When it comes to leaks and speculation over new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate characters, Minecraft is usually near the top of the list. That’s because prolific fighting game leaker Vergeben (an anonymous tipster who correctly predicted other Ultimate additions like Ridley, Isabelle, Incineroar, and Simon Richter) continues to state that the sandbox game will feature in the latest Smash. Except, maybe not the way you thought it would.

In a recent post on the GameFAQs forum, Vergeben backpedaled a bit on previous reports that Smash Bros. Ultimate would be getting a playable character from Minecraft, instead suggesting the crossover might take another form entirely.

“Minecraft is in Smash but represented with a boss,” they wrote. “I am curious if Minecraft representation about being a fighter or AT [Assist Trophy] was an intentional misdirect now. But there you have it.”

Beyond the news that a Minecraft character won’t be in the game, the inclusion of a new boss likely has even bigger implications. Since all the bosses included in the game at launch have already been datamined, that means this one would have to come via downloadable content — assuming Vergeben is right that is.

As for the specific boss, our best guess is that it would be the Ender Dragon, the first boss to appear in Minecraft. Then again, Vergeben doesn’t seem as confident as usual on this one, so we wouldn’t count on fighting a blocky, pixelated dragon in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate just yet.

“I’m not entirely sure what all it means,” they wrote. “But I was told earlier that exact quote that I shared from my most accurate of all sources. I’m as confused & curious as you are what the implications of that mean.”

So there you have it. When it comes to Minecraft and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate even the top leaker isn’t sure what to think, but for now, it definitely seems like something big could be in the works.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches December 7 for Nintendo Switch.*

Minecraft keeps getting bigger — and I’m not just talking about the game’s record-breaking sales. The original LEGO Minecraft set I helped design back in 2011 as part of LEGO’s early Ideas platform was microscale, mostly due to the steep constraints of hitting a roughly $30 MSRP target. Later, that first wildly successful set was followed by more microscale sets, and finally in 2014 the theme got upgraded to our original vision by introducing minifigure-scale sets. Recently, LEGO bumped up the scale a bit with 41612 Steve and Creeper BrickHeadz. Now LEGO Minecraft is upping its game once more with a new line called Big Figs, and we’ve got the first series comprising three sets to review: 21148 Steve with Parrot, 21149 Alex with Chicken, and 21150 Skeleton with Magma Cube. Each of the sets contains a large figure paired with a small animal from the game, and will be available January 1 for $14.99 USD.

The box and contents
With each set hovering around 150 pieces (159 for Steve, 160 for Alex, and 142 for the Skeleton), it’s no surprise that the small bags in each box aren’t numbered.

The last page of the instructions notes that these three sets comprise Series 1 of the Minecraft Big Figs, though the box exteriors don’t indicate any series markings. It’s a safe bet that more characters are already in the pipeline.

For being such small sets, there’s a large diversity of colors, though Alex takes the cake for best parts, in my opinion, with an interesting smattering of orange and sand green along with six teal 1×1 tiles. Each set also includes unique printed tiles for the characters’ faces, and both the Chicken and Magma Cube feature printed tiles for faces also.

If you’ve been itching to get your hands on a few of the new bracket elements we first encountered in the latest Modular, 10264 Corner Garage, then you’ll like these sets, which each come with several. You’ll get 2x in dark grey and 1x in tan from Steve, 2x in dark grey and 1x in yellow from Alex, and 2x in white and 1x in black from the Skeleton.

The sets also feature new unique elements for the weapons, which are likely to always be exclusive to the Minecraft Big Figs due to their highly specialized nature. Steve is equipped with a pickaxe, while Alex and the Skeleton wield the sword and bow, respectively. The weapons are a single plate thick and have solid studs on one side and hollow studs on the other. They’re not quite symmetrical, with the hollow-stud side also have a few anti-studs.

The build
Both Steven and Alex feature blocky bodies that are identical except in color. The torso hides a small lever that activates their main play feature of a moving arm.

The legs and head are attached with Mixel-ball joints, and each of the feet employs the 2×2 brackets I mentioned previously to give the feet a nice set of anti-studs to grip LEGO plates when standing.

Lacking a body, the skeleton’s interior is also its exterior, so there’s not much to cover in terms of hidden techniques. Likewise, the Chicken and Parrot are quite simple builds from the perspective of techniques. The Magma Cube is also rudimentary, but it does feature a little mechanism to let it stretch for a jump.

