This means Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s title card should have read “4 Years Later” instead of “8 Years Later.” How that oversight came to pass isn’t clear but it could be more Sony’s doing than Marvel Studios. Either way, it’s nice to have things clarified because this is something which has been bothering fans since last year! What did you think of Avengers: Infinity War? Sound off down below.
SPOILERS: AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR Cleared Up The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Confusing Timeline
Final Fantasy 15’s Noctis and pals have come to Minecraft
It looks like Final Fantasy 15’s road-tripping boys have gotten a wee bit lost on their way to a wedding or a fight or a chocobo race. They’re so lost, in fact, that they’ve managed to drive right out of Eos and enter the considerably more blocky world of Minecraft. They’ve dragged some pals along, too, including those of the more monstrous persuasion.
Premium skin packs aren’t the most tempting of offers for a game that’s so customisable and already contains more player-made skins than you could hope to use, but you do admittedly get a fair amount of bang for your buck here. If you’ve got the Windows 10 version of Minecraft, you’ll be able to add Noctis and pals—all 43 skins—for a measly $2.99.
Honestly, the image of Prompto riding a pig has already sold me on this, and I don’t even play Minecraft these days. But if you’d rather use characters from other Final Fantasy games, there are plenty of free alternatives. There are some skins from 15 in there, too.
Tencent wants to one-up Minecraft
Tencent is looking to knock Minecraft off the throne with a sandbox game of its own: Handcraft Planet.
For weeks, the company had a dedicated countdown web page in the lead-up to Monday’s unveiling of the new game in Beijing.
Tencent bills this new world-building game, in which players can build virtually anything with Lego-like blocks, as a “next-gen” sandbox game.
From what can be gathered from the teaser, the game resembles Minecraft in both gameplay and aesthetics. But how exactly this new game is a step-up from Minecraft remains unclear, though we should discover more once testing begins in the third quarter.
In China, Minecraft is published by China’s second largest gaming company NetEase, which says it has some 60 million registered users in the country.
Unlike the original Minecraft which was priced at US$6.99, Minecraft’s Chinese edition is available for free in Apple’s App Store.
One reason could be that in China, Minecraft is far from the cultural phenomenon that it is in the US. While it ranks among the top paid iPhone apps in the US, in China it ranks only 346th among free apps, according to App Annie.
Handcraft Planet is one of three sandbox games that will be published by Tencent this year, but two of them are being developed by studios in the West: Robocraft is from the UK’s Freejam Games, while Ylands is by Czech developer Bohemia Interactive.
Handcraft Planet is Tencent’s new sandbox game. (Picture: Tencent)
In addition to taking on NetEase in the sandbox genre, Tencent is also looking to tackle NetEase in card games.
This year Tencent is publishing the video game version of the classic card game Magic: The Gathering. Currently the most played online card game is Hearthstone by World of Warcraft maker Blizzard Entertainment, which is published in China by NetEase.
China’s gaming market is increasingly looking like a duopoly between Tencent and NetEase. The two giants together published about 80 percent of the country’s top 50 mobile games during the first quarter of 2018, according to the China Gaming Industry Report.
MINECRAFT CONVENTION UNVEILS LATEST ADDITIONS TO EVENT LINE-UP
When and where is it on?
14th & 15th April at The RDS, Dublin
How many years has it been going?
The event started in 2014, but this is our second year at The RDS, and our first event as an Official Minecraft Community Event, partnered with Mojang and Microsoft.
What was the inspiration to start it?
The inspiration came from watching the kids playing the game at home. There were similar events in other countries that were hugely popular, but there was nothing in Ireland. We spotted the gap and we set up the first event in Galway in 2014.
What exciting things can people look forward to?
We have a fantastic mix of fun and games, education and inspiration! From Build Battle Tournaments to On-Stage Challenges and Meet and Greets, our events have something for every Minecraft fan.
What opportunities are on offer for those attending?
Attendees get the opportunity to meet the YouTubers that they watch on their phones, tablets and TVs every day – this has always been a huge incentive for people to attend but we try to offer a complete Minecraft experience for all attendees!
Who will be speaking?
We are lucky enough to be bringing Dinnerbone and LadyAgnes over from Sweden, who are two of the Mojang team that actually develop Minecraft itself. We also have a great selection of the top Microsoft Educators who use Minecraft every day to teach and inspire children around the world. There will be nine world-famous Minecraft YouTubers who will be answering questions from the guests, as well as Anne McCormack, author of the book Keeping Your Child Safe on Social Media: Five Easy Steps.
What tips would you give to people attending to get the most out of it?
Grab a free show guide as you enter, which shows the full day’s schedule, and then plan what talks, meet and greets and stage shows you want to see. There is a lot to see and do, so you will need to plan carefully!
