Across all platforms, Minecraft – and all of its various editions – has sold over 150 million copies, and a tracker on the official site shows PC sales are now over 30 million.

A tracker on the Minecraft website for PC sales of the game hit 30 million this week and it’s still rising (via GamesIndustry.biz).

Back in 2014, console sales of the game surpassed PC and Mac figures, and just a year later, Minecraft Pocket Edition on Android and iOS sold 30 million units.

In October 2018, Microsoft’s head of Minecraft, Helen Chiang, told Business Insiderthat the game had accumulated over 90 million monthly active players, and had sold over 150 million units across all platforms.

Last week, Minecraft update 19w13a removed all references to Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson from the game’s splash screens, most likely due to the content of his Twitter account.

If you’re looking for a Minecraft-like experience to dip your toe into, you can give Boundless a whirl. It’s a cross between No Man’s Sky and Minecraft, and we got Simon Miller to sit down and play it, and he loved it.

When you think of ray tracing, games like Battlefield V and Shadow of the Tomb Raider come to mind. But what about Minecraft? Not even in the same league, right?

That’s where you’d be wrong. The “path tracing” rendering method utilized in the latest build of Sonic Ether’s Unbelievable Shaders (SEUS) looks just like ray tracing, and may be the best Minecraft has ever actually looked.

Artist @notglacier went on Twitter to post a few intriguing videos of how much of a staggering difference the effects make, with light beams, reflections, and other realistic additions that make the blocky sandbox game look more like a critically-acclaimed graphical powerhouse.

Excuse the language, and we hope this individual isn’t actually defecating on themselves (April Fools’!) but check out these sweet graphics: 

notglacier@notglacier

they added ray tracing in the new minecraft shader dev build i am absolutely shitting myself56.4K12:21 PM – Mar 30, 201917.4K people are talking about thisTwitter Ads info and privacy

You can run Minecraft on just about anything, but if you want to run this shader pack, you’re going to need something more substantial. For example, @Notglacier used a GTX 1070Ti to get these effects, so if you’re interested in something similar, it may be time to upgrade.

notglacier@notglacierReplying to @notglacier

Messing around a bit more

you can do indirect lighting and stuff now6,0931:14 PM – Mar 30, 20191,030 people are talking about thisTwitter Ads info and privacy

If you think you’d like to give your copy of Minecraft quite the substantial upgrade, you can download the shader pack via Sonic Ether’s Patreon if you offer up some backer money. If you want to see these and other cool packs from the modder in the future, it’s well worth throwing some money their way.

Shout out to 60days for bringing this to our attention with his Chatty thread.

The popular sandbox building game has become a medium for telling biblical narratives.

Minecraft is a video game that captures the imaginations of children and adults alike, allowing them a free rein in a world in which they can build just about anything they can dream up. The freedom of gameplay featured by the popular title has redefined the Sandbox RPG genre and people have designed some impressive structures, cities, and yes, even the Millennium Falcon.

Now groups of faithful Minecrafters are turning their efforts towards evangelization, opening YouTube channels that depict biblical narratives through the 64-bit medium and producing Minecraft-themed Bibles, which  are starting to make their way into schools.

In Jersey, England, a recent donation saw 24 primary schools fully stocked with The Unofficial Bible for Minecrafters – Stories from the Bible told block by block. This book illustrates the scriptures with screen shots of biblical scenes recreated inside of the game. The images taken from in the game are arranged in comic book form and follow narratives of some of the more famous biblical stories, like the Garden of Eden and Noah’s Ark.

Trudie De La Haye, Head Teacher of St John’s School and a recipient of Minecraft Bibles, told Bailiwick Express that the Bible stories are retold in block form and describe events using Minecraft features and humor, which she believes will further engage the students.

On Youtube, another platform easily accessible to children, several channels are devoted to retelling Bible stories with the cute, low-definition blocks. One of our favorites is Pixel Heart Bible, a group that has covered 10 biblical stories including Noah’s Ark, The Easter Story, David and Goliath, and even the Nativity in two parts (Part 1, Part 2).

Since they condense the stories into 3-6 minute videos, they do become a little simplified and feel a bit abridged, but they’re very cute and the writers use rhyme schemes to lend a Dr. Seuss quality. The videos are also interspersed with innocent humor, which often shows off an exceptionally built scenery. One of our favorites from Pixel Heart Bible is their telling of the Prodigal Son:

The Crafted Church is another such channel that produces videos with meticulously designed scenery. They only have an abridgement of Christ’s ministry and the story Jonah, but the work they did was impressive. Similarly to the Pixel Heart Bible, The Crafted Church intersperses a bit of family-friendly comedy into their videos in order to better engage their audience. The church they built for the beginning of their videos is really nice, too.

As an honorable mention, we’d like to point out this high-quality recreation of the Book of Job, which was originally a sophomore English project, by Rapheal Clark, Eric York, Zach Burrell and Adam Kindorf. The setting is beautiful and the editing had to have taken a while to get this good.

Tags:BIBLESCRIPTURE

The Minecraft Marketplace once again had a huge month. Fans showed up for 3,320,063 free and premium downloads through the in-game store. That’s down from 4.56 million in January and 10.8 million in December. But year-over-year, downloads increased 791 percent from 372,509 downloads.

That huge growth has come due in part to the attention that Microsoft and The Minecraft Team are giving the service. The developer has added features like search and real-money prices. And the team has also worked to regularly deliver free content to keep people coming back.Recommended videosPowered by AnyClipFortnite-Themed Xbox One May Be In The WorksPlayUnmuteCurrent Time 0:01/Duration 0:30Loaded: 100.00% FullscreenUp Next

All of that has paid off, and now the Minecraft Marketplace’s future seems very bright.

Let’s get to the charts.

Top 10 most downloaded

 7. Dragons

1. Legacy Skin Pack by Minecraft

“Get cracking with these starter skins and old favorites brought over from Minecraft editions of yore. Widen your wardrobe, turn out in a tux, or rock it as a croc.”

2. Purple Parrot Party Palace by Minecraft

“A celebration of all things purple parrot party and palace. Master the mechanics of fireworks, armor stands, jukeboxes, and banners. Traverse a jungle island to find a massive parrot temple. Part tutorial and part adventure, this map will make your parrot dance.”

3. Grid Runners by Noxcrew

“Take on Noxcrew’s Grid Runners: a mini-game map made of classic Minecraft challenges where you can craft, mine, and jump your way to victory. Compete against the clock for the fastest times and team up with all of your friends to find out who is the ultimate Minecraft champion. This is a free map created exclusively for Minecon Earth 2018.”

4. Abstraction: Minecon Earth by Jigarbov Productions

“Featuring the logos that were just begging to be played on, MineCon Earth has floating landmasses with a surprising amount of hidden secrets and challenges.”

5. Pet Shop by Pixelheads

“Welcome to Pet Shop. Choose between 17 lovely pets. Explore a town and earn coins by collecting poop or by catching stray animals. Play fetch with dogs, trim a poodle, or take a snake for a walk. Cats, hamsters, lizards, poodles, capuchin monkeys, snails, hedgehogs, snakes, German shepherds, parakeets, penguins, rats, piggies, ferrets, koalas, chameleons, and rottweilers.”

6. Luxury Life by Pixelheads

“Luxury Life is a world where you role-play life as a billionaire. Cruise the streets in a sports car or any of the 10 other vehicles, explore luxurious mansions and decorate with furniture!”

