Right on time, the beta test for Microsoft’s augmented reality Minecraft game is ready for Android users to give it a try. Just like the beta iOS users have had access to, Minecraft Earth is still invite-only for registered testersand available in just five cities: Mexico City, London, Tokyo, Seattle and Stockholm. According to those who are already in, if you’re having trouble with the invite email then try clicking the link included from your mobile device instead of on a PC.

The Minecraft Earth beta recently reset its AR playing field and updated to version 2.0.0 on iOS. Crafters Earth reports that has brought familiar mobs like creepers and spiders to the game plus a number of challenges and adventures. Also, the in-game store is enabled so people can use the “Rubies” currency to buy build plates and accompanying items. A blog postnotes that Android users can buy them in the game’s store right now, with access on iOS coming soon. Any rubies earned or purchased will stick with a player’s account through this beta test and once the game is fully available.

You’ll also need a device running Android 7.0 or higher to participate, and you can find out more information from the game’s FAQ right here.

Minecraft Earth✔@minecraftearth

The Android beta is finally here! We’re hard at work rolling out the update in five cities: Seattle, London, Tokyo, Stockholm, and Mexico City. Happy crafting everyone!

↣ http://redsto.ne/earthandbet  ↢

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The next Resident Evil game may not be a sequel or a remake — not a straightforward one, anyway. Capcom is teasing plans to unveil a new title, nicknamed Project Resistance, at 11AM Eastern on September 9th. The developer hasn’t said anything about what it will entail, but the initial signs point to a spiritual successor to the spin-off Resident Evil Outbreak. Thumbnails grabbed from the YouTube Premiere show what looks to be four heroes working together to slay the zombie hordes. It’s not certain if you’ll fight alongside AI or human players, but you won’t be alone.

Whenever the game arrives, it’ll be available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. You’ll also see plenty after the title’s premiere. Capcom intends to show gameplay on stage at Tokyo Game Show in mid-September, and residents of Japan who register in advance will have an opportunity to play at the event. Project Resistance is clearly deep into development, even if an honest-to-goodness launch is still a while away.

Bigger images from the Project Resistance teaser trailer

Valve will reportedly fight recent geo-blocking charges brought against it by the European Union. Citing “people familiar with the matter,” Reutersreports that of the six companies that were charged by the European Commission in April, only Valve has decided to fight the commission in court. The other five companies that were charged alongside Valve — Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax — plan to settle with the EU. If the report is accurate and Valve was to lose the case, it could be fined up to 10 percent of its annual income. The EU could also force the company to change how it operates Steam.

Engadget has reached out to Valve for comment on the report, and we’ll update this article when we hear back from the company.

The charges against Valve stem from a two-year investigation the EU conducted into the company’s practice of using geo-blocking to prevent individuals from buying a copy of a game in one country and then activating it on Steam in another. The EU contends the practice violates its Digital Single Market rules, which aims to enforce a single open digital market across all of the union’s member states. In relation to the five other publishers that have reportedly settled with the EU, the European Commission alleged that they broke antitrust rules. In some instances, those publishers included restrictions in their contracts that prevented distributors other than Valve from selling some games outside of certain member states.

One of the great gaming mysteries of this year is the spike in interest in Minecraft, a game that has always been good, but at a decade old, you might not imagine it would be one of the most relevant titles of the year. And yet here we are, with Minecraft more popular than ever.

How did this happen? That’s a question that needs a lot of unravelling, but one answer I keep being pointed to is that PewDiePie started playing Minecraftagain, which has inspired not just his 100 million subscribers and fans, but otherYouTubers and their fans to start playing again, creating this snowball effect of interest in the game.

Is this what happened?

Yes and no. I think there is a perfect storm of events that have led to this Minecraft surge. And yes, I do think PewDiePie deserves at least some portion of the credit. But perhaps not for starting this wave in the first place.

Today In: Innovation

1.14 and the 10th Year Anniversary

That chart above shows the Google Trend interest graph of Minecraft for part of this year, and you can see when it starts to tick up pretty clearly. That would be in mid to late April, right around the release of the 1.14 update, and just before the 10th Year Anniversary of the game. The 1.14 update, Village and Pillage, added a whole bunch of new content to the game which likely drove increased interest among existing Minecraft players, and caused others to return.

Fortnite’s Fade

The next Trend graph above shows the decline of Fortnite to the point where it was surpassed by Minecraft for the first time. Fortnite has simply been on the decline for a while now. It’s still a massive game, but recent seasons have done relatively little to energize the base, and this happened around the end of season 9 and continues through the first half of season 10 here, where interest is noticeably dipping thanks in part to bad additions like the mech, or just general fatigue. And many have switched over to Minecraft.

PewDiePie

But here comes PewDiePie. In the final graph above, you can see that Minecraft was starting to dip again before interest shot up at its fastest rate yet. When did that happen? Almost exactly when PewDiePie released his first Minecraft video in eons on June 21. That video now has 28 million views, and in the two months since, PewDiePie has uploaded 50 Minecraft videos, probably 90% of his content during that time, and each of those average between 10-15 million views, more than his old non-Minecraft content. He’s played Minecraft with James Charles and Jack Black. He’s gotten married in Minecraft. He has well over half a billion views on his Minecraft videos in the last two months. It’s impossible to say that as the biggest YouTuber in the world, he hasn’t had some significant measure of impact in keeping the Minecraft renaissance rolling, even if he wasn’t the catalyst that started it.