The finished models
If you’ve played Minecraft at all, you’ll immediately note how remarkable the resemblance and proportions of these characters are to their in-game counterparts. LEGO Minecraft minifigures may look odd with cubic heads, but these larger brick-built figures look right at home in brick form. Each character comes with a 6×6 plate to stand on, though Steve and Alex balance fairly well without them (the Skeleton is a bit more precarious).

The range of motions achievable by the characters is very, very close to that of the game, making you feel as though you’re seeing a part of the game actually brought to life.

The finger-activated lever on Steve and Alex’s back works well, with the weight of the arm naturally returning it to a resting position. The tools are molded in the color of their lowest level material: wood for the pickaxe and stone for the sword (bows are always wood). They rely on tiles to indicate their upgraded source material, with Steve carrying a stone pickaxe and Alex a diamond sword. It’s a cool feature that allows kids to swap out the source material by simply adding tiles from their own collections, but I do wish the base weapons also had upgraded colors. I’d bet that’s something we’ll see in the future as the line continues.

The accessories can be swapped between hands, requiring a 2×2 tile on the arm to be removed and replaced. One minor criticism is that LEGO didn’t bother molding the 1×2 brackets for the hands in tan, opting to use the existing dark tan element.

The skeleton is wearing an iron helmet and — somewhat surprisingly — it’s not only removable, but it fits all the characters, portending a nifty system of interchangeable armor. His bow also features a spring-loaded dart shooter with a solid brown dart (plus an extra). The dart shooter just stuck on the side of the bow and not integrated at all, so it looks a bit tacky but is also easy to remove.

The three companion animals are all excellent renditions, rivaling the larger characters for accuracy.The chicken is easily my favorite, however, with an uncanny resemblance to the squawking model in the game. These will make perfect desk companions.

The baby Magma Cube may be tiny, but he can still hurt! The little “jumping” mechanism simply splits the body by about a brick when the cube is lifted by the top half. For such a simple mechanism, it conveys the creature’s motion quite well.

Conclusion and recommendation
Let’s be honest, adult fans of LEGO don’t always love Minecraft or the LEGO Minecraft theme. And that’s OK. Not every theme needs to cater to the adults in the crowd along with its core audience of 6-12-year-olds. But we here at The Brothers Brick always advocate excellence in building, regardless of the theme. And the LEGO Minecraft Big Figs are excellent. They’re amazingly accurate models, they’re sturdy enough to withstand kid play, and they don’t rely on any specialized elements apart from the accessories. This scale fits LEGO Minecraft perfectly. Now there’s just one thing we’re missing: some scale blocks to accompany them.

21148 Steve with Parrot includes 159 pieces. The set will be available January 1st, 2019 from the LEGO Shop (US $14.99 | CA $19.99 | UK £12.99), Amazon.com, eBay, BrickLink, and elsewhere.

21149 Alex with Chicken includes 160 pieces. The set will be available January 1st, 2019 from the LEGO Shop (US $14.99 | CA $19.99 | UK £12.99), Amazon.com, eBay, BrickLink, and elsewhere.

21159 Skeleton with Magma Cube includes 142 pieces. The set will be available January 1st, 2019 from the LEGO Shop (US $14.99 | CA $19.99 | UK £12.99), Amazon.com, eBay, BrickLink, and elsewhere.

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick early copies of these sets for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

4J Studios has released Minecraft update version 1.83 for PS4 today. Here are the full patch notes that are available for this update.

Minecraft on PS4 usually lags behind the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch version. It still gets strong post-launch support from the developer 4J Studios. The new update to Minecraft for the PS4 is out now and it seems to add the new content packs that were released on other platforms. This includes the Holiday update, and The Nightmare before Christmas Mash-Up Pack.

minecraft-360_2-1024×720

The full patch notes for Minecraft update version 1.83 can be seen below. They are mainly for the PS4 version.

