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.JN
Minecraft gets another shot at Hall of Fame glory, and fans can help it this time
‘Ms. Pacman,’ ‘Minecraft,’ among finalists for World Video Game Hall of Fame
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Calling all gamers to help pick World Video Game Hall of Fame inductees. Twelve finalists were named Tuesday for the class of 2018, pitting “Ms. Pac-Man” against “John Madden Football.”
Also in the running are: “Asteroids,” “Call of Duty,” “Dance Dance Revolution,” “Final Fantasy VII,” “Half-Life,” “King’s Quest,” “Metroid,” “Minecraft,” “Spacewar!” and “Tomb Raider.”
New this year, the hall is inviting gamers to weigh in on inductees. Online balloting closes April 4.
A panel of experts will vote as well.
The winners will be inducted May 3.
Jon-Paul Dyson, director of International Center for the History of Electronic Games, says the finalists span decades, gaming platforms and countries of origin.
“But what they all have in common is their undeniable impact on the world of gaming and popular culture,” Dyson said. Both the center and World Video Game Hall of Fame are inside The Strong museum.
Museum officials say thousands of nominations were submitted from more than 100 countries. To be recognized, games must have proven their popularity over time and influenced other games or forms of entertainment. They can be electronic games of any type — arcade, console, computer, handheld or mobile.
About this year’s finalists:
— “Asteroids:” Released by Atari in 1979, the game sold more than 70,000 arcade units. Millions more played it at home on the Atari 2600.
— “Call of Duty:” The first-person shooter game drops players into a World War II setting for a blend of action and historic narrative. Launched by Infinity Ward/Activision, the game and sequels have sold more than 260 million units since 2003.
— “Dance Dance Revolution:” Konami’s 1998 game spread from Japanese arcades, including to a home version for Sony Playstation.
— “Final Fantasy VII:” The 1997 game introduced 3-D computer graphics and other upgrades to the popular franchise. The game sold more than 10 million units, making it the second most popular game for the Sony Playstation and helped popularize the Japanese role-playing genre.
— “Half-Life:” After its creation by Valve/Sierra Studios in 1998, the game added the ability to modify the game itself, providing countless replay possibilities.
— “John Madden Football:” The 1990 reboot by Electronic Arts became a pop cultural phenomenon that has sold more than 100 million copies.
— “King’s Quest:” Sierra On-Line co-founder Roberta Williams in 1984 made her game a hit on personal computers with its unique visuals and irreverent humor. Seven sequels have followed.
— “Metroid:” Nintendo’s 1986 game introduced the first playable human female character in a mainstream video game.
— “Minecraft:” A top performer since its introduction in 2009, the game lets players in a worldwide, online community build elaborate structures from pixilated blocks.
— “Ms. Pac-Man:” Midway launched the follow-up to the Pac-Man arcade game in 1981. It became one of the five best-selling arcade games of all time.
— “Spacewar!” was created by members of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Model Train Club in 1962 on a main frame computer. It is credited with helping to launch the multibillion-dollar video game industry.
— “Tomb Raider:” The 1996 game and its protagonist, Lara Croft, inspired a movie of the same name, featuring Angelina Jolie.
The 27 members of an international selection advisory committee will cast ballots for the winners. The three games that receive the most public votes from the new “Player’s Choice” voting will count as another ballot.
‘Ms. Pacman,’ ‘Minecraft,’ among finalists for World Video Game Hall of Fame
Minecraft Star Wars Sequel Skin Pack Announced, Available Now
Star Wars: The Last Jedi recently arrived on Blu-Ray and DVD, giving millions of fans the chance to watch it all over again. But that’s not the only place where you can celebrate your love for Star Wars.
Mojang has announced that it has released a new Star Wars Sequel Skin Pack for Minecraft, which is available through various digital storefronts for the low price of $2.99. You can find more details on its availability over at the Minecraft Marketplace.
The developer worked very closely with both Lucasfilm and Disney to capture that Star Wars essence in the skin pack, which features various characters from both The Last Jedi and the 2015 release The Force Awakens. This includes older Han Solo, General Leia Organa, Poe Dameron, Kylo Ren, Finn, Rey, older Luke Skywalker and Supreme Leader Snoke. This is just the beginning, as a number of characters from both films are available.
This is the latest skin pack to be introduced to the world of Minecraft, as we’ve seen countless ones offered over the years, from The Simpsons to Doctor Who to various Marvel properties.
The Minecraft Marketplace makes it easy to shop for these skins, so you can change up your game on the fly and see what they do for you. This helps extend the replay value of the game tremendously, enabling Mojang to support its millions and millions of fans, who keep coming back for more.
There’s a possibility that this release could lead to other skin packs coming over the course of the year, though the developer hasn’t said a word about what could be coming next. So, for the time being, just enjoy the Star Wars pack that’s currently available, and relive those great memories from both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi – if you’re not doing that from watching the movies, that is.
Check out the trailer above, which features a number of the skins in action, and then get to building in Minecraft for various platforms, including Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U, as well as a plethora of mobile devices and tablets.
Minecraft Star Wars Sequel Skin Pack Announced, Available Now
Noxcrew is a full game studio making content for Minecraft Marketplace
Above: Noxcrew’s Summer Mini-Games Festival is a hit on the Minecraft Marketplace.
Minecraft’s Marketplace is growing fast enough that it has enabled several creators to focus on the platform as their full-time work. The Noxcrew team, which makes popular Marketplace content like Summer Mini-Games Festival, has taken that even further by employing the equivalent of an entire development studio.
Noxcrew chief executive officer Stefan “Noxite” Panic and co-owner Joe “Avondale” Arsenault both told GamesBeat that working on products for the Minecraft Marketplace is their day job. But the team is way bigger than the two of them.
