Stone Marshall's Blog, page 93

Minecraft Fan Recreates Home Depot In Game

When you put things together in the world of Mojang’s Minecraft, you usually let your imagination run wild. In fact, we ran a story earlier today where someone managed to go all out to recreate Fortnite’s Tilted Towers right down to the last block.

But we just found someone on Reddit who decided to go the extra mile when it came to reflecting something from his life within the game. He’s gone and built his work place from scratch using a number of Minecraft-oriented tools. And it’s none other than…Home Depot?

Yep, based on the screenshots that you can see in this article, the user, named r/BaconShooby, went all out to create not only the exterior of Home Depot, but inside as well. There aren’t too many tools to speak of inside, but the structuring is about the same. And in one of the shots, you can even see the word “Appliances” on the wall in capital letters.

It’s great work, although some comments have people questioning why BaconShooby would go all out to recreate Home Depot instead of…something else?

“My first reaction was…your work? Wwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyy?” one user asked, before someone noted, “Build what you know.”

Another user named AlanWayside noted, “I feel like this would make an awesome adventure map. A zombie survival map.” And he’s got a point there.

Ladainia4147 added, “No fair, my local Home Depot doesn’t have horses! Really cool though, must’ve taken forever.”

There are several other comments, most of them showing praise. But we think Helassaid’s really takes the cake: “And, as is tradition, not a single employee in sight.”

We do think BaconShooby did a great job with recreating Home Depot in the game, though we’re still not sure as to why. But hey, who are we to judge creativity? Maybe this’ll prompt someone to make a WalMart one of these days. Or for that matter, a fleet of 7-11’s that service every horse that comes in. (They like Slurpees, yeah?)

We’ll let you know what other creations users come up with when it comes to the wacky world of Minecraft.

Minecraft is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC and older consoles.

Minecraft’s First Aquatic Expansion Is Out Now On PC, Xbox One, Mobile, VR, And Mixed Reality

Dreaming of the deep blue sea? Quench all your marine needs with the first phase of Minecraft’s latest Aquatic expansion, now available on Xbox One, PC, and more.

Now when you dive under the watery blocks of your Minecraft world, it won’t just be a blue abyss with scattered temples here and there. Now you’ll see dolphins, new types of fish, corals, kelp and sea grasses, buried treasure, and more. The seas even coordinate with the nine different biomes now too. For the full list of features in this first release, head on over to the announcement post.

Every player on Xbox One, PC, mobile, Gear VR, Oculus Rift, and mixed reality platforms has access to this new expansion right now, totally free of charge. If you’re playing the Java version on PC, you’ll get the update soon. Xbox One players will need to download the latest version from the Xbox Store.

Mojang and Microsoft have not yet announced when the expansion will come to PS4 or Switch, or when the second phase will launch. But in other Minecraft news, Switch is getting cross-platform achievements for the title on Xbox One June 21.

Kingdom Hearts 3 Will Be Playable at E3

After the recent press embargo was lifted, fans finally got to see more than ever before of the illusive Kingdom Hearts 3. It’s finally beginning to sink in that we’re getting this game after years and years of a run around and players can’t wait to jump back into the role of Sora and battle against the Darkness! With such high praise from those that got their hands on it, it’s time for you to be next! That’s why Square Enix is offering playable demos of Kingdom Hearts 3 at this year’s E3!

The reactions to the initial Twitter post were both exciting and heartbreaking at the same time. Here are a few of my personal favourites to really capture what the next installment means to us gamers:

Minecraft Helping Students Preserve Their Hometown Digitally

In most circles, Minecraft usually serves as some form of entertainment, allowing players to create whatever they seem fit just because they feel like it. But in some scenarios, it actually serves a purpose — like, in this situation, helping students preserve their hometown in a unique manner.

Per this report from Bournemouthecho, a group of 15 students in New Milton are actually using the Mojang-produced game in an attempt to recreate their town’s post World War II history by putting together streets and buildings as they’re represented in the real world.

And with that, others can jump in and help. The students are inviting young people to take part in what’s known as a Block 2 Block project, put together by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Hampshire Cultural Trust and Forest Arts Centre. The workshop is set to take place in the city’s Memorial Hall on May 30 and 31.

