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.

I’ll see you in Minecraftia!

Square Enix took to the stage at E3 today with news on games both known and unknown, as well as announcing two mysterious ‘in-progress’ projects.

The press conference kicked off with a trailer for Just Cause 3, and between it and the one shown a few minutes later we’re certainly not going to be short on video game explosions when it releases. Avalanche Studios were there to speak about the game and how they want to make it the best of the series up to date, listing the addition of a wingsuit and improvements to the grappling hook as things they’d done to work towards that. The second trailer also showed off a bunch of crazy stuff you can supposedly do that looked amazingly fun. The game will release globally on December 1st for Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.

Rise of the Tomb Raider also had a trailer shown during the conference, with a behind-the-scenes section on how they worked to make Lara as lifelike as possible also being shown. Not to everyone’s interest, but damn that detail was pretty. Tomb Raider also showed up in a new mobile game announced for phones and tablets – Lara Croft Go.

Deux Ex: Mankind Divided was also there, with a release time of somewhere around the early part of 2016 being announced as well as the platforms of Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC again. There was a reveal of what they called the first “in-game” trailer and we were informed that the game was built in a new game engine and focused around the ‘evolution’ of the main character.

One franchise I hadn’t expected to see make an appearance was the Hitman series, and a new digital game was announced. The new Hitman game will release on December 8th and will feature new quests added regularly that have a time limit before the target vanishes and even if you do kill the target the way you do it will effect what new options become available in future. The game will apparently be updated depending on player feedback as well, which is interesting.

The two mystery projects both looked interesting, with one being announced as a new original RPG and the other showing nothing but a short trailer. The one with just a trailer was by Platinum Games Inc. and called “NieR New Project”. The game itself was stated to be in a very early state of development so we didn’t get many details about it during the conference. The other project was called “Project Setsuna” and was being handled by a newly formed studio – Tokyo RPG Factory. Again, details were sparse. Platinum did choose to make their presentation memorable in quite a unique way though…

… Dear lord. o.0;;

Obviously as one of Square Enix’s biggest franchises Final Fantasy was incredibly visible. As well as showing off the Final Fantasy VII remake that was announced last night at Sony’s conference again (with a promise of more details coming this winter), a ‘Final Fantasy Portal App’ was announced to be coming to devices this summer. It apparently acts as an information database for all things Final Fantasy. Finally the Final Fantasy game that had the most time given to it was World of Final Fantasy, a game with cutesy style characters (which can convert to ‘proper’ sizes too) that was intended as a way to help new players get used to the Final Fantasy universe without overloading them with the history of it. That’ll also be releasing sometime in 2016.

Kingdom Hearts was also there, much to the happiness of the crowd (you could hear the “YES”es on the stream!). Two games were announced, for Kingdom Hearts Unchained Key, a mobile platform game that will be released in North America (no mention of Europe) and will link into the story of the other game: Kingdom Hearts 3. The trailer for that game was full of colourful scenes, fights, ridiculous moves (they included a train and TEACUPS for god’s sake) and a game of chess. Really.

A new Star Ocean game was also announced, Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness. Trailers were shown that included actual gameplay footage and a lot was made of the fact that everything was programmed to be seamless – no loading, no jumping from the action. There will also be two types of cutscene, the traditional one and ‘dynamic’ cutscenes. The game will release in North America and Europe next year.

The conference ended with a trailer listing all we had just seen with the creators coming back on stage to take one last bow. All in all, the conference contained a few surprises but was pretty much what was expected and because there was so much squeezed in, nothing really got a lot of focus which seemed a bit of a shame.

Watch it below:

EA’s conference is done. We got new Mass Effect, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst gameplay, some Star Wars Battlefront…and a  crap ton of sports. Oh, and apparently Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 is a thing. Because we all needed more of that, right?

Lets start off with Mass Effect. It has been confirmed that the game is coming Holiday 2016. It has a distinctly more Western (western movie) style feel to it than previous Mass Effect games. As someone who isn’t a fan of the series I found myself rather meh about the whole thing, but plenty of people are super hyped.

Need For Speed is back, and it looks like more of the same “edgy  and gritty” story telling. What was different though was that the driving actually looked good. Smooth framerate, great lighting and dynamic racing. Hopefully this is a return to form, before Need For Speed became an every year franchise release.”

Next, we got to meet…Hoop Gawd….the…Gawd of Hoops? Seriously, this may have been the dumbest way ever to show off face scanning tech in a game. EA promises tons of new animations and realistic physics in its new basketball game. Maybe it will actually make basketball entertaining to watch when the physics engine inevitably breaks in hilarious ways. There was some fantasy mod stuff for madden NFL 16 as well, and a bunch of soccer stuff. MOVING ON.

Unravel looks amazing. Possibly the one game that wasn’t a sequel or a reboot, the puzzle platformer about a ball of yarn looks amazing, adorable and a ton of fun.

Oh, and there was a card game as well. Is everyone making one of those damn things?

And…thats about it for the EA conference. It was pretty lackluster. I’m not gonna lie, I had trouble staying awake for the whole thing. Even when I went back and watched it again to see what I missed and discovered I had missed…nothing. Except a mind numbingly boring Pele interview.

The Bethesda conference started out tonight with Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb interviewing some Fallout cosplayers outside the venue. There were some impressive costumes on display. They also interviewed the person at the front of the line, who said he has been waiting 6 years for Fallout 4 and looked quite sweaty and dehydrated.