How can people book tickets / when does it usually sell out?
Tickets are available Ticketmaster and we advise everyone to book as soon as possible to avoid disappointment!
Anything else you’d like to add / we should have asked?
We have a great selection of Official Minecraft Merchandise available, some of which you can only purchase at our events, so this will be a great souvenir of what we hope will be a fantastic weekend for everyone that attends.
MINECRAFT CONVENTION UNVEILS LATEST ADDITIONS TO EVENT LINE-UP
BLOCKED OUT Minecraft players warned over terrifying hack that could wipe your computer
AROUND 50,000 Minecraft players have been exposed to a computer virus that wipes a machine’s hard drive and deletes backup data and programs.
The malicious software is attached to the downloadable “skins” that can change the look of a player’s character in the game.
These add-ons are available on the Minecraft website, potentially putting the game’s entire user base of 74million players in harm’s way.
Cyber-security software-maker Avast told The Sun that it’s been in touch with Minecraft developer Mojang, and is working to fix the exploit.
The company says it blocked 14,500 infection attempts in the last ten days alone.
Avast notes that Minecraft’s largest demographic of 15 to 21-year-old players (who account for 43 per cent of its user base) are particularly susceptible to the hack.
“The bad actors may have looked to capitalize on a more vulnerable group of unsuspecting users that play a game trusted by parents and guardians,” said the company.
We’ve reached out to Mojang with questions concerning the nature of the attack, and how long the company was aware of it. We will update this article with its response.
Users can spot and evade the virus in a number of ways.
Firstly, don’t download any Minecraft skins from the game’s website until the threat is dealt with. Three of the dodgy outfits can be seen above.
Users may also get unusual, sweary messages in their Minecraft account inbox. Some of the identified examples include:
“You Are Nailed, Buy A New Computer This Is A Piece Of S***.”
“You have maxed your internet usage for a lifetime.”
“Your a** got glued.”
And you may have also been affected if you notice your computer suddenly started playing up or you get an error message related to disk formatting.
To keep yourself protected, Avast recommends scanning your machine with an antivirus software that will detect the malicious files and remove them.
In some cases, you may even have to re-install Minecraft.
And in more extreme circumstances, where your machine has already been infected with the malware, data restoration is recommended.
BLOCKED OUT Minecraft players warned over terrifying hack that could wipe your computer
The best Minecraft servers
Servers are your gateway to expanding your horizons in Minecraft, and here we’ve rounded up the best Minecraft servers around. Like fantasy? Want to walk through a blocky recreation of your favourite TV show or film? Want to grief without the fear of a ban? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above, servers have got you covered.
Joining a server is nice and simple. All you need to do is load up Minecraft as you normally would, hit multiplayer, then add a server. Name it whatever you want, then type or Ctrl+V the IP address into the box below. Save it, click play, and you’re good to go. Just keep in mind some servers need you to download data for them to run correctly. If this at any point fails, just quit out and keep trying. It should work eventually.
The Lord of the Craft
While this may sound like a Lord of the Rings server, it’s not quite. It’s fantasy, sure, but with a huge focus on roleplaying. The world, and its lore, is already set up, and a helpful warp command means travelling between the different kingdoms (high elves, dark elves, dwarves, etc) is simple. All you need is a killer skin and an elaborate backstory and you’re good to go.
IP Address: mc.lotc.co
Grand Theft Minecart
You can probably guess from the title which popular video game series this server is based on. You guessed it, the unstoppable juggernaut that is Hello Kitty Online. Or GTA. It’s one of the two.
Join this server and you’ll be treated to two different game modes (Grand Theft Minecart and Vice Minecart), as well as 35 different GTA-inspired weapons. There are also plenty of vehicle offerings including cars, planes, and of course, tanks. Because it’s not GTA if there isn’t an option to go on an explodey murder-spree.
IP Address: mc-gtm.net
The Mining Dead
What’s the one thing missing from Minecraft? Guns! Although that’d just make it Fortnite, wouldn’t it? Either way, if you’re a fan of The Walking Dead TV show or comic, this is a great opportunity to take in all the famous sights as you’re scrambling to find weapons, ammo, and generally anything to help fend off the undead. And because of the voxel stylings of Minecraft, there’s a faint whiff of Goldeneye 64 to the whole thing.
IP Address: hub.havocmc.net
Arkham Network
Fancy donning a cape while shouting “You have failed this city!”? Maybe you’re an anarchist looking to watch the world burn? Whichever side you choose to join, the Arkham Network has a comic-book world that’s just begging to be explored. And griefed, obviously. There are also a host of different day jobs for making coin, and a wealth of gamemodes to participate in. One of the key rules of this server is make friends, fast. You’ll need them.
