What happens when you cross ARK: Survival Evolved with the blocky-style of Minecraft? Studio Wildcard and Snail Games revealedPixARK Thursday to answer that question and provide yet another spin on the open-world survival title. Xbox One and Steam PC gamers will get the first taste this March, but PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch owners won’t be left out.
PixARK is coming to Steam Early Access and the Xbox Game Preview program this March. The goal is to officially release the sandbox adventure game by the end of 2018 and add the PS4 and Nintendo Switch as additional platforms.
It is a voxel-based building, crafting, and adventure title that should seem immediately familiar to any veteran of ARK: Survival Evolved and Minecraft. Some might say it more closely resembles Trion Worlds’ Trove, however.
Snail Games USA is the developer behind PixARK and has already included many of the creatures and much of the equipment from ARK: Survival Evolved in the game, plus some that are not. The debut trailer and screenshots show Raptors, Brontosaurus, Triceratops, the T-Rex, and non-traditional ARK creatures like a panda and cyclops. The studio plans to have over 100 creatures to tame, train, and ride on procedurally generated maps with different biomes above ground, underground, and underwater.
Meanwhile, there appear to be familiar crafting elements to construct bases, plant farms, or make weapons and armor. There also appear to be some more magical elements as some characters can be seen wielding staffs.
Interestingly, this is the yet another proposed spin-off for ARK: Survival Evolved. The VR-based ARK Park was announced to be released in 2017 for the HTC Vive from Snail Games but is still listed as “coming soon.” Meanwhile, the battle royale title, ARK: Survival of the Fittest was shelved while Studio Wildcard focused on releasing the primary game. The developer also toyed with ARK: Primal Survival to allow play as a dinosaur before it was eventually shelved as well.
The good news with PixARK is that Snail Games states the core game is fully functional with support for local single-player and online multiplayer on both official and private servers. The developer plans to test and iterate on some of the “experimental technology and features” during early access period on PC and Xbox One.
PixArk, an official Minecraft-inspired Ark: Survival Evolved spin-off, is heading to Steam Early Access and Xbox Games Preview this March, developer Snail Games has announced.PixArk was unveiled late last year and is the result of a licensing deal with original Ark developer Studio Wildcard. It's an open-world sandbox game that takes the core elements of the main Ark series – survival, dinosaur taming, crafting, base building, and co-operative tribe living – and re-assembles them as a more casual, Minecraft-esque experience.
According to its Steam Early Access page, PixArk will feature a robust character creator and progression system (complete with skill trees and customisable stats), a voxel block building system, procedurally generated quests, an “infinite number” of voxel based maps featuring deserts, jungles, caves, and more, plus 100 voxel-ized Ark creatures to tame, train, and ride.
PixArk can either be played solo or by teaming up with friends to work together as a tribe, and there looks to be support for both local and online multiplayer.
“Spend your time building a towering fortress or go on a quest in a sprawling cavern”, says Snail Games of PixArk, “Fly on the back of a dragon and smite your enemies with a magic wand, or ride a mighty T-Rex and blast your foes with a rocket launcher. In the world of PixARK, how you play is up to you – as long as you survive!”
PixArk is due to launch on Xbox Games Preview and Early Access this March, according to Snail Games. The full version will release on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, and is expected to arrive later in the year. And speaking as someone that's played way too much Ark and Minecraft, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit intrigued.
Miitomo, Nintendo's initial entry into the world of smartphone apps, is shutting down. Nintendo has announced that it will stop selling Miitomo coins, the in-app currency, today, and service will end altogether on May 9th. You'll still be able to use the app and receive Miitomo coins through login bonuses until then, and Nintendo is also planning to refund players for any purchased Miitomo coins that went unused.
Although Miitomo evidently didn't set the world alight, it's a surprisingly swift end for what was a widely hyped app upon its launch just under two years ago. Miitomo made use of Miis, the company's trademark avatars, and offered several quirky ways to communicate with friends. But with Miis deemphasized on Nintendo's current smash hit console, the Switch, and with the company's mobile efforts now focused on adapting more traditional games like Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem, perhaps Miitomo was never going to be long for this world.
