Minecraft developer pushes out update to ‘hopefully fix’ framerate problems on PC

Even with a dual GTX 780 Ti setup, this PC is getting 0 frames per second in certain circumstances.

Above: Even with a dual GTX 780 Ti setup, this PC is getting 0 frames per second in certain circumstances.

Image Credit: Reddit

Minecraft may have antiquated-looking visuals, but some people are finding out this doesn’t guarantee a solid framerate.

Developer Mojang says it is aware that some people are experiencing issues with lower-than-usual framerates for Minecraft on PC. One of the recent incremental updates (which Mojang calls Snapshots) for the block-building phenomenon introduced a problem with its optimization, and this manifests in the game by causing stuttering, huge dips in frames-per-second, and block lag (where you can’t destroy a placed block due to desyncing issues). Now, the Microsoft-owned studio is working to fix the problem.

Minecraft designer and programmer Nathan “Dinnerbone” Adams posted to Twitter earlier today to let fans know that he was personally addressing the issue.

Normally, Mojang issues a new Minecraft snapshot on Wednesdays, but Adams didn’t want to wait that long to fix the framerate. The snapshot is available now, and you can download it here if you already own Minecraft.Late last week, Adams tweeted that he found a possible cause for the framerate issue.

Put simply, the game was loading the information for in-game locations into your processor’s main thread. Apparently, this was taxing hardware too much, and now Mojang only plans to do that for blocks that players have placed themselves.The latest snapshot only went live a few hours ago, so we’ll have to see if this fixes the problem for most players.

Minecraft developer pushes out update to ‘hopefully fix’ framerate problems on PC

Here’s What’s New In The Latest Minecraft PE Update

 

Minecraft has been one of the most widely downloaded and played apps of the last couple of years, with the franchise itself spawning various toys, books and there’s even a movie in the works. With Microsoft including the latest version of Minecraft for free on Windows 10, the mobile app, Minecraft PE (Pocket Edition) received a huge number of improvements in the 0.12.1 (currently on 0.12.2 which is mostly just bug fixes) update to allow the game to be played cross-platform – meaning you can quit the game on your PC at home and carry on playing on your mobile or tablet without missing a beat.

minecraft-peThere are various new updates which improve the pocket edition experience for players, bringing the game more in line with the desktop and console version. These include:

New Inventory – The app edition will feature the same inventory users have gotten used to in the desktop version, which will make crafting a little more challenging than it has been in the past!

Customise Your Interface – You’ll be able to change the layout of your Minecraft interface to help suit your style of play better, moving around the main onscreen items like buttons and the experience bar.

The Nether – This new dimension has now been added to the pocket edition of the game, allowing you to do battle with new enemies and obtain some cool new materials.

Weather – The addition of changing weather will bring the game more in line with the console and PC experience, with rain falling during play and snow piling up on the landscape

Hunger Bar – In this new edition you’ll need to eat to survive, with the hunger bar monitoring your food intake and draining your health if you don’t eat something quickly!

Potions – Another feature from the desktop edition that’s coming to mobile, you’ll be able to mix up various potions to give you temporary abilities and regenerate your health

Music – at last, music has been added to the pocket edition of Minecraft! The music in the desktop edition helps set the mood perfectly, so it’s a more than welcome addition to the game

New Mobs – Alongside the new enemies being added to the Nether dimension, a number of new mobs will be included in the update. These include Ocelots which will spawn in jungle biomes, and Iron Golems who will help protect the villagers. Another cool addition is that villagers can now turn into zombies – as if we needed something else to give us a scare in the game!

New Blocks and Items – A number of new blocks will be added to the game, including anvils, brewing stands and enchantment tables. There’s also a whole range of new items being added to help add a little more depth to the game (as if it needed it!)

Overall it’s an exciting update, and the option of continuing with your game when you’re commuting to work or over at a friend’s house means there’s even more reason to get lost in your own world.

You can get the latest Minecraft versions on the official Minecraft website.

Here’s What’s New In The Latest Minecraft PE Update

‘Minecraft’ Updates & Gameplay: Game Getting New DLC Featuring ‘Halo 5’ Character Skins

Minecraft: Halo Edition
(Photo : Flickr / BagoGames / CC)

As part of its marketing efforts to promote the upcoming “Halo 5: Guardians,” Microsoft will release a new content updated inspired by the popular sci-fi first-person shooter for “Minecraft.”

The update, which will be released for free, will serve as an add-on for the “Minecraft: Halo Edition” mash-up pack, according to a report by the Xbox Wire.

The update will be available for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 versions of “Minecraft” and will feature new skins designed after characters from “Halo 5: Guardians.” These include Master Chief and members of his Blue Team as well as Spartan Locke and his Fireteam Osiris.

Those who already have the “Minecraft: Halo Edition” mash-up pack can get the content update for free once it comes out on October 27. Those who still don’t have the game can purchase it through the Xbox online store for $3.99.

The “Minecraft: Halo Edition” mash-up pack first came out in May last year for the Xbox 360 followed by Xbox One version in August.

As its name suggests, the pack features various elements from the “Halo” series such as 31 music tracks, themed menus and user interface, craft-able items and a textured set.

It also includes “Halo” world designed in the style of “Minecraft” such as Silent Cartographer, Sandtrap, Valhalla, Blackout, Guardian and Blood Gulch. It also features 41 character skins such as Cortana, Sergeant Johnson and the Arbiter.

Of course, since the “Halo” series is only available for the Xbox platforms, PlayStation owners should not expect to get receive the upcoming update for their console’s “Minecraft” version. After all, the mash-up pack was only released for the Xbox One and Xbox 360.

As for the “Halo 5: Guardians,” the game is scheduled to come out on October 27 exclusively for Microsoft’s next-gen console. Recently, development studio 343 Industries released a blog post detailing the game’s rules for its multiplayer or Arena mode.

One of the guidelines explained by the studio is the game’s Competitive Skill Ranking (CSR), which is the system that determines a player’s status based on his or her performance in matches.

“The Competitive Skill Rating system in ‘Halo 5’ is designed to ensure high quality matches between players of equal skill, on a per-playlist basis,” 343 Industries wrote. “When you first hop into any Arena playlist, you will play a series of placement matches before earning your CSR.”

“After you complete 10 games, you will be placed into one of 7 CSR ranks based on your performance,” the studio continued.