After a replay of the reveal trailer of Fallout 4, the hosts then moved on to discuss the change in color palette and how the world looks much brighter. And of course, there is a dog.

After some more discussion about Fallout, they moved onto Doom. And played the trailer (which admittedly is 4 seconds long) 4 or 5 times in a gag that got tired very quickly.

Bethesda moved on to an opening montage of their games and then brought out Pete Heinz to the Skyrim theme to introduce their first ever E3 conference. First up on the presentation was a history of Doom, along with Marty Stratton, the Executive Producer of id Software. The first reveal of Doom was interesting to say the least. We started out with a marine moving through a futuristic facility, using the shotgun to take on hordes of enemies. There was plenty of blood and gore on display, but the game looked very sluggish on screen. Granted, the game seemed atmospheric, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t actual gameplay. Also, there was a slow motion effect when switching weapons that seemed very out of place. Also on display were several gruesome executions. Of course, it wouldn’t be Doom without tons of weapons, and all of them were on display. Shotgun, super shotgun, plasma rifle, machine gun and the chainsaw. The chainsaw kills were particularly gruesome, but the same animations were repeated several times. Granted, it is a demo.

Multiplayer on the otherhand, looked fast, snappy and, with one player snagging a powerup and  transforming in to the revenant. It was bloody and frantic looking. They also showed off the new map editor called Snapmap, which allows players to create new maps easily and quickly. They then closed out the Doom segment with a look at hell.  The area was grim, creepy and awesome, showcasing some hard fights with high powered weaponry like the rocket launcher. Near the end, the Cyberdemon made an appearance and then they…cut the trailer right as the BFG was charging up.

Moving back to the wider picture, Bethesda announced Bethesda.net, their own platform for launching all of their games . The next game to be shown off was Battlecry, which looked somewhat like a TF2 clone. While I wasn’t impressed, it may be for some people. They also announced that you can sign up for a beta of the game and it will be coming in 2015.

The next major highlight has to be Arkane Studios coming out on stage. This is the team that brought us Dishonored, and they jumped straight into a trailer for the sequel. Perhaps the biggest reveal was that you will be playing as either Corvo, orEmily Kaldwin and she apparently has the Outsider’s Power. The trailer was stylish, fast paced and stunning. Dishonored 2 will be available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Also announced was Dishonored Definitive Edition, an enhanced version of the game which includes all DLC for Xbox One and PS4.

Next up was a peek at whats coming to Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited. The realm of the Orcs was shown, as were several new areas that looked to be dungeons. Mobile also played a part in the presentation, with the company showing off an Elder Scrolls themed card game called Elder Scrolls Legends. Only art assets were shown, but no actual gameplay. It will be free to play on PC and iPad.

The final presentation was for Fallout 4, after some rather forced jokes about it being the end of the show. Todd Howard director of Bethesda Game Studios took the stage to show off the new game, first talking about the power of games to transport the player to new worlds, and the experiences that they deliver.  They then launched into a montage of concept art for the game, showing some impressive concepts and ideas, including what the world looked like before the bombs fell.

Character creation was up next, allowing you to simply drag your character’s face in real time to create your custom avatar. You can also play as a female. The new game starts before the bombs fell, which is an interesting change from the established formula. As the characters you created head for the vault, a bomb goes off and the screen cuts to black. However, Bethesda refused to reveal much more of the story. They instead cut to post bomb gameplay, 200 years into the future. The open world looked impressive. And, of course, they showed off the dog, highlighting the ability to give the dog contextual commands by simply pointing at the environment and pressing a button. A brief combat section was shown, showcasing the VATS targeting system before moving into a montage of various areas in the game. There was an impressive level of detail on display, although Bethesda’s character animations still leave a bit to be desired.

They also provided a look at the new Pip Boy, showing off the various menus and highlighting the idea of a latered armor system. You can also insert game tapes into your Pip Boy and play Fallout versions of classic games on it. You will also be able to get a real Pip Boy with the collector’s edition of the game, including an app for it for iOS and Android. Keeping with the mobile theme, Fallout Shelter was shown off. This is a 2d game that has you in command of a vault and its dwellers in a kind of cross between the Sims and Progress Quest. The game will be free and they claim it will have no paywalls and they announced it would be available after the conference. Unfortunately, its iOS only.

Jumping back to Fallout 4, they showed off a mode that allows you to build your own settlement and fully customize every aspect of it from lighting to defenses. They were quick to note that it is completely optional, but you will be able to create multiple bases and craft all manner of things. This transitioned into the weapon crafting system, which allows you to use almost any item you find in the game world to modify your weapons and your armor. They then closed the Fallout segment with a combat montage set to trademark Fallout period appropriate music. And…a Teddy Bear cannon…..

Fallout 4 will be released November 10, 2015.

The presentation closed with a thank you from the studio. All in all, a strong showing for Bethesda’s first ever E3 conference.

Toy Soldiers has always been a blast to play. A mix of tower defense and third person shooter, taking place in a kid’s playset and fought by plastic toys and model vehicles? I’m sold. Last year, Signal Studios gave us a look at the newest installment in the series, War Chest. It featured Unicorns and fairies fighting it out against the Kaiser and his German army. This was already pretty cool. But then, today, Ubisoft casually informed everyone that He-Man and GI Joe will also be featured as playable armies. On top of that, they announced that there are two more armies left to reveal.

Naturally I’m excited. In fact, just watch the trailer while I try to cram 5 year old Digmbot back into his mental closet.

Are you excited for Toy Soldiers: War Chest after this announcement? Let us know in the forums!