Minecraft Earth was unveiled back in early 2019 and some of the first gameplay was shown off at WWDC 2019 before launching in November that year. The idea was really neat, bringing Minecraft’s collaborative, creative play to the real world with AR but the reality of 2020 and the pandemic has forced the end of the game.
Expand Expanding Close
Minecraft Earth is the latest title in the highly popular franchise that allows players to leverage augmented reality to collaborate with others in real-time and cover “the entire planet in Minecraft.” While the game has been available in some countries starting last month, it’s now available on iOS and Android in the US.
Fans of augmented reality gaming will soon have yet another option on iOS. In May, Microsoft teased that it was working on an AR version of Minecraft dubbed Minecraft Earth for iOS, and now we know the app will begin its rollout as soon as next month.
Microsoft is working on a major new Minecraft game for iOS and Android that takes the highly popular platform into the real world. After teasing the title earlier this month, the company has unveiled Minecraft Earth which is set to arrive in beta this summer. The new mobile game will bring a Pokémon Go-style AR experience to let players collaborate with others in real time and cover “the entire planet in Minecraft.”
Microsoft has made its Minecraft: Education Edition available for iPad for the first time. Designed for ages K-12, the special edition features over 400 lesson plans, assessment features, and much more.
Microsoft has today shared that it will be releasing Minecraft: Education Edition for iPad to enrich classroom learning around the world next month.
Minecraft Pocket Edition for iPhone and iPad is getting an update today that brings a new Chinese Mythology Mash-Up Pack and more. Included in the pack are 26 new skins, texture sets, and other goodies:
Minecraft announced today on its blog that an upcoming update for the game will bring a new community-driven Marketplace feature to players of the Pocket edition of the game for iPhone, iPad, and other mobile devices.
In an update to the Minecraft Pocket apps today, the Apple TV version of the app is also gaining support for Xbox Live and the title’s online “Realms” gameplay features.
Back in October, Apple announced during its keynote that Minecraft would be coming to tvOS later this year. With about two weeks to spare, Minecraft Apple TV Edition has been released today for $19.99.
Minecraft developers Mojang today announced a new online gameplay feature coming soon to the Minecraft: Pocket Edition mobile apps called “Minecraft Realms.”
Realms aims to make it easy to play online with friends, sort of like desktop players have been doing for years running their own servers, but without having to do much more than set up a group of approved users:
Expand
Expanding
Close
From 9to5Toys.com:
After enjoying one of the most successful multi-platform runs in recent memory, Minecraft is back again with its newly released Story Mode title on iOS and Android, as well as other platforms. This new rendition, from Telltale Games, builds on the success of the original title by bringing campaign-style play to the mix.
Jesse, the main character, adventures through the Overworld in the first episode The Order of the Stone. For the first time, Minecraft gamers will experience dialogue and have choices that effect the outcome of each episode. The voice-overs are handled by a number of celebrities including Patton Oswald, Ashley Johnson, Scott Porter and others. There are a total of five sections to the game, which can be purchased at a 25% discount through the app.
Minecraft: Story Mode is available today in iOS and Android app stores for $4.99.
Description:
THE ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME IN THE WORLD OF MINECRAFT
***Save over 25% on additional episodes in Minecraft: Story Mode by purchasing the Multi-Pack [Episodes 2-5] via in-app***
In this five part episodic series, you’ll embark on a perilous adventure across the Overworld, through the Nether, to the End, and beyond. You and your friends revere the legendary Order of the Stone: Warrior, Redstone Engineer, Griefer, and Architect; slayers of the Ender Dragon. While at EnderCon in hopes of meeting Gabriel the Warrior, you and your friends discover that something is wrong… something dreadful. Terror is unleashed, and you must set out on a quest to find The Order of the Stone if you are to save your world from oblivion.