The hot console topic of 2017 for the games industry may have been about the mid-generation, but this year the focus is on Nintendo — specifically, the Nintendo Switch. According to the latest annual survey from the Game Developers Conference, now that the Switch is a proven hit, more developers are interested this year in creating games for Nintendo’s tablet.
Organizers polled nearly 4,000 developers, who say they have a growing interest in Nintendo’s newest console. Thirty-six percent of respondents, when asked which platforms they were the most interested in, said the Nintendo Switch. That puts the console above the Xbox One (28 percent), but still below the PS4 (39 percent) and PC platforms (59 percent).
Furthermore, developers say their games sell as well (23 percent) or better (28 percent) on the Switch as other consoles — a point worth noting since the install base for the Switch is smaller than that of its competitors. About 12 percent say they’re currently developing games for the platform (that’s up from three percent last year). And 15 percent of developers say they plan to release their next game on the platform, as opposed to five percent in 2017.
The big caveat to consider with all of this information is how new the Nintendo Switch still is compared to its competition. Whether enthusiasm for the platform will hold in the years to come remains to be seen. As of December 2017, however, more than 10 million consoles have been sold. The company continues to pursue more outlandish avenues than its competitors; just last week, Nintendo announced a series of DIY cardboard toys for the Switch.
The full results are available online. The survey also includes a few other findings to note:
Despite the controversy surrounding loot crates, 11 percent of respondents, or about one in 10 developers, are working on a game with a monetization strategy that uses loot boxes.
PC and mobile are still the most popular platforms for gamemakers, but development is slipping in the latter: 32 percent of respondents say their game is headed to mobile, vs 35 percent in 2017.
Interest in VR is waning. Respondents were asked for the third consecutive year if they believed AR/VR could be a sustainable, long-term business; 29 percent of respondents said “no,” as opposed to past years of roughly 25 percent.
Microsoft is promoting its Minecraft boss to the head of the company’s games studios. Matt Booty’s new role sees him oversee Microsoft Studios, as one of the top game executives reporting to Microsoft’s games chief Phil Spencer. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella previously promoted Phil Spencer from head of Xbox to a new role overseeing all games, associated hardware, and game strategy.
Spencer reports directly to Nadella, with Booty now reporting directly to Spencer. Both changes are designed to improve Microsoft’s games business. Microsoft has struggled to produce first-party games for its Xbox One console over the past year, after canceling Scalebound, Fable Legends, and Ion. Crackdown 3 was delayed until spring, and Microsoft even shut down Project Spark. Microsoft launched its Xbox One X game console recently without any high profile exclusive games, and it’s led to questions over the company’s games strategy.
GamesBeat reports that Booty’s new role will see Microsoft devoting more resources to its games business. Booty will be looking after Microsoft’s relationships with 343 Industries, The Coalition, Mojang, Rare, Turn 10 Studios, and Global Publishing. Booty first joined Microsoft back in 2010, and helped launch games for Windows phones. He’s also helped develop Xbox Live Arcade, and oversaw Minecraft maker Mojang after Microsoft acquired the company for $2.5 billion back in 2014.
Correction: Booty’s role overseeing Microsoft Studios makes him one of several executives at Microsoft that report directly to Phil Spencer, not “second only” to Spencer in the chain of command as this article originally stated.
The Minecraft Marketplace is the place to go to discover new skins, textures and worlds designed by the community, and a lot of new content has just dropped today. “If you’re a fan of either (takes deep breath) vampires, Vikings, dragons, cowboys, monkeys, outlaws, train robbers, robots, samurai, wildlife or great new mini-games, then we’re bound to have at least something for you,” the Minecraft team announced in a blog post.
Among highlights, Val’Aven from Pathway Studios is a medieval city hiding a cool treasure in a massive dungeon. As you can see in the video below, it’s also guarded by a nicely detailed dragon:
Another cool addition is the Wildlife Artic pack from Pixelheads, which brings two snow vehicles, 20 new wild winter animals (including a yeti and a mammoth) and big mountains and ice caves to explore.
There is a lot of other new content to check out on the Minecraft Marketplace including the Wild West Pack by Blockeption or The Vampire King by BlockWorks, and you can get more details on the Minecraft website. As a reminder, all content you purchase on the marketplace can be enjoyed on mobile, console and Windows 10.