As of late, the trend chart is showing another dip, so things may be starting to slide a little bit more now. But Minecraft is still going strong on YouTube and Twitch both, so it maintains a strong position. We are about to enter into a crowded fall release season which could occupy the time of gamers with other offerings, and yet clearly, Minecraft is immortal, and it can break out even ten years later and still feel fresh and fun. We’ll see what happens next.

What are the best space games on PC? Featuring the biggest Steam games, like Kerbal Space Program, and the best free games, such as Eve Online, these are the most sensational space epics around.

Trying to pick out the best PC space games is a galaxy-sized question. Developers have been churning out space adventures since the ‘70s, and with everyone getting excited about Jupiter, and with Kickstarter and crowdfunding allowing studios to strike out alone, we’re currently just a teensy bit obsessed with what’s beyond our little blue and green marble.

While we wait for E.T. to return our numerous missed calls, let’s kill the time by playing some amazing intergalactic adventures. Kick Collector ass in Mass Effect 2. Mess around with adorable rocket science in Kerbal Space Program. Stare in awe at the sheer vastness of the universe in Eve Online. If you’re looking to go where only Bill Shatner and chums have boldly gone before, these are the best sci-fi and space games on PC. Just remember… no one will hear you scream.

The best space games are:

• Star Trek Online
• Star Conflict
• No Man’s Sky
• Eve Online
• Stellaris
• Elite Dangerous
• Kerbal Space Program
• Eve Valkyrie
• Endless Space 2
• The Ur-Quan Masters
• Homeworld Remastered Collection
• Master of Orion 1 + 2
• Mass Effect 2
• FTL: Faster Than Light
• Distant Worlds: Universe
• Star Wars: TIE Fighter Special Edition
• Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

STAR TREK ONLINE

In movies and online, Star Trek has come a long way in a comparatively short space of time, though arguably it’s the initially troubled MMO that’s had the longest journey. Ravaged a little upon release for effectively being a bad fit, Star Trek Online has ended up filling its replica uniform rather well, and is now regarded as one of the best MMORPGs around.

It’s helpful to think of Star Trek Online not just as a game that manages to capture the spirit of the Roddenberry-enforced universe – with its pioneering forays into the unknown, tactical one-on-one battles, and meeting with curious aliens with an abiding love for human history – but as being part of an online fan convention. Players display their affiliations for TOS, TNG, or DS9, indulge their series knowledge and take part in various games on the side, namely via structured away team missions and battles in space. Being a game funded by microtransactions, you can also buy loads of tat, but the point is that Star Trek Online is not so much a sim for gamers who like Star Trek, but a hang-out for Star Trek fans who like to game.

And there’s a lot of game to like, from the way in which you develop your character and bridge officers, to playing through regular episode missions. It’s akin to riding an open-topped shuttle around every nook of Trek lore and history. Where the game excels, however, is during open team space battles, in which small groups of player ships combine to bring down indomitable NPC vessels. With a need to manage shields and power levels, consider speed and positioning, veteran fans of the Starfleet Command games will find much to engage, especially when part of a well-drilled team of frontline and support vessels tearing up the galaxy.

While Star Trek Online came out many, many years ago, it’s still receiving regular content updates and even expansions. The most recent one, Rise of Discovery, tells the story of a pivotal moment in the lives of both Gabriel Lorca and Ellen Landry. You get to experience the events that lead to the first episode of Star Trek: Discovery, plus there’s an overhaul to how you unlock the best ships in the game, making this a much kinder update for new players.

STAR CONFLICT

Star Conflict is a dogfighting free MMO that sees pilots clash amid asteroid belts and above planets in fast-paced scraps. While it’s mostly concerned with PvP battles, you can grab a few quests, explore ruins, and dabble in a spot of crafting.

It’s the ships that make the game, of course. From nimble fighters to beefy frigates and bulky destroyers, there are a copious number of vessels to unlock and upgrade, determining your role in whatever conflict you find yourself duking it out in. There are over a hundred ships to choose from, but getting access to them all takes some doing.

There’s a metagame, too, as you fight for your chosen faction, hunting down foes and getting in pitched battles in an effort to spread your group’s influence and net yourself some lovely rewards.

NO MAN’S SKY

Space is an unconquered and never-ending vista. That desire to explore the unknown also forms the attraction of Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky, which uses procedural generation to ensure that you’ll never reach the end of its recreation of space, which has over 18 quintillion planets to explore.

Exploration isn’t all you’ll do in No Man Sky, however, as you’ll need to find ways to survive. Paramount to your success in doing that is mastering the game’s trading and combat. No Man’s Sky didn’t have the smoothest launch, but a heap of updates has steadied the ship since, adding everything from deep sea exploration to base-building – maintaining a dedicated a loving fanbase that bought a billboard to say thank you.

