Stone Marshall's Blog, page 117

Ark is getting a Minecraft-like spin-off, and it’s heading to Steam and Xbox early access soon

PixArk, an official Minecraft-inspired Ark: Survival Evolved spin-off, is heading to Steam Early Access and Xbox Games Preview this March, developer Snail Games has announced.PixArk was unveiled late last year and is the result of a licensing deal with original Ark developer Studio Wildcard. It’s an open-world sandbox game that takes the core elements of the main Ark series – survival, dinosaur taming, crafting, base building, and co-operative tribe living – and re-assembles them as a more casual, Minecraft-esque experience.

According to its Steam Early Access page, PixArk will feature a robust character creator and progression system (complete with skill trees and customisable stats), a voxel block building system, procedurally generated quests, an “infinite number” of voxel based maps featuring deserts, jungles, caves, and more, plus 100 voxel-ized Ark creatures to tame, train, and ride.

PixArk can either be played solo or by teaming up with friends to work together as a tribe, and there looks to be support for both local and online multiplayer.

“Spend your time building a towering fortress or go on a quest in a sprawling cavern”, says Snail Games of PixArk, “Fly on the back of a dragon and smite your enemies with a magic wand, or ride a mighty T-Rex and blast your foes with a rocket launcher. In the world of PixARK, how you play is up to you – as long as you survive!”

PixArk is due to launch on Xbox Games Preview and Early Access this March, according to Snail Games. The full version will release on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, and is expected to arrive later in the year. And speaking as someone that’s played way too much Ark and Minecraft, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little bit intrigued.

Ark is getting a Minecraft-like spin-off, and it’s heading to Steam and Xbox early access soon

Nintendo is shutting down Miitomo

Miitomo, Nintendo’s initial entry into the world of smartphone apps, is shutting down. Nintendo has announced that it will stop selling Miitomo coins, the in-app currency, today, and service will end altogether on May 9th. You’ll still be able to use the app and receive Miitomo coins through login bonuses until then, and Nintendo is also planning to refund players for any purchased Miitomo coins that went unused.

Although Miitomo evidently didn’t set the world alight, it’s a surprisingly swift end for what was a widely hyped app upon its launch just under two years ago. Miitomo made use of Miis, the company’s trademark avatars, and offered several quirky ways to communicate with friends. But with Miis deemphasized on Nintendo’s current smash hit console, the Switch, and with the company’s mobile efforts now focused on adapting more traditional games like Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem, perhaps Miitomo was never going to be long for this world.

Nintendo is shutting down Miitomo

Microsoft puts Minecraft boss in charge of Xbox games

Microsoft is promoting its Minecraft boss to the head of the company’s games studios. Matt Booty’s new role sees him oversee Microsoft Studios, as one of the top game executives reporting to Microsoft’s games chief Phil Spencer. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella previously promoted Phil Spencer from head of Xbox to a new role overseeing all games, associated hardware, and game strategy.

Spencer reports directly to Nadella, with Booty now reporting directly to Spencer. Both changes are designed to improve Microsoft’s games business. Microsoft has struggled to produce first-party games for its Xbox One console over the past year, after canceling Scalebound, Fable Legends, and Ion. Crackdown 3 was delayed until spring, and Microsoft even shut down Project Spark. Microsoft launched its Xbox One X game console recently without any high profile exclusive games, and it’s led to questions over the company’s games strategy.

GamesBeat reports that Booty’s new role will see Microsoft devoting more resources to its games business. Booty will be looking after Microsoft’s relationships with 343 Industries, The Coalition, Mojang, Rare, Turn 10 Studios, and Global Publishing. Booty first joined Microsoft back in 2010, and helped launch games for Windows phones. He’s also helped develop Xbox Live Arcade, and oversaw Minecraft maker Mojang after Microsoft acquired the company for $2.5 billion back in 2014.

Correction : Booty’s role overseeing Microsoft Studios makes him one of several executives at Microsoft that report directly to Phil Spencer, not “second only” to Spencer in the chain of command as this article originally stated.

