Archive for the ‘Minecraft’ tag
GamesBeat weekly roundup: Minecraft sells 10M on mobile, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Apple hits 50B apps, and more
If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.
This week, Activision confirms Call of Duty: Ghosts is a real thing after British retailer Tesco leaked that information last week, Mojang sells 10 million copies of Minecraft on mobile devices, and Re-Mission 2 explores how games can help kids survive cancer.
You’ll also find interviews with Quantic Dream’s David Cage and Gree’s search for a billion-dollar game. Also, be sure to check out our feature on fighting game special attacks so long you could make a sandwich before they finish.
News
- The DeanBeat: Neurogaming is a nascent market fueled by brain games and sensors
- Playstudios launches new social casino game with the Mirage brand
- Zynga reveals League of Legends-like Solstice Arena for mobile
- Activision quiet as Wii U version of Call of Duty: Ghosts fails to materialize
- Activision confirms Call of Duty: Ghosts for next-gen Xbox with new trailer
- Gearbox artist: Dragon’s Crown’s art is like that of ‘some juvenile delinquent’
- Ace of Spades, Brick-Force, and Guncraft fire away in a block-shooter faceoff
- Jazz Boatman wants you to know that sexy boat game Leviathan is finally out
- Zynga to publish Disruptor Beam’s Game of Thrones: Ascent social game
- Candy Crush Saga rules mobile game downloads, but Puzzle & Dragons has the revenue
- Respawn’s shooter rumored to be a next-generation Xbox exclusive
Mobile News
- Google Play comes to Nook at long last, as B&N throws in the Lone Ranger towel
- Apple announces countdown to 50 billion apps served, reveals top 50 apps of all time
- Mojang sells 10 million copies of Minecraft on mobile devices alone
- Mobile developer Dragonplay expands into publishing
- WemoLab launches SuperFugu undersea exploration adventure for iPad
- Asia’s Line mobile messaging network crosses 150M users and 100M game downloads
- Just one more turn: Sid Meier designing new mobile game
- Let’s put a dollar on it: Skillz brings real-money cash wagering to Android
Strange News
- No joke: Why CollegeHumor made a 3DS game
- Smell could be the last frontier in making games more immersive and realistic
- E-sports league admits employee installed malware to ‘mine’ Bitcoins
- Madden developer’s lawsuit against EA going to trial
- Game, movie, or both? Stunning footage shows why Beyond: Two Souls belonged at Tribeca
- CCP Games cuts deal for Eve Universe TV show based on real-life stories
- 2K Games won’t have a booth at this year’s E3
Fighting Words
Going Online
- 1M gamers register for accounts in sci-fi MMO Defiance
- China’s PC online game market to hit $11.9B in 2013
- Cryptic, Wizards of the Coast aren’t worried about ‘D&D Next’ hurting Neverwinter MMO
- UltimatePoker.com goes live as the first real-money online gambling site in Nevada
- The big debate about the blurring of social casino games and online gambling
- Game developers revive Sissyfight as an open-source online game about sexism
Tech
- Intel promises souped-up graphics with new fourth-generation Core processors
- Turbulenz HTML5 game engine is now open source
- Game console chips will lead the way for AMD’s semi-custom business
- How Google is melding our real and virtual worlds with games, apps … and Glass
- Nvidia hires new chief to replace outgoing Tegra leader
- Next-gen Xbox may turn your room into the game using special projector
Indies
Interviews
- Grid 2 developer discusses online cheaters and what to do with them (interview)
- Quantic Dream’s David Cage describes growing as a storyteller, doesn’t rule out film directing (interview)
- Gree searches for the billion-dollar game from its swanky S.F. headquarters (interview)
Pieces of Flair
- GamesBeat’s Favorite Skyrim Mods #4: Tropical Skyrim
- ROUNDTABLE’D! Game characters objectify Dragon’s Crown’s female anatomy!
- Ghost of a Tale: A film animator turns to Indiegogo to fund his first video game
- The 99 cent smartphone game sending bikes to Africa
- Fighting the robot wars: Mechwarrior Online vs. Hawken vs. Heavy Gear Arena
- You can make a snack before these fighting game supermoves finish
- Re-Mission 2 games reimagine how to help kids survive cancer
- 3 retro Disney games that don’t deserve remakes
Filed under: Games 
GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You’ll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!