7. Dragons by InPvP

“Take one of six dragons to the skies and become a legendary dragon rider. Surprise your enemies with custom attacks. Shoot fireballs and drop TNT. Explore three huge castles and the beautiful custom landscape.”

8. Advanced Farming by GameMode One

“Farm your heart out with new machines, vehicles, animals, pets, vendors, characters, and lands to explore. Fully functioning machines and vehicles. New and improved farm animals. Huge custom farm and ranch. A peaceful and relaxing roleplay countryside experience. Progress through the economy and optimize your farm.”

9. Steven Universe Mash-Up by Minecraft

“Steven enters the Minecraft universe in this Diamond-worth mash-up. Contains Steven Universe themed skins, textures, and original music from the show and all your favorite locations, from Beach City to Homeworld. Believe in Steven.”

10. City Life by Pixelheads

“Cruise through the big city in City Life! Chase down a bandit in your police car, save the day as a firefighter or take your dog for a walk.”

Top 10 highest grossing

 7. City Mash-Up

1. Pet Shop by Pixelheads

“Welcome to Pet Shop. Choose between 17 lovely pets. Explore a town and earn coins by collecting poop or by catching stray animals. Play fetch with dogs, trim a poodle, or take a snake for a walk. Cats, hamsters, lizards, poodles, capuchin monkeys, snails, hedgehogs, snakes, German shepherds, parakeets, penguins, rats, piggies, ferrets, koalas, chameleons, and rottweilers.”

2. Advanced Farming by GameMode One

“Farm your heart out with new machines, vehicles, animals, pets, vendors, characters, and lands to explore. Fully functioning machines and vehicles. New and improved farm animals. Huge custom farm and ranch. A peaceful and relaxing roleplay countryside experience. Progress through the economy and optimize your farm.”

3. Luxury Life by Pixelheads

“Luxury Life is a world where you role-play life as a billionaire. Cruise the streets in a sports car or any of the 10 other vehicles, explore luxurious mansions and decorate with furniture!”

4. Steven Universe Mash-Up by Minecraft

“Steven enters the Minecraft universe in this Diamond-worth mash-up. Contains Steven Universe themed skins, textures, and original music from the show and all your favorite locations, from Beach City to Homeworld. Believe in Steven.”

5. Dragons by InPvP

“Take one of six dragons to the skies and become a legendary dragon rider. Surprise your enemies with custom attacks. Shoot fireballs and drop TNT. Explore three huge castles and the beautiful custom landscape.”

6. City Life by Pixelheads

“Cruise through the big city in City Life! Chase down a bandit in your police car, save the day as a firefighter or take your dog for a walk.”

7. City Mash-Up by Everbloom Studios

“With over 1,000 hand-detailed rooms, there are stories, secrets, and mini-games around every corner. Build with the city’s full texture pack in your own worlds or take on any role you can imagine!”

8. Dinosaur Island by Pixelheads

“This once-idyllic island has been overrun by prehistoric beasts after the scientists lost control of their genetic experiments. Explore and discover the hidden mysteries of this intriguing island in a completely new adventure on Dinosaur Island.”

9. CampCraft by Blockworks

“A vast wilderness awaits you and your friends in CampCraft. Discover forest animals, ride camper vans, toast marshmallows, sit around the campfire, and set up your own camp.”

10. Shopping Time by Cyclone Designs

“It’s shopping time. Spend emeralds around town to buy furniture, cars, bikes, boats, pets, and much more. Decorate a pre-built house or build your own in a vacant plot and let your creativity and imagination flow.”

The final Minecraft update for Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3, and PlayStation Vita will release this week. It is a bittersweet moment for all players as 4J Studios is ending all support for those last-generation platforms. The update will arrive today, December 18, for some platforms and tomorrow, December 19, for other platforms. All of the other platforms are also receiving the update, too.

The final Minecraft update for those systems is The Nightmare Before Christmas update. The update brings spooky goodies like a Nightmare Before Christmas mash-up pack, fixes for various crashes as you would expect, and more. In addition, it also brings the end of support for those platforms. However, 4J Studios gave no word on online support so we expect the servers to remain online for the time being.

Final Minecraft Update Details

If you haven’t upgraded your Minecraft game from those older platforms to their newer counterparts, now is a great time. This is especially true given that the same update will be also released on PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch this week. If you’re wondering what the exact update versions are for those older platforms, we’ve got those as well.

For Xbox 360 players, it is known as Title Update 73. On Wii U, it is known as Title Update 42. Finally, on PS3 and PlayStation Vita, it is known as version 1.82. Interestingly enough, there was no information given on future support for the Nintendo 3DS version of Minecraft. That version was released after all four of the ill-fated versions so it remains to be seen what will happen to it.

On a more bittersweet note, 4J Studios also tweeted out a photo of the studio packing up all of their PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and PlayStation Vita development kits. Now that support for those versions is done, it seems there is no need for the kits anymore.

Marcus “Notch” Persson will be forever known as the creator of Minecraft. The game is currently one of the most popular indie-to-mainstream games in history. However, it seems like Notch’s legacy will be erased from the laurels of history. In a recent update by Mojang, many references to Marcus were deleted from the game.

Mojang Deletes Minecraft Creator’s References from the Game

Mojang recently released an update for Minecraft. The update removed all references to Notch on the game’s main screen. As such, messages like “Made by Notch!”, “The Work of Notch!”, or “110813!” were deleted from the game. For those curious, 110813 is actually the date of Marcus’s own wedding.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Marcus “Notch” Persson’s name was removed from Minecraft entirely. In fact, the name of the game’s creator will continue appearing on the game’s credits sequence. Not only that, the update has only been applied to the Bedrock version of the game. However, 4J Studios seems to be working on a patch for the console version.

A small update for Minecraft: Console Editions will be rolling out over the next few days to make some changes to splash text.6809:00 PM – Mar 19, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacy198 people are talking about this

It’s certainly not strange to see this sort of development happen. Marcus stopped working on Minecraft ever since 2014. Back then, Notch sold the rights of the game to Microsoft in exchange of $2.5 Million USD. Ever since then, Mojang and Microsoft have been in charge of the creative sandbox game. Nowadays, the game is available for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android, and even last gen consoles!

Why do you think Notch’s references were removed from Minecraft? Do you think Mojang should’ve been able to do this to begin with? What are your favorite things to do in the game? What’s your opinion on Minecraft? Do you own the game in any of the consoles? Let us know your thoughts on the VGR Forums and stay tuned for more news and updates.

While everyone can’t stop talking about Apex Legends and Fortnite, Minecraftcontinues to be one of the most played games in the world. Microsoft revealed today that the block-building phenomenon still has more than 91 million monthly active players. For comparison, Epic Games said Fortnite has 78 million monthly active players back in September.

Minecraft has ascended into a gaming institution like Pokémon. And now, Microsoft is adding Minecraft to Xbox Game Pass. For $10 per month, you can get Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Crackdown 3, and — beginning April 4 — Minecraft.

“Since its launch in 2009, the Minecraft community has remained one of the most active and passionate in gaming, attracting over 91 million players [each month] of all ages from virtually every country in the world,” Xbox Game Pass marketing boss Parimal Deshpande said. “Those joining through Xbox Game Pass will enter a vibrant, global community that plays across 20 unique platforms like Windows 10, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and mobile.”

More people for Minecraft Marketplace

Minecraft is not free-to-play, but it still seems ubiquitous. But by adding Minecraft to Game Pass, Microsoft could amplify that effect. And it is simultaneously boosting Games while exposing more people to Minecraft’s in-game store.