The project is expected to be completed in July, with the students interviewing members of the city, including the school’s chair of governors and the mayor. They also paid a visit to a nearby pair of museums to learn more about the history of the town.

The head teacher for the class, Nigel Pressnell, noted, “This is an amazing opportunity for our students and is a very exciting project for them to be part of. Not only are they learning so much about their hometown but they are also finding out more about computer techniques. We can’t wait to see New Milton’s history brought back to life.”

Microsoft has gotten involved as well. The company was so impressed with the work done by the students that they’ve been invited to share their plans with the company’s London headquarters.

And what’s more, they’re documenting their work. The students are actually adapting certain filming techniques when it comes to recreating the town, so that they can tell stories about its creation while having some video to serve as their back-up.

This is a rather ambitious project that no doubt has a lot of work that needs to be put into it, but the kids certainly look to be up to the task. We wish them the best of luck!

Minecraft is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC, as well as mobile and various older platforms.

Minecraft: How to Teleport

As you’ll probably know if you played much Minecraft, a lot of the game is based on exploring the massive world. Of course, if you’re able to get to far away sections of the map quickly you’re going to be able to see different sections of the map. To do so, you’re going to want to know how you teleport to different places.

First of all, make sure the world you’re in is in Creative Mode. Then, work out where you want to go to using the coordinates in game and open the console and press ‘/’ and typing in ‘teleport, your name, and then the coordinates’. Coordinates are in X, Y, Z, with sea level being Y:63. Once you’ve done so and pressed enter, your character will teleport to that location.

On mobile, you do the same thing but you need to enable cheats before hand and type the command into the chat box. On console, you need to enable host privileges and select ‘teleport player’ from the Host menu.

That’s all you need to know about how to teleport in Minecraft. For more tips and tricks on the game, be sure to search for Twinfinite.

Has Death Stranding’s Setting Been Revealed?

Death Stranding’s setting may have been revealed after a connection was made between a real-world location and one of Hideo Kojima’s frequent teasers.

Just a few days ago, Kojima shared an image from his upcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive that showed moss covering some rocks on the ground. He mentioned the Decima engine that the game will be running on, so many took it as a preview of the game’s graphics ahead of the E3 content that’s also being teased. While it’s entirely possible that that was one of the purposes of the tweet, it also seems that Kojima might’ve been hinting that the game would take place in Iceland.

Not long after Kojima shared the tweet, another Twitter user responded with a side-by-side comparison of two images that looked quite similar. Comparing Kojima’s image on the bottom to the one at the top, Rafael Andrade pointed out that the moss-covered field resembles lava fields in Iceland.

View image on Twitter

View image on Twitter

Rafael Andrade

@YamatoDT

Mosses on top of lava fields in Iceland and the new Decima/Death Stranding image are very similar.

Kingdom Hearts Meets Minecraft With This Incredible Fan Creation

With Kingdom Hearts III news on the horizon (that release date, Square Enix – we’re waiting!), we’ve all got a little more Goofy on the brain than we’d like to admit. Though we don’t have our hands on the newest title just yet, that doesn’t mean we can’t explore some of our favourite worlds within Minecraft!

This awesome creation comes from user “Water Block” over at PlanetMinecraft and the project is impressive. With familiar locations such as the Olympus Coliseum, Halloween Town, Wonderland, and tons more – this is the perfect way to get your Kingdom Hearts fix in before E3’s big announcement.

You can see all of the different nooks and crannies this creator implemented in the Minecraft Kingdom Hearts Adventure in the video above, it’s even fun trying to spot the more subtle nods tucked away in there.

This user is also responsible for even more creations, including The Battle of Scarif, Kingdom Hearts II Adventure, and more! You can follow them over on the Minecraft creation site right here, where you can also find monthly updates on the playable area’s progress and what’s continiously being added! With over 36,000 downloads, you definitely wouldn’t be the only one excited to delve into this magical, albeit blockier, world.

In other Minecraft news, the “Better Togethe” update is coming to Nintendo Switch next month!

Making the cross-play play jump makes it even easier to do just that so that platform of choice doesn’t have to mean missing out. Currently the “Better Together” update applies to the mobile, VR, PC, and Xbox One versions of the game, with the Switch coming later.

