This sweeping timelapse video shows the construction—out of thin air—of Novigrad, the great city of The Witcher 3 (and Witcher lore in general, I guess).

Built by Elysium Fire, this video not only looks amazing as the city emerges out of the countryside, but also gives you a very good look at just how many bricks (and how much planning) went into it.

Note that it’s not a recreation of the city as it appears in the game; it’s a “tribute” that hits the main landmarks, like the city’s walls, Great Temple and elevated walkways, while going into greater detail than the game could afford to in areas like housing and the surrounding countryside.

If you play Minecraft and want to take a look yourself, you can download the map https://www.planetminecraft.com/project/novigrad-timelapse-download/

Minecraft: Story Mode is coming to Netlfix later this year.

That’s according to an exclusive report from Tech Radar.

That’s not a new TV show, it’s a video game developed by TellTale, the studio behind the popular Walking Dead games.

Of course, whether TellTale makes games or “interactive stories” is up for debate, and Netflix is insisting that the company doesn’t consider this a video game.

“We don’t have any plans to get into gaming,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement. ”There’s a broad spectrum of entertainment available today. Games have become increasingly cinematic, but we view this as interactive narrative storytelling on our service. ”

You say tomato, I say tom-ah-to. Whether Minecraft: Story Mode is a game or an interactive story hardly matters. Games are, in essence, interactive stories of one kind or another. And while TellTale’s “choose-your-own-adventure” games may be less gamey than Call of Duty or Super Mario Bros. they’re still games as far as I’m concerned. Call them whatever you like.

Credit: TellTale Games
Minecraft: Story Mode

It doesn’t sound like Netflix is interested in adding gamier games to the streaming service, which is probably for the best (at least for now.) But this could pave the road for lots more interactive stories, whether those are walking simulators like What Remains Of Edith Finch or other TellTale series like The Wolf Among Us. And that’s great. One of the great things about games (even interactive story games) as opposed to TV shows and movies is that they invite us to participate. We aren’t just passively consuming our entertainment, we’re engaging with it.

In any case, Netflix has already expanded into the ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ category with offerings like Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale. I’d love to see them take that effort further and develop full-fledged interactive stories for grown-ups. I’d love some of the old fantasy choose-your-own-adventure books to come to life on Netflix.

In related news, TellTale is reportedly developing a Stranger Things game. Or, well, an “interactive story” version of Stranger Things.

That could be neat, though I think the studio needs to evolve the way it makes games. Other offerings, like Dontnod’s Life Is Strange, have pushed the envelope and TellTale needs to rise to the occasion.

Minecraft has been big business for Mojang and Microsoft, but they’re not the only ones making money off a game that’s almost ten years old. There are others who have grown up with the game, learned its strengths and weaknesses and now found opportunities to make a living doing what they love.

20 year-old Florian Funke is one of those people. He’s the Managing Director of Spark Squared, an outfit that describe themselves as a “Minecraft production company”, and who offer their services—for a fee, of course—to anyone who wants them to build, develop, mod or render anything within the game.

Build worlds, basically.

“‘Building’ means that we create different landscapes, buildings, recreations and more”, Funke tells Kotaku. “We design gaming environments for Minecraft players, educational environments for students or work on recreations for our enjoyment.”

“During ‘Development’ we code custom tools and plugins for Minecraft servers, YouTube series and other. Additionally, we create Minecraft ‘Mechanics’ and ‘Mods’ for minigames and adventure maps, including ‘3D Models’ of monsters, machines and more. And lastly, we render images of all the work in 3D rendering software.”

Spark’s client list is pretty varied. “We work with a lot of the most popular Java and mobile edition Minecraft servers and create various gaming and lobby environments for them”, Funke says. “We have also worked with the mobile live-streaming service Mobcrush on creating products for Minecraft’s official Marketplace.”

“Furthermore, we are working on expanding more into the educational space and have already worked with ‘English Highways,’ an official UK government company that is in charge of building and maintaining highways. We created a world with the goal to get young children more interested in engineering and trying to fill that skills gap.”

While on paper that might sound like basic mod work of an existing game, something that can be handled by a couple of people in their spare time, in reality it’s relatively big business. Since its creation five years ago, Spark has grown from a couple of teenage schoolboys dabbling in a hobby into a company that now employs a range of staff full-time, from management to developers to artists, as well as calling upon a roster of around 40 freelancers.