IP Address: mc.arkhamnetwork.org
Pokefind
Arguably one of the best Pokémon/Minecraft mashups out there, Pokefind starts as you’d expect. You meet a professor before being tasked with choosing a Pokémon. The starter choice options mirrors that of Generation 1, so that’s Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle. Once you’ve picked Bulbasaur (because you absolutely should!), you can either chill at the Pokémon centre, learn about crafting, or head into the wild and fight some poor animals. It’s just like the actual games, then.
IP Address: Play.pokefind.co
MC Middle Earth
A team was always going to attempt to recreate the Lord of the Rings universe in Minecraft, and the result is something truly breathtaking. Everything in this world has been meticulously crafted to feel as real as possible. Taking a stroll through the Shire is a lovely way to lose a few hours, but if you’re not here for a sightseeing tour, there’s also a PvP server. Because of course there is.
Build IP Address: build.mcmiddleearth.com
PvP and Event IP Address: pvp.mcmiddleearth.com
The Tomb
If you’re new to the world of Minecraft servers, you’ll be forgiven for not knowing what a prison server is. Basically, the player spawns and is locked in an area. In The Tomb’s case, it’s an underground mine teeming with lavish decorations. The goal here is to level up and escape by collecting and selling resources. Think No Man’s Sky if No Man’s Sky was trapped underground without a spaceship. If you’re a fan of relaxing grinding, this one’s for you.
IP Address: the-tomb.com
Extreme Craft
We couldn’t put out a list of Minecraft servers without mentioning one of the most popular out there. Extreme Craft keeps popping up because of the sheer amount of modes there are to play, including the likes of a fully fleshed out survival mode, hunger games, factions, skygrid, skywars, skyblock, acid island, and eggwars. That’s on top of a creative mode and the option of roleplaying. It’s like a Minecraft greatest hits compilation.
IP Address: play.extremecraft.net
Minewind
For people who hate people there’s Minewind, an anarchy server where the only rule is don’t cheat. See someone building a nice tower they’ve spent hours on? Tear the whole thing down and laugh as they furiously scramble to get away. Another player near diamonds? Push them headfirst into lava. Here you can grief as much as you desire with zero repercussions. While this is one server you may want to avoid, it’s also a server you may want to visit, because you’re a horrible, horrible person.
IP Address: play.Minewind.com
Potter World MC
When you first enter Potter World, you’re greeted by the boy himself battling a dementor as Hogwarts sits ominously in the background. Much like Middle Earth, Potter World goes all out when it comes to authenticity. Buildings appear as they do in the mind’s eye, complete with inside furnishings. You can learn about potion making, duel other wizards and witches, or go off and play a friendly round of quidditch. This is Minecraft at its strongest: creating game worlds that best those of their AAA counterparts.
Minecraft Update For Nintendo Switch And Wii U Adds Final Fantasy XV Skin Pack
Minecraft users will be able to download a new update this evening and with the update comes the inclusion of Final Fantasy XV skins. The Final Fantasy XV skin pack will be available on both the Nintendo Switch and also the Wii U. Here’s what’s coming in the upcoming due later today:
- Added Final Fantasy XV Skin Pack
- Fixed a crash that would occur when players looked at a Cauldron while holding a Water Bottle obtained by Fishing
Minecraft Update For Nintendo Switch And Wii U Adds Final Fantasy XV Skin Pack
The Minecraft Final Fantasy XV Skin Pack Turns the Beautiful Boys into Blocky Boys
For all of you who told Final Fantasy XV to ease off with the crazy property cross-overs around the time Valve dropped the Half-Life Gordon Freeman Noctis skin for the game, Final Fantasy XV has one message for you: “Can’t stop, won’t stop.” Final Fantasy XV has yet another franchise crossover up its sleeve, and it’s one I’m honestly surprised we didn’t see earlier: A crossover with Minecraft.
A brand-new skin pack for Minecraft lets you dress up the game’s blocky denizens as a host of Final Fantasy XV characters, from the obvious (Final Fantasy XV’s Four Beautiful Boy protagonists) to popular NPCs (Cid, Cindy), to some surprise appearances (Kenny Crow?).
Resetera member “AlexFlame116” posted screenshots of the PlayStation 4 iteration of the skin pack, which arrived with Minecraft’s 1.68 update. It’s is currently only available in select territories, including Australia’s PlayStation Store. Microsoft probably gave the pack to Australia first as a way saying “Sorry y’all have to live alongside taipan snakes.” That’s a nice gesture. Don’t worry: We probably won’t have to wait long before the pack comes to North America.
The Australian price for the Final Fantasy XV skin pack is listed as $4.85 AUD, which is roughly $3.99 USD. That’s a standard price for a Minecraft skin pack. If you ever aim to acquire a human skin pack, be prepared to pay a much higher price.