“We have around 15 members, comprising of level designers, artists, musicians, writers, technicians, and marketing managers,” said Panic.
That’s bigger than a lot of indie studios that are making their own games, and the Noxcrew team thinks that is one of the key reasons their content stands out on the Minecraft Marketplace.
“We produce all our own music, textures, art, sound effects, and voice acting in-house,” said Aresnault. “And for the longest time, we were the only team who could say that.”
The Noxcrew leaders also think that they have found an audience by always trying to build something unexpected. Minecraft is a game about building things, and Microsoft has opened up its tools to enable anyone to begin modding assets. In that world, Marketplace content needs to surprise people while also maintaining a high level of quality.
At the same time, Panic and Arsenault don’t think that this space is closed off to new creators. They both expect a new generation of Minecraft community members to rise up and make their way into the Marketplace.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to get into Minecraft content creation,” said Arsenault. “The technology for the Bedrock Engine is still very new, and the community making content for it is very active and helpful, especially with new creators.”
Panic agrees.
“Noxcrew itself made it onto the Marketplace by ‘just starting to make stuff’ a long time ago,” he said. “I believe in the longevity of the Marketplace and as long as you know how to make your content look good to the public after it’s made, I don’t think it’s ever too late!”
Noxcrew is a full game studio making content for Minecraft Marketplace
Minecraft’s Star Wars Sequel skin pack adds Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren
Minecraft will enable you to hang out with some cool people from a galaxy far, far away thanks to its new Star Wars Sequel skin pack. This downloadable content is available now on the Minecraft Marketplace for 490 ($3) or platform specific stores like the Nintendo eShop. It is available now.
Microsoft worked with Disney and Luscafilm to produce this skin pack, which enables players to customize characters to look like the heroes and villains of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. You can play as old Han Solo, General Leia Organa, Poe Dameron, and even Supreme Leader Snoke. Every other major character from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi are also included in the bundle of cosmetics.
This skin pack is available for every device that runs an official version of Minecraft.
DLC is one of the biggest ways that Microsoft and Mojang are keeping Minecraft’s revenues up. This is especially important on Minecraft’s Bedrock platforms, which are devices like smartphones, Xbox One, and Windows 10 PCs that run a universal version of the game that all hook into the Minecraft Marketplace.
That in-game store features extra content from The Minecraft Team, but it also is the home of externally developed worlds, skin packs, and more from the community. The Minecraft Marketplace creators are earning a living selling virtual items and maps for the block-building game, and Microsoft gets a cut of those revenues.
By introducing something like new Star Wars-related skins, it could get more people into the Marketplace and spending money on content beyond stormtroopers and Benicio del Toro’s DJ.
Minecraft’s Star Wars Sequel skin pack adds Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren
Watch this AI figure out how to place blocks in Minecraft
Artificial intelligence doesn’t compare favorably to humans when it comes to problem solving. Ask any eight year old child to place a few blocks on a grid in Minecraft and they’ll almost certainly be bored by the task. A computer, on the other hand, doesn’t grasp such difficult concepts so easily.
Stephan Alaniz, a researcher with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Technische Universitat Berlin, yesterday published a white paper titled “Deep Reinforcement Learning with Model Learning and Monte Carlo Tree Search in Minecraft.” In his paper the scientist explains his efforts to create a superior method for training an AI to perform simple tasks based on visual input.
If we’re ever going to have robots that can live and work among humans seamlessly without damaging us or our property they’re going to have to understand how to interact with the environment using visual context. One of the most popular ways to train AI for this task is using video games with simple controls.
We can judge an AI’s effectiveness at completing specific tasks in a structured environment, like Minecraft, by comparing it to human efforts.
Watching the above video, it’s apparent that AI – even one that’s shown to be more effective than other agents trained to perform similar tasks – isn’t very good at doing simple things yet. But developing cutting-edge technology takes time — though advances in machine learning techniques are happening at a terrifying pace.
Future research will drive training times down, effectiveness up, and generate new ideas for algorithms that further blur the lines between artificial and human intelligence.
But for now, it’s interesting enough to watch an AI process hundreds of different moves as it tries to figure out a simple block placing challenge in Minecraft. It might be worth remembering, in the future, how simple these things were when they began learning.
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom Draws Praise in Latest Trailer
Bandai Namco has released another trailer for Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, which shows off just a bit of the praise the game has received. The trailer showcases some of the scores and positive remarks reviewers have lavished upon it, supercut with some of the gorgeous fotage from the game.
Ni no Kuni II follows young Evan’s journey to reunite and reclaim his kingdom as well as the involvement of character Roland in the grand scheme of things. We’ve seen several different looks at combat, as well as other glimpses of the great-looking game thus far, but this trailer is all about trying to get you to want to embark on the journey with Evan, Roland, and company.
Our own Alex Gibson rated the game a 5/5:
“This second adventure has been worth the long wait in every respect, and I’m already salivating over the prospect of what the future holds for the series. Until then, though, I’m contented to remain at Evermore, immersing myself in the delight of building my very own Revenant Kingdom.”
If you’re interested in seeing what’s going on in the sprawling sequel to the Studio
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom Draws Praise in Latest Trailer
See Geralt of Rivia Show off His Moves in Soulcalibur VI
We’ve known that CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher himself, Geralt of Rivia, is coming to Soulcalibur VI, for a while. But we haven’t really gotten a chance to see his moves in the fighting game broken down just yet. That’s all changing as of today, with a more in-depth look at things. CD Projekt RED’s Borys Pugacz-Muraszkiewicz took to a new video clip to show off Geralt’s moves, with a fighting style that shows off his “scalpel-like” moves in combat.