NM Corporation, a map based on the work of Paul Chadeisson
I came across Spark’s work the other day when an artist I’m a big fan of, Paul Chadeisson, tweeted out some images showing how Spark (as a fun personal piece) had turned one of his works into a massive 3D space in Minecraft.

You can see that creation above (Funke rates is as one of the company’s favourite efforts), but I’ve also included other examples of their work as well, ranging from sci-fi worlds to medieval kingdoms to ancient Rome.

You can see more of Spark Squared’s projects at their company site.

Since 1979’s The Castle of Cagliostro, Hayao Miyazaki has delighted audiences around the world with his imaginative vision and ability to create fully realized fictional worlds. And even among Miyazaki’s pantheon, few settings can rival Spirited Away‘s bathhouse. A microcosm of capitalist inequality, the bathhouse manages to engage not just the imagination, but the rational mind. It’s a perfect match, then, for one of the world’s foremost crossovers of creativity and rationality, Minecraft. Thanks to Youtuber Alan Becker, you can experience the bathhouse and its surrounding areas in a completely new medium.

Alan Becker went above and beyond with this project, which he’s been working on for years. Not only is this the most realistic looking Minecraft server I’ve ever seen, but Becker put just as much detail into areas that might never be seen as he did into the main attractions. In the video, Becker explains that he went on dozens of Japanese house tours to mimic the Japanese style inside each home surrounding the bathhouse.

Like these houses, dozens of areas that appear only for a split second in the background of the film are completely finished and furnished. Becker even uses reflections in Chihiro’s parents’ car windows to make an educated guess as to what an area would look like.

In the video, Becker takes us through the movie scene by scene, pointing out the locations of nearly everything onscreen. No Face may have eaten up most of the bathhouse, but Becker took note of everything.

Sony refuses to let PlayStation 4 users play games with Xbox One and Nintendo Switch users.
Microsoft and Nintendo are both vocally pushing for the ability to play some games across competing platforms. “Minecraft” is already able to be played across many — except for PS4.
Microsoft and Nintendo released a joint advertisement this week showcasing the ability to play “Minecraft” across the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
Though “Minecraft” is also available on PS4, and the commercial is ostensibly for “Minecraft,” Sony’s console is excluded from the credits.

Microsoft and Nintendo just teamed up to take a powerful shot at Sony’s PlayStation 4.

Since we’re talking about businesses here, that powerful shot came in the form of an advertisement — a seemingly innocuous commercial for “Minecraft” that showcases the ability to play the game across competing game consoles. In “Minecraft,” players on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC/Mac, iOS and Android can play the game together.

There’s just one platform missing from that: Sony’s massively popular PlayStation 4.

Of the big three game console makers — Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo — Sony is the final holdout when it comes to multiplayer gaming across competing systems. Moreover, Sony is even outright locking some game accounts to the PlayStation 4: “Fortnite” players started the #BlameSony hashtag over the past few weeks due to the revelation that, if you tie your “Fortnite” account to a PlayStation 4, you can’t sign in with it anywhere else.
Thus, Microsoft and Nintendo are taking advantage of Sony’s mistake, and they’re going all in. Nintendo’s latest commercial for “Minecraft” even features an Xbox One controller alongside a Nintendo Switch controller:

Microsoft and Nintendo vs Sony
Nintendo
That’s a pretty big deal in the world of video games.

Sony and Microsoft and Nintendo are direct competitors in the video game space, and seeing two of them team up against the other to change a pillar of console gaming is more than rare — it’s unprecedented. This is not a thing that happens.

For its part, Sony hasn’t said much about its stance on multiplayer gaming across platforms. Some PlayStation 4 games, including “Fortnite,” allow limited cross-play with PC/Mac and iOS/Android, but not the Xbox One or Nintendo Switch. And, at one point in 2017, “Fortnite” briefly supported cross-play between Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players before it was turned off (Epic Games said it was a bug).

Which is to say one thing: Cross-play is technically possible, but without Sony’s support, PlayStation 4 players are left to play games mostly with other PS4 owners while Xbox One and Nintendo Switch players have a more open experience.

Check out the full ad right here:

Oh my glob! Minecraft is coming to Adventure Time in an extra-geeky episode.

Cartoon Network unveiled the first official clip on June 15 from the upcoming episode Diamonds and Lemons, for fans to glimpse their favorite Adventure Time characters reimagined in a blocky Minecraft-esque format.

