‘Minecraft’ gets tough

Microsoft has 2 million licensed users across 115 countries playing the education version of “Minecraft.” But it turns out that students in kindergarten through 12th grade are just too good at playing computer games. So it had to develop a tougher version of its one-hour “Minecraft” tutorial that helps students learn to code. The company released “Hero’s Journey” this week, ahead of the December Hour of Code event, which will encourage students across the world to complete a free coding tutorial. The education edition of “Minecraft” lets students create avatars and learn to solve problems one step at a time, said Microsoft’s Deirdre Quarnstrom. “Something we’ve heard from students in the past is ‘This is just too easy,’” she said.

‘Minecraft’ gets tough, Peter Thiel gets rough, and Amazon discounts stuff