Minecraft Update Version 1.83 Patch Notes For PS4
Added The Nightmare before Christmas Mash-Up Pack.
Added the Holiday Update.
Added six new Trophies to acquire.
Added Cats, a new(ish) mob that spawns in villages and can be tamed with tasty fish. Cats scare off Phantoms, so if you don’t like to sleep much they’re the perfect pet!
Added Pandas, cuddly bears that love to eat Bamboo and have surprisingly complex genetics.
Lazy Pandas like to lie about just eating Bamboo all day.
Weak Pandas sneeze gross slime, and have less health than other Pandas.
Worried Pandas are scared of thunderstorms and other mobs.
Aggressive Pandas hit harder, and fight for their friends.
Playful Pandas enjoy rolling around and having fun!
Brown Pandas are exceptionally rare, and have unique looks.
Added Bamboo plants, that can be used to construct Scaffolding or feed Pandas.
Added Scaffolding blocks, a new way to quickly build and climb buildings. Check the How to Play page for more info!
Ocelots no longer turn into Cats, but you can still earn their trust in the usual way.
Added white, black, blue, and brown Dyes.
Fix for Crash that would occur while near areas with Snow.
Fix for Barrier block in the Tutorial level.
Fix for Crash that would occur when TNT blew up a Fence post and Shulker Box.
Minecraft is available now for the PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, PS3, Xbox 360, PS Vita, Nintendo Wii U and Smartphones.

Minecraft: Java Edition players might be the first to get their hands on the the version 3 textures refresh, but Bedrock Edition users are getting an even better surprise today, pandas. The new creature, first introduced at Microsoft’s Xbox E3 event, loves bamboo (also new) and is highly protective of its cubs.

And with the introduction of bamboo, also comes scaffolding, a block that allows users to move up and down more safely than ladders and stairs. Cats have also been redesigned, and new experimental crossbow enchantments have been added as well for players to try.

Cats have been redesigned in Minecraft

The 1.8 update is available on every application store that Mojang officially distributes to, including those linked down below. Microsoft is also now allowing players on the Xbox One to subscribe to Minecraft Realms for the same $3-99-$7.99 per month as other platforms, so that they can more effortlessly keep the service active.

Mojang continues to celebrate the season, with the free Minecraft Winter Gifts Bundle now available to download on the Minecraft Marketplace.

This contains 13 packs from community creators, which are the Winter Wonders Skin Pack (Minecraft), Hollydale (Blockworks), Snowball Warriors (Pathway Studios), Christmas Jumpers (57Digital), My Snowy Journey Skin Pack (Toya), Lucky Present Survival (Jigarbov Productions), Ginger and Alaska (Visula), Snowstorm Simulator (Snowstorm Simulator), Norse Mythology Bonus Skins (Minecraft), Santa’s Gift Hunt (Polymaps), Ugly Jumper Contest (Razzleberries), The Lost Civilisation (Blockception) and Ready Sleddy Go! (Noxcrew).

“Starting today until 3rd January 2019, you can download the Winter Gifts Bundle from the Minecraft Marketplace. This completely free bundle is stuffed with worlds, skins, texture packs and more, all from your favourite community creators!” Mojang explains.

“Don’t forget to check out Catastrophic Pandamonium while you’re visiting the Marketplace. Catastrophic Pandamonium is a fantastic and free new adventure map starring cats and pandas, so head over to the Minecraft Marketplace to check out both of these great gifts. Happy holidays!”

The immersive game-based platform is being used to help students develop 21st century skills, writes Balqis Lim

MOHAMMAD Aliff Othman begins to choke up as he talks about his students’ development.

That’s how passionate this 29-year-old teacher is in making a difference in the children’s life.

A Geography subject teacher, Aliff uses Minecraft: Education Edition in his classroom to explain certain topics during a lesson.

He says that instead of “chalk and talk”, Minecraft is very good to engage students in class. It also boosts the students creativity and enhances their 21st century skills, he adds.

Minecraft, developed in 2011 by a Swedish company Mojang, is a game that allows players to build with a variety of different blocks in a 3D procedurally-generated world.

After acquiring Mojang in 2014, Microsoft also bought over MinecraftEdu that was developed by TeacherGaming, and launched a new version of Minecraft in 2016 that’s dedicated to learning. It’s called Minecraft: Education Edition.

MINECRAFT IN MALAYSIA
MRSM Tun Mohammad Fuad Stephens in Sandakan, Sabah was the first school in the country to adopt the Minecraft: Education Edition.

Aliff, who was teaching at the school, first learned about Minecraft: Education Edition last year while attending a Microsoft Education Exchange event.

On returning to Malaysia, he gathered some students to try it out.

“As I am not a gamer, I had my students teach me the technical parts of playing it.

“These students were the naughty ones but instead of punishing them, I gave them this task,” says Aliff, who is now a certified Minecraft Global Trainer.

Students using Minecraft in class.
At the first Minecraft workshop held recently, he was invited as an instructor.

