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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Minecraft:_Java_Edition#cite_note-19] | [TOKENS: 5709] |
Contents Development of Minecraft: Java Edition The development of the 2011 sandbox game Minecraft spans over 16 years and multiple major updates. Originally started in May 2009 by Markus "Notch" Persson as a small personal project, the game quickly became popular on forums, prompting Persson to continue updating it. Over the course of its development, Minecraft's public beta amassed over 4 million sales by 7 November 2011. Minecraft would eventually release on 18 November 2011. After the full release in 2011, Minecraft has been receiving various updates that add new features into the game for no additional cost. After Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang Studios (formerly known as Mojang AB) in 2014, the pace of major update releases was briefly halted, before resuming the cycle in 2016. In 2017, after the unification of the console and mobile ports of the game, the original PC version of Minecraft was renamed to Minecraft: Java Edition. In 2024, annual updates were partially replaced by "game drops" that focus on smaller but more frequent additions. Outside of major and minor updates, preview builds named "snapshots" are available in the Minecraft Launcher and are released weekly. Certain versions and snapshots are unavailable to play via the launcher, with some considered lost and others archived online. Background Before creating Minecraft, Persson was a game developer at King, where he worked until March 2009. At King, he primarily developed browser games and learned several programming languages. During his free time, he prototyped his own games, often drawing inspiration from other titles, and was an active participant on the TIGSource forums for independent developers. Around March 2009, Persson left King and joined jAlbum, while continuing to work on his prototypes. As the profits from sales of Minecraft's public alpha version began overshadowing his day job wage, he resigned from jAlbum in 2010 in order to be able to work on the game full time. With the revenue generated from the game, Persson founded Mojang, a video game studio, alongside former colleagues Jakob Porser and Carl Manneh. Following the full release, Persson transferred creative control of Minecraft to Jens Bergensten and began working on another project called 0x10c, though it was later abandoned. In 2014, Persson decided to sell Mojang, stating that he became exhausted with developing Minecraft due to the intense media attention and public pressure. After Microsoft purchased Mojang for $2.5 billion, he left the company alongside Porser and Manneh. Pre-release The first known versions of Minecraft, then known as Cave Game, were developed by Markus Persson in May 2009. The game world consisted of grass and cobblestone blocks, which could be placed and removed. The gameplay was inspired by Infiniminer and an earlier project of Persson, RubyDung. On 13 May, the first available footage of the game was released online via a YouTube video titled "Cave game tech test", uploaded by Persson himself. On 17 May, a more refined build of the game was published on the TIGSource forums. The game was renamed to Minecraft: Order of the Stone based on user feedback, later shortened to Minecraft, omitting the subtitle. Following Minecraft's release on TIGSource, Persson began updating the game based on the response from the forum users, with the subsequent builds later referred to as Minecraft Classic. Various branches of Classic have been released, such as Multiplayer Test and Survival Test, with the former implementing multiplayer capabilities into the game and the latter giving the player a health bar and adding hostile monsters, including zombies, skeletons and creepers. Ambient music tracks that play sparsely during the gameplay were added during Classic, composed by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, known professionally as C418, who became active on TIGSource in 2007 where he met Persson. Rosenfeld wanted to "make something organic and partly electronic, partly acoustic" for the music of Minecraft. The soundtrack's minimalistic style was also due to technical constraints, as he admitted the game "has a terrible sound engine." The game's soundtrack, Minecraft – Volume Alpha, would later be released in March 2011. On 7 May 2019, coinciding with Minecraft's 10th anniversary, a JavaScript recreation of Classic was made available to play online for free. Minecraft entered the Indev phase on 23 December 2009, which inherited features from Survival Test. Various features were added during this time, most notably paintings drawn by Swedish artist Kristoffer Zetterstrand. On 27 February 2010, Persson began experimenting with infinite worlds and started a new development branch called Infdev. Minecraft entered the Alpha phase on 30 June 2010. In a 2010 interview, Persson said "[...] Minecraft alpha is now, but I focused on just getting the engine written and making sure that the controls felt smooth." During the alpha stage, updates were frequent and sometimes released with no warning. Notable additions include redstone, a material capable of transmitting a signal used to change state of various blocks, such as opening doors and turning on lamps. Redstone is turing complete and has been used by players to create complex mechanisms, including computers. Released on 30 October 2010, Alpha v1.2.0 added various biomes to the world, such as deserts, forests and snowy tundras, as well as a hell-like dimension called the Nether, accessed through a player-made portal, composed mainly of lava and populated with dangerous monsters such as the fireball-shooting Ghasts. Minecraft entered the Beta phase on 20 December 2010, with Beta 1.0 introducing throwable eggs and leaf decay. The game's price was subsequently raised from €10 to €14.75. Throughout 2011, various features were added, such as beds, tameable wolves, maps, trapdoors and redstone-powered pistons. In January 2011, Minecraft had sold over 1 million copies. Beta 1.8, titled "Adventure Update", was released on September 14, 2011. The update reworked the world generation, adding new biomes, structures and terrain features, such as ravines. Villages were added, though they would not be populated until the next update. Player movement and combat was overhauled, giving the player the ability to sprint and inflict critical hits on enemies. A hunger bar was added; instead of food healing the player directly, it now replenishes the hunger bar, with player slowly healing when the bar is full and taking damage when it is empty. The update also adds creative mode, a game mode that removes survival aspects of the game, making the player invincible, able to fly and giving unlimited access to blocks, similar to Minecraft Classic. Initially, Adventure Update was going to be released in Beta 1.7, but was later delayed due to the amount of content to Beta 1.8 and then subsequently split between two updates, Beta 1.8 and Beta 1.9, the latter becoming 1.0.0. In November 2011, Minecraft had sold over 4 million copies. Release and subsequent updates On November 18, 2011, during MineCon 2011, the first full version of Minecraft was officially released, titled "Adventure Update: Part II". It was originally planned to be released as "Beta 1.9", but was later labeled "1.0.0", signifying the full release of the game. The update added a new Mushroom biome, villager NPCs that spawn in villages and Nether fortresses. Tools, weapons and armour could now be enchanted, providing stat increases and special effects. The update also added a brand new dimension titled The End, inspired by a cancelled sky dimension, and a final boss called the Ender Dragon that spawns in The End and opens a portal upon defeat which initiates the End Poem and a credits sequence. The 1.1 update released on 12 January 2012. It added spawn eggs that allow the player to spawn any mob, with the item being available only in creative mode. A new world type was added called "superflat", which generates an endless flat plain, allowing for easier building. The update also adds new enchantments for bows, improved world generation and language localizations. The 1.2 update released on 1 March 2012. It added a new jungle biome that house ocelots, which could be tamed with fish, becoming a cat. Iron golems were introduced, walking around villages and protecting them from monsters. The world's height was doubled from 128 to 256, though no terrain generates above 128 blocks. The 1.3 update was released on 1 August 2012. New dungeons were added, the desert pyramid and the jungle temple. Villager trading was introduced, along with emeralds that are used as a currency. Other new features include redstone-emitting tripwires, books that hold text written by the player, ender chests that are linked together, cocoa beans and single-player cheats. Additionally, the single-player and multiplayer codebases have been merged, raising the system requirements as "the game needs to be able to both simulate and emulate the world". On 25 October 2012, the Pretty Scary Update released. The update added new mobs such as the Wither boss and Witches, in theme for Halloween of that year. Anvils were added, used for repairing, renaming and applying enchantments to tools, weapons and armour. Other blocks were added that include item frames (picture frames that allow the display of items), flower pots and beacons, which gives the player special effects in a big radius when placed atop of a pyramid of gold, emerald, iron or diamond blocks. On 13 March 2013, the Redstone Update released. Bergensten stated that "[the update] marks the start of a series of new, more focused updates from the developer that focus on a feature or a theme." The main changes in the update are different ways that the player can make use of redstone, including a block named the "daylight detector" that can trigger circuits depending on the time of day. Released on 1 July 2013, The Horse Update added a new form of transportation with horses, donkeys and mules along with horse armour. The update also introduced leads, carpets, terracotta, hay bales, name tags and coal blocks. The Update that Changed the World was released on 25 October 2013. The update overhauled the world generation, adding 11 new biomes such as savannas, mesas, extreme hills and various forests, along with terrain features such as packed ice, podzol and red sand. The "amplified" world type was introduced, featuring extreme terrain. Additionally, new types of fish and item frames were added. The Bountiful update released on 2 September 2014. It added the Ocean Monument alongside a new boss called the Elder Guardian, as well as rabbits, bouncy slime blocks, customizable banners and a new female default character skin, Alex. A new world type was added that allowed full customization of terrain features and structure generation. The update also updated item enchanting and repairing. Following Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang AB and Persson's subsequent departure from the company, no new major updates were released until February 2016. Teased in the 2015 April Fools' Day update and released on 29 February 2016, the Combat Update aimed to improve Minecraft's combat mechanics as well as expand the End dimension. Swords and axes were assigned a cooldown, making players unable to attack rapidly. Dual wielding was introduced, allowing the players to equip any item in their "off-hand" slot, including a brand new shield item that absorbs most enemy damage. The End dimension was expanded, with the player being able to visit more end islands after defeating the Ender Dragon on the main island. End cities can be found on these islands, which contain powerful loot, including an equippable set of elytra that allows the player to glide in the air. The reception to the combat changes was controversial, with certain users and community-run servers opting not to update to 1.9. Bergensten stated that "the combat system wasn’t very interesting and we simply wanted to give it a little bit more variation", noting that the changes were "almost universally hated by the PVP community". The Frostburn Update, released on 8 June 2016, adds additional biome-dependent variants for zombies and skeletons, polar bears, Nether magma blocks, fossils, as well as improvements for world generation and mob spawning. The Exploration Update was released on 14 November 2016. A new structure was added, the woodland mansion that houses illagers, a hostile version of villagers that attack villagers and the player. Dropped from the magic-powered evoker illagers, Totems of Undying can prevent an otherwise fatal event when held by the player. A new villager type called the cartographer was added who sells maps that lead to various structures. Other additions include llamas, a portable chest item called the Shulker Box and cursed enchantments. The World of Color was released on 7 June 2017 and added new concrete and terracotta blocks, as well as tameable parrots. It also improved various colored blocks, making them more vibrant. The achievement system originally added in Beta was replaced with advancements, which give the player experience points for completing them. On 20 September 2017, the Better Together update was released for Windows 10, console and mobile ports of Minecraft, unifying them under the name Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. Following the update, the original PC version was renamed to Minecraft: Java Edition. Update Aquatic, an ocean overhaul, was released on 18 July 2018. The update made oceans more varied and added various biomes and structures, such as seagrass, coral reefs, icebergs, buried treasures and shipwrecks that contain loot. Fish, which were previously only available as items, were introduced as a mob that could be captured in a bucket. A new underwater zombie was added, the Drowned, that has a rare chance to spawn with a throwable trident weapon that can be looted and used by the player. Sea turtles were introduced, producing scutes that are used to craft a helmet that extends the amount of time the player can survive underwater without oxygen. Other additions include dolphins, blue ice and improved swimming mechanics. Released on 23 April 2019, the Village & Pillage update focused on improving the villages and villager NPCs as well as adding a new raid event. Villagers were reworked to behave more realistically and have their trades be dependent on their "job block", instead of their profession being selected randomly on spawn. A raid event was added, with villages now being vulnerable to attack from illagers. The update also introduced biome-dependent villages and villager clothes, as well as pandas, foxes, crossbows, campfires, cherries and bamboo. The Buzzy Bees update was released on 10 December 2019. The update added bees that can be found in forests and are neutral to the player, becoming aggressive when provoked and dying shortly after a sting. They can pollinate flowers and bring honey to their nest or a player crafted beehive. Honey collected in bottles can be used to craft honey blocks, which are used in conjunction with pistons to push adjacent blocks similarly to slime blocks, though slime and honey blocks do not stick. In addition, honey blocks suppress fall damage and make the player slide down the sides of the block; these mechanics were used by the players to make parkour maps. Various mods have been released that change the appearance of bees. The Nether Update was released on 23 June 2020. The update centered around updating the Nether dimension, making it more varied and useful. New Nether biomes were added, such as soul sand valleys, basalt deltas and crimson and warped forests. Zombie pigmen had their appearance changed slightly and were renamed to zombified piglins. Regular piglins were added, hostile to the player unless one wears gold armour. They can be bartered with by giving them gold in exchange for various items. The update also introduced striders, a passive mob that can be ridden to safely traverse lava. Bastion remnants were added to the Nether, housing hostile piglin brutes and chests with valuable loot, including a brand new music disc "Pigstep". The music disc, along with new ambient music tracks that play in the Nether, were composed by Lena Raine and appear in the soundtrack album Minecraft: Nether Update (Original Game Soundtrack). Netherite, a brand new Nether-exclusive material, is used to upgrade diamond armour and tools, making them more durable and fireproof. Additionally, the update added respawn anchors that make the player respawn in the Nether after death (regular beds blow up in the Nether), target blocks that emit redstone signal, lodestone blocks and the originally-scrapped crying obsidian blocks. Announced during Minecraft Live 2020, the Caves & Cliffs update was originally supposed to release in full in Summer 2021, but was split into two smaller updates due to the team not wanting to rush what they described as the "most ambitious [update]" yet, the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the workflow, as well as technical challenges due to the maximum world height being increased. Caves & Cliffs: Part I released on 8 June 2021. The update added axolotls, who were added following Mojang Studios' trend of adding endangered species to the game to raise awareness and quickly became a fan favourite feature of the update. Other new mobs include mountain goats and aquifer-inhabiting glow squids, the latter of which controversially won the previous year's mob vote that was allegedly rigged by the Minecraft YouTuber Dream. Copper was added, collected from underground ores and used to craft decorative copper blocks, lightning rods and spyglasses. Copper blocks placed in the world oxidize over time, with the color gradually turning from orange to teal; the process can be stopped at any stage of oxidization by waxing the block using honeycomb. New cave flora was also added, including moss, glow lichens, spore blossoms, glow berries, dripleafs and azalea. Amethyst could be found underground in geodes consisting of smooth basalt and calcite. Additionally, the update adds dripstone stalactites and stalagmites, tuff, candles and powder snow. Caves & Cliffs: Part II released on 30 November 2021. The update reworked the world generation to be more expansive, with higher mountains and deeper caves, along with new biomes for both. To achieve such change, the world height was increased from 256 to 384, 64 blocks up and down. Mountains were changed to have a gradual biome shift, along with making them higher and featuring more defined peaks. Caves were expanded, featuring more varied generation, larger aquifers and new biomes, such as lush caves and dripstone caves. A mysterious and dangerous Deep Dark cave biome, archaeology features, and bundles were also set to appear, but were later postponed to The Wild Update, Trails & Tales and Bundles of Bravery updates respectively. New music by Lena Raine and Samuel Åberg was composed for the update and later released as Minecraft: The Wild Update (Original Game Soundtrack). The Wild Update was released on 7 June 2022. It added two new biomes, mangrove swamp and Deep Dark, the latter of which was originally planned for release in the Caves & Cliffs update. It also added a new type of wood, mud blocks, boats with chests, frogs and tadpoles. The update was originally going to add fireflies that could be eaten by frogs, but the feature was scrapped due to fireflies being poisonous to frogs in real life, with game director Agnes Larsson stating that "if we release a feature like fireflies that are poisonous to frogs and we have frogs eating them, that actually might lead to people killing their real life frogs". A concept art of a reworked birch forest biome was also showed during the update's reveal, but the biome was not touched in the update. These actions led to criticism, with various users nicknaming the update "The Mild Update" due to the amount of content added deemed insufficient. Fireflies would be eventually added in the "Spring to Life" game drop released in 2025. Released on 28 June 2022, update 1.19.1 added a feature that allows players to report chat messages by other players for inappropriate or dangerous behavior. The reports are manually reviewed by Mojang Studios employees and can lead to the reported player getting banned from playing all multiplayer servers if he is found to be in violation of Xbox Community Standards. The feature was widely criticized by the players; some pointed out that it is possible to be reported on one's own server, others opined that chat monitoring may lead to further censorship and dubbed the update "1.19.84", referencing the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Community manager MojangMeesh responded to criticism on Reddit, stating that the system is not going to be changed or reverted despite the feedback and asking people not to harass other employees; his comment received almost 2,000 downvotes. Various mods have been created to circumvent chat reporting. The Trails & Tales update was announced during Minecraft Live 2022 as an unnamed upcoming update and was released on 7 June 2023. The update added cherry blossoms, along with bamboo planks. Originally planned for 1.17, archaeology was introduced, with the player being able to excavate items from suspicious sand and gravel near certain structures using a brush. The buried items include pottery sherds used to craft ceramic pots with art, and sniffer eggs, which slowly hatch into a sniffer, a new fictional mob able to dig out items from soil otherwise unavailable to the player. Additionally, camels, decorative armour trims, hanging signs and chiseled bookshelves were added. In September 2023, Mojang Studios announced its switch from major annual updates to "game drops" that release more frequently, stating that "alongside these regular content drops, our developers will be focusing on long-term initiatives to ensure we can continue to evolve Minecraft long into the future". The first ever seasonal game drop was released on 5 December 2023, named "Bats and Pots". The drop added more functionality to pots added in the previous update, making them able to store items and break when hit with a projectile. Bats were also redesigned. Released on 23 April 2024, the Armored Paws game drop added armadillos, the previous year's mob vote winner, as well as new wolf variants. Armadillos are scared of players and roll up into a ball when approached or hurt. Armadillo scutes can be brushed off the animal using a brush. The scutes are used to craft wolf armour. The Tricky Trials update was released on 13 June 2024. New underground dungeons were added called the trial chambers, containing mob spawners and valuable loot. Going into the dungeon with a bad omen status effect increases the difficulty of the encounters, giving enemies better armour and weapons, while also increasing the quality of loot. Maces were introduced, crafted using heavy cores obtained from trial chambers. The damage inflicted by the weapon is proportional to the amount of distance fallen, with a successful hit negating fall damage. Breezes could be found in trial chambers, dealing little damage but high knockback, with their projectiles being able to activate redstone traps. The mob drops wind charges, which can be used by the player to knock mobs back or propel oneself into the air, akin to rocket jumping. New copper blocks were added, with most being used in the trial chambers. The update also added a redstone-powered automated crafting table, new music discs, armour trims and additional paintings, most of which were done by Zetterstrand, who created the original set of Minecraft's paintings. The Bundles of Bravery game drop was released on 22 October 2024. It added bundles that are able to hold up to 64 different items in a single inventory slot. The bundles can also be dyed. Announced alongside Bundles of Bravery, The Garden Awakens game drop was released on 3 December 2024. It added a rare forest biome named the pale garden. The biome has a grey, desaturated look and no ambient music plays inside the biome. A new hostile mob called the Creaking was introduced. Creakings spawn in the pale garden during night and attack players who are not looking at it, otherwise standing completely still. The mob cannot be damaged directly; killing the mob requires destroying the creaking heart found inside trees. The Creaking drops resin upon death, which can be crafted into resin bricks. Various sources noted the horror theme of the update. The Spring to Life game drop was released on 25 March 2025. It added new environment blocks, including bushes, dry grass, cactus flowers and leaf litter, as well as new ambient sounds for various biomes. Fireflies were added, an ambient feature originally slated for release for The Wild Update in 2022. Additionally, new biome-specific variants for chickens, cows and pigs and were added. Announced during Minecraft Live 2025, the Chase the Skies game drop was released on 17 June 2025. The drop added a new mob called the happy ghast, a non-hostile variant of ghasts that can be tamed and ridden with a harness. They are obtained by rescuing dried ghasts from the Nether, and put into water in the Overworld. The update also introduced the player locator bar, overhauled lead mechanics and added two music discs, one of which being a chiptune remix by Hyper Potions of "Steve's Lava Chicken" from A Minecraft Movie obtained by killing a chicken jockey. The Copper Age game drop was released on 30 September 2025. It added the copper golem, a player-made mob capable of moving items between chests and sorting them. Additional copper blocks such as chests, chains, lanterns and torches were also added. The shelf block were also introduced, as well as copper armour and tools. The Mounts of Mayhem game drop was released on 9 December 2025. A new tiered spear weapon was introduced, dealing damage based on player speed. Giant rideable nautiluses were added, used for underwater traversal due to their fast speed and the ability to extend the player's breath. The update also added additional variants to mobs, such as a zombified camel variant called Camel Husk and a desert skeleton variant called the Parched, who fires arrows of weakness at the player, while also introducing zombie horses, a previously unused mob. On 2 December 2025, Mojang Studios announced a change in Minecraft's version numbering, switching from semantic to calendar versioning starting in 2026, with the next unannounced update being labeled as 26.1 (the first update of 2026). Upcoming content From 2019 to 2020, a new branch of snapshots was developed, named the Combat Tests. The snapshots experimented with changing various combat mechanics, with the goal of making a combat system for both Java and Bedrock editions of Minecraft, fixing the disparity between the versions. References |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aether_(mod)#cite_ref-:1_3-1] | [TOKENS: 451] |
Contents The Aether (mod) The Aether is a Minecraft mod originally released by a team of six modders. The mod adds a new Heaven-like dimension to Minecraft, complete with new materials, mobs, dungeons and bosses. The mod was released on 22 July 2011 and received acclaim, with the lead developer being hired at Mojang Studios. A sequel to the mod was released in June 2013. Gameplay The Aether mod adds a new eponymous dimension to Minecraft. The dimension's pastel aesthetics and floating islands contrast the Nether, a dimension from the base game themed after Hell. The Aether is accessed by building, activating and going through the Aether portal, constructed in the same shape as the Nether portal but with different materials. The dimension is made out of islands floating in mid-air; falling down sends the player out of the dimension. Various friendly and hostile mobs can be encountered in the Aether. Overworld tools become obsolete in the Aether, requiring the player to make tools out of new materials found inside the dimension, effectively restarting the progression chain. The mod also adds accessories, which provide buffs to a player when placed in a specific inventory slot. Dungeons can be found in the Aether, containing a boss at the end that drops valuable items upon defeat. Development As of June 2013, the mod team had seven members: project lead Brandon "kingbdogz" Pearce, programmers Jaryt and Saspiron, artists Dark and Oscar Payn, composer Emile van Krieken and writer Liberty. In December 2021, The Aether was updated to support newer Minecraft versions. Reception Being one of the first large-scale mods for Minecraft, The Aether has received acclaim and is considered a classic. PCGamesN called the mod "one of Minecraft's most impressive historic mods". Various news outlets described the mod's themes as antithetical to the Nether. In January 2020, Pearce became a Mojang Studios employee. In June 2013, The Aether 2 was announced, a mod that aims to overhaul The Aether and add new content as well as a multiplayer party system, designed to make cooperative play more convenient. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Minecraft:_Java_Edition#cite_note-22] | [TOKENS: 5709] |