EVE ONLINE

This has been the preeminent space game for so long that you might be forgiven for thinking it’s the only space game in existence. Unquestionably, Eve Online is one of the most interesting, partly down to the fact that its half a million online inhabitants play on the same mega-server rather than having to endure the severed realities offered by its many fantasy contemporaries.

Players join together to form fleets that number in the thousands, and alliances in the tens of thousands, all laying siege to entire regions for months on end, supported by an extensive supply chain of miners, traders, researchers, and manufacturers. In terms of scale and substance, there really isn’t anything else like it. For example, an Eve ship worth 309 billion ISK – one of just one of three in existence – was destroyed by a spy embedded in the ship’s owner’s organisation. Yes, there’s nothing quite like the stories generated by Eve’s astonishing community.

The game is not without its downsides. It has a reputation for being bastard-hard to get into, but after updates to the user interface, graphics and the near-constant streamlining of some of the game’s more obscure systems, the Eve of today is no more difficult to approach than its single-player bosom buddies X and Elite. It’s also receiving regular updates like the recent Eve Online: Onslaught expansion, so you can always look forward to something fresh.

Much more of a concern for the newcomer is how difficult it can be to succeed, especially if your aim is to carve out a small empire for yourself within a few weeks, but you can give yourself a fighting chance with our Eve Online beginner’s guide.

STELLARIS

Stellaris, Paradox’s 4X grand strategy hybrid, makes space surprising again thanks to event chains that are, at first, evocative of Crusader Kings II, but end up going much further. In Stellaris, you should expect mutant uprisings, robotic rebellions, and the discovery of alien texts that make your citizens question their place in the galaxy.

It’s not just a 4X game; it’s a galactic roleplaying game and empire sim, bestowing a vast array of options upon players, allowing them to create unique, eccentric, space-faring species. You can play as a fundamentalist society built on the backs of slaves, or hyper-intelligent lizards that rely on robots whether they are fighting or farming. The robust species creator and a multitude of meaningful decisions mean that you can create almost any aliens that you can imagine.

And underpinning all of that is the game’s focus on exploration. While most space 4X games stick with one method of interstellar travel, Stellaris gives you three to choose from, each with their own strengths and counters. In one game, the galaxy might be a network of hyperlanes, but in the next, you might find yourself building wormhole stations and blinking across the galaxy.

Stellaris’ multiplayer isn’t to be overlooked either, transforming decent human beings into Machiavellian alien tyrants at the drop of a hat.

ELITE DANGEROUS

30 years since it first graced the BBC Micro, the Elite series returns in the form of Elite Dangerous. It’s been around for a while in alpha and beta forms, enough time to be written about thousands of times and played by countless pirates, bounty hunters, traders, and explorers. So we already knew it was going to be a bit impressive.

Our playground is a whole galaxy. Not just any galaxy, either. The Milky Way is the setting of Elite Dangerous, built to terrifying scale. It’s a galaxy populated with black holes, gargantuan suns, space anomalies, and spaceships that flit around like tiny specks of dust on an inconceivably big table. It’s still familiar and authentically Elite, but elevated by tech that would have boggled minds in 1984, when 256 planets was massively impressive. How you carve out a life in this galaxy is much the same, though, whether you become a trader, filling your cargo hold with algae and microchips, or a mercenary, fighting in an interstellar war.

It’s great, and thanks to Elite Dangerous mods, players are improving it with things like chatting ship AIs that react to voice commands. Frontier also continues to fatten it up with free updates along with the Elite: Dangerous’ Horizon expansion. And if you’re lucky enough to have an Oculus Rift, then you’re in for a treat, right up to the point where your ship spins out of control and you dive head-first into a sick bag.

If that’s got you excited to strap into a Cobra and hurtle into the inky black, get your space adventure started with our Elite: Dangerous guide.

KERBAL SPACE PROGRAM

The first order of doing anything in space is, of course, to get there. Unfortunately, most games in this otherwise splendid list make the rather wild assumption that rocket science isn’t all that important and skip to the business of spreading violence, free market capitalism, and all manner of other human diseases to all corners of various galaxies. Thankfully, the space program to which the Kerbals fatefully apply is rather more grounded in reality, in the sense that the aim of the game is to avoid crashing into the stuff.

Kerbal Space Program is ostensibly about trial and error, first in building a vessel capable of getting its payload off the ground, which is relatively easy, second by actually getting the damn thing launched and steered into some kind of orbit. You soon realise that getting past the Karman Line is one thing, while delivering your payload safely to its destination another entirely. Thankfully, because your gurning passengers seem quite happy to be sacrificed for the greater good of the basic understanding of astrophysics, the trial and error is every bit as involved and entertaining as any fleeting success.

As you’ll read in our Kerbal Space Program PC review, there’s plenty of successes to aim for: reaching the Mun (nee Moon), deploying a modular space station, and mining on distant planets are all attainable, albeit after a great deal of crushing but entertaining failure, made bearable thanks to a combination of hard science unpinning a soft and cute interior. As well as being a bloody good space game, KSP may well be the most entertaining community-enriched sandbox games since Minecraft – massively helped along by Kerbal Space Program mods.

