Over the past two decades, the Mission: Impossible film franchise has become the reliable, comforting home that’s always ready to shelter Tom Cruise. No matter what turns his career takes, there’s always Ethan Hunt: the dogged Impossible Missions Force operative who always gives 110 percent, perpetually putting himself at risk to secure other people’s safety.

In a different era, Hunt would serve as a sort of Platonic action-hero ideal, and there wouldn’t be any need to dig past the archetype itself. But there’s been an interesting wrinkle in the franchise, starting with Brad Bird’s 2011 take, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Hunt has had to face the notion of consequences — and not just the usual ones, where if he fails, some madman might blow up the world. Now, Hunt is facing personal consequences for his actions, as he has to leave behind his wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan) because he can’t sustain a relationship while perpetually globetrotting to save the world.

Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout builds that core idea into an entire film. Or at least it builds that core idea into a frame for jaw-dropping setpieces and brain-numbing plot twists. The result doesn’t just feel like the sixth installment in a long-running series, it feels like an authentic sequel to 2015’s Rogue Nation, bringing back many of the key characters and storylines to explore whether the ideals of a character like Ethan Hunt even make sense in the modern world. And it explores those ideas while telling an audacious, exhilarating story.

Fallout begins with a new IMF mission: after Hunt captured Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) in Rogue Nation, Lane’s criminal cohorts have reorganized under the name The Apostles, and are trying to obtain some missing plutonium. They hope to create order from the chaos of the world by inflicting massive harm through a series of attacks, and forcing countries to work together as the old world order falls. Hunt puts together a mission to buy the plutonium before The Apostles can get their hands on it, enlisting his usual cohorts: Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames, still the master of deadpan reactions) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg).

When things go awry, Hunt suddenly faces a choice: save Stickell, or protect the plutonium. The conflict clearly lays out the central conundrum in Hunt’s character, but IMF director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) spells it out for the audience anyway: Hunt’s inability to prioritize the greater good over a single life may make people see him as a hero, but can also lead to the world becoming much more dangerous.

THE SAME CHARACTER TRAITS THAT MAKE HUNT A HERO MAY ALSO LEAD TO THE WORLD BECOMING MUCH MORE DANGEROUS.
With the CIA no longer confident in Hunt’s abilities, agent August Walker (Henry Cavill) is assigned to team up with Hunt to get the plutonium back. That sounds like a lot of setup, but it isn’t even Fallout’s first act. The movie is packed with plot reversals, and new characters arrive at every turn. The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby shows up as the White Widow, an arms broker who can help Hunt procure the missing plutonium. Angela Bassett plays no-nonsense CIA head Erica Sloan. Harris’ Solomon Lane returns as a key figure, and so does Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), the MI6 agent who infiltrated Lane’s network in Rogue Nation. All of this is a lot for audiences to keep track of, and at a certain point, there are so many plot micro-turns that it becomes easier to stop trying to make sense of it all, and let the story wash by on the way to the next action sequence.

Photo: Paramount Pictures
That’s where the film really makes a statement, because Mission: Impossible – Fallout merges the franchise’s big-budget spectacle with an utterly ferocious style of action filmmaking that far surpasses what McQuarrie executed in either Rogue Nation or Jack Reacher. It’s filled with gasp-inducing motorcycle chases, kinetic car sequences, and bruising, brutal combat. When called into action, Cavill’s Walker is so savage a fighter that he’s hard to watch at times, whether he’s landing pummeling body blows or bashing his opponents into a bathroom sink. Many of the action beats just feel meaner than the industry standard, whether it’s Hunt taking a bruising tumble across pavement after being thrown from his motorcycle, or the relentless, violent gunplay that peppers so many scenes.

MERGES THE FRANCHISE’S BIG-BUDGET SPECTACLE WITH AN UTTERLY FEROCIOUS STYLE OF ACTION FILMMAKING
It sometimes feels like Fallout is more action reel than movie. The fight sequences are arresting, but they stretch out at such length that they can’t always maintain energy. What makes them constantly watchable, however, is the sheer variety — McQuarrie stages so many different kinds of action sequences in so many different locales that Fallout begins to feel like a James Bond film. The gorgeous IMAX visuals help as well. McQuarrie and cinematographer Rob Hardy pop into the immersive, 1.90:1 IMAX aspect ratio throughout the film, and the footage they capture with the IMAX cameras is stunning, particularly during a climactic helicopter chase above the snowy mountains of Kashmir.

Those IMAX cameras are particularly effective in capturing the sheer audacity of Cruise’s stunts. He’s made a personal trademark out of performing his own film stunts as often as possible, especially in the Mission: Impossible series. The actor famously broke his ankle during the filming of Fallout, and yes, the shot where he sustained the injury is in the finished film. (The Graham Norton Show featured a more gruesome breakdown earlier in 2018.) Cruise’s dedication is surprising, but his commitment to the role makes him almost too grounded of a character, which causes a sense of discordance in the later scenes, where the movie pushes into nearly comical levels of spectacle.

Photo: Paramount Pictures
But no matter how ridiculous the action sequences become, the dedication to that core idea ultimately elevates the film. At one point, Lane warns Hunt that eventually evil will triumph, and the bloodshed that follows will be a result of Hunt’s inability to modulate his worldview — “the fallout of all your good intentions.” Other action films have similarly explored the idea that holding onto an ethos isn’t expedient for a hero — perhaps most notably in Daniel Craig’s take on James Bond. But reframing an American action hero, particularly one played by Cruise, as too heroic to be effective gives the idea a different sense of weight. As a performer, Cruise is known for his steadfast dedication to his work projects. With the more controversial aspects of his public persona, he’s known for his intense devotion to his personal religious beliefs. And as an actor, he’s built a career largely on the idea of being the all-American action star. Fallout channels all of that, using both his performance and everything audiences think they know about Tom Cruise to its benefit. It builds a portrait of a man who’s so resolute in his own beliefs that he pushes people away — even the ones he loves most.

But Fallout is still a Tom Cruise movie, so while the movie shockingly follows through with the implications of its main theme, it nevertheless tees up events so that by the end, all feels right with the world. The door is left wide open for another entry in the series, should everyone involved (plus Cruise’s ankle) think they’re up for another go-round. But should this end up as the series’ final entry, it’s hard to imagine a better, more fitting end than Mission: Impossible – Fallout. It’s hilarious and thrilling. It acknowledges that single-minded devotion is what lets characters like Hunt do what they do, while also admitting it would make them incapable of adapting to any kind of normal life. And it’s the ultimate on-screen expression of Cruise’s own personal dedication to stunstmanship at all costs. In many ways, Fallout feels like a movie about Tom Cruise himself, with a clear message to bring across: he’s a complicated celebrity figure, but he’s still a pretty damn good movie star.

Read more here: https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/12/17566014/mission-impossible-fallout-review-tom-cruise

The history of Hollywood is littered with film projects that waste away in “development hell” for years, or worse, are abandoned altogether, leaving movie-goers to wonder “what if?” Titles like Alejandro Jodorowsky’s ambitious Dune project or Nicholas Cage’s Superman Lives tease an alternate past in which a very different set of films hit theaters. One notable project that dangled in front of fans was the sequel to James Cameron’s Aliens, Alien 3. Initially, the film’s producers approached Neuromancer author William Gibson to write the script; he produced one, but ultimately it never saw the light of day.

Comic Book Resources revealed that Dark Horse Comics will release a comic series starting in November based on Gibson’s screenplay, adapted by Johnnie Christmas, who’ll handle both adapting the script and the art. Dark Horse already has the license for the franchise, and it’s done similar projects in the past, like its adaptation of George Lucas’ first draft of Star Wars, so it’s a natural fit for the publisher.

Image: Dark Horse Comics
Gibson’s script picks up following the events of Aliens, when the USS Sulaco — carrying Ripley, Hicks, Newt, and the remains of Bishop — strays into a Soviet Union-like territory called the Union of Progressive Peoples. Its soldiers board the ship and are attacked by a facehugger, before departing for a space station called Anchorpoint, which is later overrun by the aliens.