“Our role was making sure that Geralt in Soulcalibur VI moves, feels and plays like Geralt from The Witcher 3,” says Pugacz-Muraszkiewicz. “However since movement, timing, play-perspective and general responsiveness are very different in the fighting game, we had to go back to the drawing board and reinvent the way Geralt behaves in certain situations.”
Soulcalibur VI is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC by way of Steam this year, including Geralt and your favorite characters from the series. There’s a lot to look forward to if you’ve been following the venerable fighting game since its inception. You can watch the Witcher himself in action in the clip below, along with additional insights into what makes him such a formidable opponent. Looking for a new main to go to when you delve into Soulcalibur when it launches? You may have just found him.
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden Gameplay Trailer is Classic Fallout Meets XCOM
Funcom’s upcoming post-apocalyptic RPG Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is receiving a ton of attention. Judging by the recent gameplay trailer, that attention is well-deserved.
Exploration is the name of the game in Mutant Year Zero; according to the trailer, it will feature plenty of open areas for players to explore at their leisure. Players can snoop around, scour the game world for items to use or trade, complete missions, recruit new teammates, and fight all sorts of enemies. Moreover, as players explore the world, they will discover much-needed levity in just how detached the game’s post-apocalyptic world is from the modern one. Even though Mutant Year Zero is full of mutants and robots, characters believe a picture of a cartoonish moose portrays a demon and confuse a boombox for a literal bomb. It’s the kind of humor that’s tailor-made for post-apocalyptic RPGs and is extremely prevalent in games like Fallout.
Mutant Year Zero, while it seemingly will focus on an expansive world and narrative, will feature an equally-robust combat system. Stealth will play a vital role; if the player initiates combat from outside an enemy’s detection radius, he or she will have a chance to finish the battle before the enemy even knows what happened. That assumes, of course, players use stealth-oriented weapons such as silenced pistols and crossbows; noisy weapons like shotguns and grenades are almost guaranteed to draw unwanted attention. Moreover, before fighting enemies, players will be able to strategically position characters to effectively take out separated enemies and ambush the rest. In some cases, players can even turn an enemy’s superweapon against its would-be masters.
When Mutant Year Zero’s combat starts in earnest, it uses the same turn-based system as XCOM and Harebrained Scheme’s Shadowrun games. Players will be encouraged to fight tactically, seek cover whenever possible, and use special abilities to gain the upper hand. Some abilities, such as standing guard and firing on moving enemies, will be standard for this game genre, while others, namely mutations, are slightly more unorthodox. Yes, a game called “Mutant Year Zero” features mutations.
Each time a character levels up, he or she gains access to new mutations that can be swapped around while out of combat. Some need to be activated, such as stone-like skin that makes characters more resistant to damage, while others are passive, like being short to easily hide behind low cover. Moreover, players will be actively encouraged to change mutations, as some are more situational than others; bunkers with low ceiling will render wings useless, while robots will practically be begging to be targeted with the ability to disable electronics.
Weapons will also be a key feature in Mutant Year Zero. Players will be able to find them in the game world and upgrade them at their home base. Like abilities, weapon upgrades will contain a mix of standard and unconventional enhancements. Weapons can be improved to hit harder and more accurately, and they can also be upgraded with ammunition that lights enemies on fire or knocks them back.
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden’s gameplay trailer shows plenty of promise. Any gamer who has played Shadowrun Returns, Dragonfall, or Hong Kong will likely feel right at home. We at Twinfinite will continue to cover this game, which should release later this year.
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden Gameplay Trailer is Classic Fallout Meets XCOM
Lego Incredibles Zooming Their Way to Consoles and PC This Year
Warner Bros. Interactive and TT Games have unveiled the next official Lego game, and it’s, well…incredible. Literally. Lego The Incredibles is coming soon, releasing as both digital and physical editions on June 15 alongside the film’s debut in theaters. It’s coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
Lego The Incredibles will feature much of the same fun the previous titles did, with an open world hub that lets you travel to locales like Nomanisan Island and Municiberg, with additional features such as “crime bosses” as you play through the hub world. As you complete additional areas of the world, you can start fighting crime in extended locations.
The campaign, however, will borrow from both movies and feature original content as well. The same familiar puzzle-solving, combat, and Lego-related building quests will be interspersed with other attacks and powers based on The Incredibles’ abilities to play into the family’s strengths. So while it’s going to largely be based on the Lego games you’re familiar with, it’ll be beefed up in the areas that count so it can feel more like an Incredibles-related adventure.
So if you’ve been jonesing for more of the superpowered family and more Lego games, this official reveal should keep you pretty excited, especially since you can go grab it the same day as you see the movie and take the magic of the family home with you.
Lego Incredibles Zooming Their Way to Consoles and PC This Year
John Cena Will Play Duke Nukem in a Deadpool-Styled Movie
Duke Nukem is known for two things: kicking alien ass and always being out of gum. Soon he’ll be known for a third thing: being played by John Cena in a movie.
According to CinemaBlend, producers Andrew Form (The Purge,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and Brad Fuller (Project Almanac, The Purge) have confirmed that Cena, after months of negotiations, is officially attached to an upcoming Duke Nukem movie. Well, for now, anyway. Form stated the script has yet to be penned, and, as with any actor, Cena could potentially leave if he reads the script and doesn’t like it.
While the Duke Nukem movie doesn’t have a script yet, Form and Fuller are already determined to make the movie’s tone match that of Deadpool. This decision is strangely fitting since Duke is overtly sexist, but in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. Plus, his chauvinism somehow adds to his machismo charm, as odd as it sounds. Form even acknowledges the challenge of turning those normally negative personality traits into endearing ones:
You know that having a misogynistic guy in today’s world, how do you make that fun and lovable and at the same time he’s got to be an incredible badass, so those are the things that we’re struggling with and we’re going to try and come out with what I hope is a really fun ride. That’s the goal, is for it to be a really fun ride.