Contents Development of Minecraft: Java Edition The development of the 2011 sandbox game Minecraft spans over 16 years and multiple major updates. Originally started in May 2009 by Markus "Notch" Persson as a small personal project, the game quickly became popular on forums, prompting Persson to continue updating it. Over the course of its development, Minecraft's public beta amassed over 4 million sales by 7 November 2011. Minecraft would eventually release on 18 November 2011. After the full release in 2011, Minecraft has been receiving various updates that add new features into the game for no additional cost. After Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang Studios (formerly known as Mojang AB) in 2014, the pace of major update releases was briefly halted, before resuming the cycle in 2016. In 2017, after the unification of the console and mobile ports of the game, the original PC version of Minecraft was renamed to Minecraft: Java Edition. In 2024, annual updates were partially replaced by "game drops" that focus on smaller but more frequent additions. Outside of major and minor updates, preview builds named "snapshots" are available in the Minecraft Launcher and are released weekly. Certain versions and snapshots are unavailable to play via the launcher, with some considered lost and others archived online. Background Before creating Minecraft, Persson was a game developer at King, where he worked until March 2009. At King, he primarily developed browser games and learned several programming languages. During his free time, he prototyped his own games, often drawing inspiration from other titles, and was an active participant on the TIGSource forums for independent developers. Around March 2009, Persson left King and joined jAlbum, while continuing to work on his prototypes. As the profits from sales of Minecraft's public alpha version began overshadowing his day job wage, he resigned from jAlbum in 2010 in order to be able to work on the game full time. With the revenue generated from the game, Persson founded Mojang, a video game studio, alongside former colleagues Jakob Porser and Carl Manneh. Following the full release, Persson transferred creative control of Minecraft to Jens Bergensten and began working on another project called 0x10c, though it was later abandoned. In 2014, Persson decided to sell Mojang, stating that he became exhausted with developing Minecraft due to the intense media attention and public pressure. After Microsoft purchased Mojang for $2.5 billion, he left the company alongside Porser and Manneh. Pre-release The first known versions of Minecraft, then known as Cave Game, were developed by Markus Persson in May 2009. The game world consisted of grass and cobblestone blocks, which could be placed and removed. The gameplay was inspired by Infiniminer and an earlier project of Persson, RubyDung. On 13 May, the first available footage of the game was released online via a YouTube video titled "Cave game tech test", uploaded by Persson himself. On 17 May, a more refined build of the game was published on the TIGSource forums. The game was renamed to Minecraft: Order of the Stone based on user feedback, later shortened to Minecraft, omitting the subtitle. Following Minecraft's release on TIGSource, Persson began updating the game based on the response from the forum users, with the subsequent builds later referred to as Minecraft Classic. Various branches of Classic have been released, such as Multiplayer Test and Survival Test, with the former implementing multiplayer capabilities into the game and the latter giving the player a health bar and adding hostile monsters, including zombies, skeletons and creepers. Ambient music tracks that play sparsely during the gameplay were added during Classic, composed by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, known professionally as C418, who became active on TIGSource in 2007 where he met Persson. Rosenfeld wanted to "make something organic and partly electronic, partly acoustic" for the music of Minecraft. The soundtrack's minimalistic style was also due to technical constraints, as he admitted the game "has a terrible sound engine." The game's soundtrack, Minecraft – Volume Alpha, would later be released in March 2011. On 7 May 2019, coinciding with Minecraft's 10th anniversary, a JavaScript recreation of Classic was made available to play online for free. Minecraft entered the Indev phase on 23 December 2009, which inherited features from Survival Test. Various features were added during this time, most notably paintings drawn by Swedish artist Kristoffer Zetterstrand. On 27 February 2010, Persson began experimenting with infinite worlds and started a new development branch called Infdev. Minecraft entered the Alpha phase on 30 June 2010. In a 2010 interview, Persson said "[...] Minecraft alpha is now, but I focused on just getting the engine written and making sure that the controls felt smooth." During the alpha stage, updates were frequent and sometimes released with no warning. Notable additions include redstone, a material capable of transmitting a signal used to change state of various blocks, such as opening doors and turning on lamps. Redstone is turing complete and has been used by players to create complex mechanisms, including computers. Released on 30 October 2010, Alpha v1.2.0 added various biomes to the world, such as deserts, forests and snowy tundras, as well as a hell-like dimension called the Nether, accessed through a player-made portal, composed mainly of lava and populated with dangerous monsters such as the fireball-shooting Ghasts. Minecraft entered the Beta phase on 20 December 2010, with Beta 1.0 introducing throwable eggs and leaf decay. The game's price was subsequently raised from €10 to €14.75. Throughout 2011, various features were added, such as beds, tameable wolves, maps, trapdoors and redstone-powered pistons. In January 2011, Minecraft had sold over 1 million copies. Beta 1.8, titled "Adventure Update", was released on September 14, 2011. The update reworked the world generation, adding new biomes, structures and terrain features, such as ravines. Villages were added, though they would not be populated until the next update. Player movement and combat was overhauled, giving the player the ability to sprint and inflict critical hits on enemies. A hunger bar was added; instead of food healing the player directly, it now replenishes the hunger bar, with player slowly healing when the bar is full and taking damage when it is empty. The update also adds creative mode, a game mode that removes survival aspects of the game, making the player invincible, able to fly and giving unlimited access to blocks, similar to Minecraft Classic. Initially, Adventure Update was going to be released in Beta 1.7, but was later delayed due to the amount of content to Beta 1.8 and then subsequently split between two updates, Beta 1.8 and Beta 1.9, the latter becoming 1.0.0. In November 2011, Minecraft had sold over 4 million copies. Release and subsequent updates On November 18, 2011, during MineCon 2011, the first full version of Minecraft was officially released, titled "Adventure Update: Part II". It was originally planned to be released as "Beta 1.9", but was later labeled "1.0.0", signifying the full release of the game. The update added a new Mushroom biome, villager NPCs that spawn in villages and Nether fortresses. Tools, weapons and armour could now be enchanted, providing stat increases and special effects. The update also added a brand new dimension titled The End, inspired by a cancelled sky dimension, and a final boss called the Ender Dragon that spawns in The End and opens a portal upon defeat which initiates the End Poem and a credits sequence. The 1.1 update released on 12 January 2012. It added spawn eggs that allow the player to spawn any mob, with the item being available only in creative mode. A new world type was added called "superflat", which generates an endless flat plain, allowing for easier building. The update also adds new enchantments for bows, improved world generation and language localizations. The 1.2 update released on 1 March 2012. It added a new jungle biome that house ocelots, which could be tamed with fish, becoming a cat. Iron golems were introduced, walking around villages and protecting them from monsters. The world's height was doubled from 128 to 256, though no terrain generates above 128 blocks. The 1.3 update was released on 1 August 2012. New dungeons were added, the desert pyramid and the jungle temple. Villager trading was introduced, along with emeralds that are used as a currency. Other new features include redstone-emitting tripwires, books that hold text written by the player, ender chests that are linked together, cocoa beans and single-player cheats. Additionally, the single-player and multiplayer codebases have been merged, raising the system requirements as "the game needs to be able to both simulate and emulate the world". On 25 October 2012, the Pretty Scary Update released. The update added new mobs such as the Wither boss and Witches, in theme for Halloween of that year. Anvils were added, used for repairing, renaming and applying enchantments to tools, weapons and armour. Other blocks were added that include item frames (picture frames that allow the display of items), flower pots and beacons, which gives the player special effects in a big radius when placed atop of a pyramid of gold, emerald, iron or diamond blocks. On 13 March 2013, the Redstone Update released. Bergensten stated that "[the update] marks the start of a series of new, more focused updates from the developer that focus on a feature or a theme." The main changes in the update are different ways that the player can make use of redstone, including a block named the "daylight detector" that can trigger circuits depending on the time of day. Released on 1 July 2013, The Horse Update added a new form of transportation with horses, donkeys and mules along with horse armour. The update also introduced leads, carpets, terracotta, hay bales, name tags and coal blocks. The Update that Changed the World was released on 25 October 2013. The update overhauled the world generation, adding 11 new biomes such as savannas, mesas, extreme hills and various forests, along with terrain features such as packed ice, podzol and red sand. The "amplified" world type was introduced, featuring extreme terrain. Additionally, new types of fish and item frames were added. The Bountiful update released on 2 September 2014. It added the Ocean Monument alongside a new boss called the Elder Guardian, as well as rabbits, bouncy slime blocks, customizable banners and a new female default character skin, Alex. A new world type was added that allowed full customization of terrain features and structure generation. The update also updated item enchanting and repairing. Following Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang AB and Persson's subsequent departure from the company, no new major updates were released until February 2016. Teased in the 2015 April Fools' Day update and released on 29 February 2016, the Combat Update aimed to improve Minecraft's combat mechanics as well as expand the End dimension. Swords and axes were assigned a cooldown, making players unable to attack rapidly. Dual wielding was introduced, allowing the players to equip any item in their "off-hand" slot, including a brand new shield item that absorbs most enemy damage. The End dimension was expanded, with the player being able to visit more end islands after defeating the Ender Dragon on the main island. End cities can be found on these islands, which contain powerful loot, including an equippable set of elytra that allows the player to glide in the air. The reception to the combat changes was controversial, with certain users and community-run servers opting not to update to 1.9. Bergensten stated that "the combat system wasn’t very interesting and we simply wanted to give it a little bit more variation", noting that the changes were "almost universally hated by the PVP community". The Frostburn Update, released on 8 June 2016, adds additional biome-dependent variants for zombies and skeletons, polar bears, Nether magma blocks, fossils, as well as improvements for world generation and mob spawning. The Exploration Update was released on 14 November 2016. A new structure was added, the woodland mansion that houses illagers, a hostile version of villagers that attack villagers and the player. Dropped from the magic-powered evoker illagers, Totems of Undying can prevent an otherwise fatal event when held by the player. A new villager type called the cartographer was added who sells maps that lead to various structures. Other additions include llamas, a portable chest item called the Shulker Box and cursed enchantments. The World of Color was released on 7 June 2017 and added new concrete and terracotta blocks, as well as tameable parrots. It also improved various colored blocks, making them more vibrant. The achievement system originally added in Beta was replaced with advancements, which give the player experience points for completing them. On 20 September 2017, the Better Together update was released for Windows 10, console and mobile ports of Minecraft, unifying them under the name Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. Following the update, the original PC version was renamed to Minecraft: Java Edition. Update Aquatic, an ocean overhaul, was released on 18 July 2018. The update made oceans more varied and added various biomes and structures, such as seagrass, coral reefs, icebergs, buried treasures and shipwrecks that contain loot. Fish, which were previously only available as items, were introduced as a mob that could be captured in a bucket. A new underwater zombie was added, the Drowned, that has a rare chance to spawn with a throwable trident weapon that can be looted and used by the player. Sea turtles were introduced, producing scutes that are used to craft a helmet that extends the amount of time the player can survive underwater without oxygen. Other additions include dolphins, blue ice and improved swimming mechanics. Released on 23 April 2019, the Village & Pillage update focused on improving the villages and villager NPCs as well as adding a new raid event. Villagers were reworked to behave more realistically and have their trades be dependent on their "job block", instead of their profession being selected randomly on spawn. A raid event was added, with villages now being vulnerable to attack from illagers. The update also introduced biome-dependent villages and villager clothes, as well as pandas, foxes, crossbows, campfires, cherries and bamboo. The Buzzy Bees update was released on 10 December 2019. The update added bees that can be found in forests and are neutral to the player, becoming aggressive when provoked and dying shortly after a sting. They can pollinate flowers and bring honey to their nest or a player crafted beehive. Honey collected in bottles can be used to craft honey blocks, which are used in conjunction with pistons to push adjacent blocks similarly to slime blocks, though slime and honey blocks do not stick. In addition, honey blocks suppress fall damage and make the player slide down the sides of the block; these mechanics were used by the players to make parkour maps. Various mods have been released that change the appearance of bees. The Nether Update was released on 23 June 2020. The update centered around updating the Nether dimension, making it more varied and useful. New Nether biomes were added, such as soul sand valleys, basalt deltas and crimson and warped forests. Zombie pigmen had their appearance changed slightly and were renamed to zombified piglins. Regular piglins were added, hostile to the player unless one wears gold armour. They can be bartered with by giving them gold in exchange for various items. The update also introduced striders, a passive mob that can be ridden to safely traverse lava. Bastion remnants were added to the Nether, housing hostile piglin brutes and chests with valuable loot, including a brand new music disc "Pigstep". The music disc, along with new ambient music tracks that play in the Nether, were composed by Lena Raine and appear in the soundtrack album Minecraft: Nether Update (Original Game Soundtrack). Netherite, a brand new Nether-exclusive material, is used to upgrade diamond armour and tools, making them more durable and fireproof. Additionally, the update added respawn anchors that make the player respawn in the Nether after death (regular beds blow up in the Nether), target blocks that emit redstone signal, lodestone blocks and the originally-scrapped crying obsidian blocks. Announced during Minecraft Live 2020, the Caves & Cliffs update was originally supposed to release in full in Summer 2021, but was split into two smaller updates due to the team not wanting to rush what they described as the "most ambitious [update]" yet, the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the workflow, as well as technical challenges due to the maximum world height being increased. Caves & Cliffs: Part I released on 8 June 2021. The update added axolotls, who were added following Mojang Studios' trend of adding endangered species to the game to raise awareness and quickly became a fan favourite feature of the update. Other new mobs include mountain goats and aquifer-inhabiting glow squids, the latter of which controversially won the previous year's mob vote that was allegedly rigged by the Minecraft YouTuber Dream. Copper was added, collected from underground ores and used to craft decorative copper blocks, lightning rods and spyglasses. Copper blocks placed in the world oxidize over time, with the color gradually turning from orange to teal; the process can be stopped at any stage of oxidization by waxing the block using honeycomb. New cave flora was also added, including moss, glow lichens, spore blossoms, glow berries, dripleafs and azalea. Amethyst could be found underground in geodes consisting of smooth basalt and calcite. Additionally, the update adds dripstone stalactites and stalagmites, tuff, candles and powder snow. Caves & Cliffs: Part II released on 30 November 2021. The update reworked the world generation to be more expansive, with higher mountains and deeper caves, along with new biomes for both. To achieve such change, the world height was increased from 256 to 384, 64 blocks up and down. Mountains were changed to have a gradual biome shift, along with making them higher and featuring more defined peaks. Caves were expanded, featuring more varied generation, larger aquifers and new biomes, such as lush caves and dripstone caves. A mysterious and dangerous Deep Dark cave biome, archaeology features, and bundles were also set to appear, but were later postponed to The Wild Update, Trails & Tales and Bundles of Bravery updates respectively. New music by Lena Raine and Samuel Åberg was composed for the update and later released as Minecraft: The Wild Update (Original Game Soundtrack). The Wild Update was released on 7 June 2022. It added two new biomes, mangrove swamp and Deep Dark, the latter of which was originally planned for release in the Caves & Cliffs update. It also added a new type of wood, mud blocks, boats with chests, frogs and tadpoles. The update was originally going to add fireflies that could be eaten by frogs, but the feature was scrapped due to fireflies being poisonous to frogs in real life, with game director Agnes Larsson stating that "if we release a feature like fireflies that are poisonous to frogs and we have frogs eating them, that actually might lead to people killing their real life frogs". A concept art of a reworked birch forest biome was also showed during the update's reveal, but the biome was not touched in the update. These actions led to criticism, with various users nicknaming the update "The Mild Update" due to the amount of content added deemed insufficient. Fireflies would be eventually added in the "Spring to Life" game drop released in 2025. Released on 28 June 2022, update 1.19.1 added a feature that allows players to report chat messages by other players for inappropriate or dangerous behavior. The reports are manually reviewed by Mojang Studios employees and can lead to the reported player getting banned from playing all multiplayer servers if he is found to be in violation of Xbox Community Standards. The feature was widely criticized by the players; some pointed out that it is possible to be reported on one's own server, others opined that chat monitoring may lead to further censorship and dubbed the update "1.19.84", referencing the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Community manager MojangMeesh responded to criticism on Reddit, stating that the system is not going to be changed or reverted despite the feedback and asking people not to harass other employees; his comment received almost 2,000 downvotes. Various mods have been created to circumvent chat reporting. The Trails & Tales update was announced during Minecraft Live 2022 as an unnamed upcoming update and was released on 7 June 2023. The update added cherry blossoms, along with bamboo planks. Originally planned for 1.17, archaeology was introduced, with the player being able to excavate items from suspicious sand and gravel near certain structures using a brush. The buried items include pottery sherds used to craft ceramic pots with art, and sniffer eggs, which slowly hatch into a sniffer, a new fictional mob able to dig out items from soil otherwise unavailable to the player. Additionally, camels, decorative armour trims, hanging signs and chiseled bookshelves were added. In September 2023, Mojang Studios announced its switch from major annual updates to "game drops" that release more frequently, stating that "alongside these regular content drops, our developers will be focusing on long-term initiatives to ensure we can continue to evolve Minecraft long into the future". The first ever seasonal game drop was released on 5 December 2023, named "Bats and Pots". The drop added more functionality to pots added in the previous update, making them able to store items and break when hit with a projectile. Bats were also redesigned. Released on 23 April 2024, the Armored Paws game drop added armadillos, the previous year's mob vote winner, as well as new wolf variants. Armadillos are scared of players and roll up into a ball when approached or hurt. Armadillo scutes can be brushed off the animal using a brush. The scutes are used to craft wolf armour. The Tricky Trials update was released on 13 June 2024. New underground dungeons were added called the trial chambers, containing mob spawners and valuable loot. Going into the dungeon with a bad omen status effect increases the difficulty of the encounters, giving enemies better armour and weapons, while also increasing the quality of loot. Maces were introduced, crafted using heavy cores obtained from trial chambers. The damage inflicted by the weapon is proportional to the amount of distance fallen, with a successful hit negating fall damage. Breezes could be found in trial chambers, dealing little damage but high knockback, with their projectiles being able to activate redstone traps. The mob drops wind charges, which can be used by the player to knock mobs back or propel oneself into the air, akin to rocket jumping. New copper blocks were added, with most being used in the trial chambers. The update also added a redstone-powered automated crafting table, new music discs, armour trims and additional paintings, most of which were done by Zetterstrand, who created the original set of Minecraft's paintings. The Bundles of Bravery game drop was released on 22 October 2024. It added bundles that are able to hold up to 64 different items in a single inventory slot. The bundles can also be dyed. Announced alongside Bundles of Bravery, The Garden Awakens game drop was released on 3 December 2024. It added a rare forest biome named the pale garden. The biome has a grey, desaturated look and no ambient music plays inside the biome. A new hostile mob called the Creaking was introduced. Creakings spawn in the pale garden during night and attack players who are not looking at it, otherwise standing completely still. The mob cannot be damaged directly; killing the mob requires destroying the creaking heart found inside trees. The Creaking drops resin upon death, which can be crafted into resin bricks. Various sources noted the horror theme of the update. The Spring to Life game drop was released on 25 March 2025. It added new environment blocks, including bushes, dry grass, cactus flowers and leaf litter, as well as new ambient sounds for various biomes. Fireflies were added, an ambient feature originally slated for release for The Wild Update in 2022. Additionally, new biome-specific variants for chickens, cows and pigs and were added. Announced during Minecraft Live 2025, the Chase the Skies game drop was released on 17 June 2025. The drop added a new mob called the happy ghast, a non-hostile variant of ghasts that can be tamed and ridden with a harness. They are obtained by rescuing dried ghasts from the Nether, and put into water in the Overworld. The update also introduced the player locator bar, overhauled lead mechanics and added two music discs, one of which being a chiptune remix by Hyper Potions of "Steve's Lava Chicken" from A Minecraft Movie obtained by killing a chicken jockey. The Copper Age game drop was released on 30 September 2025. It added the copper golem, a player-made mob capable of moving items between chests and sorting them. Additional copper blocks such as chests, chains, lanterns and torches were also added. The shelf block were also introduced, as well as copper armour and tools. The Mounts of Mayhem game drop was released on 9 December 2025. A new tiered spear weapon was introduced, dealing damage based on player speed. Giant rideable nautiluses were added, used for underwater traversal due to their fast speed and the ability to extend the player's breath. The update also added additional variants to mobs, such as a zombified camel variant called Camel Husk and a desert skeleton variant called the Parched, who fires arrows of weakness at the player, while also introducing zombie horses, a previously unused mob. On 2 December 2025, Mojang Studios announced a change in Minecraft's version numbering, switching from semantic to calendar versioning starting in 2026, with the next unannounced update being labeled as 26.1 (the first update of 2026). Upcoming content From 2019 to 2020, a new branch of snapshots was developed, named the Combat Tests. The snapshots experimented with changing various combat mechanics, with the goal of making a combat system for both Java and Bedrock editions of Minecraft, fixing the disparity between the versions. References |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft_Legends#cite_note-10] | [TOKENS: 1262] |
Contents Minecraft Legends Minecraft Legends is a 2023 real-time action-strategy video game developed by Mojang Studios and Blackbird Interactive and published by Xbox Game Studios. A spin-off of the 2011 sandbox game Minecraft, it was released on Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on April 18, 2023. The game would later cease development on January 10, 2024. The goal of the game is to defend the Overworld from an invasion of piglins, pig-like humanoid creatures from the Nether dimension, while the player gradually strengthens their structures and troops with resources harvested. The game received mixed reviews from critics, with its gameplay being both praised for its execution and criticized for its repetitive nature. Gameplay Minecraft Legends is set in the Minecraft Overworld, an earth-like dimension filled with various biomes and natural resources that is currently under attack from the piglin hordes from the Nether dimension. The Overworld contains friendly villages, hostile piglin outposts, and the Well of Fate (the player spawnpoint and fast-travel hub). Similarly to Minecraft, the Overworld is procedurally generated, resulting in a unique world for each playthrough of the game. Players collect resources to construct defenses, upgrade buildings, and summon troops. Players collect basic resources such as wood and stone by assigning friendly Allays to harvest them from deposits found in the Overworld. Other resources, such as redstone and lapis lazuli are used to build advanced structures and summon stronger troops but are locked behind Well of Fate upgrades. Prismarine, which is needed to construct some buildings, can only be collected by defeating piglin structures. The player can use resources they've collected to construct buildings and upgrade the Well of Fate. Defensive fortifications such as walls and turrets protect friendly villages and player outposts. Spawners summon friendly troops the players can recruit into their army. Offensive structures such as the redstone cannon, hurl explosive shells at targets from long range. Upgrading the Well of Fate unlocks more advanced buildings and troops. The primary goal of combat is to destroy piglin outposts and defend friendly villages from periodic piglin raids. Players use their summoned troops to assault and destroy piglin outposts. Players travel around the Overworld on their mount, from which they can issue various orders command their army on the battlefield. These commands include orders to rally, halt, and charge. Players can also use their sword to attack enemies directly. Players build their army by constructing spawner buildings that summon troops or recruiting troops from camps found throughout the Overworld. Minecraft Legends incorporates the same Minecoins currency as Minecraft Bedrock Edition. This currency is used to purchase additional skins and mounts within the game. The game is sold with an optional "Deluxe Skin Pack", which contains six additional in-game skins: one hero skin and five mount skins. Plot The game begins with the player mining in a cave when they are greeted by three beings: Action, Knowledge, and Foresight. These beings are called Hosts, caretakers of the Overworld. These three persuade the player to help them save their world, where a war has broken out between the Nether and the Overworld. The player is then transported to that world. After completing a tutorial, the player must save a few villages from being invaded by piglins from the Nether. Then, the player destroys three nether outposts that are preparing to invade villages. Subsequently, the player destroys nine Nether portals from three different world areas. In each of these three areas, the player has to defeat a piglin boss: "the Devourer," "the Beast," and "the Unbreakable". Once the player destroys all of the portals and defeats all of the bosses, the player fights the final boss: "the Great Hog." Just as the player defeats the Great Hog, it makes a last attempt at destroying the Well of Fate. This backfires and its army is swallowed by a portal that sends them back to the Nether. Then, the Great Hog finally dies. After the battle, there is a grand celebration in the Overworld of their win over the piglins. Not all is well, however. The warrior villagers, who fought alongside the hero, resent the pacifistic villagers who did not, which causes a rift between the two groups. In addition to this, the Hosts have left the world to the Hero's responsibility and moved on. Development Minecraft Legends began development in 2018. The game was announced during the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12, 2022. After the show, a trailer on the Minecraft YouTube channel confirmed additional platforms. It is developed by series creators Mojang Studios in collaboration with Blackbird Interactive, a team founded by former Relic Entertainment employees, who are best known for developing the real-time strategy video game series Homeworld. After the success of Minecraft Dungeons, another spin-off of Minecraft, Minecraft Legends was released on April 18, 2023. It was made available to play on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Steam, Windows 11|10, PC Game Pass, Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. On January 10, 2024, Mojang announced that no more updates will be released for Minecraft Legends. Reception Reception of the game was generally mixed. According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Minecraft Legends received "mixed or average" reviews. Critics viewed the game as a solid addition to the Minecraft franchise but offered differing opinions on its execution. Destructoid writer Timothy Monbleau expressed newfound appreciation for both Minecraft and the strategy genre after playing the game, while Sarah Thwaites of Game Informer described the game as feeling "caught between the expected complexity of strategy games and the franchise’s approachable brand." Critics generally found the gameplay fun but repetitive and lacking in depth. They praised the game for its Minecraft-themed art style, resource gathering mechanics, and base-building gameplay. Critics also liked the multiplayer co-op and PvP modes. Some reviewers criticized the game's lack of strategic depth, poor AI, and tedious gameplay. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Development_of_Minecraft:_Java_Edition&action=edit§ion=5] | [TOKENS: 1434] |
Editing Development of Minecraft: Java Edition (section) Copy and paste: – — ° ′ ″ ≈ ≠ ≤ ≥ ± − × ÷ ← → · § Cite your sources: <ref></ref> {{}} {{{}}} | [] [[]] [[Category:]] #REDIRECT [[]] <s></s> <sup></sup> <sub></sub> <code></code> <pre></pre> <blockquote></blockquote> <ref></ref> <ref name="" /> {{Reflist}} <references /> <includeonly></includeonly> <noinclude></noinclude> {{DEFAULTSORT:}} <nowiki></nowiki> <!-- --> <span class="plainlinks"></span> Symbols: ~ | ¡ ¿ † ‡ ↔ ↑ ↓ • ¶ # ∞ ‹› «» ¤ ₳ ฿ ₵ ¢ ₡ ₢ $ ₫ ₯ € ₠ ₣ ƒ ₴ ₭ ₤ ℳ ₥ ₦ ₧ ₰ £ ៛ ₨ ₪ ৳ ₮ ₩ ¥ ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ 𝄫 ♭ ♮ ♯ 𝄪 © ¼ ½ ¾ Latin: A a Á á À à  â Ä ä Ǎ ǎ Ă ă Ā ā à ã Å å Ą ą Æ æ Ǣ ǣ B b C c Ć ć Ċ ċ Ĉ ĉ Č č Ç ç D d Ď ď Đ đ Ḍ ḍ Ð ð E e É é È è Ė ė Ê ê Ë ë Ě ě Ĕ ĕ Ē ē Ẽ ẽ Ę ę Ẹ ẹ Ɛ ɛ Ǝ ǝ Ə ə F f G g Ġ ġ Ĝ ĝ Ğ ğ Ģ ģ H h Ĥ ĥ Ħ ħ Ḥ ḥ I i İ ı Í í Ì ì Î î Ï ï Ǐ ǐ Ĭ ĭ Ī ī Ĩ ĩ Į į Ị ị J j Ĵ ĵ K k Ķ ķ L l Ĺ ĺ Ŀ ŀ Ľ ľ Ļ ļ Ł ł Ḷ ḷ Ḹ ḹ M m Ṃ ṃ N n Ń ń Ň ň Ñ ñ Ņ ņ Ṇ ṇ Ŋ ŋ O o Ó ó Ò ò Ô ô Ö ö Ǒ ǒ Ŏ ŏ Ō ō Õ õ Ǫ ǫ Ọ ọ Ő ő Ø ø Œ œ Ɔ ɔ P p Q q R r Ŕ ŕ Ř ř Ŗ ŗ Ṛ ṛ Ṝ ṝ S s Ś ś Ŝ ŝ Š š Ş ş Ș ș Ṣ ṣ ß T t Ť ť Ţ ţ Ț ț Ṭ ṭ Þ þ U u Ú ú Ù ù Û û Ü ü Ǔ ǔ Ŭ ŭ Ū ū Ũ ũ Ů ů Ų ų Ụ ụ Ű ű Ǘ ǘ Ǜ ǜ Ǚ ǚ Ǖ ǖ V v W w Ŵ ŵ X x Y y Ý ý Ŷ ŷ Ÿ ÿ Ỹ ỹ Ȳ ȳ Z z Ź ź Ż ż Ž ž ß Ð ð Þ þ Ŋ ŋ Ə ə Greek: Ά ά Έ έ Ή ή Ί ί Ό ό Ύ ύ Ώ ώ Α α Β β Γ γ Δ δ Ε ε Ζ ζ Η η Θ θ Ι ι Κ κ Λ λ Μ μ Ν ν Ξ ξ Ο ο Π π Ρ ρ Σ σ ς Τ τ Υ υ Φ φ Χ χ Ψ ψ Ω ω {{Polytonic|}} Cyrillic: А а Б б В в Г г Ґ ґ Ѓ ѓ Д д Ђ ђ Е е Ё ё Є є Ж ж З з Ѕ ѕ И и І і Ї ї Й й Ј ј К к Ќ ќ Л л Љ љ М м Н н Њ њ О о П п Р р С с Т т Ћ ћ У у Ў ў Ф ф Х х Ц ц Ч ч Џ џ Ш ш Щ щ Ъ ъ Ы ы Ь ь Э э Ю ю Я я ́ IPA: t̪ d̪ ʈ ɖ ɟ ɡ ɢ ʡ ʔ ɸ β θ ð ʃ ʒ ɕ ʑ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ ɦ ɱ ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ ʋ ɹ ɻ ɰ ʙ ⱱ ʀ ɾ ɽ ɫ ɬ ɮ ɺ ɭ ʎ ʟ ɥ ʍ ɧ ʼ ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ ɨ ʉ ɯ ɪ ʏ ʊ ø ɘ ɵ ɤ ə ɚ ɛ œ ɜ ɝ ɞ ʌ ɔ æ ɐ ɶ ɑ ɒ ʰ ʱ ʷ ʲ ˠ ˤ ⁿ ˡ ˈ ˌ ː ˑ ̪ {{IPA|}} This page is a member of 4 hidden categories (help): |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Game_Studios#cite_note-8] | [TOKENS: 4459] |