‘Minecraft’ Updates & Gameplay: Game Getting New DLC Featuring ‘Halo 5’ Character Skins

Halo 5: Guardians Lands This Week on Minecraft for Xbox

xcited to start the newest saga in the Halo universe in Halo 5: Guardians on Oct. 27? Well, the fun begins in Minecraft first, and starting Oct. 23 you can play as the Master Chief along with Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris from Halo 5: Guardians for Minecraft: Xbox One Edition and Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition.

This free update to the Minecraft: Halo Edition mash-up pack will bring new characters from Halo 5: Guardians to Minecraft on Xbox and include all of the content from the original pack for those purchasing for the first time ($3.99 USD).

The mash-up pack, expertly crafted by 4J Studios, includes a Halo-themed texture set, themed menus and user interface, craft-able items and 31 music tracks across the Halo franchise. Also available are 40 pixel-perfect character skins depicting beloved Halo characters such as the Master Chief, Cortana, Sergeant Johnson, the Arbiter and more. For fans looking to fully immerse themselves into the Halo universe, the Halo Mash-up pack also features pre-made worlds such as Silent Cartographer, Sandtrap, Valhalla, Blackout, Guardian, Blood Gulch and plenty of well-known Halo vehicles and features.

Characters included in the update:

Blue Team:

  • Spartan-117 The Master Chief
  • Spartan-104 Fredric
  • Spartan-087 Kelly
  • Spartan-058 Linda

Fireteam Osiris:

  • Spartan Locke
  • Spartan Buck
  • Spartan Tanaka
  • Spartan Vale

Master the Halo universe within Minecraft this week, and stay tuned to Xbox Wire for up-to-date news on both games.

Halo 5: Guardians Lands This Week on Minecraft for Xbox

Minecraft update brings several new features and limited edition DLC to Xbox 360 and Xbox One

Some massive free updates went live on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions of Minecraft today. They upgrade the game to a new version and bring with it a host of new features that many Minecraft fans have been clamoring for.

Among the new additions are new Fence, Gate and Door blocks as well as new Oak, Spruce, Birch and Jungle wood type blocks. There’s a new ability to flatten mountains and caverns and several new items like Iron Trapdoors, Inverted Daylight Sensors, Books & Quills, and Stained Glass.

The update also adds options that can change the game mode, difficulty, time, player spawn position, ambient cave sounds, and weather without leaving a game session and brings PC-style crafting to console versions .

To tie-in to this year’s Minecon (a real-world convention for Minecraft fans), a limited edition Minecon 2015 Skin Pack has also been released and is downloadable for free from the Xbox Store until the 15th of July. The skin pack contains special Minecon capes for both male and female character models.

Minecraft has been in the news a lot recently. The game made headlines during this year’s E3 where a special version of the game was shown off during Microsoft’s HoloLens presentation and they’ve now launched a special Minecraft for Education website to help educators use Minecraft for teaching students a variety of subjects and skills. Earlier today it was announced that Minecraft has sold over 20 million copies worldwide on PC since its launch and the developer, Mojang even boasted about selling 10,364 copies on PC within the 24 hours leading up to that announcement.

Microsoft purchased Mojang and the rights to Minecraft in November 2014 and has been actively expanding the franchise. Which new Minecraft project excites you the most? Would you like to see the brand expand even further or are you happy with Minecraft sticking to its basic video game roots? Let us know in the comments below.

Minecraft update brings several new features and limited edition DLC to Xbox 360 and Xbox One

Minecraft Pocket Edition will get music, Gear VR, and expanded build height in future updates

that will be coming to Minecraft Pocket Edition in future updates, during a livestream on Twitch. Here’s what we’ve learned.

The build height limit will be increased “pretty soon”. Some technical limitations will need to be overcome to keep the game running at the same speed.

Mojang would like to add in-game music, but says the issue is that the music is about 20 times bigger than the game itself, so says it would likely provide it as an optional add-on.

It is thinking about providing optional crafting methods, where you can choose and place ingredients manually – more like the PC version.

The developer says it will add new resource packs, so you can skin boxes and your interface, but “that will take a while”.

When asked if it would make a version of Minecraft Pocket Edition that works with virtual reality devices, a developer said “we are working on that right now”, and says to expect a version for Gear VR.

But probably not Google Cardboard because “it’s a bit crap”.

It will look into 3D Touch support on iPhone 6s. But Mojang says “we want to do everything, but if it’s just for one device it will be lower down the priority list”.

Mojang was asked if it would support old phones in future updates.

It says it will try to support everything, and offer optional features only for new devices, but says “if a few hundred old devices are holding millions of new ones back, we may decide to remove support”.

Will Mojang provide more modding tools for Pocket Edition? The Swedish studio says it’s “part of the vision” that you should be able to mod Minecraft, regardless of platform, but calls that a “far-fetched” goal. So, keep on waiting.

“We’re not there yet with The Wither”, the developer says. So maybe don’t expect this three-headed boss monster in 0.13.

The stonecutter will be killed off soon. It was added to avoid having hundreds of stone items in the crafting menu. But with a new crafting system coming, it will no longer be needed.

It wants to have chests you can open in creative mode. But it will need to overcome some technical and interface issues first.

Pocket Edition will “eventually” get books you can read and writer. And Realms is “incoming”. But monkeys, penguins, and programmable robots are not planned, says Jens. Boo.

Mojang has no plans to make Minecraft more realistic. The studio says it likes the current style, saying it’s more approachable to lots of different types of player.

Don’t expect Game Center achievements. It’s more likely to get Live achievements (the Microsoft ones).

Horses and trading with villagers are almost done, but the UI isn’t finished. So don’t count on either of them appearing in 0.13.

Witches and witches huts? Yes, eventually. But wizards? Maybe.

Minecraft Pocket Edition will get music, Gear VR, and expanded build height in future updates

Minecraft developer pushes out update to ‘hopefully fix’ framerate problems on PC

Even with a dual GTX 780 Ti setup, this PC is getting 0 frames per second in certain circumstances.

Above: Even with a dual GTX 780 Ti setup, this PC is getting 0 frames per second in certain circumstances.

Minecraft may have antiquated-looking visuals, but some people are finding out this doesn’t guarantee a solid framerate.