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GamesBeat weekly roundup: Supercell raises $130M, BioShock Infinite tops March sales, and more …
If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.
This week, Clash of Clans developer Supercell is now valued at $770 million and raised $130 million in February, Bethesda wraps up major Skyrim updates, and Disney fully embraces transmedia integration in Disney Infinity.
You’ll also find reviews for ShootMania, Cut the Rope: Time Travel, and a Threeview for BioShock Infinite, as well as our early impressions for Defiance.
News
- The DeanBeat: Defiance is inescapable transmedia that you’ll want to escape
- The Evil Within is the new survival-horror title from Resident Evil creator Mikami
- Nintendo finally releases the Circle Pad Pro for the 3DS XL in North America
- Angry Birds maker Rovio hires new exec to lead game development
- OnLive improves game-streaming performance with new optimization options
- Microsoft determined to make Xbox 360 more popular in Japan
- TimeGate loses appeal: Court orders Section 8 developer to pay $7.3M in damages
- Valued at $770M, Clash of Clans game studio Supercell raises $130M
- How Digital Chocolate teamed with Betable to launch a real-money gambling game in the U.K.
- Ex-Call of Duty team at Respawn Entertainment files for new trademark
- 2K Games is removing evidence of the XCOM shooter from the Internet
- Bethesda says farewell to more major Skyrim updates
- EA pulls the plug on 3 Facebook games
Mobile news
- Chinese ‘app store’ lets you install pirated iPhone apps — without jailbreaking
- PopCap releases Bookworm Heroes for iOS
- Hold on, mobile gaming monetization ain’t as easy as it looks
- Former Unity execs reveal cyberpunk tactics game for tablets
- With $11.3M to back it, Music Mastermind’s Zya app will turn consumers into music creators
- Papaya’s AppFlood helps developers monetize games in lucrative Chinese market
- Pocket Gems evolves from a successful developer into a mobile game publisher
Tech news
NPDs and future plans
- March 2013 NPD: Industry slumps another 10 percent as BioShock Infinite tops the charts
- Xbox division up big for Microsoft in Q3; Xbox Live has 46M members
- Japan’s Capcom slashes forecast and cancels games
- U.S. digital game revenues were stable in March, Superdata says
Exciting announcements
- Bethesda revealing Shinji Mikami’s horror game tomorrow: Here are the clues
- Breaking down what’s old and new in the 3DS’s upcoming lineup
- 3DS Nintendo Direct trailer roundup: Earthbound, new Link to the Past, and more
- Here’s a quick look at Yoshi’s Island for the 3DS
- Nintendo is making a new Zelda set in the A Link to the Past universe for 3DS
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle games heading to 3DS eShop
- EarthBound coming to the Wii U Virtual Console this year
- Winged Pikmin take to the sky in the Wii U release this August
- Mario Party coming to Nintendo 3DS this winter
- Nintendo explains how it made Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D easier
- Mario & Luigi: Dream Team due out August 11
Interviews
- ‘Terminator’ actor Michael Biehn talks voicing Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon’s hero
- Signia Venture Partners’ Rick Thompson delivers the über-investor’s take on mobile gaming investments (interview)
Reviews
- Cut the Rope: Time Travel is a charmingly addictive puzzler with a few new tricks (review)
- Defiance is not your normal massively multiplayer online game (first impressions)
- Threeview: BioShock Infinite reviewed by a critic, an analyst, and an academic
- ShootMania Storm excels at shooter simplicity and customization (review)
Previews
Pieces of flair
- The uncanny similarities between the original BioShock and Infinite (gallery)
- Read+Watch+Listen: Bonus material for BioShock Infinite fans
- 10 better-than-Hollywood video game cosplayers
- Camp Minecraft: How educators use the block-building game to inspire kids to code
- Racing with friends: PS4?s DriveClub vs. PC’s Auto Club Revolution
Filed under: Games 
GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You’ll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!
