Stone Marshall's Blog, page 41
March 11, 2019
State Farm sponsors Fortnite streamer DrLupo
State Farm announced today that it has entered a sponsorship agreement with Benjamin “DrLupo” Lupo, one of the most popular Fortnite streamers in the world.
DrLupo often plays with Richard Tyler Blevins, the Fortnite player better known as Ninja, who is the most popular streamer in the world with over 13 million followers on Twitch. DrLupo has just shy of 3 million subscribers. He is also captain of esports group Rogue’s Fortnite team. DrLupo raised $1.3 million for St. Jude’s Research Hospital in 2018, and he was nominated for a Game Awardlast year for Content Creator of the Year, a category that Ninja won.
This is the insurance company’s first sponsorship of an esports star, although State Farm has been evolved with esports before. It has sponsored the League of Legends Championship Series, NBA 2K League, and the Rocket League Championship Series.
As part of the deal, DrLupo’s stream will include State Farm branded replays, giveaways, and “in-stream stunts and product integration” (aka product placement).
Fortnite has become one of the most popular games in the world. The battle royale shooter is a massive hit on PC, mobile, and consoles. A large part of its success comes from its community of successful and popular streamers, including DrLupo.
Minecraft Marketplace January 2019’s 10 most downloaded creations
After a huge December, the Minecraft Marketplace quieted down in January. But a slow month for the in-game store is now 4.56 million downloads. That’s down from 10.8 million in December, but it’s flat compared to November’s 4.57 million.
The Minecraft Team and its community didn’t have too many new releases for January. Instead, people were showing up to download previously released free content. That includes the beta for the upcoming texture update and the Winter Gifts Bundle.
Let’s check out the charts for the most-downloaded and highest-grossing Minecraft Marketplace creations:
Top 10 most downloaded
7. Grid Runners
Minecraft Texture Update Beta by Minecraft: “The extraordinary Minecraft Texture Update has been on the Java Edition in beta for quite a while and now it’s finally on Bedrock! We’re renovating the old textures of Minecraft and polishing them up for a new beginning. Don’t panic! This won’t completely overhaul the look of Minecraft — these new textures just give it a much-needed update!”Winter Gifts Bundle by Minecraft: “Whether you were naughty or nice this year (hopefully nice!) this bundle is our holiday gift to you! Last Winter, we gave away amazing skins, worlds and adventures from some of your favorite Marketplace community creators. And now you can download them all again in this bundle of Winter Wonders!”Catastrophic Pandamonium by Gamemode One: “Welcome to the Minecraft Preserve, a sanctuarky for the mobs of Minecraft. Your dream job is about to become a nightmare when you realize — the Pandas are missing!”Purple Parrot Party Place by Minecraft: “A celebration of all things purple parrot party and palace! Master the mechanics of fireworks, armor stands, jukeboxes, and banners. Traverse a jungle island to find a massive parrot temple.”Legacy Skin Pack by Minecraft: “Get cracking with these starter skins and old favorites brought over from Minecraft editions of yore.”ABSTRACTION: Minecon Earth by Jigarbov Productions: “Featuring the logos that were just begging to be played on, MineCon Earth has floating landmasses with a surprising amount of hidden secrets and challenges.”Grid Runners by Noxcrew: “Take on Noxcrew’s Grid Runners: a mini-game map made up of classic Minecraft challenges where you can craft, mine and jump your way to victory. Compete against the clock for the fastest times and team up with all of your friends to find out who is the ultimate Minecraft champion! This is a free map, created exclusively for Minecon Earth 2018.”Inspiration Island by Minecraft: “Visit Inspiration Island, a floating theme park world filled with creative challenges. Whether you are new to Creative Mode or just need a little extra inspiration, a visit here sets you on the path to craft your own groundbreaking worlds.”Luxury Life by PixelHeads: “Luxury Life is a world where you role-play life as a billionaire. Cruise the streets in a sports car or any of the 10 other vehicles, explore luxurious mansions and decorate with furniture!”Aquatic Life by Cyclone Designs: “Get ready for a realistic aquarium experience with Aquatic Life! Dive into large tanks and swim with whale sharks! Discover dangerous shark species and hop on a boat and feed the Piranhas!”
