Ah, nothing like the sound of flames crackling, sand shifting, and people screaming as they fall into the abyss. Yes, it’s Firefloor, the game the relies more on luck than skill. However, despite the fact that it requires far less preparation or skill than other events such as Mob Arena, there are some simple tactics that can help you conquer the flames.
Microsoft acquires indie company Mojang for $2.5 Billion
Rumors enveloped in panic and excitement began spurring around Minecraft communities and financial news early into the event. This was just before the indie game developers Mojang and the tech giant Microsoft unanimously announced the news of the big purchase of the ‘small’ games company…for a whopping 2.5 billion US dollars! But what does that mean for the community?
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Credit to Empire Minecraft player xHaro_Der for this image, combining the Microsoft logo with blocks available in Minecraft.
The Facts
After recent Minecraft EULA backlash, on the 17th of June, Notch is quoted on Twitter as saying:
“Anyone want to buy my share of Mojang so I can move on with my life? Getting hate for trying to do the right thing is not my gig.”
We’ll reflect more on this soon, but most believe this is what drove the final nail into the coffin… Or Mojang to Microsoft.
On the 10th of September news began to leak from an undisclosed source of talks between Microsoft and Mojang about a possible purchase for US $2 billion.
5 days later on the 15th, Microsoft and Mojang simultaneously announce that the Minecraft creators are being acquired for a huge US$2.5 billion! Microsoft makes a video and blog statement while Mojang’s Owen breaks the news on Mojang.com and crashes their website for a short time as a result of the increased traffic.
Shortly afterwards, Notch shared his personal view on notch.net explaining the reasons behind this transition of majority ownership from him to Microsoft. He states “It’s not about the money. It’s about my sanity.” With this comes the revelation that Notch doesn’t believe he is the symbol Minecraft should have, and therefore he will be leaving Mojang:
“I don’t want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don’t understand, that I don’t want to work on.”
Throughout this whole ordeal there was outcry. The majority of the Minecraft community refused to happily accept Microsoft as their new publisher. There’s still dispute as to the future of Minecraft under the Microsoft regime, however from where we stand, the future might actually be brighter.
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Credit to Reddit user Matsh for this image. Referencing a Microsoft feature that offered unwanted assistance.
The Dawn of a New Minecraft with Microsoft
As far as the community should be concerned, this will likely be good news for Minecraft. Here’s why.
Mojang shouldn’t really be an “indie” company anymore. It has grown out of that phase and is a household name. Before this acquisition, Mojang had a only a couple of people on technical support, and a team of Twitter PR agents cross Developers, spurring the other contradictory/unprofessional behaviour which led to the EULA drama (which further led to Notch’s departure anyway), downfall of Bukkit and a stalemate in the Minecraft community.
“Does this mean Minecraft will become Microcraft? No more Let’s Plays? Monetisation?” Microsoft has already stated that Let’s Plays will be staying for good, recognizing their usefulness in the original growth of the game. This means that they also recognize what else works for Minecraft – and none of this has ever harmed it, so we like to think that server monetisation is here to stay.
In addition, and probably the primary contender as to why Microsoft won’t mess this up, there is the factor of the money. $2.5 billion is a lot of cash, and Microsoft is not going to let it go to waste. In fact, they aim to break even on this investment by the end of 2015 and this only means bigger and better things for Minecraft. So let’s put down the pitchforks and calm the fires. There is no way of knowing exactly what will happen in the future with Microsoft, but the possibilities look promising.
New 1.8 Wood Types – What to Expect
With all the new items and features added for 1.8, there have been new customization’s for certain wood tools, such as fences and doors. These new customization’s have been added for a new variety of different wood planks types for your average day Minecraft usage. Along with the new wood category items, there is new crafting recipes for 1.8 to make a more diverse section of wooden blocks.
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Dealing with griefing – Minecraft multiplayer
Within the marvelous world of multiplayer Minecraft, you are on your favorite Minecraft server. The staff members are on, the flowers are blooming, and you are outside of your house. You decide to walk to a nearby market and buy some flowers. Your lovely dog is following you into the market full of signs and item frames. The dog sees you buy more flowers for your new Minecraft house you just created. While you are walking out of the market, you hear an explosion. You start to run to your newly built house when suddenly.. it is too late.
Your house was griefed with TNT.
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Minecraft Music Miner – Creeper Rap
Continuing with the Minecraft Music Video Series that Aikar tried to start 4 months ago, I have figured that it is time to continue and to develop this Series to bring music videos to the people of Empire. I will feature a new music video that is either Minecraft related or inspired by the game in either parody, prose or satire, hopefully on a bi-monthly basis. It will now be called Minecraft Music Miner, as I will be mining the media mines of the internet to be bringing this music to you. Starting off my run with this series, I am featuring the Creeper Rap Video by Dan Bull.