Microsoft puts Minecraft boss in charge of Xbox games

You can visit the Pentagon’s secret nuclear bunker inside Minecraft

Video by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at MIIS and the Nuclear Threat Initiative

Even if the populations of the US or Russia are annihilated in a nuclear apocalypse, the governments responsible for the devastation plan to fight on from vast, underground bunkers. Now, the public can peer inside the secretive complexes thanks to the efforts of arms control analysts who reconstructed these bunkers inside Minecraft.

The mistaken missile alert that sent people scurrying for cover in Hawaii last week revealed just how poorly prepared the US government is to protect the public during a nuclear attack. The government’s plans for protecting itself from a rain of thermonuclear fire are much more detailed. Using satellite images, declassified information, and a good amount of guesswork, analysts at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (or MIIS) reconstructed two underground complexes: the Pentagon’s site in Pennsylvania and a bunker built by the Russian government outside Moscow.

The reconstructions are set in the low-resolution world of Minecraft to lighten the very real, and very depressing, topic of nuclear annihilation, says Jeffrey Lewis, who led the effort from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at MIIS. The aim is to draw attention to the tension between how the government downplays the risk of nuclear war and how it actually prepares for it, Lewis says. “What the bunker model shows you is that the risk of nuclear war is real enough that the United States and Russia spend billions of dollars preparing to stash away their leadership.” (Players can find an article about the bunkers and instructions for virtually accessing them posted on the Nuclear Threat Initiative’s site.)

Working with defense journalist Adam Rawnsley , the CNS team created a trailer video of the bunker reconstructions.

The 650-acre Raven Rock complex is the alternative Pentagon where top defense officials plan to flee during a nuclear attack. Also known as Site R, it’s located on the Pennsylvania side of the border with Maryland — close to the presidential retreat Camp David. Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, a diagram of the site has been “floating around online,” Lewis says. The team based their reconstruction on that diagram and details in journalist Garrett Graff’s book Raven Rock: The Story of the US Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself — While the Rest of Us Die. Using satellite images and topography, the team located the entrances to the site and figured out the size of the mountain above it.

The team also modeled the Kosvinsky underground command facility outside of Moscow, Russia. This, too, was based on satellite images and details gleaned from declassified CIA reports. For both complexes — but especially the Russian one — the team had to use their imaginations to fill in the gaps, Lewis says. “There’s an enormous amount of guesswork. In no way, shape, or form did we make anything that we think is perfect,” he says.

There are also a few Easter eggs, including an interplanetary wormhole from the science-fiction franchise Stargate in one of the bunkers and a pen of especially virulent zombies. “But the important thing is that we wanted people to get a sense for the scale — and we think that’s probably about right,” Lewis says. The point is to remind people that as long as nuclear weapons exist, they pose a threat. “It all goes back to focusing on the changing US and Russian nuclear posture,” Lewis says. “We imagine that things are very different from the Cold War, but the bunkers suggest the opposite — they suggest that they’re exactly the same.”

You can visit the Pentagon’s secret nuclear bunker inside Minecraft

Minecraft gets free chemistry update, schools get HoloLens discounts as Microsoft ups edtech game

Microsoft is upping its STEM game by introducing new chemistry and computer science options for Minecraft: Education Edition. Plus, the tech giant is adding more “mixed reality” products and offers for educators, including an academic HoloLens discount, to its edtech mix.

All of this news (and more) is being rolled out by Microsoft in advance of the largest education technology trade show in the world, Bett, which begins Wednesday in London.

Minecraft may be the biggest news for its legions of K-12 teacher and student fans. Starting in early February, a free Chemistry Update will be available to licensed users. The update uses game-based learning to introduce chemistry concepts.

Jay Paulus, senior director of Windows education marketing, said, “The chemistry add-in actually adds some new kinds of components to Minecraft” including a full periodic table and a “compounding table” which is similar to Minecraft’s crafting table. Students can move from building compounds to hands-on understanding of more difficult concepts, like stable isotopes.