Top 10 highest grossing
7. Ninja School Roleplay
Luxury Life by PixelHeads: “Luxury Life is a world where you role-play life as a billionaire. Cruise the streets in a sports car or any of the 10 other vehicles, explore luxurious mansions and decorate with furniture!”City Mash-Up by Everbloom Studios: “With over 1,000 hand-detailed rooms, there are stories, secrets, and mini-games around every corner. Build with the city’s full texture pack in your own worlds or take on any role you can imagine!”Aquatic Life by Cyclone Designs: “Get ready for a realistic aquarium experience with Aquatic Life! Dive into large tanks and swim with whale sharks! Discover dangerous shark species and hop on a boat and feed the Piranhas!”City Life by PixelHeads: “Cruise through the big city in City Life! Chase down a bandit in your police car, save the day as a firefighter or take your dog for a walk.”CampCraft by Blockworks: “A vast wilderness awaits you and your friends in CampCraft. Discover forest animals, ride camper vans, toast marshmallows, sit around the campfire and set up your own camp!”The Nightmare Before Christmas by Minecraft: “A nightmare? Before Christmas? Enjoy this themed pack by Minecraft.”Ninja School Roleplay by Everbloom Studios: “Always wanted to be a ninja? Enroll in Ninja School! Learn the ways of the shinobi in this ancient village by practicing shuriken throwing, archery and katana fighting.”Millionaire Mansions by Noxcrew: “Explore a town filled with beautiful mansions, sports cars, and a new toolset to help you design your dream house. Noxcrew’s Creative Toolbox is perfect for roleplay or building with your friends.”Cobble Clicker by Polymaps: “Experience survival skyblock in a whole new way with Cobble Clicker. Start small with an island, then collect enough Cobblestone to unlock rewards.”Dogs by Shapescape: “Get yourself a puppy from the pet store, go to the park or take it for a walk through the Nether. But above all, explore Minecraft with your new best friend!”
March 10, 2019
How to create and connect to a local Minecraft server
Considering how popular Minecraft is, one can expect it to have some of the best co-op features of any mainstream game. And while it does definitely hold up in this department, it can be a bit tricky getting your own private server up and running. Realms are Minecraft’s easy solution to co-op play, where you can pay to have Minecraft take care of hosting and creating your server for you. However, some players prefer to have a free local server that they host themselves. Here is how to make that server and how to have your friends connect to it once it’s up:
How to create and connect to a local Minecraft server
Step 1: Make sure you have the newest version of Java installed.
Step 2: Download the Mojang Minecraft server software (you’ll need to keep track of whatever folder you download this to, as there will be multiple programs from the software you’ll need to access. You should create your own folder to keep all of these in).
Step 3: Run the .jar file from the software you downloaded
From here the instructions branch off depending on whether you have a PC or a Mac.
For PC:
Step 4: There will be a text document created called “eula.txt”. Open this in a text editor like Notepad, and change “eula=false” to “eula=true”.
This is you accepting the terms and conditions of Minecraft.
Step 5: Go to your computer’s command prompt and type the following
java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar {server file name}
Replace server file name, with the name of your server’s file (this can be found by copying the file location of the .jar program). If you want to disable the graphical user interface (GUI), you can add “nogui” to the end of this command line. Players have reported this lowers CPU and memory usage.
Step 6: While this is optional, you may want to create a .bat file with the same command used above, in order to quickly access the server, instead of needing to open the command prompt each time. For the .bat file you can use the command:
@Echo Off
java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar {server file name}
If you’ve completed step 5, then your server should be fully functional. Other players connected to your home network will be able to connect directly to the server.
Notepad++FREE DOWNLOAD8
For Macs:
Step 4: Open a text editing program like TextEdit and input the following:
#!/bin/bash cd “$(dirname “$0″)” exec java -Xms1G -Xmx1G -jar {server name}
Server name should be replaced with the file location of the .jar file. You can choose to add nogui at the end if you’d like to remove the graphical user interface (GUI). Players have reported doing this used less memory and CPU.
Step 5: Save this document as “start.command” in the same folder as the .jar file.
Step 6: Open the Terminal program, and type:
chmod a+x
And make sure there is a space after the x. Then drag the start.command file into the Terminal window. This will give executive permissions to the start.command program. Once done, you can simply click start.command to open your Minecraft server.
Hosting a Minecraft server can take a bit of a toll on your computer. We recommend you avoid trying this on a laptop, unless it’s a high-end gaming laptop, and even then you may prefer hosting on a desktop instead.
These instructions work for hosting a Minecraft server on your local network with other devices connected to that network. If you wish to host a server online, you’ll have to PortForward your router. It will take a bit of programming knowledge and your router information to PortForward your Minecraft server.
Simple Port ForwardingFREE DOWNLOAD6
Note: PortForwarding a server will also make your home network more vulnerable for strangers to access. If that’s something you’re worried about, you could pay a third-party hosting service to host your server instead, or you could create a Minecraft Realm. Realms are similar to local servers, but require a monthly payment and are hosted by Minecraft itself.