The Minecraft Final Fantasy XV Skin Pack Turns the Beautiful Boys into Blocky Boys
Minecraft gets another shot at Hall of Fame glory, and fans can help it this time
Among the nominees for the Strong National Museum of Play’s 2018 World Video Game Hall of Fame, one game stands out: All the other games are at least 15 years old–including Asteroids, Ms. Pac-Man, Half-Life, and King’s Quest–but Minecraft exited beta in 2011, making it the sole nominee born in this decade. The game has also earned a nod twice before–and it’s been snubbed twice before–in the Hall of Fame’s four-year history.
Arguably, the snubs happened for good reason. Past winners include classic games like Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, Space Invaders, and Donkey Kong, and some of the more modern winners—like Halo: Combat Evolved and World of Warcraft—have had their legacies tested for well over a decade. By contrast, Minecraft is still in active development by Microsoft, and while it’s prompted countless clones in the present day, we can still only guess at its long-term impact.
Then again, the Minecraft-loving masses could finally impose their will this year through a new Player’s Choice ballot. The top three winners will join 27 other ballots cast by industry experts, giving it a greater chance at earning an induction spot–whether it’s deserved or not.
That’s all well and good, as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of Ms. Pac-Man, which should have won a spot even before its male-centered counterpart did.
Minecraft gets another shot at Hall of Fame glory, and fans can help it this time
Microsoft has paid $7M to Minecraft content makers since June
One year ago, Microsoft announced plans to make a business out of Minecraft content, with a Marketplace program that lets creators sell their own maps, mini-games, and aesthetic tweaks. Now, the company tells me it’s paid $7 million to Minecraft creators since the program launched last June. That’s up from $1 million in payouts as of last September, and it’s enough for several creators to have quit their day jobs to make Minecraft content full-time.
The Marketplace isn’t yet a meaningful business for Microsoft, which paid $2.5 billion to acquire Minecraft developer Mojang in 2013, but the company hopes it eventually will be. To that end, Microsoft plans to ramp up its number of creators–only 45 have received invites so far–and give them better tools. In an interview, Minecraft head Helen Chiang said Microsoft is even looking into scripting APIs that would let developers sell the kinds of powerful mods that only exist on the game’s PC Java versions today.
Still, Microsoft will face some hurdles as Marketplace grows. The company must avoid alienating its existing partners and its already-vibrant community of hobbyist modders, while also making sure the store remains safe for children.
Read my deep dive into the business of Minecraft content creation for more on how Microsoft will take on those challenges–and perhaps turn the marketplace into as big of a phenomenon as Minecraft itself.
Microsoft has paid $7M to Minecraft content makers since June
Avengers: Infinity War review – colossal Marvel showdown revels in apocalyptic mayhem
Supersized set pieces, sharp one-liners and surprising deaths abound in the Russo brothers’ utterly confident comic-book movie mash-up
Not infinity perhaps, but a really, really big finity war. Colossal, cataclysmic, delirious, preposterous – and always surreally entertaining in the now well-established Marvel movie tradition. It’s a gigantic showdown between a force of cosmic wickedness and a chaotically assembled super-team of Marvel superheroes made more complicated by Doctor Strange’s tendency to multiclone himself in moments of battle stress.
There are some very unexpected family relationships that we had no idea about – potentially compromising unity in the face of encroaching evil. There are also some very surprising deaths – of which, of course, the less said the better. There are, moreover, some surprising omissions in the cast list. Or are there?
Avengers: Infinity War is a giant battle for which directors Anthony and Joe Russo have given us touches of JRR Tolkien’s Return of the King and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The film delivers the sugar-rush of spectacle and some very amusing one-liners.
Whatever else it does, this Marvel movie shows its brand identity in the adroit management of tone. One moment it’s tragic, the next, it’s cracking wise. It’s absurd and yet persuades you of its overwhelming seriousness. And there are some amazing Saturday-morning-kids-show moments when you feel like cheering.
Earth is being threatened by a massive malign hunk with a huge ridgey chin called Thanos, played by Josh Brolin. If he can gain ownership of all the talismanic infinity stones and place them in the holes in his custom-built gauntlet then he will have the ultimate power to destroy anything he wishes in the universe. And he has a chilling wish for mass slaughter of half the sentient beings in existence, ostensibly so that the other half will have enough food to eat – but really so they will bow down to him as the tyrant lord.
Ranged against him, of course, are the good guys who come together not in a single phalanx but a constellation of improvised groupings, in which the alpha males have a tendency to bicker. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is nettled by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his supercilious air of intellectual superiority – and vice versa. Spider-Man (Tom Holland) shows up and annoys the hell out of them both with his milliennial’s flair for pop culture references.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) finds himself having to do a ride-along with the Guardians of the Galaxy and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is intimidated by Thor’s godlike machismo and finds himself trying to do the basso profundo voice.