“Xbox Game Pass players will also gain access to an ever-expanding array of content for purchase via the in-game Minecraft Marketplace,” said Deshpande. “[The Marketplace] contains over 1,000 pieces of content from 60 distinct creators.”

The Minecraft Marketplace is a major focus for Micorosft. It treats it more as an ongoing service. That’s why it’s available everywhere and supports cross-play. And enabling community creators to build and sell content is a part of that. This ensures the game continues to make revenue and players have an abundance of fresh content beyond The Minecraft Team’s frequent updates.

And now Game Pass players can hop into Minecraft without spending any extra money, and they may end up spending cash in the Marketplace instead.

The Minecraft Marketplace once again had a huge month. Fans showed up for 3,320,063 free and premium downloads through the in-game store. That’s down from 4.56 million in January and 10.8 million in December. But year-over-year, downloads increased 791 percent from 372,509 downloads.

That huge growth has come due in part to the attention that Microsoft and The Minecraft Team are giving the service. The developer has added features like search and real-money prices. And the team has also worked to regularly deliver free content to keep people coming back.

All of that has paid off, and now the Minecraft Marketplace’s future seems very bright.

Let’s get to the charts.

Top 10 most downloaded

Click to view slideshow.

1. Legacy Skin Pack by Minecraft

“Get cracking with these starter skins and old favorites brought over from Minecraft editions of yore. Widen your wardrobe, turn out in a tux, or rock it as a croc.”

2. Purple Parrot Party Palace by Minecraft

“A celebration of all things purple parrot party and palace. Master the mechanics of fireworks, armor stands, jukeboxes, and banners. Traverse a jungle island to find a massive parrot temple. Part tutorial and part adventure, this map will make your parrot dance.”

3. Grid Runners by Noxcrew

“Take on Noxcrew’s Grid Runners: a mini-game map made of classic Minecraft challenges where you can craft, mine, and jump your way to victory. Compete against the clock for the fastest times and team up with all of your friends to find out who is the ultimate Minecraft champion. This is a free map created exclusively for Minecon Earth 2018.”

4. Abstraction: Minecon Earth by Jigarbov Productions

“Featuring the logos that were just begging to be played on, MineCon Earth has floating landmasses with a surprising amount of hidden secrets and challenges.”

5. Pet Shop by Pixelheads

“Welcome to Pet Shop. Choose between 17 lovely pets. Explore a town and earn coins by collecting poop or by catching stray animals. Play fetch with dogs, trim a poodle, or take a snake for a walk. Cats, hamsters, lizards, poodles, capuchin monkeys, snails, hedgehogs, snakes, German shepherds, parakeets, penguins, rats, piggies, ferrets, koalas, chameleons, and rottweilers.”

6. Luxury Life by Pixelheads

“Luxury Life is a world where you role-play life as a billionaire. Cruise the streets in a sports car or any of the 10 other vehicles, explore luxurious mansions and decorate with furniture!”

7. Dragons by InPvP

“Take one of six dragons to the skies and become a legendary dragon rider. Surprise your enemies with custom attacks. Shoot fireballs and drop TNT. Explore three huge castles and the beautiful custom landscape.”

8. Advanced Farming by GameMode One

“Farm your heart out with new machines, vehicles, animals, pets, vendors, characters, and lands to explore. Fully functioning machines and vehicles. New and improved farm animals. Huge custom farm and ranch. A peaceful and relaxing roleplay countryside experience. Progress through the economy and optimize your farm.”

9. Steven Universe Mash-Up by Minecraft

“Steven enters the Minecraft universe in this Diamond-worth mash-up. Contains Steven Universe themed skins, textures, and original music from the show and all your favorite locations, from Beach City to Homeworld. Believe in Steven.”

10. City Life by Pixelheads

“Cruise through the big city in City Life! Chase down a bandit in your police car, save the day as a firefighter or take your dog for a walk.”

Top 10 highest grossing

Click to view slideshow.

1. Pet Shop by Pixelheads

“Welcome to Pet Shop. Choose between 17 lovely pets. Explore a town and earn coins by collecting poop or by catching stray animals. Play fetch with dogs, trim a poodle, or take a snake for a walk. Cats, hamsters, lizards, poodles, capuchin monkeys, snails, hedgehogs, snakes, German shepherds, parakeets, penguins, rats, piggies, ferrets, koalas, chameleons, and rottweilers.”

2. Advanced Farming by GameMode One

“Farm your heart out with new machines, vehicles, animals, pets, vendors, characters, and lands to explore. Fully functioning machines and vehicles. New and improved farm animals. Huge custom farm and ranch. A peaceful and relaxing roleplay countryside experience. Progress through the economy and optimize your farm.”

3. Luxury Life by Pixelheads

“Luxury Life is a world where you role-play life as a billionaire. Cruise the streets in a sports car or any of the 10 other vehicles, explore luxurious mansions and decorate with furniture!”

4. Steven Universe Mash-Up by Minecraft

“Steven enters the Minecraft universe in this Diamond-worth mash-up. Contains Steven Universe themed skins, textures, and original music from the show and all your favorite locations, from Beach City to Homeworld. Believe in Steven.”

5. Dragons by InPvP

“Take one of six dragons to the skies and become a legendary dragon rider. Surprise your enemies with custom attacks. Shoot fireballs and drop TNT. Explore three huge castles and the beautiful custom landscape.”

6. City Life by Pixelheads

“Cruise through the big city in City Life! Chase down a bandit in your police car, save the day as a firefighter or take your dog for a walk.”

7. City Mash-Up by Everbloom Studios

“With over 1,000 hand-detailed rooms, there are stories, secrets, and mini-games around every corner. Build with the city’s full texture pack in your own worlds or take on any role you can imagine!”

8. Dinosaur Island by Pixelheads

“This once-idyllic island has been overrun by prehistoric beasts after the scientists lost control of their genetic experiments. Explore and discover the hidden mysteries of this intriguing island in a completely new adventure on Dinosaur Island.”

9. CampCraft by Blockworks

“A vast wilderness awaits you and your friends in CampCraft. Discover forest animals, ride camper vans, toast marshmallows, sit around the campfire, and set up your own camp.”

10. Shopping Time by Cyclone Designs

“It’s shopping time. Spend emeralds around town to buy furniture, cars, bikes, boats, pets, and much more. Decorate a pre-built house or build your own in a vacant plot and let your creativity and imagination flow.”

As the military buffs among you might have guessed from the name, Locked On introduces a brand new radar system. Various tanks, choppers, helicopters, and ground units benefit from the addition and are now able to scan the skies and detect hostile activity. Using this powerful new tool makes you visible to enemies, however, so you may want to occasionally forego the advantages it brings and turn the damn attention-bringing thing off.

Of the vehicular skirmish games out in the wild, few are as expansive as War Thunder – players have been battling across land, air, and sea since 2013. That’s a whole lot of warfare, but developer Gaijin Entertainment is rather good at keeping its fuel tank full – the latest top up comes courtesy of update 1.87, titled Locked On.

Update 1.87 also gives you access to somewhere in the region of 30 new vehicles. There are French helicopters, all manner of cruisers, a Japanese supersonic jet, the M1A1 Abrams tank, and the Soviet 2S6 Tunguska – the very first surface-to-air missile system (SAM) in the game.

On top of all of this there are also two new maps, so War Thunder’s latest update gives you loads of reasons to jump back into the cockpit.

