You ever really think about the moon? More specifically, have you ever thought about who owns it? It's actually a very complicated matter. Fortunately, NBC Left Field is here to break down the basics, complete with illustrations and animations, all of it rendered in Minecraft.
Launched last month, NBC Left Field is a “social video unit” that “aims to reinvent storytelling for viewers who primarily get their news from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram,” according to Variety. It features content from journalists around the world, and while some of it is obviously lighthearted—like, for instance, this—it does dig into more difficult topics too, such as a military summer camp for kids in Ukraine, or the challenges and risks facing coal miners in the US.
Microsoft apparently wasn't involved in the creation of the video, as a rep said the Minecraft team had no comment on it. “But I learned some new stuff about the Moon today!” the rep added. I'd call that a pretty good outcome.
Minecraft on Switch is one of the best uses to date of Nintendo's hybrid design, delivering a complete rendition of the classic game with full four-player functionality – even when undocked and gaming on the go. But its launch was marred by two factors: a lacklustre 720p resolution even when docked with your HDTV, along with noticeably jarring performance drops in split-screen mode. Developer 4J Studios promised that it would look into a full 1080p upgrade and it has duly delivered – and not only that, despite the 2.25x boost to resolution, performance in some split-screen scenarios is improved too.
The 1080p Switch upgrade is understated in 4J Studios' patch notes, hidden in a line of bug fixes. It's the only visual upgrade listed too. According to an interview with the Time website, CTO Richard Reavy says that “everything else is unchanged at present. We really just wanted to make sure jumping up the resolution wouldn't cause any problems.” Indeed, at launch, Microsoft confirmed that switching resolutions on the fly between Switch's docked and undocked modes caused issues with the HUD. But on patch 1.06, clearly 4J Studios has overcome the problem, and it all just clicks together.
As you can see in the video and the comparison zoomers on this page, Minecraft's stark visual style benefits enormously from the resolution upgrade, bringing it right up to our level of expectations for the launch code – and despite compromises in other areas, it even compares fairly well with PS4's 1080p image too. Native full HD resolution pays huge dividends for anyone using a 1080p TV: we're no longer at the mercy of Switch's scaler, and users get a true 1:1 pixel match from the console. And as you'd expect, even the menu overlays run at 1080p.
Everything you need to know about patch 1.06 for Minecraft on Switch. It's a good one!
For a game like Minecraft, a resolution boost is deceptively useful. Of course, this title takes pride in its simplicity, with low res textures used to build a world of blocks. But this jump to 1080p has a big benefit for greater, long-distance views of the land. Looking over your creations at range, the upgrade is impossible to ignore when directly compared to 720p imagery, taken from the launch version of the game. A surprise bonus here is that texture filtering also gets a boost on Switch, with the higher resolution increasing the pixel sample range: this means you get clearer, cleaner surfaces at a tight angle than you did before.
So it's all gain so far, but are there any sacrifices to get these results? Well, the good news is that the game's render distance is still set to the same level as before, at between 11 and 12 chunks while docked, while the world size stays at the medium 3072×3072 block setting. As a result, pop-in kicks in at the exact same points as you move through the world. And really, there's no other visual changes to speak on. The good news is that it was already an acceptable setup on Switch, and nothing is compromised to give the GPU more fill-rate to achieve the resolution bump.
Again, Richard Reavy is quoted on the Time website, explaining extra optimisation is to thank for this. The main point holding the team back from 1080p was the matter of transitioning to and from the dock, but with that fixed, Switch can unleash more of its potential here. It's understandable that keeping everything at 720p made life easier for the launch, but now we have the update, there are no obvious issues changing between the two. Barring a quick re-rendering of the world's block layout while docking, it's a seamless jump between each.