The surreal animated show features Jake the dog and Finn the human who live in the mythical land of Ooo, along with Princess Bubblegum, the Ice King, BMO the video game console and others.

In the clip we see blocky versions of Finn, Princess Bubblegum and half demon, half human Marceline Abadeer, collect gems and other items in a Minecraft type of game.

The episode is set to air July 20 on Cartoon Network. Plus Funko toy company is releasing Adventure Time x Minecraft collectible figures from its Pop! Vinyl line, also in July.

The popular animated show Adventure Time is set to end sometime in 2018.

As part of TechRadar’s PC Gaming Week 2018, we take a look at the history of Minecraft, from its humble beginnings to being the best selling PC game of all time.

“I don’t see myself as a real game developer. I make games because it’s fun, and because I love games and I love to program”

Markus ‘Notch’ Persson
Our story begins back in 2009, when a number of people had some seriously good ideas. One was Zach Barth, now known best as the founder of perennial puzzle innovator Zachtronics, who coded and released multiplayer mineral-em-up Infiniminer over the course of a few months, abandoning the freeware project after its source code was leaked.

Another was Swedish coder Markus ‘Notch’ Persson, just shy of 30, and previously a developer on sandbox MMO Wurm Online. Persson was working in his spare time on a kind of Dungeon Keeper/Dwarf Fortress/Rollercoaster Tycoon combo (as odd as that may sound) named RubyDung.

It begins
Attempting to introduce a first-person view into the game, he was less than satisfied with his results – and then he found Infiniminer.

Zachtronics’ Infiniminer was the inspiration for Minecraft’s blocky structure

Zachtronics’ Infiniminer was the inspiration for Minecraft’s blocky structure

“My god,” wrote Persson on his Tumblr, “I realized that that was the game I wanted to do… I tried to implement a simple first person engine in that style, reusing some art and code (although not as much as you’d think) from RubyDung.”

Even his very first version, coded in Java, is immediately identifiable today: even though it wasn’t yet formally named, this was Minecraft.

“The response was very positive,” wrote Notch a few months later, “and I was blown away [by] the framerate, and how well it ran in a browser, so I decided to go for it.”

Pulling in character models from an earlier game idea named Zombie Town, he put the first alpha version of the game, now sporting that iconic name, up for test.

It received an immediately positive response. Players were fascinated by Minecraft’s freedom and its creative nature, so Notch quickly went to work on adding new features.

Within a month, Minecraft had sand, water, lava, rudimentary dynamic lighting. Within two months, the earliest multiplayer tests were underway, and the speed of development picked up even further.

Going Alpha
Development quickly moved towards a paid Alpha version, which required a premium account for access.

“I thought, if I don’t charge I’ll never get paid,” Notch later explained in a 2012 PC Gamer interview. “If I wait until the game is done, it’s never going to be done because I won’t have the money to sustain development.”

Minecraft’s Alpha sales began on June 13th 2009. Less than a month later it had sold over 1,000 copies and gained over 20,000 registered players, enough for Persson to scale back the hours spent on his day job and dedicate more time to Minecraft’s development under the Mojang Specifications banner.

Later in 2009 Minecraft’s Creeper-toting survival mode began testing, which turned Minecraft from a neat toy into a proper game, and led to sales that, even at a discounted rate for early adopters, were strong enough that Persson was able to leave his day job in May 2010, a year after the game’s initial tests; by June, 20,000 paid accounts were registered.

Creepers. Why did it have to be Creepers?

Creepers. Why did it have to be Creepers?

An explosion in development, which saw a regular Friday update schedule adding features like redstone, minecarts, dungeons and spooky underworld The Nether in quick succession, led to another explosion in sales, and caused Persson to expand the number of brains working on Minecraft.

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Mojang Specifications morphed into Mojang AB, founded alongside other Swedish coders, part of a group which, along with Notch himself, had been courted by Valve – a company which, at the time, was still interested in producing its own games.

“I got a Skype call from Bellevue,” game designer Jakob ‘JahKob’ Porser told PC Gamer. “Notch was like ‘I met with them, they want to hire me, obviously I’m not interested in this so let’s just make it happen. Let’s start this business.’ I was like, OK, I’ll quit my job tomorrow.”