Developer Mojang says it is aware that some people are experiencing issues with lower-than-usual framerates for Minecraft on PC. One of the recent incremental updates (which Mojang calls Snapshots) for the block-building phenomenon introduced a problem with its optimization, and this manifests in the game by causing stuttering, huge dips in frames-per-second, and block lag (where you can’t destroy a placed block due to desyncing issues). Now, the Microsoft-owned studio is working to fix the problem.

Minecraft designer and programmer Nathan “Dinnerbone” Adams posted to Twitter earlier today to let fans know that he was personally addressing the issue.

Normally, Mojang issues a new Minecraft snapshot on Wednesdays, but Adams didn’t want to wait that long to fix the framerate. The snapshot is available now, and you can download it here if you already own Minecraft.


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Late last week, Adams tweeted that he found a possible cause for the framerate issue.

Put simply, the game was loading the information for in-game locations into your processor’s main thread. Apparently, this was taxing hardware too much, and now Mojang only plans to do that for blocks that players have placed themselves.The latest snapshot only went live a few hours ago, so we’ll have to see if this fixes the problem for most players.

Minecraft developer pushes out update to ‘hopefully fix’ framerate problems on PC

Update Mondays: “Minecraft”, “Guardian Cross”, “Candy Crush Soda Saga”, “Alpha Omega” and More

Hello everyone, and welcome to the week! It’s time once again for our look back at the noteworthy updates of the last seven days. It’s a lighter load than usual this time, but with a new OS version coming soon, business is likely to pick up soon. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself using AppShopper Social [Free], the watchlist in the TouchArcade App [Free], or by participating in the TouchArcade forums, but this weekly summary is here to fill in the things you might have missed. Let’s dig in!

Pixel Dungeon, $2.99 Let’s kick this off with the update for Pixel Dungeon, a cool roguelike that’s been around Android for a while, but in recent months got a nifty iOS port. The new version adds a new item, a new room type, a new enchantment, and a couple of fresh quests. It also adds an auto-targeting system for missile attacks, and makes a number of changes to various items and systems for the purposes of balance.

Candy Crush Soda Saga, Free A new episode that takes place in a chocolate-dipped castle adds 15 levels to King’s popular puzzler, adding up to a grand total of 495 stages. These levels have a new feature called Soda Fizz, which tasks you with bursting bubbles to generate a Soda Rush. I’d love to tell you more about how that works, but I’m only on level 259 right now.

Happy Wheels, Free Happy Wheels has proven to be pretty popular on the App Store, so it’s nice to see the developers are giving their new players speedy service on updates. This new version allows you to listen to your own music while you’re playing. It also adds support for wireless MFi controllers, increases the size of the special button, and fixes a bunch of bugs and features that weren’t working as intended.

Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic, $1.99 A small but significant update to Pixel Heroes adds the ability to play the game in portrait orientation. I wish more games would support both orientations, because I find each to be very convenient depending on the context. Naturally, the developer also did a little bug-squashing while they were at it.

Pocket Mine 2, Free There’s a new challenge mode in Pocket Mine 2 that features the new elemental blocks, along with some new legendary gear to collect, and a few tweaks to the UI.. There are also a bunch of little bug fixes to keep everything running smoothly.

METAL SLUG DEFENSE, Free To celebrate hitting 25 million downloads across all platforms, Metal Slug Defense is having another event where medals will be handed out like candy. Log in every day to get up to 250 medals for free, and join in on the Gigantic Weapon event where you can earn a couple of special giant units.

Taichi Panda, Free There’s a big list of changes in this update to Taichi Panda, starting with the storage cap being increased to 200 slots. Caps are raised all around, with Tier 6 Ascension, Tier 36 Discovery, and Guild Level 40 added to the game. There are a number of other fixes and tweaks to the game, mostly dedicated to filling out content for long-term players.

Cards and Castles, Free On the other end of the spectrum, the newest update for Cards And Castles adds a couple of favors for new players. There are now some low-cost starter items in the shop, including starter decks and limited time bundles. It might be just the thing to get you going, if you don’t mind spending a little money. There are new custom castles as reward for ranked matches, and the game scenarios have gotten an extra pass to make them more fun. I’m not sure if any of these fixes help the game’s fundamental balance issues, but hey, at least the developers are still swinging.

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Skyline Skaters, Free The Skyline Skaters are in Tokyo this time around, which means it’s time for udon, Godzilla, and all-night karaoke! Just kidding, it’s only a new backdrop to skate in front of. But do watch out for Godzilla, he’s a near-constant annoyance for Tokyoites and he’ll probably get in your way at some point, too.

Trials Frontier, Free Nowhere in the rulebook does it say a horse can’t participate in motorcycle races. Oh wait, it says that right here. Hm, well, how about horse-shaped motorbikes? Yeah, I didn’t think you’d have an answer for that, smartypants. The new rodeo event brings new tracks, outfits, and paint jobs to the game, along with the spiffy Stallion bike. The game is also running a sale in its shop, so if you’ve had your eye on anything, now’s the time to bite.

BADLAND, $3.99 Level editors are so hot right now. Even Mario is doing it! Badland now lets you create your own levels and share them with other players. Naturally, you can play the levels other players make, and rate them so that others know what’s cool. If someone makes one good enough to impress the folks at Frogmind, it’ll be added to the official level roster. This is your chance to be a star, friends!

Alpha Omega, $0.99 Alpha Omega is back with another set of level packs, each one containing 96 levels and selling for $0.99. The Back To School pack is full of school-related words and is just the thing for students excited to be back at their desks, and parents who are excited to have them back at their desks. This update also has four excellent new music tracks to play along to, so make sure to check it out even if you aren’t interested in buying new packs.

Darklings Season 2, Free The follow-up to Darklings has a chunk of new content for players to enjoy. There’s a new map that takes place in a desert, complete with its own boss, Scorpio. There is also a new Darkling family joining the crew called the Wanderers. There are lots of fixed bugs, and the game balance has been shifted a bit more in favor of the player, with faster energy recovery and a 10% sale on items in the store. They also threw in Metal support for good measure, because hey, why not?

Alphabear: Word Puzzle Game, Free Alphabear‘s snazzy new update includes a bunch of optimizations to make the game run better. Satisfied? No? How about a sweet new animation for lucky devils who draw a legendary bear? Still not enough? Okay, you have pushed the Bear Gods too far with your greed. Now you also get frozen tiles in some Chapter 7 events. You’ll have to thaw them if you want to use them. That’ll teach you to press your luck with bears!