But producers weren’t satisfied with the script, and when Gibson wasn’t able to find the time for the requested re-writes, the project went to a variety of other writers; when filming started in 1991, it did so without a completed script. Had Gibson’s original script been filmed, the franchise would likely have taken quite a different turn. Instead, fans got David Fincher’s ALIEN³, the director’s 145-minute major-feature debut that polarized critics and audiences alike. (The director later famously disowned the film.) A fourth installment, Alien Resurrection, also disappointed audiences. A fifth sequel was planned, but never filmed, and 20th Century Fox eventually produced two Alien vs. Predator films (adaptations of Dark Horse’s crossover series), before the franchise went on ice for years, until Ridley Scott returned to the franchise with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

Gibson’s original script has floated around the internet for years, so the contents of the story won’t be a surprise to dedicated Alien fans, but its publication will nevertheless bring the story to life for a new audience. If it sells well, maybe we’ll get to see the unfilmed Aliens sequel that Neill Blomkamp wanted to make.

Read more here: https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/12/17565326/william-gibson-alien-3-unfilmed-script-dark-horse-comics-adaptation

A film starring Scarlett Johansson’s Marvel Cinematic Universe character has been rumored for the past few years, but that rumor now seems much closer to reality. Cate Shortland (Lore, Berlin Syndrome) has signed on to direct the long-overdue film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Earlier this year, Marvel hired screenwriter Jac Schaeffer to write the script, which is reportedly set before the events of the first Avengers film. THR says Marvel has met with “70 or 75 directors in order to find its ideal candidate,” and that hiring a woman to direct was a priority, with Johansson personally advocating for Shortland.

Johansson’s Black Widow was first introduced to the MCU in 2010’s Iron Man 2, and she has since appeared in The Avengers, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, and Avengers: Infinity War. She’s expected to feature in the as-yet-untitled Avengers 4 as well. But in spite of her central role in the franchise, the absence of a standalone film is glaring. Her male counterparts — Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Hulk (Edward Norton), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) — have each gotten standalone film treatments over the franchise’s 10-year history, with most of them headlining at least three films.

Marvel’s first female-led film will hit theaters next year: Captain Marvel, starring Brie Larson and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. The film got a prominent tease in a post-credits scene for Avengers: Infinity War, and it just finished shooting a few days ago, so it’ll certainly beat Black Widow to screens.

Besides, there’s no release date attached to the Black Widow film yet. But with Marvel’s Phase 3 ending with Captain Marvel and Avengers 4, it’s safe to say that it’ll be part of Marvel’s Phase 4, along with Spider-Man: Far From Home, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Black Panther 2, and other projects that are currently in the works. The Phase 4 films are expected to begin hitting theaters in 2019.

Read more here: https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/12/17566338/marvel-cinematic-universe-black-widow-cate-shortland-director-scarlett-johansson

As usual, those atending San Diego Comic-Con next week will want to make sure to pay a visit to the Marvel booth, which will be packed with plenty to see and do. That includes the chance to get ahold of a ton of exclusive Marvel merchandise, such as comic book variants, t-shirts, pins, and more!

There will be two special SDCC exclusive variant cover comics available, including the COSMIC GHOST RIDER #1 J. SCOTT CAMPBELL GLOW-IN-THE-DARK VARIANT ($25) and THE LIFE OF CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 PUTRI VARIANT.

Cosmic Ghost Rider #1 SDCC Exclusive
The Life of Captain Marvel SDCC Exclusive
Pin collectors will be very excited by what is available at the Marvel booth with the amazing 2018 line of Marvel Skottie Young pins, including a Fantastic Four Pin Set available for $25. Below are all of the pins, including sets focused on the Avengers, X-Men and villains!

Marvel San Diego Comic-Con 2018 Exclusives
There’s also a couple of different hats, including a Wakanda Forever Dad Hat for $30, plus an Infinity Stone 6-Piece Tumblr Set, a Hallmark Doctor Strange 8-Bit Ornament, the “Marvel’s Runaways” Soundtrack On Vinyl, and a Marvel Character Heads Lanyard.

Marvel San Diego Comic-Con 2018 Exclusives
And of course, there are plenty of the ever-popular Marvel shirts – more than two dozen, in fact! You can get a look at all of them at the bottom of the page! You can also click over to our Marvel SDCC Merch page to get more looks at the items you’ll find in San Diego soon.

All of the Marvel exclusive items will be available at the Marvel booth, Booth #2329, from Wednesday 7/18 (Preview Night) – Sunday 7/22. Quantities are limited.

For more exciting Marvel highlights and news during SDCC 2018, tune in to the Marvel livestream at marvel.com starting Thursday, July 19. Join the conversation using #MarvelSDCC.

Read more here: https://www.marvel.com/articles/culture-lifestyle/marvel-san-diego-comic-con-exclusives-sdcc

Last year Microsoft rolled out the Minecraft Better Together update – one of its most substantial yet with a reworked engine, cross-platform multiplayer, and the Minecraft Marketplace. Minecraft’s Nintendo Switch version just saw the update one year late, bringing long-awaited unification between several platforms. This allows Xbox One and Nintendo Switch players can play together too, joining a growing library pushing cross-play between the duo.

Continue for a breakdown on using cross-play between Xbox One and Nintendo Switch versions of Minecraft.

See Minecraft for Xbox One at Amazon See Minecraft for Switch at Amazon

Setting up Minecraft cross-play for Xbox One

Preparing cross-play on Xbox One is straightforward, thanks to relaxed content restrictions over other platforms. And with direct Xbox Live integration on the console, you’ll be ready to go after installing the game. Xbox One users should ensure “Minecraft” is used, rather than the incompatible “Minecraft: Xbox One Edition.”

Open the Microsoft Store on Xbox One.
Select the Search title.
Type Minecraft.
Select Minecraft from the available titles.
Download Minecraft. This will be a free download for existing Minecraft: Xbox One Edition owners. For new buyers, the game is priced at $19.99.
Open Minecraft.
After completing the above steps, your Xbox One is primed for Minecraft cross-play with other systems.

Setting up Minecraft cross-play for Nintendo Switch

Cross-play on Nintendo Switch brings a few additional hurdles to overcome, due to limitations of the console. Without native Xbox Live integration, you’ll need to sign into a Microsoft account. Furthermore, the lack of an integrated browser means you’ll need help from a mobile or PC. Like the Xbox version, Nintendo Switch users should ensure “Minecraft” is installed, rather than the incompatible “Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition.”

Open the Nintendo eShop.
Navigate to the Search tab.
Search for Minecraft.
Select Minecraft from the available titles.
Download Minecraft. This will be a free download for existing Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition owners. For new buyers, the game is priced at $29.99.

Open Minecraft.
Select Sign In For Free when prompted to sign into your Microsoft account.
Navigate to https://aka.ms/remoteconnect on your PC or mobile.

Enter the unique code displayed on-screen.
Sign into your Microsoft account. A confirmation screen will be displayed. Your Xbox Live profile will appear on your Nintendo Switch shortly after.
Select Let’s Play to complete the process.
Minecraft is now linked to Xbox Live and ready for cross-play with other systems.

How to create Minecraft cross-play games

The process to create cross-play sessions is the same as any other Minecraft multiplayer game – set up your world and you’re ready to go. For those with an existing Minecraft Realm from other platforms, these steps can be ignored.

Select Play from the main menu.
Choose Create New under the Worlds tab.
Select Create New World to start a fresh game.
Navigate to the Multiplayer subsection.
Check multiplayer is enabled.
Select Create once you’re ready to play
Your Minecraft world will now start and be open to other players.

How to join Minecraft cross-play games

Using Minecraft’s Friends tab is a quick way to see active games and join sessions. Navigating to this section will breakdown which online games are joinable across compatible platforms.

Select Play from the main menu.
Press RB to access to Friends tab on Xbox One. Press R to access to Friends tab on Nintendo Switch.
Select an active game to join.
On Xbox One, games will be split between joinable friends and joinable Realms. On Nintendo Switch, games are sorted by Nintendo Switch friends, Xbox Live cross-platform friends, and joinable Realms.

Over to you
If you’re yet to jump into the world of Minecraft, make sure to check out our ultimate guide for a full breakdown of mechanics. The game is available on both Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, priced at $19.99 and $29.99 respectively.