• Created by award-winning adventure game powerhouse Telltale Games, in partnership with Minecraft creators, Mojang
• Featuring the voices of Patton Oswalt (Ratatouille, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D), Brian Posehn (The Sarah Silverman Program, Mission Hill), Ashley Johnson (The Last of Us, Tales from the Borderlands), Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights, X-Men), Martha Plimpton (The Goonies, Raising Hope), Dave Fennoy (The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series, Batman: Arkham Knight), Corey Feldman (The Goonies, Stand by Me), Billy West (Futurama, Adventure Time), and Paul Reubens (Tron: Uprising, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse)
• You will drive the story through the decisions you make: what you say to people (and how you say it), and what you choose to do in moments of thrilling action will make this YOUR story
Kamcord, a popular platform that lets game developers add gameplay recording features to their mobile apps, is today taking its first step into live streaming. The move is a notable one as competitors such as live game streaming service Twitch, now owned by Amazon, move into the mobile space and live streaming apps like Periscope and Meerkat begin to gain traction among users.
Expand
Expanding
Close
The small 1.5 to 1.7-inch display on the Apple Watch might not immediately strike you as the ideal platform for gaming, but many game developers are embracing the Apple Watch with mini versions of popular games, companion apps for iPhone and iPad games, and even new games designed specifically for the Apple Watch.
Below we’ve put together a first look at the games already on the App Store, including a few screenshots of each revealed by that new tool we told you about earlier today.
Head below for the full list and check back for more as they get released:
Expand
Expanding
Close
My feelings for Nintendo are complicated. I’ve loved its games ever since the original Donkey Kong, owned every Nintendo console (including the Virtual Boy), and recommended the Wii U as the best game console for families and kids. But if I was mildly displeased with Nintendo as a company during its haughtiest years — the time when most of its key third-party developers walked away — I’m downright angry with it today. At a press conference in Japan this morning, Nintendo announced its second collaboration with a mobile game publisher in two months, the headline from which was what millions of people have been waiting years to read:
Sure, the official Nintendo press release actually says “smart devices” including phones and tablets, but iPhones and iPads are a safe bet. The press release also says “gaming applications” rather than games, but a press release from Nintendo’s new mobile partner DeNA confirms that the companies will indeed produce mobile games together. Just think about it: Super Mario World on the iPad! Donkey Kong Country on the iPhone! That’s just what everyone has wanted! But there’s a catch…
With news breaking today that Minecraft-maker Mojang has officially sold to Microsoft, the first question that comes to my mind is what this might mean for Mac and iOS users.
Microsoft now has the ability and probably much incentive to make future versions of Minecraft Xbox and or Windows-only and, unfortunately, its statement on the topic isn’t reassuring to say the least. Here’s the statement from Mojang on development for various platforms:
There’s no reason for the development, sales, and support of the PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, iOS, and Android versions of Minecraft to stop. Of course, Microsoft can’t make decisions for other companies or predict the choices that they might make in the future.
We’re extremely proud of all editions and the awesome things you have achieved through playing together.
That’s far from a promise that Microsoft will indeed keep the game alive on all platforms, and also up in the air is where the company’s current employees and projects will end up after the deal. For now, versions of the game are still available to download for Mac and iOS.
Minecraft Pocket Edition, the iOS version of the popular Minecraft PC game, is getting what developer Mojang says is the app’s biggest update yet today. Version 0.9.0 introduces a number of new features carried over from the original game including infinite worlds, much improved caves, wolves, new items, and much, much more.
In addition, Mojang is bringing over new biomes from the PC version of the game with mesas, jungles, swamps and extreme hills, and you’ll also notice abandoned mineshafts, villages and “new feature generation, including lakes, vines and monster rooms.” That doesn’t even include a fraction of what’s actually included in today’s update. A full list of new features from new blocks to new and updated features for biomes, mobs, AI and feature generation is below.
The game also receives some welcomed UI tweaks in the update including a new “interaction” button that Mojang hopes will cut down on accidental sheep punches.
Infinite worlds!
Caves!
Loads of new blocks and items including Monster Eggs and huge mushroom blocks.
Wolves! Tame a loyal companion.
Loads of new flowers! So pretty.
New mobs, including the spooky endermen and less spooky Mooshrooms.
New biomes from the PC version, including mesas, jungles, swamps and extreme hills.