Minecraft: Pocket Edition, $6.99 Hoo boy, this is the big one, isn’t it? This long-awaited update adds the Nether and its inhabitants to the Pocket Edition of Minecraft, along with cross-platform play for up to five players, new touch controls, MFi controller support, enhanced weather effects, experience, anvils, brewing, enchantments, golems, flower pots, sneaking, sprinting, and much more. It’s still not quite on the level with the PC version, but this is a huge step towards that goal. For this notable, if somewhat later-than-expected, achievement, I am happy to award Minecraft with the coveted Update Mondays Most Spider-Mans Of The Week award. You’ll have to craft your own metaphorical celebratory vermouth, however. There was… an incident.

screen1136x1136

World of Tanks Blitz, Free The new version of World Of Tanks offers up a handful of new British Tank Destroyers, while simultaneously making balance tweaks to a number of old favorites. Some have won, some have lost, but I’ll leave that fun for you to sort out. In addition, the Clan system has received a bit of love with improved searching and Clan chats.

Heroes of Order & Chaos – Multiplayer Online Game, Free Two new heroes join the fray with this update. Tryptic, the Flame of Vengeance, is not just the name of the morning-after results of eating vindaloo curry. It’s also the name of a corrupted Flame Knight. Meanwhile, Carlie Q is an evil biorobotic doll who loves to murder and cause suffering wherever she goes. So… kind of leaning towards the ‘Chaos’ end of things this time around, yeah?

Guardian Cross, Free Guardian Cross is probably one of Square Enix’s bigger worldwide successes in the free-to-play market. It has a healthy userbase and continues to see support from the developer, which is more than can be said for some of their more local, high-profile releases. This update adds a new hunting ground, Aedengard (Night), with new Guardians to go along with it. A new ability called Laevateinn has been added, as well. They’ve also made a few tweaks to the gameplay. If you lose to a floor boss and use a potion to take another try, the boss will be in a weakened state. Coliseum bonuses are now applied to both sides in a friend match, and Almighty Guardians that were given as rewards in the Coliseum mode are now tradeable.

Order & Chaos Online, Free Wow, both Order & Chaos games updated in one week? What, is there a new one coming out or something? Anyway, the new version adds a couple of special events. The Summer Carnival comes just in the nick of time, with a beach paradise for everyone to kick back and relax in. You can pretend it’s still the height of summer, instead of the tragic last gasps! When you’re ready to come back down a bit, the Ghost Nocturnal event brings a mysterious temple where you might be able to capture yourself a limited edition Kapa pet if you’re lucky.

That about wraps it up for last week’s significant updates. I’m sure I’ve missed some, though, so please feel free to comment below and let everyone know if you think something should be mentioned. As usual, major updates will likely get their own news stories throughout this week, and I’ll be back next Monday to summarize and fill in the blanks. Have a great week!

Update Mondays: “Minecraft”, “Guardian Cross”, “Candy Crush Soda Saga”, “Alpha Omega” and More

Minecraft Pocket Edition Update Builds Toward The Desktop Version

 

 

Slowly, the Minecraft: Pocket Edition for smartphones and tablets is becoming similar to the desktop and console versions of the game. This comes after Mojang has released one of the biggest updates for the Minecraft: Pocket Edition.

The new Minecraft: Pocket Edition version 0.12 update bring many new features that have been missing from the mobile version, which include sneaking, hunger, sprinting, the Nether zone and many more.

In addition, the mobile gamers will be able to play against those who play the Minecraft: Windows 10 BETA version and even use physical controllers with their iOS devices. The new update was also released for Windows Phone and Android will probably receive it soon enough.

Minecraft: Pocket Edition reached the milestone of 30m sales back in January 2015, but for some reason, this version was always behind with the features, in comparison with the versions that have been released for both consoles and computers. As the mobile edition of Minecraft became so popular, the developers had to do something about that and they’ve started improving this game version very fast.

Mojang announced their plans for the Minecraft: Pocket Edition 0.12 update during the Minecon event, which was held in July 2015. As we’ve told you above, the new update brings “The Nether”, which made a lot of players happy.

Mojang also promised that the Minecraft: Pocket Edition will receive new major improvements by the end of 2015 and it will bring virtual redstone material which will allow them to create circuits that transmit power.

We remind you that Mojang was bought by Microsoft for 2.5 billion dollars back in 2014 and the new owner is planning to launch its own realms service, where the players will need to pay a monthly subscription to have their own private Minecraft servers to play with their friends.

Mojang is currently working with the Telltale Games developers on a “narrative-drive adventure” that’s called “Minecraft: Story Mode”, which is expected to be released by the end of 2015.

Minecraft Pocket Edition Update Builds Toward The Desktop Version

‘Minecraft: Story Mode’ Game 2015: Latest Release Date Updates and Gameplay

 

Legends & Heroes Issue 7 is out on Oct 10

Quicksilver – Castle Bound, is out October 10th! But wait, where’s Issue 6?

Ok, so the Stone Marshall Studio has been busy putting together this epic storyline I’ve been working on. We’re creating origin stories, writing epic backstories, developing character relationships and trying to get all the characters together at the right time along the timeline.

And after all this we finished an issue out of order. Doh! But it’s ok, with all the flashbacks that show characters backstories, you can pretty much read these issues in any order you want.

Get Issue 7 the moment it’s available here: https://www.stonemarshall.com/book-list/legends-and-heroes-issue-7-quicksilver-castle-bound/

That being said, Issue 6 will be out soon!

The fan that’s trying to re-create Pokémon Red in Minecraft has made some updates

Twitch plays Minecraft plays Pokémon Red, anyone?

Above: Twitch plays Minecraft plays Pokémon Red, anyone?

You can make almost anything in Minecraft, and fans have shown over and over that they will.

One community creator, who goes by the name Magib1 on Reddit, is attempting to rebuild all of the original 1996 role-playing game Pokémon Red. They’re actually using command blocks, which basically enable players to write programs inside the Minecraft world. People have previously used this to make calculators and other computers, but — as with all things — Pokémon was inevitable.

Magib1 has worked on this project for a while, and they have made some serious improvements to the way it performs.


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In a post on Reddit from today, Magib1 noted that they have made the game look better by smoothing out the graphics. The big change on this front comes in the form of the full walking animation for Ash. This latest build also adds collision detection and the ability to hold down buttons.