Building compounds in Minecraft’s new Chemistry Update. (Image: Microsoft)

Minecraft: Education Edition is also getting new Microsoft MakeCode for Minecraft computer science curricula which, similar to learn-to-code packages ScratchX and Tynker, can be used in Minecraft’s Code Builder.

Paulus said the continued emphasis on Minecraft is a key part Microsoft’s overall education strategy in light of interest in STEM education.  “I think it’s super important, especially for those age group of kids for which Minecraft is an excellent hook,” Paulus said. “We’ve got 250 lesson plans online already in Minecraft.”

Another area of edtech emphasis — albeit nascent, more pricey, and skewing toward older students — is virtual reality. Microsoft said starting today, it’s offering academic institutions HoloLens commercial and developer models at a 10 percent discount through the end of May. In addition, Microsoft says curriculum for Windows Mixed Reality and HoloLens headsets will be released by educational publisher Pearson starting in March, and Microsoft has a new mixed reality curriculum partnership with WGBH and NASA’s “Bringing the University of America’s Classrooms” initiative.

Education publisher Pearson envisions HoloLens chemistry. (Image: Microsoft)

Among the many other Microsoft education announcements tied to the Bett event:

Office 365. Microsoft says dictation is coming to Office in February so students can write with their voice, and OneNote Class Notebook pages can be locked by teachers after they provide students with feedback (which Microsoft said is the top teacher request).
Teacher training. Free teacher training, in-person or virtual, will be available on how to use Microsoft tech in the classroom after schools purchase certain Microsoft 365 Education software licenses, not including the still-free version of Office 365 Education.
Classroom devices. Four new sub-$300 Windows 10 devices from Lenovo and JP (the latter better known in international markets), two of them under $200, are being announced at Bett to add to more than 40 different school-friendly devices available for Windows that start at $189.

Paulus said this last is important as Microsoft works to counter Google’s influence in K-12 classrooms. Recent market research has shown that while Windows is relatively strong in other countries, inexpensive Chromebooks with Google’s free G Suite for Education are dominant in the U.S., accounting for more than half of new computing device shipments into schools.

With the latest hardware announcements, Paulus said, “I would say we’re at critical mass now” in countering Google.

And what of Apple, one-time edtech darling? “We’ve added the ability to use some of the tools from mobile in Apple” iOS devices, Paulus said. But despite that nod to Apple, Paulus asserted that, “Schools more and more are choosing the Microsoft platform.”

Previously: Microsoft apps to be embedded into edtech powerhouse PowerSchool’s ‘Unified Classroom’

Minecraft gets free chemistry update, schools get HoloLens discounts as Microsoft ups edtech game

‘Minecraft’ is still one of the biggest games in the world, with nearly 75 million people playing monthly

“Minecraft” continues to be one of the most popular games ever made.

The creation/survival indie game that Microsoft purchased back in 2014 for $2.5 billion has now sold 144 million copies, and enjoys a monthly userbase of 74 million players. The latest numbers were revealed in an interview with Helen Chiang, the new head of Microsoft’s “Minecraft” group, at PopSugar.

Those numbers are exceptional, even by “Minecraft” standards.

The game has been a notoriously explosive phenomenon since early in its life; “Minecraft” started as a work-in-progress game, made by a single man (Markus “Notch” Persson). It had rudimentary graphics and controls. It was only available on PC. It was prone to breaking, because it was an unfinished game being made by a single person.

And yet, millions of people bought and played that early version of “Minecraft.” When Microsoft bought the game back in 2014, the tech world was surprised and confused by the purchase. Persson did not join Microsoft.

But clearly that early success has persisted under Microsoft’s care. Just to compare, more people play Minecraft on a monthly basis than the populations of France, UK, Italy, or South Korea.

But why is it so popular? We’re talking about a game that looks like this:

“Minecraft” is available on nearly every game platform available, including the Nintendo Switch.Nintendo

Think of “Minecraft” as virtual LEGO.