Contents Xbox Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, for the development and publishing of video games for Microsoft Windows. It has since expanded to include games and other interactive entertainment for the namesake Xbox platforms, other desktop operating systems, Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms, web-based portals, and other game consoles. Xbox Game Studios, alongside ZeniMax Media and Activision Blizzard, are part of the Microsoft Gaming division led by Phil Spencer, who is chief executive officer of the division. History Early in the history of Microsoft the software company published video games like Olympic Decathlon, but Steve Ballmer reportedly persuaded Bill Gates to deemphasize them to professionalize the company's image. By the early 1990s, Microsoft published subLOGIC's Microsoft Flight Simulator and several Microsoft Entertainment Pack compilations of minigames, but was best known for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. In 1992, the company began increasing its focus on games. It announced Microsoft Golf for Windows, based on Access Software's Links, and expanded the games division from two to six people with the intention of commissioning more products from other developers. Microsoft acquired FASA Interactive in 1999 for its MechWarrior game series, Access Software, and Aces Game Studio, which worked on Flight Simulator. The Games Group had also established long-term publishing deals with developers like Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires, Age of Mythology), and Digital Anvil (Starlancer). Under Microsoft, FASA Interactive was renamed FASA Studio, and Access Software became Salt Lake Games Studio. Microsoft transitioned the Games Group into a wholly separate division named Microsoft Games around March 2000, along with other consolidation of games-related projects within Microsoft. This came alongside the public announcement of the first Xbox console, with Microsoft Games to serve as a developer and publisher of titles for both Xbox and Windows. Robbie Bach, who held executive positions in Microsoft's entertainment divisions, was named senior vice-president while Ed Fries, a member of the former Games Group and instrumental for some of its acquisitions, was named as vice-president of the new division. Shane Kim served as the division's general manager. In 2001, the division was renamed Microsoft Game Studios (MGS). FASA Studio and Salt Lake Games Studio remained with Microsoft Game Studios. Digital Anvil and Ensemble Studios were acquired by Microsoft in 2000 and 2001, respectively. One of the first major studio acquisitions following the division's formation was Bungie in June 2000, in the midst of its development of Halo: Combat Evolved. With the acquisition, Halo, which had been planned for release on personal computers, became a Microsoft-published title as well as a launch title for the Xbox on its release in 2001. Turn 10 Studios was established in 2001 for work on the Forza series of racing games. In September 2002, Microsoft Game Studios acquired Rare, who had previously extensively developed for Nintendo platforms. In 2003, Microsoft recognized that the EA Sports label was in a far stronger position to develop sports games for the Xbox console, and among realignment steps, laid off about 78 employees within Microsoft Game Studios that were developing sports games in-house, and sold Salt Lake Games Studio, now named Indie Games to Take-Two Interactive in 2004, where it became Indie Built. Peter Moore was named in 2003 as vice-president of Microsoft's Home and Entertainment Division, which included MGS, the Xbox division, and Microsoft's home hardware market, reporting to Bach. In addition to pulling big publishers like Electronic Arts to the Xbox platform, Moore tried to push the Xbox in Japan by courting Japanese developers with support from MGS publishing. Such games included Phantom Dust and Blinx: The Time Sweeper. Around 2004, MGS established Carbonated Games as an internal studio for the development of casual games for Microsoft's web games portal MSN Games, on the chat client MSN Messenger, and on the Xbox Live platform. Kim and Fries were instrumental for securing MGS' publishing deal with Lionhead Studios for their 2004 game Fable, which would serve as the first major role-playing game on the Xbox platform. Subsequently, in 2006, MGS acquired Lionhead Studios along with the Fable properties, as it sought to secure a Fable sequel for the upcoming Xbox 360. MGS folded the staff of Digital Anvil into the larger studio in 2005, following the release of 2003's Brute Force, and closed down the studio entirely in 2006. FASA Studio was closed three-and-a-half months after the May 2007 release of their last game, Shadowrun. In 2007, MGS announced the opening of a European office in Reading, England, headed by general manager Phil Spencer. Moore opted to leave Microsoft in July 2007, so to move back to the San Francisco Bay area with his family and to rejoin Electronic Arts. Don Mattrick was named as his replacement as the new vice-president of the Xbox and Games Business, which included MGS. Later in 2007, Bungie amicably split from MGS to become a privately held independent company, with MGS retaining the rights to the Halo property. Bungie continued to develop two additional Halo games for MGS, Halo 3: ODST (2009) and Halo: Reach (2010). Simultaneously, MGS founded 343 Industries as an internal studio to develop future Halo games without Bungie. In 2008, MGS disbanded Carbonated Games and announced the formation of internal studio Xbox Live Productions to develop "high-quality digital content" for Xbox Live Arcade. Microsoft as a whole announced layoffs of up to 5,000 jobs across all divisions in January 2009 due to slowing sales of personal computers as a result of the Great Recession. Within MGS, the studio had already planned to disband Ensemble Studios after the completion of Halo Wars in early 2009, while the new layoffs led MGS to also disband Aces Game Studio. Microsoft acquired Vancouver-based BigPark in May 2009, using the studio to develop some of the first games for the upcoming Kinect sensor for the Xbox 360. Later in 2009, Phil Spencer was promoted to corporate vice-president of MGS, in order to replace the retiring Shane Kim. In 2010, MGS formed a mobile gaming studio, MGS Mobile Gaming, focused on developing gaming and entertainment multimedia for Windows Phone devices. It also expanded Rare with a second studio in Digbeth, Birmingham. By the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 in June 2011, Microsoft Game Studios was quietly renamed to Microsoft Studios. Later in 2011, Microsoft Studios acquired Twisted Pixel Games. In early December 2011, Microsoft Studios created Microsoft Casual Games, a division to revamp its past casual games for Windows (like Windows Solitaire and MSN Games) using more up-to-date software delivery platforms. In 2012, Phil Harrison, the former Sony worldwide studios head, joined Microsoft as head of Microsoft Studios Europe and IEB. Microsoft Studios acquired developer Press Play, known for developing Tentacles and Max & the Magic Marker. They also announced a new development studio in London, England. Later in 2012, Microsoft downsized Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver due to the cancellation of the Kinect family title Project Columbia and announced that the ongoing development of free-to-play title Microsoft Flight had been ceased due to portfolio evaluation. The reduced Vancouver studios were renamed to Black Tusk Studios and tasked with making similar franchise-building title as Halo. In 2013, Microsoft established European studio Lift London, a studio that would create cloud-based games for tablets, mobiles and TVs. Later, they created a new "Deep Tech" team inside its Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) unit; the new team is charged with working with top developers outside the company to build next-generation applications on top of Microsoft platforms. While Mattrick had overseen much of the development of Microsoft's next console, the Xbox One, he left in July 2013, prior to its release, to take over as CEO of Zynga. Mattrick was succeeded by Julie Larson-Green, who was named the president of the Devices and Studios Engineering Group, following a realignment of Microsoft's divisions, overseeing both the Xbox hardware divisions and Microsoft Studios. Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in February 2014. At this time, Microsoft was facing strong competition in the consumer market, and within the gaming sector, the Xbox One (released in 2013) was more expensive than competitors and had too much focus on non-gaming functions. Under Nadella's direction, Phil Spencer was named the new head of Microsoft Studios to replace Jason Holtman, who had only been its lead for the prior six months. Spencer began looking for ways to expand Microsoft Studios to make it a profitable division for Microsoft, and began negotiations for the acquititions of Mojang, the developers behind Minecraft, in late 2014. Microsoft spent US$2.5 billion to acquire the studio, and upon the deal's completion in November, the studio's key founding personnel, Markus Persson, Jakob Porsér and Carl Manneh, departed Mojang. As a result, Persson became valued around US$1.3 billion. Microsoft Studios committed to keeping Minecraft available across multiple platforms, including rival PlayStation consoles. Matt Booty, the studio's corporate vice-president in 2020, said the acquisition of Mojang served as the template for later acquisitions, as Mojang was left to run as an "unplugged studio" with limited integration into the Microsoft corporation, minimizing the disruption of Mojang's normal day-to-day business matters nor impeding on the studio's freedom. Additional intellectual property (IP) acquisitions by Microsoft Studios in 2014 included a publishing contract with Undead Labs for their game State of Decay, the rights to the Gears of War series from Epic Games, and the Rise of IP (Rise of Nations and Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends) from Big Huge Games. Microsoft Studios assigned Gears of War to Black Tusk Studios, which was later rebranded in 2015 as The Coalition. In July 2014, it was announced that Xbox Entertainment Studios would be closed in the following months; the closure was completed by October 29. On March 4, 2015, Microsoft announced that they were merging UK-based studios, Lift London and Soho Productions for further games development, with the amalgam continuing to operate under the Lift London name. On March 7, Microsoft announced at the Game Developers Conference that HoloLens games were coming to Xbox One. On March 9, Microsoft announced that Kudo Tsunoda's role was expanding and that he would be the new studio team leader for studios such as Press Play, Lift London and a new internal studio called Decisive Games. Decisive Games was previously mentioned in job postings, saying that they were hiring for work on a "beloved strategy game" for Xbox One and PC, but this is the first public acknowledgement of the team's existence as a first-party studio. Twisted Pixel and Microsoft Studios agreed to split in September 2015. Kudo Tsunoda left the Xbox division in November 2015 for the development of HoloLens and Microsoft Edge, and other projects that could improve means of human interaction, including voice and gesture. Tsunoda's role was filled by Hanno Lemke and Shannon Loftis. In 2016, Microsoft was perceived as "unifying PC and Xbox One" platforms. In March 2016, Microsoft canceled development of two major projects: Lionhead's Fable Legends and Press Play's Project Knoxville, shuttering both studios in the following months. Around the same time, changes to Microsoft Studios' website indicated that further studios—BigPark, Good Science Studio, Leap Experience Pioneers (LXP), Function Studios and State of the Art (SOTA)—had been closed, Microsoft Studios clarified that all of them had been consolidated into other Microsoft Studios teams over the past several years. In September 2017, Spencer was promoted to the senior leadership team, gaining the title of "executive vice-president of gaming". At this point, Microsoft Studios directly reported to Nadella. In January 2018, Matt Booty was promoted from leader in the Minecraft games business to corporate vice-president of Microsoft Studios. On June 10, 2018, during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018, Microsoft announced the acquisitions of Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Undead Labs and Compulsion Games, as well as the opening of a new studio in Santa Monica, California, entitled The Initiative, which would be led by the former Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher. In November, Microsoft Studios announced further acquisitions with Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment. The studio rebranded itself on February 5, 2019, as Xbox Game Studios, as to reflect Microsoft's intent to use the Xbox brand to support gaming across all the devices it supports. At E3 2019, Xbox Game Studios announced it had acquired Double Fine, and established a new internal studio dedicated to Age of Empires headed by Shannon Loftis, bringing their total studio count to fifteen. This studio, later named World's Edge, does not directly develop any games, but oversees efforts from external studios, such as Relic Entertainment, Forgotten Empires and Tantalus Media, to assure the series is being developed in the right direction, according to creative director Adam Isgreen. Booty has stated that with studios like Obsidian, Ninja Theory, and Double Fine, which have traditionally supported multiplatform games, they will determine if it makes sense for their future products to be treated as Microsoft-exclusive content for Xbox and Windows computers, or to allow these to be published across multiple platforms. That decision will be based on a "network effect", whether having these games on other platforms will better support the franchise and thus worthwhile for Microsoft to help dedicate resources towards it, such as they had with Minecraft. Xbox Game Studios has allowed some of the content developed by its studios or that was previously published exclusively for the Xbox and Windows systems to be released on Nintendo systems, notably the Nintendo Switch versions of Cuphead from Studio MDHR and Ori and the Blind Forest from Moon Studios, and allowing for the titular characters from Rare's Banjo-Kazooie into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. However, the division stated that these releases were generally "existing commitments to other platforms" that they allowed studios to honor, but they otherwise have "no plans to further expand our exclusive first party games to other consoles." Near the end of 2019, with the combined fifteen studios now under Xbox Game Studios, Booty stated that they now had more games than ever to handle, and were likely not going to acquire any additional studios in the near future, stating "we've been shifting our focus inside Xbox Game Studios from acquisition and growth, to a phase of execution and delivery". Additionally, as Microsoft started promotion of its fourth-generation of Xbox, including the Xbox Series X, Booty stated that titles developed by Xbox Game Studios in year or two following its release will not be exclusively for the new generation of consoles, but instead will support both Xbox One and the new console, with some games receiving enhanced performance when played on the new console lineup. Booty said that with the large number of studios they had recently acquired, as well as ongoing external partnerships and their Xbox Game Pass service, the Studios are able to support a "breadth of offerings in the portfolio" designed to attract a large number of players. Further, in an interview in November 2020, Phil Spencer said during an interview regarding the future of the Xbox brand that he intends to put more focus on outputting RPGs, which had to that point been underserved. Microsoft and ZeniMax Media announced on September 21, 2020, that Microsoft planned to acquire ZeniMax and its family of studios, which include Bethesda Game Studios, Arkane Studios, id Software, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, and ZeniMax Online Studios, for over US$7.5 billion in cash. According to Spencer, the ZeniMax acquisition was intended to give Microsoft a large library of games known around the world, and to expand the library of Xbox Game Pass and XCloud. However, during 2023 hearings regarding the Federal Trade Commission's concern over the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, Spencer said that Sony Interactive Entertainment had made sways at Bethesda to keep Starfield as a PlayStation-exclusive, further prompting Microsoft to purchase Zenimax. Both U.S. and European Union regulatory agencies approved the acquisition by early March 2021, and the acquisition was formally completed by March 9, 2021. The total price of the deal was $8.1 billion Bethesda Softworks, the primarily publisher for all of ZeniMax's games, remained as an operational unit under Microsoft with the acquisition and retained all its current leadership. With the acquisition, future games from the studios will be exclusive to Xbox consoles, but existing commitments to other platforms (such as Arkane Studios' Deathloop and Tango Gameworks' Ghostwire: Tokyo, which are contractually exclusive to PlayStation 5 for a period of 12 months before their release on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S) will still be honored. Spencer stated that Game Pass was also fundamental driver for the acquisition. A preliminary injunction to block the acquisition had been sought in an ongoing class-action lawsuit that ZeniMax faced over Fallout 4, with the plaintiffs in the case arguing that Microsoft could shield ZeniMax's assets from damages should they be found liable after the acquisition. The ZeniMax Board of Directors was dissolved following the Microsoft purchase. On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard in an all-cash deal valued at $68.7 billion. Microsoft stated that this acquisition would make it the third-largest gaming company by revenue, following Tencent and Sony. With the announcement, Microsoft also announced a major change to its corporate structure, with Phil Spencer becoming CEO of the new division Microsoft Gaming, with Matt Booty leading Xbox Game Studios under it. Once approved, Activision Blizzard would then become a subdivision of Microsoft Gaming. The deal was cleared by various national regulators by October 13, 2023, with Microsoft closing the deal the same day. During litigation on the merger with the United States Federal Trade Commission, internal documents from Microsoft c. 2020 show strong interest in re-acquiring Bungie, or acquiring Sega's game development companies, Supergiant Games, Niantic, Inc., Thunderful Group, Zynga, IO Interactive, Scopely, or Playrix as part of Xbox Game Studios, as well as publisher Square Enix to help bolster its Asian presence and mobile market share. In January 2023, Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees, which represented about 5% of its global workforce. Included in those layoffs were many employees from 343 Industries, The Coalition, and Bethesda Game Studios. On October 26, 2023, Microsoft announced the promotion of several employees in the company, including Sarah Bond being promoted to president of Xbox, overseeing all Xbox platform, business, and hardware work, and Matt Booty promoted from president of Xbox to president of Game Content and Studios, including the new responsibility of overseeing ZeniMax and Bethesda, with Jamie Leder still running Zenimax as a limited integration entity, but now reporting to Matt. In the wake of Matt Booty's promotion, Alan Hartman, then the head of Turn 10, was subsequently promoted to head of Xbox Game Studios. On October 6, 2024, 343 Industries officially announced their rebranding as Halo Studios, additionally confirming that multiple Halo games were in development and that said projects would now use Unreal Engine 5 as opposed to the proprietary Slipspace Engine that powered Halo Infinite. On October 14, Rare creative lead Craig Duncan was announced to be succeeding Alan Hartman as head of Xbox Game Studios beginning in November 2024, with Hartman retiring after a three-decade tenure at Microsoft. In July 2025, Microsoft Gaming performed a business restructuring ahead of the new financial year, which resulted in layoffs at Xbox Game Studios Rare, Compulsion Games, Undead Labs and Turn 10 Studios. The latter, who conceived and developed the Forza Motorsport series, was reported to have lost almost half of its workforce and was anticipated to be restructured as a support studio for Motorsport's sister series Forza Horizon and developments for the ForzaTech engine, according to former content coordinator Fred Russell. In addition, Rare's action-adventure game Everwild ceased production, while Microsoft also canceled the Perfect Dark reboot and closed its developer The Initiative simultaneously. Alongside Everwild's cancelation, Rare veteran and designer Gregg Mayles also departed the company after 35 years, alongside producer Louise O'Connor. Over 2024 and 2025, a series of video games published by Microsoft Gaming divisions, most notably Xbox Game Studios' titles, were released on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles under an initiative to pivot focus from the Xbox series of consoles and eventually cease to produce exclusive titles for the consoles like Sega. Xbox Game Studios had also released Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo 64 video games on the Nintendo Switch Online service in 2024, all of whom were developed by Rare and in some cases, formerly published by Nintendo. Studios Games published References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aether_(mod)#cite_ref-:1_3-2] | [TOKENS: 451] |
Contents The Aether (mod) The Aether is a Minecraft mod originally released by a team of six modders. The mod adds a new Heaven-like dimension to Minecraft, complete with new materials, mobs, dungeons and bosses. The mod was released on 22 July 2011 and received acclaim, with the lead developer being hired at Mojang Studios. A sequel to the mod was released in June 2013. Gameplay The Aether mod adds a new eponymous dimension to Minecraft. The dimension's pastel aesthetics and floating islands contrast the Nether, a dimension from the base game themed after Hell. The Aether is accessed by building, activating and going through the Aether portal, constructed in the same shape as the Nether portal but with different materials. The dimension is made out of islands floating in mid-air; falling down sends the player out of the dimension. Various friendly and hostile mobs can be encountered in the Aether. Overworld tools become obsolete in the Aether, requiring the player to make tools out of new materials found inside the dimension, effectively restarting the progression chain. The mod also adds accessories, which provide buffs to a player when placed in a specific inventory slot. Dungeons can be found in the Aether, containing a boss at the end that drops valuable items upon defeat. Development As of June 2013, the mod team had seven members: project lead Brandon "kingbdogz" Pearce, programmers Jaryt and Saspiron, artists Dark and Oscar Payn, composer Emile van Krieken and writer Liberty. In December 2021, The Aether was updated to support newer Minecraft versions. Reception Being one of the first large-scale mods for Minecraft, The Aether has received acclaim and is considered a classic. PCGamesN called the mod "one of Minecraft's most impressive historic mods". Various news outlets described the mod's themes as antithetical to the Nether. In January 2020, Pearce became a Mojang Studios employee. In June 2013, The Aether 2 was announced, a mod that aims to overhaul The Aether and add new content as well as a multiplayer party system, designed to make cooperative play more convenient. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft_Legends#cite_note-:22-11] | [TOKENS: 1262] |
Contents Minecraft Legends Minecraft Legends is a 2023 real-time action-strategy video game developed by Mojang Studios and Blackbird Interactive and published by Xbox Game Studios. A spin-off of the 2011 sandbox game Minecraft, it was released on Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on April 18, 2023. The game would later cease development on January 10, 2024. The goal of the game is to defend the Overworld from an invasion of piglins, pig-like humanoid creatures from the Nether dimension, while the player gradually strengthens their structures and troops with resources harvested. The game received mixed reviews from critics, with its gameplay being both praised for its execution and criticized for its repetitive nature. Gameplay Minecraft Legends is set in the Minecraft Overworld, an earth-like dimension filled with various biomes and natural resources that is currently under attack from the piglin hordes from the Nether dimension. The Overworld contains friendly villages, hostile piglin outposts, and the Well of Fate (the player spawnpoint and fast-travel hub). Similarly to Minecraft, the Overworld is procedurally generated, resulting in a unique world for each playthrough of the game. Players collect resources to construct defenses, upgrade buildings, and summon troops. Players collect basic resources such as wood and stone by assigning friendly Allays to harvest them from deposits found in the Overworld. Other resources, such as redstone and lapis lazuli are used to build advanced structures and summon stronger troops but are locked behind Well of Fate upgrades. Prismarine, which is needed to construct some buildings, can only be collected by defeating piglin structures. The player can use resources they've collected to construct buildings and upgrade the Well of Fate. Defensive fortifications such as walls and turrets protect friendly villages and player outposts. Spawners summon friendly troops the players can recruit into their army. Offensive structures such as the redstone cannon, hurl explosive shells at targets from long range. Upgrading the Well of Fate unlocks more advanced buildings and troops. The primary goal of combat is to destroy piglin outposts and defend friendly villages from periodic piglin raids. Players use their summoned troops to assault and destroy piglin outposts. Players travel around the Overworld on their mount, from which they can issue various orders command their army on the battlefield. These commands include orders to rally, halt, and charge. Players can also use their sword to attack enemies directly. Players build their army by constructing spawner buildings that summon troops or recruiting troops from camps found throughout the Overworld. Minecraft Legends incorporates the same Minecoins currency as Minecraft Bedrock Edition. This currency is used to purchase additional skins and mounts within the game. The game is sold with an optional "Deluxe Skin Pack", which contains six additional in-game skins: one hero skin and five mount skins. Plot The game begins with the player mining in a cave when they are greeted by three beings: Action, Knowledge, and Foresight. These beings are called Hosts, caretakers of the Overworld. These three persuade the player to help them save their world, where a war has broken out between the Nether and the Overworld. The player is then transported to that world. After completing a tutorial, the player must save a few villages from being invaded by piglins from the Nether. Then, the player destroys three nether outposts that are preparing to invade villages. Subsequently, the player destroys nine Nether portals from three different world areas. In each of these three areas, the player has to defeat a piglin boss: "the Devourer," "the Beast," and "the Unbreakable". Once the player destroys all of the portals and defeats all of the bosses, the player fights the final boss: "the Great Hog." Just as the player defeats the Great Hog, it makes a last attempt at destroying the Well of Fate. This backfires and its army is swallowed by a portal that sends them back to the Nether. Then, the Great Hog finally dies. After the battle, there is a grand celebration in the Overworld of their win over the piglins. Not all is well, however. The warrior villagers, who fought alongside the hero, resent the pacifistic villagers who did not, which causes a rift between the two groups. In addition to this, the Hosts have left the world to the Hero's responsibility and moved on. Development Minecraft Legends began development in 2018. The game was announced during the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12, 2022. After the show, a trailer on the Minecraft YouTube channel confirmed additional platforms. It is developed by series creators Mojang Studios in collaboration with Blackbird Interactive, a team founded by former Relic Entertainment employees, who are best known for developing the real-time strategy video game series Homeworld. After the success of Minecraft Dungeons, another spin-off of Minecraft, Minecraft Legends was released on April 18, 2023. It was made available to play on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Steam, Windows 11|10, PC Game Pass, Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. On January 10, 2024, Mojang announced that no more updates will be released for Minecraft Legends. Reception Reception of the game was generally mixed. According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Minecraft Legends received "mixed or average" reviews. Critics viewed the game as a solid addition to the Minecraft franchise but offered differing opinions on its execution. Destructoid writer Timothy Monbleau expressed newfound appreciation for both Minecraft and the strategy genre after playing the game, while Sarah Thwaites of Game Informer described the game as feeling "caught between the expected complexity of strategy games and the franchise’s approachable brand." Critics generally found the gameplay fun but repetitive and lacking in depth. They praised the game for its Minecraft-themed art style, resource gathering mechanics, and base-building gameplay. Critics also liked the multiplayer co-op and PvP modes. Some reviewers criticized the game's lack of strategic depth, poor AI, and tedious gameplay. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aether_(mod)#cite_ref-:2_4-1] | [TOKENS: 451] |
Contents The Aether (mod) The Aether is a Minecraft mod originally released by a team of six modders. The mod adds a new Heaven-like dimension to Minecraft, complete with new materials, mobs, dungeons and bosses. The mod was released on 22 July 2011 and received acclaim, with the lead developer being hired at Mojang Studios. A sequel to the mod was released in June 2013. Gameplay The Aether mod adds a new eponymous dimension to Minecraft. The dimension's pastel aesthetics and floating islands contrast the Nether, a dimension from the base game themed after Hell. The Aether is accessed by building, activating and going through the Aether portal, constructed in the same shape as the Nether portal but with different materials. The dimension is made out of islands floating in mid-air; falling down sends the player out of the dimension. Various friendly and hostile mobs can be encountered in the Aether. Overworld tools become obsolete in the Aether, requiring the player to make tools out of new materials found inside the dimension, effectively restarting the progression chain. The mod also adds accessories, which provide buffs to a player when placed in a specific inventory slot. Dungeons can be found in the Aether, containing a boss at the end that drops valuable items upon defeat. Development As of June 2013, the mod team had seven members: project lead Brandon "kingbdogz" Pearce, programmers Jaryt and Saspiron, artists Dark and Oscar Payn, composer Emile van Krieken and writer Liberty. In December 2021, The Aether was updated to support newer Minecraft versions. Reception Being one of the first large-scale mods for Minecraft, The Aether has received acclaim and is considered a classic. PCGamesN called the mod "one of Minecraft's most impressive historic mods". Various news outlets described the mod's themes as antithetical to the Nether. In January 2020, Pearce became a Mojang Studios employee. In June 2013, The Aether 2 was announced, a mod that aims to overhaul The Aether and add new content as well as a multiplayer party system, designed to make cooperative play more convenient. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aether_(mod)#cite_ref-:2_4-0] | [TOKENS: 451] |