Vision (Paul Bettany) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) are tormented by the glowing stone in Vision’s blue head, and they’re agonised by the thought that self-destruction is the only way to keep it out of Thanos’s huge mitts. Their own situation brings them into contact with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) – who prefers his non-super name now, not Captain America, and also the always frowning Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), together with the frankly traumatised Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo).
Scenes and situations whoosh by like a bizarre and bizarrely exciting dream. A sudden trip to Wakanda, with its secret world of remedial hi-tech surgery, seems entirely plausible. T’Challa, or Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) greets the visitors with his habitual Shakespearean bearing and princely calm.
Inevitably, there is a little confusion. Groups of superheroes clash and each thinks the other is on Thanos’s side. “What master do you serve?” shouts one, awkwardly. “You mean – like Jesus?” comes the exasperated reply. No. Thor is the only god around here and even he isn’t guaranteed a result. It’s all in the cosmic balance.
In theory, all these superheroes crammed into one movie should trigger the law of diminishing returns and the Traveling Wilbury effect. And yet somehow in its pure uproariousness, it works. It’s just a supremely watchable film, utterly confident in its self-created malleable mythology. And confident also in the note of apocalyptic darkness.
I know it’s silly. And yet I can’t help looking forward to the next supersized episode of mayhem.
Avengers: Infinity War review – colossal Marvel showdown revels in apocalyptic mayhem
Avengers: Infinity War – the death, the destruction and Thanos – discuss with spoilers
It is tempting to wonder quite how the bigwigs at Disney must have reacted when the ending of Avengers: Infinity War was first revealed to them. “So let me get this straight,” they might have said, visions of billions of dollars in lost merchandise revenue whirling in front of their eyes. “You’re going to kill off half of all the superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including the only guy – Doctor Strange – capable of bringing them back?”
In terms of far-out creative decisions, this one is right up there with Luke Skywalker’s declaration in Star Wars: The Last Jedi that he wanted nothing to do with laser sword-wielding space monks. Except that this time, we have to wait a whole year – until the sequel to Infinity War – to see if there’s any way of reversing it.
At least there were clues, hidden in the architecture of the Russo Brothers’ epic narrative, as to how we might get our MCU back. Here’s your chance to give a verdict on the movie’s key talking points, and perhaps offer up your own theories as to how Marvel are going to get out of this one.
The body count
Wow. Spider-Man gone, Star Lord gone, Black Panther gone. Doctor Strange, Nick Fury, Teenage Groot. The list goes on, and that’s just the superheroes who were destroyed with a click of Thanos’ fingers in that astonishing final scene on Wakanda as the mad Titan made good on his promise to destroy half of all life in the galaxy. We also lost Loki and Gamora earlier in the film.
The competing superclans
Would you agree that the Russos did a decent job of uniting the MCU’s myriad tribes? There was something a little off about Chris Hemsworth’s Thor during those early scenes with the Guardians of the Galaxy, but generally the worlds knitted together well. The Wakanda scenes seemed to me to be the most tonally on point, perhaps because Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther had presented it as such a well-rounded vision earlier this year.
Old favourites such as Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man and Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner played their part in helping to iron out the kinks between competing super clans. Is Scarlett Johansson still getting $20m (£14.3m) to appear in these movies? If so, you might have thought Marvel would give the criminally underused Black Widow a few more lines.
Thanos
It was in those early scenes on board the ruined Asgardian ship that Gamora’s evil stepdad was established as a fully rounded CGI supervillain rather than the second-rate baddies we’ve seen so many times before in comic-book flicks. There in the shadows Josh Brolin’s intergalactic despot emerged for the first time as a living, breathing character capable of sharing the stage with high-calibre actors. It’s testament to Marvel’s work here that we already want to see more of him in part two.
Doctor Strange’s vision of the future
Surely herein lies our best hope of a reversal of those deaths. Strange reveals to Tony Stark at one point that he has travelled forward in time to scope out millions of possible futures, and that only one of these scenarios sees Thanos defeated. If the sorcerer supreme knows his mystic onions, we have to assume his decision to exchange the Time Stone for Iron Man’s life is based on his belief that Stark will play a vital part in ridding the galaxy of the oversized space meanie. But perhaps you have different theory?
A Strange death
The biggest issue here is that Benedict Cumberbatch’s reality-warping wizard is among those flicked into the void by Thanos. If we are to assume that the Time Stone is the only vehicle by which our favourite superheroes might be brought back from the dead, Strange would appear to be the most likely candidate to pull off the feat. We don’t yet know if Benedict Wong’s Wong made it, or whether he has the powers to wield the stone. Moreover, there’s the small matter of all six infinity stones remaining in Thanos’s possession.