Read more here: https://www.windowscentral.com/minecraft-cross-play-guide

A generation of influencers and entertainers have emerged in the digital age. Joyce Fegan profiles Jack Septic Eye, Little Kelly and some of the other young stars who’ve tapped into the lucrative new world.

1) Jack Septic Eye

Worth more than €2m at only 28 years of age, Sean William McLoughlin is Ireland’s number one YouTuber.

Operating under his alter ego, Jack Septic Eye, Google which owns YouTube, lists the Athlone man as Ireland’s most popular YouTuber.

He posts about video games, as well as uploading videos of comic sketches, including a recent one where he makes pizza out of playdough. This video amassed 810,000 views after just one day online.

Overall, he has 19.1m subscribers to his JackSepticEye channel. His total views stands at a staggering 9,503,190,109. Views for his videos in general usually average out at around 1m or 2m, with one recently reaching 7.3m views, as it starred actor Ryan Reynolds.

He is popular on social media too, with 5.6m followers on Instagram and 4.68m fans on Twitter.

While he had been busy building his platform from 2012, and getting more serious in 2013, it was not until last year that he came to national prominence when he was interviewed for RTÉ documentary, Ireland’s Rich List, where his net worth was listed at €2.5m. He also found himself on Ireland’s 30 under 30 rich list. The Athlone gamer’s Twitter bio states: “Dreams absolutely come true but they take time, dedication and patience.”

2) Daithí De Nogla

This 26-year-old Limerick man recently filed accounts showing his company had an income of more than €1m. YouTube officially lists him as having the second most popular channel in Ireland. David Nagle, his real name, posts mostly video game tutorials.

On YouTube, he has just reached 6m subscribers, having started out in the online world in 2012. In total, all of his videos have amassed 929,963,502 views. One day after posting, a video of his can have as many as 327,000 views, while views for all of his uploads averages out at about 200,000 to 400,000. He is also massively popular on Instagram, with 1.8m followers.

While his company cracked the €1m, he has said he is not that interested in money. Accounts show that he pays himself a wage of €33,800 a year, as that is what he needs to live on. He also bought himself a bungalow “in the middle of nowhere” but admitted that it has “good fibre optic connections.”

The Limerick man had been studying Early Childhood Care and Education in the Institute of Technology Tralee, before dropping out to pursue his YouTube channel full-time.

3) Scott and Ryan Fitzsimons

Twin brothers Scott and Ryan Fitzsimons run the YouTube channel Tiny Turtle & Little Lizard, where they chart their Minecraft adventures. Minecraft is a creative video game where players can build virtual worlds using blocks.

The millionaire brothers have 3,688,311 subscribers to their channel. Accounts for the 27-year-old identical twins shows they paid themselves €4.1m between 2015 and 2017. Originally from Co Meath, in 2016, the pair shared a pay-pot of €2.215m million — or €1.1m each.

The joined the video-sharing platform in 2012 and so far their videos have been viewed 2,207,617,369 times. Their videos have an average of around 100,000 views each with some amassing as many as 500,000 views.

The brothers also run an Instagram page alongside their channel which has almost 300,000 followers. On it, they share photographs of trips to the British Virgin Islands and the Caribbean. There is also a recent photo of one of the brothers test-driving a Ferrari.

Back in 2014, just two years after the brothers uploaded their first video, Scott described their endeavour as “just a hobby” in the beginning and outlined their hopes for the channel.

“We played it, we enjoyed uploading it and some of the stuff clicked more and people started enjoying it. You could easily notice what people wanted to watch rather than just what you wanted to play so if you got a good combination of both.”

The twins’ younger sister Kelly is also a YouTube star with her own Minecraft channel.

4) Brian Hanby

In fourth spot is Terroriser, real name Brian Hanby, with 2,582,021 subscribers to his gaming channel. The 29-year-old Dubliner also has his own line of merchandise to accompany his online brand.

His gaming videos average out at having around 200,000 to 300,000 views each and overall his channel has had 234,796,504 views since he started it in college. The gamer is also popular on social media, where he has almost 1m followers on Instagram and 994,000 on Twitter.

His previous employment included working for Subway covering the festival circuit for them and also baking bread in Sandyford Industrial Estate.

“I used to work in Subway,” he says. “I used to hate my job. It was a lot of stress. I did all the Subways for Electric Picnic and Oxegen one year. I worked in the Sandyford Industrial Estate baking bread for a whole summer. I’ve worked shitty jobs for so long, it’s nice to be doing what I love now. I’m grateful.”

While Brian dropped out of his original course in Dublin Institute of Technology, he did return to education.

5) Kelly Fitzsimons

At age 22, Kelly Fitzsimons already has €60,000 in her pension fund and, over the last two years, she has earned more than €850,000 from your YouTube channel, Little Kelly Minecraft.

Her creative video channel has more than 2.5m subscribers at present after she join the platform just under three years ago. From Ashbourne, Co Meath, Kelly is one of the highest earning people in their 20s in Ireland and paid herself almost €350,000 last year.

Her older brothers, Scott and Ryan Fitzsimons, are behind the popular YouTube channel, Little Lizard & Tiny Turtle, which also creates Minecraft videos.

Since she went live at the end of June 2015, her videos have amassed a total of 1,350,303,587 views. Some of her most popular videos have as many as 1m and 2.3m views each. She also runs several other channels, including a vlog about her life with her fiancé David.

The YouTube star has also been outspoken about abuse online, creating videos about bullying and posting reassuring content about how to deal with such behaviour on her Instagram page. Her Instagram account boasts more than 300,000 followers alone and it charts her personal life, which includes life in Ireland and travelling for work.

6) Chris O’Neill

At age 28, Chris O’Neill’s channel OneyNG is the sixth spot from the top. He is the first non-gamer to make it on to the list. Instead of video games, the Wexford man has been busy creating animated cartoons for the last number of years.

Some of his animation cartoons have had 27m views, 30m views and even 42m views. In total, all of the videos on his animation channel have had 444,285,568 views.

The 28-year-old YouTuber, while not very active on his OneyNG channel at the moment, currently has 2.1m subscribers.

More recently, he has been uploading gaming videos to another channel called OneyPlays.

This channel while not at the top of the list has 537,620 subscribers of its own. Many of the videos on there receive up to 300,000 views each.

The Wexford YouTuber started out online in his late teens and has said that he makes “a good living out of it”. He described the life of a YouTuber as “pretty good” and that “it all pays for itself”. While his net worth is not known, nor how much he takes home as a salary, he has been busy travelling the world for conventions and talks within the industry.

7) Carina Elliott

From nurse to YouTube Minecraft star, Carina Elliott runs her own YouTube channel, Little Carly Minecraft. Having only joined the platform in August 2015, her channel now has 1,377,248 subscribers.

In total her videos have been viewed a total of 581,744,084 times.

Originally from Swords in Co Dublin, she plays the long-lost sister of Little Kelly Minecraft (Kelly Fitzsimons) online, even though the two are not related in real life.

Some of her Minecraft videos have 2.3m views on YouTube. She has recently created a new YouTube channel, Little Carly Plays, which currently has more than 30,000 subscribers, with all of the videos on the new venture having a total of 1,528,768 views.

Meanwhile on Instagram, the YouTube star has 254,000 followers. Similarly to Kelly Fitzsimons, Carina has spoken out about mental health and bullying.

In a recent post called ‘Talking Makes us Stronger’, the online entertainer said: “Talking to a friend, family member, teacher or grandparent can be extremely helpful in these [bullying] situations.”

Carina married Kodaline drummer Vinny May in 2017, after the pair had been dating for several years. The pair got engaged in New York in 2014.

8) Vlad Mare

Limerick teenager Vlade Mare runs the successful YouTube channel VladTeeVee. He currently has 1,263,633 subscribers to his channel.

The 19-year-old was born in Romania and moved to Ireland at a very young age. Since joining the video sharing platform in July 2015, his videos have been viewed a total of 151,594,926 times.

He says he uploads “videos everyday based around the newest trending topics such as top 10s, top 5s and 5-minute crafts”.

More specifically, the teenager has posted videos about the latest online trend, such as the Laurel and Yanny audio trick that went viral last month.

