The debut trailer for Netflix’s The Witcher series is finally out and it actually looks good, though that could be Henry Cavill’s muscles talking. And while we already know all about when the show takes place and who it stars, the trailer marks the first time we’ve seen everything in action.
So much happens in the trailer's meager two minutes, so unless you're scrutinizing every frame, odds are you're going to miss some stuff. We’ve combed the trailer ourselves and turned to the internet to pull out as many interesting character reveals, plot details, and references to the Witcher books as possible.
Is Yennefer OK?
Early glimpses of Yennefer in the trailer depict a woman hunched over with a swollen cheek. That’s the norm for plenty of sorceresses in the world of the Witcher, who often become students of magic due to varying physical irregularities. Yennefer is no different. She, like many magic users, becomes beautiful through the use of magical glamours that mask her actual appearance. Looks like we’ll get to see her transformation in the show.
Hey, it’s the Isle of Thanedd!
That’s where sorceresses go to magic school, including Ciri for a bit. It’s also the setting for some big betrayals and terrific violence. I can’t wait to see how the show interprets those big beats.
What’s up with that wacky purple tree in the desert?
At first glance, I thought this was a scene from Ciri’s trip to the Frying Pan, which feels too far off to plop into season one. I wasn’t alone in my thinking either, but, twist! Showrunner Lauren Hissrich confirmed the purple desert tree is not related to the arc depicted in Time of Contempt. Get to making those theories.
The Dryads aren’t bright green, thank goodness
The Witcher show is taking a simple approach to its depiction of Dryads, the nymph-like humanoids that live in the forests of Brokilon. The games tend to depict them as nude green plant people, but the books describe them as very human-like with slightly greenish tints to their skin tone. The show is definitely leaning towards the latter.
That’s a Striga
A few quick clips depict Geralt going at it with a grimy humanoid, likely a Striga, which is one of the first monsters he dukes it out with in The Witcher short stories. Striga are women transformed into beastly monsters via a curse, something like a werewolf with hints of troll. Geralt dreams of his fight with the Striga in The Voice of Reason, the opening story in The Last Wish collection. And he dreams of it after some good sex. That’s our guy.
And that’s a Kikimora
There’s some debate over what that swamp spider is in the last shot of the trailer, but I’m banking on a Kikimora, monsters known to live underground or in, get this, swamps. It’s also one of the monsters he kills in the short stories before bringing it to Blaviken, where Geralt starts a major beef with just about everyone—on accident, of course.
Meet the Butcher of Blaviken
As this thread points out, when he looks all tore up and pissed may well be a formative scene set in Blaviken that earns Geralt a lifelong nickname: The Butcher of Blaviken. We’ll leave the show to tell the tale if you’re not aware, but it’s a classic bit where Geralt, ever the neutral, gets screwed over by everyone in an attempt to save everyone. Needless to say, a lot of people die, the blame gets pinned on Geralt, and he becomes feared throughout the continent. Poor guy.
Our boy’s casting Aard
Either Geralt’s getting about to blind a three-eyed monster or that boy’s casting the Aard sign. If you’re unfamiliar, witchers dabble in magic, much to the dismay of sorcerers who view the witchers’ practice as clumsy and contrived. But whatever, because Henry-Geralt is about to send someone flying across the room like a hot Jedi.
Emhyr the Hedgehog says hello
Here’s one that most people missed (including me). Some sharp-eyed folks in this Reddit thread might’ve spotted a quick glimpse of the future Emperor of Nilfgaard, Emhyr var Emreis. See, before the imposing bastard become a tyrant, he was cursed by a sorcerer to take on the appearance of a human-hedgehog hybrid. The curse did not make him go fast, unfortunately. We’ll leave the rest to the show since lifting the curse is its own adventure, but clearly, he doesn’t stay that way forever. Until we see how the show depicts Emhyr’s origins, all you really need to know is that the whole ordeal does not make him a cool, chill guy.
Minecraft is good for a lot of things: creating your own dream worlds, hanging out with friends, bludgeoning zombies to death with blocks of wood. Whether it's good for browsing Reddit or not, I'm not sure: but it's definitely possible, thanks to this plug-in created by Reddit user DeltaTwoForce.
