Our live radio broadcasts are currently on hiatus while we work on improvements to Sanitarium.FM's core services. For further information, visit our Discord.
So, it’s been a while since Mojang released the snapshots that precede a full new patch release for the game, but the time has finally come again.
1.9 is called the Combat Update and already we know that a lot of things that will be added to or overhauled this time round have to do with the combat and PvP elements of the game. This snapshot though introduces some very early versions of the things that mostly don’t though.
The two main features of this snapshot are the dual-wielding/dominant left hand feature that many have wanted to see added to the game for some time and the new levitation effect that you get from potions and the new Shulker mob.
Dual-wielding is not yet finished, but already we can tell you that it’s not possible to wield two swords at once. Sorry. It is possible to use a bow though while holding something like a torch in your offhand though, although this could be patched out before 1.9 releases properly. Dual-wielding will mean that mining will also be a bit easier, as you can now use a pick and hold torches to place at the same time. There’s also a few bugs and quirks to be worked out with the dominant left hand feature too, although the b and c versions have at least nixed a few already such as certain actions reverting you back to default righty.
The levitation effect too is still a bit unfinished, but at least we can tell that certain levels of effect applied will make a difference. More levitation effect means a faster rise into the air, while a little effect can actually make it seem like you’re on a low-gravity planet when you descend back down to blocky earth. Of course, if you’ve played on any Minecraft server in the last few years, you’ll know that the game can and often will kick you for ‘cheating’ if it thinks you’re using a cheat to fly in Survival. That used to happen with the levitation too until it was patched out in the b version of the snapshot.
As always, if you want to play with this snapshot remember to backup your worlds just in case. Especially with this one, Mojang admit themselves in their blog that this is a very early Alpha stage snapshot and had a lot of potential to mess things up.
It’s been 17 years since the release of Baldur’s Gate, which, of course, makes this the perfect time for an expansion pack.
Last night, the folks at Beamdog—best known for releasing Enhanced Editions of the two Baldur’s Gate games—announced Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, a new entry in the series that’s set place between BG1 and BG2. Siege of Dragonspear will run on the Infinity Engine, they say, and it’ll tell a new story after the death of Sarevok but before the rise of Irenicus.
In case you’re not familiar: the Baldur’s Gate games are top-down isometric RPGs that follow strict D&D rules and let you pause during combat. They’ve held up really well today, especially BG2, which remains one of the greatest games ever made.
And now we’re getting a new one, developed by some ex-BioWare folks who have spent the past few years porting and enhancing those old Infinity Engine games. Says Beamdog:
The events between Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition and Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition are at last revealed in this exciting new expansion to the original game.
Though Sarevok is dead and his plan for war averted, peace eludes the citizens of Baldur’s Gate. A crusade marches in the north, seizing supplies, forcing locals into military service, and disrupting trade along the Sword Coast. A charismatic warrior known as the Shining Lady leads this army, her background shrouded in mystery. Can the rumors be true—is she, like you, the child of a god?
The closer you get to the Shining Lady, the more you realize your father, the dead Lord of Murder still casts a long shadow upon your path. Baldur’s Gate has put its faith in you, but you must determine whose interests you truly serve before you face the Shining Lady among the ruins of Dragonspear Castle…
Isometric RPGs sure are making a comeback, huh? There’s no firm release date yet, but the folks at Beamdog say Dragonspear will be out relatively soon for PC/Mac/Linux and then later this year for iOS/Android too. Hopefully it will be a worthy addition to the franchise.
Sega have registered the website domain www.dawnofwar3.com, presumably in advance of a new Space Channel 5 game announcement.
OK, so it might well mean a sequel for Relic’s muscular strategy game is on the cards—Company of Heroes 2 was a while ago, after all. Whois Lookup states that the domain was registered back in 2011 by Sega of America, and updated on March 26th of this year. Meanwhile, the registrant’s email address appears to be that for Relic’s IT department.
While Sega could just be registering the domain to protect it from squatters, a couple of years ago Relic did say that a new entry in the series was a “strong possibility”. If you’re wondering why you should be excited about a third Dawn of War, then you should grab the first and second games on STEAM while they are on sale.
So this weekend Minecon 2015 occurred in London, bringing many fans of the game to the ExCeL Centre to attend what ended up being the biggest video game based convention ever. It also brought with it a lot of news of Minecraft content to come.
Firstly, updates to the original version of the game, the PC version, were announced during a panel. The End, the smallest of Minecraft’s other dimensions is due to get a makeover, adding more to it then just the single floating island that you fight the Ender Dragon in. Now it’ll contain much more to find and do, as well as new recipes related to it including the ability to craft the Ender Crystals that you smash during the big boss fight and placing them atop the columns will respawn the Ender Dragon although it won’t be possible to gain another egg upon defeating it. These new areas can only be accessed through something called the Ender Gateway although details about that aren’t fully known yet. In other areas things such as dual wielding of tools (e.g. pick in one hand, torches in the other) or the ability to make your avatar left-handed are on the plans as well as ‘enchanted arrows’ although Mojang admit that they’ve still some thinking to do about the balancing of such a mechanic; future updates will also add shields to the game.
