News from a slightly different, arguably smarter, place today. We’re announcing Minecraft: Education Edition.
Of course, every Minecraft player learns essential life-skills like tree-punching and good Creeper-defence but, when used in the right way, Minecraft can help people around the world to learn lots more.
Over the past few years, educators around the world have been using Minecraft to explore subjects that might not spring to mind when you think of our block-based game. Since 2011, MinecraftEdu – a version of Minecraft built for the classroom – has been used in over 40 countries. Lots of people have learned loads of things since then.
Microsoft has acquired MinecraftEdu and is building upon its proven success to create a new version of Minecraft that’s dedicated to learning. The new title will be available as a free trial this summer. All existing MinecraftEdu customers will get the first year of Minecraft: Education Edition free of charge.
It’s going to be a collaborative thing. Development of Minecraft: Education Edition will be shaped by a community of educators thanks to education.minecraft.net. The site will host lesson plans and give Minecraft: Education Edition users somewhere to discuss ideas and provide feedback. We know teachers can be a rowdy bunch, so we’re looking into the best ways to moderate the forums as I type. Wish us luck.
For more on Minecraft: Education Edition, check out this post (which comes with bonus quotes), or visit the official page.
Minecraft: Story Mode coming to Wii U this Thursday
Hello!
I bring even more exciting news for Wii U owners. Just a few months ago you got Minecraft, and now I’m delighted to announce that Minecraft: Story Mode is coming to Wii U this Thursday, January 21st.
The Wii U version will feature off-TV play and mirroring for the Wii’s GamePad controller, so you can play when someone else is doing less-fun things on the TV. You can even use the nifty touch interface if joysticks and buttons ain’t your bag.
The first episode will cost $4.99 or equivalent, but you can also buy a season pass for $19.99. That way, you’ll get access to episodes 2-5 as they become available to download.
Minecraft: Story Mode is an episodic game series from Telltale Games. You play as Jesse who can be a male or female hero, and embark on an exciting adventure to save the world while learning about a group of legends known as The Order of the Stone. It’s a massive amount of fun for fans of Telltale’s games, Minecraft, or just good things in general. For more on Minecraft: Story Mode, check out Telltale’s official site.
Have fun, Wii U owners! Take care of Reuben for me, yeah?
Wii U のオーナーに興奮するニュースを持ってきたよ。二～三ヶ月前に WiiU でも Minecraft が手に入るようになった所で、この報告が出来るのを大変喜んでる。1月21日、この木曜日に Minecraft: Story Mode も Wii U にやってくる。
Wii U バージョンの特徴は Wii のゲームパッドコントローラにミラーすることで、テレビ画面が必要ない Off TV プレーが出来る事。だから、誰かが TV を見ているときもプレーする事が出来る。もしジョイスティックとボタンが鞄になくても、タッチインターフェースを使ってプレーする事さえ出来るんだ。
Minecraft: Story Mode は Telltale Games のエピソードのあるゲームシリーズ。みんなは男性か女性のヒーロー Jesse としてプレーし、The Order of the Stone として知られている伝説のグループについて学ぶと同時にエキサイティングな世界を救う冒険に乗り出す事になる。Telltale’s games と Minecraft の膨大なファンの楽しみになると思う。Minecraft: Story Mode 二付いてさらに知りたい場合は、Telltale の official site をチェックしてみて。
Have fun, Wii U owners! Take care of Reuben for me, yeah?
A new year has started and it’s time to celebrate it with a new Minecraft snapshot. The list of things we want to finish before the 1.9 release is getting shorter, more bugs are getting fixed, fewer new bugs are getting introduced.
Thanks to everyone who is reporting bugs, testing the snapshots and sending us feedback our changes. You are all helping to make 1.9 awesome.
Notable changes:
Fixed more bugs
Less rendering issues with glow effects
More balancing of the combat related mechanics
Tamed artificial enderdragons (artificial means /summon)
We want Minecraft to be enjoyed by as many players as possible. A big hurdle for a lot of people wanting to play the PC/Mac version has been that the website where you buy the game so far only has been available in English, despite the game itself having been available in multiple languages for several years thanks to our awesome community translators. However, after a recent update, minecraft.net is now for the first time ever available in multiple languages!
Initially we’ve focused on the most crucial bits of the website, where you register for and buy Minecraft. These are now available in 14 different languages with some additional regional variations. In addition to this we’ve also added prices in 12 new currencies (previously only USD, EUR, and GBP were supported) and enabled more local payment options.
This is only the first step though. The Mojang Web Force is working on a completely revamped version of minecraft.net that will be fully localized. More on that in a future update!
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