Minecraft is an underrated creative platform
Minecraft, following a massive uptick in overall popularity following its acquisition by Microsoft — related in no small part to its expanded cross-platform compatibility — is regarded by many as a game first and foremost for children. This is, however, more a recent development in the game’s accessibility and marketing, rather than a long-standing trend in the broader community. Development of Minecraft under Mojang, the game’s original parent company, was developed through version 1.7.10, with the game’s current PC iteration on version 1.13.2. While there have been distinct benefits which the overall community has been able to draw from, the increased visibility, for instance, causing the movement of Minecraft from an internet phenomenon into popular culture, there have also been serious costs for the people involved, in particular the opensource modding community.
Mods, or modifications made to a game in order to add content or otherwise shift the experience of playing, have been a staple of Minecraft since version 1.4. Some of the earliest mods on the scene was Thaumcraft 2, which added an entire system of magic to a game which lacked it at the time, and a recipe book mod which helped guide new players through the as-yet-undocumented options for crafting in the game. Part of the reason for the presence of numerous mods, even in early versions of the game, was as a consequence of both the lack of structure of the base game, which served primarily as a platform for many people rather than a game in and of itself, as well as the ease with which the code could be accessed and modified. In turn, Mojang took specific steps to encourage modding, and on the Minecraft forums, discussions of mods adding everything from airships to ogres were developed and contributed to by the community.
Unlike many other games, there were even a number of mod launchers for community creators to design packages of mods, or mod packs, which would include a curated suite of mods designed to create a distinct feel. Such launchers included the Tekkit launcher, Feed the Beast (FTB) and Curse launchers creating things like skyblock, a mode of play where the player begins floating on a small square of blocks in the void and must build their entire world from nothing. Essential in both the mod launchers, and for the mod creators themselves was the relatively slow release of new versions of the game. While there were features and fixes made to the base game, the two most popular Mojang versions were 1.6.4 and 1.7.10, which were both in circulation for lengthy periods of time. However, with Microsoft’s acquisition of Minecraft from Mojang, the environment changed, resulting in a much faster progression of versions. Rather than leaving the development of content to the community, Microsoft began updating versions adding things which in the past had been added through mods. While not negative on its face, the combination of rapid version progression in conjunction with a shift towards consoles over PCs resulted in a throttling of the modding community.
This hold, however, largely exists for the most recent versions, wherein I feel lies the greatest tragedy. Many older Minecraft players still play on the older versions such as 1.6.4 and 1.7.10 and many modders still develop for these older versions, preferring to make their versions contiguous and compatible with other mods rather than attempting to keep up with the newer versions. However, because this rich modding community is buried under six layers of versions, it is all but unknown to the casual observer, who might never know that such a background exists. It is my hope, then, that there is a certain degree of care paid to the modding tradition which has endured since the game’s inception, and which endures in the Technic launcher, as well as through Twitch. Minecraft is not just blocks. It has an array of machines, golems, magic, autonomous mining bores, rocket ships, magic flowers and even programmable computers. Minecraft is a platform I hope more people will recognize
March 9, 2019
‘Fortnite’ Now Has An Island Entirely Dedicated To Weezer
In its seven seasons Fortnite has had a lot of things: meteors, soccer stadiums, epic in-game events, and more skins than your credit card can keep up with. But it never has had an entire island dedicated to Weezer, until today, the start of Season 8 that is.
More specifically, Fortnite’s creative hub now has an island dedicated to all things Weezer and that plays four songs from the band’s upcoming and unreleased albums. Because, that’s just what Fortnite does these days.
According to Polygon, the island is a cross-promotional effort to market Weezer’s upcoming 2019 albums: The Black Album and The Teal Album.
More details on how and why this happened are unfortunately unavailable, but it opens the door to an interesting concept: using service games as a tool of promotion. What if Kanye West teases Yandi with Apex Legends? Or Cardi B and Rihanna tease their upcoming albums in Anthem? Do I think this type of thing will happen again in the near future? Of course not, but I would have said the same thing about Weezer promoting its upcoming albums with Fortnite. And when you look beyond the near-future, it’s pretty easy to envision a reality where this isn’t the exception, but the norm.
Anyway, as you would expect, people have no clue what to make of the news, which is surely one of the crazier things Fortnite has done yet.