As the gif below demonstrates, the plug-in turns Reddit into a tight descending dungeon, with each floor dedicated to its own thread. Once in, a sign is used to specify which subreddit the user wants to visit, and then the plug-in generates it, complete with thread title, the number of interactions, and an embed of the thread's main image. Beneath the image is a chest, and inside is a collection of books with each response written inside.
This is a .gif of the plug-in in action, created by the plug-in's programmer, DeltaTwoForce:
Is this a pleasant way of reading Reddit? That's for you to decide, in my opinion: no. But the point is that it's possible, just like lots of other ridiculous things are possible in Minecraft, such as Atari 2600 emulators, BASIC interpreters and mobile phones.
According to DeltaTwoForce, the plug-in is not safe to use on survival servers because it will clear out your inventory. It's available to download here, and you can see the original Reddit thread here.
Minecraft Java Edition patch 1.14.4 is now available, and is set to be the final update update for 1.14 before Mojang moves onto the new features of 1.15. The fresh patch promises a ream of bug fixes, improved performance, and a bunch of improvements to villager behaviour – in addition to an amusing fix for the suspicious stew item.
“Suspicious stew made from poppies now gives you night vision instead of speed,” so you can be sure you’re getting exactly the right kind of high from your poppy seed-based comestibles. Maybe it’s less important than the performance improvements, memory leak fixes, and built-in /debug function for detailed bug reports, but it is entertaining.
The bigger selection of changes focus on villagers. They now stock more items, feature improved pathfinding performance, and will remember their gossip if they become zombified. They can now work without restocking at the same time, and will now wait with restocking until they have appropriate trades.
You can read the full list of changes – and all the bug fixes – on the official site.
Microsoft is returning to Gamescom this August to flaunt its Xbox wares once more, and would like you to know what happening this time around – including a first public hands-on of the intriguing Minecraft Dungeons and Gears of War 5's Horde Mode.
This year's Gamescom, once again being held in Cologne, will run for four days from 20th August. Microsoft, however, will be kicking things off a day early, holding a special Gamescom-themed episode of its Inside Xbox show, live from Cologne's Gloria Theatre. The latest “news, games, accessories, and features” are promised, with proceedings scheduled to begin at 4pm BST on Monday, 19th August.
Should you be interested in tuning in, you're not exactly short of options; it'll be streamed via Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Mixer, and the official Xbox website.
Later in the week, from Wednesday, 21st August, until Friday, 23rd August, Microsoft will be holding a free public live event that it's calling Xbox Open Doors, situated at the Gloria Theatre. This will play host to “community events, game tournaments, panel sessions and other exciting experiences”, and more details are due at a later date.
Within Gamescom itself, Microsoft's Xbox Booth will feature a variety of playable games – including the aforementioned first public hands-on of Minecraft Dungeons and Gears of War 5's Horde Mode – with Project xCloud also getting an airing somewhere along the line. Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition will make an appearance in Microsoft's PC-focussed area, and there's an official gear shop too.
Microsoft's Xbox Booth can be found in Hall 8 of the Koelnmesse, for those Gamescom attendees keen to pop along and see what's what.
Keemstar and UMG are continuing Minecraft Monday for another week.
The event went in a different direction in Week 3 as gamers participated in different minigames rather than just Hunger Games (last man standing). The change up in gaming led to Technoblade not winning the event for the first time (he and his partners won the first two weeks). Instead, Traves and Cscoop won Week 3.
Week 4 will follow a similar format as Week 3 by playing minigames, but the type of games have been changed. Those can be viewed below.
Will Technoblade get back to dominating the event? We'll find out later today. Below is everything you need to know about Week 4 of Minecraft Monday.
When does Minecraft Monday start?
Date: July 15th
Time: 4 p.m. EST, 1 p.m. PT
How to stream Minecraft Monday Week 4
UMG will be streaming the event live above.
You can also watch live from individual streamers on their respective platforms (some stream on Twitch, others stream on YouTube, a rare few choose other outlets).