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Gillmor Gang: Remote Wipe
The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, John Taschek, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — took to the airwaves with a mid-summer tour of Twitter’s third party clampdown, whether Minecraft is the future of software development, why two-factor authentication wouldn’t have stopped the Wired hack, and the usual push notification supermeme.
@scobleizer was mostly back from Disneyland, while @jtaschek took a break from his break to join. @kevinmarks gave Olympian explanations of everything, and @stevegillmor waved his arms in vain. The score remains tied at Nexus 7 iPad 3.
@stevegillmor, @kevinmarks, @scobleizer, @jtaschek
Produced and directed by Tina Chase Gillmor @tinagillmor
18 of the most ambitious Minecraft projects we’ve ever seen
Building-blocks game Minecraft has proved itself to be an excellent outlet for the ambitions of virtual architects. Some choose to recreate the fictional worlds of The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones while others choose to erect explosives that require half a day and over 50GB of memory to fully detonate. Here are 18 of the biggest, most ambitious projects you’ll see in Minecraft (some with more than one screenshot):
Filed under: games 
GamesBeat Weekly Roundup
If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best games stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.
This week, Diablo III launched and promptly caused a stir with persistent server issues, Activision and Electronic Arts settled over the Infinity Ward lawsuit, and former N-Control sales specialist Paul Christoforo revealed details in his lawsuit over the Avenger controller debacle.
You’ll also find reviews for Max Payne 3 and Game of Thrones, as well as a preview for Zombie Swipeout. GamesBeat’s guide to Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition is also available.
Other GamesBeat stories included:
The DeanBeat: Can Microsoft’s Kinect gain cred from hardcore gamers?
With Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Sony hopes to bring a classic character to the PS3
Slicing zombies and chasing coins in Zombie Swipeout (preview)
Epic unveils Unreal Engine 4 for eye-popping next-generation game graphics
Aeria Games’ Ignite service connects free-to-play gamers in over 30 countries
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 stages coming to HD remake
Activision and EA settle Infinity Ward lawsuit
Ratings board wants parents to think twice before buying that video game
God of War Ascension multiplayer features over-the-top show-off killings
New DC Universe Online expansion on the way, Mark Hamill returning as the Joker
Max Payne 3 suffers multiplayer issues, Rockstar responds
Minecraft digs upwards and becomes most-played Xbox Live Arcade title
The Last of Us demo shows brutal, dramatic survivalist combat
Call of Duty co-founder reveals his new, free-to-play shooter
Gamers rip Diablo III a new hellhole on Metacritic
Max Payne 3 is a glimpse into the future of video games (review)
World exclusive Diablo III review!!!!
Game of Thrones brings the pain…and not in a good way (review)
How a lucky fan became an Uncharted character
Former N-control sales specialist Christoforo claims company threw him under the bus
Witcher dev CD Projekt Red hiring for “new and different” role-playing game
New Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 info
Minecraft (Xbox 360 Edition): Tips, tricks, and achievement guide
(Updated with new pictures) Student reveals the origins of his real-life Portal turret
VentureBeat:
Microsoft’s Kudo Tsunoda on broadening Kinect games to hardcore fans (interview)
The EA-Activision legal feud takes unexpected twists
6 reasons E3 might suck this year
Mobile startup Fun Machine believes games can do social good
CrowdStar expands into China and South Korea with mobile game partners
Conversion rates up, spending habits down among social gamers
Starting with a graphic novel, The Inventor will chronicle the life of Nikola Tesla (exclusive)
AMD contends its split-personality PC brains are better than Intel’s
Zynga acquires Wild Needle casual game maker for an estimated $3.8M
Nvidia teams with Intellectual Ventures to acquire patents
Walmart.com strikes again: more mind-boggling game descriptions
Former Xbox 360 exec’s $1B pain and advice to entrepreneurs
If Walmart.com’s horrible copy writers were to describe 2012?s biggest games…
Filed under: games 
"How do I know if a paid app is really worth the money?" [Ask The Commenters Roundup]
![Click here to read "How do I know if a paid app is really worth the money?"](http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17migi4k7mgrtjpg/original.jpg "Click here to read "How do I know if a paid app is really worth the money?"")
