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.
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‘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.
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)!
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.
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.
Infinity 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.”
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.