EVE VALKYRIE

There are a lot of pretty cockpits in VR, but Eve creators CCP did it best when they hired Mirror’s Edge producer Owen O’Brien to head up their scrappy space dogfighting simulation game.

Like the parkour cult classic, Eve Valkyrie is lent unparalleled first-person immersion through a hundred tiny touches in animation, art, and sound design – from the way your ship tips forward as it accelerates out of the hangar, through the sight of your arms at the control panel, to the muffled roar of your thrusters.

What Valkyrie captures that other space games don’t is scale – the sense that you’re piloting a rubber duck in a bath owned by Eve giants like the Amarr Titan. It’s impossible not to become acutely aware that you’re only a cracked windscreen away from a cold and unforgiving void, with just your manoeuvrability saving you from the ferocious and unyielding fire of enemy players. It’s no surprise Valkyrie is one of the best VR games on PC.

ENDLESS SPACE 2

Story, a 4X designer would probably say, is something that emerges naturally from the interplay of systems in a strategy game – the clash of borders, an unplanned war. Amplitude Studios don’t think that’s much of an excuse. They’ve stuffed Endless Space 2 with as much science fiction as it can contain – and given that it’s got whole galaxies to fill, that’s plenty.

Here you’ll meet living crystals, tiny dragons, recycled war machines and millions of clones of a bloke named Horatio. It’s a universe teeming with offbeat ideas to enjoy, and then enslave, if you’re that sort of explorer. If not, you can play as a bunch of sentient trees and spread olive branches throughout known space.

There’s less left to the imagination than in conventional grand strategy – scraps are resolved in a beautiful 3D battle engine that sees your elaborate ships drift together in the void in a dramatic, interplanetary ballet. It’s like Football Manager, but with chrome, faster-than-light monoliths. Isn’t that what Sega’s catalogue has been missing until now? If you still need convincing then just read our glowing Endless Space 2 review.

THE UR-QUAN MASTERS

Here a quick sell for The Ur-Quan Masters: it’s not only free, it’s also one of the best free PC games you’ll ever find.

Played from a top-down perspective, UQM is a hitchhiker’s’ fight for the galaxy in a game of exploration, diplomacy, role-playing, and combat. You play the commander of a lost research mission sent to re-establish contact with Earth. However, upon reaching the Sol system you soon discover the third planet has been conquered by the unpleasant Ur-Quan. Without the means to free the planet’s inhabitants or oppose its oppressors, your quest is then to head out to distant worlds and find the resources, allies, and clues to help overcome the three-eyed tentacle-beasts that hold humanity in bondage.

While UQM’s flight model isn’t much more evolved than a game of Asteroids, the extensive galaxy, populated by hundreds of planets, stars and moons – all of which can be scanned, visited, and plundered – making for a deeply involving game. Constantly having to land on planets and collect materials to trade can get a little tedious, but discovering ancient secrets and conversing with the game’s 18 unique and often hilarious races (20 if you separate the Zoq from the Fot and Pik) more than makes up for having to constantly take in so many identikit planets. If meeting the cowardly Captain Fwiffo doesn’t make you immediately fall in love with the game then you’re probably dead inside.

HOMEWORLD REMASTERED COLLECTION

Homeworld’s the sort of game that gets inside your head and just stays there. It originally came out 15 years ago, eventually spawning an expansion, an excellent sequel, and most recently, Homeworld Remastered Collection. It’s a series that remains unsurpassed. It’s also one of those rare strategy games that has a great story; both tragic and hopeful, filled to the brim with tension. It’s a voyage of discovery, of learning about the past and desperately struggling to create a future. It’s beautiful and a bit sad.

Thanks to Gearbox’s Homeworld remastering efforts, one of the best old games is even more beautiful. Now the game looks like it does in our memories, even those clouded by nostalgia, with its beautifully detailed ships and its gargantuan space backdrops. And, thanks to its minimalist UI, none of that beauty is obscured.

Watching the game in action is like viewing an epic ballet. Tiny ships fly in formation in all directions; massive, heavily armed capital ships float around the vast mother ship; diligent resource gatherers work away to fuel a massive undertaking. Even the biggest vessels are dwarfed by the size of the 3D maps, and when the camera is zoomed out, they look alone and vulnerable. Which is exactly what they are.

MASTER OF ORION 1 + 2

Fans have been arguing since last century over which of the Master of Orion games is the better of the series and they only seem to agree that the third most definitely isn’t it, which makes the widely-available double pack featuring the first two MOOs something of an essential and stress-free purchase – at least until Wargaming finish their MOO reboot with the help of some “key members” of the original team.

Released in 1993, Master of Orion took the concepts of Sid Meier’s classic turn-based Civilization and applied it across a galaxy of planets rather than one, so that instead of various flavours of human settlers and terrestrial biomes, players were given a wide range of planet types and races to control and conquer, such as the Silicoids; able to thrive in the most hostile of environments, albeit at a glacial reproductive rate.