A video posted seven months ago, called ‘Don’t Judge Challenge Compilation Reaction’, has had 1,196,129 views.

9) Stephanie Lange

Stephanie Lange is the first non-gaming woman to enter the list. The vlogger is a professional make-up artist, so as well as posting video tutorials about make-up, she uploads content about her day-to-day life, including her struggles with anxiety.

Stephanie currently has 1.2m subscribers to her channel. Overall, her videos have been viewed 124,631,037 times on YouTube.

The Irish-based, Australian-born vlogger has had several of her videos go viral. One called ‘Foundation Dos and Don’ts’ has amassed 3.2m views, while one titled ‘Why I hide my ugly face behind make-up’ has had 888,128 views. Other popular videos include one about eyebrow hacks and about make-up for your face when you have just woken up.

The 30-year-old vlogger also posts advice videos following on from questions her fans have sent in. She has covered topics such as infidelity.

Stephanie started out posting videos in January 2013 and she is now repped by former model Andrea Roche which runs a model and influencer agency. The vlogger is also a hit on Instagram with 182,000 followers. Her exact earnings from the channel are not known but it is understood that it is her main source of income.

10) Brian McManus

Brian McManus runs Real Engineering, which has 1,105,637 subscribers and counting.

Having joined YouTube in September 2013, his videos have been viewed a total of 55,312,233 times. The 28-year-old engineer from Galway quit his job in the oil industry in 2016 to focus on online content creation. It is estimated that he earns approximately €80,000 from his online channel.

Recent videos include ‘How to solve the housing crisis’. This video alone has been viewed 349,000 times since it was uploaded one week ago. A video he put up three months ago about the ‘Truth of wireless charging’ has been viewed 1.2m times.

Surpassing 1m views per video is a common occurrence for the engineer. Brian narrates each of his videos and attracts sponsors such as such as Skill Share. Having worked as a porter in a Galway hotel just eight years ago, he now runs Junto Media Ltd, which is described as a “production studio that specialises in the creation of entertaining and informative content for a growing online audience”.

11) Sinead Cady

Cork-based vlogger Sinead Cady takes 11th spot on the YouTube list. The make-up artist is solely a beauty vlogger and her channel, the Make-up Chair, boasts 1m subscribers on YouTube.

In total, her make-up tutorial videos have amassed 127,479,233 views since her channel began in 2010. She is also popular on social media, with 50,000 followers on Instagram and 60,000 on Facebook.

One video in particular has gone viral, where she demonstrates a beginners eye make-up tutorial. So far it has had 12m views. While her earnings from the channel is not known, she previously told the Irish Examiner that she did not start out with a business venture in mind.

“I didn’t set out to create a business. I actually only started to get into studying makeup but it’s my full-time job now,” she says.

While the channel is now her full-time work, it has not been without its challenges as she had met ‘trolls’ online.

“You can’t control what is said online,” she says. “People make up stories about you and post things that can hurt deeply. When people make assumptions about you without even knowing you, that’s hard to deal with. I’ve learnt to be pretty private now, but I have met amazing people through YouTube; they make it worth it.”

12) David May

Engaged to Little Kelly Minecraft, aka Kelly Fitzsimons, David May co-runs YouTube channel Sharky & Scuba Steve. His channel currently has 954,628 subscribers.

It is part of the Little Club family, the Minecraft empire created by Kelly’s older brothers Scott and Ryan, who feature in third place on this list. The Little Club family has a host of characters in the Minecraft world it has created.

David’s own channel has been active since July 2015. His videos have amassed a total of 424,768,562 views in that time. One of his videos from 2017, has been viewed 2,849,438 times.

Sharky & Scuba Steve is just one of his online endeavours. Last February, he and Kelly set up their own channel, Kelly and David Vlogs. So far it has nearly 30,000 subscribers, having only posted three videos.

One of which is of their new adventure, where the young couple chart their move from Ireland to a different country, which they have not revealed. David said they moved in January in a “last-minute” decision and because they wanted a change of “routine.”

In a recent media interview the YouTube star described the running of the online channel as “demanding job” because of the length of time spent indoors.

“It’s a very demanding job. An average office day can be 12 or 14 hours and that can be a half day sometimes depending on the days you do,” says David.

13) Adam Beales

At only 18 years of age, this head boy from St Columb’s College in Derry has literally just finished school, but his YouTube channel, TheNewAdamb99 is already closing in on 1m subscribers.

Officially, he has 949,072 subscribers to his channel, which hosts videos of pranks and regularly stars his little brother Calum.

Based in Co Derry, Adam has also brought out his own range of merchandise, which includes hoodies and T-shirts, as well pop-sockets to attach to the back of smartphones. All of the merchandise is branded with his channel’s logo.

So far, his videos have been viewed a total of 85,796,811 times.

They include single videos of him driving through a carwash for the first time and spray painting his white runners pink and blue. A video of him pranking his little brother, pretending to be the police, has been viewed more than 600,000 times.

In another business move, he has just opened his channel up to “sponsors” where people can pay £4.99 a month for access to exclusive live streamed videos. He films all of his videos and edits them from his bedroom in his parents house. He taught himself how to shoot and edit video.

While his earnings are unknown, he has made a video about his net worth where he Googles himself to see wha the media has been writing about him. One source suggested the 18-year-old was earning around €80,000 a year, a suggestion Adam laughed off.

In a recent interview with the Irish Times, he was described as originally having dreams to study at Oxford or Harvard. However, he has opted to study at a university in Ulster so that he can continue with his fledging vlogging empire.

14) Barry Maguire

With 933,418 subscribers, Barry Maguire’s channel Donut the Dog, is also part of the Little Club Minecraft family, which stars Scott, Ryan, and Kelly Fitzsimons.

The former firefighter is also in a relationship with Lithuanian-born model Irma Mali, who had previously dated Danny O’Donoghue from The Script.

Barry’s YouTube channel was created in August 2015, and so far his videos have been viewed a total of 412,953,843 times. One of his videos has received 4,728,849 views alone.

He charts his life on two Instagram accounts, with the one dedicated to YouTube avatar Donut the Dog, having 171,000 followers. In January, he posted a photograph of himself in his old work uniform captioned with: “One of my last few days serving as a firefighter.”

The rest of his Instagram profiles his life as YouTube star with images from various trips around the world and him taking part in adventure sports. He also posts shots of himself with Scott and Ryan Fitzsimons, describing them as the “masterminds”.

15) Conor Power

Conor Power is yet another member of the Little Club Minecraft family. His character is Little Donny and his channel of the same name has 870,313 subscribers.

His channel was set up in October 2015 and so far all of his 1,701 videos have been viewed a total of 357,821,708 times.

Very little is known about this member of the Little Club family, other than that he is married to ‘Little Leah’, another of the show’s characters.

Little Leah is Vicky Power in real life. Her YouTube channel has 526,423 subscribers.

Read more here: https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/lifestyle/features/from-beauty-vloggers-to-minecraft-irelands-top-youtube-earners-853790.html

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Apple’s iOS App Store, Sensor Tower has shared a list of the apps and games that have spent the most time in the #1 spot of the store’s various charts. Looking at the period of time from July 1, 2010 to July 5, 2018, Sensor Tower’s researchers found that a total of 30,000 unique apps have achieved #1 status on the free, paid, or top grossing charts in at least one country.

Image and charts via Sensor Tower

Honing in the data a bit more, Sensor Tower found 422 apps that hit #1 on the top free iPhone apps chart in the United States during this period, and of those apps, Facebook Messenger spent the most days at #1 with a combined 317 days. Worldwide, WhatsApp earned the top spot with a combined 1,783 days at #1 for free iPhone apps. Popular apps in both the U.S. and worldwide for these charts included Snapchat and YouTube.

Looking at the amount of days at #1 for paid iPhone apps, Minecraft had the most days both in the U.S. (847 days) and worldwide (1,645 days) App Stores. Games were popular in the U.S. on the paid iPhone apps chart, also including Angry Birds (311 days), Heads Up (225 days), and Where’s My Water (47 days), but globally there was more of a mix with apps like Facetune (1,501 days), Afterlight (1,312 days), and 7 Min Workout (1,134 days) rounding out the top four spots under Minecraft.

