by Stone Marshall | Nov 24, 2018 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
A mysterious game that seems to be a free trial of Minecraft: Pocket Edition has cropped up in the Play Store, but it does not seem to actually be available as of this writing. The app in question only allows access to survival mode and is time-limited. It also has no multiplayer capabilities. Essentially, this means that people get to try out the core Minecraft experience in any way that they want, but marathon play sessions, saving, and many other methods of reaching endgame content are out of the question. Additionally, you can't create a world in this trial game and then transfer it to the real deal. The app description on Google Play does not seem to say exactly how long the trial lasts, so once or if it becomes available, it may be an interesting way for people to figure out if they want to pay the entry fee to spend more time in Minecraft's blocky world.
Background: While a trial version of Minecraft does make a lot of sense in a way, there are a few things about this whole business that one can't help but wonder about. For starters, this is Minecraft. It's one of the biggest things in the gaming world, and has been for quite some time. It also has tons of clones in the Play Store. Surely, if somebody wanted to play Minecraft, they would know that they do. Second, the app is listed in the Play Store, but is not available right now, it seems. Android Headlines staff in the United States and Croatia tried to grab the download, and it was unavailable across all attempted devices. The trial may be for an extremely limited market space where Minecraft may be having less of an easy time than others, or it could be that the demo simply isn't fully ready yet. Whatever the case, if you are on the fence about Minecraft for whatever reason, you may want to keep an eye on the Play Store listing linked below. The $6.99 entry fee for Minecraft: Pocket Edition may seem steep, but if you're into the sort of thing that Minecraft offers, which is a sandbox of sorts with large worlds and multiplayer support, it may well be worth using this app to check the game out and see if you really want to commit to that purchase.
Impact: There's pretty much no way that this development could negatively affect Minecraft's bottom line. It is a bit strange that it's on the Play Store and seemingly not fully available to all, but there are a number of possible reasons for that. Though the iconic experience has likely already attracted most of its player base for now, growth can come in the form of new gamers aging into Minecraft's target base, or players who have not had any previous experience with the game getting access to it. Expect to see the number of people playing Minecraft on Android surge if and when this app becomes available.
by Stone Marshall | Nov 23, 2018 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
Minecraft has proven to be such a massive success that its story will be forever entwined with the history of gaming. Even after years and years of success, the team at Mojang are still cranking out new content for the sandbox adventure on a regular basis. The latest update was revealed at X018, and its addition to the Minecraft experience is divined just through the title: Cats and Pandas.
That's right, new cuddly creatures both big and small will soon be available in Minecraft. Cats can certainly help give that homey feeling for players who like indifferent furballs lurking around their house, and pandas… well, they're just too cute not to include, right? Check out the stylish announcement trailer as presented during X018 in the video embed below.
It appears that there's no set release date for Cats and Pandas in Minecraft just yet, but the team has been beta testing their addition since back in October. When they do finally make their fuzzy appearances, players can likely expect to see them lounging away in the MInecraft world across all major platforms.
Don't miss a beat — catch all the latest X018 news by keeping it tuned right here to Shacknews.
by Stone Marshall | Nov 23, 2018 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
It has been seven years since Mojang released Minecraft on Android. There used to be a demo on the Play Store back in the early Pocket Edition days, but it was removed in 2013. Well, that's all in the past now. Mojang recently added a new demo listing to the Play Store, and it's called Minecraft Trial. It's a soft-launch title, so it isn't available in the US just yet, but if the reviews are anything to go by, then it's clearly available in a few other regions.
The Java version of Minecraft for PC has had a free demo since 2012, and even the newer multi-platform Bedrock edition has had a demo for the Windows 10 app since 2017. And while Android used to have a Minecraft demo, the new trial version means users can once again take the game for a spin without putting any money down, but there are a couple of catches. The first is that this is a soft-launch title, so only a few regions will have access. Another limitation is that there's a time limit to the trial, and you'll only have access to the survival mode since everything else is locked down. Still, this release serves as a solid entry point for those unfamiliar with the game.
I'm not entirely sure why it has taken Mojang so long to release a new demo for Android, but some of the current Play Store reviews may hint at why so few devs ever bother. There are more than a couple of users asking for the game to go completely free now that they've had a taste, which is more than a common occurrence for paid mobile apps. I'm sure it's difficult for devs to make everybody happy, and self-indulgent reviews hardly outweigh the amount of exposure a trial version will provide. So good on Mojang for finally providing us with a new demo, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who will appreciate the release.
by Stone Marshall | Nov 22, 2018 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
Minecraft: Education Edition has received an update recently, and with the update comes its new Code Builder. The new tool brings a code-editing interface to the Minecraft worlds, allowing players to perform various tasks, such as creating custom Minecraft commands.