The workshop was a joint effort by Microsoft Malaysia, National STEM Centre and Digital Classroom, a teacher community. A total of 70 teachers from different schools and backgrounds participated in it.

MINECRAFT IMPACT
Since Aliff started using Minecraft in classroom, he says a learn-with-each-other environment was also created.

“Today, teachers are no longer “kings” in the classroom who know everything. The students learn from their peers. The teachers too learn from their students.

“I truly believe in this outcome. Most importantly, the teacher-student relationship is now strong.

“Besides enhancing creativity and skillset, Minecraft makes the learning more powerful as the students feel like they ‘own’ the learning,” says Aliff.

Students with their AR creation.
Meanwhile, a science teacher at SMK Jenjarom, Selangor, Abd Rahman Ali Bashah, sees Minecraft as having big potential in developing the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills.

He plans to form a team with his students when school reopens next year.

“In STEM, we encourage students to create something based on a real situation. It’s a hands-on approach. For example, students can design a building or a bridge to solve problems.

“These lessons blend concepts from science and engineering through creativity and critical thinking,” says Rahman.

A creation by one of Aliff’s students.
For Aliff, the students’ engagement in class is more important than merely good grades.

“Yes, getting A in exams is important but how meaningful is the grade? Via the STEM and Minecraft approach, I can see that my students’ engagement in class has increased. They are now bolder in taking risks.

“They are not afraid to try new things now and they also have better understanding of the subjects,” says Aliff.

The Microsoft Showcase School now has teachers using Minecraft in their lesson activities.

About 2,000 Minecraft licences have been acquired by not only MRSM Tun Mohammad Fuad Stephens but also other MRSM schools nationwide.

STUDENTS PERSPECTIVE
Students who have tried out Minecraft say it an exciting and engaging learning platform.

Form Five student Amirul Hafiz Zulazli from MRSM Transkrian in Penang enjoys playing the game but he has only tried the original Minecraft game and not the educational version.

“We don’t have it at school because our teachers think it’s just a game and hardly educational.

“But I think otherwise. This game is a great way for people to explore their creativity. I hope our teachers will allow Minecraft to be used as a learning tool in our lessons,” he says.

Nor Sofea Alyea Mohd Shairani, 11, concurs.

“I started playing Minecraft since early this year and I believe the game helped me in my Science subject.

“A lot of thinking and planning need to be applied into designing my virtual world. The canvas is so vast and limitless. I also collaborate with my friends to construct the buildings,” she says.

Minecraft is used as a hands-on activity to relate to certain topics.
According to Aliff, deploying Minecraft is not an easy task. It’s a long process which needs the support from school, he adds.

He laments that teachers nowadays are still preoccupied with grades and sceptical about Minecraft as a teaching tool.

“Minecraft is not about getting As in exams. It’s for the development of students. It’s not something that can be measured. Anyone can teach but experience itself cannot be taught unless we give students the space and opportunity to try and explore it themselves. That is more valuable than any ‘A’,” says Aliff.

“If teachers are afraid about the students getting attached to the game, they can treat it as a reward when the students behave well in class,” he adds.

MINISTRY’S PARTICIPATION
Anita Adnan, the teacher engagement manager at Microsoft Malaysia’s Education Segment, says Minecraft: Education Edition is an open world game that promotes creativity, collaboration and problem-solving in an immersive environment.

This sets it apart from other games and the only limit is the children’s imagination, she says.

“Children today are very digital literate. Using books and giving them homework are not enough. Teachers need to catch up with current trends and technology.

“Minecraft can also be embedded in ICT programmes or curriculum, suggests Anita.

Aliff teaching a group of educators at the Minecraft workshop.
The collaboration with the National STEM Centre will see Microsoft having a more structured plan where they will help 2,000 schools to try out Minecraft.

National STEM Centre head unit Dr Ihsan Ismail says the collaboration is aimed at creating awareness about Minecraft in public schools.

“With Minecraft, we hope to instill students’ interest in maths and science. Although a proper module has not been finalised, there is a possibility that Minecraft will be used as one learning tool.

“At this early stage, we want to encourage teachers and students to use it so that the ministry can monitor and evaluate its impact. If the outcome is positive, we may extend it to all,” he says.

Netflix’s Minecraft: Story mode, an interactive TV reworking of Telltale Games’ episodic Minecraft adventure, is now available to stream in full. It marks the last Telltale project to be completed in-house, prior to the studio’s closure.