GO FULL THROTTLE IN A SUPERSONIC JET

War Thunder has a new fastest jet: the Japanese Mitsubishi T-2. This imposing piece of hardware can reach an incredible mach 1.6, so if you ever invite it to a party, expect it to turn up about a week early. You’ll feel the speed in your heart, chest, and violently rippling cheeks, so make sure to bring a sick bag.

To level the playing field somewhat, update 1.87 also gives AA gunners a leg up. If you’re trying to tag a jet from an anti-aircraft gun, fear not, because you’ll now find a HUD that lets you track and lead more effectively. Just shoot at the little green icon that appears ahead of the aircraft and you’ll counter the intense speed on show.

SCAN THE SKIES WITH RADAR

Locked On adds the aforementioned radar system to an array of vehicles, including tanks, aircraft, and choppers. If you’re on the ground, radio detection is designed to safeguard your forces, helping you track and ultimately destroy aerial threats. But ground forces don’t get to have all the fun because aircraft and helicopters receive alerts whenever someone spots them.

Essentially, pilots have radar for the radar: aces are warned if they’re about to be shot out the sky, giving them enough time to evade an attack. In response, anti-aircraft vehicles can disable their radar to go radio silent and disappear from scanners in the sky. This tense electronic warfare adds a whole new dynamic to War Thunder’s pitched battles.

BLAST OPPONENTS WITH SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILES

A tracked SPAAW (self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon), the Soviet 2S6 Tunguska is a formidable beast. Armed with eight 9M311 SAM missiles it’ll soon put a dent in your opponents’ so-called air supremacy. If you see anything moving in the clouds, this 35 tonne bit of kit gives you full license to engage it. Unless it’s a bird, of course. There’s no need to kill birds.

You’re not strictly limited to aircraft, though. The Tunguska is able to combat armoured ground vehicles, too. Hey, missiles don’t discriminate – if you point one at something, it’s bound to blow up.

BATTLE IN NEW LOCATIONS

Finally, update 1.87 offers two new combined-arms locations. First up is the Alaska map, which plays host to some of the most intense fighting yet seen in the game. It’s a delightful combination of wide city streets that are perfect for rampaging tanks, and dense surrounding forests where precise driving and a keen sense of direction are key.

Second is Coral Islands, a gorgeous playground based in the Pacific. This setting is designed to give fleet vessels and aircraft a rush as they engage each other around a rocky atoll. Okay, that’s it from us – best of luck out there!

Launched in 2013, Warface is a military shooter built on a bedrock of satisfying gunplay, slick movement, and sharp visuals. That probably comes as little surprise given that it was originally created by Crytek, but the game has proven so successful that the development team has formed its own studio called Blackwood Games. Working closely with publisher My.com, Blackwood ensures Warface always offers fierce firefights, an array of competitive modes, and a set of engaging story-led cooperative missions.

This confection has been crafted in CryEngine 3.5, a rather powerful but convincingly scalable bit of tech. Thanks to that foundation, Warface runs well on a wide range of rigs and looks great doing so. This is the engine behind Crysis, after all, and it’s a boon to get those fantastic visuals – and the infamous nanosuit itself – in a free-to-play game.

On top of all that, a healthy stream of free updates ensures that Warface frequently provides fresh and exciting new stuff to see and do. That helps pull in the punters, of course, which means there’s always plenty of human targets waiting for your bullets. It all adds up to a package that offers a little more than your average free-to-play effort, and we’re going to show you why that’s the case.

EMBARK ON PVE MISSIONS WITH YOUR SQUAD

There are many free-to-play shooters vying for your time, but few offer dedicated co-op campaigns. Warface does, and this variety makes it stand out from the crowd. Its story-driven PvE mode consists of nine special operations that test your five-person squad’s reactions and tactics. One such operation, The Great White, is a wave-based survival mission set in a glimmering glass and chrome skyscraper. Alternatively, you could try your hand at Anubis, in which you must destroy a cyborg factory inside an Egyptian pyramid. For an even hotter time, give Volcano a go, where your team launches an attack on an African research station before having a showdown with a security turret called Ursula. She’s very upset and cries bullets.

Each mission is replayable, offering different rewards at higher difficulties. For example, normal mode provides twice the amount of rewards easy does, but according to the stats just 7% of all squads are successful – so you’d best prepare yourself for a challenge. The most able players can double their currency rewards in pro mode, where enemies that deal enormous damage call for intimate class knowledge and coordinated teamwork. Given the odds offered for success in normal, however, we don’t fancy our chances much.

IT’S GOT BATTLE ROYALE

Battle royale is all the rage now, and Warface has joined the party. The mode takes the game’s robust mechanics and applies them to the familiar every-person-for-themselves setup, although there’s slightly less jumping out of buses in this one. Featuring 32 players fighting for survival, it may be smaller than the traditional 100-player versions of the mode you’re used to, but it’s the biggest skirmish Warface has seen to date, and it gives you a large-scale alternative to the game’s signature tight, close-quarters matches.

Warface’s take on battle royale was originally limited to Mojave, a desert map baking under the hot sun, but the mode has since extended to the Pripyat-set Exclusion Zone map, too. The devastation wrought by Chernobyl works as great lore for Exclusion Zone, with radioactive particles spread by a massive storm shrinking the playable area until there’s just one soldier left. While battle royale is only one part of Warface, it could be the mode that draws you in first.

WAGE WAR ACROSS 20 MAPS AND TEN MODES

Warface’s PvP offers exactly the kind of multiplayer mayhem you’d expect from a development team that honed its craft on Crysis. And thanks to constant support and updates, the game’s community has remained consistently active, meaning you’ll always be able to find a game.

Competitive players can do battle across ten different modes, from the aforementioned Battle Royale, to classic picks such as Team Deathmatch and Plant the Bomb. Also in the mix are more inventive modes such as Storm, in which the attacking team must capture specific objectives as the defenders attempt to disrupt them, and Destruction, where you utilise radios to call airstrikes on opposition bases.

In terms of locations, there’s a generous smattering of oil depots, hangers, farms, forests, and downtown districts across Warface’s 20 maps. Collectively they offer a good mix of close, medium, and long-range encounters, which helps the game feel fresh and varied from match to match. There are plenty of good hiding spots, too.

IT REALLY IS COMPLETELY FREE TO PLAY

You don’t have to buy a single unit of currency to enjoy Warface, which is nice. There’s no restrictive paywall, and you won’t be swamped with prompts to buy anything. However, should you choose to, you can spend the in-game currency you earn through playing on a variety of items in the microtransaction store.

Completing PvP matches or PvE missions rewards you with currency, which is used to rent weapons, buy armour, and obtain new skins. Vendor Points fuel progression through the Arsenal tree, which features three categories of weapons, attachments, and equipment. You’ll earn all this currency at a steady rate, but if you want to speed up the process, you can purchase VIP Booster packs with premium currency. Crucially, however, this is always optional and never mandatory.

REGULAR UPDATES KEEP YOU COMING BACK

Blackwood Games continually updates Warface to give players new and interesting content. The most recent addition is the new Sanctuary map, which features beautiful pink blossom trees, a cascading waterfall, and a well-tended rock garden. It’s the perfect tranquil paradise in which to open fire. And talking of weapons, a devastating SAP-6 pump-action shotgun that knocks enemies flying is now available.