Contents The Aether (mod) The Aether is a Minecraft mod originally released by a team of six modders. The mod adds a new Heaven-like dimension to Minecraft, complete with new materials, mobs, dungeons and bosses. The mod was released on 22 July 2011 and received acclaim, with the lead developer being hired at Mojang Studios. A sequel to the mod was released in June 2013. Gameplay The Aether mod adds a new eponymous dimension to Minecraft. The dimension's pastel aesthetics and floating islands contrast the Nether, a dimension from the base game themed after Hell. The Aether is accessed by building, activating and going through the Aether portal, constructed in the same shape as the Nether portal but with different materials. The dimension is made out of islands floating in mid-air; falling down sends the player out of the dimension. Various friendly and hostile mobs can be encountered in the Aether. Overworld tools become obsolete in the Aether, requiring the player to make tools out of new materials found inside the dimension, effectively restarting the progression chain. The mod also adds accessories, which provide buffs to a player when placed in a specific inventory slot. Dungeons can be found in the Aether, containing a boss at the end that drops valuable items upon defeat. Development As of June 2013, the mod team had seven members: project lead Brandon "kingbdogz" Pearce, programmers Jaryt and Saspiron, artists Dark and Oscar Payn, composer Emile van Krieken and writer Liberty. In December 2021, The Aether was updated to support newer Minecraft versions. Reception Being one of the first large-scale mods for Minecraft, The Aether has received acclaim and is considered a classic. PCGamesN called the mod "one of Minecraft's most impressive historic mods". Various news outlets described the mod's themes as antithetical to the Nether. In January 2020, Pearce became a Mojang Studios employee. In June 2013, The Aether 2 was announced, a mod that aims to overhaul The Aether and add new content as well as a multiplayer party system, designed to make cooperative play more convenient. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aether_(mod)#cite_ref-:2_4-2] | [TOKENS: 451] |
Contents The Aether (mod) The Aether is a Minecraft mod originally released by a team of six modders. The mod adds a new Heaven-like dimension to Minecraft, complete with new materials, mobs, dungeons and bosses. The mod was released on 22 July 2011 and received acclaim, with the lead developer being hired at Mojang Studios. A sequel to the mod was released in June 2013. Gameplay The Aether mod adds a new eponymous dimension to Minecraft. The dimension's pastel aesthetics and floating islands contrast the Nether, a dimension from the base game themed after Hell. The Aether is accessed by building, activating and going through the Aether portal, constructed in the same shape as the Nether portal but with different materials. The dimension is made out of islands floating in mid-air; falling down sends the player out of the dimension. Various friendly and hostile mobs can be encountered in the Aether. Overworld tools become obsolete in the Aether, requiring the player to make tools out of new materials found inside the dimension, effectively restarting the progression chain. The mod also adds accessories, which provide buffs to a player when placed in a specific inventory slot. Dungeons can be found in the Aether, containing a boss at the end that drops valuable items upon defeat. Development As of June 2013, the mod team had seven members: project lead Brandon "kingbdogz" Pearce, programmers Jaryt and Saspiron, artists Dark and Oscar Payn, composer Emile van Krieken and writer Liberty. In December 2021, The Aether was updated to support newer Minecraft versions. Reception Being one of the first large-scale mods for Minecraft, The Aether has received acclaim and is considered a classic. PCGamesN called the mod "one of Minecraft's most impressive historic mods". Various news outlets described the mod's themes as antithetical to the Nether. In January 2020, Pearce became a Mojang Studios employee. In June 2013, The Aether 2 was announced, a mod that aims to overhaul The Aether and add new content as well as a multiplayer party system, designed to make cooperative play more convenient. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mii] | [TOKENS: 5822] |
Contents Mii A Mii (/miː/ MEE) is a customizable avatar used by Nintendo on their Wii, Wii U, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2 video game consoles and mobile apps, including the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS handhelds. The name is a portmanteau of "Wii" and "me", referring to them typically being avatars of the players. Miis originally debuted on the Wii in 2006, and then later appeared on the Nintendo DS in 2008, the Nintendo 3DS in 2011, the Wii U in 2012, the Nintendo Switch in 2017 and the Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025, as well as various apps for smart devices such as the now-defunct Miitomo in 2016. They competed primarily with Microsoft's Xbox Avatars. Overview Miis can be created using different body, facial and clothing features, and can then be used as characters within games on the consoles, either as an avatar of a specific player (such as in the Wii series) or in some games (such as Tomodachi Collection, Tomodachi Life and Miitopia) portrayed as characters with their own personalities. Miis can be shared and transferred between consoles, either manually or automatically with other users over the internet and local wireless communications. On the 3DS and Wii U, user accounts are associated with a Mii as their avatar and are used as the basis of the systems' social networking features, most prominently the now-defunct Miiverse. On the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, Miis can still be selected as an account's avatar, however other avatars featuring various Nintendo characters are also available. Miis are also used as profile pictures for Nintendo Accounts and can be used in Nintendo smart device games such as Super Mario Run, Miitomo and Mario Kart Tour. Games such as Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Sports Club, Nintendo Switch Sports, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 8, Go Vacation, Super Mario Maker 2, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe use Miis as playable characters. History Nintendo's idea of a free-form personal avatar software was discussed at the Game Developers Conference in 2007, a year after the Wii was released. There, Shigeru Miyamoto said that the personal avatar concept had originally been intended as a demo for the Family Computer Disk System, where a user could draw a face onto an avatar. Miyamoto commented that the concept could not be turned into a game and was discarded. In late 1999, during the Nintendo 64 era, the 64DD (a disk drive peripheral for the N64) was launched in Japan. Released in 2000, Mario Artist: Talent Studio featured an avatar maker, which includes clothes and a built-in movie editor. The player can optionally utilize the Game Boy Camera and the 64DD's Capture Cassette to put their own face upon the avatar. Nintendo had produced a short film using the game's avatar maker to demonstrate its capabilities. Talent Studio was one of Nintendo's first public debut of avatar creation. Nintendo designer Yamashita Takayuki attributes his work on Talent Studio as having been foundational to his eventual work on the Mii, which was necessitated by the development of the game Wii Sports.: 2 The next avatar implementation was for the Nintendo e-Reader and GameCube. Along with the Game Boy Camera, it also includes an avatar maker. Miyamoto previewed the software at E3 2002 under the name Stage Debut, with a short film that demonstrated the software's capabilities. This software, later renamed to Manebito, was discontinued prior to release. Another attempt at an avatar implementation came about in the mid-2000s during the development of a Nintendo DS game that was conceived as a women's fortune-telling game that was inspired by the 2000 Hamtaro video game Tottoko Hamtaro: Tomodachi Daisakusen Dechu for the Game Boy Color. The game, which was being worked on by Yoshio Sakamoto and Nintendo SPD, featured an avatar maker that functioned similarly to the Wii's avatar creator that would later become the Mii Channel, and the avatars themselves bear a striking resemblance to what would eventually become the Mii in terms of appearance, including the use of interchangeable facial features and adjustable body height and weight. Because the game's development took place around the same time as the development of the Wii at the time, the avatar concept from that game was eventually adapted into the Wii, which formed the development of the Mii as a whole. The Miis retained certain aspects of the avatars found within the aforementioned game, including the facial features and adjustable body height and weight, but with more options such as selecting a favorite color, gender types, additional options for hair, eyes, nose, mouth and head shape, and several other features. On the other hand, the game itself was reworked as Tomodachi Collection for the Nintendo DS. During a Financial Results Briefing Q&A with investors in 2008, Satoru Iwata mentioned that the licensed use of the Mii trademark is as valuable to Miyamoto as that of the Mario brand, implying that the company would only narrowly consider any offers from game developers to implement Miis in their games. Mii creation Mii characters are created and stored in the Mii Channel or the Mii Maker, which are pre-installed on the Wii and the Nintendo 3DS/Wii U consoles respectively, as well as the Mii creator software located in System Settings for the Nintendo Switch/Nintendo Switch 2. While the user can assign a gender (or in the case of the Nintendo Switch 2, Mii styles representing genders), name, birthday, favorite color, and mingle preference to a Mii, the majority of the interface used for Mii creation focuses on the appearance of its face and head: the user is given a variety of different hairstyles, eye, nose, and mouth shapes, and other features such as facial hair or wrinkles, to select from. Most of the facial features can be further adjusted, including their size, position, color, and alignment. Accessories such as hats and glasses are also available to add, and the Mii's height and build can also be adjusted. The Mii Maker installed on the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U can use facial recognition to generate a Mii, which selects facial features based on a photograph of a person's face taken with the system's and GamePad's cameras respectively. The features can then be fine-tuned by the user. These versions also have more options than their Wii counterpart. Because the selection of facial features is considered by some to be limited,[citation needed] users are encouraged to develop caricatures of real people instead of accurate depictions. Certain games have also added additional features in their Mii makers that are otherwise made as part of the game or as secondary features, allowing for more customization options than the standard Mii maker software can provide. The Tomodachi series (which includes Miitomo) contains options to input a first and last name for the Mii in addition to the Mii's given name (which is known in-game as a nickname), the ability to customize the Mii's voice and personality, and (in the Japanese version only) options for choosing a blood type for the Mii based on the blood type personality theory. Miis created in the Tomodachi series games (apart from Miitomo) can be transferred over to the system's Mii Maker, and Miis created via the Mii Maker can also be transferred into the games themselves. Miitopia added additional hair and eye color options for the Mii, which were later adapted for the Switch and Switch 2's Mii creation software. The remastered version of Miitopia for the Switch added the option of wigs and even makeup customization options that could be applied onto an existing Mii, allowing for the creation of more sophisticated looking Mii characters. Miis created in the Switch version of Miitopia can be shared online via "access keys", which allows users to use Miis created by others in-game with one's own Miitopia save data. This feature is only usable with an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Miis can be transferred from the system's Mii creation software (Mii Maker in the original game and the Switch's Mii creator in the remaster) to the game itself, which can be used as playable characters, non-playable characters and even as background characters. Miis created in both the original and remastered versions of Miitopia can also be transferred from the game into the system's Mii creation software, however wigs and makeups (and even additional hair and eye color options in the original game) will not carry over. Nintendo periodically released special Miis, usually during E3 or to commemorate game and franchise anniversaries. For a limited time between March 13 and 30, 2007, Wii owners in Japan were sent Mii versions of comedian Sanma Akashiya and tennis player Shuzo Matsuoka. The duo had been featured in Japanese promotions for the Wii, highlighting Miis themselves. Miis of Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aimé (the presidents of Nintendo and Nintendo of America, respectively) were released on the 3DS for the 1st anniversary of the handheld console. During 2013, Nintendo released special Miis of Shigeru Miyamoto and Kensuke Tanabe, and during E3 2013, also released special Miis for Takashi Tezuka, Koichi Hayashida, Eiji Aonuma, and Hideki Konno. Their Miis feature gold pants, as opposed to a gray pair, and cannot be edited or copied. If owners transfer them to another Wii or Wii Remote, they will be removed from their original location, instead of traditionally making another copy. In late 2011, Nintendo released Swapnote (known as Itsu no Ma ni Kōkan Nikki (いつの間に交換日記, Suddenly Exchange Diary) in Japan and as Nintendo Letter Box in other regions) for the Nintendo 3DS, which features an original character named Nikki (ニッキー) who serves as a guide for the application. She appears in the software as a uniquely styled female Mii as well as a drawing version of her character in most appearances. Since her introduction, Nikki has gained a relatively small fan base of her own right, especially in Japan. Nikki would later appear in a few other Nintendo games and apps, such as Nikki no Tabisuru Quiz (ニッキーの旅するクイズ, Nikki's Travel Quiz), a 2015 Nintendo 3DS travel guide app that was exclusively distributed via the now-defunct Club Nintendo in Japan, Nintendo Badge Arcade for the Nintendo 3DS in late 2015, Swapdoodle (known as Irasuto Kōkan Nikki (イラスト交換日記, Illustrated Exchange Diary) in Japan), the successor to Swapnote/Nintendo Letter Box for the Nintendo 3DS in late 2016, and in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an Assist Trophy. Wii The Mii Channel is the app that allows Mii creation on the Wii menu. It can store up to 100 Miis, and Wii Remotes are also able to store and transfer up to ten Miis to other consoles. It is also possible to see other Miis from TV shows and games. Miis are intended to be an extension of the player, and in keeping with this spirit, the user can use them in several Nintendo titles for the Wii. Wii Sports is perhaps the best-known example of this,[citation needed] and it adds a further personal touch to Miis by saving game statistics and records for individual Miis. Miis will make cameo appearances as computer-controlled opponents, teammates, or within the audience. Miis have been used to serve as game file icons (profiles) within several games. Often appearing as just a head for identification, this Mii has no impact on the actual gameplay other than to identify a player in another way besides the name, or representation based on looks. Miis are primarily used in games such as Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Fit, Wii Party, Wii Fit Plus, Wii Music and Wii Sports Resort. Players can also use their Miis, however, in other first-party games, most noticeably within WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Mario Party 8, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Super Sluggers, Animal Crossing: City Folk (using their Mii's head as a mask) and in Go Vacation. The Japan-only Sega game Pachinko: Sammy's Collection is the first third-party game to incorporate Miis, while the Wii version of FIFA Soccer 08 is the first third-party game released in North America, Europe and Australia to use the Mii Channel. Many other games, like We Ski, and Guitar Hero World Tour and Sonic Colors also use Miis. While a Mii's head always remains the same, its body varies between games. For example, in Wii Sports, the Mii's body is stylized, with spherical floating hands and bearing no arms, and Mii audiences or CPUs floating with spherical bottoms with no legs instead, but in Wii Fit its body is designed to look more natural, and its weight will be determined by the weight Wii Fit found of the player in Wii Fit tests. Sometimes Miis will wear outfits in context with the game. In Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel, the Miis can be optionally used for the planet's icon that represents the save file, the other option being to use Mario characters for the planets. Only the Mii's head is shown and it's shown in a sphere shaped like the planet. In Mario Kart Wii, Mii racers can be dressed in jumpsuits, or Mario style overalls for males and a Peach style dress for females, in Dr. Mario Online Rx, Miis appear in medical clothing, and in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, where they appear as bobblehead dolls, they will be dressed up in bounty hunter Samus Aran's Power Suit. In MLB Power Pros, Miis are designed to look like regular Power Pro-Kun avatar, with legs detached from the main body. In Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2, the Mii's body is formed more like a regular human. This design was, however, criticized by IGN's Lucas M. Thomas, who sarcastically commented that "[it] doesn't look disturbing at all." While Miis are not playable in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the creator of the series, Masahiro Sakurai, explained that Miis were originally considered to be playable in the game, but the idea was decided against due to fears of bullying. They would eventually debut in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Miis were incorporated in the downloadable Everybody Votes Channel, where Miis represented the voter. Up to six different Miis could be registered within the channel to use in voting. The channel was discontinued along with the Check Mii Out channel by Nintendo on June 28, 2013, as they moved on to other next-generation projects. Another Mii-centric channel, the Check Mii Out Channel, also known as the Mii Contest Channel (Miiコンテストチャンネル, Mī Kontesuto Channeru) in Japan, Europe, and Oceania, was released on November 11, 2007. Perhaps an evolution of an idea shared by Shigeru Miyamoto at the Game Developers Conference in 2007, this channel allowed players to upload their Mii characters and share them with other users. There were also popularity contests, in which players would design a Mii that would personify a specific idea or character and then vote on the Mii that would best fit the suggestion. The channel was available for free download on the Wii Shop Channel from November 12, 2007, until June 27, 2013, when Nintendo discontinued the channel along with the Everybody Votes channel. Nintendo DS Although the platform lacks native support for Mii creation, a few games on the Nintendo DS console do support Mii functionality, and will work in conjunction with the Wii's Mii Channel. Miis can be transferred from a user's Wii to supported Nintendo DS games via the Mii Channel. A code must be entered by the user to unlock the feature on the Mii Channel. The Nintendo DS game Personal Trainer: Walking uses Miis to allow players to track their progress in the game. Players are also able to create Miis in-game. The Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time also uses Miis. The life-simulation game Tomodachi Collection, only released in Japan for the Nintendo DS, also uses Miis and has a built-in Mii editor. Miis from the user's Wii's Mii Channel can be transferred to the game, and vice versa. Nintendo 3DS The Mii Maker (Miiスタジオ, Mī Sutajio; lit. "Mii Studio") is the app that allows Mii creation on the Nintendo 3DS. It can store up to 100 Mii characters, much like the Wii, and includes more facial features than the latter console. The Mii Maker installed on the Nintendo 3DS can use facial recognition to generate a Mii, which selects facial features based on a photograph of a person's face taken with the system's cameras. Unlike the Nintendo DS, which features limited support of Mii characters, its successor the Nintendo 3DS features Miis as a standard. Similar to the Wii's Mii Channel, the Nintendo 3DS features its own Mii-creating application called Mii Maker, which is more advanced than the Mii Channel. Mii characters can be created manually with Mii Maker as on the Wii's Mii Channel, but they can also be created automatically through the use of the Nintendo 3DS's cameras. The system captures an image of a subject's face, and the application converts the image into a Mii likeness using integrated recognition software. Automated Mii character designs can be manually adjusted. Mii characters can also be imported from the Wii to the 3DS or from the 3DS to the Wii U, however, Miis cannot be sent from the 3DS to the Wii, as Mii Maker features an expanded selection of design parts that are not available on Mii Channel. The Nintendo 3DS can generate and read QR codes that represent Mii characters. QR codes and pictures of Mii characters can also be transferred to an SD card in any picture format, and be used in various ways, such as posting them on a web page. Miis on the Nintendo 3DS can also be used in conjunction with the device's built-in augmented reality software – the software includes a mini-app named 'Mii Pics' which allows the user to take a photo of their Mii within a regular photo, using an augmented reality card included with the system. The first Nintendo 3DS game to include support for Mii characters is Pilotwings Resort. Miis obtained through StreetPass appear as non-player characters in Nintendogs + Cats. Mii characters also appear in Pokémon Rumble Blast, Mario Kart 7, and many more games. The Nintendo eShop exclusive game Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers also allows players to create an "Amiimal", an animal with facial features based on their selected Mii. Currently, the most notable game to feature Miis in their entirety is Tomodachi Life, the sequel to the Japan-only Tomodachi Collection for the Nintendo DS. This is also the first game to give Miis complete lines of dialogue as well as the first game to allow players to choose what Miis say. Miitopia is another Mii-centric game title for the Nintendo 3DS. A feature on the Nintendo 3DS, the StreetPass Mii Plaza (すれちがいMii広場, Surechigai Mī Hiroba) makes use of the handheld's StreetPass feature, which data can be transferred between nearby Nintendo 3DS consoles in standby mode. As Miis are gathered in the plaza, they can be used in numerous minigames, with the initial two being Puzzle Swap and Find Mii (known as StreetPass Quest in PAL regions). In Puzzle Swap, players can exchange pieces of several jigsaw puzzle panels based on Nintendo games, in which there were initially seven, but this number increased with occasional updates. Find Mii is an RPG minigame in which players use the Miis they gathered to fight through dungeons, earning accessories for their Mii. Each Mii possesses a different type of magic depending on their color, and become more powerful if the player meets them more than once. These games can be optionally played with Play Coins, though the results are more random than with Streetpass Miis. On December 6, 2011, the feature was updated to include SpotPass functionality, as well as new puzzle panels, a sequel to Find Mii, a map showing where players met other Miis, Accomplishments and a music player. Special Miis released by Nintendo and obtained through SpotPass can also be used in StreetPass Mii Plaza. They have access to all Puzzle Swap pieces and provide a level 5 player for Find Mii. Wii U The Mii Maker (Miiスタジオ, Mī Sutajio; lit. "Mii Studio") is the app that allows Mii creation on the Wii U. It can store up to 3,000 Miis and includes the same facial features used on the Nintendo 3DS. The Mii Maker installed on the Wii U can use facial recognition to generate a Mii, which selects the features based on a photo of a face taken with the Wii U GamePad camera. Mii characters evolve further for the Wii's successor, Wii U. In addition to previous uses on the Wii, Mii characters are wholly integrated into the Wii U's social online network Miiverse, the WaraWara Plaza community where clusters of Mii characters crowd around the hottest games, and being depicted as personal avatars for individual Wii U players, who have the ability for twelve separate Nintendo Network ID User accounts that can be used on a single console at a time. User accounts with Mii representatives are used for both games and apps such as Nintendo TVii. Mii characters can be transferred from the Wii and/or the Nintendo 3DS to the Wii U, in which in the latter's case transfers between consoles can occur as many times as possible. Mii characters also return as in-game characters for certain Wii U games, which in addition to Nintendo-published launch titles such as Wii Sports Club, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Mario Kart 8, New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land, they are also included in third-party titles such as Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. In the case of Mario Kart 8, about 19+ amiibo suits can be acquired by tapping a compatible amiibo figure via an NFC reader located on the left-hand side of the Gamepad. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild uses an evolved form of Mii, UMii, to render non-essential NPCs. Nintendo Switch/Nintendo Switch 2 Unlike previous Nintendo consoles and handhelds, the Nintendo Switch (and by extension, the Nintendo Switch 2)'s Mii creation software is located within the console's system settings menu instead of it being a separate app. It can store up to 100 Miis, similar to the Wii and Nintendo 3DS, and includes the same facial features used on the 3DS and Wii U while also providing additional options as well as unnatural hair and eye colors. On the Nintendo Switch 2, Miis are not defined by a specific gender; instead, the Switch 2's Mii creation software uses two different Mii styles resembling the two formerly defined gender types, which can be defined as genders in certain games. Miis can be used on the Switch to represent accounts; users may optionally use a Nintendo character such as Mario as their avatar instead. Miis can be transferred between Switch consoles and imported from a 3DS or Wii U using an amiibo figure. Miis can also be imported from a Nintendo Account. Miis can still be integrated into games as a playable character such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Go Vacation, Nintendo Switch Sports, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. In the case of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, about 20+ amiibo suits can be acquired by tapping a compatible amiibo figure via the NFC reader on the right-hand Joy-Con or on the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, similar to that of Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U.[citation needed] Nintendo Switch Sports introduced an entirely different set of avatars known as "Sportsmates"; Miis can still be selected as an option. Currently, the most notable game on the Switch to feature Miis in their entirety is Miitopia, a remaster of the 2017 role-playing video game of the same name for the Nintendo 3DS. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, the sequel to Tomodachi Life for the Nintendo 3DS, is another Mii-centric game title for the Switch, set for release on April 16, 2026 (13 years after the release of the original game and 10 years after the release of Miitomo in 2016). Other platforms When the freemium mobile app Miitomo launched on iOS and Android devices in 2016, it was possible for the first time to officially create Mii characters without the need for a Nintendo console. Mii characters created on the app initially resembled their Wii U counterparts, and used the same attributes. Later versions of the app updated the Mii characters to be more inline with that of the Nintendo Switch, even using the same attributes. Nintendo Account holders can opt to use the app to create Mii avatars without the need to link their accounts to any Nintendo console, with the option also available. Miitomo was also used to support Mii avatars on other Nintendo apps for smart devices. For example, in an update released for Super Mario Run on April 25, 2017, player Mii icon customization options became available with the support of Miitomo and its in-game costumes via the same Nintendo Account. Miitomo was only available in 60 of the 165 countries/territories recognized by Nintendo Accounts when it was discontinued on May 9, 2018. A few weeks after Miitomo was discontinued, Nintendo introduced a browser-based Mii editor called Mii Studio on May 24, 2018. The editor is integrated into all Nintendo Accounts for users in all regions, including regions that originally did not have official support for Miitomo. Mii Studio supports all Mii attributes and standards introduced for the Nintendo Switch. Up to six Mii avatars can be created at a time, including any Mii imported from a linked Nintendo Network ID (also known as NNID). Other appearances Outside of games, Miis were used in several promotional and marketing materials by Nintendo. Miis have also appeared in Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge at the Super Nintendo World amusement areas in Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Epic Universe, where they appear on-screen during the pre-show sections to showcase ride mechanics and safety precautions. The Miis used in particular were a selection of CPU Miis from the Wii U era, which were previously used in Nintendo Land, Wii Sports Club and Wii Party U, as well as several Nintendo promotional and marketing materials since. Miis were referenced in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, where it is briefly shown on Luigi's smartphone when he receives an incoming call. The icon in question is a silhouetted image of a male default Mii which is used to represent a no contact icon. See also References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve%27s_Lava_Chicken#cite_note-RIAA-10] | [TOKENS: 750] |