- How do I know if a paid app is really worth the money?
- Is there any way to force a Ubuntu update?
- I’m moving in with my girlfriend and we need to combine music libraries. What’s the best way?
- My seventeenth birthday’s coming up an I’m not sure what I should spend the budget of $250 on.
- Has anyone been able to connect to a Minecraft multiplayer server while behind a proxy?
- I just wanted to brag for a second about my new bulldog.
GamesBeat Weekly Roundup
If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best games stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.
This week Minecraft on 360 broke all digital-sales records on its first day, controversial marketing specialist Paul Christoforo filed a lawsuit against N-Control, Activision Blizzard touted Skylanders as bigger than Angry Birds, and Take-Two delayed BioShock Infinite.
You’ll also find reviews for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, Toy Soliders, Lone Survivor, and Awesomenauts.
Other GamesBeat stories included:
The DeanBeat: A tale of two industry giants
7 reasons why you should play The Secret World
Vita sales struggle in a new, tablet-ruled world
Carmageddon devs run over Double Fine’s Tim Schafer in the name of Kickstarter
Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition is a successful port of an imperfect gem (review)
Minecraft on Xbox 360 breaks digital-sales records in first day
Civilization V: Gods and Kings will give you a reason to rebuild your empire (hands-on preview)
Toy Soldiers: A Great War in a small box (review)
The Sims Social on life support? EA says no way
Official DICE servers disappear from Battlefield 3
Skylanders is bigger than Angry Birds, says Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard says Black Ops II may be the biggest Call of Duty ever
World of Warcraft still on top with 10.2M subscribers in first quarter
5 Kickstarter games we may never see
Electronic Arts and Insomniac Games announce Outernauts for Facebook
Who wants a Wii U? Not three out of four gamers
Bethesda and id release 20th anniversary edition of Wolfenstein 3D as web/mobile game
Controversial marketing specialist Paul Christoforo files a lawsuit against N-Control
Are Chinese gamers addicted to crack?
Adventure game veteran Jane Jensen reaches Kickstarter goal
Mojang talks Minecraft subscriptions, boycotting E3
Lone Survivor delivers story better than big-name games (review)
MMORPG writer discusses the thin line between labor and love (exclusive)
Awesomenauts: Think of it as multiplayer online battle arena training wheels (review)
Company of Heroes 2 explores WWII’s Eastern front
VentureBeat:
Why China’s game business will hit $20B by 2016 (exclusive interview)
Cmune spreads UberStrike to new platforms and raises funds from Skype founder
Game sales crash 42 percent in April with a light release schedule and early Easter
Facebook games don’t have to be stupid, according to AviNation (exclusive)
Call of Duty, Skylanders lead Activision Blizzard to beat analysts’ expectations
Milestone for a mobile blockbuster: Angry Birds hits 1 billion downloads
Take-Two delays highly anticipated BioShock Infinite until Feb. 2013
EA’s focus: Brands, platforms, and talent
Zynga launches Bubble Safari as it moves into arcade-style social games
Starhawk developers learned from social games that “analytics is king” (interview)
Hackers disrupt the gameplay of Zynga’s YoVille social game
EA chief suggests that Zynga overpaid for OMGPOP/Draw Something
Angry Birds creator Rovio says merchandising is 30 percent of revenue
Awesome! Raptr will give you targeted rewards just for playing games
Filed under: games 
Jumala Aims To Be An Unboring Minecraft
While I seriously doubt the staying power of this game platform, the concept is pretty cool. Called Jumala, this free-to-play online game allows players to stop the action mid-game and flip things around and change the entire level. Level too scary? You can add flying hot dogs and flowers. Too boring? Add demonic death heads.
The game is all about level design. You earn points by creating games and environments a la Little Big Planet and you can earn currency to buy various pieces of content and interactive items. Each level you create is shared via Facebook with other players and you can change items mid-game, just to mess with people.
The game is still in beta but looks fairly solid. I might be fun for a few hours of level design and or addictive. The mix of World of Warcraft graphics and Minecraft game dynamics could make it a winner.