Clash of Clans spent 805 days at #1 on Apple’s top grossing iPhone apps chart in the U.S., coming in far ahead of the second place app Candy Crush at 278 days. The only non-gaming apps on this chart were Pandora (202 days), Netflix (172 days), and Spotify (61 days). Worldwide, Clash of Clans held onto the top spot with 1,900 days, while Spotify also remained in the top ten with 1,047 days spent at #1.

The App Store officially launched on July 10, 2008 with 500 apps for iPhone 3G owners to download, 75 percent of which were paid downloads. Over time the App Store grew and expanded, introducing in-app purchases, apps for the iPad, subscriptions, revamped interfaces, and more. Most recently in iOS 11, Apple introduced editorialized content on the App Store’s home page with articles and features that highlight new and interesting apps and games every day.

For more on the ten-year anniversary of the iOS App Store, be sure to check out our retrospective that dives into the big events that hit the App Store over the past decade.

Read more here: https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/10/whatsapp-messenger-minecraft-popular/

Max Brooks’s Minecraft book The Island was a bestseller last year. Now there’s a second official tie-in novel: Minecraft: The Crash.

This action-packed thriller centres on Bianca, who ends up in hospital she and her friend Lonnie are involved in a car crash. Almost paralysed by her injuries, she decides to try a new VR version of Minecraft that responds to her every wish. Teaming up with two kids who are also playing on the hospital server to explore its virtual realm. Is Lonnie in there with her too? And can Bianca help him to return to reality?

Minecraft: The Crash is available to buy in hardback, ebook and audiobook formats now. Thanks to publishers Century we have five copies to give away, plus five signed copies of Minecraft: The Island; five lucky winners will get one of each. To put your name in the hat for the chance to win them, simply answer the question below.

Read more here: https://www.gamesradar.com/win-the-new-minecraft-novel-the-crash/

“Ant-Man and the Wasp” squashed the competition at the domestic box office.

The Marvel sequel — starring Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly — opened with $76 million from 4,206 North American locations. That start is significantly ahead of the original “Ant-Man,” which debuted with $57 million in 2015.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp” easily topped the weekend, as fellow box office newcomer “The First Purge” scared up $17 million from 3,031 theaters. Meanwhile, “Incredibles 2” narrowly stole the No. 2 spot from “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.” The blockbusters earned $29 million and $28.6 million respectively this weekend.

Overseas, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” collected $85 million, taking the worldwide opening to $161 million. Across 20 movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has brought in $17 billion globally. All 20 films have opened No. 1 at the box office.
Praise seems to be strong for Peyton Reed’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” which holds a promising 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. The acclaimed first film came in slightly lower with an 82% Rotten Tomatoes average.

“We are really thrilled about the results,” Cathleen Taff, Disney’s head of domestic distribution, said. “We continue to be amazed by what Kevin Feige and the team do with these films.”

Taff also highlighted Lilly as Marvel’s first female title character. “Kevin and his team always try to come up with a great story diversity. I think you see that come to play here,” she said.

With a production budget around $162 million, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” looks like another win for Marvel. The studio has had a string of box office hits in 2018 with “Avengers: Infinity War” racking up over $2 billion and counting, and “Black Panther” passing $1.3 billion globally.

Universal and Blumhouse’s “The First Purge” debuted on Independence Day, getting a head start on the weekend. Its five-day total sits at $31 million, while internationally, the film has gathered $10.9 million. Gerard McMurray directed the $13 million film, which was written and produced by James DeMonaco.

Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution, praised DeMonaco and Blumhouse for the strong opening.

“The new chapter really taps into the zeitgeist. It’s the fourth in a franchise that they happen to keep very relevant,” he said. “We think we’re going to be great counter-programming for the rest of the summer.”

The fourth movie in the series serves as an origin story, starring Y’lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, Luna Lauren Velez, and Marisa Tomei. The most recent iteration was 2016’s “The Purge: Election Year,” which ended its theatrical run with $79 million domestically and $118.5 million worldwide. “The “Purge” movies have pocketed over $360 million globally.

Universal and Amblin Entertainment’s “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” recently charged past $1 billion at the worldwide box office. In three weeks, the dinosaur tentpole has earned $333.3 million in North America.

Now in its fourth frame, Disney-Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” just hit a major milestone of its own. Everyone’s favorite crime-fighting family has crossed the $500 million mark domestically and $700 million worldwide. It’s the first animated film to surpass $500 million at the North American box office, and the 12th film ever to do so. Internationally, “Incredibles 2” has made $269 million.

Also in the top five is Sony’s “Sicario: Day of the Soldado.” The Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin-led sequel picked up another $7.6 million, its the domestic tally to $35 million. With $4.2 million overseas, “Soldado” has collected $39.2 million.

At the specialty box office, Roadside Attractions and Miramax’s “Whitney” bowed with $1.3 million from 452 locations. The documentary focusing on the life and career of Whitney Houston holds an A CinemaScore and a Rotten Tomatoes average of 90%.

Also opening in limited release was Annapurna’s “Sorry to Bother You,” which landed the best per-screen-average of the weekend with $44,881. Boots Riley’s film brought in $717,302 when it opened in 16 theaters. The dystopian comedy stars Lakeith Stanfield, Armie Hammer, Tessa Thompson, Steven Yeun, Danny Glover, Terry Crews, David Cross, Patton Oswalt, and Omari Hardwick.

Elsewhere, Focus Features’ “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” landed in the top 10 at the domestic box office again, drawing another $2.6 million when it expanded to 893 locations. In five weeks, the documentary on Fred Rogers has amassed an impressive $12.4 million.

Another documentary, Neon’s “Three Identical Strangers” earned $717,008 million from 5 locations, bringing its domestic tally past $1 million.

The 2018 box office, which just hit $6.5 billion, is up 9% from last year, according to ComScore.

Read more here: https://variety.com/2018/film/box-office/ant-man-and-the-wasp-box-office-marvel-first-purge-incredibles-2-record-1202868193/

There may be a special Marvel Easter Egg hidden in plain sight.
[This story contains spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp.]

Ant-Man and the Wasp was double the fun for fans of the Wasp, with two versions of the character getting time to shine.

Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) helps her father Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) on the mission to rescue Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the Quantum Realm, where she’s been stuck for 30 years. When Janet returns, she’s got untold powers that she uses to partially heal Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). The full breadth of her powers are unknown, for now, but begs the question: Just how did 30 years in the Quantum Realm change or evolve her?

For some, the fact that Janet returns from the Quantum Realm with new powers and abilities in Ant-Man and the Wasp may seem inconsistent with comic book canon — after all, the comic book Janet van Dyne came back from an extended stay in the Microverse (the comic book version of the Quantum Realm) without any similar power-up. And yet, longterm Marvel comic book fans might recognize a…universal explanation for what’s happening with Janet — one that could connect the Ant-Man movies to Marvel Studios’ more cosmic output.

A 2012 storyline in the Avengers comic book series featured the return of Janet Van Dyne after an extended stay in the sub-atomic Microverse — during which time she was believed dead by Hank Pym and others, a la the Ant-Man movies — but, once back in the regular Marvel Universe, she didn’t display the kind of increased power-set her cinematic counterpart does. That wasn’t a surprise; in Marvel’s comic book mythology, characters venture back and forth between the Micro- and Macro-verses without it impacting their abilities in any way. (Admittedly, characters from the Microverse tend to stay small, but they are called “Micronauts.”)

That said, the 1979 Micronauts comic book series did introduce a concept that could explain away what happened to the onscreen Janet, as unlikely as it seems. Debuting in the eighth issue of the series, Captain Universe is a superhero with a particularly unusual gimmick: As the tagline of the character’s (rare) solo appearances put it, Captain Universe is “the hero that could be you!”

Michael Golden/Marvel Entertainment
According to Marvel mythology, the Enigma Force — a sentient cosmic energy that is, in some way, connected to the very life-force of Microverse — is responsible for the creation of something called the Uni-Power. Again, what the Uni-Power exactly is has always been left suitably unclear, but the short version is, it’s a force that is transferred to individuals in times of need, transforming them into Captain Universe, a costumed superhero with a variable power set that traditionally includes flight, super-strength and enhanced versions of the user’s traditional abilities. The Uni-Power doesn’t stick around, however; once the immediate danger has passed, it tends to move on to an unknown future host.