In addition to the update going live next month on the 21st, the physical version of the popular building title is also set to release the day before on June 20th. You can learn more about popular questions asked concerning this update and what that means for current platforms right here though the game’s official website.

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COMMENTS

Excited to squad up with friends and family? Here’s what you can experience together with this expansive update:

“Explore randomly generated worlds and build amazing things from the simplest of homes to the grandest of castles. Play in creative mode with unlimited resources or mine deep into the world in survival mode, crafting weapons and armor to fend off the dangerous mobs.”

Minecraft Marketplace

For the first time, skins, textures, and worlds designed by the community are available in the store. Buy once and enjoy across Xbox, Windows 10 and mobile devices!* (and soon, the Switch)

Endless exploration

Create and explore your very own world where the only limit is what you can imagine.

Build almost anything

Crafting has never been faster, easier or more fun!

Co-op play

Play with up to four players in split screen for free, or invite hundreds of friends to a massive gameplay server or your own private Realm!

Minecraft reaches 100 million downloads in China

Minecraft has reached over 100 million registered users in China less than 12 months after it launched.

The free-to-play version of Mojang’s genre-defining builder was brought to China on PC in August 2017, quickly followed an iOS release in September, and finally an Android version in October; there is no console version available in the region.

Daniel Ahmad

@ZhugeEX

Minecraft now has over 100 million registered users in China across the free to play versions of the game on PC & Mobile.

12:40 AM – May 23, 2018

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Published by tech giant NetEase, in collaboration with Microsoft, the free-to-play downloads are in addition to the 144 million sales figure announced earlier this year, putting Minecraft on around 250 million downloads worldwide.

Developer Mojang recently announced however that it won’t be releasing anymore significant updates for the last-gen console versions of Minecraft.

A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia hands-on — Fighting in the bloody woods

Sega recently launched a new type of Total War game, Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia, as the latest in a long-running series of strategy titles for the PC.

I gave it a whirl and checked out how it offers a new take on real-time combat with a meta-layer of strategy and diplomacy. Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia dwells on a particular historical period, with the battle for the British Isles during the Viking invasions. It starts after Alfred the Great wins a victory over the Nordic invaders at the Battle of Edington in 878 A.D. It is available on the Windows PC.

I played the Viking Sea Kings on the normal level. It was easy for me to grasp, but I’ve been playing the franchise since it started in 2000 with Total War: Shogun. The strategy series now has 15 entries that have combined sold over 20 million units. Developer The Creative Assembly, the studio behind Total War, also made Halo Wars 2 for Microsoft. The fantasy-themed Total War: Warhammer II debuted in September, but Britannia takes the series back to history.

I wish I had time to play it more. But you can check out a sample of it in the video. By the way, I’ll be interviewing Rob Bartholomew, studio brand director at Sega’s Creative Assembly, next Wednesday in London at the Casual Connect Europe event in London. We’ll be talking about catering to both the hardcore and the mainstream, and pivoting into new business models such as free-to-play.

Above: Thousands of soldiers can fight in real-time combat in Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia.

Image Credit: Sega

Unlike the Total War games that can span huge eras, Total War Saga games will explore key flashpoints at distinct places and times in history. Time progresses at about one season per turn, and a game might take about 200 turns to finish. That’s a lot of time.

The strategic map is built on Total War: Attila, which is about the fall of the Roman Empire. But while Attila covered much of Europe, the Britannia strategic map is much more concentrated. The whole geographic area is under a much tighter microscope. You move your armies around the strategic map, and when you meet another army in battle, the action zooms into a 3D landscape where the enemies clash.

When I first zoomed into a battle, I noticed that I could see the individual shops in a bazaar in the middle of a small settlement. I zoomed out and could see the few square miles of battlefield where the armies could maneuver. That represented an astounding amount of detail.

The game depicts a defining moment in British history, when Alfred the Great defeated rival Viking factions. While he beat the Vikings, he subsequently made a deal with them. He converted the Viking leader Guthrum to Christianity, and then he used the Vikings as allies to become the dominant ruler in England. For the first time in 80 years of Viking raids, the territories enjoyed a measure of peace. That, in short, is your own task in the game, to become Britain’s ruler.