Jakob Porser (left) and Markus Persson, in 2010

Jakob Porser (left) and Markus Persson, in 2010

The duo was soon joined by business developer Daniel ‘Kappische’ Kaplan, followed by CEO Carl Manneh, hired (on his own advice) from Persson’s previous employer jAlbum, artist Markus ‘Junkboy’ Toivonen, and coder Jens ‘Jeb’ Bergensten – and as Minecraft’s sales continued to expand, the team would continue to grow along with it.

“Minecraft certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it’s changed games. I never meant for it to do either.”

Markus ‘Notch’ Persson
Even with Minecraft still very much in its early stages (although now playable in its own browser-free client) our pals at PC Gamer magazine made Minecraft its game of the year in 2010.

“Minecraft sits among the very best of games, just because you can play so many games inside it,” wrote Jaz McDougall. “It’s a primal urge – to build a goddamn hill fort – in gaming form.”

Continued success
The snowball kept rolling downhill. January 12 2011 marked the milestone of one million Minecraft accounts registered; the wave of hype, and Minecraft’s core of accessibility and simplicity, saw 10 million accounts registered just 6 months later. This was a hot property, and it was time for it to spread its net even further.

The creepy lava-filled underworld of The Nether

The creepy lava-filled underworld of The Nether

But, Minecraft had a pretty fundamental problem: Java. Notch’s original choice of programming language was, while somewhat awkward, perfect for Minecraft’s requirements at the time.

It had already aided in fostering a growing scene of modders tweaking Minecraft to their own ends, and facilitated cross-platform play between PC, Mac and Linux.

Those mods, while unsupported, extended the game often in a very positive way; some (including pistons and horses) impressed Notch and Jeb enough to make their way into the game proper.

The complex overheads of Java, not really made for games as heavyweight as Minecraft was becoming, were an impediment on absolutely every other platform.

To truly get Minecraft out to the masses, an entirely distinct branch of the game entered development for the rising smartphone market: Minecraft Pocket Edition, now coded in C++.

Moving platforms
Minecraft Pocket Edition wasn’t quick off the mark – it has consistently lagged behind mainline Minecraft in terms of features since it was revealed – but it brought Minecraft first to Android (specifically the Xperia Play) and then to iOS.

Five days after the reveal of Pocket Edition, yet another C++ branch emerged during a presentation at 2011’s E3: the console edition. Initially an Xbox 360 exclusive title, it was developed out of house by Scottish developers 4J Studios.

Minecraft’s formula translated perfectly to touch controls

Minecraft’s formula translated perfectly to touch controls

The Java edition was not left behind by any means. Formally leaving its Beta stage at the Las Vegas MineCon convention in November 2011 (and jumping up to double the price of its initial Alpha release) it continued to be the bearer of new features; version 1.0 introduced The End, adding a formal ending to the game.

It also marked the end of Notch’s lead role on the project, as he handed over the reigns to Jeb, who remains the project lead to this day.

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“I think I’m more interested in doing new development of new games, rather than maintaining a game,” Notch told PC Gamer.

“I have this tendency of getting bored or frustrated with things after three to five years. Jeb turned out to be a really good game developer, who was very compatible with how I felt Minecraft should be developed.”

Notch himself moved on to other development projects, although he scaled back his efforts to hobby projects and challenges which interested him after creative block caused his first major follow-up project, 0x10c, to fizzle out.

0x10c wasn’t exactly Minecraft in space, but it was an ambitious project

0x10c wasn’t exactly Minecraft in space, but it was an ambitious project

Shortly after the official release of Minecraft, the team behind multiplayer mod Bukkit joined the Mojang team, helping to improve the multiplayer experience and develop a mod API.

This, and an ongoing scheme of regular updates and additions, meant that Minecraft’s formal release wasn’t the end of its development story by any means.

A growing empire
Bolstered by its absurd sales figures and a growing popularity with kids, Minecraft’s extra-curricular activities increased. Toys and branded merchandise flooded the shelves, and the first Minecraft LEGO set – created after a successful campaign on the company’s Cuusoo (later Ideas) scheme – was released just a month after the Xbox edition emerged.

The latter was (as expected) an immediate success, shifting a million downloads in five days, selling an average of 17,000 copies per day after its May 2012 release, and racking up over 4 million sales on Xbox Live Arcade alone by October 2012.

Texture packs like Sphax give Minecraft a fresh look

Texture packs like Sphax give Minecraft a fresh look

By April 2013, shortly after the release of the education-focused Raspberry Pi edition of Minecraft, the Java and Pocket editions surpassed 10 million sales each.