Captain Universe is far from the most high-profile character in the Marvel Universe, but the concept has shown up in series including The Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers and The Incredible Hulk, as well as a brief Captain Universe strip that ran in anthology title Marvel Spotlight for three issues starting in 1980. Unlike many of the characters and concepts introduced in the Micronauts comic, the intellectual property to Captain Universe didn’t originate as part of the original Mego toyline, and is therefore available for Marvel to use in whatever medium it chooses — including movies.

Steve Ditko/Marvel Entertainment
It’s a stretch, admittedly, that the cinematic Janet van Dyne’s power boost comes from a quasi-obscure comic book concept from an entirely different comic book series in the 1970s…but if the Marvel Cinematic Universe has proven anything across the past decade, it’s that quasi-obscure comic book concepts are one of the things that it does very, very well indeed. Maybe the third movie in the Ant-Man series could be called Ant-Man, The Wasp and Captain Universe after all…?

At E3 2018, Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s Executive President of Gaming, revealed new Xbox hardware is on its way. Microsoft is seemingly committed to supporting the Xbox brand in the long-term, and Spencer concurs—though he admits the enormity of today’s games might change how we perceive sequels and console generations.

“As you think about this next wave of hardware that eventually will come, so many of the large, large games people are playing today are still going to exist when the next hardware comes out,” Spencer tells Eurogamer in an interview published today. “You’re not likely to see a ‘2’ after all those, as people are trying to move you to the next version of those games. In the old model of games shipping, getting played and then going away—and that was all of the games—a console transition was an easy step-function.”

Spencer cites Minecraft as an example. The reason Xbox One didn’t ship with Minecraft 2 is because players don’t necessarily want a new Minecraft; they just want Minecraft to keep getting better.

“When you look at games like PUBG and Fortnite and you think about these large games and ecosystems that’ll be out there, when new hardware comes, people are still going to want to play those games, and it’s going to be important for us as platforms to support them,” Spencer says.

Crazy crossover events help keep “old” games fresh, too.
The longevity of games resulting from the “games as a service” model is also why Xbox is committed to backwards compatibility. “I’m very proud of our track record of compatibility and us respecting the purchase of games you’ve made with us and bringing that to the current generation,” Spencer said. “It is in our core on who we are.”

We can supply everything there is to know about the new Xbox, and we’re also on top of all the neat little surprises coming out of E3 2018. Keep following us!

Read more here: https://www.usgamer.net/articles/minecraft-2-isnt-happening-as-the-original-will-evolve-and-live-on-forever

Jump through a server portal to find yourself in Minecraft versions of Los Santos, Westeros, and Middle-earth

Minecraft on PC is basically the gift that keeps on giving, and that’s not only thanks to the constant updates from developer Mojang, but also because of the incredibly dedicated community that keeps on creating and sharing its work. And the culmination of years of ambition and hard work have resulted in a selection of the best Minecraft servers around. Each one houses a Minecraft world that can take you to places you know and love, but now with a blocky sheen. These architectural paradises include places like Game of Thrones’ Westeros, Lord of the Rings’ Middle-earth, and even GTA 5’s Los Santos (minus the debauchery and all the blood, this is Minecraft guys).

As you’d expect, there are literally hundreds of Minecraft servers to choose from, but we’ve gone on a block-tastic journey to discover what we think are the best Minecraft servers around. Each one is its own, self-contained, multiplayer world, complete with their own gameplay styles, rules and engaged communities, so prepare yourself to become a part of their world.

How to access the best Minecraft servers on PC
Once you’ve found a server that you like the look of, you’ll need to grab the host name or IP address of that particular one – don’t worry, we’ve included the relevant host names for our selection of the best Minecraft servers. Start up your game, head to multiplayer and then “add a server”. Just whack the IP address in that bar, name the server and hit done. Then it’s just a case of heading back to your list of servers and selecting the one you want to play around in today.

Our pick of the best Minecraft servers
Grand Theft Minecart
Minecraft server: Grand Theft Minecart

Host name: mc-gtm.net

If you thought a child-friendly Grand Theft Auto wasn’t possible, think again. In Minecraft, anything is possible, and thanks to Grand Theft Minecart you can head on down to a prostitute-free version of Los Santos, known better as MineSantos. Featuring custom weapons and vehicles, the option to own your own apartment or even join a gang, there’s plenty to make sure Grand Theft Minecart feels like a jaunt down to Los Santos. There are even two game modes: Grand Theft Minecart itself, with its more traditional GTA gameplay, or ViceMC, which is a factions-inspired game mode, where you need to grow different types of drugs and attempt to build a drug cartel empire. Okay, so maybe not entirely child friendly after all.

PixelmonCraft
Minecraft server: Pixelmoncraft

Host name: server.pixelmoncraft.com or safari.pixelmoncraft.com

Of all the Pokemon-themed Minecraft servers out there, our favourite has to be PixelmonCraft. It takes the popular Pixelmon mod and turns it into a full multiplayer server. Pokemon MMO anyone? Well, actually it’s spread across two servers, to recreate well-known locations from Kanto and Johto regions from the game series with amazing attention to detail. There are Gym Leaders to fight, PokeMarts to shop in, and even long-grass to avoid. If only this was a real Pokemon MMO, but it’s close as we’re getting for now, and that’s incredible.

Minecraft Middle-earth
Minecraft server: Minecraft Middle-earth

Host name: build.mcmiddleearth.com

There are definitely plenty of Lord of the Rings themed servers to choose from, but for us it’s Minecraft Middle-earth that deserves to be on our list of best Minecraft servers, despite the fact it’s not actually complete yet. Based on the Peter Jackson cinematic version of Middle-earth, this is already an incredible feat, and you can help continue to build it (just make sure you follow those rules). Or, you can just explore the Shire, take a sightseeing trip, or drop into the server’s PVP zone and test your mettle.

WesterosCraft
Minecraft server: WesterosCraft

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Host name: mc.westeroscraft.com

Game of Thrones x Minecraft anyone? Well, it already exists. Meet WesterosCraft. This modern classic has recreated all the major locations from the TV series, from the Red Keep at King’s Landing to the Wall, mostly recreated from the actual HBO TV episodes themselves, so prepare yourself for a visual treat. This is another server that’s still being built, but seeing what they’ve created so far is regularly breathtaking, and if you want to get involved with the ongoing creation you absolutely can. Or just marvel in the wonder.

The Mining Dead
The Mining Dead

Host name: mc.havocmc.net

Prepare to scream COOOORAL into a world of blocks, because The Walking Dead in Minecraft is a real thing and it’s brilliantly called The Mining Dead. Although it plays out more like a Minecraft DayZ – basically a zombie survival game – the entire world inside the server features key locations from the AMC The Walking Dead TV series (and comics), like Woodbury, Alexandria and The Prison. There are custom skins for different characters too, including Rick himself, so prepare to play out The Walking Dead season 9 plot theories out in your own Minecraft version.

Arkham Network
Minecraft server: Arkham Network

Host name: mc.arkhamnetwork.org

Who doesn’t want to feel like they’re saving the city every damn day? Or at least the saviour of the people? Well, you do right? That’s why the Arkham network Minecraft server is fantastic, because it’s an amazing smashing-together of comic book worlds that just begging to be explored, swung across or flown through. Of course, you don’t have to be a superhero at all, you can opt to watch the world burn instead (perhaps not literally though). Regardless of the side you pick, you can take part in a host of different day jobs for earning some money, and a plethora of modes to play around in too. We’d just advise that you make a few friends or frenemies along the way, because it’s a dangerous world out there.

Potter World MC

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Host name: play.potterworldmc.com

When authenticity is the name of the game, you know a Minecraft server based on Harry Potter’s universe is going to have it in spades. Much like the other servers that ape AAA counterparts, Potter World MC is an absolute stunning piece of work, from Hogwarts itself to Platform 9 ¾ and Diagon Alley. The actual gameplay lets you become a wizard, attend classes, duel other wizards and witches, play quidditch and more thanks to events and minigames. It’s a seriously impressive feat. Even Dumbledore would be impressed.