Another major improvement came when Magib1 was able to change how he stored the information for menus. This helped him eliminate 25,000 command blocks … which is a huge number. This also improved the responsiveness of the onscreen (on a screen) action and it helped reduce the overall file size drastically.

If you want to download this to try it, Magib1 has some good and bad news regarding that.

“I do plan on releasing the map once it gets far enough along to actually be playable, but that is still a ways off,” they wrote.

What kinds of things does Magib1 need to finish before releasing it? Well, they next plan to work on reducing the delay when holding down a movement button even further along with improving (or adding) basic menus.

Once all that’s finally finished, maybe we can finally get Twitch Plays Minecraft Playing Pokémon.

The fan that’s trying to re-create Pokémon Red in Minecraft has made some updates

Minecraft Update Hits PS4, PS3, & PS Vita, Adds Doctor Who Skin Pack and More

 

Minecraft Playstation 4 Edition Retail Disc

Minecraft is about to get an update on PlayStation platforms with the PS4, PS3, and PS Vita versions all receiving a new patch that will both fix problems and add content. The big piece being added is the Doctor Who Skin Pack, which has been available on Xbox for some time. PlayStation owners are used to getting these a little bit later though, so it’s good to see the packs continuing to be ported over, despite Microsoft’s purchase of the series and its developer.

As with every Minecraft update, this one contains a ton of smaller fixes and changes. You can check out the full patch notes for each version here: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PS Vita. The gist is that these versions of the game will all be getting the aforementioned Doctor Who Skin Pack, along with a bunch of technical fixes.

Those fixes include a memory leak that would cause a framerate issue and an issue where signs would go blank when playing the game over the network. The PS3 version is also getting some updates to its Trophies to bring it more in line with the other versions of the game.

Minecraft is available now on PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, and mobile.

Minecraft Update Hits PS4, PS3, & PS Vita, Adds Doctor Who Skin Pack and More

Minecraft Update 1.20 Today on PS4, PS3 & PS Vita Adds Doctor Who Skin Pack, Fixes Frame-Rate Issues

 

minecraftdoctorwho

Available now in Europe, with North America and Japan getting it later today (Update: It’s out now in North America), Minecraft update 1.20 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita adds support for the new Doctor Who Skin Pack, while also fixing a couple of issues, including a memory leak that caused frame-rate problems.

Here’s the full list of patch notes for today’s update, which apply to all platforms unless otherwise noted:

Additions

  • Added Doctor Who Skin Pack Bundle trial content.

Fixes

  • Fixed a memory leak causing frame-rate issues.
  • Fixed an issue causing signs to go blank for network players.
  • Updated trophies to include all those already on other platforms. 23 added in total. (PS3 only)

Discussing the future of big Minecraft updates on consoles, developer 4J Studios said earlier this month:

No news yet, other than we’re working on it. The next few updates will be small, while we get the 1.8 update ready.

If you’re looking to purchase the Doctor Who Bundle, it’s available through the PlayStation Store for $5.99 (PS4, PS3, PS Vita).

Here’s the description:

Launch yourself on an epic adventure in space and time with this bundle of Minecraft Doctor Who Skins Volume I and Volume II. With the combination of these two skin packs you will have over 100 characters from all eras of the show’s history including all the Doctors, Amy Pond, Clara Oswald, Rose Tyler, Zygons, The Master, Weeping Angels, the Daleks, Davros, Donna Noble, Captain Jack Harkness, K9, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, the Sea Devil and the Cybermen.

You can check out some screenshots in the gallery below.

As Telltale Games and Mojang announced recently, Minecraft: Story Mode is coming to PS4 and PS3 this October through digital and retail stores.

minecraftdoctorwhoskinpack1 minecraftdoctorwhoskinpack6minecraftdoctorwhoskinpack2 minecraftdoctorwhoskinpack3 minecraftdoctorwhoskinpack4

Minecraft Update 1.20 Today on PS4, PS3 & PS Vita Adds Doctor Who Skin Pack, Fixes Frame-Rate Issues

New Spoilers for ‘Minecraft: Pocket Edition’ 0.13 Update – Adding Rabbits and Probably Reworking the UI

If you’ve been playing Minecraft: Pocket Edition [$6.99] since the big 0.12 update, you’re probably enjoying how the game is now closer to the PC version than ever before with all kinds of new features added and plenty others reworked. Still, the work doesn’t end here since the developers are currently working on the 0.13 update that should add working redstone circuits among other features. One new feature that we now know about is the addition of rabbits, one of the later additions to the PC version. However, these bunnies will be different than the ones in the PC version: they are smaller, will run away from you, can be one-shot with a bow, only spawn in forests, and they’ll eat your crops. Now, that last one is going to be…fun. I can see myself turning into an old geezer with a bow screaming at those bunnies to leave my crops alone.

In addition to the bunny addition, going by developer Tommasso Checchi’s twitter feed, the stonecutter might go the way of the dodo and there will probably be some changes to the UI since he feels there are issues with the UI in the mobile version (he doesn’t specify what issues). He’s also experimenting with dragging & dropping items in the toolbar. Mojang plans to have a live 0.13 developer stream tomorrow at 11:30 EST at its Twitch channel to talk about the upcoming update. They will be answering questions from here, so you still have time to go post some questions.

New Spoilers for ‘Minecraft: Pocket Edition’ 0.13 Update – Adding Rabbits and Probably Reworking the UI

Microsoft Monday: Windows 10 Privacy, Minecraft: Story Mode, Lumia 950 Leaks And Skype Updates

“Microsoft Monday” takes a look back at the past week of news related to Microsoft. Last week, “Microsoft Monday” included details about Office 2016 for Windows PCs, a teaser about the Xbox One bundles, Minecraft coming to Oculus Rift, etc. This week, “Microsoft Monday” will focus on Windows 10 privacy concerns, the new Xbox bundles, Skype updates, Microsoft’s latest acquisitions, a patent partnership with ASUS and more.

Windows 10 Privacy Concerns

Windows 10 was released globally on July 29th and there have been concerns about privacy in regards to the operating system since then. To address concerns, Microsoft’s executive vice president of Windows and Devices Terry Myerson published a blog post last week titled “Privacy and Windows 10.”