Modes refresh too, with new challenges added daily to the PvE missions. There’s also a regular stream of weapon and body skins to help you stand out. We’re partial to the Crysis Nanosuit ourselves, which acts as a nostalgic nod to the development team’s past at Crytek. Oh, and for an extra incentive, you also get daily login bundles of cash and items. Warfaceis truly a living game, because there’s something new to try every day. We’ll see you online.

Anyone who has seen almost any sci-fi movie knows that we’ve got our work cut out for us if the machines ever do rise up. In open-world survival game Generation Zero, there’s a whole bunch of killer metal monsters roaming around baying for blood. They range from dog-sized machines, to the general shape and tonnage of an industrial harvester. But it’s not onions and beetroot they want to scoop up from the fields. It’s you.

Don’t worry, however, because we’re here to help. This handy beginner’s guide will show you where to get some powerful weapons early on, how best to take down the heartless bits of hardware making your life a misery, and offer a few general tips on what to do to get off to an amazing start.

Before we talk tactics, however, remember that while you can get together with up to three people online, you can also play the game solo. Forming a squad isn’t mandatory, then, but bear in mind that most activities in life are better with friends – even surviving a robot uprising.

Whether you buddy up or not, your aim is to run around Avalanche Studio’s lovingly reimagined ’80s Sweden, looting gear while trying to avoid eradication. It’s all pleasantly streamlined, with no NPCs to hand out missions, and no hunger or thirst meters to worry about. Right then, let’s cut the chatter and get out there – we believe in you.

WHERE TO FIND THE HUNTER’S RIFLE

The hunter’s rifle is incredibly effective in Generation Zero. It lets you take out enemies at range, and that’s going to prove particularly useful in the rolling hills of Sweden. It’s also very easy to miss, however.

To get your hands on it, you have to follow the road from the starting area until you come to an abandoned car. It’s between the first house and the church – just stick to the road and you’ll spot it. Search the car for a note, and it’ll point you to a house located north-west of Björknäs-skogen, on the coast.

Head into the house to find the rifle and various ammo boxes scattered around, and then dip inside the garage for a high-powered scope. Make sure to watch out for prowling robots outside, though.

DON’T MISS THE HIDDEN SHOTGUN

The second weapon you really can’t afford to miss is the shotgun. It’s located in the Iboholmen church, which you’ll come across naturally during the tutorial mission. There’s a note in the church alluding to a ‘hiding place’, which is fun to try and find for yourself – but hey, if you’re reading this you want answers. We get it.

So, to claim your prize, make your way through the gloom to the wooden staircase at the back and ascend all the way to the bell tower. The shotgun should be right in front of you, along with some shells for it. Now you have a shotgun and sniper rifle, letting you take on enemies at both close and long range – not to mention look pretty cool with those tools slung over your shoulder.

DISMANTLE EARLY ENEMIES

As we’ve mentioned once or twice already, the world is full of robots waiting to kill you. Your crime? Having skin, apparently. We suspect it’s down to jealousy, but fret not – there are several ways you can combat the machines’ war on dermis. Firstly, depending on where you shoot them, they’ll break apart in different ways – remember to account for bullet drop if engaging at range – and, brilliantly, any damage you inflict will remain indefinitely.

THE FURTHER YOU TRAVEL INTO THE ISLAND, THE BIGGER THE ROBOTS GET

If your aim’s good enough, the early dog-shaped robots are easily felled with a single, explosive shot to the fuel tank on their backs. You can also shoot off their mounted gun and force them into melee mode – upon which they’ll adopt a kicking strategy.

It’s also worth noting that there’s no difficulty scaling in the game. Instead, the further you travel into the island, the bigger the robots get. So don’t go too far inland until you have some good gear and character upgrades under you belt. Speaking of which…

GIVE ROBOTS THE SLIP

Let’s talk stealth. The first character upgrade we recommend grabbing is ‘spotting’. This lets you scan enemies to see their health bar. It’s really useful because it allows you to make an educated call on whether you should try engaging a robot or not. Deciding when to head into battle and when to avoid combat is central to Generation Zero, and much of the time being sneaky is your best option.

If you need to make yourself scarce, a good option is using a boombox. Yes, making a lot of noise feels counter-intuitive, but bear with us here. You can find boomboxes quite easily around the world, and if you drop one and hit the play button, it’ll lure enemies over like a synth-pop siren. This is useful both for distracting them while you scarper, or to bait them into traps. If you don’t have a music system to hand, then you could use fireworks instead. They operate slightly differently, stunning robots so that you can get away.

Also, remember that rain is your friend in Generation Zero. The sound of raindrops hitting the ground will actually mask your footsteps. And don’t forget that foliage conceals you too, so make sure to duck inside a bit of shrubbery when enemies are nearby.

USE THE ENVIRONMENT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

It’s not just guns that help you kill enemies. In Generation Zero, you can use the world itself. For instance, electrical boxes explode when damaged, emitting a devastating burst of electricity and zapping any unfortunate robot that happens to be standing nearby. Bait foes over to these boxes, using flares or the tactics described above, and have yourself a good old fry up. A nice bonus of using this strategy is that electricity won’t damage the parts robots drop, so you can use it to get better loot.

If you’re happy with charred spoils, however, you can take enemies out quickly with a car explosion. It may destroy some of the loot you would otherwise have bagged, but it also looks incredibly cool. One shot to any vehicle’s engine will do it. Time it right and you’ll take out several bots in one awesome fireball.

HOW DOES MULTIPLAYER WORK?

In Generation Zero, you can easily jump in and out of people’s games. The host of a game you join will always save mission progress, and the state of the world is based on where the host is in their story. However, if you’re a guest, your progress will still save as long as you’re at roughly the same point in the story – don’t expect to leapfrog a chunk of the experience by joining someone who is much further along than you, however!

In every scenario, loot and experience will always be saved. So you can jump into someone’s game, let them guide you to some good loot, and then take that loot back to your own game. It’s easier said than done with all those robots, but hopefully some experienced close protection will help even the odds a little. Right, we’ve done all we can for you. Best of luck out there!

Minecraft shaders. What is a Minecraft shader? Why is it? And for how long? Well, Minecraft has a lot of things in its favour: infinite replayability, massively varied gameplay and a constantly changing and improving online game. Where Minecraft falters in comparison to other modern games is its graphics. Fortunately, as with everything in Minecraft, the graphical fidelity can be tweaked to incredible effect with the help of mods called shaders.

First time here? Be sure to check out our homepage for news, reviews, features, and everything else you need to know about PC games.

From photorealistic lighting to uncanny motion blur, shaders are capable of bringing your Minecraft experience to life. Every shader has its own unique qualities, whether that’s injecting some serious style or providing a lag-free boost to Minecraft’s base visuals. So, in order to set you on your way to crystal-clear vistas we’ve put together a collection of the top Minecraft shaders out there.

If you’re looking for the original Minecraft shaders mod headhere – it’s great for adding some light sparkle to Mojang’s aesthetic, rather than turning the world neon or anything mad like that.

HOW TO INSTALL MINECRAFT SHADERS

Getting a shader or shader pack up and running on Minecraft is a simple enough process. Before you get started trying to install a shader pack though, you’ll want to download and install Forge and Optifine and GLSL Shaders Mod. Alternatively, you can download the original shaders mod here, which is regularly updated for Minecraft’s latest versions, although downloads for 1.9 and up won’t be compatible with Forge and Optifine.

Head to Forge’s download page and select the download for the version of Minecraft you’re running. Once downloaded, locate the file and run it, which should bring a install window up. Check it’s located your Minecraft folders and then click ‘Install client’. To check it’s working, run Minecraft and select Forge as your profile – this should give you a new screen with your mods and programs listed in the bottom left-hand corner.