Minecraft Monday Week 4 teams, rosters
Week 4
Player 1
Player 2
Team 1
James Charles
Technothepig
Team 2
Grandayy
DolanDark
Team 3
ChandlerHallow
ChrisO2_
Team 4
Skeppy
BadBoyHalo
Team 5
Bajan_Canadian
NetNobody
Team 6
Yammy
LaurenzSide
Team 7
Mongraal
Mitr0
Team 8
JeromeASF
Ph1LzA
Team 9
JackSucksAtLife
DoniBobes
Team 10
GoodGuyFitz
Kryoz
Team 11
DanTDM
Thinknoodles
Team 12
KYR_SP33DY
Albi_SideArms
Team 13
CaptainSparklez
AntVenom
Team 14
jschlatt
ConnorEatsPants
Team 15
Nick28T
NepentheZ
Team 16
Vikkstar123
Preston
Team 17
heyimbee
Grapeapplesauce
Minecraft Monday rules, scoring system
Eliminations: +10 Score
Victory: +30 Score
Top 2 Teams: +20 Score
Top 3 Teams: +10 Score
Surviving: +2 Score (Whenever a team is eliminated all other remaining teams earn +2 Score)
An added note, scoring for placements, surviving and victories are split between teammates if both are alive. But if one member of the team gets eliminated, the score is awarded to the surviving teammate.
There's no cheating allowed. Cheating includes no cross-teaming, no “feeding” to help another team no mods or resource packs that grant unfair advantages. Trash talk is allowed, but toxic trash talk could result in a ban.
UMG lists the games played as followed:
1. Hunger Games (MAP)
2. TNT Run
3. Dropper
4. Spleef
5. Battle Arena
6. Find The Button
7. Run From The Lava
8. Bingo Hunt
9. Hunger Games (MAP)
Minecraft Monday Week 4 results
The leaderboard above should update throughout the tournament.
London and Seattle are the first two markets in the beta test, but it will steadily expand to other cities across the globe, Thomas Wiborgh, head of communications of Microsoft-owned Mojang wrote in a blog post Tuesday. Players can sign up hereto participate in the test.
Microsoft expects the test to eventually roll out to “hundreds of thousands of players,” according to an FAQ. The game requires a mobile device running iOS 10 and Android 7 or newer. As long as they are signed into the same Microsoft account, users can bounce between phones and tablets and bring their creations with them.
Beta users must log on at least once a week, or risk losing their spot. Don’t be surprised if the game is reset and progress gets wiped away, that is pretty standard among beta tests as the teams update the game.
LONDON and SEATTLE, you’re up! As the first two cities to go live in the Minecraft Earth closed beta, all eyes are on you and your life-sized minetacular (specblockular?) creations!
The game takes Minecraft off the computer screen and brings the game into the real world — through the lens of a smartphone. Players collect items, go on quests and use their inventories to put together impressive structures that can be captured and shared. There’s important elements of cooperation in defeating bad guys in missions and collaborating on tabletop Buildplate structures that can be ballooned up to life-size scale.
While players will be able to transport “skins” over from traditional Minecraft, the team is setting up the game to stand its own. The game will be familiar to long-time Minecraft player, but the goal is for every item and creature in Minecraft Earth to come from that game.
Microsoft first teased the game at its Build developer conference in May and shared details a few weeks later. Minecraft has yet to give a release date for the full game.
The game is free to play, and executives in the past have demurred when asked about in-app purchases. However, we do know that Minecraft Earth won’t have loot boxes, a popular trend in the gaming world of grab bags full of items that users have to buy with either real money or in-game currency.
Minecraft Earth is part of rising trend of smartphone games layered over the real world. The immediate name that comes to mind when talking about games like this is Pokémon Go. And the company behind Pokémon Go, Niantic, just put out a brand new Harry Potter-themed augmented reality game based on the real world. Speaking with GeekWire when it first unveiled Minecraft Earth, the team behind it said “we don’t see ourselves as a clone” of anything that’s out there today, which they referred to mostly as “geocaching games.”
“It’s not just a geocaching game with like 2 percent of it in augmented reality,” Torfi Olafsson, game director for Minecraft, told GeekWire in May. “We decided to go head-first and build the game from the ground up as an experience that you play both in your immediate environment — when you’re home — and out in the world, like in parks, in cities.”