Contents Steve's Lava Chicken "Steve's Lava Chicken" is a song performed by Jack Black from the soundtrack for A Minecraft Movie (2025). It is used as a jingle for a scene where Black's character in the film, Steve, cooks a live chicken by pouring lava onto it. The song was co-written by Black and the film's director Jared Hess, and is 34 seconds long. The song broke several records—particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom—as the shortest song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart respectively. It also charted in multiple other countries. It has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America and silver by the British Phonographic Industry. Background and release "Steve's Lava Chicken" is used in a scene in A Minecraft Movie where Steve—a character portrayed in the film by Black—showcases a contraption he made that cooks live chickens in lava. The subject of the song is the cooked chicken resulting from the contraption. The song itself is about 34 seconds long, and was co-written by Black and the film's director Jared Hess. The soundtrack for A Minecraft Movie, including "Steve's Lava Chicken", was released on March 28, 2025, through WaterTower Music. A 50-second long clip from the film featuring the song, labeled by WaterTower as its official music video, was released on April 9, 2025. An EP by Black, I...Am Steve, featuring an extended version of "Steve's Lava Chicken" along with other songs from the film's soundtrack, was released on April 18, 2025. The extended version is 1 minute and 15 seconds long. A remix of the "Steve's Lava Chicken" instrumental was added to Minecraft in June 2025 as a music disc, with players able to obtain the disc by killing a chicken jockey. Commercial performance In the United States, "Steve's Lava Chicken" received over 2.5 million streams on the week of the film's release, a 1,973% increase in streams from the week prior to its release. The song later debuted at number 78 on the Hot 100 for the week dated May 3, 2025, breaking the record for the shortest song in the chart's history, surpassing Kid Cudi's "Beautiful Trip", which is 37 seconds long. "Steve's Lava Chicken" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in September 2025. In the United Kingdom, "Steve's Lava Chicken" peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart on May 2, 2025 ‒ for the week ending date May 8, 2025 ‒ during its third week on the chart. It broke the record for the shortest song to ever appear in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. The previous record holder was "The Ladies' Bras", a song by Jonny Trunk and Duncan Wisbey that was 36 seconds long. The song became Black's highest-charting song in Britain, surpassing "Peaches", a song from the soundtrack for The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023). It was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry in July 2025. Critical reception In a list article discussing the best and worst things to happen in 2025, Pitchfork placed the commercial performance records set by "Steve's Lava Chicken" as one of the low points of the year, assigning it a 1.9 out of 10 score on the scale. Charts Certifications ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. References |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexerto] | [TOKENS: 417] |
Contents Dexerto Dexerto is a video game and entertainment news website operated by Dexerto Limited. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in London, the site originally focused on esports but later shifted towards tabloid-style coverage of video games and internet culture, with a particularly strong focus on internet personalities. History Dexerto was founded on 19 March 2015 by Joshua Nino, Chris Marsh, Mike Kent, and Nicolas Hulsmans to cover esports. It originally launched as two websites, one in English and the other in French. A Spanish website was also launched. The coverage of the website subsequently shifted. A 2022 Business Insider article described its coverage as "evolv[ing] to chronicle broader online culture, with a flair for drama in the gaming space and beyond", with a particular focus on drama and controversies involving internet personalities, who attract broader interest than esports, while continuing to cover esports to some degree. Esports analyst Rod Breslau described the website as the "TMZ of esports". Founder Nino described the website as being staffed by both "amateur bloggers and veteran esports journalists alike". Some internet personalities like Pokimane accuse Dexerto of producing clickbait content about them. Dexerto director Mike Kent won joint "Reporter of the Year" at the 2018 UK Esports Awards. In 2020 Axios described the website as "The most high-profile independent [esports] outlet". In September 2020, the site named veteran esports journalist Richard Lewis as editor-at-large. In 2022, Dexerto's users exceeded 30 million per month, and the company reported in excess of $10 million in revenue. Also in 2022, the site was involved in controversy after tweeting "Former porn star Adriana Chechik gets her back blown out, this time by a hard floor at TwitchCon" after Chechik had suffered major spinal injuries after a hard fall diving into a foam pit without appropriate floor cushioning at that year's TwitchCon. The tweet was subsequently deleted. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Minecraft:_Java_Edition#cite_note-25] | [TOKENS: 5709] |
Contents Development of Minecraft: Java Edition The development of the 2011 sandbox game Minecraft spans over 16 years and multiple major updates. Originally started in May 2009 by Markus "Notch" Persson as a small personal project, the game quickly became popular on forums, prompting Persson to continue updating it. Over the course of its development, Minecraft's public beta amassed over 4 million sales by 7 November 2011. Minecraft would eventually release on 18 November 2011. After the full release in 2011, Minecraft has been receiving various updates that add new features into the game for no additional cost. After Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang Studios (formerly known as Mojang AB) in 2014, the pace of major update releases was briefly halted, before resuming the cycle in 2016. In 2017, after the unification of the console and mobile ports of the game, the original PC version of Minecraft was renamed to Minecraft: Java Edition. In 2024, annual updates were partially replaced by "game drops" that focus on smaller but more frequent additions. Outside of major and minor updates, preview builds named "snapshots" are available in the Minecraft Launcher and are released weekly. Certain versions and snapshots are unavailable to play via the launcher, with some considered lost and others archived online. Background Before creating Minecraft, Persson was a game developer at King, where he worked until March 2009. At King, he primarily developed browser games and learned several programming languages. During his free time, he prototyped his own games, often drawing inspiration from other titles, and was an active participant on the TIGSource forums for independent developers. Around March 2009, Persson left King and joined jAlbum, while continuing to work on his prototypes. As the profits from sales of Minecraft's public alpha version began overshadowing his day job wage, he resigned from jAlbum in 2010 in order to be able to work on the game full time. With the revenue generated from the game, Persson founded Mojang, a video game studio, alongside former colleagues Jakob Porser and Carl Manneh. Following the full release, Persson transferred creative control of Minecraft to Jens Bergensten and began working on another project called 0x10c, though it was later abandoned. In 2014, Persson decided to sell Mojang, stating that he became exhausted with developing Minecraft due to the intense media attention and public pressure. After Microsoft purchased Mojang for $2.5 billion, he left the company alongside Porser and Manneh. Pre-release The first known versions of Minecraft, then known as Cave Game, were developed by Markus Persson in May 2009. The game world consisted of grass and cobblestone blocks, which could be placed and removed. The gameplay was inspired by Infiniminer and an earlier project of Persson, RubyDung. On 13 May, the first available footage of the game was released online via a YouTube video titled "Cave game tech test", uploaded by Persson himself. On 17 May, a more refined build of the game was published on the TIGSource forums. The game was renamed to Minecraft: Order of the Stone based on user feedback, later shortened to Minecraft, omitting the subtitle. Following Minecraft's release on TIGSource, Persson began updating the game based on the response from the forum users, with the subsequent builds later referred to as Minecraft Classic. Various branches of Classic have been released, such as Multiplayer Test and Survival Test, with the former implementing multiplayer capabilities into the game and the latter giving the player a health bar and adding hostile monsters, including zombies, skeletons and creepers. Ambient music tracks that play sparsely during the gameplay were added during Classic, composed by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, known professionally as C418, who became active on TIGSource in 2007 where he met Persson. Rosenfeld wanted to "make something organic and partly electronic, partly acoustic" for the music of Minecraft. The soundtrack's minimalistic style was also due to technical constraints, as he admitted the game "has a terrible sound engine." The game's soundtrack, Minecraft – Volume Alpha, would later be released in March 2011. On 7 May 2019, coinciding with Minecraft's 10th anniversary, a JavaScript recreation of Classic was made available to play online for free. Minecraft entered the Indev phase on 23 December 2009, which inherited features from Survival Test. Various features were added during this time, most notably paintings drawn by Swedish artist Kristoffer Zetterstrand. On 27 February 2010, Persson began experimenting with infinite worlds and started a new development branch called Infdev. Minecraft entered the Alpha phase on 30 June 2010. In a 2010 interview, Persson said "[...] Minecraft alpha is now, but I focused on just getting the engine written and making sure that the controls felt smooth." During the alpha stage, updates were frequent and sometimes released with no warning. Notable additions include redstone, a material capable of transmitting a signal used to change state of various blocks, such as opening doors and turning on lamps. Redstone is turing complete and has been used by players to create complex mechanisms, including computers. Released on 30 October 2010, Alpha v1.2.0 added various biomes to the world, such as deserts, forests and snowy tundras, as well as a hell-like dimension called the Nether, accessed through a player-made portal, composed mainly of lava and populated with dangerous monsters such as the fireball-shooting Ghasts. Minecraft entered the Beta phase on 20 December 2010, with Beta 1.0 introducing throwable eggs and leaf decay. The game's price was subsequently raised from €10 to €14.75. Throughout 2011, various features were added, such as beds, tameable wolves, maps, trapdoors and redstone-powered pistons. In January 2011, Minecraft had sold over 1 million copies. Beta 1.8, titled "Adventure Update", was released on September 14, 2011. The update reworked the world generation, adding new biomes, structures and terrain features, such as ravines. Villages were added, though they would not be populated until the next update. Player movement and combat was overhauled, giving the player the ability to sprint and inflict critical hits on enemies. A hunger bar was added; instead of food healing the player directly, it now replenishes the hunger bar, with player slowly healing when the bar is full and taking damage when it is empty. The update also adds creative mode, a game mode that removes survival aspects of the game, making the player invincible, able to fly and giving unlimited access to blocks, similar to Minecraft Classic. Initially, Adventure Update was going to be released in Beta 1.7, but was later delayed due to the amount of content to Beta 1.8 and then subsequently split between two updates, Beta 1.8 and Beta 1.9, the latter becoming 1.0.0. In November 2011, Minecraft had sold over 4 million copies. Release and subsequent updates On November 18, 2011, during MineCon 2011, the first full version of Minecraft was officially released, titled "Adventure Update: Part II". It was originally planned to be released as "Beta 1.9", but was later labeled "1.0.0", signifying the full release of the game. The update added a new Mushroom biome, villager NPCs that spawn in villages and Nether fortresses. Tools, weapons and armour could now be enchanted, providing stat increases and special effects. The update also added a brand new dimension titled The End, inspired by a cancelled sky dimension, and a final boss called the Ender Dragon that spawns in The End and opens a portal upon defeat which initiates the End Poem and a credits sequence. The 1.1 update released on 12 January 2012. It added spawn eggs that allow the player to spawn any mob, with the item being available only in creative mode. A new world type was added called "superflat", which generates an endless flat plain, allowing for easier building. The update also adds new enchantments for bows, improved world generation and language localizations. The 1.2 update released on 1 March 2012. It added a new jungle biome that house ocelots, which could be tamed with fish, becoming a cat. Iron golems were introduced, walking around villages and protecting them from monsters. The world's height was doubled from 128 to 256, though no terrain generates above 128 blocks. The 1.3 update was released on 1 August 2012. New dungeons were added, the desert pyramid and the jungle temple. Villager trading was introduced, along with emeralds that are used as a currency. Other new features include redstone-emitting tripwires, books that hold text written by the player, ender chests that are linked together, cocoa beans and single-player cheats. Additionally, the single-player and multiplayer codebases have been merged, raising the system requirements as "the game needs to be able to both simulate and emulate the world". On 25 October 2012, the Pretty Scary Update released. The update added new mobs such as the Wither boss and Witches, in theme for Halloween of that year. Anvils were added, used for repairing, renaming and applying enchantments to tools, weapons and armour. Other blocks were added that include item frames (picture frames that allow the display of items), flower pots and beacons, which gives the player special effects in a big radius when placed atop of a pyramid of gold, emerald, iron or diamond blocks. On 13 March 2013, the Redstone Update released. Bergensten stated that "[the update] marks the start of a series of new, more focused updates from the developer that focus on a feature or a theme." The main changes in the update are different ways that the player can make use of redstone, including a block named the "daylight detector" that can trigger circuits depending on the time of day. Released on 1 July 2013, The Horse Update added a new form of transportation with horses, donkeys and mules along with horse armour. The update also introduced leads, carpets, terracotta, hay bales, name tags and coal blocks. The Update that Changed the World was released on 25 October 2013. The update overhauled the world generation, adding 11 new biomes such as savannas, mesas, extreme hills and various forests, along with terrain features such as packed ice, podzol and red sand. The "amplified" world type was introduced, featuring extreme terrain. Additionally, new types of fish and item frames were added. The Bountiful update released on 2 September 2014. It added the Ocean Monument alongside a new boss called the Elder Guardian, as well as rabbits, bouncy slime blocks, customizable banners and a new female default character skin, Alex. A new world type was added that allowed full customization of terrain features and structure generation. The update also updated item enchanting and repairing. Following Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang AB and Persson's subsequent departure from the company, no new major updates were released until February 2016. Teased in the 2015 April Fools' Day update and released on 29 February 2016, the Combat Update aimed to improve Minecraft's combat mechanics as well as expand the End dimension. Swords and axes were assigned a cooldown, making players unable to attack rapidly. Dual wielding was introduced, allowing the players to equip any item in their "off-hand" slot, including a brand new shield item that absorbs most enemy damage. The End dimension was expanded, with the player being able to visit more end islands after defeating the Ender Dragon on the main island. End cities can be found on these islands, which contain powerful loot, including an equippable set of elytra that allows the player to glide in the air. The reception to the combat changes was controversial, with certain users and community-run servers opting not to update to 1.9. Bergensten stated that "the combat system wasn’t very interesting and we simply wanted to give it a little bit more variation", noting that the changes were "almost universally hated by the PVP community". The Frostburn Update, released on 8 June 2016, adds additional biome-dependent variants for zombies and skeletons, polar bears, Nether magma blocks, fossils, as well as improvements for world generation and mob spawning. The Exploration Update was released on 14 November 2016. A new structure was added, the woodland mansion that houses illagers, a hostile version of villagers that attack villagers and the player. Dropped from the magic-powered evoker illagers, Totems of Undying can prevent an otherwise fatal event when held by the player. A new villager type called the cartographer was added who sells maps that lead to various structures. Other additions include llamas, a portable chest item called the Shulker Box and cursed enchantments. The World of Color was released on 7 June 2017 and added new concrete and terracotta blocks, as well as tameable parrots. It also improved various colored blocks, making them more vibrant. The achievement system originally added in Beta was replaced with advancements, which give the player experience points for completing them. On 20 September 2017, the Better Together update was released for Windows 10, console and mobile ports of Minecraft, unifying them under the name Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. Following the update, the original PC version was renamed to Minecraft: Java Edition. Update Aquatic, an ocean overhaul, was released on 18 July 2018. The update made oceans more varied and added various biomes and structures, such as seagrass, coral reefs, icebergs, buried treasures and shipwrecks that contain loot. Fish, which were previously only available as items, were introduced as a mob that could be captured in a bucket. A new underwater zombie was added, the Drowned, that has a rare chance to spawn with a throwable trident weapon that can be looted and used by the player. Sea turtles were introduced, producing scutes that are used to craft a helmet that extends the amount of time the player can survive underwater without oxygen. Other additions include dolphins, blue ice and improved swimming mechanics. Released on 23 April 2019, the Village & Pillage update focused on improving the villages and villager NPCs as well as adding a new raid event. Villagers were reworked to behave more realistically and have their trades be dependent on their "job block", instead of their profession being selected randomly on spawn. A raid event was added, with villages now being vulnerable to attack from illagers. The update also introduced biome-dependent villages and villager clothes, as well as pandas, foxes, crossbows, campfires, cherries and bamboo. The Buzzy Bees update was released on 10 December 2019. The update added bees that can be found in forests and are neutral to the player, becoming aggressive when provoked and dying shortly after a sting. They can pollinate flowers and bring honey to their nest or a player crafted beehive. Honey collected in bottles can be used to craft honey blocks, which are used in conjunction with pistons to push adjacent blocks similarly to slime blocks, though slime and honey blocks do not stick. In addition, honey blocks suppress fall damage and make the player slide down the sides of the block; these mechanics were used by the players to make parkour maps. Various mods have been released that change the appearance of bees. The Nether Update was released on 23 June 2020. The update centered around updating the Nether dimension, making it more varied and useful. New Nether biomes were added, such as soul sand valleys, basalt deltas and crimson and warped forests. Zombie pigmen had their appearance changed slightly and were renamed to zombified piglins. Regular piglins were added, hostile to the player unless one wears gold armour. They can be bartered with by giving them gold in exchange for various items. The update also introduced striders, a passive mob that can be ridden to safely traverse lava. Bastion remnants were added to the Nether, housing hostile piglin brutes and chests with valuable loot, including a brand new music disc "Pigstep". The music disc, along with new ambient music tracks that play in the Nether, were composed by Lena Raine and appear in the soundtrack album Minecraft: Nether Update (Original Game Soundtrack). Netherite, a brand new Nether-exclusive material, is used to upgrade diamond armour and tools, making them more durable and fireproof. Additionally, the update added respawn anchors that make the player respawn in the Nether after death (regular beds blow up in the Nether), target blocks that emit redstone signal, lodestone blocks and the originally-scrapped crying obsidian blocks. Announced during Minecraft Live 2020, the Caves & Cliffs update was originally supposed to release in full in Summer 2021, but was split into two smaller updates due to the team not wanting to rush what they described as the "most ambitious [update]" yet, the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the workflow, as well as technical challenges due to the maximum world height being increased. Caves & Cliffs: Part I released on 8 June 2021. The update added axolotls, who were added following Mojang Studios' trend of adding endangered species to the game to raise awareness and quickly became a fan favourite feature of the update. Other new mobs include mountain goats and aquifer-inhabiting glow squids, the latter of which controversially won the previous year's mob vote that was allegedly rigged by the Minecraft YouTuber Dream. Copper was added, collected from underground ores and used to craft decorative copper blocks, lightning rods and spyglasses. Copper blocks placed in the world oxidize over time, with the color gradually turning from orange to teal; the process can be stopped at any stage of oxidization by waxing the block using honeycomb. New cave flora was also added, including moss, glow lichens, spore blossoms, glow berries, dripleafs and azalea. Amethyst could be found underground in geodes consisting of smooth basalt and calcite. Additionally, the update adds dripstone stalactites and stalagmites, tuff, candles and powder snow. Caves & Cliffs: Part II released on 30 November 2021. The update reworked the world generation to be more expansive, with higher mountains and deeper caves, along with new biomes for both. To achieve such change, the world height was increased from 256 to 384, 64 blocks up and down. Mountains were changed to have a gradual biome shift, along with making them higher and featuring more defined peaks. Caves were expanded, featuring more varied generation, larger aquifers and new biomes, such as lush caves and dripstone caves. A mysterious and dangerous Deep Dark cave biome, archaeology features, and bundles were also set to appear, but were later postponed to The Wild Update, Trails & Tales and Bundles of Bravery updates respectively. New music by Lena Raine and Samuel Åberg was composed for the update and later released as Minecraft: The Wild Update (Original Game Soundtrack). The Wild Update was released on 7 June 2022. It added two new biomes, mangrove swamp and Deep Dark, the latter of which was originally planned for release in the Caves & Cliffs update. It also added a new type of wood, mud blocks, boats with chests, frogs and tadpoles. The update was originally going to add fireflies that could be eaten by frogs, but the feature was scrapped due to fireflies being poisonous to frogs in real life, with game director Agnes Larsson stating that "if we release a feature like fireflies that are poisonous to frogs and we have frogs eating them, that actually might lead to people killing their real life frogs". A concept art of a reworked birch forest biome was also showed during the update's reveal, but the biome was not touched in the update. These actions led to criticism, with various users nicknaming the update "The Mild Update" due to the amount of content added deemed insufficient. Fireflies would be eventually added in the "Spring to Life" game drop released in 2025. Released on 28 June 2022, update 1.19.1 added a feature that allows players to report chat messages by other players for inappropriate or dangerous behavior. The reports are manually reviewed by Mojang Studios employees and can lead to the reported player getting banned from playing all multiplayer servers if he is found to be in violation of Xbox Community Standards. The feature was widely criticized by the players; some pointed out that it is possible to be reported on one's own server, others opined that chat monitoring may lead to further censorship and dubbed the update "1.19.84", referencing the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Community manager MojangMeesh responded to criticism on Reddit, stating that the system is not going to be changed or reverted despite the feedback and asking people not to harass other employees; his comment received almost 2,000 downvotes. Various mods have been created to circumvent chat reporting. The Trails & Tales update was announced during Minecraft Live 2022 as an unnamed upcoming update and was released on 7 June 2023. The update added cherry blossoms, along with bamboo planks. Originally planned for 1.17, archaeology was introduced, with the player being able to excavate items from suspicious sand and gravel near certain structures using a brush. The buried items include pottery sherds used to craft ceramic pots with art, and sniffer eggs, which slowly hatch into a sniffer, a new fictional mob able to dig out items from soil otherwise unavailable to the player. Additionally, camels, decorative armour trims, hanging signs and chiseled bookshelves were added. In September 2023, Mojang Studios announced its switch from major annual updates to "game drops" that release more frequently, stating that "alongside these regular content drops, our developers will be focusing on long-term initiatives to ensure we can continue to evolve Minecraft long into the future". The first ever seasonal game drop was released on 5 December 2023, named "Bats and Pots". The drop added more functionality to pots added in the previous update, making them able to store items and break when hit with a projectile. Bats were also redesigned. Released on 23 April 2024, the Armored Paws game drop added armadillos, the previous year's mob vote winner, as well as new wolf variants. Armadillos are scared of players and roll up into a ball when approached or hurt. Armadillo scutes can be brushed off the animal using a brush. The scutes are used to craft wolf armour. The Tricky Trials update was released on 13 June 2024. New underground dungeons were added called the trial chambers, containing mob spawners and valuable loot. Going into the dungeon with a bad omen status effect increases the difficulty of the encounters, giving enemies better armour and weapons, while also increasing the quality of loot. Maces were introduced, crafted using heavy cores obtained from trial chambers. The damage inflicted by the weapon is proportional to the amount of distance fallen, with a successful hit negating fall damage. Breezes could be found in trial chambers, dealing little damage but high knockback, with their projectiles being able to activate redstone traps. The mob drops wind charges, which can be used by the player to knock mobs back or propel oneself into the air, akin to rocket jumping. New copper blocks were added, with most being used in the trial chambers. The update also added a redstone-powered automated crafting table, new music discs, armour trims and additional paintings, most of which were done by Zetterstrand, who created the original set of Minecraft's paintings. The Bundles of Bravery game drop was released on 22 October 2024. It added bundles that are able to hold up to 64 different items in a single inventory slot. The bundles can also be dyed. Announced alongside Bundles of Bravery, The Garden Awakens game drop was released on 3 December 2024. It added a rare forest biome named the pale garden. The biome has a grey, desaturated look and no ambient music plays inside the biome. A new hostile mob called the Creaking was introduced. Creakings spawn in the pale garden during night and attack players who are not looking at it, otherwise standing completely still. The mob cannot be damaged directly; killing the mob requires destroying the creaking heart found inside trees. The Creaking drops resin upon death, which can be crafted into resin bricks. Various sources noted the horror theme of the update. The Spring to Life game drop was released on 25 March 2025. It added new environment blocks, including bushes, dry grass, cactus flowers and leaf litter, as well as new ambient sounds for various biomes. Fireflies were added, an ambient feature originally slated for release for The Wild Update in 2022. Additionally, new biome-specific variants for chickens, cows and pigs and were added. Announced during Minecraft Live 2025, the Chase the Skies game drop was released on 17 June 2025. The drop added a new mob called the happy ghast, a non-hostile variant of ghasts that can be tamed and ridden with a harness. They are obtained by rescuing dried ghasts from the Nether, and put into water in the Overworld. The update also introduced the player locator bar, overhauled lead mechanics and added two music discs, one of which being a chiptune remix by Hyper Potions of "Steve's Lava Chicken" from A Minecraft Movie obtained by killing a chicken jockey. The Copper Age game drop was released on 30 September 2025. It added the copper golem, a player-made mob capable of moving items between chests and sorting them. Additional copper blocks such as chests, chains, lanterns and torches were also added. The shelf block were also introduced, as well as copper armour and tools. The Mounts of Mayhem game drop was released on 9 December 2025. A new tiered spear weapon was introduced, dealing damage based on player speed. Giant rideable nautiluses were added, used for underwater traversal due to their fast speed and the ability to extend the player's breath. The update also added additional variants to mobs, such as a zombified camel variant called Camel Husk and a desert skeleton variant called the Parched, who fires arrows of weakness at the player, while also introducing zombie horses, a previously unused mob. On 2 December 2025, Mojang Studios announced a change in Minecraft's version numbering, switching from semantic to calendar versioning starting in 2026, with the next unannounced update being labeled as 26.1 (the first update of 2026). Upcoming content From 2019 to 2020, a new branch of snapshots was developed, named the Combat Tests. The snapshots experimented with changing various combat mechanics, with the goal of making a combat system for both Java and Bedrock editions of Minecraft, fixing the disparity between the versions. References |