Tyler MrBanacheeks@mrbananacheeks
I haven’t cared about anything Fortnite related until I saw that there’s a Weezer island. Now I might have to download it again497:06 AM – Mar 1, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacySee Tyler MrBanacheeks’s other Tweets
‘Steven Universe’ Invades ‘Minecraft’ With New Mash-Up Pack
Fans of the hit Cartoon Network series Steven Universe and the game Minecraft will be happy to know that the two are now mingling with one another thanks to a recently released Mash-Up pack.
“Steven enters the Minecraft universe in this Diamond-worthy Mash-up,” the description reads. “Contains Steven Universe themed skins, textures, original music from the show, and all your favorite locations, from Beach City to Homeworld. Believe in Steven!”
Cartoon Network
@cartoonnetwork
March 8, 2019
Minecraft X Steven Universe – Official Mash-Up Trailer
Minecraft Player Builds Iconic Undertale Intro in Fan-Created Video
Both Minecraft and low-fi indie adventure Undertale with games like Fortnite and Deltarune stealing their spotlight. But creators are still working on making some cool fan projects — even if it means merging the two unlikely franchises together. A newly-created video focuses on just that, offering up the intro of the game in a new light.
u/Dodu-, the video seems innocuous enough. The 25-second video starts with Minecraft protagonist Steve climbing a gigantic mountain. Following the ascent, Steve falls through a crevice in the middle of the mountain, hitting a pitch-black section. Tiny, yellow flowers greet the player before he turns to a purple sheep.
You can catch the full video below:
Make no mistake–work was put into this. While there are naturally-developed caverns, caves, and sinkholes in Minecraft, Dodu explained that he had to blast this section out using TNT.
Now what does this have to do with Undertale — let me step in and deconstruct that for you.
For everyone who has never played the RPG Maker title that struck internet fame, each game begins with the same intro — following a war that broke out between Monsters and Humans. Despite coming out victorious and sealing the Monsters underground, in the year 201X humans have been falling through a hole at the top of Mt. Ebott. Those who manage to fall through that hole are never seen again.
You, as the game’s protagonist, trip and fall into Mt. Ebott, starting Undertale‘s adventure.
The game opens up to a quick dialogue section — you are introduced to Flowey, the seemingly innocent flower-like creature that “welcomes” you to the game. That is, before purple-clad goat mom (Toriel) drives the vindictive flower away and whisks you to her home.
So there you have it–Steve climbs the mountain, falls to the bottom, is greeted by flowers, and has his first encounter with Toriel.
It’s worth noting that recreating intros are a pretty popular meta in the content creation game. Lest we forget the recreation of Super Smash Bros. Melee‘s intro using Ultimate. Or perhaps how we saw someone make remake Avatar: The Last Airbender and Star Wars scenes in that title as well.
In many ways, Undertale has reached a revered meme status. Despite Toby Fox’s other game Deltarune coming in to steal the spotlight, we are still seeing cool collaborations like Groove Coaster working songs into their game and Jack Black singing “Megalovania”. On the other end, Minecraft seems to be winding down — the Nintendo 3DS version just received a final update, ushering the end of development on that handheld platform. And though the movie is in active development, it may be having some production woes.
Minecraft is currently available on quite literally everything — whether it be your Nintendo Switch, tvOS, or toaster. Meanwhile, Undertale is available for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Vita. Oh, and Minecraft is purchasable on Amazon if you are interested and haven’t picked it up yet.
This post contains affiliate links where DualShockers gets a small commission on sales. Any and all support helps keep DualShockers as a standalone, independent platform for less-mainstream opinions and news coverage.
March 7, 2019
How to download Minecraft – PC, Mac, Xbox One, PS4, Android and iOS
Minecraft was officially released by Mojang back in 2011, and almost eight years later Minecraft is still one of the most popular games in the world. Here’s how you can get your hands on the sandbox title on Xbox, PlayStation, PC and mobile devices.
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While games like Fortnite and Apex Legends have taken the gaming industry by storm, Minecraft continues to be one of the most popular games ever made.
Over 154 million copies of Minecraft have been sold worldwide, and the game based on surviving in a world made out of cubes boasted 91 million monthly players back in the summer of 2018.
Minecraft has come one of the most popular games ever created.
Minecraft is still a global phenomenon, with new players still picking the game up every week to explore and build in a computer-generated world that is completely unique to the player.
With that in mind, here’s how you can get your hands on the incredibly popular game.
How to download Minecraft on PC and Mac
PC is the most popular way to play Minecraft, and is also one of the easiest ways to get your hands on the game.
To play the game on PC or Mac, simply go to the official Minecraft website. Once you’re on the website, you’ll be greeted with a button asking you to purchase Minecraft. Click on that and create a Mojang account, and you will be able to purchase the game for $26.25.