Optifine will require roughly the same procedure, but after downloading you’ll have to locate the Minecraft folder yourself. To do so hit [Windows key]+ R and type %appdata%\.minecraft into the run prompt. Now just drag and drop OptiFine into your ‘mods’ folder.

Finally, it’s time to grab the GLSL Shaders Mod. Head to their page and download the correct version before once again dragging and dropping it into the ‘mods’ folder. Now you have everything you should need to run shaders. The install process in no different than the rest except you’ll want to place the shader packs into… you guessed it… ‘shaderpacks’ folder.

WAVING PLANTS SHADERS

Breathing a little more life into Minecraft in a much less in-your-face photogenic way is Waving Plants Shaders, a nature centric graphics mod that lends subtle animations to all things green. This shader has been made to be compatible with the major shader packs such as SEUS, making the final effect even more impressive. It’s not just grass that’s been given some motion either, this shader gives every piece of vanilla fauna – from lilies to nether warts – a visual boost.

SONIC ETHER’S UNBELIEVABLE SHADERS

The touchstone shader pack for anyone wanting to feel like they’ve entered an entirely different game. Named SEUS for short, this pack is a modification on another much-loved shader pack, and as such it’ll have your Minecraft world looking about as good as you can ever expect it to. Soft natural lighting, rain that adds a glossy sheen to every surface it touches, procedurally generated clouds and much more await you.

CONTINUUM SHADERS

An unofficial add-on to the already dazzling SEUS Shader Pack, this graphics overhaul is the modder’s equivalent of the Sistine Chapel. Upon installing this shader you’ll be greeted with photo-realistic lighting effects: colour gradients across the sky box, true-to-life clouds, and shadows that adjust in shape and angle with the sun’s position. Everything here is top-notch. Unfortunately, such results come with the caveat of needing a mighty rig, but when visual fidelity like this is on the line it’s worth it. There’s a lite version available as well if you consider upgrading your PC for the sake of running a Minecraft shader a little excessive. Wuss.

KUDA SHADER

The KUDA shader makes a number of notable improvements to natural lighting in Minecraft, but this shader’s pièce de résistance is its gloriously enhanced sun rays. Resembling those benevolent beams of light you only seem to get at the least sociable hours of daylight, KUDA shader turns any rural scene into a masterpiece. There’s an impressive depth of field effect too, making this a solid shader for Minecraft artwork and screengrabs.

SUPER SHADERS

Light yellow tones, a subtle depth of field effect and pristinely rendered water make Super Shaders an ideal graphics mod for lending Minecraft a serene and idyllic atmosphere. It comes with some of the most realistic clouds and lighting available too, which is fantastic for capturing your creations at their very best.

LAGLESS SHADERS

Experimenting, tinkering and modding like the mad scientists we are comes with the cost of severely reduce performance – not every budding Minecraft engineer has a computer rig capable of dealing with the demands of high-fidelity visuals. Thankfully, some clever so-and-so madelagless shaders, giving everyone a taste of jaw-dropping visuals with no framerate drops to speak of.

SUMMER SUNSET

Few things compare to the warming glow of a summer sunset. That’s why this Minecraft modder decided to make a shader capable of bestowing all of those feelings of nostalgia and carefree-living upon your Minecraft world. Perfect for getting you through a dark and gloomy January afternoon or convincing yourself you’ve spent time outside on a hot June day.

NAELEGO’S CEL SHADERS

Add some crisp, cartoony visuals to proceedings with this Borderlands-inspired, cel-shaded look. This expertly crafted shader introduces bold colours, crisp outlines and solid shadows in order to emulate the look of a classic comic or cartoon.

MRMEEPZ’ SHADER PACK

Specially made for low-end setups, this humble shader gives lighting, effects and animations a dramatic boost with little to no toll on how well the game will run for you. Staggeringly, the MrMeepz’ Shaders packstill manages to include all the features of its performance-draining counterparts, such as water reflections, natural shadows and hosts of animations.

ACID SHADERS

Flawless visuals and breathtaking sunsets are one thing, but if you want to make your Minecraft session a little psychedelic there are few shaders as effective as this aptly named mind-bender. Looking towards the horizon will cause everything in view to twist and distort, folding the world in on itself and falling away in a single motion – it’s stomach-churning stuff. Load up a horror map with this shader turned on and you’re all set for a Minecraftian nightmare.

RUDOPLAYS SHADERS

Every shader has its best feature, this one has lots of them. Arresting sunsets, swaying foliage and vibrant colours are just some of the additions that make RudoPlays’ pack so great. This shader rests somewhere between photorealistic and classic Minecraft, making it an ideal bolt-on for anyone looking to add an aesthetic kick to the vanilla game.

ZIIPZAAP’S SHADER PACK

Sure, Ziipzaap’s Shader pack provides a hearty boost to Minecraft’s general lighting, but it’s the quality of the reflections that have been added to water which make this shader stand out. Our recommendation: find a large body of water, sit back and bask in the glory of those pristine reflections until the sun sets and it’s time to return to the safety of your hut.

HEXAGON’S NIGHT OWL SHADER PACK

Survival mode places a great amount of emphasis on surviving the night, which means attempting to adequately light a pitch-black world while defending yourself. This useful shader lights the night up with a convincing moonlight glow, making slaying mobs and exploring your surroundings considerably easier in early game.

THE WAVE

The Wave is another hypnotic shader that’ll give VR a run for its money where motion sickness is concerned. Stirring your vision as much as it stirs your stomach, The Wave makes the world around you roll about like… well… waves. It’s off-putting, nauseating, but totally awesome, especially when the sun’s setting.

That’s it – Minecraft shaders aplenty. If you’ve found any more that you think belong in the list then let us know in the comments.

Real-time lighting effects are a highlight of high-fidelity games like Battlefield V and Metro Exodus, but now they’re also available in the chunky world of Minecraft. A modder has created a ray tracing shader for use in the classic building game.

Okay, so it’s not ray tracing, exactly – technically, the rendering method modder Sonic Ether uses to create real-time global illumination in Minecraft is called path tracing. The difference is that path tracing uses rays that bounce many times throughout a scene, but the effect is similar to that of ray tracing: gorgeously-lit and shadowed scenes, even in something as simple-looking as Minecraft.

An artist who goes by @notglacier spotted the shader and posted a couple short videos of how it looks in game. The results are pretty astonishing: beautiful beams of sunlight angle through a glass ceiling onto a shiny reflective floor, and a torch gives off a realistic warm glow in the second. You almost forget that you’re looking at Minecraft – until he plunks down a switch on the wall, and you remember the original, pixel-texture graphics. In any case, it’s impressive work.

Have a look for yourself:

notglacier@notglacier · 30 Mar 2019

they added ray tracing in the new minecraft shader dev build i am absolutely shitting myself

notglacier@notglacier

Messing around a bit more

you can do indirect lighting and stuff now pic.twitter.com/X8q3msBen75,18613:14 – 30 Mar 2019Twitter Ads information and privacy

849 people are talking about this

If you’d like to try it out yourself, you can download Sonic Ether’s Unbelievable Shaders (SEUS) Renewed from his website, which is here. It’s currently in version 1.0.0, and it’s a small download of just 6.74 MB.

You can also support Sonic Ether on Patreon, and a monthly pledge will grant access to his Discord server, with higher tiers available if you’d like to try out experimental development builds. He says his goal is to push Minecraft’s visuals “to the limit,” and it seems he’s done just that.