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Contents Xbox Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, for the development and publishing of video games for Microsoft Windows. It has since expanded to include games and other interactive entertainment for the namesake Xbox platforms, other desktop operating systems, Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms, web-based portals, and other game consoles. Xbox Game Studios, alongside ZeniMax Media and Activision Blizzard, are part of the Microsoft Gaming division led by Phil Spencer, who is chief executive officer of the division. History Early in the history of Microsoft the software company published video games like Olympic Decathlon, but Steve Ballmer reportedly persuaded Bill Gates to deemphasize them to professionalize the company's image. By the early 1990s, Microsoft published subLOGIC's Microsoft Flight Simulator and several Microsoft Entertainment Pack compilations of minigames, but was best known for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. In 1992, the company began increasing its focus on games. It announced Microsoft Golf for Windows, based on Access Software's Links, and expanded the games division from two to six people with the intention of commissioning more products from other developers. Microsoft acquired FASA Interactive in 1999 for its MechWarrior game series, Access Software, and Aces Game Studio, which worked on Flight Simulator. The Games Group had also established long-term publishing deals with developers like Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires, Age of Mythology), and Digital Anvil (Starlancer). Under Microsoft, FASA Interactive was renamed FASA Studio, and Access Software became Salt Lake Games Studio. Microsoft transitioned the Games Group into a wholly separate division named Microsoft Games around March 2000, along with other consolidation of games-related projects within Microsoft. This came alongside the public announcement of the first Xbox console, with Microsoft Games to serve as a developer and publisher of titles for both Xbox and Windows. Robbie Bach, who held executive positions in Microsoft's entertainment divisions, was named senior vice-president while Ed Fries, a member of the former Games Group and instrumental for some of its acquisitions, was named as vice-president of the new division. Shane Kim served as the division's general manager. In 2001, the division was renamed Microsoft Game Studios (MGS). FASA Studio and Salt Lake Games Studio remained with Microsoft Game Studios. Digital Anvil and Ensemble Studios were acquired by Microsoft in 2000 and 2001, respectively. One of the first major studio acquisitions following the division's formation was Bungie in June 2000, in the midst of its development of Halo: Combat Evolved. With the acquisition, Halo, which had been planned for release on personal computers, became a Microsoft-published title as well as a launch title for the Xbox on its release in 2001. Turn 10 Studios was established in 2001 for work on the Forza series of racing games. In September 2002, Microsoft Game Studios acquired Rare, who had previously extensively developed for Nintendo platforms. In 2003, Microsoft recognized that the EA Sports label was in a far stronger position to develop sports games for the Xbox console, and among realignment steps, laid off about 78 employees within Microsoft Game Studios that were developing sports games in-house, and sold Salt Lake Games Studio, now named Indie Games to Take-Two Interactive in 2004, where it became Indie Built. Peter Moore was named in 2003 as vice-president of Microsoft's Home and Entertainment Division, which included MGS, the Xbox division, and Microsoft's home hardware market, reporting to Bach. In addition to pulling big publishers like Electronic Arts to the Xbox platform, Moore tried to push the Xbox in Japan by courting Japanese developers with support from MGS publishing. Such games included Phantom Dust and Blinx: The Time Sweeper. Around 2004, MGS established Carbonated Games as an internal studio for the development of casual games for Microsoft's web games portal MSN Games, on the chat client MSN Messenger, and on the Xbox Live platform. Kim and Fries were instrumental for securing MGS' publishing deal with Lionhead Studios for their 2004 game Fable, which would serve as the first major role-playing game on the Xbox platform. Subsequently, in 2006, MGS acquired Lionhead Studios along with the Fable properties, as it sought to secure a Fable sequel for the upcoming Xbox 360. MGS folded the staff of Digital Anvil into the larger studio in 2005, following the release of 2003's Brute Force, and closed down the studio entirely in 2006. FASA Studio was closed three-and-a-half months after the May 2007 release of their last game, Shadowrun. In 2007, MGS announced the opening of a European office in Reading, England, headed by general manager Phil Spencer. Moore opted to leave Microsoft in July 2007, so to move back to the San Francisco Bay area with his family and to rejoin Electronic Arts. Don Mattrick was named as his replacement as the new vice-president of the Xbox and Games Business, which included MGS. Later in 2007, Bungie amicably split from MGS to become a privately held independent company, with MGS retaining the rights to the Halo property. Bungie continued to develop two additional Halo games for MGS, Halo 3: ODST (2009) and Halo: Reach (2010). Simultaneously, MGS founded 343 Industries as an internal studio to develop future Halo games without Bungie. In 2008, MGS disbanded Carbonated Games and announced the formation of internal studio Xbox Live Productions to develop "high-quality digital content" for Xbox Live Arcade. Microsoft as a whole announced layoffs of up to 5,000 jobs across all divisions in January 2009 due to slowing sales of personal computers as a result of the Great Recession. Within MGS, the studio had already planned to disband Ensemble Studios after the completion of Halo Wars in early 2009, while the new layoffs led MGS to also disband Aces Game Studio. Microsoft acquired Vancouver-based BigPark in May 2009, using the studio to develop some of the first games for the upcoming Kinect sensor for the Xbox 360. Later in 2009, Phil Spencer was promoted to corporate vice-president of MGS, in order to replace the retiring Shane Kim. In 2010, MGS formed a mobile gaming studio, MGS Mobile Gaming, focused on developing gaming and entertainment multimedia for Windows Phone devices. It also expanded Rare with a second studio in Digbeth, Birmingham. By the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 in June 2011, Microsoft Game Studios was quietly renamed to Microsoft Studios. Later in 2011, Microsoft Studios acquired Twisted Pixel Games. In early December 2011, Microsoft Studios created Microsoft Casual Games, a division to revamp its past casual games for Windows (like Windows Solitaire and MSN Games) using more up-to-date software delivery platforms. In 2012, Phil Harrison, the former Sony worldwide studios head, joined Microsoft as head of Microsoft Studios Europe and IEB. Microsoft Studios acquired developer Press Play, known for developing Tentacles and Max & the Magic Marker. They also announced a new development studio in London, England. Later in 2012, Microsoft downsized Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver due to the cancellation of the Kinect family title Project Columbia and announced that the ongoing development of free-to-play title Microsoft Flight had been ceased due to portfolio evaluation. The reduced Vancouver studios were renamed to Black Tusk Studios and tasked with making similar franchise-building title as Halo. In 2013, Microsoft established European studio Lift London, a studio that would create cloud-based games for tablets, mobiles and TVs. Later, they created a new "Deep Tech" team inside its Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) unit; the new team is charged with working with top developers outside the company to build next-generation applications on top of Microsoft platforms. While Mattrick had overseen much of the development of Microsoft's next console, the Xbox One, he left in July 2013, prior to its release, to take over as CEO of Zynga. Mattrick was succeeded by Julie Larson-Green, who was named the president of the Devices and Studios Engineering Group, following a realignment of Microsoft's divisions, overseeing both the Xbox hardware divisions and Microsoft Studios. Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in February 2014. At this time, Microsoft was facing strong competition in the consumer market, and within the gaming sector, the Xbox One (released in 2013) was more expensive than competitors and had too much focus on non-gaming functions. Under Nadella's direction, Phil Spencer was named the new head of Microsoft Studios to replace Jason Holtman, who had only been its lead for the prior six months. Spencer began looking for ways to expand Microsoft Studios to make it a profitable division for Microsoft, and began negotiations for the acquititions of Mojang, the developers behind Minecraft, in late 2014. Microsoft spent US$2.5 billion to acquire the studio, and upon the deal's completion in November, the studio's key founding personnel, Markus Persson, Jakob Porsér and Carl Manneh, departed Mojang. As a result, Persson became valued around US$1.3 billion. Microsoft Studios committed to keeping Minecraft available across multiple platforms, including rival PlayStation consoles. Matt Booty, the studio's corporate vice-president in 2020, said the acquisition of Mojang served as the template for later acquisitions, as Mojang was left to run as an "unplugged studio" with limited integration into the Microsoft corporation, minimizing the disruption of Mojang's normal day-to-day business matters nor impeding on the studio's freedom. Additional intellectual property (IP) acquisitions by Microsoft Studios in 2014 included a publishing contract with Undead Labs for their game State of Decay, the rights to the Gears of War series from Epic Games, and the Rise of IP (Rise of Nations and Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends) from Big Huge Games. Microsoft Studios assigned Gears of War to Black Tusk Studios, which was later rebranded in 2015 as The Coalition. In July 2014, it was announced that Xbox Entertainment Studios would be closed in the following months; the closure was completed by October 29. On March 4, 2015, Microsoft announced that they were merging UK-based studios, Lift London and Soho Productions for further games development, with the amalgam continuing to operate under the Lift London name. On March 7, Microsoft announced at the Game Developers Conference that HoloLens games were coming to Xbox One. On March 9, Microsoft announced that Kudo Tsunoda's role was expanding and that he would be the new studio team leader for studios such as Press Play, Lift London and a new internal studio called Decisive Games. Decisive Games was previously mentioned in job postings, saying that they were hiring for work on a "beloved strategy game" for Xbox One and PC, but this is the first public acknowledgement of the team's existence as a first-party studio. Twisted Pixel and Microsoft Studios agreed to split in September 2015. Kudo Tsunoda left the Xbox division in November 2015 for the development of HoloLens and Microsoft Edge, and other projects that could improve means of human interaction, including voice and gesture. Tsunoda's role was filled by Hanno Lemke and Shannon Loftis. In 2016, Microsoft was perceived as "unifying PC and Xbox One" platforms. In March 2016, Microsoft canceled development of two major projects: Lionhead's Fable Legends and Press Play's Project Knoxville, shuttering both studios in the following months. Around the same time, changes to Microsoft Studios' website indicated that further studios—BigPark, Good Science Studio, Leap Experience Pioneers (LXP), Function Studios and State of the Art (SOTA)—had been closed, Microsoft Studios clarified that all of them had been consolidated into other Microsoft Studios teams over the past several years. In September 2017, Spencer was promoted to the senior leadership team, gaining the title of "executive vice-president of gaming". At this point, Microsoft Studios directly reported to Nadella. In January 2018, Matt Booty was promoted from leader in the Minecraft games business to corporate vice-president of Microsoft Studios. On June 10, 2018, during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018, Microsoft announced the acquisitions of Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Undead Labs and Compulsion Games, as well as the opening of a new studio in Santa Monica, California, entitled The Initiative, which would be led by the former Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher. In November, Microsoft Studios announced further acquisitions with Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment. The studio rebranded itself on February 5, 2019, as Xbox Game Studios, as to reflect Microsoft's intent to use the Xbox brand to support gaming across all the devices it supports. At E3 2019, Xbox Game Studios announced it had acquired Double Fine, and established a new internal studio dedicated to Age of Empires headed by Shannon Loftis, bringing their total studio count to fifteen. This studio, later named World's Edge, does not directly develop any games, but oversees efforts from external studios, such as Relic Entertainment, Forgotten Empires and Tantalus Media, to assure the series is being developed in the right direction, according to creative director Adam Isgreen. Booty has stated that with studios like Obsidian, Ninja Theory, and Double Fine, which have traditionally supported multiplatform games, they will determine if it makes sense for their future products to be treated as Microsoft-exclusive content for Xbox and Windows computers, or to allow these to be published across multiple platforms. That decision will be based on a "network effect", whether having these games on other platforms will better support the franchise and thus worthwhile for Microsoft to help dedicate resources towards it, such as they had with Minecraft. Xbox Game Studios has allowed some of the content developed by its studios or that was previously published exclusively for the Xbox and Windows systems to be released on Nintendo systems, notably the Nintendo Switch versions of Cuphead from Studio MDHR and Ori and the Blind Forest from Moon Studios, and allowing for the titular characters from Rare's Banjo-Kazooie into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. However, the division stated that these releases were generally "existing commitments to other platforms" that they allowed studios to honor, but they otherwise have "no plans to further expand our exclusive first party games to other consoles." Near the end of 2019, with the combined fifteen studios now under Xbox Game Studios, Booty stated that they now had more games than ever to handle, and were likely not going to acquire any additional studios in the near future, stating "we've been shifting our focus inside Xbox Game Studios from acquisition and growth, to a phase of execution and delivery". Additionally, as Microsoft started promotion of its fourth-generation of Xbox, including the Xbox Series X, Booty stated that titles developed by Xbox Game Studios in year or two following its release will not be exclusively for the new generation of consoles, but instead will support both Xbox One and the new console, with some games receiving enhanced performance when played on the new console lineup. Booty said that with the large number of studios they had recently acquired, as well as ongoing external partnerships and their Xbox Game Pass service, the Studios are able to support a "breadth of offerings in the portfolio" designed to attract a large number of players. Further, in an interview in November 2020, Phil Spencer said during an interview regarding the future of the Xbox brand that he intends to put more focus on outputting RPGs, which had to that point been underserved. Microsoft and ZeniMax Media announced on September 21, 2020, that Microsoft planned to acquire ZeniMax and its family of studios, which include Bethesda Game Studios, Arkane Studios, id Software, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, and ZeniMax Online Studios, for over US$7.5 billion in cash. According to Spencer, the ZeniMax acquisition was intended to give Microsoft a large library of games known around the world, and to expand the library of Xbox Game Pass and XCloud. However, during 2023 hearings regarding the Federal Trade Commission's concern over the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, Spencer said that Sony Interactive Entertainment had made sways at Bethesda to keep Starfield as a PlayStation-exclusive, further prompting Microsoft to purchase Zenimax. Both U.S. and European Union regulatory agencies approved the acquisition by early March 2021, and the acquisition was formally completed by March 9, 2021. The total price of the deal was $8.1 billion Bethesda Softworks, the primarily publisher for all of ZeniMax's games, remained as an operational unit under Microsoft with the acquisition and retained all its current leadership. With the acquisition, future games from the studios will be exclusive to Xbox consoles, but existing commitments to other platforms (such as Arkane Studios' Deathloop and Tango Gameworks' Ghostwire: Tokyo, which are contractually exclusive to PlayStation 5 for a period of 12 months before their release on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S) will still be honored. Spencer stated that Game Pass was also fundamental driver for the acquisition. A preliminary injunction to block the acquisition had been sought in an ongoing class-action lawsuit that ZeniMax faced over Fallout 4, with the plaintiffs in the case arguing that Microsoft could shield ZeniMax's assets from damages should they be found liable after the acquisition. The ZeniMax Board of Directors was dissolved following the Microsoft purchase. On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard in an all-cash deal valued at $68.7 billion. Microsoft stated that this acquisition would make it the third-largest gaming company by revenue, following Tencent and Sony. With the announcement, Microsoft also announced a major change to its corporate structure, with Phil Spencer becoming CEO of the new division Microsoft Gaming, with Matt Booty leading Xbox Game Studios under it. Once approved, Activision Blizzard would then become a subdivision of Microsoft Gaming. The deal was cleared by various national regulators by October 13, 2023, with Microsoft closing the deal the same day. During litigation on the merger with the United States Federal Trade Commission, internal documents from Microsoft c. 2020 show strong interest in re-acquiring Bungie, or acquiring Sega's game development companies, Supergiant Games, Niantic, Inc., Thunderful Group, Zynga, IO Interactive, Scopely, or Playrix as part of Xbox Game Studios, as well as publisher Square Enix to help bolster its Asian presence and mobile market share. In January 2023, Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees, which represented about 5% of its global workforce. Included in those layoffs were many employees from 343 Industries, The Coalition, and Bethesda Game Studios. On October 26, 2023, Microsoft announced the promotion of several employees in the company, including Sarah Bond being promoted to president of Xbox, overseeing all Xbox platform, business, and hardware work, and Matt Booty promoted from president of Xbox to president of Game Content and Studios, including the new responsibility of overseeing ZeniMax and Bethesda, with Jamie Leder still running Zenimax as a limited integration entity, but now reporting to Matt. In the wake of Matt Booty's promotion, Alan Hartman, then the head of Turn 10, was subsequently promoted to head of Xbox Game Studios. On October 6, 2024, 343 Industries officially announced their rebranding as Halo Studios, additionally confirming that multiple Halo games were in development and that said projects would now use Unreal Engine 5 as opposed to the proprietary Slipspace Engine that powered Halo Infinite. On October 14, Rare creative lead Craig Duncan was announced to be succeeding Alan Hartman as head of Xbox Game Studios beginning in November 2024, with Hartman retiring after a three-decade tenure at Microsoft. In July 2025, Microsoft Gaming performed a business restructuring ahead of the new financial year, which resulted in layoffs at Xbox Game Studios Rare, Compulsion Games, Undead Labs and Turn 10 Studios. The latter, who conceived and developed the Forza Motorsport series, was reported to have lost almost half of its workforce and was anticipated to be restructured as a support studio for Motorsport's sister series Forza Horizon and developments for the ForzaTech engine, according to former content coordinator Fred Russell. In addition, Rare's action-adventure game Everwild ceased production, while Microsoft also canceled the Perfect Dark reboot and closed its developer The Initiative simultaneously. Alongside Everwild's cancelation, Rare veteran and designer Gregg Mayles also departed the company after 35 years, alongside producer Louise O'Connor. Over 2024 and 2025, a series of video games published by Microsoft Gaming divisions, most notably Xbox Game Studios' titles, were released on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles under an initiative to pivot focus from the Xbox series of consoles and eventually cease to produce exclusive titles for the consoles like Sega. Xbox Game Studios had also released Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo 64 video games on the Nintendo Switch Online service in 2024, all of whom were developed by Rare and in some cases, formerly published by Nintendo. Studios Games published References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creeper_(Minecraft)#cite_note-19] | [TOKENS: 1209] |
Contents Creeper (Minecraft) Page version status This is an accepted version of this page A creeper is a fictional creature in the sandbox video game Minecraft. Creepers are hostile mobs (mobile non-player characters) that spawn in dark places. Instead of attacking the player directly, they creep up on the player and explode, destroying blocks in the surrounding area and potentially hurting or killing the player if they are within the blast radius. Their green camouflage and generally silent behavior aid in stealth attacks, making them one of the most dangerous mobs in Minecraft. Creepers were first added to Minecraft in a pre-alpha update to the game that was released on September 1, 2009. The creeper has become one of the most widely recognized icons of Minecraft. They have been referenced and parodied in popular culture, and they are featured prominently in Minecraft merchandising and advertising. Conception and design The character model that later became the creeper was first created on August 20, 2009, as a result of a coding error when creating the pig mob in the early pre-alpha stages of Minecraft's development. The game's creator, Markus Persson, accidentally mixed up the dimensions of the model, swapping the length and height. Instead of deleting the result, Persson instead stated "I'll keep it for a creepy creature", and later added a green texture based on the in-game leaves texture to the model, gave it an aggressive AI, and turned it into a hostile mob. The creeper was added to the game on September 1, 2009, on a pre-alpha version named 0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST. In Minecraft, the player exists in a large world made up of blocks. The world contains a number of enemies (hostile mobs), of which creepers are commonly encountered. A creeper is nearly silent until it comes near the player, at which point it emits a hiss and explodes after a short delay. The explosion destroys the creeper, can kill or injure the player, and also typically destroys surrounding blocks. In later updates, the Minecraft developers decided that creepers "weren't quite unpredictable enough", and added the ability for creepers to become "charged creepers" when struck by lightning. Charged creepers have amplified explosion power and can cause other specific mobs killed in the blast to drop their heads (creepers, zombies, skeletons, wither skeletons, and piglins). These heads can then be worn by the player, putting the head's model on them to look like that mob. Appearances The creeper originally appeared in Minecraft in an early pre-alpha update as a common hostile mob that silently approaches players, hisses, then explodes. It appeared later in Minecraft spin-off games such as Minecraft: Story Mode, Minecraft Dungeons, Minecraft Legends, the discontinued Minecraft Earth, and the film adaption A Minecraft Movie (2025). Outside of Minecraft, it also appeared in Terraria (2011), Torchlight II (2012), Borderlands 2 (2012), Octodad: Dadliest Catch (2014), and in Nintendo's crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018), where the creeper has been featured as a Mii Brawler costume. A creeper is set to appear as a playable character in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. Promotion and reception The creeper image has been used on a wide variety of Minecraft merchandise, including clothing, bedding, and lamps. In July 2020, a joint partnership between Mojang Studios and Kellogg's led to the announcement of Minecraft Creeper Crunch, an official Minecraft-branded cereal prominently featuring a creeper on the packaging. It was set to be available for release in stores in the United States in August 2020. Every packet additionally includes a unique code which can be redeemed for a Minecraft cosmetic clothing item. The creeper is considered to be one of Minecraft's most iconic enemies and icons. The pixelated face of the creeper has been integrated into the letter "A" of the Minecraft logo, as well as being used in numerous Halloween costumes and cosplays. Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition listed the creeper as tenth in their list of "top 50 video game villains". The creeper has been featured in multiple Lego Minecraft sets and has been the main focus of one. In 2021, PC Gamer ranked creeper as 9th of "the 50 most iconic characters in PC gaming", stating that "The Creeper is the star of Minecraft, which is ironic considering that the Creeper's effectiveness hinges upon not being seen." In an article for Games and Culture, Daniel Dooghan characterized the creeper as "resistance personified", using its role in the game to draw comparison to real-world terrorism and how society reacts to such. More directly drawing parallels to real world suicide bombers through the ideology of "Self-annihilation is the ultimate form of resistance", its not human like appearance coupled with the semblance of a permanently scowling face further made it represent "otherness" in the game's world. While he acknowledged it was impossible to know the creature's actual motivations he felt it characterized the game world's rejection of the player, and impels them towards technological advancement and resource gathering due to frequent interaction and the consequences of such interaction. Creepers have been the subject of numerous pop culture references and parodies. In the season 25 episode "Luca$" of the animated sitcom The Simpsons, Moe Szyslak appears as a creeper and explodes at the end of the theme song's "couch gag". On August 19, 2011, Jordan Maron (also known as the YouTuber CaptainSparklez) released the song "Revenge", a parody of "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love", depicting a Minecraft player seeking revenge against creepers. The song regained popularity as an internet meme around July 2019. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve%27s_Lava_Chicken#cite_note-11] | [TOKENS: 750] |
Contents Steve's Lava Chicken "Steve's Lava Chicken" is a song performed by Jack Black from the soundtrack for A Minecraft Movie (2025). It is used as a jingle for a scene where Black's character in the film, Steve, cooks a live chicken by pouring lava onto it. The song was co-written by Black and the film's director Jared Hess, and is 34 seconds long. The song broke several records—particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom—as the shortest song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart respectively. It also charted in multiple other countries. It has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America and silver by the British Phonographic Industry. Background and release "Steve's Lava Chicken" is used in a scene in A Minecraft Movie where Steve—a character portrayed in the film by Black—showcases a contraption he made that cooks live chickens in lava. The subject of the song is the cooked chicken resulting from the contraption. The song itself is about 34 seconds long, and was co-written by Black and the film's director Jared Hess. The soundtrack for A Minecraft Movie, including "Steve's Lava Chicken", was released on March 28, 2025, through WaterTower Music. A 50-second long clip from the film featuring the song, labeled by WaterTower as its official music video, was released on April 9, 2025. An EP by Black, I...Am Steve, featuring an extended version of "Steve's Lava Chicken" along with other songs from the film's soundtrack, was released on April 18, 2025. The extended version is 1 minute and 15 seconds long. A remix of the "Steve's Lava Chicken" instrumental was added to Minecraft in June 2025 as a music disc, with players able to obtain the disc by killing a chicken jockey. Commercial performance In the United States, "Steve's Lava Chicken" received over 2.5 million streams on the week of the film's release, a 1,973% increase in streams from the week prior to its release. The song later debuted at number 78 on the Hot 100 for the week dated May 3, 2025, breaking the record for the shortest song in the chart's history, surpassing Kid Cudi's "Beautiful Trip", which is 37 seconds long. "Steve's Lava Chicken" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in September 2025. In the United Kingdom, "Steve's Lava Chicken" peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart on May 2, 2025 ‒ for the week ending date May 8, 2025 ‒ during its third week on the chart. It broke the record for the shortest song to ever appear in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. The previous record holder was "The Ladies' Bras", a song by Jonny Trunk and Duncan Wisbey that was 36 seconds long. The song became Black's highest-charting song in Britain, surpassing "Peaches", a song from the soundtrack for The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023). It was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry in July 2025. Critical reception In a list article discussing the best and worst things to happen in 2025, Pitchfork placed the commercial performance records set by "Steve's Lava Chicken" as one of the low points of the year, assigning it a 1.9 out of 10 score on the scale. Charts Certifications ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. References |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painting] | [TOKENS: 8700] |