While the driving force behind Master of Orion and all of the best strategy games since has been technological advancement and colonialism, this was the first game of its type to really nail diplomacy and offer a route to victory in which some measure of galactic peace could be achieved. The sequel went even further, with customisable races and a political victory that required you to be elected as the Supreme Leader of the galaxy.

What is undeniable is that MOO I and II are important historical references, as seminal an influence on turn-based space conquest as the first two Doom games were establishing and defining the FPS. Unlike Doom, however, MOO has cast such a long monolith-shaped shadow over the entire space game genre that many would argue that the Orion games have yet to be eclipsed.

MASS EFFECT 2

Admittedly, there’s not much fizzing and fwooshing of spaceships to be enjoyed in Mass Effect, but it’s still a planet-hopping, alien-seducing space adventure, and one of the best sci-fi RPGs you’re likely to play.

Mass Effect 2 merits inclusion here for two reasons: one is the obvious strength of the story and the characters, a story that started strong in the first game and blossomed throughout its middle act to such a degree that the conclusion was always going to wilt a little. Secondly, in spite of a complete lack of direct spaceship control, you felt not just part of a crew, but in command of a functioning ship with an ability to explore the galaxy.

Parallels have been drawn – not least by Bioware themselves – between the Mass Effect trilogy and the classic exploration series Starflight, which was notable in the late 1980s for being one of the very first space exploration games and is notable today for not having been bettered in that regard since. In terms of storyline, with all that ancient technology end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it gubbins, Mass Effect’s storyline is remarkably close to Starflight’s. Indeed Starflight could almost be seen as the ’70s original to Mass Effect’s BSG-style gritty reimagining, only without the risible Galactica 80 spin-off series to besmirch its reputation.

In case you’re wondering why any of the series’ newer entries aren’t here, read our rankings of the best Mass Effect games.

FTL: FASTER THAN LIGHT

Space is awful and will probably kill you: that’s the lesson FTL attempts to impart on brave spacefarers. The permadeath ship management game is, on the surface, a simple race to deliver information to the hands of your allies, but you’re being chased. With every diversion explored, the enemy fleet gets closer and closer, and even if you do stay ahead of them, random death lurks around every corner.

Random violent encounters, shopping sprees, new worlds and races, unlockable ships and configurations, loads and loads of weird and wonderful weapons and tools – there’s so much in FTL that every game has the potential to be dramatically different. One could see you managing a tough vessel that employs ion cannons to disable enemy systems and drones to pepper them with lasers. Another might inspire you to use mind control to defeat your enemies, or teleporters to fill their ships with your own crew.

So much can go wrong. Sometimes it’s your fault, like when you mess up a fight and end up rapidly attempting to patch up hull breaches and put out fires. But sometimes luck just isn’t on your side, like when you agree to help a space station deal with a plague and one of your crew gets sick. But every failed attempt is a complete story full of adventures and misadventures, and a great excuse to make another valiant attempt.

DISTANT WORLDS: UNIVERSE

Another 4X game to add to the list, but really, Distant Worlds is whatever you want it to be, and we were rather taken with it in our Distant Worlds: Universe review. It’s an exploration game where you have one vessel that’s part of a massive empire, and you spend the whole time flitting around the galaxy. A trade game, where one eye is always on your bank account, while the other is hungrily looking at aliens, searching for good deals and diplomatic opportunities. A game where you are the master of everything, sticking your finger in every conceivable pie, from military matters to colonisation.

It’s huge; mind-bogglingly, overwhelmingly massive. An entire galaxy is simulated from private traders going about their business, to pirates getting up to no good. It’s the most ambitious 4X space game that you’re ever likely to find.

At its core, it’s a tool for creating your own galaxies to play in. Players can curate the game to such a degree that one game could bear no resemblance to the next. Everything from the age of the galaxy to the aggression of pirates can be dictated before a game even begins.

STAR WARS: TIE FIGHTER SPECIAL EDITION

LucasArts might be gone, and one could argue that it died long before it officially shut down, but we’ll always have reminders of what it once was, with brilliant games like Totally Studio’s phenomenal Star Wars: TIE Fighter, the villainous sequel to X-Wing.

Its predecessor was great, there’s no doubt about it, but TIE Fighter’s campaign lets you play as an Imperial, and the Devil is always more fun. It was also, across the board, an improvement over X-Wing, from its graphics – now very dated, admittedly – to a targeting upgrade that allowed pilots to focus on specific parts of an enemy capital ship or station.

This isn’t some arcade space shooter like its not-quite-successor, the Rogue Squadron series. This is a space sim first, which comes with greater complexity but also greater control. For instance, if you’re being battered by laser fire from a pesky X-Wing and your ship’s been damaged, then you assign the order in which systems are repaired, allowing you to prioritise so you can survive for a few more seconds. Just enough to win the fight.

Being an oldie, expect a wee bit of fiddling to get the best experience. Thankfully, we’ve got a Star Wars: TIE Fighter beginner’s guide, which should save you from some potential problems.