Extreme Craft

Host name: play.extremecraft.net

The only entry on our list of best Minecraft servers not dedicated to another movie, TV or video game property, but honestly this list would be incomplete without Extreme Craft. It’s (rightly) immensely popular because of the sheer number of game modes it offers, which include battle royale/hunger games, skygrid, skywars, survival modes and more. That’s not even considering the fact it offers a creative mode, and even an RPG. It basically offers a little bit of everything in one beautiful world, and who can say no to that?

Have we missed any of what you think are the best Minecraft servers? Let us know your favourites in the comments below and we’ll make sure to check them out.

REad more here: https://www.gamesradar.com/best-minecraft-servers/

Minecraft texture packs are essentially a way of changing how the base game looks. Want a more cartoony feel? Maybe you’re looking to build a medieval castle? Whatever you’re after, chances are, there’s a texture pack for exactly what you want.
Installing texture packs is nice and simple. Just follow the brief guide below and you’ll be up and running in no time. If, however, you find a texture pack that doesn’t work correctly, you may need to roll back your version of Minecraft to an older iteration. You can find out how to do that here.

And don’t forget, whether you’re looking for the best Minecraft seeds, Minecraft console commands and cheats, best Minecraft servers, or are even wondering which version of Minecraft is better, we can help with everything you need.

How to install texture packs
– Download the texture pack (it may come as a .Zip file, don’t extract it).
– Boot up Minecraft.
– Click ‘Options’.
– Next click ‘Resource Packs’.
– Now click on “Open Resource Packs folder.”
– From here, drag the texture pack file into the folder.
– The texture pack should now appear in the list of usable add-ons.

LB Photo Realism Pack

Although Minecraft is built upon having a rustic aesthetic, sometimes you want your world to gleam with beauty. That’s where the LB Photo Realism pack comes in. Every texture in this pack has been painstakingly reworked to make it look as realistic as possible, from shimmering water surfaces all the way to how trees appear more textured, this is one pack you won’t want to miss. Grab it here.

Retro NES

Minecraft evokes that feeling of 8-bit nostalgia that we’re all susceptible to, over a certain age. With the Retro NES pack, you can turn the clock back and relive your youth, so long as you’re over the age of 30 that is. Now you just need to get to the Nether and turn the whole place into one big Bowser fortress. Get it here.

John Smith

We couldn’t go without mentioning arguably the best fantasy pack out there for Minecraft. Whether you’re looking to build a castle with a sprawling courtyard or fancy creating a western theme park with killer robots, the John Smith pack has all that and more. This pack has become the go-to staple for many players, and if you happen to find yourself looking on YouTube for build guides, it’s likely this is the pack you’ll see used.

Default 32×32

It’s funny how many people don’t use the default Minecraft textures. Not because they’re bad, per se, but there’s only so many hours you can lose before those muddy textures start to outstay their welcome. And yet, changing things up too drastically makes everything look weird. For all the inbetweeners out there, do check out Default 32×32, it’s kind of like a plastic wrap texture that keeps the original style intact while still feeling fresh.

oCd Pack

Hands up if you’ve ever seen a lone block and just had to remove it because the sight of it being out of place made you shudder. To avoid ever having to deal with rogue blocks and misshapen landscapes, this pack removes noise and harsh colours, changes spacing so most terrains are even, and sets all angles at 90 degrees. Not bad, eh? You can find it here.

Modern HD
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While you can make modern buildings with the default textures, you’re limited in what you can and can’t use. Any white and black blocks work, but try using cobblestone and the build falls apart. To fix this and more there’s the Modern HD pack, which offers a more contemporary feel. Now there’s nothing stopping you from building the house of your dreams, which you’re pretty much guaranteed to never afford doing in the real world.

Adventure Time Craft

Aww, c’mon, who doesn’t want to build their own replica of the Ice King or Princess Bubblegum’s castle? Even if you’re not a fan of the show, then there’s always the option of using this one as a neat little cartoon texture pack. Pick it up here.

Halo Minecraft Wars

According to my notes, Halo is a first-person shooting game where you shoot aliens in the head a lot—I hear it’s pretty popular. If you would like to give Minecraft the Master Chief treatment, then this is the texture pack for you. Now if only there were an option to fire actual halos on people’s worlds. Imagine the griefing possibilities.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2: The Texture Pack

Okay. The FNaF fanfare may have died down some time ago, but that doesn’t stop this pack from being cool. Mobs, as well as armour, have all been changed to mimic each of the nightmare-inducing animatronics. I’m pretty sure with some minecart exploits and redstone you could, maybe, make your own FNaF chamber? Just remember Chica is still a creeper, so expect far too many explosions.

Star Wars

In what has to be the most self-explanatory heading ever, this one is a Star Wars pack, and if you’re a fan of great movies like The Last Jedi, you should pick it up. And before you ask, yes, all the swords have been changed to lightsabers. Even the bow has been altered to be a stormtrooper’s gun, complete with the ‘pew pew’ sound effect.

Urbancraft
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As an alternative to Modern HD, Urbancraft is perhaps better for creating large scale cities. Think hulking skyscrapers and high-rise flats. If you plan on creating your own city, don’t forget to grab the Instant Massive Structures mods, which lets you drop down complete buildings at the click of a button.

Sugarpack

Much like the official Candy texture pack, Sugarpack combines the love of bright colours and confectionary. MnM blocks? Check. Candy canes? Check. Exploding chocolate bunnies? I mean, check, but it’s as terrifying as it is cute.

Super Mario

16-bit visuals marry Minecraft’s blocky terrain in a pack that almost looks like it could have been created by someone at Nintendo, it looks so damn pretty. Just stay away from the Villager/Toad people because hell, what even are they? You can pick it up here.

Read more here: https://www.pcgamer.com/best-minecraft-texture-packs/

Kalgoorlie-Boulder will be launched in the virtual world of Minecraft from Sunday when gamers will be able roam the streets and recreate the Goldfields’ capital.

The game, which has been developed by MineCrux co-producers Tim Neeson and Aidan Stevens as a tribute to the 125th anniversary of the founding of the city, will see players spawn in the virtual shed of the 331 Ideas Hub in Hannan Street.

After spawning, approved players will be able to build on a two-dimensional template which has been brought into the game by the developers who have superimposed maps, data and images of the city.

Other gamers will be able to enter the world and explore the city as the game begins to take a three-dimensional shape.

Mr Stevens — who has spent more than two years developing the virtual world — said he was looking forward to the official launch.

“I’ve spent months and months on this project and it is going to be amazing once it’s finally out to the public,” he said.

“The whole Kalgoorlie map in the world of Minecraft is about 700 million blocks so it’s a big project.”

Mr Neeson said once the world had become established, MineCrux would begin allowing access to other players.

“We just need to vet the builders and we want to build up young administrators who can then facilitate and mentor and work with other kids as they come into the world,” he said.

“Once we are confident with where it is going and we have got enough players who can vouch for other players it will be opened up to the rest of the world.

“It is giving people communication and design tools to be part of growing this town which has been shrinking for a long time.”

A launch party will be held at the 331 Ideas Hub on Sunday from 9am where budding gamers and administrators will be approved for the game.

Entry is by gold-coin donation with food provided and an IP address allowing players into the world to be published at 3pm.

Read more here: https://thewest.com.au/news/kalgoorlie-miner/kalgoorlie-boulder-joins-minecraft-virtual-reality-world-ng-b88885938z

File this one under life imitating art.

Minecraft and San Francisco agency 215 McCann have partnered on an initiative to help restore the coral reefs in Mexico in conjunction with the Microsoft-owned game’s Update Aquatic, an expansion that fills the “once-empty Minecraft ocean” with bustling marine life.

Through the Coral Crafters project, Minecraft partnered with some of its most influential players to develop three underwater sculptures, designed in the game and then brought to life as frames then anchored to the sea floor off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico. Another three sculptures, including the game’s iconic characters Steve and Alex, were created by the Coral Crafters team.

The sculptures are specially designed to facilitate the growth of real coral with the aid of biorock—a substance, sometimes known as “seament,” created by the electro-accumulation of minerals dissolved in seawater. The sculptures will allow for the growth of coral colonies for “decades to come,” according to an agency release.