In Infinity War’s only post-credit scene, moments before his death the former SHIELD supremo sends what appears to be a message to Brie Larson’s as-yet-unseen superhero. We know we’re going to meet Carol Danvers in next year’s Captain Marvel origins story. But where has she been, and why didn’t Fury call on her during the events of Age of Ultron?
Marvel Studios supremo Kevin Feige has said that Danvers may be the most powerful superhero yet seen in the MCU. Might she be capable of defeating Thanos and wielding the Time Stone to bring back all those lost heroes? This, of course, would have the effect of sending Captain Marvel back to wherever she came from, as Fury would never have sent that signal. Would we only get the superheroes back who died as Thanos clicked his fingers, or might Gamora and Loki also breathe again?
And that’s not the only mystery that will have to remain veiled in secrecy until part two rolls around. Can anyone out there explain what the Red Skull was doing on the planet of the Soul Stone?
Avengers: Infinity War – the death, the destruction and Thanos – discuss with spoilers
Inside Microsoft’s Quest To Turn Minecraft Content Into A Business
Stefan Panic and Joe Arsenault used to dream of building things in Minecraft for a living. But until recently, they couldn’t quite figure out how.
While Panic worked odd jobs and lived with his father, and Arsenault climbed the corporate ladder at Best Buy, they ran a 50-person volunteer collective called Noxcrew that built intricate environments and mini-games within Minecraft . To date, their work has been downloaded more than 1 million times. Yet all their attempts at making money–from Patreon donations to ad-supported download pages–have only been enough to cover their hosting costs.
In late 2016, Microsoft reached out with an offer that changed everything: The company wanted to discuss an official marketplace for Minecraft creations, which would allow groups like Noxcrew to sell their work directly to players. Like most of the other creators that Microsoft invited into the program, Panic and Arsenault trusted their guts and gave up their day jobs. Now, they make Minecraft content full-time, with help from 15 paid contractors.“We got the Marketplace opportunity, and it turned from a hobbyist community into an actual business,” Panic says.
Ten months after launching the Marketplace, Microsoft touts plenty of individual success stories like this. There’s the 16-year-old boy who’s paying for college with his Minecraftcreations, the Israeli startup that’s using Minecraft to make empowering content for young girls, and community mainstays like Arsenault and Panic who now have the means to increase their output. Microsoft tells Fast Company that it’s paid out more than $7 million to 49 Marketplace creators since last June–that’s after the company takes its 30% cut–and that people have downloaded Marketplace content more than 25 million times.“When I see the impact that it’s having—engagement with Marketplace content just continues to grow month-over-month—this is something we’re invested in for the long haul,” says Helen Chiang, Microsoft’s head of Minecraft. “And I’m just trying to figure out how we grow as fast as possible.”
Now comes the hard part. While the Marketplace has already been life changing for a small number of creators, it’s yet to become a meaningful business to Microsoft, which spent $2.5 billion to acquire Minecraft developer Mojang in 2013. With roughly 74 million people actively playing Minecraft as of last December, and lots more creators clamoring to sell their work, the Marketplace could someday become as big a phenomenon as Minecraft itself. But along the way, Microsoft must ensure the safety of its predominantly young audience and avoid alienating its community members–many of whom have spent years building the Minecraft ecosystem for free. There aren’t many examples of companies that have successfully pulled this off.
TAMING THE WILDS
Microsoft isn’t alone in trying to profit off Minecraft‘s existing player base. Over the years, a booming business has emerged around Minecraftservers, which can host lots of online players, offer meticulously crafted environments, and provide items and abilities beyond what’s in the standard game. To support upkeep and development, many of the largest servers sell new items and upgrades for real money.
Until recently, Microsoft and Mojang had taken a hands-off approach to the third-party server business, mainly stepping in to outlaw pay-to-win schemes and brand-sponsored servers. Last summer, however, Microsoft started carving out a piece of the business for itself. Players can now access a few partner servers from a list that appears inside the game, and can use Microsoft’s Minecoins currency–purchased with real money–to buy items within those servers.
The Marketplace is Microsoft’s first step toward monetizing the rest of the Minecraft ecosystem, which involves modifications to the game that players download and install on their own. The Minecraft modding community is immense: CurseForge, a popular modding destination owned by Amazon subsidiary Twitch, hosts nearly 38,000 Minecraftmods, and the most popular ones have been downloaded millions of times. Curse even runs an ad revenue-sharing program that allows modders to earn money from their work.