Splatoon 2 is the best-selling physical Nintendo Switch game in Japan.

The Nintendo Switch is undoubtedly a hit compared to Nintendo’s previous console the Wii U. While the console-handheld hybrid still has a long way to go before it can reach the same sales numbers as the Wii, however, it’s nice to see Nintendo back in the limelight after what felt like years of disappointment in the console space.

When comparing the best-selling games on Switch across every region, Japan is an interesting place to look at as the gaming culture in Nintendo’s country of origin is widely unique compared to most if not all western countries. Japan is a very on-the-go country so devices like the Switch and PS Vita are great for people who are running around every day.

Famitsu recently revealed the top 20 best-selling physical Nintendo Switch games in Japan and most of the games aren’t all too surprising, with the exception of a few outliers. You can check out the full list below alongside sales numbers:

1. Splatoon 2 – 2,980,986
2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate –  2,885,281
3. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 2,185,049
4. Super Mario Odyssey – 1,940,587
5. Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!/Let’s Go, Eevee! – 1,425,935
6. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 1,244,404
7. Super Mario Party – 950,068
8. Kirby Star Allies – 695,303
9. Minecraft – 651,275
10. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – 465,742
11. 1-2-Switch – 449,437
12. Arms – 425,881
13. Mario Tennis Aces –  400,018
14. Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun! – 306,250
15. Pokken Tournament DX – 301,429
16. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate – 254,017
17. Dragon Quest Builders 2 – 249,889
18. Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 1 – 240,926
19. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze – 227,296
20. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – 221,234

Although Splatoon 2 seems like a game most people genuinely love, it’s quite surprising seeing it take the top spot over in Japan, beating out both Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It’s likely the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will inevitably take the top spot as that game is more recent and will see a bunch of DLC added into the game, like Joker from Persona 5, before the end of 2019.

Additionally, we’ll likely see New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe rise a couple of spots as the year goes on, considering that game also only came out in January. With even more releases coming throughout the year like Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Luigi’s Mansion 3, Pokemon, and Animal Crossing, the bottom five games will most likely drop off the top 20 list. It’ll also be interesting to see how Square Enix’s Final Fantasy X, X-2, and XII remasters preform on the device.

The Nintendo Switch just celebrated its 2-year anniversary on March 3. What are some of your favorite titles on the device and what are you looking forward to most in 2019?

DualShockers recently talked with Hypixel Studio’s Chris Thursten about Hytale, discussing community mod support, post-launch plans, and more.

This year, Hypixel Studios’ debut game Hytale will be entering its first beta phase and preparing for a full release soon after. The game, which was announced in 2018 by the newly-formed company, is a fresh and exciting take on the existing blockgame genre; something that the team behind the game have incredible origins working on.

DualShockers recently talked with Chris Thursten – the Publishing Lead for Hypixel Studios. Chris talked to us about post-launch plans, community modding support, the team’s Minecraft origins, and much more. Here is our full interview:

Ben: Hytale is your first full game ever, and it seems you all are jumping into the deep end with it. Was there any doubt that you’d be going in the direction of what you were familiar with – e.g. Hypixel and Minecraft?

Chris Thursten: Yes. We spent a considerable amount of time not wanting to go in that direction, but we were naturally pulled towards it. Our team has a lot of experience in the blockgame genre, and it made sense for us to build on what we’d done before.

B: Riot Games are direct investors in the project – can you tell us about how that came to fruition?

CT: We approached Riot Games looking for advice, because they’ve got direct experience of building a professional development studio with modding community roots. We got on well, and that eventually led to Riot making an investment in Hypixel Studios.

B: Your studio runs the largest Minecraft server on the planet, and arguably the most diverse in terms of content. On that topic, what kind of support will Hytalehave for people who want to create huge server networks? Will there be any tools that you wish were in Minecraft for Hypixel to use that you’re bringing to the game?

CT: We’re planning to support people who want to create and run large server networks as well as anybody who wants to set up a server for their friends. Our server browser makes it easy for players to find, filter and rate community servers, and we’re investing in technology that’ll make it easy to jump into a server, or even adventure mode, straight from your friends list.

B: Are you planning to make community mod support a large part of the game, or are you just throwing the tools out there?

“Hytale Model Maker is the tool we’re using to create the game ourselves…It didn’t make sense for us to say ‘to mod the game you’ll have to learn a professional modeling package.’”

CT: We’ll be providing a huge amount of baseline content with Hytale, but we plan on giving the community lots of tools to find and play modded content too. We’re really looking forward to seeing what people do with the platform we provide.

B: Interestingly, Hytale is shipping with modeling and animation tools. Is there anything that prompted you to make this decision specifically? Are you excited about what your talented players could do with tools like that?

CT: Hytale Model Maker is the tool we’re using to create the game ourselves – it’s designed to make it as easy as possible to create and customize assets and load them into the game. We’ve put a lot of work into it, so it made sense to share it with the community too. It didn’t make sense for us to say ‘to mod the game you’ll have to learn a professional modeling package.

B: Do you plan on incorporating interesting but hidden lore into Hytale’s world and main modes?

CT: Yes. Exploration and discovery is a big part of adventure mode, and players who venture off the beaten track will have the opportunity to find secrets that others might miss.

“It makes sense that people will make the comparison, but blockgames are a genre and we believe there’s plenty of space for something new.”

B: You’re planning on adding minigames to feed the hunger of Hypixel fans who play the game – can you tell us more about these minigames?

CT: We’ve got a lot of experience building minigames and all of that is being invested into Hytale. We’re currently experimenting with a prototype variation of The Pit, a minigame that has developed a fun meta on the Hypixel server.

B: Do you think Hytale being compared to Minecraft constantly is a natural way of judging the game? How far from your Minecraft origins are you planning to stray with Hytale?

CT: It makes sense that people will make the comparison, but blockgames are a genre and we believe there’s plenty of space for something new. Hytale is its own game, and over time we expect that the comparison will be made less and less. We’ve got a huge amount of respect for Minecraft, Mojang and Microsoft – there’s definitely space for both to coexist!

B: How regularly will you guys be updating Hytale post-launch and does the team already have an idea of what they want to do with the game after release?

CT: We’ll be providing lots of support for the game after release. We’ll discuss more details about this further down the road!

B: How easy are you making the in-game scripting tools to use? Are you targeting advanced programmers and modellers, or are you wanting to create a system for beginners to turn into more advanced users?

CT: We’re targeting the higher end of modding – we know how good community mods can be. That said, difficulty really just depends on how ambitious your mod is – simpler mods will naturally be easier to make.

B: How do you plan on making Hytale appealing to YouTubers, streamers, and other content creators?

CT: We’re providing in-game cinematic tools to allow for advanced machinima creation, and we’re even letting players watch videos together in-game. It’s important to us that we support the needs of YouTubers, streamers and other content creators.

Minecraft and Undertale cross paths in a fan-created video, where Steve falls into Mt. Ebott recreating the intro of the low-fi indie game.

Both Minecraft and low-fi indie adventure Undertale with games like Fortnite and Deltarune stealing their spotlight. But creators are still working on making some cool fan projects — even if it means merging the two unlikely franchises together. A newly-created video focuses on just that, offering up the intro of the game in a new light.

Posted by Redditor u/Dodu-, the video seems innocuous enough. The 25-second video starts with Minecraft protagonist Steve climbing a gigantic mountain. Following the ascent, Steve falls through a crevice in the middle of the mountain, hitting a pitch-black section. Tiny, yellow flowers greet the player before he turns to a purple sheep.