Ok, so what about frame-rate? Interestingly, our test route on the tutorial stage shows no major issues in holding 60fps. Bearing in mind Switch was running nicely at 60fps – even outperforming PS4 at 1080p – it suggests there must have been a lot of headroom to work at 720p originally. That untapped fill-rate is now finally being put to use effectively, and impressively you still get a mostly locked 60fps in solo play. There's a case where we see a lengthy drop to the mid-50fps region – around 2-3fps lower than the original patch. But even in a complex, built-up area like this, there's not much to suggest performance gets any kind of noticeable downgrade. This is exactly what we wanted, with stuttering also noticeably decreased next to our original tests.
From the solo standpoint, it's an excellent showing. Better still is the turnout for Switch in split-screen while docked; on the original patch this had a range between a hard lock at 40fps at times, right up to 60fps. The locking to 40 and 60 here may suggest a double-buffer form of v-sync, which in effect creates the erratic frame-rate reading on our graphs and noticeable frame-time stutter. But moving to patch 1.06 something has clearly changed; the average frame-rate is slightly higher, and while it stays between 40 and 60fps, performance is smoother overall and motion feels less disjointed as a result. In fact, this even benefits Switch in the portable mode, and the hard switches between 30fps and 60fps are gone in the areas we originally encountered them – and yes, split-screen mode is still rendering at full 1080p.
Improved image quality and better texture filtering are the crux of the story here then, but the good news is that it comes at little to no cost in terms of performance. In fact, for split-screen gamers, it's surprising this extends to an actual improvement in frame-rates in addition to the resolution boost. In the meantime, this Minecraft patch goes down as one of the more radical visual upgrades we've seen on Switch. 720p to 1080p without some form of compromise isn't trivial, but 4J Studios deserves kudos for making it happen.
What we talk about when we talk about Minecraft for the Nintendo Switch should be as simple as this: It took the Kyoto purveyor of mustachioed plumbers and barrel-chucking gorillas years to get Minecraft on the Wii U, but all of two months for it to find a home on Nintendo's new flagship console-handheld.
Minecraft is available on the Nintendo Switch eShop for $30 as I type this. Having tooled around with it (versus nearly all of Minecraft‘s other incarnations), I can say it's arguably the finest iteration of Swedish studio Mojang's magnum opus yet.
No one save Nintendo, Mojang and Microsoft (which bought Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014) knows why it took until December 2015 to bring a Nintendo system into the fold. Nor, had the game arrived sooner, would it have been enough to fire the Wii U's failing engines. But Minecraft, which debuted in 2011, presently thrives on everything from iOS and Android to Linux and Raspberry Pi. It's the second-bestselling game in the world by wide margins after Tetris, a game that arrived in 1984. Anyone with a viable platform not working full bore to deal it into their catalogue is surely leaving briefcases of money on the table.
To be clear, Minecraft for Switch's allure has more to do with Switch than Minecraft. The Switch, you're probably tiring of hearing (especially if you're still trying to find one), goes wherever you do. Drop it in its dock and Minecraft is on your TV, where it's all but analogous to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions. Pluck it from its cradle and it's in your hands, the experience undifferentiated save for its shift to the Switch's smaller 6.2-inch screen.
The significance of there now being a continuous TV-mobile version of Minecraft can't be overstated. At the risk of offending tablet apologists, Minecraft on smartphones and tablets is a wonderful experience marred by poor controls. This has nothing to do with Mojang or Minecraft. It's the baked-in shortcoming of any 3D first-person 360-degree control scheme yet devised for a multitouch device that lacks discrete buttons and control sticks. What makes Minecraft for smartphones and tablets so compelling is convenience. The console versions have the opposite problem: perfect controls tethered to television boat anchors.
Enter Minecraft for Switch, which to be fair isn't the utmost version in all dimensions. It offers world sizes up to “medium,” or 3,072-by-3,072 blocks, a massive upgrade from the Wii U's 864-by-864 “classic” perimeter, but notably shy of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One's 5,120-by-5,120 “large” world frontiers. Like all of the console versions, which are developed and maintained by Scottish independent 4J Studios and not Mojang, it can't interact with the Java or C++ versions that currently colonize PCs, smartphones and tablets (and that Mojang's Jens Bergensten told TIME last November 2016 the C++ version “will eventually be the main engine and also the main game version”).