Then we move onto the two big other stories from the event, starting with Minecraft Windows 10 version.
The version was supposedly built to take advantage of Microsoft’s new OS and its features, and it’ll be offered free to all owners of the current PC version of the game while new players will need to play $10 to access the game and beta. That beta will start towards the end of this month on July 29th and will receive the same updates as the original Minecraft version which will also still exist as a separate game – Mojang have said that the Windows 10 version will not replace the original one that we’ve come to love.
Features for the new version will include:
Craft, create, and explore online with up to seven friends playing Windows 10 Edition Beta, through local multiplayer or with your Xbox Live friends online.
Play online and local multiplayer with other Pocket Edition players thanks to a free update, due to arrive soon after launch.
Multiple control schemes! Switch between controller, touch, and keyboard controls with little to no effort!
Record and share gameplay highlights with built-in GameDVR.
Help shape the future of Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta with our built player feedback mechanisms!
Chickens, zombies, pigs, boats, armed skeletons, potatoes, zombies, baby squids, enchantment tables, villagers, naked sheep, iron golems, potions, ghasts, pickaxes, carrots, and all the weird and wonderful goodness you’ve come to expect from Minecraft.
The other big announcement of course was the details of Minecraft Story Mode, a Telltale and Mojang collaboration game announced a few months back. It’ll be a five part series based around the adventures of a group of friends led by the player character called Jesse, voiced by actor Patton Oswalt. The group is famed for slaying an Ender Dragon and look up to a legendary group called The Order of the Stone. Then a “Terror” is unleashed which sees the group called upon for their help for which they decent to seek out The Order of the Stone to save their world. The description on the video trailer says that the journey will take them through the Nether, the Farlands (woo!), the End and “beyond”.
Personally as a long-time player of Minecraft the only thing that has me really excited from this list of big things is the news of upcoming content to the version I play – the PC version updates. The ability to dual wield is something that players have been wishing was a thing for ages, and the addition of shields to the game just makes a lot of sense at this point. Anyone who has ever tried to charge a skeleton knows how hard it is to get close to them when they shoot you with knockback and maybe with a shield it’d be possible to finally block them. The redesign of the End is something I can get behind because I feel it’s been a bit sparse and underwhelming since it was implemented (I mean seriously, it’s not the greatest arena for a final boss fight in my eyes) and I look forward to seeing what new End resources get added to the game.
Windows 10 version is an interesting one. In a way it kind of reminds me a bit of Realms, a bit of the console versions (not surprising as integration with the Xbox versions are being pushed as a feature) and I feel it’ll attract a certain type of player, ones who still enjoy the vanilla game and the console versions over the heavily modded scene. As I’m not one of those players I can’t see myself being too attracted by this version of the game personally, but I can see the attraction for those players. The fact that there’s a cap on the number of players at one time does put me off too, even if I generally don’t play with that many other players at once. The ability to have many in one instance was one of the vanilla game’s drawing points in my opinion and limiting it feels a bit like a tiny downgrade. It’s not out yet though so I’ll save most of my judgement.
I’ll also be saving it for Story Mode, which is a game that while I’m curious about I must admit I find a little bit confusing as to why it exists other than for money. Minecraft was always about building your own story, not playing through someone else’s (unless it was an adventure map, and even then you could just blow it up if you felt like it… and sometimes map makers would booby trap a map to make something amazing happen should you) so… is this a necessary game? Do we really need this? I’m not sure, but I’m willing to have my mind changed when the game releases.
Of course, this isn’t all that happened at Minecon this weekend, but they are some of the most notable things. I have my opinions on them but then I’m biased as I am and will always be a PC Minecrafter, heavily involved with popular modpacks and what they can offer to me for story ideas. Minecraft is a lot bigger than that now though, and even if some of it doesn’t fully grab my attention I can see how big this once small indie game has grown to the extent that its own event hit around 10 thousand attendees and ended up setting a world record and be happy to be a part of it along with so many other people.
Original: It’s not an official announcement, but MSI is boasting that they’ll have Final Fantasy Type-0 running on their GS60 Red and GS70 Silver laptops at their Computex booth. Given that those are both PCs, it would suggest that Final Fantasy Type-0 is coming to PC.
Originally a PSP game, Type-0 is a mission-based RPG with occasional bits of RTSing. It was recently re-released in an HD version for the non-portable consoles, so a PC version would make sense. The trailer below confirms that, yes, Type-0 is pretty much as weird as any other Final Fantasy game, and I can’t wait to play it 😀
