When it comes down to games that just keep going and going, you have to give Minecraft its due. It came out years ago out of nowhere, and quickly grew to being one of the most popular games of all time. As you’d expect, it also gets pretty frequent updates, and next week is time for another.

As announced on the official website, a new update is planned for The Nether. That region has always been part of the game, but it’s getting a revamp here. Netherite ingot, a new fireproof material, will be able to be mined there now, and weapons, armors and items made from it will be stronger than diamond. Alongside that, there will be new enemies, the Piglins and Hoglins, as well as new target blocks that let you activate Redstone switches from a distance. You can read full details through here.

Minecraft‘s Nether update will come on June 23rd and will go live for both the Bedrock Edition, which includes all current gen systems and PC, and the Java Edition.

When it comes to Minecraft, you can’t get much bigger in the video gaming world outside maybe the likes of Fortnite. The newest spin-off in the franchise, Minecraft Dungeons, shows off that staying power too, as it managed to bump off one of the biggest games of the year on the Nintendo Switch.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been the most successful entry in the beloved Nintendo franchise by a good stretch. As of May, the game had already sold just under 15 million copies, and had remained a mainstay on the charts for the system ever since its March release. Now, if you go to the Best Sellers list on the eShop in the US, as of writing this, Minecraft Dungeons is the #1 on the list, bumping off Animal Crossing: New Horizons after its staggering three month run at the top.

Minecraft Dungeons is also available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. You can read our review of the game through here.

Another decade is behind us, and you know what that means: we’re all just a little closer to being dead. It’s also, of course, a time to look back at what was the best selling and most popular things. And it looks like, from a sales perspective, a few titles dominated the list in a big way, one franchise in particular.

As revealed by NPD analyst Mat Piscatella, the decade that ran from 2010-2019 was dominated by Activision and Rockstar. The top game on the list is Grand Theft Auto 5, which is no surprise when you consider the game almost never left the sales chart month to month. Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 took number 7, which is impressive considering it came out in late 2018. But the winner, by far, is the Call of Duty franchise that had seven of the ten entries, meaning every single game of the series that released this generation is on the list. The only game that made the top ten that wasn’t Call of Duty or Rockstar was Minecraft.

At this rate, Call of Duty will probably outlast all of us and any kind of nuclear apocalypse that will break out.

https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1217953586551746561

Minecraft isn’t just happy enough to be the biggest game on Earth, it wants to actually be Earth itself. The new AR game, Minecraft Earth, promises just that as you’ll be able to take your phone or other compatible mobile devices out in real life and build stuff in a Minecraft type of deal. And now you’ll get to try that out for yourself.

The announcement came via the video below. The beta right now is open in certain regions, and you can get into the early access. Alongside that if you live in certain cities (New York, London or Sydney), you’ll see an event called Mobs in the Park and get access to an exclusive Jolly Llama mob in-game.

The beta is available now in the UK, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Mexico and now the US. The Mobs in the Park events will run in the above listed cities for three weekends.

https://youtu.be/tzCBCoC2bjs

Minecraft is one of the biggest games in the world, if not the biggest. The sensation has been ongoing for a long time now and has lead to many different updates as well as spinoffs based on the concept and universe. Today we got a look at a much requested update for the main game: character creation. There’s also foxes now.

The newest update, 1.13.0, comes to the Bedrock Edition and you can finally fully customize your Steve. While there’s always been different skins, now you can alter things like skin tone, limb lengths, hairstyles, etc. Your blocky person can be a little more of your own. There’s also foxes now, that will come out primarily at night to steal your belongings. So, there’s that, but you can befriend them.

Minecraft Bedrock Edition is available now for Xbox One, Switch, PC, iOS and Android. No word yet on when or if these features will come to non-Bedrock Editions of the game. You can read more about the updates through the game’s official blog through here.