Some might balk at the thought of Cena being up to the task of playing what might just be the prototypical badass video game hero, but, like fellow wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne Johnson, he has plenty of experience in both action and comedic roles (and a few that are both). Plus, in sunglasses and a flattop haircut, he could potentially be a dead ringer for the character. Given his ever-growing experience as a voice actor, he could conceivably also sound almost identical to Duke’s original voice actor Jon St. John by the time filming starts.
While the movie is a long way off, we will pay close attention to this movie. With luck, it will help redeem the Duke Nukem franchise after the disappointment that was Duke Nukem Forever.
Local Multiplayer Is a Go for Minecraft on the New Nintendo 3DS
The Minecraft official Twitter has announced that local multiplayer is now up and running on the New Nintendo 3DS version of the game. After updating their copies of the game, players will be all set to play Minecraft with friends using a local wireless connection.
The New Nintendo 3DS was released back on Feb. 13, 2015. Two years later, Minecraft was released for the portable system on Sept. 19, 2017. The game features both a creative mode and a survival mode. In creative mode, players have unlimited resources with which to build their world. This sort of environment makes it easier to build the sprawling cities and landscapes that players of the game have become known for producing. In survival mode, players must explore and mine for materials to build with, as well as deal with creatures that might kill them. Since it is on the New Nintendo 3DS, the game uses the system’s touchscreen for checking the map and managing inventory. As a minor feature, the game also comes with five skin packs and two different texture packs.
The classic version of the well known game was first released to the public on May 17, 2009. The sandbox video game has since gained quite a bit of popularity. It is now available on a wide variety of platforms, including Xbox One, PS4, and the Nintendo Switch. On Minecraft’s official website, you can buy the game for PC and Mac for $26.95.
Minecraft for the New Nintendo 3DS sells for $29.99 on the Nintendo eShop. It is published by Mojang AB, and developed by Other Ocean Interactive.
Local Multiplayer Is a Go for Minecraft on the New Nintendo 3DS
February NPD 2018: Monster Hunter repeats as top game in the U.S.
Gaming consumers in the United States are dropping money on hardware and games even as February had a dearth of earth-shattering new releases. The industry is so hot right now, that it can’t help but generate year-over-year growth with $995 million in total sales, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group. That’s up 23 percent from $811 million during the same period in 2017.
Here are the numbers for February 2018:
- Total: $995 million (up 23 percent from $811 million in February 2017)
- Hardware: $316 million (up 55 percent from $204 million)
- PC and console software: $397 million (flat from $397 million)
- Accessories: $282 million (up 35 percent from $210 million)
“Year to date 2018 spending across video game hardware, software and accessories is up 39 percent when compared to the same period a year ago, to $2.1 billion,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said. “Growth has occurred across all categories, with hardware being the primary sales performance driver.”
It’s important to keep in mind that NPD’s report has some gaps in it. It does not report digital sales data for every publisher. It also does not include DLC, microtransactions, or mobile. So this is a snapshot of a wider, more dynamic market.
Let’s get to the charts.
Software
- Monster Hunter: World
- Call of Duty: WWII
- NBA 2K18
- Dragon Ball: Fighterz
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Shadow of the Colossus (2018)
- UFC 3
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance
- Mario Kart 8*
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds**
- Bayonetta 2*
- Madden NFL 18
- Assassin’s Creed: Origins
- FIFA 18**
- Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet
- The Sims 4**
- Star Wars: Battlefront II
*No digital sales included
**No PC digital sales included
“Dollar sales of Console, Portable and PC Games Software combined to reach $397 million in February 2018, flat when compared to a year ago,” said Piscatella. “Gains in Nintendo Switch spending offset declines across all other platforms. Year to date, software spending has grown 24 percent, to $916 million.”
As always, Nintendo’s games have long tails that keep them selling at full price for years. That trend is continuing on Switch for hits like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
“Mario Kart 8 returned to the top of the Nintendo Switch chart for the first time since May 2017,” said Piscatella. “Nintendo was February’s leading publisher in software dollar sales, while Capcom remains the top-selling publisher of 2018.”
While Nintendo Switch is filling in the gaps left by the other platforms, Capcom’s Monster Hunter is one of the main reasons we are seeing year-to-date growth. It is once again dominant in February. This is the second month in a row that it has topped this chart.
“After leading the market in January, Monster Hunter: World repeated as the month’s top-selling title overall, once again leading on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms,” said Piscatella. “Unsurprisingly, Monster Hunter: World is currently 2018’s best-selling game.
Indie open-world role-playing game Kingdom Come: Deliverance also made it into the top 10, which is a huge feat and shows just how well that game is performing at retail.
“Call of Duty: WWII was February’s second best-selling title,” said Piscatella. “And it remains the best-selling title for the 12-month period ending February 2018.”
Xbox One
- Monster Hunter: World
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance
- NBA 2K18
- Dragon Ball: Fighterz
- UFC 3
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
- Assassin’s Creed: Origins
PlayStation 4
- Monster Hunter: World
- Shadow of the Colossus (2018)
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Dragon Ball: Fighterz
- UFC 3
- NBA 2K18
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance
- Madden NFL 18
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
Nintendo Switch (physical only)
- Mario Kart 8
- Super Mario Odyssey
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Bayonetta 2
- Splatoon 2
- Pokken Tournament DX
- Mario & Rabbids: Kingdom Battle
- Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Arms
- Dragon Quest Builders
Nintendo 3DS
- Pokemon: Ultra Sun
- Pokemon: Ultra Moon
- Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology
- Mario Kart 7
- Minecraft
- Super Smash Bros.