The Education Edition has a user base of more than two million players, and children who have the new update can open the code builder by simply hitting the C key (or the Access button at the top on tablets like the iPad), which opens the UI that allows the child to drag and drop customizable elements of code onto the canvas. Children can customize the text in the colored segments by changing variables such as items, numbers, and actions.
“Voyage Aquatic” lets leaners put together code tiles to solve puzzles.
The Education Edition is available on Windows 10, iPads, and macOS devices, with iPads being a very recent addition. Windows 10 computers and iPads should see the update hit automatically, however Mac users might need to install the update manually.
by Stone Marshall | Nov 22, 2018 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
Minecraft is widely popular for its open-ended structure, allowing players to mine, build, fight baddies or explore to their heart’s content. That structure has made it a surprisingly popular choice for modeling real-life buildings, including Microsoft’s new digital version of its upcoming campus.
Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Wa., covers 500 acres of land and includes over 100 buildings. The campus is undergoing a renovation, slated to be finished in 2022, that will see 18 new buildings, several new sports fields and retail shops. During the design process, Riku Pentikainen, former Microsoft director of global workplace strategies for its real estate and facilities group, was inspired by watching his son play Minecraft, especially how simple and intuitive it was to create builds and walkthroughs.
Microsoft worked with Blockworks, a company that uses Minecraft to model real buildings, to create a digital version of the new campus that employees could walk through and familiarize themselves with.
While Minecraft is less accurate and naturalistic than other CAD and BIM applications, it lets players move easily and somewhat naturally through buildings, as well as make buildings quickly and without advanced training.
“When you build in Minecraft, you build everything in the perspective of the player, constantly being aware of the sense of scale,” James Delaney, Blockworks managing director, told CNBC. “Traditional CAD tools don’t allow for that sense of awareness.”
This isn’t the first big building project Microsoft has done with Minecraft, which it acquired in 2014 for $2.5 billion. Earlier this year, it partnered with Great Ormond Street Hospital in London to develop a complete model of the hospital. The model was created so kids and parents could tour the hospital beforehand, allowing them to alleviate potential anxiety about visiting the hospital and develop a knowledge of the floorplan. The hospital model includes elevator buttons made with the in-game power source “redstone,” which lets people teleport from floor to floor. The project was part of Minecraft’s Education Edition, an initiative to help educators use Minecraft.
Anyone with a 365 Education subscription can take a tour around the Microsoft digital campus. Though, Microsoft said its far from finished with the model. Going forward, it plans to include details like more realistic building interiors and people strolling through the campus.
“We’re trying to be very, very selective in how we’re going to do updates,” said Andrew Yang, project manager. “We want to make sure the next update is going to be meaningful and isn’t going to be updated too quickly.”
by Stone Marshall | Nov 21, 2018 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
Guinness World Records took Philadelphia Minefaire by storm the weekend of 13-14 October, offering live Minecraft record-breaking for attendees of all ages.
We partnered with Minefaire, the #1 Minecraft convention in the USA, to not only create a memorable and engaging fan experience but also introduce new readers to the Guinness World Records 2019: Gamer’s Edition.
Throughout the weekend, visitors had the chance to break three different Minecraft records, specially crafted for Philadelphia Minefaire.
Minefaire 3
Most sunflowers picked in one minute in the Sunflower Field in Minecraft (tablet)
The first record-breaking challenge presented to Philadelphia Minefaire attendees on 13 October 2018 was Most sunflowers picked in one minute in the Sunflower Field in Minecraft (tablet).
The first person to break to record was Sean Rosario (USA) who collected 65 sunflowers in 60 seconds. Shortly afterwards, eight-year-old Ezra Lyngdoh (USA) beat the record set by Sean, by collecting 68.
Later that afternoon, Nathan Cunningham (USA) wowed the crowd and broke the record again by picking 73 sunflowers in one minute.
Fastest time to climb to the top of Cliffside Village in Minecraft (tablet)
This proved to be the toughest challenge of the weekend as it challenged gamers to reach the roof of the house at the top of the ‘Cliffside Village' while keeping the map selected for the duration of the attempt and without placing any blocks.
10-year-old Madie Mento (USA) was the first to break to record with a time of 1 minute 29.70 seconds. Minutes later, Garrett Muraesky achieved a new record with a time of 1 minute 19.99 seconds.
Fastest time to build all 3 utility mobs in Minecraft (tablet)
In a flurry of excitement on the Sunday, four separate challengers achieved this record.
The record was first set by Nathan Sepinwall (USA) with a time of 37.91 seconds. Minutes later both Vincent Watson (USA) and Ryan Mack (USA) smashed the record with times of 32.14 seconds and 25.88 seconds respectively.
The last record-breaker of the day was nine-year-old Chloe Hensley (USA) with a time of 25.08 seconds.
Minefaire 2
Love these records? You can learn more about the Minecraft Reader Challenges in Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2019.