Abandoned mineshafts, villages, and many other cool places to explore.
A brand-new “interaction” button. Never accidentally punch a sheep again!
New feature generation, including lakes, vines and monster rooms.
Many bugs fixed, and possibly a few added.
The updated Minecraft Pocket Edition version 0.9.0 is available now on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.
The full huge list of what’s new via Mojang is below:
New features
New blocks
New mobs
New and updated biomes
New world feature generation
Tweaks to caves
New AI
Tweaks and bug fixes
Known Bugs
Known bugs requiring attention
What you see above is the culmination of too many late weekends spent online, dozens of hours studying Google Maps street view, and perhaps a little too much free time. About two years ago I decided to re-create Apple’s Headquarters in Minecraft. The project seemed difficult, but I figured at a modest scale i could accomplish it relatively quickly.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2pOpcR7uf5U]
Minecraft Reality: Minecraft developers Mojang officially announced a new augmented reality iOS app yesterday dubbed “Minecraft Reality” allowing players to view their Minecraft creations in the real world. The app was developed by 13th lab with a little help from Mojang using advanced computer vision and augmented reality tech. Users will also be able to save their creations at specific real-world locations for others users to discover:
The app uses your iOS device’s camera to track the surroundings, before projecting creations onto the landscape. You get to view the mind-boggling results on-screen. You can change the size of your object as you please, and even wander around it to view from different angles… Imagine being able to dump your Minecraft creations into the real world for other people to find. You could put an exploding creeper in your school, a cheeky pig in your garden, or a giant enemy crab on the beach, if you like.
– Optimized for iPhone 5 and iOS 6
– Bug fixes and performance enhancements
– iOS 4.3 or above is now required
Dropbox version 1.5.7: Dropbox gets a few nice new features today including improved video streaming, support for Password-protected Office documents on iOS 6, Italian and Iberian Spanish language support, and more.
• Improved video streaming
• Italian and Iberian Spanish language support
• Support for Password-protected Office documents (iOS 6)
• Various bug fixes and performance improvement
Autodesk FormIt: A new mobile app from Autodesk will allow you to “Use real-world site information to help create forms in context and support early design decisions with real building data.” In other words, the ability to create building design concepts using a gallery of shapes, a searchable map interface, and satellite imagery to “design directly in the context of your proposed building location.” The iPad app is available for free on the App Store.
KORG iPolysix: KORG is releasing an analog polyphonic synthesizer app today for iPad that uses its “proprietary “CMT” (Component Modeling Technology) to simulate the actual electronic circuits” of the 1981 six-voice Polysix analog polyphonic synthesizer. The app is 50% off to celebrate its introduction.
Gmail version 1.3.1: The Gmail iOS app was updated today with the ability to open web links within the Chrome iOS app instead of Safari. A handful of bug fixes were also included.
Tumblr version 3.1.0: Tumblr’s iPhone app gets a nice update that brings improvements to notifications, the ability to discover new blogs to follow via Facebook or your contacts and an option for your friends to sign up within the app itself. Other improvements included in the update: you can now track specific tags, a fast re-blog option by tapping and holding the re-blog icon and the ability to send fan mail. There are also some new sharing options when holding the “Like” button.
Minecraft – Pocket Edition version 0.4.0: A major release for the Pocket Edition of Minecraft includes a ton of new features, items, tweaks and bug fixes. A full list of what is new is below:
– Chests for storing items!
– Beds for skipping to dawn (day and nights are now longer), and set your spawn point to the bed’s position.
– Creepers and TNT (use flint and steel to ignite)!
– Added food. Eat it to restore health.
– Farming; wheat, seeds and hoe.
– Peaceful mode setting: healing and no monsters.
– Trapdoor, new dyes and a few new recipes.
+ More: close to 20 bug fixes and tweaks, e.g. monsters spawned when bright, client fall damage.
Plants vs. Zombies version 1.9.5: Along with full HD support for the new Retina iPad, PopCap updated all the Plants vs. Zombies iOS apps today with five new levels, three new achievements and new weapons and game modes:
Expand
Expanding
Close