Minecraft can be purchased from the official website.
How to download Minecraft on Xbox
To get your hands on Minecraft on Xbox, simply head to the Xbox Marketplace on your Xbox system, and type “Minecraft” into your search bar. Players can they purchase the game from the marketplace, and the digital edition of the game will be stored on your Xbox console.
Players can also buy physical copies of the game from major retailers.
How to download Minecraft on PlayStation
Downloading Minecraft on PS4 is extremely similar to doing so on Xbox. Simply head to the PlayStation Store, search for the game and it should appear ready for you to purchase. Just like the Xbox version, there are also physical copies of the title available to purchase.
Physical copies of Minecraft are available.
How to download Minecraft: Pocket Edition on mobile devices
Downloading Minecraft on mobile devices in incredibly easy too. Simply head to the App Store on Apple iOS devices, or the Google Play Store on Android and search for the Pocket Edition of Minecraft.
Once you have found it, you can purchase the game for around $7, and play it any time, any place.
Minecraft Snapshot 19W08A – Full patch notes
A Village & Pillage Java Snapshot
We’re slowly entering the “bug fixing and polishing” phase of the 1.14 Village & Pillage update, but that didn’t stop us from sneaking in a few cool features like Leather Horse Armor (it’s dyeable!), making Invisiblity Potions actually useful in survival, and best of all… wait, oh dear, I’ve forgotten what that last thing was. Oh well, it’ll come to me later.
Changes in 19w08b
Fixed a couple of crashes
Changes in 19w08a
One Iron Golem now spawns in all villages upon generationImprovements to invisibility to allow it to correctly work in many cases where it didn’t but you’d expect it toAdded Leather Horse ArmorTextures for potion effects are now split into individual filesCommand parser now accepts ' as string quotes. Inside '-quoted string " is handled as normal character and requires no escaping (and vice-versa) – so now it’s easier to input text components in NBT.Stopped foxes, dolphins, and pandas from having armor equipped onto them via dispenserChanged bounding box and eye height of foxes (prevents them from drowning when swimming)Foxes that trusted you in the previous snapshot will unfortunately no longer be trusting
Leather Horse Armor
Added a new armor type for horsesDye it in lots, yes LOTS, of different colors
Fixed bugs in 19w08b
MC-144469 – Replacing same block at location will cause animation to stop/stuck and can crash if using other block type
Fixed bugs in 19w08a
MC-10901 – Various mobs can see invisible playersMC-64581 – Game freezes a couple of seconds when changing mipmap level parameterMC-68563 – Barrier particles display random textures when switching resource packsMC-79320 – Invisible villagers and wandering traders can be seen by zombiesMC-106430 – “Glowing” shader not reloaded on resource pack reloadMC-116969 – Mobs look at invisible mobs / playersMC-129855 – Turtle egg block model has stretched textureMC-130564 – Server resource packs can brick the client for up to minutes!MC-131368 – Snow golems attack invisible mobsMC-134625 – Tesselating liquid in world – NullPointerExceptionMC-137009 – Shulker Detection Range Incorrect for invisible targetsMC-137722 – Smooth quartz blocks do not use the proper “smooth” textureMC-137841 – Villagers don’t run away from ravagersMC-138022 – Wither roses can be placed on unusual blocks like hoppersMC-143398 – Recalibrated the connection to the bovine planeMC-138558 – Cats and ocelots run away from players in creative modeMC-139739 – Bad Omen’s icon is bugged in Programmer ArtMC-140379 – New village church stained window is one block lowerMC-140676 – Sweet berry bush do not burnMC-141318 – Server crashes when an arrow, which has a non-vanilla sound event in it’s SoundEvent tag, hit a block or mobMC-141911 – Fire charges cannot ignite campfiresMC-141987 – Splash water bottle does not extinguish campfireMC-142850 – Baby pandas never spawn naturallyMC-143983 – Mojang logo can be changed using texture packMC-144080 – Clicking anywhere in “Video Settings…” play’s the click soundMC-144083 – Cannot drag slider in OptionsMC-144092 – Fox offspring don’t trust the playerMC-144142 – Foxes take and eat things while sleepingMC-144161 – Warning on game startup: “File minecraft:sounds/mob/fox/bark5.ogg does not exist, cannot add it to event minecraft:entity.fox.bark”
Get the snapshot
To install the snapshot, open up the Minecraft Launcher and enable snapshots in the “Launch Options” tab.
Snapshots can corrupt your world, please backup and/or run them in a different folder from your main worlds.