It’s a system for fitting pieces together to create something — sometimes amazing somethings — from nothing. “Minecraft” provides endless building blocks and a blank canvas. It’s up to you to create something incredible, or silly, or referential, or whatever, using the tools it provides. The tools are blessedly user-friendly, as are the systems for employing those tools.

With that in mind, it’s not hard to understand why “Minecraft” has been such a hit. That it’s graphically rudimentary and simple to play just makes it all the more accessible to a large audience — nearly 75 million people every month, apparently.

‘Minecraft’ is still one of the biggest games in the world, with nearly 75 million people playing monthly

Minecraft laughs at PUBG and Fortnite with insane player count

Minecraft has blitzed through yet another record player count, with the multi-million selling survival phenomenom having notched up a staggering 74 million active users during December 2017.

The figure was confirmed by Minecraft overlord Helen Chiang during a chat with PopSugar, although she didn’t clarify how this figure was broken down across the many platforms the game is supported on.

‘We just recently set a new record in December for monthly active users, so now we’re at 74 million monthly active users—and that’s really a testament to people coming back to the game, whether it’s through the game updates or bringing in new players from across the world,’ she said.

Minecraft updates have been pretty slow as of late, although its developer has confirmed that things will change in Spring 2018 with the release of the Aquatic update. Oh, and if there was any possible lingering doubt of the game’s popularity, it’s now flogged 144 million copies worldwide, making it the second best-selling game ever behind Tetris.

Minecraft laughs at PUBG and Fortnite with insane player count

READY PLAYER ONE TV Spot Unlocks Secret Featurette With Awesome New Footage & Plenty Of Spielberg Easter Eggs

Warner Bros. has released a brand new TV spot for Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, which features a hidden Easter Egg that unlocks an awesome featurette with even more never-before-seen footage!

As Tom Brady and the 5x World Champion New England Patriots attempt to secure another trip to the Super Bowl, Warner Bros. has released a spectacular new TV spot for Steven Spielberg’s highly-anticipated Ready Player One, which features one very special Easter Egg that actually unlocks even more new footage.

The film stars Tye Sheridan and Olivia Cooke as Parzival and Art3mis, respectively, with a supporting cast that features Ben Mendelsohn, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance, T.J. Miller, Hannah John-Kamen, and Lena Waithe, amongst others.

Watch the new TV spot below:

Plus, in case you couldn’t spot the hidden QR code, here’s the exclusive featurette that features never-before-seen footage and narration from the legendary Steven Spielberg:

 

The film is set in 2045, with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse. But the people have found salvation in the OASIS, an expansive virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance). When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune to the first person to find a digital Easter egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world. When an unlikely young hero named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) decides to join the contest, he is hurled into a breakneck, reality-bending treasure hunt through a fantastical universe of mystery, discovery and danger.

Ready Player One features:

Director: Steven Spielberg

Tye Sheridan as Wade Owen Watts/Parzival

Olivia Cooke as Art3mis

Ben Mendelsohn as Nolan Sorrento

Simon Pegg as Ogden “Og” Morrow

Mark Rylance as James Donovan Halliday/Anorak

T.J. Miller as i-R0k

Hannah John-Kamen in an undisclosed role

Lena Waithe as Aech

Win Morisaki as Toshiro Yoshiaki/Daito

Philip Zhao as Akihide Karatsu/Shoto

Ralph Ineson as Rick

Letitia Wright as Reb

Mckenna Grace in an undisclosed role

Ready Player One logs into the OASIS on March 30READY PLAYER ONE TV Spot Unlocks Secret Featurette With Awesome New Footage & Plenty Of Spielberg Easter Eggs

TOMB RAIDER: Lara Croft Embarks On The Adventure Of A Lifetime In A New TV Spot

As the AFC Championship Game between the 5x World Champion New England Patriots and the Jacksonville Jaguars continues, Warner Bros. has released an awesome new TV spot for their upcoming video game movie adaptation/reboot of Tomb Raider. The film stars Alicia Vikander as the daredevil extraordinaire Lara Croft, who finds herself on the adventure of a lifetime, searching for the truth behind her father’s disappearance.

