Seems that the rumours were true. Today Microsoft, Mojang and Notch himself have all confirmed that Mojang now belongs to Microsoft.

In a blog post Mojang said “remember that the future of Minecraft and you – the community – are extremely important to everyone involved” before answering a number of the most regularly posed questions fans might have about the acquisition. About the Playstation and other game editions that fall outside of Microsfot’s area or might represent some conflict of interest they said “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”, although they did note that they couldn’t predict the decisions of another company with regards to it. The main reason they were sold up is obviously down to Minecraft and because no one had ever expected it to grow as big as it did upon its original alpha release. Simply, it grew too large for Notch to handle. They also reassured everyone that “Stopping players making cool stuff is not in anyone’s interests.”

Notch himself talked about the deal on his own site, saying that he felt he’d become a ‘symbol’ and that was not what he wanted to be. He described himself as “not an entrepreneur… I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter” and said that he wanted to break away from Minecraft so that he could focus on smaller things again, citing that despite leaving the development to Jeb a while back he still got a wave of hatred in the wake of the EULA episode a few months back. He thanked the fans for helping the game to grow but said that despite that he couldn’t be responsible for the game and its grown community anymore. He said that even though now Microsoft technically owned Minecraft that it’d always belonged to the community more and that the deal was less about the money but his own sanity at this point.

Microsoft issued a press release as well to announce the deal saying about the game “Minecraft inspires millions to create together, connects people across the globe, and is a community that is among the most active and passionate in the world.” They then talked more about how Minecraft added some diversity to their portfolio of titles and that “we see great potential to continue to grow the Minecraft community and nurture the franchise.” They also said that they planned to continue with making Minecraft available to all the platforms it is currently on.

The news will probably come as a shock to some, or you might be in favour of this development. The future for mojang and Minecraft though is as of yet is unknown.

Mojang “Yes, we’re being bought by Microsoft”: [x]
Notch “I’m leaving Mojang”: [x]
Microsoft “Minecraft to Join Microsoft”: [x]

Despite gamers being somewhat more mainstream and not as ‘weird’ as in the past few decades, we’ve kind of gone out of focus as the subjects of documentaries exploring the lives of “this strange group of human” who is in some way “other” to the “average person” (notice my sarcastic quotation marks). Unless the documentary maker wants to rehash the age old “video games make you violent” argument.

However, FilmNova have made a docufilm entitled An Alternative Reality: The Football Manager Documentary that will have a limited one-night-only showing at a handful of cinemas across the UK some time next month. So maybe there is still something worth looking at.

According to Sports Interactive’s Miles Jacobson, “The documentary isn’t our story—it’s the story of the people who escape to the alternative reality of being a football manager, and the effect this has had on their lives. …But it’s not just for people who play—it’s also for people who’ve ever wondered why others spend so much time escaping into this world.”

This could hopefully be a documentary that aims to truthfully portray why people game as they do, using a simulator series that maybe isn’t out there in our faces a lot but has been and continues to be quietly successful under the vast and colourful scene that is the lively gaming community. I’ve even played some Football Manager in the past (the 2003 version), and for myself, my younger brother and my Dad it was a chance to play a game together. We voted on decisions, we rotated players, we purchased improvements for the stadium and we did this for hours. It sounds strange, but it was an activity we enjoyed doing together and the fond memories I have of those times makes me hope that the documentary will be fair to the players.

The docufilm will be shown at these Vue cinemas on the night of Tuesday October 7th. And only that night. So if you want to see it, better get making plans…

• Aberdeen
• Birkenhead
• Birmingham Star City
• Bolton
• Bristol Cribbs
• Bury the Rock
• Cardiff
• Cheshire Oaks
• Doncaster
• Edinburgh Omni
• Fulham
• Gateshead
• Glasgow Fort
• Islington
• Leeds Light
• Manchester Lowry
• Oxford
• Piccadilly
• Plymouth
• Portsmouth
• Reading
• Sheffield
• Swansea
• Watford
• Westfield White City
• Westfield Stratford

In today’s digital-distribution rich gaming environment a physical boxed copy of a game is becoming a rarity or at least not the sole consideration upon releasing a game. An indie game usually would never bother with one for example.