The Minecraft influencers—Rabahrex, Logdotzip and Stacyplays—decided for themselves how to solicit input for their designs. While two of the three based their designs on audience and gamer feedback, Rabahrex enlisted students at a school in Mexico, having them compete to create the best design. The winner? A statue honoring the axolotl, a Mexican salamander.

McCann and Minecraft have also partnered with The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit that farms and plants coral in the Caribbean, as well as targeting other threats to the ocean. Whenever a player builds coral or buys a custom-made pack from the organization within the game, it triggers automatic donations from Minecraft and Microsoft to the charity, according to the agency.

The campaign will be featured globally in paid media, and Minecraft’s Update Aquatic will be available on Xbox One, Windows 10 PC, Nintendo Switch and mobile devices this summer.

CREDITS:

Client: Microsoft / Minecraft
Taylor Smith
Fergus Lynch
Jessica Freeman
Emily Orrson
Lydia Winters
Nicolette Suraga

Agency: 215 McCann
Chief Creative Officer: Scott Duchon
Creative Director: Neil Bruce
Copywriter: Andy Holdeman
ACD / Art Director: Alper Kologlu
Animators: Carson Bell
Director of Integrated Production: Alex Spahr
Associate Producer: Christina Chin
Director of Business Affairs: Mary Beth Barney
Business Director: Peter Goldstein
Senior Account Executive: Sam Brody
Assistant Account Executive: Robbie Kalish
Director of Strategy: Brian Wakabayashi
Strategy Director: Cassidy Wilber
Engineering and Fabrication: Global Coral Reef Alliance
President and Founder: Thomas Goreau, PhD
Vice President for Design, Power & IT: Thomas Sarkisian
Project Management and Coordination: Marcia Cristina Tessis
Local Subcontractor: Qualti, S.A

Film Production Company: Strike Anywhere
Director: Michael Jacobs
Line Producer: Adrienne Hall
Executive Producer: Cori Cooperider
Underwater Footage: The Jetlagged
Hendrik S. Schmitt and Claudia Schmitt
Editor: Clayton Worfolk
Animator: Tom Yaniv
Illustrator: Rod Hunt
Telecine and Finish: Mission Film and Design
Colorist: Sean Wells
Flame Artist: Mark Everson
Managing Director: Matt Notaro
Original Music: Robot Repair
Recording Studio: One Union Recording
Mixer: Joaby Deahl

Read more here: https://www.adweek.com/creativity/minecraft-let-gamers-design-sculptures-that-will-now-become-artificial-coral-reefs/

For years, Minecraft fans have been able to build nearly anything they could imagine using the game’s simple, low-res interface and 3D simulated environment. They killed monsters and crafted items, created replicas of the starship Enterprise and even built a working Verizon smartphone.

As of this summer, they’re now able to develop under water with the release of Update Aquatic, an expansion to Minecraft capabilities that opens up undersea areas for exploration and populates the oceans with blocky swimming creatures.

Unlike their Minecraft counterpart, the real world’s oceans are suffering, as pollution and climate change kill off sea life, especially coral reefs, which supply the infrastructure for some of the world’s most biodiverse locations. Enter Coral Crafters, an idea conceived by 215 McCann that enlisted the Minecraft creators community to design a series of real-life sculptures meant to help regrow coral off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico.

Minecraft video creator LogDotZip designed three different pieces, one of which was selected by community to be built. Video creator StacyPlays and her fans were behind another design and students in Mexico landed the third spot, with help from creator Rabahrex.

215 McCann also partnered with The Nature Conservancy, triggering donations from Microsoft and Minecraft when players build coral or buy custom content in the game. The global campaign began running earlier this week. The Update Aquatic will be available on Xbox One, Windows 10, Nintendo Switch and mobile.

Read more here: http://creativity-online.com/work/minecraft-coral-crafters/54920

Microsoft today announced two new Xbox One console bundles. Available starting today are the Xbox One X PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds Bundle and the Xbox One S Minecraft Bundle.

The $499 PUBG Xbox One X Bundle has a download code for PUBG and one-month trial passes for Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass. Meanwhile, the $299 Minecraft Xbox One S Bundle has a download code for Minecraft, a code for Season One of Minecraft: Story Mode – The Complete Adventure, a one-month Xbox Game Pass trial pass, and a two-week Xbox Live Gold trial pass.

Both bundles feature the standard console and controller color schemes with no added styling specific to their respective games.

Microsoft and Nintendo recently co-released a plug for Minecraft’s cross-play abilities, a feature Sony refuses to implement on the PlayStation 4.

As a PC and Xbox One exclusive, PUBG doesn’t have to worry about that particular issue. PUBG has a few problems of its own, however, as players discovered an exploitable glitch in the recently released Sanhok map and inspired PUBG Corp. to change PUBG’s Event Pass after an online outcry.

Read more here: http://www.ign.com/articles/2018/07/03/microsoft-announces-xbox-one-pubg-and-minecraft-console-bundles

Nintendo has announced a new trio of 2DS XL models themed after some of the platform’s most popular games: a Minecraft 2DS with a face plate that looks like a Creeper, a Mario Kart 7 2DS with red-and-black theme, and an Animal Crossing 2DS with the series’ iconic leaf symbol. The Animal Crossing edition includes a pre-installed copy of Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome Amiibo, the updated version of New Leaf that includes Amiibo support.

All three were announced through the Nintendo’s Japanese site, and Nintendo of Europe promptly followed with a tweet advertising the Animal Crossing model. However, Europe hasn’t confirmed the Minecraft or Mario Kart versions, and none of them have been announced by Nintendo of America. So depending on your region, we may be seeing announcements soon, or you could have to import your version of choice.

The New Nintendo 2DS XL is essentially a 3DS body–including the clamshell design not found in standard 2DS models–but without the 3D functionality. The GameSpot review called it the best 3DS/2DS family design yet, even coming late as it was to the generation. Nintendo’s newly named president, Shuntaro Furukawa, recently said the company is considering a 3DS successor.

Nintendo has been keen on marketing the 2DS XL to collectors, with special editions themed after certain fan-favorite games and franchises. On top of the launch Black/Turquoise and White/Orange versions, it has Pikachu, Poke Ball, Dragon Quest, and Zelda themed version, along with these new additions.

Read more here: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendos-cool-new-2ds-models-celebrate-mario-kart/1100-6460160/

It didn’t take long for Nintendo and Microsoft to become the industry’s new power couple — a pair of best friends who hang out together, rubbing it in the face of spoilsport Sony. Not only does the updated Minecraft for Nintendo Switch allow for cross-platform play with Xbox One, an unprecedented partnership that transcends first-party lines, but Nintendo is also now paying even larger tribute to the Microsoft-owned franchise.

A trio of New Nintendo 2DS XL systems are heading to Japan this summer, and the star of the show is the Minecraft Creeper Edition. It’s a beautiful, blocky green handheld that’s the spitting image of Minecraft’s mascot. And based on its box art, it looks like the Microsoft-owned Mojang had a hand in the design.

While the Nintendo 3DS version of Minecraft doesn’t have the same Xbox connectivity afforded by the Switch release, the special edition handheld is still a show of support from Microsoft’s new pal Nintendo. Third-party companies have commissioned their own limited-edition 3DS handhelds before, but for one first-party company to collaborate on hardware for another? That’s pretty huge.

If you’re not so into Minecraft, there are two other sweet options to chose from. One is a red-and-black Nintendo 2DS XL that will come as part of a Japanese Mario Kart 7 bundle released in July, which looks lovely:

And there’s an Animal Crossing edition that has some embossed Animal Crossing details that I’m already drooling over. It also has a pre-installed copy of the amiibo-upgraded version of Animal Crossing: New Leaf.

No sign yet on if any of these are coming stateside, but we can only hope they make it here soon.

Read more here: https://www.polygon.com/2018/7/3/17531098/new-nintendo-2ds-xl-colors-minecraft

The new version of Minecraft is out on Nintendo Switch which allows for cross-play with friends on Xbox One, Windows 10 or Mobile.

Read more here: http://www.ign.com/videos/2018/06/21/minecraft-cross-play-trailer-for-nintendo-switch