You can catch the full video below:

Make no mistake–work was put into this. While there are naturally-developed caverns, caves, and sinkholes in Minecraft, Dodu explained that he had to blast this section out using TNT.

Now what does this have to do with Undertale — let me step in and deconstruct that for you.

For everyone who has never played the RPG Maker title that struck internet fame, each game begins with the same intro — following a war that broke out between Monsters and Humans. Despite coming out victorious and sealing the Monsters underground, in the year 201X humans have been falling through a hole at the top of Mt. Ebott. Those who manage to fall through that hole are never seen again.

You, as the game’s protagonist, trip and fall into Mt. Ebott, starting Undertale‘s adventure.

The game opens up to a quick dialogue section — you are introduced to Flowey, the seemingly innocent flower-like creature that “welcomes” you to the game. That is, before purple-clad goat mom (Toriel) drives the vindictive flower away and whisks you to her home.

So there you have it–Steve climbs the mountain, falls to the bottom, is greeted by flowers, and has his first encounter with Toriel.

It’s worth noting that recreating intros are a pretty popular meta in the content creation game. Lest we forget the recreation of Super Smash Bros. Melee‘s intro using Ultimate. Or perhaps how we saw someone make remake Avatar: The Last Airbender and Star Wars scenes in that title as well.

In many ways, Undertale has reached a revered meme status. Despite Toby Fox’s other game Deltarune coming in to steal the spotlight, we are still seeing cool collaborations like Groove Coaster working songs into their game and Jack Black singing “Megalovania”. On the other end, Minecraft seems to be winding down — the Nintendo 3DS version just received a final update, ushering the end of development on that handheld platform. And though the movie is in active development, it may be having some production woes.

Minecraft is currently available on quite literally everything — whether it be your Nintendo Switch, tvOS, or toaster. Meanwhile, Undertale is available for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Vita. Oh, and Minecraft is purchasable on Amazon if you are interested and haven’t picked it up yet.

Listen to a new track, ‘13 Layers Of Stone’, now.

Parisian producer Le Dom returns to his own label Paradoxe Club with a new EP, Schism.

The release is described by the label as “an operation of musical Minecraft” and collects four crushing club compositions that feature “the full magnetic power” of the producer’s “abrasive rhythmic constructions”. Listen to a new track, ‘13 Layers Of Stone’, below.

Schism drops on April 5 and is available to pre-order now. Check out the Weirdcore-designed cover art and tracklist below.

Tracklist:

01. ‘Primal’
02. ’13 Layers Of Stone’
03. ‘Side Quest’
04. ‘Schism’

Two months after the massive success of Marshmello’s in-game Fortniteconcert, a slew of musicians are gathering together to put on an entire in-game festival – this time in Minecraft.

Announced today, Pixel Festival will be held in the blocky mining and building game over the weekend of April 6-7 – or rather from midday on April 7-8 in Australia due to the time difference

Presented by URL Events, the festival will feature talent from all around the globe – as well as a good number of Australian artists. Heimanu is scheduled to perform on Pixel Festival’s first day, while the second day is packed full of Aussie talent such as What So Not, Slumberjack, Anna Lunoe, Blanke, Yvng Jalapeño and Made By Tsuki.

Incredibly popular Fortnite Twitch streamer Ninja will also be performing at the festival. No word yet as to whether he’ll try to make the crowd floss.

Admission to Pixel Festival is free, but you can buy a VIP pass for US$5 or an artist pass for US$25. However, exactly what these passes get you is unclear, as Pixel Festival’s website is currently down.

To attend the festival, you’ll need a copy of Minecraft. Once you’ve booted it up, select ‘Multiplayer’, click ‘Add Server’, then type in ‘MC.URL.EVENTS’.

This isn’t the first time a live performance has been held in Minecraft.

Back in 2016, Norway tech conference The Gathering held an event in which artists AlunaGeorge, Broiler and Lemaitre performed in real life, while volunteers copied their movements with in-game avatars.

In September 2018, performers including ANAMANAGUCHI and Electric Mantis took to the virtual Minecraft stage at Coalchella.

Even more recently, Fire Festival (not to be confused with Fyre Festival) was held this January in Minecraft, featuring performances from artists such ARTY, Ekali, Hudson Mohawke and Luca Lush.

However, the incredible success of DJ Marshmello’s Fortnite concert last month has renewed interest in the still relatively experimental format. In a statement to The Verge, Epic Games said that 10.7 million people attended Marshmello’s concert, making it the game’s largest event to date.

Two dozen schools in the British Isles received donated books, but these weren’t the kind that schools usually get.

They were Bible stories interwoven with the popular video game “Minecraft.”

The idea was that children might engage more with the Bible if they had a familiar vehicle – in this case, religious stories in a game-themed book — helping them do it, according to the Bailiwick Express.

In the British Isles, the schools received “The Unofficial Bible for Minecrafters – Stories from the Bible told block by block,” which gives children ages 7 through 11 3-D versions of Bible stories such as the Garden of Eden and Noah’s Ark.

The Rev. Beverley Sproats of St John’s Parish Church said the game-themed religious books made the Bible more “accessible.” Her church donated 30 such books to St. John’s School.

Francesca Allen, who heads Humanities Faculty at Le Rocquier School, said her school “gratefully received” the donation.

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“We were previously having to print extracts from the Bible to support students in their Judaism and Christianity studies,” she said, “which meant they never got to grips with how to negotiate a real Bible.”

The book that was donated to the 24 schools is one of a series that tells religious stories through a Minecraft approach. Other books in the series include, “The Story of Moses, A Children’s Guide to the Old and New Testament, Life of Jesus, and Heroes and Villains.”

The schools in Europe have a lot of company when it comes to using Minecraft to connect children to the Bible.

“Because Minecraft is so open, any player can design a world,” said Vincent Gonzalez, a scholar who has examined Christian video games, to USA Today in an interview last year.“And whenever things are open, religious people tend to use it to express themselves.”

Professor Rachel Wagner of Ithaca College sees parallels between video games and religion. Both, she noted to USA Today, have rituals, rules and structure.

“Even if they are ‘open’ in the sense of allowing players to construct entire worlds for themselves, as Minecraft does, games always offer spaces in which things make sense, where players have purpose and control,” Wagner added. “For players who may feel that the real world is spinning out of control, games can offer a comforting sense of predictability. They can replace God for some in their ability to promise an ordered world.”

On a broader scale, educators are finding Minecraft an effective way to teach other subjects.

“We first heard from kids themselves about Minecraft, and we started watching a lot of YouTube videos to see what the buzz was about,” said Debra Dorfman, Scholastic’s vice president and publisher for licensing, to The Associated Press a few years ago.

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“Kids, parents and teachers were all saying Minecraft was good for you. Kids are given free rein to play, build and watch YouTube videos of other people playing. Teachers were talking about the educational aspects of creative thinking, geometry, geology and problem solving so parents were agreeing to let them play for hours at a time.”

“Minecraft” is set in a procedurally generated blocky world whose trees, terrain and bodies of water can be mined for resources to build things like shelters, tools and armor to protect players from the zombies, skeletons and creepers who come out at night. The calculatedly simple mix of survival gameplay and Lego-like digital construction has captured the imagination of players who’ve recreated landmarks like Walt Disney World, the White House and Westeros from “Game of Thrones” across the game’s sprawling virtual landscape.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.