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Later in 2013, the game’s exclusivity clause with Microsoft elapsed, and versions for PS3, PS4 and PSVita were announced; Minecraft had well and truly outgrown its indie game status. And Persson, as the oft-maligned figurehead of the biggest gaming phenomenon the world had ever seen, was struggling under the weight of online pressure.

“Anyone want to buy my share of Mojang,” he tweeted in June 2014, “so I can move on with my life? Getting hate for trying to do the right thing is not my gig.”

CEO Carl Manneh’s phone immediately lit up with enquiries as to whether Persson was serious. He was: Activision Blizzard and EA each expressed an interest in picking up Mojang, but the company’s prior relationship with Microsoft (and, presumably, a superior monetary offer) saw a deal being made.

Microsoft takes charge
“I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.”

Markus ‘Notch’ Persson
The Redmond company hadn’t always been particularly interested in Minecraft, at least if one-time Microsoft-contracted developer Peter Molyneux is to be believed.

“I can remember coming to things like [Gamescom] back in my Microsoft days and talking to Microsoft,” he told GamesRadar. “They thought it was rubbish. You know, it didn’t have a character, it didn’t have a story, it didn’t have a tutorial, the graphics were, you know, like 1980s graphics… they totally, totally missed that.”

They didn’t miss it in late 2014. Following the launch of Minecraft’s paid-for online server option, Realms, and ten days after the launch of Minecraft on Xbox One, it was announced that Notch and co. were to sell Mojang to Microsoft for a cool $2.5 billion.

The completion of the deal on November 5 2014 marked the end of the founders involvement with the company – Persson, Porser and Carl Manneh departed Mojang.

Under new leadership, but maintaining the same dev team that had driven it since Notch’s original sidestep in 2011, Minecraft’s expansion rolled on.

MineCon 2015, at London’s Excel centre, broke the Guinness world record for the largest convention for a single videogame. The Pocket edition was ported to Wii U, Windows 10, Samsung’s GearVR, Apple TV and beyond. By 2016, total sales for Minecraft across all platforms hit 100 million.

A key for Minecraft’s Windows 10 edition comes free if you buy the Java version

A key for Minecraft’s Windows 10 edition comes free if you buy the Java version

And Microsoft was by no means done with Minecraft. An Education edition, which builds on the creative, problem-solving aspects of Minecraft which had made it such a popular game with young people and adults alike, launched in November 2016

Meanwhile, Pocket Edition finally (after five years) reached version 1.0. A Chinese beta followed in 2017, preceding the most significant behind-the-scenes update in Minecraft’s history: the Bedrock Engine.

Released as part of the ‘Better Together’ update, the Bedrock Engine brought every platform running some form of Pocket Edition, from mobile to console to Windows 10, into line with each other under the hood, and over it too.

Cross-platform multiplayer and unification of DLC items landed, along with 4K graphics and planned upgrades to the non-Java Minecraft (now dropping the ‘Pocket Edition’ tag and simply going by ‘Minecraft’) would happen simultaneously.

There’s still a division within Minecraft – the now-explicitly named Minecraft Java Edition continues development under its own internal team at Mojang.

Mods extend the gameplay of the Java edition in various entertaining ways

Mods extend the gameplay of the Java edition in various entertaining ways

The future is blocky
“In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a much bigger sense, it’s belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change.”

Marcus ‘Notch’ Persson
So what’s next for Minecraft? Standing at 144 million paid accounts and boasting a record of 74 million simultaneous players as of January 2018, and surely on its way to ousting Tetris as the top selling video game of all time, Minecraft doesn’t show any signs of going anywhere.

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The mod scene, bolstered by integration with the Twitch launcher, continues to thrive. The game continues to be a big draw on YouTube.

Meanwhile, merchandise sales haven’t dipped; Minecraft has become a staple of Lego’s commercial efforts. And there’s even a movie on the way, due for release in May 2019, although details about it are currently scarce.

What we do know is this: there’s an infinite world out there. One man’s idea, and another man’s experiment, have grown into something that has delighted an entire generation of kids, and changed the way we think about games.

Minecraft isn’t a graphical masterpiece, and it’s not, by any stretch of the imagination, a game with an AAA storyline. It’s an experience that remains as relevant today as it did nine years ago – and how many games can say that?

TechRadar’s fourth annual PC Gaming Week is officially here, celebrating our passion with in-depth and exclusive coverage of PC gaming from every angle. Visit our PC Gaming Week 2018 page to see all of the coverage in one place.