Though it includes the colorful Super Mario-themed world previously exclusive to the Wii U version, it's missing a few features that I assume will appear down the pike. Like language selection (the PS4 and Xbox One versions support more than a dozen others, the Switch version only supports English), game chat during online play (the Switch doesn't yet support voice chat), viewing Leaderboards or inviting friends (you can see other friends' sessions and join those, but can't manually wave them over to yours). Minecraft for Switch also currently lags behind its console peers, lacking recently added features like “Amplified” terrain, or the “Glide” mini game. I asked Microsoft about the latter and was told an update due by the end of this month should bring the Switch version more or less up to par.
But in every other meaningful way, this is what I've been wanting from Minecraft for years. It glides at a silky smooth 60 frames per second in the dock, though Microsoft confirmed to TIME that it runs at 720p in both docked and handheld modes, a minor disappointment and one I'd love to see reconciled with an optional 1080p at 30 frames per second toggle. Shift to split-screen, be it two, three or four-way, and the frame rate remains rock solid. [Update: Microsoft notes that Minecraft‘s 720p docked/undocked resolution isn't a question of system power, but stems from issues currently experienced shifting from one resolution to the other when docking/undocking. It's possible, albeit not confirmed, that Minecraft for Switch could hit 1080p docked down the road.]
In handheld mode, the game looks crisp and gorgeous on the Switch's 720p screen, the only compromise being a drop in render distance that's most visible if you're surveying potential seeds from on high in Creative mode. Performance is still fantastic here, the exception being large jungle biomes, where the frame rate appears to drop by half (I'd wager 30 frames per second, though still on the side of acceptable). No, you can't pop the Joy-Cons off and swivel them 90 degrees for impromptu two-player shenanigans, a la Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. But given the absence of secondary triggers on each Joy-Con when used discretely, this was probably a fait accompli.
The argument for Minecraft on Switch comes down to two words: continuous playability. If you prefer gamepad to keyboard/mouse or touchscreen controls (as I very much do), you're stuck with either the Windows 10 or console versions. If you prefer portability, you're stuck with either the smartphone/tablet or (less impressive) PS Vita versions. In both instances, the idea of continuous play is either impossible or involves tradeoffs. (You can shift between Pocket and Windows 10 interfaces playing in a Realms world, for instance, but you need an Internet connection, and then you're still having to shift between a gamepad and touchscreen.)
With the Switch, the tradeoffs vanish. Screen real estate aside, you're having the same experience on an airplane, subway, or in a remote wilderness tent as when docked to your TV. Minecraft is already the finest thing I've experienced in this medium, the answer I'd probably give to the one-thing-you'd-want-on-a-deserted-island question. And thanks to Switch, it just got an order of magnitude better.
Minecraft for the Nintendo Switch is about to look dramatically better when connected to televisions, and it's thanks to the cautionary diligence of its console handlers that we're seeing it now, a few months after release. The game shipped on May 11 locked in both handheld and TV mode at 720p, pushing on the order of about a million pixels. After the update, it'll run at 1080p in TV mode, and push over twice as many pixels.
How'd they do it? Microsofttold TIME in May that the reason for the lower resolution involved “issues currently experienced shifting from one resolution to the other when docking/undocking.” The company passed along speculation from 4J Studios that 1080p might be attainable, but it couldn't promise anything.
I just spoke with 4J Studios CTO Richard Reavy, and it turns out the issue of getting Minecraft for the Switch to 1080p involved double and triple checking the interface — and a bit of performance optimization. (4J develops all console versions of Minecraft.)
Reavy tells me the game needed further optimization to handle 1080p comfortably, but that the studio was confident it could make that happen given sufficient time.
“We did spend some time analyzing our GPU usage and optimizing things before we did this move as well,” he says. “We needed to spend some time looking at the fill rate and being more careful with that, just because of the number of pixels in 1080p. We kind of knew we could do the optimization and we would get there with the performance. But yeah, ultimately, the fundamental problem was switching resolution.”