- Mario Party: The Top 100
- Super Mario Maker
- Kirby: Battle Royale
- Super Mario 3D Land
The best-selling games of 2018 so far
- Monster Hunter: World
- Dragon Ball: Fighterz
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Grand Theft Auto V
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds**
- NBA 2K18
- Super Mario Odyssey*
- Mario Kart 8*
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- UFC 3
The best-selling games over the last 12 months
- Call of Duty: WWII
- NBA 2K18
- Destiny 2
- Madden NFL 18
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Star Wars: Battlefront II
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Mario Kart 8*
Hardware and accesories
Since the launch of the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One X, the PlayStation 4 has no longer dominated the hardware sales. Nintendo and Microsoft are both seeing growth as well.
“Hardware spending in February 2018 grew 55 percent when compared to a year ago, to $316 million,” said Piscatella. “Spending gains were driven by growth in Switch and Xbox One hardware sales. For the 2018 year-to-date period, hardware spending has increased 79 percent to $594 million.”
The Switch phenom story continued in February, for example.
“Nintendo Switch remains on a record-setting sales pace,” said Piscatella. “Over the first twelve months in market, Nintendo Switch has achieved the highest installed base for a console platform in history.”
But even if Sony isn’t leaving the competition in its dust, it still came out on top last month.
“Sony’s PlayStation 4 was the best-selling console in February,” said Piscatella. “And it remains the best-selling console year to date.”
Last month was a record-high for February for accessories and gamecards at $282 million. That broke the previous February record from 2016.
Gamepads are an especially large category with year-over-year growth of 46 percent.
“Gamepads were the month’s best-selling accessory group,” said Piscatella. “Headsets/headphones, power supplies, memory cards, and case/organizer categories all experienced double-digit percentage growth in the month. These gains offset a 75 percent decline in interactive gaming toy sales.”
PS4’s DualShock 4 Wireless Controller in Black was the best-selling accessory of the month and of 2018 so far.
February NPD 2018: Monster Hunter repeats as top game in the U.S.
PureBDcraft’s four-year journey onto the Minecraft Marketplace
Since I started covering the Minecraft Marketplace, one thing I’ve learned is that many of the community creators have spent years working on their content. While the Marketplace is under a year old, it’s not strange to find people who have done this for four or five years, like creator Flavien Sphax who is one of the primary people responsible for the PureBDcraft comic-book resource pack for Minecraft.
PureBDcraft is one of the best-selling pieces of content in the Minecraft Marketplace. It changes the look of nearly every object in the Minecraft world to give it a comic-book makeover. While it is extremely popular on the Marketplace today, it started as a mod way back in January 2011.
“I’m just a mix between an artist and a developer,” Sphax explained in an email exchange with GamesBeat. “I have passions and dreams, and I do my best to reproduce the ideas coming from those in my work. That’s maybe why PureBDcraft had success on day one, at least, I hope so.”
Sphax is 34 years old, and he partnered with fellow community creators Hanfox and Eskimojo14 on PureBDcraft. In a past life, he worked as a project manager in “big French enterprises” — but now he’s all in on BDcraft and other personal projects.
“I quit my job in 2013 to be fully dedicated to my own passions,” he said.
Those passions include improving PureBDcraft as well as creating other resource packs and mods. He is also actively developing Cubik Studio, which is a 3D modeler for Minecraft and other indie games. Sphax also plans to launch his own games at some point in the future.
But one of his biggest passions through the years was getting PureBDcraft into Minecraft as an official resource pack similar to the downloadable content you would find on the console versions.
“Back in the day, I did my best to nudge some guys at [developer] Mojang so I could have a chance to discuss with someone who could help me bring PureBDcraft to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3,” said Sphax. “That was my main goal at the time. I tried email, Twitter, and Minecon Paris without real success. In fact, I did it all wrong — I’m not a community manager or a marketing boy.”
Four years later, though, Microsoft reached out to Sphax to talk with him about PureBDcraft.
“I was truly excited,” said Sphax. “After several exchanges with the The Minecraft Team about the specifics of PureBDcraft — mainly its HD textures — and several Minecraft updates, PureBDcraft was ready for the Marketplace.”
This is where Sphax always felt that PureBDcraft belonged. He and his collaborators were able to get the resource pack ported to the Bedrock version of Minecraft, and they’ve updated it over time to get it as close to their original vision as possible.
He has now expanded his focus beyond PureBDcraft. The team has multiple projects in the works, but he welcomes feedback and even bug reports from people who purchase it through the Marketplace.
“By the way, I’m open for dialogue,” he said. “So if anyone wants to talk with me about Minecraft, BDcraft or indie games, they are very welcome. Many people don’t hesitate to do that already knowing my Twitter DMs are open.”
You can reach Sphax at @#Sphax84 or @PureBDcraft, and you can find his creations in the Marketplace or at BDcraft.net.
“Making Pure or any BDcraft content or project come alive by creating anything new for the player to discover is a true passion and a dream which came true,” said Sphax. “Every time I draw or develop something new, it reminds me why I quit my job and why that’s the best thing I ever did in my life before my son was born.”
PureBDcraft is available now in Minecraft on Xbox One, Xbox 360, Windows 10, and mobile — it’ll hit the Switch when the Marketplace launches on that platform later this year.
PureBDcraft’s four-year journey onto the Minecraft Marketplace
A Parent’s Guide to Playing Pokémon Go With Your Kids
While Pokémon Go is geared toward adults and teens, a lot of parents are playing it with their children too. I helped my kindergartener install it yesterday, and we spent an afternoon at a park looking for Pikachu. There are some safety concerns, but lots of potential for exercise and learning, too.