You want to get your kids the best games, but how do you know they’re appropriate for their age?

Like movies, every video game released in the UK is given a PEGI age rating. These are 3, 7, 12, 16 and 18 and represent the appropriate age level for the game.

Use these as a guide to determine if a title is suitable for your child, and read reviews from websites such as Common Sense Media. Each boy and girl is different, so if you don’t think a game is suitable for your child, don’t buy it.

Most games consoles like the Nintendo Wii, Xbox One and PS4 have parental controls, which let you keep your children safe by restricting what games can be played and setting time limits. Internet Matters, a not-for profit e-safety organisation has an interactive Parental Controls tool that shows you how to turn these settings on.

We’ve rounded up the best games for all ages and all consoles. Let the games begin!

3+
Paper Mario Colour Splash
Paper Mario Colour Splash game

Step into a world made of paper, where, armed with his trusty paintbrush, Mario has to add some colour to areas that Bowser’s minions have made look drab. Sure to brighten up any day.

Amazon

Nintendo Wii U

Just Dance 2017
Just Dance 2017

With songs from Justin Bieber, Queen, Sean Paul, Major Lazer and more, this rhythm game is sure to get the whole family up and moving. Even Granny.

Amazon

Nintendo Wii

FIFA 17
FIFA 17

The best football game in the world is back. New additions include story mode, which lets you live like a Premiership footballer, and the new Frostbite engine, which makes for a more realistic playing experience.

Game

Xbox One (also available on Xbox 360)

Peanuts Movie: Snoopy’s Grand Adventure
Peanuts Movie: Snoopy’s Grand Adventure

Snoopy is on a mission to be reunited with the rest of the Peanuts gang, and it’s up to you to help him. Find the hidden Beagle Scouts and you’ll unlock a special surprise.

Amazon

PlayStation 4

7+
Star Fox Zero
Star Fox Zero

The Lylat system is in danger from an evil empire. It’s up to you to step into the boots of legendary space pilot Fox McCloud and blast through foes in an effort to save the universe. No pressure.

Game

Nintendo Wii U

Planes: Fire and Rescue
Planes: Fire and Rescue

This game is based on Disney’s Planes film, and is just as much fun. It sees you teaming up with Dusty and his friends to extinguish fires across Piston Peak Park.

Amazon

Nintendo Wii

Lego Marvel Avengers
Lego Marvel Avengers

What’s more fun than Marvel’s Avengers family? The Avengers family in Lego form! Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk and Thor are all here in brick-based glory. Hours of fun.

Tesco

Xbox One (also available on Xbox 360)

No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky

This game gives you an entire universe to explore. It’s up to you whether you fight, trade, or just go off exploring. A serene sci-fi smash.

Amazon

PlayStation 4

12+
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

Originally released in 2006, this critically acclaimed instalment gets an HD makeover 10 years on. It’s also playable using certain Amiibo figurines.

Amazon

Nintendo Wii U

Brave
Brave game

A flame-haired princess is on a mission to rid the land of an evil taint created by a supernatural bear named Mordu. The slick game mechanics put it a step above the usual film tie-in fare.

£13.84, Amazon

Nintendo Wii

ReCore
Recore

Made by the people behind the legendary game Metroid Prime, ReCore sees you play one of the few remaining humans alive who must team up with robotic pals to save your lives. Hectic stuff.

Game

Xbox One

Knack
Knack

Knack can go from three feet to 30 feet tall using mysterious relics – you’ll need plenty of them if you want to slay the Goblin army and save humanity.

Game

PlayStation 4

[Read more: What is cyberbullying?]

16+
Batman: Arkham Origins
Batman: Arkham Origins

Ever wanted to play as the younger Batman? Now’s your chance in this rip-roaring fighting game. There’s also an arsenal of Batty’s patented gadgets to help you on your way.

Amazon

Nintendo Wii U

Back to the Future
Back to the Future

Six months after the events of the third film, Marty must travel back to 1931 to save his pal Doc. Even if your child is too young to remember the films, this game has plenty to entertain them.

Amazon

Nintendo Wii

[Read more: 12 apps for big and small children]

Destiny – The Collection
Destiny The Collection

With five adventures in one, this collection is unbelievable value, especially if you’re yet to experience the thrills of the Destiny universe. First-person shooters don’t come much better.