SINS OF A SOLAR EMPIRE: REBELLION

A game that successfully manages to combine the very best of 3D real-time strategy – albeit without a proper single-player campaign – with the kind of empire building offered only by the very top 4X games.

Sins of Solar Empire: Rebellion is played across a user-defined network of stars. Players begin forging an empire around the gravity wells of planets with shipyards, research outposts, extractors, and defence systems, then assemble fleets combining frigates, corvettes, cruisers, and capital ships to map and eventually conquer neighbouring systems.

In earlier versions of Sins of a Solar Empire, conquest was largely achieved in the time-honoured RTS fashion of dragging a huge box around every single damn ship you owned and directing them towards the enemy systems so as to allow sheer force of numbers to win the day. However, with the introduction of diplomatic victories in a previous expansion and research and occupation victories as part of 2012’s Rebellion standalone – not to mention new Death Star-like titan ships as a much-needed counter to the ultra-defensive starbases structures – the stalemates that would often cause games to peter out can be pursued as potentially winning strategies. And let’s not forget about the mods that let you play out your Star Wars or Battlestar Galactica fantasies.

That’s our pick of the best space games on PC. While we have you, why not check out some of the most exciting upcoming PC games, or if you’re in the mood to read about the absolute greatest titles of all-time, check out our list of the best PC games. In the meantime, lose yourself in the space epics above. Hopefully, by the time you’re done playing them, that bloody rude E.T. will have finally checked his voicemail.

Minecraft mobs are the living entities in Minecraft – short for mobile, these sometimes adorable, sometimes aggressive creatures can be found roaming the many biomes of the blocky universe. They will interact and respond to you, other players, and other mobs, whether that’s a creeper knocking at your door, or a pig in the pen in your back garden.

Minecraft mobs are susceptible to the same physics and environmental changes that affect players, such as catching fire or drowning. They can be attacked and killed with weapons, and when killed drop resources and experience points, with hostile mobs dropping rarer items on occasion.

In Creative mode, Minecraft mobs will never attack you, but can be divided into three behavioural categories in Survival and Hardcore modes, which include passive, neutral, and hostile. Utility mobs iron golem and snow golem, can be crafted to assist you against hostile mobs. Trusting mobs can’t be tamed, but have a special behaviour when interacted with and include dolphins, ocelot and foxes. Here’s a list of all the mobs and monsters that can be found wandering the vast Minecraft landscape.

MINECRAFT PASSIVE MOBS

Minecraft passive mobs will not attack you and will flee when attacked. They have the ability to breed, so you’ll see baby animals in the same area. Most passive mobs can be tamed, if they’re not already, such as horses in Minecraft. Other farmyard friends can provide resources, including wool from sheep or milk from cows.

• Sheep
• Cow
• Fox
• Bat
• Chicken
• Cod
• Ocelot
• Pig
• Rabbit
• Salmon
• Mooshroom
• Squid
• Tropical fish
• Turtle
• Villager
• Wandering trader
• Pufferfish

TAMABLE PASSIVE MOBS

• Donkey
• Horse
• Cat
• Parrot
• Mule
• Skeleton horse

MINECRAFT NEUTRAL MOBS

Neutral mobs in Minecraft will attack you if provoked, which may be useful if you’re after item drops or XP. Some neutral mobs such as wolves will attack other mobs like rabbits or sheep, and llamas will be aggressive towards untamed wolves. Minecraft bees are the latest addition and can be found in flower forests and plains, or beehives can be constructed using wood planks and honeycomb.

• Dolphin
• Polar bear
• Trader llama
• Llama
• Panda
• Wolf
• Bee
• Iron golem

MINECRAFT NEUTRAL MONSTERS

Some of the Minecraft monsters in this category behave slightly differently, with spiders and cave spiders becoming hostile if the light level falls below ten.

• Spider
• Cave Spider
• Enderman
• Zombie Pigman

MINECRAFT HOSTILE MOBS

Hostile mobs in Minecraft are dangerous and aggressive and will attack you within a certain range, usually 16 blocks, without any obstruction. However, some mobs are capable of detecting you from 100 blocks away. Flying mobs like a phantom in Minecraft, will spawn above and attempt to swoop and attack you. A boss mob is a special type of hostile, that has a larger detection range and more health, and includes the ender dragon and wither.

• Evoker
• Vindicator
• Pillager
• Ravager
• Vex
• Chicken Jockey
• Endermite
• Guardian
• Elder Guardian
• Shulker
• Skeleton Horseman
• Husk
• Stray
• Phantom
• Blaze
• Creeper
• Ghast
• Magma Cube
• Silverfish
• Skeleton
• Slime
• Spider Jockey
• Zombie
• Zombie Villager
• Drowned
• Wither Skeleton
• Witch

If you want to be better equipped when dealing with these villainous mobs, our Minecraft shield guide provides the perfect defence, and when you’ve harvested your phantom membranes and other mob ingredients, you’ll be able to brew all kinds of potions in Minecraft. If there’s not enough Minecraft mobs here for you, then you can add more using Minecraft mods.