If you’re still not sure what this game is all about, read our explainer. It’s a free game where you walk to places in the real world to collect in-game supplies and characters. You can catch the pokémon characters almost anywhere, but if you want them to battle, you have to go to real-world locations called gyms. Supply stops and gyms are usually places like libraries, churches, and parks.
For a kid to get the most out of the game, it really helps if they can read and do simple math. You can read them the instructions at the beginning, but they’ll keep encountering creatures and objects that have names and stats.
To involve toddlers and preschoolers, you can play the game yourself, and offer the kid a chance to help at spin at each pokéstop. They can also try to throw pokéballs to catch the pokémon you find. That job takes a little dexterity, but if you have enough pokéballs, why not let them practice?
Once kids are old enough to have their own phones and transportation, they’re certainly old enough to play the game without help—but now you have to worry about where they’re going and whether they’re paying attention to their surroundings. More on that in a bit.
Set Up a Phone to Play Pokémon Go
You can install Pokémon Go on your own phone, of course, but if you hand it to a pokémon-happy kid, you may never get it back. Instead, see if you have an old phone or tablet around that has GPS capabilities. Even if it only has wifi and not a cellular data connection, you can still play the game.
You can do this by sticking to areas with wifi, of course. It’s even possible to catch pokémon without leaving home. Or you can use your own phone as a wifi hotspot, if your data plan allows, so you and your offspring can tour pokéstops together. Be aware that the iPod Touch doesn’t have GPS, so it needs to connect to stationary wifi spots (not your phone’s hotspot) to know its location.
Since Pokémon Go has lots of opportunities to spend real money, you may want to limit in-game purchases. On an iPhone, there’s a setting to turn off in-app purchases. On Android, make sure your phone is set to ask for a password for every purchase (and don’t blab the password).
I go a step further, on my kids’ phones. I have a throwaway google account that’s just for their games, and I don’t enter a credit card for payment. I just buy Play Store gift cards, so if they somehow find a way to spend money, the worst they can do is drain the $25 from their account.
Getting Started With Your Child and a Google Account
The first thing the app does is ask your birthdate. For adults, it then asks if you want to log in with your Google account or with a Pokémon Trainer account. For kids (13 and under), it doesn’t offer Google as an option. Unfortunately, since Pokémon’s servers are currently overloaded, it may be impossible to create a Pokémon Trainer account. You may want to create a dummy Google account (technically belonging to you, the parent) and have them log in that way.
When you begin, you can customize an avatar, and then it’s time to catch your starter pokémon. (You don’t have to wander around for this one.) If your kid’s heart is set on Pikachu, there is reportedly an easter egg that lets you catch Pikachu as your starter. It may not be easy to actually catch the little guy, though, so remind the kid that you can always go looking for wild Pikachu later.
Stay Safe—Especially Around Lures
Remember everything you taught your kid about watching where they’re going, holding hands near busy roads, and looking both ways while crossing streets or parking lots? They’re going to completely forget all that when they have their eyes glued to their phone. It’s worth having a little talk with them before they get run over by a car, about how to be careful and how maybe we’re going to put some more rules into effect—like only crossing a street when their phone is in their pocket, perhaps.
If your kid is old enough to wander around on her own, remember that she may now be walking around oblivious to her surroundings (even if she promises to be careful). You may want to revisit rules in this case, too: are you still okay with her traveling to the same places she’s usually allowed?
Lures make the situation a little more complicated, from a parent’s perspective. A player can set out a lure to attract pokémon for 30 minutes, but since these lures are visible to nearby players, they have the effect of luring people too. This can be fun: a bunch of kids can catch pokémon together, or a library or museum can set out lures to help attract people for an event. It can also be concerning to parents. Who’s setting out that lure, and why?
It would be possible for someone to set out a lure to attract kids for nefarious purposes—maybe a potential abuser, or just the neighborhood bully.
Have Fun, And Learn Something
Roaming around may be the most worrying part of playing Pokémon Go—but that’s also what makes it worthwhile. How many video games come with built-in exercise, education, and opportunities to learn about art and the natural world?
The exercise is a given: you have to walk to incubate eggs, for instance. Driving doesn’t count, and the app knows the difference. Parks will often have a bunch of pokéstops close together, so even if you have to drive to get there, you can walk around to monuments, statues, and historical signs to collect supplies and look for new pokémon. Different kinds of places have different pokémon. I caught a goldfish-like Goldeen today near a lake.
But there’s more. A lot of pokéstops are at interesting places, including historical markers. Yesterday my son and I visited a cannon in a cemetery (dedicated as a war memorial) and a chestnut tree nursery in a park. I had driven by those trees a million times without knowing what it was, but signs explained how the area’s chestnut trees had been devastated by a fungus and park workers were trying to protect some of the trees so they could reach maturity.
While you’re out wandering, you may even find real animals. Some wildlife experts on twitter are now monitoring the hashtag #PokeBlitz to help you identify the birds, bugs, snakes, plants and other things you might find while looking for pokémon.
The game intertwines so many interests that it’s a natural for family outings. And since you can play it almost anywhere, it works for city strolls as well as nature walks. Watch out for safety concerns, to be sure, but don’t forget to have fun.
Dundee games firm given cash boost by Minecraft developers
Dundee’s Puny Astronaut is shooting for the stars after the fledgling games studio secured a six-figure cash injection from the developer behind the console edition of global sensation Minecraft.
City Quay-based 4J Studios, which is headed by serial entrepreneurs Chris van der Kuyl and Paddy Burns, decided to invest in the Abertay University graduate team after being blown away by Skye, the studio’s debut offering.
The 2016 Dare to be Digital award-winning team’s game is aimed at families and casual audiences and focuses on the adventures of Skye, the friendly flying dragon.
Mr Burns said: “When we met Puny Astronaut, and were first introduced to Skye, we could see instantly the team and game had enormous potential. Both are a perfect fit for 4J as our philosophy is based on developing ‘games for everyone’.