Game

Xbox One

Aragami
Aragami

A stealth game with a difference, this sees you having the ability to control shadows. You can also make weapons appear and even summon a shadow dragon. Should help you on your quest.

If your child uses a tablet or console to play games, there’s a good chance they’ll be playing online.

An online game is one where the entire game or some part of it is played over the internet. Online games are played using internet-connected devices such as a smartphone, tablet, console (Xbox or PlayStation) or PC, connecting using wi-fi, or (in the case of a phone or tablet) mobile data.

Online games allow you to play in real-time with people all over the world. So instead of playing against the game, you can play with real people.

According to Ofcom, 76% of children aged 12-15 and 62% of children aged 8-11 play games online. Perhaps more worrying for parents is that a quarter of 12-15-year-olds have played games online with one or more people they have not met in person.

Research from Ditch The Label, found that 57% of the 2500 12-25 year olds questioned have been bullied online. Read more about Cyberbullying.

How does online gaming work?
Games consoles such as the Xbox and the PlayStation have huge online communities – called Xbox Live and PlayStation Network respectively – where gamers can play against each other and communicate through headsets.

The majority of modern games have an online mode of some description and some games are famous for their online modes, such as the Call of Duty first-person shooter series. In November 2015, fans of Call of Duty: Black Ops III racked up 75 million hours online within just three days of its launch.

Facebook has a thriving online gaming community which allows you to invite others to play games such as Farmville and Candy Crush by sending an invitation.

With over 100 million players worldwide, World of Warcraft is a hugely popular PC role-playing game (RPG) where gamers pick characters and meet others in a virtual world.

Another popular online game is Minecraft, which has over 100 million users on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Android and iOS versions.

Internet Matters, a not for profit organisation dedication to providing information to keep children safe online has lots of useful facts about different types of online gaming, check it out here.

Risks of online gaming
Playing games online can be great fun for your child, but as a parent it’s worth being aware of the potential risks:

1. Bullying: When your child plays a game online, they may play with people they don’t know. These people could call your child names, bullying them or ‘griefing’, which is when bullying tactics are used to win games.

2. Inappropriate content: If your child plays with older children they may encounter swearing or talk about subjects they don’t understand and find upsetting.

Many online games include adult themes such as war and death, swearing and sexual content that won’t be suitable for every child.

3. Grooming: The anonymity of the internet allows people to hide behind fake identities. Your child may think they are playing with someone who is not who they say they are. Adults may try to develop a relationship with a child through online gaming that could have dangerous consequences. Incidences like this are fortunately rare.

4. Hidden costs: Some online games are free to play, but developers encouraging players to pay to upgrade weapons or skip levels.

Upgrades can range from a few pence to hundreds of pounds. Within the mobile app Smurfs Village, for instance, ‘A Barrell of Smurfberries’ costs nearly £24; if you child buys it accidentally, you’ll get the bill.

Tips to ensure your child is online gaming safety
Online gaming can help your child to learn, explore and develop creative skills and if you follow these simple tips you can help them do this safely.

1. Check game ratings: Games are given a Pan European Gaming Information (PEGI) rating that will give you some indication of the suitability of a game for your child.

Eight areas – drugs, fear, discrimination, bad language, gambling, sex, violence, and online gameplay with other people – are considered to produce age ratings of 3, 7, 12, 16 or 18. Find out more about what the games ratings mean.

Use these ratings to make an informed choice about whether a game is suitable for your child. Remember the ages are a guide, you know your son or daughter better than anyone, if they are old enough, but sensitive, the game might not be suitable.

2. Talk to your child: Communicate with your son or daughter about potential dangers online so that they understand the risks. Find out what they play online and who they talk to.

If you ban a game, talk to your child about why you don’t think it’s suitable so they understand your reasoning.

3. Set restrictions: Decide how long your child is allowed to play online in a day or a week. If you have a younger child, consider letting them play in the front room rather in their bedroom so you can keep an eye on what they are playing.

4. Keep information private: Encourage your child not to give out personal details, such as their email, date of birth and address that could be used to locate them.

Make sure they use a gamer name that doesn’t give too much information away, for instance OrangeGremlin is a safer name than Matthew95Bristol.

Encourage them to remain friends with other players only within the game, and not on other social networks like Facebook or Instagram.

5. Parental controls: Most gadgets have parental controls designed to help you restrict the type of content your child can access.