More specifically, switching the user interface at different resolutions. Reavy tells me the user interface on each of the console versions — besides the Switch, they include the PlayStation 3 and 4, PS Vita, Xbox 360 and One, and the Wii U — have custom user interfaces. “Every interface seam is handcrafted by our art team to suit the exact resolution of the console it's on,” says Reavy. Everything through May ran at a fixed resolution. But when the Switch arrived, 4J Studios had to grapple with its signature feature: transitioning dynamically between different resolutions without hiccups or pauses.
“We wanted to make sure the transition was really slick, and that the user wouldn't notice anything, like it taking seconds unloading one user interface system for another,” he says. “And also because you can dock and undock your console at any point, it can be quite problematic that the user could switch the console at a really inopportune moment.” This explains Microsoft's delay in rolling out the feature between May and now: 4J Studios simply wanted the time to thoroughly vet the user interface while changing resolution at any point while playing the game.
For now, 1080p is the biggest technical revision. The draw distance is still a bit lower than on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, you're limited to “Medium” world sizes (3,072-by-3,072 blocks versus “Large,” which supports 5,120-by-5,120 blocks) and you don't get the checkbox to create “Amplified” terrain. “Everything else is unchanged at present,” says Reavy. “We really just wanted to make sure jumping up the resolution wouldn't cause any problems.”
Those differences may fade when, later this fall, Minecraft for the Switch transitions to the much more versatile and scalable “bedrock engine” that currently runs on Windows 10, iOS and Android devices. And it's at that point things get really interesting, because Microsoft and Nintendo will be doing something that has no industry precedent, allowing Xbox One, iPhone, Windows PC and Nintendo Switch owners to play together in a single, seamlessly backend-unified ecosystem.
If you've got the urge to spend a few hours running around Chernarus today, you don't need to boot up Arma 2 or DayZ. Now you can do it in Minecraft, thanks to map-maker Criand who has recreated the entire map in beautiful—and incredibly accurate—blocky glory. Here's a big gallery of images to scroll through, (I've posted a few shots below as well) and there's a trailer above.
In a Reddit post, Criand says the project began in 2014 and took an estimated 1800 hours to complete. It really shows: the detail is amazing, the various cities, towns, roads, airfields, castle ruins, and landmarks are instantly recognizable to anyone who has spent a good amount of time in Arma 2 or DayZ. There's even an interactive zoomable version of the map.
The Chernarus map isn't currently available to download, though Criand says it will be “eventually.” In the meantime, there's a server you can join (no mods required) to check it out, run around, and kill some zombies using the IP play.mcraftz.com.
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Remember the Halo live action TV show Microsoft announced way back in 2013? Unlike Spartans that never die, it sure felt like the project's been dead for quite a while. The tech titan told AR12Gaming in an interview, though, that it has never stopped developing the series and that it's still working with Steven Spielberg and Showtime like it said years ago. 343 Industries, the Microsoft Studios subsidiary in charge of the franchise, said it's merely taking its time to ensure that the final product can meet fans' expectations.
AR12Gaming reached out to Microsoft to check on the project's status, considering it's been a while since we've heard anything about it. Not to mention, Microsoft has cancelled a bunch of projects within the past few years, including Xbox Entertainment Studios and Xbox Fitness. Unfortunately, the company remains as secretive as ever and has yet to reveal any juicy info about the show, such as when we'll finally be able to watch it.
Here's the Microsoft spokesperson's full statement:
“Progress on the Halo Television Series continues. We want to ensure we're doing this the right way together with a team of creative partners (Steven Spielberg and Showtime) that can help us build the best Halo series that fans expect and deserve. We have no further details to share at this time.”
We’ve launched the PC Gamer Club, a membership program that offers ad-free browsing on this site and a bunch of other benefits including a digital subscription to PC Gamer magazine, monthly game keys, access to our private Discord server and more. For all the info, visit club.pcgamer.com.