A while ago, we noted that Kemco came out with a new RPG in Band of Monsters. It usually costs $7.99, but is currently free as part of a celebration for Machine Knight hitting one million downloads.
The game’s unique twist to draw players in is with its music taming aspect. Monster tamers are awash in the world of Band of Monsters. You, as Zara, can tame them using the power of song by “tuning” yourself to them. You’ll then be able to use said monsters during fights.
The Pokemon/Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker aspect comes in with collecting the sheer variety of some 170 different enemies, and then cross-breeding them Shin Megami Tensei style into entirely new creatures.
Band of Monsters also has an online component, where players can take their party online to fight against other players. Being free would certainly help you find some opponents.
Band of Monsters is available now on iOS and Android. Grab it while it’s free! Read more stories about Android & Band of Monsters & iOS & Screenshots & Videos on Siliconera. Read more at https://www.siliconera.com/2014/07/23/monster-taming-rpg-band-monsters-free-limited-time/#lk8jUxhK1udIR6Vu.99
The massively popular sandbox game Minecraft first released for PC back in November 2011 and it continues to grow, as Mojang announced that the world’s best-selling PC game has reached 30 million in sales.0
The last milestone shared for the PC version was back in January 2017 when it reached the 25 million milestone, so the game has sold roughly five million copies in the last two years. At last count in late 2018, over 154 million copies of the game has been sold across all platforms to make it the second best-selling video game of all time after Tetris.
It should be interesting to see how its sales continue in the coming years, and to see when it reaches the 35 million milestone. A live tracker of its total sales can be seen at the game’s official website.
Minecraft is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, and Android. Read more stories about Android & iPhone & Minecraft & Nintendo Switch & PC & PlayStation 4 & Xbox One on Siliconera. Read more at https://www.siliconera.com/2019/04/05/minecraft-continues-to-build-on-its-record-with-30-million-copies-sold-for-pc/#7cKY5SzpsxVQaveU.99
One year after smashing the world record for the largest convention dedicated to a single video game during its Los Angeles debut, “Minefaire: An Official Minecraft Community Event” is back.
The gaming event, which pops up Saturday, April 13 at the L.A. Convention Center through Sunday, April 14, plunges young super fans into this celebration of the virtual world where they make real-world connections.
The Builds Battle Stage pits kids against each other in a build competition before a live audience, with emcee and YouTube guest judges selecting their favorites. (Courtesy of Minefaire)
“For parents,” added Minefaire co-founder Chad Collins, “it’s a chance to breathe a sigh of relief. Your introspective children who express themselves through video games are not alone. At Minefaire, they not only belong – they thrive.”
A new VR building experience makes players do the heavy lifting.
Other highlights include a Minecraft Escape Room, costume contest, and Build Battles Stage in which kids compete against each other before a live audience. Meet-and-greets with stars of Minecraft gaming YouTube channels, a Learning Lab and a marketplace of new, rare and custom Minecraft merchandise you won’t find anywhere else round out the event.
All-inclusive tickets start at $39.99 and can be purchased at www.minefaire.com.
Minecraft has been updated to remove most of its references to original creator Markus “Notch” Persson from the main menu of the game, via Eurogamer.
The main menu of Minecraft has long been home to a series of rotating phrases of splash text on the top right-hand corner of the logo, which include hundreds of different jokes, catchphrases, and references. But the most recent update to the game has tellingly removed three splash text phrases from the game: “Made by Notch!,” “The Work of Notch!,” and “110813!” (the date that Persson got married).
The Minecraft main menu, with a random splash text phrase
A tweet from 4J Studios, which develops some of the console ports of Minecraft, previously confirmed that changes were being made to splash texts, but didn’t say which changes would be made:
As Polygon notes, it’s the second largest batch of phrases to ever be removed from the game — only nine other splash text phrases have been removed from Minecraft during its nearly decade-long history.
Persson famously sold the entirety of Minecraft (along with his studio, Mojang) to Microsoft in 2014 for $2.5 billion, although Persson did not join Microsoft as part of the purchase. In the interim years, Microsoft has continued to grow Minecraft as a family-friendly brand, complete with a Minecraft: Education Edition for schools and the interactive Minecraft: Story Modegame (which has even made its way to Netflix as a quasi-kids show).
Persson, on the other hand, has become an increasingly polarizing figure, tweeting offensive statements regarding race, the LGBTQ community, gender, and other topics. Given the controversy surrounding Persson, coupled with the fact that he has no real involvement in the current affairs of the title, it’s easy to speculate that Microsoft would be looking to distance itself from Persson, especially given the massive young audience that Minecraft has and the cultural impact of the game. Persson is still listed in Minecraft in the game’s credits, although it’s a far less prominent placement than the main menu references that have now been removed.
Microsoft refused to comment when asked about the recent changes to Minecraft.
Across all platforms, Microsoft revealed last Octoberthat the game had sold over 154 million copies and was seeing 91 million monthly active users.
That number does not include 150 million downloads in China also as of October, where the game was published in August of 2017 by NetEase first on PC, and then on iOS and Android. In total, that puts the game at over 250 million users across all platforms worldwide.
For the record: A previous version of this article mistakenly read that Minecraft was published by Tencent in China. It is actually published by NetEase, as corrected above.
Minecraft is now ubiquitous. You can play it on consoles, on portables, on phones, and there was even an official port to Raspberry Pi. But the game started on PC in its Java-based original form. That Java Edition is still being sold, and today it reached a major new sales milestone: over 30 million copies sold.
Total Minecraft player count is well over 150 million, since that’s the number of people who had registered for the game’s free-to-play Chinese release as of last year – nevermind everyone who’s played other versions of the game. Total, full sales of the game are at least 154 million across all platforms, as Windows Central reported back in September.
Mojang keeps a ticker counting traditional PC sales on the official site, and it crossed the 30 million mark a few hours ago as of this post. A numberofdevelopers on the game had been closely tracking the counter’s progress toward the milestone on social media, and today’s rollover was a natural cause for celebration across the whole team.
While all the other releases have certainly expanded Minecraft’s reach, the Java Edition is still perhaps the most popular among the community, and certainly the one where you’ll find most of the best Minecraft mods.
If we keep seeing mods like the ray tracing-style effects of the Sonic Ether shader, then I don’t think there’s any limit to where things can go from here.
While PUBG sales might put a run on Minecraft’s claim of being the ‘the world’s best selling PC game,’ the venerable block-builder is certainly in rarified company.