It sadly only works on Windows right now, but a Mac version is forthcoming.
GamesBeat Weekly Roundup
Here are some of the stories that ran on GamesBeat this week. We’re running more articles exclusively in the GamesBeat section of VentureBeat, particularly when they’re mainly of interest to our game readers. The broader-interest posts will continue to run on VentureBeat as well. Please visit the GamesBeat section to catch up on the latest game news. We’re ramping up our game coverage, so you’ll find a larger amount of deeper news at GamesBeat.
Here are the best stories that appeared exclusively on GamesBeat this week:
Minecraft makes multimedia history with a novel-inspired adventure map
Armored Core V: A blend of motorheads and samurai
4 things you won’t see in Assassin’s Creed III
At 700K now, this dude is aiming for 1M gamerscore on the Xbox 360
Martha Stewart guest stars in Zynga’s CastleVille social game
Sony readies three new freemium PlayStation Home games
An in-depth preview of SimCity reveals an intricately crafted experience
Meet the one OMGPOP employee who turned down a new job at Zynga
Mobile search ad StartApp raises $4M in first round of funding
Call of Duty front man resigns from Infinity Ward
Troubled U.K. retailer Game closes 277 stores
Mass Effect 3: Character deaths
Mass Effect 3: Endings, analyses, and theories
And here are some of the big game stories of the week:
Disney and DeNa to collaborate on mobile social games
THQ lays off 118 people and downsizes ambitions for Warhammer 40K game
Worldwide mobile gaming revenue could reach $7.5 billion by 2015
Journey team loses one of its co-founders
Badgeville powers gamified reality TV show Escape Routes
Sony’s PlayStation 4 may be code-named Orbis
Outbid mixes gamification and social networks with real-time online auctions
Kinect for Windows 1.5 will have better tracking and broader reach
Mob Science raises $1M for social games on Zynga’s platform
Angry Birds creator Rovio acquires Futuremark Games Studio
Angry Birds Space zooms to 10M downloads in just three days
Guild Wars 2 challenges MMO establishment with hybrid business model (preview)
Filed under: games, VentureBeat 
Minecraft makes multimedia history with a novel-inspired adventure map
Storytellers and aspiring game designers have tapped into the nearly limitless narrative possibilities in Minecraft through downloadable adventure maps. Author Andrea Buchanan took this one step further by commissioning a custom map for her multimedia ghost novel, Gift.
Andrea Buchanan is the author of seven books, including the international bestseller The Daring Book for Girls which was made into a game for the Wii and DS. Buchanan is a fan of Minecraft and thought the world in Gift would translate well into a virtual adventure. “ After going to Minecon (the Minecraft convention) last fall, I thought: How fun would it be to have a Minecraft map of Gift? And so the idea was born,” Buchanan said in an interview with VentureBeat.
Buchanan commissioned adventure map creator Vechs to develop the Gift world. “One of the things I love about Minecraft is how open-ended it is — sure, there’s a way to “win” the game, but winning isn’t even the point. And that makes it ripe for player exploration and innovation,” said Buchanan. “When I came up with the idea of having a playable map of the world in Minecraft, the map maker who immediately sprang to mind was Vechs, who’s famous for his Super Hostile series of Minecraft maps.”
Gift’s story takes place in three distinct locations: a Southern California town, a dream world, and a ghostly underworld. Vechs’ map recreates each of these areas, and players explore them while hunting for special blocks and fending off Minecraft’s signature baddies.
“I think [the map] is a fantastic complement to the book — and playing it after reading is quite fun because you can recognize all the locations from the story! The Underworld in the map is possibly even scarier than the Underworld referenced in the book!,” said Buchanan.
The map launches alongside the digital book March 27 and is free to download on Gift’s website. Buchanan also enlisted the help of accomplished Minecraft players Joe Hills and Paul Soares Jr. to do “Let’s Play” YouTube videos for the adventure map. Soares, who was the first person to film instructional videos for Minecraft, intends to play the game alongside his teenage daughter who has read Gift.
Filed under: games, VentureBeat 