When Telltale announced that it had laid off the vast majority of staff earlier this year, it noted that “a small group of 25 employees [would be] staying on to fulfil the company’s obligations to its board and partners.” Netflix later confirmed that, while its Stranger Things project with Telltale was dead, Minecraft: Story Mode was “still moving forward as planned” at the studio.

That work is evidently complete, and, following the release of an initial batch of episodes last week, the full five-episode run of Minecraft: Story Mode is now available to Netflix subscribers. Netflix’s version of Story Mode pares the game’s first season back somewhat, focussing on key cinematic sequences and more binary choices compared to the originals.

If you’ve not yet experienced Story Mode, it’s worth a look, even if you’ve only a passing interest in Minecraft. It’s a warm, witty (and obviously family friendly) tale of everyday heroes battling against an ancient evil, full of likeable characters and rollicking adventure – not bad at all considering its almost story-free source material.

With Minecraft: Story Mode now complete, that just leaves Telltale’s final season of The Walking Dead to go – although remaining work on this project is now being handled by an external developer. Massive redundancies at Telltale left the season’s future uncertain, despite several episodes already having been released at the time.

Since then, however, Skybound – founded by Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead comic series – has stepped in to complete the game. Release dates for the two remaining episodes, which are being developed by at least some of the original team, are due soon.

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Minecraft port developer 4J Studios has announced they’re no longer updating the legacy console versions of the sandbox game.

The game will no longer get updates on the PlayStation 3, PS Vita, Xbox 360, and Wii U. The long-running sandbox game will continue to get updates on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch.

The last update for the game on those platforms, The Nightmare Before Christmas Mash-up Pack, just dropped this week. It remains unclear if further updates are coming to the game’s Nintendo 3DS port, which Other Ocean Interactive ported.

Watch new footage of YouTuber Stampy Cat making 10 cakes in Minecraft in under four minutes.

Stampy was taking on Fastest time to make and display 10 cakes in Minecraft survival mode (PC Edition) at our London HQ ahead of his appearance in Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition 2019.

Stampy, a.k.a Joseph Garrett, is a YouTube star who has made a name for himself in the Minecraft world with series such as Stampy’s Funland and My Lovely World.

Boasting over 9 million subscribers and almost 7 billion views on his channel, Stampy wanted to add something new to his list of accolades.

Already a record-holder with Most viewed Terraria video (9,736,410 views) on his video entitled Terraria Xbox – My First Night [1], Stampy decided to set a brand new record, combining his love of Minecraft and cake.

StampyCat – Fastest Time to Make 10 Cakes – article 2

The successful attempt took just 3 minutes 51 seconds, but contrary to what the title would suggest, it was no piece of cake!

Lots of forethought went into the attempt to ensure it went efficiently, resulting in a quick time. Stampy placed all the elements out methodically and used pits to spawn his skeletons and cow into to stop them moving during the attempt.

“Spawning them in so they’re just roaming around the land would not be a very fast idea… because then I’ll be trying to make 10 cakes while a skeleton is running around and shooting me!” he explained.

StampyCat – Fastest Time to Make 10 Cakes-3

The two-time record breaker also wrote the introduction to Gamer’s Edition 2019, in which he discusses his records and what you can find in the fact-filled book.

“As I am literally obsessed with videogames, I was so excited when I heard that they [Guinness World Records] wanted to me be involved with this book!”

We’ve written this article to announce to the world that Minecraft has come with a last-minute fix update for PS4. We found out what’s new with this update and we thought you’d like to hear about it, too.

The holiday update for PS4
The 4J Studios have released a new update for Minecraft PlayStation 4 edition. Just last week they have released the holiday update for PS4 and on some other platforms, too. Then they have come with a follow-up update that’s available now to download on PS4. Also, 4J Studios announced that they’d support the game into the new year on numerous platforms.

What are the patch notes that come with the update for PS4?
Patch 1.84 – change log, from the date of the 21st of December of 2018. They came with a fix for a crash that takes place when loading a world or simply exploring an existing world. They also came with a fix for Salmon, Tropical Fish and Pufferfish dropping Cod when they get killed.

These are all the patch notes for this update. 4J Studios will continue to support Minecraft PlayStation 4 Edition, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One into the new year. Other systems, such as PS3, PS Vita, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii U will not receive any future updates – or at least, not that we know of so far.

On what devices is the game available?
The game is now available on many devices, like PS3, PS Vita, PS 4, PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and smartphones around the world. And it’s understandable, since it’s the most popular game from the entire world, that has sold millions of copies around the world.