Minecraft is getting a lot of spinoff love over the next couple of years. There’s an AR mobile game based on the series called Minecraft Earth. It’s launching this year with an early access coming soon. Another more traditional game is the dungeon-crawling Minecraft Dungeons. Today we got a look at the game’s opening cinematic that sets the tone for the new story based title.

The cinematic was released via the game’s developer, Majong. It highlights the game’s story, which will see adventurers going after a magical cube that has fallen into the wrong hands. The game will be a Diablo-style action game in randomly generated levels and various different classes you can chose from. Check it out below.

Minecraft Dungeons will release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch and PC sometime in the Spring of 2020. The game is the first standalone game since the original Minecraft developed by Majong with assistance from Double Eleven.

Minecraft is probably the biggest game in the world (though that crown may be on Fortnite‘s head, there’s debate there). It’s gotten multiple updates and will probably run in some form or another until time ends. Like all popular brands, there’s also spinoffs coming and one of the more interesting ones is Minecraft Earth, and we’ll get an early access peek at that next month.

The game is an AR based mobile app that will help transform the whole world around you into Minecraft. While the features are somewhat limited compared to the main game, as you’d expect, it’s as close to Minecraft in real life that you’ll get without going out and just building something yourself. The game will have an early access period next month, which you can see the announcement trailer for below.

Minecraft Earth will launch sometime this year for iOS and Android mobile devices. The early access period will begin sometime next month, though as of now no official date has been announced.

https://youtu.be/tzCBCoC2bjs

While it can feel like Minecraft isn’t talked about so much nowadays, don’t let that fool you, it’s still one of the biggest things that’s been created under the sun. And now it’s looking to invade the real world with Minecraft Earth, the AR mobile title that will bring the game’s building fever into reality. Now you have a chance to sign up for a beta of the game to find out what it’ll be like.

Today they released a new trailer announcing the closed beta sign ups. The game will work in a similar fashion to Pokemon GO. It will impose the Minecraft world on the real world through your phone, allowing you to build creations and place them wherever in this big planet of ours.

The sign up is for both Android and iOS devices, and you can get a special Earth themed skin for Minecraft Earth and Minecraft Bedrock when you enlist. You can check out how to do it here. There’s no official date for the game just yet, but it’s still said to be coming out this year.

Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode, their adventure game series set in the world of Minecraft, will be launching digitally on October 13, and physically at retail a week later on October 20, the publisher confirmed today.

The October 13 release date refers to the digital launch on the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC; iOS and Android versions launch on October 15, and a physical launch across these same platforms is on October 20. The physical version will include only the first episode, though it will function as a ‘season pass,’ meaning once you get it, you have free access to all future episodes as and when they are released.

Also, the PS Vita and Wii U versions of the game are due to follow at a later date.

“One of the greatest things about this project is that it gives the community a chance to interact with the world of Minecraft in a new and different way,” said Mojang’s brand director Lydia Winters.

“It also marks the beginning of some exciting narrative-form content based on our game. We worked directly with Telltale on every step of the process. Together we’ve created a blend of the amazing narratives that Telltale creates with all the fun and adventure you know and love from Minecraft. It’s got everything: creepers, crafting, an incredible cast of characters, and even an adorable pig. How awesome does that sound?”

How does that sound, indeed? This is the first attempt at expanding the Minecraft brand beyond just the flagship brand- how it goes is something that remains to be seen.

Minecraft, the indie game hit sensation that is already available on PC, iOS, Android, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, will also be coming to the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita later this year, and if you have been looking forward to those versions, there is good news on that front!

First, Minecraft on PlayStation 4 is now in certification. This means that the game is done, the bug testing is done, everything is done (essentially, think of it as the game having gone gold)), and it is now being certified by Sony. With any luck, this should not be a long process, and the release should follow shortly thereafter.

The PS Vita and Xbox One versions, on the other hand, are still in the bug testing stage, although they should be done and released soon as well (their release might trail the PS4 version’s release by a little, however).

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more.

Source: 4J Studios