BT Broadband customers can activate BT Parental Controls, which lets you set filters to block certain topics. Once activated they cover all devices connected to your Home Hub and if you use the BT Wi-fi app. Find out more.

6. Report abuse: If your child encounters bully or abuse online, don’t be afraid to report the perpetrators.

Read more about reporting abuse on Xbox Live.
Read more about reporting abuse on the PlayStation Network.
7. Turn off the internet connection: Stop younger children going online and accidentally spending money by turning on flight mode on smartphones and tablets.

Apple allows you to turn off in-app purchases for iPads and iPhones, find out more.
Google lets you add a PIN code that needs to be applied when buying digital content, find out more.
8. Join in: You might feel that your gaming years are long gone, but the best way to find out what your child is up to is to play along with them. They are probably keen to show you what they are doing (and possibly beat you!) and you’ll have a greater understanding of what they are up to and how the device or game they are using works.

Nintendo and Microsoft have teamed up for a Minecraft commercial that seemed strangely historic for those of us who grew up thinking about console generations as a series of figurative wars. Both consoles were highlighted, both company’s logos were on the screen and the hook was the ability to play the same game across two consoles or using a gaming PC.

Sony was, of course, not involved with any of this. The company doesn’t support cross-platform play between consoles, and limits the use of Fortnite accounts on other platforms if they’ve ever been used on the PlayStation 4. In the case of Minecraft, Sony’s excuse from 2017 was that cross-platform support would make PlayStation 4 players less safe, a claim that Microsoft’s Phil Spencer rejected out of hand.

But it might be as simple as an economic issue.

“BTW when I was at Sony, the stated reason internally for this was money,” industry veteran John Smedley tweeted. “They didn’t like someone buying something on an Xbox and it being used on a Playstation. Simple as that. Dumb reason, but there it is.” Smedley used to be the president of Daybreak Game Company, which was once called Sony Online Entertainment. He’s now the general manager of Amazon Game Studios. The tweet has since been deleted.

This is the explanation that actually makes the most sense, and we can see the account issue come up in the FAQ section of today’s Minecraft blog post talking about the release of the “Better Together” update for Minecraft on the Nintendo Switch:

Q: What’s a Microsoft Account and why do I need it for a Nintendo Switch?

A: A Microsoft Account is a free account you can sign-in on device that allows Minecraft players on Switch to play with others on non-Nintendo devices like iOS, Android, Xbox One and Windows 10 via cross-play, Realms or Servers. Having a Microsoft Account also enables the portability of your MINECOINS and marketplace purchases to other devices and platforms. To create an account click here.

The game industry is turning into a business of accounts, not hardware, and you can guess how enthusiastic Sony must be about the idea of someone logging into a Microsoft account from the PlayStation 4.

But outside of the terminology, it’s the last part of the description that has to stick in Sony’s craw: The use of the Microsoft account is what allows someone to give Microsoft money for in-game items, and then bring those items onto other platforms. Sony only gets a cut of the revenue if these purchases are made on its platform, which is why this is a topic it’s willing to be so stubborn about.

And this is likely what Sony is afraid of in the grand scheme of things. Imagine a world where game accounts move from hardware to hardware willy nilly, and purchases made on one platform were accessible everywhere. Where’s the profit for the platform holders? If you buy all your content for a free-to-play game on another platform and use that content on the PlayStation 4, the hardware just becomes a conduit through which you play games you paid for on other platforms.

The play part of cross-platform play is the least important aspect of this issue for Sony. The important issue is the use of third-party accounts to purchase things away from Sony hardware, and then using them on Sony’s platform.

So why don’t Microsoft and Nintendo care? My guess is that Nintendo is Nintendo, a company that has already played by its own rules and has ridden that sense of adventure directly into huge profits, and Microsoft is currently way behind Sony in the console business, and this is a way to bring attention to something the Xbox can do that Sony refuses to match on the PlayStation 4.

But if Sony lets Minecraft purchases from Microsoft come onto the PlayStation 4, and it lets purchases from Epic Games come onto the PlayStation 4 through the accounts tied to other games and companies, it’s not going to be able to deny anyone else, which means that Sony would lost the ability to guarantee itself a heavy cut of all the virtual currency and in-game items being sold for those games.

That’s the nightmare Sony is worried about, and that’s why it’s been so unwilling to budge. The question is how much pain the company is willing to endure before it decides the lost profit is worth the positive press and player contentment.