If you want to know what Minecraft mobs you’re up against, we don’t blame you. If you stumble upon a spider on your travels, or a phantom swoops into your path, it’s better to know they can’t be tamed than to find out the hard way.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is taking to the skies in 2020, but the publisher is sharing details about the current state of development beginning today. Microsoft launched the game’s Insider Program, and you can sign up for it right here. Insiders get regular updates about the studio and Microsoft Flight Simulator as well as a roadmap for what the developers are working on next.

For August, the Flight Simulator team is running an internal alpha test. In September, it will update fans about that technical alpha and likely when you’ll get a chance to try it yourself. The company previously promised that it will run test builds of the game. Also next month, the studio will talk about how it plans to implement feedback from players. Then, in October, the developer will have a timeline for the second tech alpha.

You can see all of that and more in the roadmap below:

When does the Microsoft Flight Simulator technical alpha test open?

When it comes to the technical alpha tests, Microsoft hasn’t provided a lot of details. The roadmap for September just says “Build program — tech alpha timeline.” But since the company is saying that it will talk about the “Build program — tech alpha No. 2 timeline” in October, the first public test could begin next month.

I’ve reached out to Microsoft to ask for clarification. I’ll update this story with any new information.

Microsoft announced its new Flight Simulator at the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show in June. The game is using modern visuals and satellite imagery to build a realistic-looking world for you to fly around. This is the first Flight Simulator release since 2006, and it’s part of Microsoft’s renewed dedication to PC gaming.

Flight Simulator is also coming to Xbox One, and you can get it as part of a subscription to Xbox Game Pass for either the console or PC.

Nvidia announced that Microsoft’s Minecraft will be the latest game to support Nvidia’s real-time ray tracing graphics on the PC.

The game is one of a number that Nvidia will show running on Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics cards at the Gamescom game event in Cologne, Germany this week. Other games that will include RTX support at Gamescom include Dying Light 2, Synced: Off-Planet, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Cyberpunk 2077, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, Metro: Exodus — The Two Colonels, Control, and Watch Dogs: Legion.

Minecraft has sold more than 176 million copies to date, and now it will look dramatically more realistic through RTX.

A free game update will provide Minecraft players with visualizations of their self-created worlds, with more realistic shadows, lighting and vibrant colors.

“We are incredibly happy with how fast and how broad the adoption of this technology has been across the ecosystem,” said Jason Paul, general manager for software and technology at Nvidia, in a press briefing. “The biggest video game of the past decade is supporting RTX.”

Nvidia and Mojang are adding a form of ray tracing known as path tracing for the Windows 10 version of the game. Path tracing simulates the way light is transported throughout a scene. It presents a unified model for lighting calculations for many different types of effects that have traditionally been implemented separately using rasterized or hybrid renderers.

“Ray tracing sits at the center of what we think is next for Minecraft,” said Saxs Persson, franchise creative director of Minecraft at Microsoft, in a statement. “GeForce RTX gives the Minecraft world a brand-new feel to it. In normal Minecraft, a block of gold just appears yellow, but with ray tracing turned on, you really get to see the specular highlight, you get to see the reflection, you can even see a mob reflected in it.”

The new effects include:

• Direct lighting from the sun, sky and various light sources, including emissive surfaces such as glowstone and lava
• Realistic hard and soft shadows depending on the size, shape and distance of the light source
• Per-pixel emissive lighting
• Indirect diffuse illumination (diffuse global illumination)
• Indirect specular illumination (reflections)
• Transparent materials with reflection, refraction and scattering (stained glass, water, ice)
• Atmospheric scattering and density (volumetric fog, light shafts, realistic sky)

One of the interesting new games is Synced: Off-Planet, which is being built by Tencent’s flagship games development studio. The game is a brand new franchise that will use ray-traced reflections and shadows in a new twist on PvPvE that has players fighting each other while surviving 1,000+ “Nano Zombies.”

“Minecraft is the Legos of our generation, enabling people to create and build in a world inside of inside of a video game,” Paul said. “And the community has done amazing things with it. The impact of this game in the community is massive. We’re really excited to be working with Microsoft to take this to the next level.”

Microsoft and the Minecraft Team want to give Minecraft players a chance to try the franchise’s new AR game on Android. Minecraft Earth is already available as a beta test for people running iOS 10 devices. Now, it’s expanding to include Android 7 or higher devices.

You can sign up for Minecraft Earth now. You’ll need to have a Microsoft or Xbox Live account. You’ll also need to provide some other information as well as your choice of iOS or Android. Microsoft will then email you with details about how to get into the game.

Minecraft Earth is an AR game. This means that it augments the real world with computer graphics as well as gameplay mechanics. Using your smartphone and its camera, you can view Minecraft creations that people build and leave around your neighborhood. You can, of course, build structures yourself and leave them for others to discover.

This is obviously a lot like the megasuccessful Pokémon Go, which has players catching pocket monsters out in the real world. Like that game, Microsoft and developer Mojang are creating permanent digital installations in public. Some of these locations will offer players the chance to go on adventures.