However Subterranean Games have managed to gain enough interest in their top-down dungeon simulator game to allow for the release of the digital copy AND a special edition boxed copy named the Underlord Edition. The Underlord Edition will come with the game, a soundtrack, a digital artbook, and two additional dungeon themes in-game to tempt players to consider purchasing the physical version of the game.

The boxed copy will be released thanks to Subterranean’s partnership with Sold Out, a UK-based company that is also responsible for other boxed copies of games that includes Snipe Elite III. Their Sales Director James Cato said of the project “Subterranean Games’ massive success with its Kickstarter campaign underlines the powerful desire that exists out there for the next big dungeon management game. The team has put an unbelievable amount of time, effort and passion into making sure War for the Overworld will more than satisfy that demand – and we’re delighted to be able to work with them to bring together a special edition which will retain pride of place in any collection.”

The initial Kickstarter for the game, which took place at the beginning of last year was funded about £50k over its target and has since been proceeding strongly. War For the Overworld takes cues from many games, including Dungeon Keeper which it is often considered to be a spiritual successor to.

Over the last year or two I have collected quite a few Indie Games from Game Bundles or from sales; some of them good, some bad. While I would like to play all of them enough to write full reviews on them, I unfortunately don’t have the ability to do so. So I’m going to try out a new type of article, so I can bring to attention to some of these games you may, or may not have heard of from the last year or so. If there is anything I have learned from playing games over the years, if a game fails to capture the attention of a person early in the game, the less likely that person would continue playing. With this in mind I hope to cover 2 to 3 games per article, playing just enough of a game to get an idea of it and give my first impressions of them.

Don’t you worry I’m still going to do my normal full Indie Game Reviews. 😉

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This week I will cover 2 games: the platformer Freedom Fall and the horror game Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Freedom Fall

Summary

Freedom Fall is a down-scrolling platformer which came out earlier this year on Steam. You play as a boy who is sentenced to death for a crime he did or didn’t commit. They don’t really say right out at the beginning what his crime may have been but I believe you find out more as you go. He is placed in a cell at the top of a very large tower that reaches high above the clouds and he is given a choice, stay in the cell forever or find his way down out of the tower. If he reaches the end he will be freed.

The story of the game is mainly told by writing left on the walls by a Princess who apparently is the one who designed the tower’s many dangers. She talks about her Mum and Dad, gives you hints on what to do at time, and also points out where other unfortunate people died.

As you continue though the game you come across many different types of traps from spikes and flame throwers, to spiked chompers and death balloons. As more and more traps are introduced you are able to build items that can help you though through the levels including bombs, gliders and later a jet board; all of which you build by collecting scraps as you travel though the tower.

My Thoughts

So far what I played of this game I really enjoyed. It controls really well and looks great. The story that is given to you written on the walls is very amusing and makes you curious what is actually up with this girl who apparently created this all. I like the fact that it gives you choices on which way to go, usually pointing out an easier way or a harder way. I usually go the harder way because there are usually more things to pick up those directions and even if you die you would just respawn at the nearest checkpoint they have throughout the level.

The main issue I seem to come across from reading what others have to say about the game is while they enjoy the game, it is apparently pretty short. Some people say they beat it in about an hour. But from what I can tell that is if you go through the game without trying to complete the challenges of collecting everything and completing the achievements. So I guess if you are a completionist you can find plenty replayablility in this game; especially since they seem to have recently added a couple levels as well as a harder mode to the game.

All in all I can’t wait to finish this game and see where the story goes. I definitely feel that it will be a nice game to have in your collection if you enjoy platformers. This game has a beautiful art style and a unique down-scrolling/free falling play style you don’t see too often. Even saying this I think it would be a good idea to wait for a sale, especially if you are someone who would only like to play it once for the story only. You may not want to pay the full price for a game that is apparently under 2 hours long.

You can buy it for PC or Mac Here.