Myerson said information collected by Windows 10 is encrypted in transit to Microsoft’s servers stored in secure facilities. What kind of data does Windows 10 collect? To improve application reliability, Windows 10 collects anonymous “telemetry data” like device IDs, device types and application crash data — which does not include content or files. Windows 10 customizes your preferences like your favorite sports teams to give you scores and updates. And Windows 10 also remembers the common words you type into text messaging conversations to provide completion suggestions. Privacy advocates may be thrilled to hear that Windows 10 does not scan the content of your email, files or other communications for targeted advertising purposes.

Fortunately, you can change around your Windows 10 privacy settings by going to Settings > Privacy. And you can adjust the privacy settings for each specific app through the Settings area within that app.

Myerson added that Windows 10 was designed with two privacy principles:

1. “Windows 10 collects information so the product will work better for you.”
Recommended by Forbes

2. “You are in control with the ability to determine what information is collected.”

One of the benefits of information collection is quality control. For example, Microsoft noticed that a graphics driver was crashing on some Windows 10 PCs, which caused computers to reboot. So Microsoft worked with the graphics company to turn around a fix for Windows Insiders within 24 hours.

However, there is a feature that some privacy advocates believe is unnecessary. Microsoft Windows 10 has a feature that lets you monitor your child’s device use. Through this feature, you will receive regular activity report emails to your Microsoft account that summarizes how much time your children has spent on the PC along with the websites they visit, the games and apps they use and the search keywords that they enter into search engines.

Here is how Microsoft responded to the feedback about its family features:

“As an example of direct response to feedback we’ve received, all Windows 10 customers will receive an upcoming update to family features, with default settings designed to be more appropriate for teenagers, compared to younger children. Additionally, we’re working on ways to further enhance the notifications that kids and parents get about activity reporting in Windows.”

Windows 10 Activation: “Digital Entitlement”

Microsoft has recently created a website called “Activation in Windows 10” that provides clarity about verification. Windows 10 activation methods includes product keys or “Digital Entitlement.”

The digital entitlement activation method is used when you upgrade to Windows 10 for free from an eligible device that runs a genuine copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 or you bought a genuine Windows 10 copy from the Windows Store and successfully activated Windows 10. Or you bought a Windows 10 Pro upgrade from the Windows Store and successfully activated Windows 10. And finally you’re a Windows Insider and upgraded to the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview build on an eligible device that was running an activated previous version of Windows and Windows 10 Preview.

If you bought Windows 10 from an authorized retailer or you bought a new device running Windows 10, then a product key is used as the activation method. Or if you have a Volume Licensing agreement for Windows 10 or MSDN subscription, a product key is necessary.

Windows 10 Hits 100 Million Installations

As a free upgrade, Windows 10’s growth has been rapid. Windows 10 already has 6.63% of of the worldwide desktop operating system market, according to Net Applications. And Windows 10 is the fourth largest desktop operating system behind Windows 7, Windows XP and Windows 8.1. As a whole, Windows has 95.37% of the desktop operating system market. Mac OS X has 4.91% of the market and Linux has 1.74%

About a month after Windows 10 was released, Microsoft reported that it was installed on over 75 million devices across 192 countries. Now it is running on more than 100 million devices, according to Petri’s sources. Microsoft said its goal is to have 1 billion Windows 10 installs within three years.

Microsoft recently rolled out a new By The Numbers website, which highlights company milestones. Some of the numbers that stand out includes more than 1.2 billion people use Microsoft Office and the company donates an average of $2.6 million in software each day.

“We’ve tallied some of the ways Microsoft is helping people all over the planet achieve more each day — and we’re keeping tabs on some less momentous stuff, too,” said Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Communications Frank X. Shaw.

Microsoft Monday: Windows 10 Privacy, Minecraft: Story Mode, Lumia 950 Leaks And Skype Updates

Minecraft snapshot 15w41b

Update: We released a ‘b’ snapshot to fix a crash that affected some users on launch.

This week’s snapshot brings you the ability to smash out of the window of a high tower building, fly past the bad guys who are all shooting you with surprisingly bad accuracy, swoop down and land flawlessly into a strategically placed boat and then paddle away at moderately high speeds with the stolen prize pig in the back.

I’m not really sure what it all means, though.

Notable changes:

  • Fixed boats.
  • Added reward to End Cities.
  • Broke boats.
  • Improved cheat detection in multiplayer.
  • Fixed boats again.
  • Swoosh.
  • Splash.
  • Oink.

Please report any and all bugs you find in Minecraft to bugs.mojang.com. If nobody reports a bug, we can’t fix it!

To get snapshots, open your launcher and press the “New Profile” button. Call it “snapshots” and check the box saying “Enable experimental development snapshots” and save. To switch to the normal version, you can select it in the dropdown at the bottom left corner of the launcher. Back up your world first or run the game on in a different folder (See the “new profile” dialog).

Snapshots can corrupt your world, please backup and/or run them in a different folder from your main worlds.

Cross-platform server jar: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/versions/15w41b/minecraft_server.15w41b.jar

Report bugs here:

Minecraft snapshot 15w41b

Minecraft Updates From MineCon 2015: Three Changes We Know Coming To Console, Desktop And Mobile

minecraft
Minecraft will have several updates to the original game on desktop, console and smartphone, Mojang revealed. The company also premiered a trailer for the new “Minecraft: Story Mode” game. Telltale Games
Minecraft will undergo some hefty improvements and additions in the next year as the Microsoft-owned gaming company, Mojang, works to please and maintain its community. At a panel on Sunday during Minecon 2015, a Minecraft convention held in London over the weekend, Mojang developers announced several upcoming features for the console, desktop and mobile versions of the game.

The hourlong panel featured Mojang’s Owen Hill, Daniel Wustenhoff, Tommaso Checchi, Jens Bergensten and Nathan Adams, and the audience was about two-thirds adults and a third children, The Guardian reports. First released in 2009, the game involves building worlds out of virtual bricks. A creative and an adventure mode focus on constructing and exploring lands, while a survival mode allows for battling opponents. Below are several of the main updates coming to the game, with accompanying videos from Twitter user and Minecraft player @FoxyNoTail.

Dual Wielding With Shields 

Minecraft players will now be able to equip their characters with two items, one in each hand. That could mean weapons or other tools. For example, a player could hold a pickaxe and a set of torches, IGN notes. Another update will add shields and custom-made banners to a player’s collection.