In these adventures, you can dig through digital blocks to uncover chests and materials. You will even have to fight mobs. One of the coolest aspects of these adventures is that your position in 3D space is locked to the game. That means if you see some skeleton enemies underground, you will have to go down one story in the real-world to get to them.

Minecraft Earth does not have a release date for its public version, but the game is clearly making progress. So expect to hear more about it soon.

The Minecraft Marketplace surpassed 10 million downloads once again in July. In total, the store had more 10,892,324 downloads for all of its content. That puts it far ahead of June’s 7.9 million downloads and May’s 9.4 million downloads. And the store is continuing its massive year-over-year growth. The Marketplace had only 669,795 downloads in July 2018.

Minecraft’s Marketplace was able to hit such huge heights thanks in part to the summer sale, which ran through the first week of July. The Minecraft Team also launched some free content to celebrate that sale. Anyone could get the Summer Beach Party skin pack at no cost.Recommended videosPowered by AnyClipOcasio-Cortez Shares Road Trip Video Of Her Standing In Front Of Giant SequoiasPauseUnmuteDuration 0:37/Current Time 0:04Loaded: 38.81% FullscreenUp Next

But as for premium content, Toy Story was on top for the second month in a row. And I get that. Toy Story 4 was so good, so now waiting for that movie to come out on home video is excruciating. I’ll take Toy Story anything to hold me over, and Minecraft delivers exactly that with the Toy Story Mash-Up pack.

Let’s get to the charts:

Top 10 most downloaded in Minecraft Marketplace July 2019

 9. Animals

1. Toy Story Mash-Up by Minecraft

Woody, Buzz, Bo Peep and many of your favorite toys come to life in this oversized mashup based on all the Toy Story movies. To infinity and beyond!

2. Furniture: Modern by Spark Squared

Decorate your home with over 350 furniture options. Mod your living room, bedroom, kitchen, and even your garden! Design your dream house like never before.

3. Lucky Blocks: Classic by Spark Squared

Test your luck with Lucky Blocks: Classic! Open the infamous [?] question mark blocks in this fun world and face exciting or potentially devastating results.

4. Military Base by Vaeron

Your duty begins today, soldier! Drive the troop transport into your base, use the multipurpose vehicle to cover tough ground, and fly the jet through the skies.

5. Party Island by Imagiverse

Take a vacation from the city to Party Island! Choose your own modern mansion and enjoy music at parties all around the island.

6. PureBDCraft by BDcraft

Dive into the exciting life of a marine biologist! Explore several ocean biomes while discovering amazing creatures.

7. Star Wars Classic Skin Pack by Minecraft

The Star Wars Classic Skin Pack features an assortment of over 50 heroes, villains, and rogues from the Galactic Civil War. Whether you pick a Jawa or the mighty Darth Vader, you can play as your favorite Star Wars characters from Episodes IV to VI, Minecraft-style.

8. City Living by Noxcrew

Get the full lifestyle experience with luxury apartments, office buildings, and even drivable vehicles. Pick your perfect home or take in the sights. Customize your world with brand new models, blocks, & textures. Comes with 30 free skins.

9. ANIMALS by Everbloom Studios

Discover tons of newly added animals in a massive custom world! Every animal has its own unique behaviors, animations and sounds.

10. Dinosaurs by Vaeron

Watch out for the dangerous T-rex, dive into the ocean to watch the Sea Rex hunt, and follow the herd of giant Diplodocus.

Top 10 highest grossing Minecraft Marketplace July 2019

 8. Advanced Dragons

 7. Animals

1. Toy Story Mash-Up by Minecraft

Woody, Buzz, Bo Peep and many of your favorite toys come to life in this oversized mashup based on all the Toy Story movies. To infinity and beyond!

2. Furniture: Modern by Spark Squared

Decorate your home with over 350 furniture options. Mod your living room, bedroom, kitchen, and even your garden! Design your dream house like never before.

3. Lucky Blocks: Classic by Spark Squared

Test your luck with Lucky Blocks: Classic! Open the infamous [?] question mark blocks in this fun world and face exciting or potentially devastating results.

4. Party Island by Imagiverse

Take a vacation from the city to Party Island! Choose your own modern mansion and enjoy music at parties all around the island.

5. Military Base by Vaeron

Your duty begins today, soldier! Drive the troop transport into your base, use the multipurpose vehicle to cover tough ground, and fly the jet through the skies.

6. City Living by Noxcrew

Get the full lifestyle experience with luxury apartments, office buildings, and even drivable vehicles. Pick your perfect home or take in the sights. Customize your world with brand new models, blocks, and textures. Comes with 30 free skins.

7. ANIMALS by Everbloom Studios

Discover tons of newly added animals in a massive custom world! Every animal has its own unique behaviors, animations and sounds.

8. Advanced Dragons by Pixelbiester

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

9. PureBDCraft by BDcraft

Dive into the exciting life of a marine biologist! Explore several ocean biomes while discovering amazing creatures.

10. Dinosaurs by Vaeron

Watch out for the dangerous T-rex, dive into the ocean to watch the Sea Rex hunt, and follow the herd of giant Diplodocus.