On another note, it looks like Angelina Jolie’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life are both getting the 4K Ultra HD treatment ahead of the new film’s release. Both titles are due out on February 27th and are currently available to pre-order on Amazon (1, 2).

Watch the new “Adventure” TV spot below:

 

Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished when she was scarcely a teen. Now a young woman of 21 without any real focus or purpose, Lara navigates the chaotic streets of trendy East London as a bike courier, barely making the rent, and takes college courses, rarely making it to class. Determined to forge her own path, she refuses to take the reins of her father’s global empire just as staunchly as she rejects the idea that he’s truly gone.

Advised to face the facts and move forward after seven years without him, even Lara can’t understand what drives her to finally solve the puzzle of his mysterious death.Going explicitly against his final wishes, she leaves everything she knows behind in search of her dad’s last-known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. But her mission will not be an easy one; just reaching the island will be extremely treacherous. Suddenly, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Lara, who—against the odds and armed with only her sharp mind, blind faith and inherently stubborn spirit—must learn to push herself beyond her limits as she journeys into the unknown. If she survives this perilous adventure, it could be the making of her, earning her the name tomb raider.

Tomb Raider features:

Director: Roar Uthaug

Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft

Walton Goggins as Mathias Vogel

Daniel Wu as Lu Ren

Dominic West as Lord Richard Croft

Hannah John-Kamen as Sophie

Antonio Aakeel as Nitin

Kristin Scott Thomas as Ana Miller

Tomb Raider rappels into theaters March 16

TOMB RAIDER: Lara Croft Embarks On The Adventure Of A Lifetime In A New TV Spot

Video Games Headlines Videos RAMPAGE Gets A Crazy New Trailer As The Rock Fights A Monster Gorilla, A Dinosaur Crocodile, & A Flying Wolf

Monster Gorilla… Dinosaur Crocodile… Flying Wolf… Oh, My!

This April, get ready for Rampage, the video game movie adaptation that will finally see The Rock (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) meet his match as he takes on three genetically engineered monster animals that will wreak all kinds of havoc on modern-day Chicago.

The upcoming Brad Peyton-directed feature also stars Naomie Harris (Moonlight), Malin Åkerman (Watchmen), Joe Manganiello (Justice League), Jake Lacy (The Office), Marley Shelton (Scream 4), and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Supernatural), amongst others.

Watch the new 60-second extended TV spot below:

Primatologist Davis Okoye (Johnson), a man who keeps people at a distance, shares an unshakable bond with George, the extraordinarily intelligent, silverback gorilla who has been in his care since birth. But a rogue genetic experiment gone awry mutates this gentle ape into a raging creature of enormous size. To make matters worse, it’s soon discovered there are other similarly altered animals. As these newly created alpha predators tear across North America, destroying everything in their path, Okoye teams with a discredited genetic engineer to secure an antidote, fighting his way through an ever-changing battlefield, not only to halt a global catastrophe but to save the fearsome creature that was once his friend.

Rampage features:

Director: Brad Peyton

Dwayne Johnson as Davis Okoye

Naomie Harris as Dr. Kate Caldwell

Malin Åkerman as Claire Wyden

Joe Manganiello as Burke

Jake Lacy in an undisclosed role

Marley Shelton in an undisclosed role

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Agent Russell

P. J. Byrne in an undisclosed role

Jack Quaid in an undisclosed role

Matt Gerald in an undisclosed role

Breanne Hill as Amy

Urijah Faber in an undisclosed role

Rampage smashes its way into theaters April 20

Video Games Headlines Videos RAMPAGE Gets A Crazy New Trailer As The Rock Fights A Monster Gorilla, A Dinosaur Crocodile, & A Flying Wolf