“Although the team was keen to bring Skye to market as soon as possible, Chris and I felt rushing it would be a mistake.
“So, we offered to invest in them instead, which would give them the time, space and resources needed to complete the game in line with their initial vision.”
Cian Roche, Puny Astronaut’s managing director, said: “With 4J’s investment, we’ll be able to produce the game we first set out to create and share our plans with the rest of the games community.”
Minecraft’s Update Aquatic comes to beta testers on Windows 10 and Xbox One
Minecraft is getting ready to introduce a whole slew of new aquatic features to the mix, and players can now get a look at them a little early. The Minecraft team is now rolling out features from the Update Aquatic to for beta testing on Windows 10, Xbox One, and Android.
Not all of the features that are planned to accompany the update when it finally ships are available as part of this update, but it does give players a look at some of what’s coming. That includes new Drowned mobs, along with new swimming animations and stripped wood. The update also brings the new Trident weapon, along with enchantments meant to help players explore the depth. Of course, a number of fixes are tagging along as well. Here’s a look at all of what’s new and fixed:
- Added Drowned mobs
- Added the Trident and new enchantments (Channeling, Loyalty, Riptide and Impaling)
- Added Stripped Wood
- Added Slabs and Stairs for Prismarine, Prismarine Brick, and Dark Prismarine
- Iron Golems no longer spawn when Mob Spawning is disabled
- Rain, smoke particles, and shadows are no longer visible through lava
- Disabling “Visible to LAN Players” for one world no longer disables it for all worlds
- Buttons cloned in a “pressed” state no longer remain pressed forever
- A warning now appears instructing not to close the game when exporting a world
- The power output of Redstone Comparators is no longer lost after a world is converted from Xbox One Edition
- Pick Block no longer replaces the item currently selected in the hotbar if other slots are empty
When the update ships to everyone, it’s planned to include coral reefs, shipwrecks, new oceanic species, and more.
If you want to try out all of these features ahead of everyone else, you can opt in to beta test Update Aquatic by downloading the Minecraft beta for Windows 10, Xbox One, or Android and toggling on the “Use Experimental Gameplay” setting in the Game Settings menu.
Minecraft’s Update Aquatic comes to beta testers on Windows 10 and Xbox One
Minecraft beta update 2.1.13 – drowned mobs, swimming, and new enchantments
Minecraft Bedrock Edition Update 1.2.13 is an upcoming patch to Minecraft. The patch is currently being rolled out to the Minecraft beta in stages, with 1.2.13.8 being the latest version.
Diggin’ it? Check out our list of the best Minecraft mods on PC.
Minecraft Beta 1.2.13 Release Date
It currently does not have a release date.
How to Take Part in the Minecraft Beta
Windows 10 players can opt in and out of the beta from the Xbox Insider Hub App. However, while previewing the beta, you will not have access to realms or be able to join non-beta players.
It’s also worth noting that beta builds are likely to be unstable and finished releases may not include all the changes and fixes from the beta.
Make sure you backup your world before joining the beta.
How to Activate Experimental Gameplay
Some features from Minecraft’s upcoming Update Aquatic are being tested on the beta via experimental gameplay. However, these features are incomplete and are not representative of final gameplay.
Experimental gameplay can be toggled in the world settings menu. To prevent your world from crashing, a copy of your world will be created with an [EX] before the world name.
Once experimental gameplay is enabled for a world, it cannot be disabled. Any progress will not be saved to your original world.
Minecraft Beta 1.2.13.8 Patch Notes
Experimental Gameplay
- Added Drowned mobs.
- Added new swimming animation.
- Added the trident and new enchantments: channeling, loyalty, riptide, and impaling.
- Added stripped wood.
- Added slabs and stairs for prismarine, prismarine brick, and dark prismarine.
Fixes
- Iron Golems no longer spawn when mob spawning is disabled.
- Rain, smoke particles, and shadows are no longer visible through lava.
- Disabling “visible to LAN Players” for one world no longer disables it for all worlds.
- Buttons cloned in a “pressed” state no longer remain pressed forever.
- A warning now appears instructing not to close the game when exporting a world.
- The power output of redstone comparators is no longer lost after a world is converted from Xbox One Edition.
- Pick block no longer replaces the item currently selected in the hotbar if other slots are empty.
Fixes for bugs introduced during beta
- Increased stability and fixed several crashes.
- Abandoned mineshafts no longer generate above ground.
- Fixed improper mushroom block obtained from giant red mushrooms when using pick block.
- Tools now work properly and no longer shake in-hand.
- Sticky pistons no longer turn into regular pistons after being renamed.
- Tripwire hooks once again appear in jungle temples.
- Players can once again stand on top of ladders.
- Mob heads can no longer be duplicated by placing them in water.
- Strongholds once again generate with mossy stone brick and cracked stone brick.
- More than one line of text can once again be placed on signs.
- The B button no longer has to be pressed twice on the controller to deselect a skin in the skin picker.
- Heads and skulls that are placed on a walls no longer have incorrect hitbox positions.
- Invisible vines no longer appear on jungle trees.
- Torches can once again be placed in the same block occupied by a player.
- You now descend more slowly in water.
- Fixed world updates occasionally not rendering.
Minecraft beta update 2.1.13 – drowned mobs, swimming, and new enchantments
‘Fortnite’ is becoming biggest game on internet, surpassing ‘Minecraft.’ Even Drake plays it
- Google search volume interest for “Fortnite” exceeded “Minecraft” and bitcoin in recent weeks.
- Epic Games said in January the title has more than 45 million players.
- The publisher launched the free-to-play “Battle Royale” mode for “Fortnite” on PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One and Mac in September, which led to a surge in the game’s popularity.