Tougher Mobs and Monsters

The Ender Dragon, a monster players must beat at the end of the game on Minecraft’s desktop version, will become more difficult. Players will also have the ability to respawn the dragon. But don’t expect a baby version. “A baby dragon would be too cute to kill,” Mojang’s Adams said. Mojang will also introduce a new mob called the Shulker that will shoot projectiles.

New Game Areas and Levitation 

Mojang revealed a new game area with a purple and yellow color scheme at The End of the game. In this land, players can levitate and avoid the projectiles sent by the Shulker mob. That levitation effect helps players reach the top of cities, outside of the typical ladders found in other areas.

The Pocket Edition, Minecraft’s mobile version on iOS, Android and Windows, will also undergo some revamping with the addition of regions and items found on the console and desktop games.

Earlier this week, Mojang revealed that Minecraft has hit over 70 million sales since its first PC version was released in 2009, Polygon reports. Microsoft took the hint about the company’s growing popularity and acquired the Stockholm-based game studio and thereby the rights of Minecraft in November for $2.5 billion.

Other major updates for the company include a spin-off game called “Minecraft: Story Mode.” Mojang premiered a trailer for the upcoming game at the convention on Saturday. There is no official release date.

Virtual reality with Minecraft is also on the way as Mojang works with its owner, Microsoft, on developing the game for the company’s holographic headset HoloLens. A Minecraft feature film is expected by 2017.

This year was the fifth consecutive year of a convention specifically dedicated to Minecraft and hosted by developer Mojang. The convention was held at London’s ExCeL London Exhibition and Conference Centre Saturday and Sunday.

Minecraft Updates From MineCon 2015: Three Changes We Know Coming To Console, Desktop And Mobile

Jordan ‘CaptainSparklez’ Maron lives the fairy tale life of getting paid to play Minecraft (interview)

Jordon "CaptainSparklez" Maron makes a living as a game broadcaster.

Above: Jordon “CaptainSparklez” Maron makes a living as a game broadcaster.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

Jordan “CaptainSparklez” Maron has had a charmed life as a YouTuber and Twitch livestreamer. He quit college to stream games on Twitch and post videos of his Minecraft play on YouTube. And now he makes a living at it, with more than 8.75 million subscribers and 1.6 billion video views.

He has had a great ride for five years, and now, at the ripe age of 23, he is parlaying his fame into making games. Maron leveraged his fame to create a new app company, Xreal, with Activision founder and gaming pioneer Howard Marks. The company created Fortress Fury, which been downloaded more than 2 million times since its recent launch. The game is one of many that aspires to become part of the esport phenomenon on mobile.

Xreal is raising money via crowdfunding to take on even more projects. We caught up with him at last week’s TwitchCon event, which drew more than 20,000 attendees to the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco. Here’s an edited transcript of our conversation.

Jordon Maron: I’m from Los Angeles. I’ve been streaming since about 2011. I started on justin.tv, and then when Twitch got created they migrated me over because I did games. I don’t know if you saw the keynote earlier, but Marcus was saying how it started back in 1999. Now I feel like I’m new to all of this. But I’ve been around since the beginning of Twitch.GamesBeat: Did you start with any particular game?

Maron: Minecraft has been the primary one, but I like to use streaming as a way to try out new stuff. I feel like it’s more informal and casual, whereas on my YouTube channel people expect a particular style.

GamesBeat: How big is your audience on both sites?

Maron: On Twitch it’s about 1.2 million followers. On YouTube it’s 8.8 million-ish.

GamesBeat: I try to understand the economics of this — at what point does that audience becomes large enough to support you?

Maron: It’s been full-time for me since December of 2011. I see such of a range of people doing this full time, though. Some of them have 10,000 followers. Some people have half a million followers and they’re still working another job. It depends. Some people, maybe they’re not comfortable with the fact that when you do it full time, there’s no consistent salary. You rely on yourself. A lot of people like the idea of still having a guaranteed income.

GamesBeat: How old are you? Did you have any other career before you started?

Maron: I’m 23. I worked at a Coldstone Creamery for a summer in high school. A long, illustrious career. I was a skate camp counselor another summer. I started doing this when I was a senior in high school, because I wanted to show off the scores I got in Call of Duty. I didn’t know you could monetize anything. Over time that became possible.

When I’d begun there wasn’t a clear understanding between publishers and YouTubers and streamers as far as whether this was something you could monetize. But everyone accepted, hey, it’s mutually beneficial, so it got to so you could monetize gaming content. About a year into it is when I decided to go full time.

Fortress Fury

GamesBeat: Did you skip college altogether?

Maron: I was in school for a year. I studied chemical engineering. Then I decided, a fair bit through my first year, I wanted to go into computer science. I realized that maybe video games could be a viable career, which I hadn’t thought about beforehand. As I was trying to switch majors – because you’re supposed to know exactly what you’ll do with your life when you first start college – it was a difficult process. While that was going on, YouTube was going pretty well for me, so I decided to take the leap. It’s been a good choice so far.

GamesBeat: Do you view this as entertainment? Are you something like a talk show host? Can you think of an analogy to other kinds of broadcasting?

Maron: I suppose the easiest way to put it is that I’m an entertainer. I still don’t know 100 percent why everyone watches me. I’m me and I guess that appeals to some people.

GamesBeat: What works for you best as far as the kinds of shows that draw?

Maron: Usually Minecraft has been the most popular. Something that you take a lot of time to work on produce, that’s usually the most well-received. I do a variety — just playing the game and broadcasting as I play it with my reactions, and then sometimes a longer-term, more high-production-value project that takes a few months to complete. I mix those in periodically. That combination seems to work.

GamesBeat: Where are you on the YouTube/Twitch competition?

Maron: I feel like it’s two parents fighting. Or not really. Between all of these social media companies – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch – they have to be friendly, on the one hand, and integrate all the sharing between all the different platforms. But on the other hand they’re all trying to beat each other in different categories. I hope everyone does well, because competition is ultimately good for us.

GamesBeat: Do you get offers from either side for exclusivity, to be in a partner program or something?

Maron: Right now I only do my streams on Twitch, for example, and the VOD content is on YouTube. There’s a separation there. That’s how I view my approach right now. But YouTube is trying to push live streaming a little more now. I haven’t personally tried the YouTube game streaming yet. And Twitch just announced the whole VOD thing today. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes.

GamesBeat: What opportunities does this give you? Have you been able to travel?