As the game begins, you face a series of choices that can branch the story in different historical directions. You can achieve victory by aggressively expanding through war, by increasing your fame through construction, achieving technological innovations or influence, or by completing a series of objectives for your particular faction’s history.

Other factions include the English, the Gaels, the Welsh, or the Great Vikings. The last time, I played King Flann of the Mide clan, one of the Gael factions.

Above: Rule Britannia. That’s the goal of Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia.

Image Credit: Sega

The tech tree is divided into eight military and six civic branches. You have to research things like Missile Specialists to get better ranged units. When you do it, those units are available for you to recruit in the pool.

Each province on the map consists of a provincial capital and a series of minor settlements. Capitals have walls and garrisons for defence, have six building slots, and tend to house structures relating to finance, trade, infrastructure, production and the military. Capitals also house larger religious centers, and famous cathedrals can be built in the appropriate towns, granting fame for your leader. Your leader gains traits such as “passionate” or attributes such as zeal, inspiring better performance from followers or armies.

As your leaders gain experience, you can customize how your faction develops. You can add more Champions as your followers to improve the leader’s combat abilities, or you can add Quartermasters to improve your logistics. So your leader doesn’t really change. But the followers behind your leader determine the unique characteristics of what the leader is capable of doing. You can tune the followers for combat or for running a province with bureaucratic efficiency.

I played the Dyflin clan, known as the Giant Slayers, led by my king Bardr, and squared off in battle against the Laigin clan. We were pretty evenly matched, but my soldiers had the better training.

In the battle I included in the video, I had a pretty large army, with plenty of ax soldiers, some spear units, a just a couple of bow units. It was a bit difficult to keep track of things because the entire battlefield was covered with thick woods. I had to zoom in periodically to see what was happening, bu the broke up into a bunch of mini battles as units retreated or charged in different directions. I tried to divide and

Like I said, I wish I had more time to check it out. If I get time to revisit my pile of shame, I’ll pick this one up.

April 2018’s top 10 Minecraft Marketplace creations: back to the city

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Minecraft fans didn’t downloaded fewer pieces of content from the game’s Marketplace last month, but the top 10 lists for most downloaded and top grossing are both still excellent reminders of the variety and fun that players can find in that tore. The Minecraft Marketplace had 285,816 downloads in April, which is down from 321,317 in March and 372,509 in February.

Welcome! You’ve once again found yourself reading GamesBeat’s monthly analysis of the Minecraft Marketplace, which is the block-building phenomenon’s platform for extra content from the Minecraft team as well as external developers. If this is your first time here, you can see the results from past months right here. We do have some new names on the charts, but once again developers like PixelHeads are dominating.

But we can also see that teams that specialize in roleplay content like InPvP are also thriving with the No. 2 and No. 3 spot on the most-downloaded top 10. Maybe we’ll see developers chasing that trend, or maybe we’ll see some new fad breakthrough in May.

Let’s do the charts.

Here are the top 10 most downloaded pieces of content from the Minecraft Marketplace in April 2018:

Wildlife: Savanna 6. Wildlife: Savanna by PixelHeads

Here’s the top 10 in list form:

City Life

BrightStart Daycare

Prison Escape

Dinosaur Island

K-Pop: Teenage Rebellion

Wildlife: Savanna

Oropia

Summer Mini Games Festival

Chroma Hills HD

Steampunk Castle

And here’s the top-grossing list for April 2018:

5. Chroma Hills HD 5. Chroma Hills HD by Syclone Studios

City Life

Dinosaur Isalnd

Wildlife: Savanna

BrightStart Daycare

Chroma Hills HD

Prison Escape

Relics of the Privateers

Lapis Lagoon

K-Pop: Teenage Rebelion

PureBDcraft

The Marketplace is already growing, and we can see that new content always causes download numbers to pop from month-to-month. But as the Marketplace hits new platforms as Bedrock launches on devices (like Nintendo Switch on June 21), content creators will have a chance to hit entirely new audiences. That’s a big opportunity for a group of Marketplace devs that are already making a living doing what they are doing.