- “Battle Royale” type games have 100 online players violently battle to the death until only one player survives.
One of the hottest pop culture phenomenons right now is a game called “Fortnite,” attracting rap stars, top Twitch streamers and gamers alike.
The game, made by Epic Games, is surging in popularity. Google search volume interest for “Fortnite” exceeded “Minecraft” and bitcoin in recent weeks.
Source: Google Trends
At one point last month, 3.4 million people were playing the game at same time, likely making it “the biggest PC/console game in the world,” Epic Games said. The company revealed in January the game has been played by more than 45 million people worldwide.
“Fortnite” is also consistently on top of the “most-played” list for Microsoft’s Xbox One console and the most popular game on Twitch.
Epic Games launched the free-to-play “Battle Royale” mode for “Fortnite” on PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One and Mac in September. Critics said the mode was a blatant knock-off of “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” [PUBG], which was a big PC gaming success story last year.
“Battle Royale” type games have 100 online players violently battle to the death until only one player survives.
“Fortnite” has surpassed PUBG due to its free-to-play no upfront cost business model, lower hardware requirements, less cheating problems and a more casual cartoon look that appeals to younger gamers.
Source: Microsoft
Top streamers such a Ninja, Shroud and Dr. DisRespect have flocked to playing the game.
Twitch is a live streaming video platform primarily used to stream video game play. It was acquired by Amazon for $970 million in 2014. Many streamers make a full-time living playing games from paid channel subscriptions and viewer donations.
Ninja confirmed to a Forbes contributor he is on pace to make more than $500,000 a month streaming “Fortnite” on the platform.
Rapper Drake joined Ninja to play the game Wednesday night, breaking the Twitch record for most concurrent viewers in a non-tournament stream with 630,000 people watching at peak, according to The Verge.
The rising popularity of “Fortnite” is worrying financial analysts about the future prospects for large gaming companies.
“We believe the strong growth of Fortnite creates tactical risk to the video game publishers and could limit potential upside to consensus numbers,” KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Evan Wingren wrote in a note to clients last week. “The game is gaining momentum in Western markets, which is likely to impact engagement for all AAA games to some degree. We believe Fortnite is growing the overall gaming TAM [total addressable market], but some cannibalization is likely.”
The analyst predicted the monetization of multi-player games from other publishers will suffer by about 10 percent due to competition from “Fortnite.”
And the game is about to get even bigger as it launches on smartphones.
Epic Games announced last week that “Fortnite” will be released on mobile devices. An initial invite-only version launched on Apple iOS devices on Monday and an Android version will come out in few months.
‘Fortnite’ is becoming biggest game on internet, surpassing ‘Minecraft.’ Even Drake plays it
The ‘Minecraft’ Update Aquatic Beta Is Live
While the whole world is talking about Fortnite, there’s another pretty popular cross-platform game out there called Minecraft [$6.99], and it’s a game that continues to grow even after all these years. Minecraft, as you probably know if you follow the game’s development, is getting a huge update called Update Aquatic (the echoes of Life Aquatic are not accidental). And for once, Android players get all the luck since they can jump into the Update Aquatic Beta and check out all the new features. iOS players, we get to sit this one out unfortunately, as is always the case with Minecraft Betas. If you want to get into the Beta, you should head this way and follow the pretty simple guide provided. It really is a pretty simple procedure, so if you do want to experience the fun before everyone else, you can do so with barely any trouble. Just remember to back up your worlds, just in case.
Why would you want to, well, take a dive into Update Aquatic? Let’s start off by saying that this update will add something to the game I’ve wanted to see ever since the early days of the PC version beta: breathe life into the huge oceans that cover most of the game’s maps. The oceans will now have a lot more plant life, with things like Seagrass, Corals, and Kelp rescuing us from the endless monotony of sandy ocean floors. These new materials will give builders more to play with but also make buildings by the beach—or even underwater—look like they belong. We will also encounter bubble columns, which will change the buoyancy of anything floating above it. Initially the developers considered making the bubbles push things to the surface, but then they decided that it’s actually more fun to pull you down (even though there’s also the pushing up version but is more of an Easter Egg). I can’t wait to see the crazy ways the community will use these bubbles and all the contraptions that will come of them.
We are also getting sea turtles, a mob that has been redesigned since it was originally announced. They are now much bigger and more complex. They have a beach home, which they will always return to no matter how far they swim away. Baby turtles will also remember where they were when they hatched, so we’ll be able to use them as homing beacons by having them hatch at locations we want to return to. But keep in mind that some mobs will attack the baby turtles, and I hope you’re not inhuman enough to let them die.
In addition to turtles, we are getting the Drowned, a new mob that will haunt your oceans as well as river and swamp biomes. They will often come from drowned zombies and can even carry a trident, which they’ll use to attack from afar. Dolphins will also join the fun as will a ton of fish mobs, the latter being perfect for that aquarium you always wanted to build. And we are getting the Phantom, the flying mob players voted for during the last MineCon; make sure you get some good rest because this mob will attack those who stay awake for too long.
Update Aquatic is also adding icebergs, underwater ruins, shipwrecks, underwater caves and ravines, and much more, all of which should make exploring the ocean worth the time. And we are getting the Trident too, a weapon perfect for jousting underwater. It comes with some fun enchantments that can make it return to your hand after throwing or even drag you along as you toss it. Finally, the update will also add a few smaller touches that will make living underwater easier, including new swimming animations, faster underwater movement, and a tweaked light level so players can see slightly further.
As you can tell, Update Aquatic will open up great possibilities for building and living underwater, and I’m actually quite excited to get my hands on it. As is always the case, we don’t yet have an official release date, but with the Android beta going live, full release shouldn’t be too far out.