Maron: It’s funny. You’re given the chance to travel, and then oftentimes I find it stressful. Part of doing this is keeping up a consistency to your streams and your videos. Because of TwitchCon, it’s probably the most inconsistent major broadcasters are going to be in years. When you have to travel somewhere, it’s double the work for the amount of days you’ll be gone, because you have to get so much content backed up. I find myself trying to avoid travel sometimes.

But it’s still cool to get invited to places and meet people who watch you. You don’t usually get a sense of who’s there when it’s just through the screen. Coming here, you get to meet people in person and that’s always cool.

TwitchCon

GamesBeat: And you have people trying to break down your door – “Play my game! Play my game!”

Maron: Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. I try to keep my home in a privacy bubble. But I do get plenty of people saying, “Hey, here’s a key to our new launch if you’re interested.” I feel badly, because as someone who’s launched a game in the mobile space, I sympathize with trying to get other people on board and interested in it. With so many people reaching out, though, I can’t possibly get to everything.

GamesBeat: Do you also get some developer content as well, things from people making these games?

Maron: Yeah. I’m pretty familiar with most of the people working at Mojang, which is nice. I get to meet developers at events like this. I’ve toured various offices. It’s very cool, as someone who wants to get my foot in the door as far as game development and creating a studio, which is what we’re working on at the moment.

GamesBeat: Tell me more about that. What are you up to?

Maron: Back in May, we launched a mobile game called Fortress Fury. Long term, we want to do a competitive mobile eSport. That’s a new market. Not too many games are in that category. But as the processing power of phones gets greater and greater and the data networks get more reliable, that will become commonplace. Anyone can jump on their phone anywhere. You don’t have to dedicate a big chunk of time to sitting behind a computer.

We’ll see if that evolves over time. If it does, we’ll be one of the early ones getting into it. We’re on both iOS and Android right now. We’re working on doing an equity crowdfunding round at the moment.

GamesBeat: Are you doing regular updates?

Maron: Right now we’re working on adding more content to increase the longevity of the game, how long you can play it before you’ve consumed everything. That’s a priority right now.

TwitchCon play

GamesBeat: How many people are involved?

Maron: It’s myself, my business partner, and then up to launch we had a studio we contracted with, five or seven people working since last August. Now we’re bringing the work in-house. The studio’s called Xreal.

GamesBeat: Is that getting help from any sponsors?

Maron: No, it’s been funded 100 percent by myself and my business partner. The crowdfunding campaign will hopefully allow us to expand.

GamesBeat: Did you have any expectations for this first TwitchCon?

Maron: I didn’t, really. It’s the first time, after all. But it’s going well so far. I was impressed by the keynote earlier. That was very good stuff. I’m looking forward to meeting more people. I’ll be playing some Minecraft with people very shortly.

GamesBeat: What’s going to happen there?

Maron: Anyone who wants to show up and play can do that, and then I’ll be walking around with some friends and interacting with everyone and seeing if they want any feedback. Oftentimes I find that the people who watch me are better than me at games, so maybe they’ll be the ones instructing me. We’ll see.

GamesBeat: Are you doing any mobile streaming?

Maron: I haven’t tried Periscope yet. These days there are so many different social media apps out there. It’s impossible. At the moment, in order to stream Fortress Fury, I just hook it up to a capture card and do it on Twitch. That works. But as time goes by, broadcasting directly from the mobile device will become commonplace – again, as the devices become more powerful. Right now part of the issue is, it’s pretty CPU-intensive to stream and play a game simultaneously. Bandwidth-intensive as well. But everything’s making a move to mobile.

Twitch is coming to all PlayStation platforms.

GamesBeat: You could come here and keep streaming.

Maron: Yep. Walk around, talk to someone, get friends on the stream. That would work.

GamesBeat: When you look at things like Twitch and YouTube, do you have a vision of how they could help you be more successful? Where do you want to see them go with the development of their platforms?

Maron: Both platforms seem to get more and more hands on as time goes by. It’s been cool to see them evolve from just a platform to also supporting the community in a very direct fashion. That’s happened more and more over time. First and foremost, they’re tech companies, but they see these communities evolve and realize, “Hey, we should foster this and help it out a bit.” I’d like to see that continue.

Both sites will probably stay, at their core, pretty similar to what they are. But hopefully they’ll keep adding more and more helpful features. I have a laundry list of features and feedback I could give to either one.

GamesBeat: Were any features announced today that you were happy about?

Maron: The playlist thing is very cool. I’ve always thought, “Hey, what if I just make a really long local playlist on my computer, capture it, and stream that to Twitch?” They took the hassle out of that. I don’t have to have my computer being screen-capped. I can just assemble that on Twitch and have it pull. That’s a pretty exciting feature.

Jordan ‘CaptainSparklez’ Maron lives the fairy tale life of getting paid to play Minecraft (interview)

Irish maths professor argues that computer games like Minecraft in the classroom can help students

 

Minecraft video game 1
Minecraft video game

An Irish mathematics professor has argued that computer games like Minecraft in the classroom will benefit students.

Patrick Fitzpatrick from University College Cork (UCC) has cited a recent OECD report as an example of how the computer games can help.

Due to Minecraft’s composition and logical gameplay, and an education-friendly MinecraftEdu application, it is commonly suggested as a learning tool in schools.

Fitzpatrick said: “The overwhelming majority of school students play computer games, and these provide an avenue for the study of elementary logic in an environment that is both familiar and enjoyable.”

Fitzpatrick was speaking at the launch of UCC Brings Boole2School, which will see students study logic in a Boolean Maths lesson on November 2.

Fitzpatrick said: “Logical thinking is a central element in the learning process and for more than two millennia logic has been the basis of rational argument.

“Using simple truth tables and logic puzzles, students taking the Boole2School lessons learn how statements or situations may be combined and manipulated using the logical operations of AND, OR and NOT.

“In this way, students are introduced to principles on which they can build clarity of thought and understanding of complex ideas, thus providing them with essential tools towards successful learning.”

Minecraft is popular among gamers – young and old – throughout the world.

Earlier this year, Minecraft was made available to every post-primary school in Northern Ireland. Meanwhile, in 2013 the Viktor Rydberg School in Stockholm introduced compulsory Minecraft lessons for its 13-year-old students.

Irish maths professor argues that computer games like Minecraft in the classroom can help students