Still, the vast majority of Minecraft mods only work with the Windows, Mac, and Linux versions of the game (collectively called the Java Edition, named after the programming language in which it was built). In recent years, the mobile and console version of Minecraft (now known as the Bedrock Edition) have become stronger sellers, and while they do support a limited form of user-made content, modding on the Java side is far more popular.Microsoft sensed an opportunity. With the Bedrock Edition, the company could turn modding into a business–both for itself and for creators–while giving parents a safe way to extend the game for their kids.
“We realized how much friction there was for players to find cool creator content in the Java edition,” says Todd Stevens, the director of Minecraft’s partner program. “A lot of times the websites you found it on had viruses and weren’t that safe. Parents were reluctant to give credit cards to some of these websites they didn’t know. We thought, when looking at this from a Bedrock perspective, if we created this safe marketplace . . . that we’d have a better environment for the player.”
The Marketplace also presents a chance for creators like Jack “Visula” Steckler to make some serious money from their hobby. At age 13, Steckler started making “skin packs” that change how characters look in the game, and Microsoft invited him into the program last year based on the quality of his work. The company only discovered that he was 16 after asking him to sign a non-disclosure agreement.In an email, Steckler says he’s used his earnings to buy a laptop and “a few goodies” for himself and his family, but the vast majority of his profits have gone toward saving for college.
“Coming from a family that can’t afford to pay my college tuition, I knew it was important to use this opportunity to help continue my education and launch my career,” he says.
LEARNING FROM MISSTEPS
Trying to profit off a game’s modding scene can easily backfire. In 2015, about a year before Microsoft started planning the Marketplace, Valve announced a plan to offer paid mods—starting with ones for Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim—through its popular Steam PC game store. The announcement was a surprise, and the outcry was immediate, with complaints ranging from the meager revenue split (25% for modders, the rest for Valve and the game’s publisher) to the potential for content theft among creators. Valve rescinded its plans four days later. (The company does allow users to create and sell virtual items in a handful of games, and has paid out tens of millions of dollars to creators since 2011.)
To head off a similar backlash, Microsoft decided to give developers 70% of sales revenue before processing fees, which is in line with the revenue split on mobile app stores. Creators also get to retain ownership of their work, so they can theoretically reuse their assets and ideas outside of Minecraft.
“We were in a fortunate position where we could maybe learn from some of the things that had happened with other games,” Microsoft’s Helen Chiang says.
With its Marketplace creators, Microsoft has also tried to preserve the open communication that creators say was the norm with Mojang before the acquisition. Microsoft makes creators aware of its road map so they can plan for new features, and in some cases they can influence that road map themselves. Anat Shperling, the cofounder of an Israeli startup called Toya that makes empowering Minecraft adventures for girls, says some of her ideas have turned into future Marketplace features (though she declines to say exactly what those ideas are).“There is mutual exploration, because the Minecraft Marketplace team is exploring and developing the platform alongside the partners, so it feeds back on our own process, where we impact each other and discover the essence of this platform together,” she adds.
Regardless of how Microsoft approaches paid mods, some backlash would be inevitable—and Minecraft players, unlike Minecraft creators, are naturally wary of monetization schemes. When the company launched the Marketplace last June, complaints abound on forums like Reddit, accusing Microsoft of exploitation (for selling the kinds of content that had been available for free), alleging that the Java Edition might go away, and theorizing that Microsoft would actively remove popular mods from free download sites in order to charge for them.
Microsoft has tried to assure modders that it won’t curb their freedoms, and that the Java version isn’t in jeopardy.
“We’re not taking anything away with the Marketplace, and we encourage the community to continue making and sharing free content,” Chiang says. “Modders, both creators and players, on PC Java are an incredibly important part of the Minecraft ecosystem, and we encourage creativity within Minecraft in all forms and on all platforms.”
Still, there’s a kernel of truth to the criticism: Chiang says Microsoft is looking into a scripting API for Bedrock, which would allow creators to develop mods similar to those that exist on the Java version. As Microsoft opens up the Marketplace to more creators and gives them more sophisticated tools, the most talented creators could certainly decide to sell their work to players instead of giving it away.
The counterargument is that those creators deserve to be paid for their work, and that making a business of it would allow them to increase their output.
“We hope that as the Minecraft Marketplace grows, it will encourage even more players and content development teams alike to create their own work to submit to the Marketplace,” Chiang says.
“THOUGHTFUL GROWTH”
When Microsoft announced the Marketplace a year ago, “hundreds and hundreds” of people applied to be part of it, Todd Stevens says. But since then, Microsoft has moved slowly, only letting in nine partners at launch before expanding to the current 49. The challenge now is figuring out how to let in more creators without compromising the Marketplace’s quality or harming creators’ ability to make money.
“We talk about that all the time,” Stevens says. “I use the term around here called ‘thoughtful growth.’ . . . I could have quickly signed up 200 partners, but to be honest, our Marketplace wasn’t ready for that much content and that many partners.”
