Company’s cloud service, JD Cloud, using licensing agreement to move into educational sector
Chinese e-commerce company JD.com has purchased the rights to Minecraft: Education Edition in China in an effort to expand its business into the educational sector in the country.
Technode reports that the educational version of the popular title will be handled by the company’s cloud computing branch, JD Cloud.
JD Cloud will endeavor to partner with both local governments and various education institutions in the same way that Minecraft: Education Edition is implemented elsewhere in the world. The Education Edition of the game is specifically designed to educate K-12 students on STEM subjects, and includes content that teaches students to code. Currently, it is in use in over 100 countries around the world.
The next major update of the Minecraft Village and Pillage series of upgrades is already out now for the Bedrock Edition of the game. Several note-worthy new features have been added, including Shields, which have long been in the Java edition Minecraft since version 1.9 more than 2 years ago.
The crossbow is now also fully available in the game. Previously, it was an experimental feature that had to be manually turned on in the game settings. Now, it appears that the weapon’s development is finally complete, as anyone can enjoy the feature without having to turn it on.
Additionally, for all those Xbox One users out there, a new achievement can be earned in the game. Titled Fruit of the Loom, a player can earn 20 Gamerscore points for creating a banner using at the Enchanted Apple Stencil.
There are also many other new features in the update, such as the new cat skin which has been named Jellie by the developers. The new skin was part of a contest in which players voted before the best one, and Jellie proved to be the winner in the end.
Other noteworthy new features include Lanterns (which have also been removed from the Experimental Gameplay settings), Looms for additional banner pattern creation, Lecterns for allowing multiple players to read the same books, and the new hostile mob called the Pillager (which strangely is only available in creative mode for the time being).
The update is available today and will roll out to all the operating systems that the Bedrock Edition is available on, including the Xbox One, Windows 10, Android, iOS, and the Nintendo Switch. For users on mobile devices, the devs recommend not using any HD textures right now, as there is presently a bug in the game that causes it to crash when using them.
Both Virtual On and Shining Force Cross Exlesia are coming to the Japanese Phantasy Star Online 2 in the form of costume. It’s part of the game’s second anniversary.
Both of the former titles are arcade games, and will be adding costumes to the game. It’s hard to tell which is spiffier. To pick up Shining Force Cross Exlesia gear, you’ll need to defeat the Knight Gear, who will drop knight, er, gear. There’s also new 11 star weapons and a Knight Gear familiar from client orders.
Virtual On gear will turn your character into someone who looks exactly like some of the various models from the robotic series such as the Temjin 747A 1P or Fei-Yen 1P.
Phantasy Star Online 2 is available now on PC and PlayStation Vita. The English version is out in Asia on PC. Read more stories about PC & Phantasy Star Online 2 & PlayStation Vita & Videos on Siliconera. Read more at https://www.siliconera.com/2014/07/23/virtual-shining-force-cross-exlesia-costumes-headed-phantasy-star-online-2/#S2oWTmfsf2SIW5p1.99
I first saw Citizens of Earth at an indie press event. The game’s quirky humor and Earthbound vibe immediately caught my attention. In Citizens of Earth, you play the Vice President of the World and lead everyday people like Baristas and even your Mother in your party. All of the townsfolk in the game can be recruited.
About a year later, Eden Industries tried fund the game through Kickstarter, but unfortunately weren’t able to reach their goal even though they had a neat playable demo.
“It’s hard to get the word out. There are so many Kickstarter projects and it is hard to hit that critical mass for coverage. People just don’t know about it. We’ve had so many people come up and say ‘Oh, there was a Kickstarter I wish I would’ve known about it,” lead designer and Eden Industries co-founder Ryan Vandendyck said to Siliconera.
Enter Atlus, the RPG publisher behind the Shin Megami Tensei series and also indie games like Zeno Clash from Ace Team. Atlus picked up Citizens of Earth after the Kickstarter campaign ended and will release Eden Industries humorous RPG. “We were very fortunate. I had met Atlus and have been talking to them even before the Kickstarter. We didn’t have any deal yet, but we were in talks. After the Kickstarter failed, Atlus reaffirmed how much they loved the game and they were sad to see it fail. They said we would love to work with you. We would love to get this game made. They very generously stepped in and helped us out,” said Vandendyck.
I asked, “How else has Atlus helped, aside from funding Citizens of Earth?“
“Funding was a big one,” Vandendyck answered. “They have helped with the marketing of the game. They made a really cool website. We didn’t have a ton of experience making dialog for games. They helped us with an editing pass and with dialog with the game. They brought the game to get voice acting, all of the characters have voice acting, which is really cool. They’ve been really great at lending their eye to it and giving us design feedback. They’ve been a great partner.”
Atlus also hosted a contest where fans could vote on a citizen and the Beekeeper came out on top. She will be made into a citizen who can join your party in the game. The Beekeeper can use honey to heal characters and send bees to attack enemies.
What other citizens are in the game? “One of my favorite characters is the School Mascot. This is a person dressed up as the mascot of the school in town and you never see who is inside,” Vandendyck explained. “He’s a fun over the top character. Everyone in the game has a day job and he gives everyone a cheer. That translates to changing the difficulty in the game. If you raise it up you get more rewards, it’s similar to The World Ends With You if you’ve played it. In battle, he can keep people’s spirits high to do more damage. He’s great at manipulating stats like buffing characters.”
Citizens of Earth is slated for release this October on Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and PC. Read more stories about Citizens of Earth & Nintendo 3DS & PC & PlayStation 3 & PlayStation 4 & PlayStation Vita & Wii U on Siliconera. Read more at https://www.siliconera.com/2014/07/23/atlus-saved-citizens-earth/#ao8msE7gSow4f33j.99
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