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Summary

Many of you most likely have heard of this game, you may have watched Youtubers scream their heads off in playthoughs or seen people on Tumblr make art and stories that make you feel sympathetic toward the animatronics. Either way this game has gotten popular so I decided to check it out to see if it was as good as people say.

For those who don’t know, Five Nights at Freddy’s is a suspense horror game where you play a security guard on night watch at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a pizza parlor with animatronics that entertain the people by day with music. On your first night on the job you are told by message left by the previous night watchman, that the animatronics like to roam at night and if they see you they may try to kill you because they think you are an animatronic without an outer suit and that is a big no, no. He is unnervingly calm about it all.

The controls of this game are relatively simple. You are unable to move, all you can do is check the various cameras, close the doors on either side of you, and turn on lights outside your office. You must utilize all of these to keep an eye on the roaming animatronics and to protect yourself. The suspenseful part of it is you are limited on power and if you use the lights, doors and cameras too much you can run out of power then there is nothing to protect you from Freddy.

My Thoughts

I’ve heard many people call this one of the scariest games they played, I can see where this can be the case for some people. When I first tried the game I was caught by some of the jump scares, but really quick it started not to faze me. I did find it a bit suspenseful at times when you lose track of an animatronic, you end up sometimes frantically trying to find them. As I played the game more it became more frustrating at times then scary. Every time you play it, it is random what would happen. While randomness can make it fun for replayability, it can also make the game frustrating. Like on one playthough of a day the animatronics were on the move quite quickly, leading me to use the door quite a bit though the whole night which led to me using up the power quite fast. Then a second playthough of the same day nothing really started happening until a lot later in the night, leaving me with plenty of power.

Well I may or may not finish this game; I don’t believe it is that long of a game. I also hear rumors that the creator of the game may be coming out with a sequel to the game. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious on how it will be. Will it be the same as the original or is he going to do something different with it. We will see.

Even though I may not be the biggest fan of this game, I believe if you are a fan of horror games it would be a nice one to pick up. It does something different than many horror games out there now; having you unable to move with limited power and only doors and cameras to protect you from the monsters in the building. It is also doesn’t cost much to buy and I have already seen it in a couple Gaming Bundles. So keep an eye out if you want it even cheaper.

You can buy it for PC Here

Nintendo and the team behind Pokemon have released a new trailer relating to Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby, and this time there’s a bunch of new Pokemon-related things to show off!

The trailer reveals the powers of the Primal forms for both Groudon and Kyogre; both gaining the form through a change called Primal Reversion and having an Ability that is just a powered-up version of their regular ones. Primal Groudon becomes a dual Ground/Fire type and has an Attack stat boost, and its Ability Desolate Land stops all weather changing moves and Abilities from working as well as rendering all Water-type moves useless until Primal Groudon is switched out. Primal Kyogre does not have a type change but gets an increased Special Attack stat; its Ability Primordial Sea stops all weather-changing abilities and moves from working and cancels all Fire-type moves.

The trailer also introduces three new Mega evolutions – Camerupt, Sharpedo and Gallade.

Camerupt is the ‘signature’ Pokemon for Team Magma and its Mega evolution merges its two volcano-humps into one larger grey peak, covers some of the Pokemon’s body in armour that resembles cooled magma, gives Camerupt longer fur that shields its legs and a little more cooled magma armour on its forehead and hooves. It also looks angrier than usually. It doesn’t change types and gains the Ability Sheer Force which removes added effects for a greater damage potential.

Sharpedo is the ‘signature’ Pokemon for Team Aqua and its Mega evolution stripes the majority of the Pokemon’s body, extends its nose to be almost as long as its body and moves the white underbelly a little further upwards around its fins. It also doesn’t change types and gains the Ability Strong Jaw which ups the damage of bite moves by 50%.

Gallade will most likely be the final form of your secondary rival Wally’s original partner Ralts in the game. Mega Gallade loses some of its green colouration around the top half of its torso and arms, and gains two skin-flaps from the back of its neck that resemble a cape. The blade-like parts of its arms are replaced with red plate-like additions, the red plates on its chest seem to have shrunk and its ‘ears’ seem longer. It also doesn’t change its typing but gains the Ability Inner Focus which prevents flinching.