Initially, for instance, the Marketplace didn’t have a search function or a way to filter results. Microsoft also had to set up an editorial team to play all incoming content, provide feedback to creators, and decide which creations are worth selling and promoting in the store.
Now, Microsoft simply has to hire more people. The company insists on screening all incoming content through human moderators, and Helen Chiang says that’s not going to change anytime soon. She’s aware of how filtering algorithms can fail on sites like YouTube, and isn’t willing to take the same risks with Minecraft, a game with a vast following among kids.
“I would rather spend the extra time making sure the content is safe before it goes up than having to put really strong procedures on how we take down content,” Chiang says. “When I think about the demographics of our user—and we have some that are quite young—I don’t want to be exposing them to content that isn’t safe.”
Staffing up with moderators can easily become an expensive endeavor. One of Minecraft‘s primary competitors is Roblox, a platform that lets players make and share games using Lego-like virtual blocks. Like Minecraft, Roblox caters to a predominantly young audience, and while the company uses automation to detect abuse in multiplayer games, it still subjects every new game submission to human review. To that end, Roblox employs hundreds of people, who accepted 11 million submissions for user-made content last year.
“We have more moderators on our staff than other employees,” says Craig Donato, Roblox’s chief operating officer.
Despite the potential for problems, Chiang acknowledges that scaling up the Marketplace team is one of Microsoft’s top priorities for Minecraft .
“Really this is just based on the capacity of our team and what we’re able to take on, but we’re growing the team and increasing the pipeline of partners that we’re able to bring onto the Marketplace,” she says.
As Microsoft lets new creators into the Marketplace, it must also devise new ways to promote their work. Currently, the company dedicates some store space to items chosen by its editorial team, and will soon sell a “Creators Pack” that bundles the base game with content from Marketplace partners. But Roblox goes a step further, letting creators pay to promote their work in its marketplace. Because these paid promotions rely on the same Robux that players can earn by selling their works, popular developers are able to plow some of their earnings back into advertising for new creators.
“Roblox is not only a platform, but it’s also an economy,” Donato says.
It’s unclear if Microsoft would do something similar, but Stevens floats the idea of a different approach: Instead of lumping everything into one marketplace, Microsoft could open a separate storefront with a more freewheeling approach toward user submissions. Still, even he seems uncertain about whether Microsoft would go down that path.
“You have to be careful with those. We see a lot of those types of digital marketplaces in other games, and you can kind of get lost as a player,” he says. “You’re not quite sure what to spend on, there tends to be a lot of competition on price, so prices race to the bottom, and players don’t reinvest in making more content.”
PAYING IT FORWARD
While the Minecraft Marketplace has plenty of challenges ahead, if successful, it could also become a blueprint for the rest of Microsoft to follow.
Minecraft is already showing Microsoft how to handle cross-platform gaming, which the company is now pursuing though its new cloud gaming division. The Marketplace, Chiang says, could also be an example of how other Microsoft games could launch their own stores for user-made content.
“I hope that we are the tip of the spear, especially in thinking about content moving with players across platforms and devices,” Chiang says. “I think that’s something we should celebrate as important to our players. Minecraft is a game that you should be able to play anywhere, and when they purchase something, we hope that they can enjoy that experience on any devices that they have.”
That said, it’s still early days for the Marketplace, and Microsoft won’t say whether it’s considering a similar model for other games. For now, Chiang is just happy to see Minecraft creators turning their hobbies into full-time work–though she’s not surprised it’s working out that way.
“We know that we’ve had a ton of people making content in their spare time,” she says, “and I think it absolutely was part of how we thought about the future for them.”
Inside Microsoft’s Quest To Turn Minecraft Content Into A Business
Minecraft for Nintendo Switch getting Xbox achievements
Nintendo Switch doesn’t have a built-in achievements system, a la Xbox Achievements or PlayStation Trophies, but the Switch version of Minecraft will soon bring Microsoft’s brand of achievements to the platform.
A set of Xbox Live achievements for Minecraft for Nintendo Switch was recently spotted by content creator Patrick Maka, who posted about the finding on Twitter, and by achievement tracking website True Achievements. The achievement list appears similar to the Xbox versions of the game as well as those on non-Microsoft platforms, like Android and iOS. (PlayStation versions of the game do not tie into Xbox Live Achievements.)
A representative for Minecraft confirmed to Polygon that the game’s Switch version will indeed track Xbox Live Achievements later this year.
“We can confirm that Minecraft players on Nintendo Switch will soon be able to earn achievements tied to Xbox Live once the Bedrock update is released,” a Minecraft spokesperson said in an email.
Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition was released in 2017. The game’s Bedrock update started rolling out in September 2017 and allowed players on Xbox, mobile, VR and PC to play across those various platforms.