Contents Painting Painting is a visual art, characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface. The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush. Other implements, such as palette knives, sponges, airbrushes, the artist's fingers, or even a dripping technique that uses gravity may be used. One who produces paintings is called a painter. In art, the term "painting" describes both the act and the result of the action (the final work is called "a painting"). The support for paintings includes such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, pottery, leaf, copper and concrete, and the painting may incorporate other materials, in single or multiple form, including sand, clay, paper, cardboard, newspaper, plaster, gold leaf, and even entire objects. Painting is an important form of visual art, bringing in elements such as drawing, composition, gesture, narration, and abstraction. Paintings can be naturalistic and representational (as in portraits, still life and landscape painting--though these genres can also be abstract), photographic, abstract, narrative, symbolist (as in Symbolist art), emotive (as in Expressionism) or political in nature (as in Artivism). A significant share of the history of painting in both Eastern and Western art is dominated by religious art. Examples of this kind of painting range from artwork depicting mythological figures on pottery, to Biblical scenes on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, to scenes from the life of Buddha (or other images of Eastern religious origin). History The oldest known paintings are more than 40,000-60,000 years old (art of the Upper Paleolithic) and found in the caves in the district of Maros (Sulawesi, Indonesia). The oldest are often constructed from hand stencils and simple geometric shapes.[a] In November 2018, scientists reported the discovery of the then-oldest known figurative art painting, over 40,000 (perhaps as old as 52,000) years old, of an unknown animal, in the cave of Lubang Jeriji Saléh on the Indonesian island of Borneo. In December 2019, cave paintings portraying pig hunting within the Maros-Pangkep karst region in Sulawesi were discovered to be even older, with an estimated age of at least 43,900 years. This finding was recognized as "the oldest known depiction of storytelling and the earliest instance of figurative art in human history." In 2021, cave art of a pig found in Sulawesi, Indonesia, and dated to over 45,500 years ago, has been reported. On July 3, 2024, the journal Nature published research findings indicating that the cave paintings which depict anthropomorphic figures interacting with a pig and measure 36 by 15 inches (91 by 38 cm) in Leang Karampuang are approximately 51,200 years old, establishing them as the oldest known paintings in the world. There are examples of cave paintings all over the world—in Indonesia, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, China, India, Australia, Mexico, etc. In Western cultures, oil painting and watercolor painting have rich and complex traditions in style and subject matter. In the East, ink and color ink historically predominated the choice of media, with equally rich and complex traditions. The invention of photography had a major impact on painting. In the decades after the first photograph was produced in 1829, photographic processes improved and became more widely practiced, depriving painting of much of its historic purpose to provide an accurate record of the observable world. A series of art movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries—notably Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, and Dadaism—challenged the Renaissance view of the world. Eastern and African painting, however, continued a long history of stylization and did not undergo an equivalent transformation at the same time.[citation needed] Modern and Contemporary art has moved away from the historic value of craft and documentation in favour of concept. This has not deterred the majority of living painters from continuing to practice painting either as a whole or part of their work. The vitality and versatility of painting in the 21st century defy the previous "declarations" of its demise. In an epoch characterized by the idea of pluralism, there is no consensus as to a representative style of the age. Artists continue to make important works of art in a wide variety of styles and aesthetic temperaments—their merits are left to the public and the marketplace to judge. The Feminist art movement began in the 1960s during the second wave of feminism. The movement sought to gain equal rights and equal opportunities for female artists internationally. Elements of painting Color, made up of hue, saturation, and value, dispersed over a surface is the essence of painting, just as pitch and rhythm are the essence of music. Color is highly subjective, but has observable psychological effects, although these can differ from one culture to the next. Black is associated with mourning in the West, but in the East, white is. Some painters, theoreticians, writers, and scientists, including Goethe, Kandinsky, and Newton, have written their own color theory. Moreover, the use of language is only an abstraction of color equivalent. The word "red", for example, can cover a wide range of variations from the pure red of the visible spectrum of light. There is not a formalized register of different colors in the way that there is agreement on different notes in music, such as F or C♯. For a painter, color is not simply divided into basic (primary) and derived (complementary or mixed) colors (like red, blue, green, brown, etc.). Painters deal practically with pigments, so "blue" for a painter can be any of the blues: phthalocyanine blue, Prussian blue, indigo, Cobalt blue, ultramarine, and so on. Psychological and symbolical meanings of color are not, strictly speaking, means of painting. Colors only add to the potential, derived context of meanings, and because of this, the perception of a painting is highly subjective. The analogy with music is quite clear—sound in music (like a C note) is analogous to "light" in painting, "shades" to dynamics, and "coloration" is to painting as the specific timbre of musical instruments is to music. These elements do not necessarily form a melody (in music) of themselves; rather, they can add different contexts to it. Modern artists have extended the practice of painting considerably to include, as one example, collage, which began with Cubism and is not painting in the strict sense. Some modern painters incorporate different materials such as metal, plastic, sand, cement, straw, leaves or wood for the texture. Examples of this are the works of Jean Dubuffet and Anselm Kiefer. There is a growing community of artists who use computers to "paint" color onto a digital "canvas" using programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, and many others. These images can be printed onto traditional canvas if required. Jean Metzinger's mosaic-like Divisionist technique had its parallel in literature; a characteristic of the alliance between Symbolist writers and Neo-Impressionist artists: I ask of divided brushwork not the objective rendering of light, but iridescences and certain aspects of color still foreign to painting. I make a kind of chromatic versification and for syllables, I use strokes which, variable in quantity, cannot differ in dimension without modifying the rhythm of a pictorial phraseology destined to translate the diverse emotions aroused by nature. (Jean Metzinger, c. 1907) Rhythm, for artists such as Piet Mondrian, is important in painting as it is in music. If one defines rhythm as "a pause incorporated into a sequence", then there can be rhythm in paintings. These pauses allow creative force to intervene and add new creations—form, melody, coloration. The distribution of form or any kind of information is of crucial importance in the given work of art, and it directly affects the aesthetic value of that work. This is because the aesthetic value is functionality dependent, i.e. the freedom (of movement) of perception is perceived as beauty. Free flow of energy, in art as well as in other forms of "techne", directly contributes to the aesthetic value. Music was important to the birth of abstract art since music is abstract by nature—it does not try to represent the exterior world, but expresses in an immediate way the inner feelings of the soul. Wassily Kandinsky often used musical terms to identify his works; he called his most spontaneous paintings "improvisations" and described more elaborate works as "compositions". Kandinsky theorized that "music is the ultimate teacher", and subsequently embarked upon the first seven of his ten Compositions. Hearing tones and chords as he painted, Kandinsky theorized that (for example), yellow is the color of middle C on a brassy trumpet; black is the color of closure, and the end of things; and that combinations of colors produce vibrational frequencies, akin to chords played on a piano. In 1871 the young Kandinsky learned to play the piano and cello. Kandinsky's stage design for a performance of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition illustrates his "synaesthetic" concept of a universal correspondence of forms, colors and musical sounds. Music defines much of modernist abstract painting. Jackson Pollock underscores that interest with his 1950 painting Autumn Rhythm (Number 30). Aesthetics and theory Aesthetics is the study of art and beauty; it was an important issue for 18th- and 19th-century philosophers such as Kant and Hegel. Classical philosophers like Plato and Aristotle also theorized about art and painting in particular. Plato disregarded painters (as well as sculptors) in his philosophical system; he maintained that painting cannot depict the truth—it is a copy of reality (a shadow of the world of ideas) and is nothing but a craft, similar to shoemaking or iron casting. By the time of Leonardo, painting had become a closer representation of the truth than painting was in Ancient Greece. Leonardo da Vinci, on the contrary, said that "Italian: La Pittura è cosa mentale" ("English: painting is a thing of the mind"). Kant distinguished between Beauty and the Sublime, in terms that clearly gave priority to the former.[citation needed] Although he did not refer to painting in particular, this concept was taken up by painters such as J.M.W. Turner and Caspar David Friedrich. Hegel recognized the failure of attaining a universal concept of beauty and, in his aesthetic essay, wrote that painting is one of the three "romantic" arts, along with Poetry and Music, for its symbolic, highly intellectual purpose. Painters who have written theoretical works on painting include Kandinsky and Paul Klee. In his essay, Kandinsky maintains that painting has a spiritual value, and he attaches primary colors to essential feelings or concepts, something that Goethe and other writers had already tried to do. Iconography is the study of the content of paintings, rather than their style. Erwin Panofsky and other art historians first seek to understand the things depicted, before looking at their meaning for the viewer at the time, and finally analyzing their wider cultural, religious, and social meaning. In 1890, the Parisian painter Maurice Denis famously asserted: "Remember that a painting—before being a warhorse, a naked woman or some story or other—is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order." Thus, many 20th-century developments in painting, such as Cubism, were reflections on the means of painting rather than on the external world—nature—which had previously been its core subject. Recent contributions to thinking about painting have been offered by the painter and writer Julian Bell. In his book What is Painting?, Bell discusses the development, through history, of the notion that paintings can express feelings and ideas. In Mirror of The World, Bell writes: A work of art seeks to hold your attention and keep it fixed: a history of art urges it onwards, bulldozing a highway through the homes of the imagination. Painting media Different types of paint are usually identified by the medium that the pigment is suspended or embedded in, which determines the general working characteristics of the paint, such as viscosity, miscibility, solubility, drying time, etc. Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. The liquid/paste is then applied to a surface—usually prepared wood, though canvas and other materials are often used. The simplest encaustic mixture can be made from adding pigments to beeswax, but there are several other recipes that can be used—some containing other types of waxes, damar resin, linseed oil, or other ingredients. Pure, powdered pigments can be purchased and used, though some mixtures use oil paints or other forms of pigment. Metal tools and special brushes can be used to shape the paint before it cools, or heated metal tools can be used to manipulate the wax once it has cooled onto the surface. Other materials can be encased or collaged into the surface, or layered, using the encaustic medium to adhere it to the surface. The technique was the normal one for ancient Greek and Roman panel paintings, and remained in use in the Eastern Orthodox icon tradition. Watercolor is a painting method in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle. The traditional and most common support for watercolor paintings is paper; other supports include papyrus, bark papers, plastics, vellum or leather, fabric, wood and canvas. In East Asia, watercolor painting with inks is referred to as brush painting or scroll painting. In Chinese, Korean, and Japanese painting it has been the dominant medium, often in monochrome black or browns. India, Ethiopia and other countries also have long traditions. Finger-painting with watercolor paints originated in China. There are various types of watercolors used by artists. Some examples are pan watercolors, liquid watercolors, watercolor brush pens, and watercolor pencils. Watercolor pencils (water-soluble color pencils) may be used either wet or dry. Gouache is a water-based paint consisting of pigment and other materials designed to be used in an opaque painting method. Gouache differs from watercolor in that the particles are larger, the ratio of pigment to water is much higher, and an additional, inert, white pigment such as chalk is also present. This makes gouache heavier and more opaque, with greater reflective qualities. Like all water media, it is diluted with water. Gouache was a popular paint utilized by Egyptians, Painters such as Francois Boucher used this medium. This paint is best applied with sable brushes. Glazing is commonly known as a premelted liquid glass. This glaze can be dipped or brushed on. This glaze appears chalky and there is a vast difference between the beginning and finished result. To be activated glazed pottery must be placed in a kiln to be fired. This melts the Silica glass in the glaze and transforms it into a vibrant glossy version of itself. Ink paintings are done with a liquid that contains pigments or dyes and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing with a pen, brush, or quill. Ink can be a complex medium, composed of solvents, pigments, dyes, resins, lubricants, solubilizers, surfactants, particulate matter, fluorescers, and other materials. The components of inks serve many purposes; the ink's carrier, colorants, and other additives control flow and thickness of the ink and its appearance when dry. Enamels are made by painting a substrate, typically metal, with powdered glass; minerals called color oxides provide coloration. After firing at a temperature of 750–850 degrees Celsius (1380–1560 degrees Fahrenheit), the result is a fused lamination of glass and metal. Unlike most painted techniques, the surface can be handled and wetted. Enamels have traditionally been used for decoration of precious objects, but have also been used for other purposes. Limoges enamel was the leading centre of Renaissance enamel painting, with small religious and mythological scenes in decorated surrounds, on plaques or objects such as salts or caskets. In the 18th century, enamel painting enjoyed a vogue in Europe, especially as a medium for portrait miniatures. In the late 20th century, the technique of porcelain enamel on metal has been used as a durable medium for outdoor murals. Tempera, also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder medium (usually a glutinous material such as egg yolk or some other size). Tempera also refers to the paintings done in this medium. Tempera paintings are very long-lasting, and examples from the first centuries CE still exist. Egg tempera was a primary method of painting until after 1500 when it was superseded by the invention of oil painting. A paint commonly called tempera (though it is not) consisting of pigment and glue size is commonly used and referred to by some manufacturers in America as poster paint. Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Italian word affresco [afˈfresːko], which derives from the Latin word for fresh. Frescoes were often made during the Renaissance and other early time periods. Buon fresco technique consists of painting in pigment mixed with water on a thin layer of wet, fresh lime mortar or plaster, for which the Italian word for plaster, intonaco, is used. A secco painting, in contrast, is done on dry plaster (secco is "dry" in Italian). The pigments require a binding medium, such as egg (tempera), glue or oil to attach the pigment to the wall. Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil, such as linseed oil, poppyseed oil which was widely used in early modern Europe. Often the oil was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body and gloss. Oil paint eventually became the principal medium used for creating artworks as its advantages became widely known. The transition began with Early Netherlandish painting in northern Europe, and by the height of the Renaissance oil painting techniques had almost completely replaced tempera paints in the majority of Europe. Pastel is a painting medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are the same as those used to produce all colored art media, including oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation. The color effect of pastels is closer to the natural dry pigments than that of any other process. Because the surface of a pastel painting is fragile and easily smudged, its preservation requires protective measures such as framing under glass; it may also be sprayed with a fixative. Nonetheless, when made with permanent pigments and properly cared for, a pastel painting may endure unchanged for centuries. Pastels are not susceptible, as are paintings made with a fluid medium, to the cracking and discoloration that result from changes in the color, opacity, or dimensions of the medium as it dries. Acrylic paint is fast drying paint containing pigment suspension in acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water but become water-resistant when dry. Depending on how much the paint is diluted (with water) or modified with acrylic gels, media, or pastes, the finished acrylic painting can resemble a watercolor or an oil painting, or have its own unique characteristics not attainable with other media. The main practical difference between most acrylics and oil paints is the inherent drying time. Oils allow for more time to blend colors and apply even glazes over under-paintings. This slow drying aspect of oil can be seen as an advantage for certain techniques but may also impede the artist's ability to work quickly. Another difference is that watercolors must be painted onto a porous surface, primarily watercolor paper. Acrylic paints can be used on many different surfaces. Both acrylic and watercolor are easy to clean up with water. Acrylic paint should be cleaned with soap and water immediately following use. Watercolor paint can be cleaned with just water. Between 1946 and 1949, Leonard Bocour and Sam Golden invented a solution acrylic paint under the brand Magna paint. These were mineral spirit-based paints. Water-based acrylic paints were subsequently sold as latex house paints. In 1963, George Rowney (part of Daler-Rowney since 1983) was the first manufacturer to introduce artists' acrylic paints in Europe, under the brand name "Cryla". Acrylics are the most common paints used in grattage, a surrealist technique that began to be used with the advent of this type of paint. Acrylics are used for this purpose because they easily scrape or peel from a surface. Aerosol paint (also called spray paint) is a type of paint that comes in a sealed pressurized container and is released in a fine spray mist when depressing a valve button. A form of spray painting, aerosol paint leaves a smooth, evenly coated surface. Standard sized cans are portable, inexpensive and easy to store. Aerosol primer can be applied directly to bare metal and many plastics. Speed, portability and permanence also make aerosol paint a common graffiti medium. In the late 1970s, street graffiti writers' signatures and murals became more elaborate, and a unique style developed as a factor of the aerosol medium and the speed required for illicit work. Many now recognize graffiti and street art as a unique art form and specifically manufactured aerosol paints are made for the graffiti artist. A stencil protects a surface, except the specific shape to be painted. Stencils can be purchased as movable letters, ordered as professionally cut logos or hand-cut by artists. Water miscible oil paints (also called "water soluble" or "water-mixable") is a modern variety of oil paint engineered to be thinned and cleaned up with water, rather than having to use chemicals such as turpentine. It can be mixed and applied using the same techniques as traditional oil-based paint, but while still wet it can be effectively removed from brushes, palettes, and rags with ordinary soap and water. Its water solubility comes from the use of an oil medium in which one end of the molecule has been altered to bind loosely to water molecules, as in a solution. Sandpainting is the art of pouring coloured sands, and powdered pigments from minerals or crystals, or pigments from other natural or synthetic sources onto a surface to make a fixed or unfixed sand painting. Digital painting is a method of creating an art object (painting) digitally or a technique for making digital art on the computer. As a method of creating an art object, it adapts traditional painting medium such as acrylic paint, oils, ink, watercolor, etc. and applies the pigment to traditional carriers, such as woven canvas cloth, paper, polyester, etc. by means of software driving industrial robotic or office machinery (printers). As a technique, it refers to a computer graphics software program that uses a virtual canvas and virtual painting box of brushes, colors, and other supplies. The virtual box contains many instruments that do not exist outside the computer, and which give a digital artwork a different look and feel from an artwork that is made the traditional way. Furthermore, digital painting is not 'computer-generated' art as the computer does not automatically create images on the screen using some mathematical calculations. On the other hand, the artist uses his own painting technique to create a particular piece of work on the computer. Bodily fluids have been used as painting media. Andy Warhol produced his Oxidization series by covering canvases with metallic paint and having his assistants and friends urinate on the still-wet paint. Blood from menstrual periods has been used to paint images. Sarah Maple, a contemporary artist, has used her menstrual blood to create portraits to help erase the taboo covering the topic of periods.[citation needed] Painting styles Style is used in two senses: It can refer to the distinctive visual elements, techniques, and methods that typify an individual artist's work. It can also refer to the movement or school that an artist is associated with. This can stem from an actual group that the artist was consciously involved with or it can be a category in which art historians have placed the painter. The word 'style' in the latter sense has fallen out of favor in academic discussions about contemporary painting, though it continues to be used in popular contexts. Such movements or classifications include the following: Modernism describes both a set of cultural tendencies and an array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Modernism was a revolt against the conservative values of realism. The term encompasses the activities and output of those who felt the "traditional" forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization, and daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social, and political conditions of an emerging fully industrialized world. A salient characteristic of modernism is self-consciousness. This often led to experiments with form, and work that draws attention to the processes and materials used (and to the further tendency of abstraction). The first example of modernism in painting was impressionism, a school of painting that initially focused on work done, not in studios, but outdoors (en plein air). Impressionist paintings demonstrated that human beings do not see objects, but instead see light itself. The school gathered adherents despite internal divisions among its leading practitioners and became increasingly influential. Initially rejected from the most important commercial show of the time, the government-sponsored Paris Salon, the Impressionists organized yearly group exhibitions in commercial venues during the 1870s and 1880s, timing them to coincide with the official Salon. A significant event of 1863 was the Salon des Refusés, created by Emperor Napoleon III to display all of the paintings rejected by the Paris Salon. Abstract painting uses a visual language of form, colour and line to create a composition that may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Abstract expressionism was an American post-World War II art movement that combined the emotional intensity and self-denial of the German Expressionists with the anti-figurative aesthetic of the European abstract schools—such as Futurism, Bauhaus and Cubism, and the image of being rebellious, anarchic, highly idiosyncratic and, some feel, nihilistic. Action painting, sometimes called gestural abstraction, is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied. The resulting work often emphasizes the physical act of painting itself as an essential aspect of the finished work or concern of its artist. The style was widespread from the 1940s until the early 1960s and is closely associated with abstract expressionism (some critics have used the terms "action painting" and "abstract expressionism" interchangeably). Other modernist styles include: The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut (French: [aʁ bʁyt], "raw art" or "rough art"), a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates. Outsider art has emerged as a successful art marketing category (an annual Outsider Art Fair has taken place in New York since 1992). The term is sometimes misapplied as a catch-all marketing label for art created by people outside the mainstream "art world", regardless of their circumstances or the content of their work. Photorealism is the genre of painting based on using the camera and photographs to gather information and then from this information, creating a painting that appears to be very realistic like a photograph. The term is primarily applied to paintings from the United States art movement that began in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As a full-fledged art movement, Photorealism evolved from Pop Art and as a counter to Abstract Expressionism. Hyperrealism is a genre of painting and sculpture resembling a high-resolution photograph. Hyperrealism is a fully-fledged school of art and can be considered an advancement of Photorealism by the methods used to create the resulting paintings or sculptures. The term is primarily applied to an independent art movement and art style in the United States and Europe that has developed since the early 2000s. Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s and is best known for the artistic and literary production of those affiliated with the Surrealist Movement. Surrealist artworks feature the element of surprise, the uncanny, the unconscious, unexpected juxtapositions and non-sequitur; however, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artifact. Leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was above all a revolutionary movement. Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities of World War I and the most important center of the movement was Paris. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film and music of many countries, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy and social theory. Miniature paintings were the primary form of painting in pre-colonial India. These were done on a special paper (known as wasli) using mineral and natural colours. Miniature painting is not one style but a group of several styles of schools of painting such as Mughal, Pahari, Rajasthani, Company style etc. Mughal miniature painting is a particular style of South Asian, particularly North Indian (more specifically, modern day India and Pakistan), painting confined to miniatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums (muraqqa). It emerged from Persian miniature painting (itself partly of Chinese origin) and developed in the court of the Mughal Empire of the 16th to 18th centuries. Mughal painting immediately took a much greater interest in realistic portraiture than was typical of Persian miniatures. Animals and plants were the main subject of many miniatures for albums, and were more realistically depicted. Rajasthani painting evolved and flourished in the royal courts of Rajputana in northern India, mainly during the 17th century. Artists trained in the tradition of the Mughal miniature were dispersed from the imperial Mughal court, and developed styles also drawing from local traditions of painting, especially those illustrating the Sanskrit Epics, the Mahabharata and Ramayana. Subjects varied, but portraits of the ruling family, often engaged in hunting or their daily activities, were generally popular, as were narrative scenes from the epics or Hindu mythology, as well as some genre scenes of landscapes, and humans. Punjab Hills or Pahari painting of which Kangra, Guller, Basholi were major sub-styles. Kangra painting is the pictorial art of Kangra, named after Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, a former princely state, which patronized the art. It became prevalent with the fading of Basohli school of painting in mid-18th century. The focal theme of Kangra painting is Shringar (the erotic sentiment). The subjects are seen in Kangra painting exhibit the taste and the traits of the lifestyle of the society of that period. The artists adopted themes from the love poetry of Jayadeva and Keshav Das who wrote ecstatically of the love of Radha and Krishna with Bhakti being the driving force. Company style is a term for a hybrid Indo-European style of paintings made in India by Indian artists, many of whom worked for European patrons in the British East India Company or other foreign Companies in the 18th and 19th centuries. Three distinct styles of Company Painting emerged in three British Power Centres – Delhi, Calcutta and Madras. The subject matter of company paintings made for western patrons was often documentary rather than imaginative, and as a consequence, the Indian artists were required to adopt a more naturalistic approach to painting than had traditionally been usual. The Sikh style and Deccan style are other prominent Miniature painting styles of India. Pichwai paintings are paintings on textile and usually depicting stories from the life of Lord Krishna. These were made in large format and often used as a backdrop to the main idol in temples or homes. Pichwai paintings were made and are still made mainly in Rajasthan, India. However very few were made in the Deccan region, but these are extremely rare. The purpose of pichhwais, other than artistic appeal, is to narrate tales of Krishna to the illiterate. Temples have sets with different images, which are changed according to the calendar of festivals celebrating the deity. Pattachitra is a general term for traditional, cloth-based scroll painting, based in the eastern Indian states of Odisha and West Bengal. The Pattachitra painting tradition is closely linked with the worship of Lord Jagannath in Odisha. The subject matter of Pattachitra is limited to religious themes. Patachitra artform is known for its intricate details as well as mythological narratives and folktales inscribed in it. All colours used in the Paintings are natural and paintings are made fully old traditional way by Chitrakaras that is Odiya Painter. Pattachitra style of painting is one of the oldest and most popular art forms of Odisha. Patachitras are a component of an ancient Bengali narrative art, originally serving as a visual device during the performance of a song. Madhubani Art is a style of Indian painting, practiced in the Mithila region of India and Nepal. The style is characterized by complex geometrical patterns, these paintings are famous for representing ritual content used for particular occasions like festivals, religious rituals etc. Warli is another folk tribal art form from India. The Bengal School was an art movement and a style of Indian painting that originated in Bengal, primarily Kolkata and Shantiniketan, and flourished throughout the Indian subcontinent, during the British Raj in the early 20th century. The Bengal school arose as an avant garde and nationalist movement reacting against the academic art styles previously promoted in India, both by Indian artists such as Raja Ravi Varma and in British art schools. The school wanted to establish a distinct Indian style which celebrated the indigenous cultural heritage. In an attempt to reject colonial aesthetics, Abanindranath Tagore also turned to China and Japan with the intent of promoting a pan-Asian aesthetic and incorporated elements from Far Eastern art, such as the Japanese wash technique. Types of painting Allegory is a figurative mode of representation conveying meaning other than the literal. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions, or symbolic representation. Allegory is generally treated as a figure of rhetoric, but an allegory does not have to be expressed in language: it may be addressed to the eye and is often found in realistic painting. An example of a simple visual allegory is the image of the grim reaper. Viewers understand that the image of the grim reaper is a symbolic representation of death. In Spanish art, a bodegón is a still life painting depicting pantry items, such as victuals, game, and drink, often arranged on a simple stone slab, and also a painting with one or more figures, but significant still life elements, typically set in a kitchen or tavern. Starting in the Baroque period, such paintings became popular in Spain in the second quarter of the 17th century. The tradition of still life painting appears to have started and was far more popular in the contemporary Low Countries, today Belgium and Netherlands (then Flemish and Dutch artists), than it ever was in southern Europe. Northern still lifes had many subgenres: the breakfast piece was augmented by the trompe-l'œil, the flower bouquet, and the vanitas. In Spain, there were much fewer patrons for this sort of thing, but a type of breakfast piece did become popular, featuring a few objects of food and tableware laid on a table. A figure painting is a work of art in any of the painting media with the primary subject being the human figure, whether clothed or nude. Figure painting may also refer to the activity of creating such a work. The human figure has been one of the contrast subjects of art since the first Stone Age cave paintings and has been reinterpreted in various styles throughout history. Some artists well known for figure painting are Peter Paul Rubens, Edgar Degas, and Édouard Manet. Illustration paintings are those used as illustrations in books, magazines, and theater or movie posters and comic books. Today, there is a growing interest in collecting and admiring the original artwork. Various museum exhibitions, magazines, and art galleries have devoted space to the illustrators of the past. In the visual art world, illustrators have sometimes been considered less important in comparison with fine artists and graphic designers. But as the result of computer game and comic industry growth, illustrations are becoming valued as popular and profitable artworks that can acquire a wider market than the other two, especially in Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and the United States. The illustrations of medieval codices were known as illuminations, and were individually hand-drawn and painted. With the invention of the printing press during the 15th century, books became more widely distributed, and often illustrated with woodcuts. In America, this led to a "golden age of illustration" from before the 1880s until the early 20th century. A small group of illustrators became highly successful, with the imagery they created considered a portrait of American aspirations of the time. Among the best-known illustrators of that period were N.C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle of the Brandywine School, James Montgomery Flagg, Elizabeth Shippen Green, J. C. Leyendecker, Violet Oakley, Maxfield Parrish, Jessie Willcox Smith, and John Rea Neill. In France, on 1905, the Contemporary Book Society commissioned Paul Jouve to illustrate Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book. Paul Jouve will devote ten years to the 130 illustrations of this book which will remain as one of the masterpieces of bibliophilia. Landscape painting is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, lakes, and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works, landscape backgrounds for figures can still form an important part of the work. The sky is almost always included in the view, and weather is often an element of the composition. Detailed landscapes as a distinct subject are not found in all artistic traditions and develop when there is already a sophisticated tradition of representing other subjects. The two main traditions spring from Western painting and Chinese art, going back well over a thousand years in both cases. Portrait paintings are representations of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. The art of the portrait flourished in Ancient Greek and especially Roman sculpture, where sitters demanded individualized and realistic portraits, even unflattering ones. One of the best-known portraits in the Western world is Leonardo da Vinci's painting titled Mona Lisa, which is thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. Warhol was one of the most prolific portrait painters of the 20th century. Warhol's painting Orange Shot Marilyn of Marilyn Monroe is an iconic early example of his work from the 1960s, and Orange Prince (1984) of the pop singer Prince is later example, both exhibiting Warhol's unique graphic style of portraiture. A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects—which may be either natural (food, flowers, plants, rocks, or shells) or human-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, and so on). With origins in the Middle Ages and Ancient Greek/Roman art, still life paintings give the artist more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition than do paintings of other types of subjects such as landscape or portraiture. Still life paintings, particularly before 1700, often contained religious and allegorical symbolism relating to the objects depicted. Some modern still life breaks the two-dimensional barrier and employs three-dimensional mixed media, and uses found objects, photography, computer graphics, as well as video and sound. A veduta is a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting of a cityscape or some other vista. This genre of landscape originated in Flanders, where artists such as Paul Bril painted vedute as early as the 16th century. As the itinerary of the Grand Tour became somewhat standardized, vedute of familiar scenes like the Roman Forum or the Grand Canal recalled early ventures to the Continent for aristocratic Englishmen. In the later 19th century, more personal impressions of cityscapes replaced the desire for topographical accuracy, which was satisfied instead by painted panoramas. See also Notes References Further reading |
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Contents Xbox Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, for the development and publishing of video games for Microsoft Windows. It has since expanded to include games and other interactive entertainment for the namesake Xbox platforms, other desktop operating systems, Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms, web-based portals, and other game consoles. Xbox Game Studios, alongside ZeniMax Media and Activision Blizzard, are part of the Microsoft Gaming division led by Phil Spencer, who is chief executive officer of the division. History Early in the history of Microsoft the software company published video games like Olympic Decathlon, but Steve Ballmer reportedly persuaded Bill Gates to deemphasize them to professionalize the company's image. By the early 1990s, Microsoft published subLOGIC's Microsoft Flight Simulator and several Microsoft Entertainment Pack compilations of minigames, but was best known for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. In 1992, the company began increasing its focus on games. It announced Microsoft Golf for Windows, based on Access Software's Links, and expanded the games division from two to six people with the intention of commissioning more products from other developers. Microsoft acquired FASA Interactive in 1999 for its MechWarrior game series, Access Software, and Aces Game Studio, which worked on Flight Simulator. The Games Group had also established long-term publishing deals with developers like Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires, Age of Mythology), and Digital Anvil (Starlancer). Under Microsoft, FASA Interactive was renamed FASA Studio, and Access Software became Salt Lake Games Studio. Microsoft transitioned the Games Group into a wholly separate division named Microsoft Games around March 2000, along with other consolidation of games-related projects within Microsoft. This came alongside the public announcement of the first Xbox console, with Microsoft Games to serve as a developer and publisher of titles for both Xbox and Windows. Robbie Bach, who held executive positions in Microsoft's entertainment divisions, was named senior vice-president while Ed Fries, a member of the former Games Group and instrumental for some of its acquisitions, was named as vice-president of the new division. Shane Kim served as the division's general manager. In 2001, the division was renamed Microsoft Game Studios (MGS). FASA Studio and Salt Lake Games Studio remained with Microsoft Game Studios. Digital Anvil and Ensemble Studios were acquired by Microsoft in 2000 and 2001, respectively. One of the first major studio acquisitions following the division's formation was Bungie in June 2000, in the midst of its development of Halo: Combat Evolved. With the acquisition, Halo, which had been planned for release on personal computers, became a Microsoft-published title as well as a launch title for the Xbox on its release in 2001. Turn 10 Studios was established in 2001 for work on the Forza series of racing games. In September 2002, Microsoft Game Studios acquired Rare, who had previously extensively developed for Nintendo platforms. In 2003, Microsoft recognized that the EA Sports label was in a far stronger position to develop sports games for the Xbox console, and among realignment steps, laid off about 78 employees within Microsoft Game Studios that were developing sports games in-house, and sold Salt Lake Games Studio, now named Indie Games to Take-Two Interactive in 2004, where it became Indie Built. Peter Moore was named in 2003 as vice-president of Microsoft's Home and Entertainment Division, which included MGS, the Xbox division, and Microsoft's home hardware market, reporting to Bach. In addition to pulling big publishers like Electronic Arts to the Xbox platform, Moore tried to push the Xbox in Japan by courting Japanese developers with support from MGS publishing. Such games included Phantom Dust and Blinx: The Time Sweeper. Around 2004, MGS established Carbonated Games as an internal studio for the development of casual games for Microsoft's web games portal MSN Games, on the chat client MSN Messenger, and on the Xbox Live platform. Kim and Fries were instrumental for securing MGS' publishing deal with Lionhead Studios for their 2004 game Fable, which would serve as the first major role-playing game on the Xbox platform. Subsequently, in 2006, MGS acquired Lionhead Studios along with the Fable properties, as it sought to secure a Fable sequel for the upcoming Xbox 360. MGS folded the staff of Digital Anvil into the larger studio in 2005, following the release of 2003's Brute Force, and closed down the studio entirely in 2006. FASA Studio was closed three-and-a-half months after the May 2007 release of their last game, Shadowrun. In 2007, MGS announced the opening of a European office in Reading, England, headed by general manager Phil Spencer. Moore opted to leave Microsoft in July 2007, so to move back to the San Francisco Bay area with his family and to rejoin Electronic Arts. Don Mattrick was named as his replacement as the new vice-president of the Xbox and Games Business, which included MGS. Later in 2007, Bungie amicably split from MGS to become a privately held independent company, with MGS retaining the rights to the Halo property. Bungie continued to develop two additional Halo games for MGS, Halo 3: ODST (2009) and Halo: Reach (2010). Simultaneously, MGS founded 343 Industries as an internal studio to develop future Halo games without Bungie. In 2008, MGS disbanded Carbonated Games and announced the formation of internal studio Xbox Live Productions to develop "high-quality digital content" for Xbox Live Arcade. Microsoft as a whole announced layoffs of up to 5,000 jobs across all divisions in January 2009 due to slowing sales of personal computers as a result of the Great Recession. Within MGS, the studio had already planned to disband Ensemble Studios after the completion of Halo Wars in early 2009, while the new layoffs led MGS to also disband Aces Game Studio. Microsoft acquired Vancouver-based BigPark in May 2009, using the studio to develop some of the first games for the upcoming Kinect sensor for the Xbox 360. Later in 2009, Phil Spencer was promoted to corporate vice-president of MGS, in order to replace the retiring Shane Kim. In 2010, MGS formed a mobile gaming studio, MGS Mobile Gaming, focused on developing gaming and entertainment multimedia for Windows Phone devices. It also expanded Rare with a second studio in Digbeth, Birmingham. By the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 in June 2011, Microsoft Game Studios was quietly renamed to Microsoft Studios. Later in 2011, Microsoft Studios acquired Twisted Pixel Games. In early December 2011, Microsoft Studios created Microsoft Casual Games, a division to revamp its past casual games for Windows (like Windows Solitaire and MSN Games) using more up-to-date software delivery platforms. In 2012, Phil Harrison, the former Sony worldwide studios head, joined Microsoft as head of Microsoft Studios Europe and IEB. Microsoft Studios acquired developer Press Play, known for developing Tentacles and Max & the Magic Marker. They also announced a new development studio in London, England. Later in 2012, Microsoft downsized Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver due to the cancellation of the Kinect family title Project Columbia and announced that the ongoing development of free-to-play title Microsoft Flight had been ceased due to portfolio evaluation. The reduced Vancouver studios were renamed to Black Tusk Studios and tasked with making similar franchise-building title as Halo. In 2013, Microsoft established European studio Lift London, a studio that would create cloud-based games for tablets, mobiles and TVs. Later, they created a new "Deep Tech" team inside its Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) unit; the new team is charged with working with top developers outside the company to build next-generation applications on top of Microsoft platforms. While Mattrick had overseen much of the development of Microsoft's next console, the Xbox One, he left in July 2013, prior to its release, to take over as CEO of Zynga. Mattrick was succeeded by Julie Larson-Green, who was named the president of the Devices and Studios Engineering Group, following a realignment of Microsoft's divisions, overseeing both the Xbox hardware divisions and Microsoft Studios. Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in February 2014. At this time, Microsoft was facing strong competition in the consumer market, and within the gaming sector, the Xbox One (released in 2013) was more expensive than competitors and had too much focus on non-gaming functions. Under Nadella's direction, Phil Spencer was named the new head of Microsoft Studios to replace Jason Holtman, who had only been its lead for the prior six months. Spencer began looking for ways to expand Microsoft Studios to make it a profitable division for Microsoft, and began negotiations for the acquititions of Mojang, the developers behind Minecraft, in late 2014. Microsoft spent US$2.5 billion to acquire the studio, and upon the deal's completion in November, the studio's key founding personnel, Markus Persson, Jakob Porsér and Carl Manneh, departed Mojang. As a result, Persson became valued around US$1.3 billion. Microsoft Studios committed to keeping Minecraft available across multiple platforms, including rival PlayStation consoles. Matt Booty, the studio's corporate vice-president in 2020, said the acquisition of Mojang served as the template for later acquisitions, as Mojang was left to run as an "unplugged studio" with limited integration into the Microsoft corporation, minimizing the disruption of Mojang's normal day-to-day business matters nor impeding on the studio's freedom. Additional intellectual property (IP) acquisitions by Microsoft Studios in 2014 included a publishing contract with Undead Labs for their game State of Decay, the rights to the Gears of War series from Epic Games, and the Rise of IP (Rise of Nations and Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends) from Big Huge Games. Microsoft Studios assigned Gears of War to Black Tusk Studios, which was later rebranded in 2015 as The Coalition. In July 2014, it was announced that Xbox Entertainment Studios would be closed in the following months; the closure was completed by October 29. On March 4, 2015, Microsoft announced that they were merging UK-based studios, Lift London and Soho Productions for further games development, with the amalgam continuing to operate under the Lift London name. On March 7, Microsoft announced at the Game Developers Conference that HoloLens games were coming to Xbox One. On March 9, Microsoft announced that Kudo Tsunoda's role was expanding and that he would be the new studio team leader for studios such as Press Play, Lift London and a new internal studio called Decisive Games. Decisive Games was previously mentioned in job postings, saying that they were hiring for work on a "beloved strategy game" for Xbox One and PC, but this is the first public acknowledgement of the team's existence as a first-party studio. Twisted Pixel and Microsoft Studios agreed to split in September 2015. Kudo Tsunoda left the Xbox division in November 2015 for the development of HoloLens and Microsoft Edge, and other projects that could improve means of human interaction, including voice and gesture. Tsunoda's role was filled by Hanno Lemke and Shannon Loftis. In 2016, Microsoft was perceived as "unifying PC and Xbox One" platforms. In March 2016, Microsoft canceled development of two major projects: Lionhead's Fable Legends and Press Play's Project Knoxville, shuttering both studios in the following months. Around the same time, changes to Microsoft Studios' website indicated that further studios—BigPark, Good Science Studio, Leap Experience Pioneers (LXP), Function Studios and State of the Art (SOTA)—had been closed, Microsoft Studios clarified that all of them had been consolidated into other Microsoft Studios teams over the past several years. In September 2017, Spencer was promoted to the senior leadership team, gaining the title of "executive vice-president of gaming". At this point, Microsoft Studios directly reported to Nadella. In January 2018, Matt Booty was promoted from leader in the Minecraft games business to corporate vice-president of Microsoft Studios. On June 10, 2018, during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018, Microsoft announced the acquisitions of Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Undead Labs and Compulsion Games, as well as the opening of a new studio in Santa Monica, California, entitled The Initiative, which would be led by the former Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher. In November, Microsoft Studios announced further acquisitions with Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment. The studio rebranded itself on February 5, 2019, as Xbox Game Studios, as to reflect Microsoft's intent to use the Xbox brand to support gaming across all the devices it supports. At E3 2019, Xbox Game Studios announced it had acquired Double Fine, and established a new internal studio dedicated to Age of Empires headed by Shannon Loftis, bringing their total studio count to fifteen. This studio, later named World's Edge, does not directly develop any games, but oversees efforts from external studios, such as Relic Entertainment, Forgotten Empires and Tantalus Media, to assure the series is being developed in the right direction, according to creative director Adam Isgreen. Booty has stated that with studios like Obsidian, Ninja Theory, and Double Fine, which have traditionally supported multiplatform games, they will determine if it makes sense for their future products to be treated as Microsoft-exclusive content for Xbox and Windows computers, or to allow these to be published across multiple platforms. That decision will be based on a "network effect", whether having these games on other platforms will better support the franchise and thus worthwhile for Microsoft to help dedicate resources towards it, such as they had with Minecraft. Xbox Game Studios has allowed some of the content developed by its studios or that was previously published exclusively for the Xbox and Windows systems to be released on Nintendo systems, notably the Nintendo Switch versions of Cuphead from Studio MDHR and Ori and the Blind Forest from Moon Studios, and allowing for the titular characters from Rare's Banjo-Kazooie into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. However, the division stated that these releases were generally "existing commitments to other platforms" that they allowed studios to honor, but they otherwise have "no plans to further expand our exclusive first party games to other consoles." Near the end of 2019, with the combined fifteen studios now under Xbox Game Studios, Booty stated that they now had more games than ever to handle, and were likely not going to acquire any additional studios in the near future, stating "we've been shifting our focus inside Xbox Game Studios from acquisition and growth, to a phase of execution and delivery". Additionally, as Microsoft started promotion of its fourth-generation of Xbox, including the Xbox Series X, Booty stated that titles developed by Xbox Game Studios in year or two following its release will not be exclusively for the new generation of consoles, but instead will support both Xbox One and the new console, with some games receiving enhanced performance when played on the new console lineup. Booty said that with the large number of studios they had recently acquired, as well as ongoing external partnerships and their Xbox Game Pass service, the Studios are able to support a "breadth of offerings in the portfolio" designed to attract a large number of players. Further, in an interview in November 2020, Phil Spencer said during an interview regarding the future of the Xbox brand that he intends to put more focus on outputting RPGs, which had to that point been underserved. Microsoft and ZeniMax Media announced on September 21, 2020, that Microsoft planned to acquire ZeniMax and its family of studios, which include Bethesda Game Studios, Arkane Studios, id Software, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, and ZeniMax Online Studios, for over US$7.5 billion in cash. According to Spencer, the ZeniMax acquisition was intended to give Microsoft a large library of games known around the world, and to expand the library of Xbox Game Pass and XCloud. However, during 2023 hearings regarding the Federal Trade Commission's concern over the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, Spencer said that Sony Interactive Entertainment had made sways at Bethesda to keep Starfield as a PlayStation-exclusive, further prompting Microsoft to purchase Zenimax. Both U.S. and European Union regulatory agencies approved the acquisition by early March 2021, and the acquisition was formally completed by March 9, 2021. The total price of the deal was $8.1 billion Bethesda Softworks, the primarily publisher for all of ZeniMax's games, remained as an operational unit under Microsoft with the acquisition and retained all its current leadership. With the acquisition, future games from the studios will be exclusive to Xbox consoles, but existing commitments to other platforms (such as Arkane Studios' Deathloop and Tango Gameworks' Ghostwire: Tokyo, which are contractually exclusive to PlayStation 5 for a period of 12 months before their release on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S) will still be honored. Spencer stated that Game Pass was also fundamental driver for the acquisition. A preliminary injunction to block the acquisition had been sought in an ongoing class-action lawsuit that ZeniMax faced over Fallout 4, with the plaintiffs in the case arguing that Microsoft could shield ZeniMax's assets from damages should they be found liable after the acquisition. The ZeniMax Board of Directors was dissolved following the Microsoft purchase. On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard in an all-cash deal valued at $68.7 billion. Microsoft stated that this acquisition would make it the third-largest gaming company by revenue, following Tencent and Sony. With the announcement, Microsoft also announced a major change to its corporate structure, with Phil Spencer becoming CEO of the new division Microsoft Gaming, with Matt Booty leading Xbox Game Studios under it. Once approved, Activision Blizzard would then become a subdivision of Microsoft Gaming. The deal was cleared by various national regulators by October 13, 2023, with Microsoft closing the deal the same day. During litigation on the merger with the United States Federal Trade Commission, internal documents from Microsoft c. 2020 show strong interest in re-acquiring Bungie, or acquiring Sega's game development companies, Supergiant Games, Niantic, Inc., Thunderful Group, Zynga, IO Interactive, Scopely, or Playrix as part of Xbox Game Studios, as well as publisher Square Enix to help bolster its Asian presence and mobile market share. In January 2023, Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees, which represented about 5% of its global workforce. Included in those layoffs were many employees from 343 Industries, The Coalition, and Bethesda Game Studios. On October 26, 2023, Microsoft announced the promotion of several employees in the company, including Sarah Bond being promoted to president of Xbox, overseeing all Xbox platform, business, and hardware work, and Matt Booty promoted from president of Xbox to president of Game Content and Studios, including the new responsibility of overseeing ZeniMax and Bethesda, with Jamie Leder still running Zenimax as a limited integration entity, but now reporting to Matt. In the wake of Matt Booty's promotion, Alan Hartman, then the head of Turn 10, was subsequently promoted to head of Xbox Game Studios. On October 6, 2024, 343 Industries officially announced their rebranding as Halo Studios, additionally confirming that multiple Halo games were in development and that said projects would now use Unreal Engine 5 as opposed to the proprietary Slipspace Engine that powered Halo Infinite. On October 14, Rare creative lead Craig Duncan was announced to be succeeding Alan Hartman as head of Xbox Game Studios beginning in November 2024, with Hartman retiring after a three-decade tenure at Microsoft. In July 2025, Microsoft Gaming performed a business restructuring ahead of the new financial year, which resulted in layoffs at Xbox Game Studios Rare, Compulsion Games, Undead Labs and Turn 10 Studios. The latter, who conceived and developed the Forza Motorsport series, was reported to have lost almost half of its workforce and was anticipated to be restructured as a support studio for Motorsport's sister series Forza Horizon and developments for the ForzaTech engine, according to former content coordinator Fred Russell. In addition, Rare's action-adventure game Everwild ceased production, while Microsoft also canceled the Perfect Dark reboot and closed its developer The Initiative simultaneously. Alongside Everwild's cancelation, Rare veteran and designer Gregg Mayles also departed the company after 35 years, alongside producer Louise O'Connor. Over 2024 and 2025, a series of video games published by Microsoft Gaming divisions, most notably Xbox Game Studios' titles, were released on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles under an initiative to pivot focus from the Xbox series of consoles and eventually cease to produce exclusive titles for the consoles like Sega. Xbox Game Studios had also released Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo 64 video games on the Nintendo Switch Online service in 2024, all of whom were developed by Rare and in some cases, formerly published by Nintendo. Studios Games published References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Game_Studios#cite_note-RG-12] | [TOKENS: 4459] |
Contents Xbox Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, for the development and publishing of video games for Microsoft Windows. It has since expanded to include games and other interactive entertainment for the namesake Xbox platforms, other desktop operating systems, Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms, web-based portals, and other game consoles. Xbox Game Studios, alongside ZeniMax Media and Activision Blizzard, are part of the Microsoft Gaming division led by Phil Spencer, who is chief executive officer of the division. History Early in the history of Microsoft the software company published video games like Olympic Decathlon, but Steve Ballmer reportedly persuaded Bill Gates to deemphasize them to professionalize the company's image. By the early 1990s, Microsoft published subLOGIC's Microsoft Flight Simulator and several Microsoft Entertainment Pack compilations of minigames, but was best known for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. In 1992, the company began increasing its focus on games. It announced Microsoft Golf for Windows, based on Access Software's Links, and expanded the games division from two to six people with the intention of commissioning more products from other developers. Microsoft acquired FASA Interactive in 1999 for its MechWarrior game series, Access Software, and Aces Game Studio, which worked on Flight Simulator. The Games Group had also established long-term publishing deals with developers like Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires, Age of Mythology), and Digital Anvil (Starlancer). Under Microsoft, FASA Interactive was renamed FASA Studio, and Access Software became Salt Lake Games Studio. Microsoft transitioned the Games Group into a wholly separate division named Microsoft Games around March 2000, along with other consolidation of games-related projects within Microsoft. This came alongside the public announcement of the first Xbox console, with Microsoft Games to serve as a developer and publisher of titles for both Xbox and Windows. Robbie Bach, who held executive positions in Microsoft's entertainment divisions, was named senior vice-president while Ed Fries, a member of the former Games Group and instrumental for some of its acquisitions, was named as vice-president of the new division. Shane Kim served as the division's general manager. In 2001, the division was renamed Microsoft Game Studios (MGS). FASA Studio and Salt Lake Games Studio remained with Microsoft Game Studios. Digital Anvil and Ensemble Studios were acquired by Microsoft in 2000 and 2001, respectively. One of the first major studio acquisitions following the division's formation was Bungie in June 2000, in the midst of its development of Halo: Combat Evolved. With the acquisition, Halo, which had been planned for release on personal computers, became a Microsoft-published title as well as a launch title for the Xbox on its release in 2001. Turn 10 Studios was established in 2001 for work on the Forza series of racing games. In September 2002, Microsoft Game Studios acquired Rare, who had previously extensively developed for Nintendo platforms. In 2003, Microsoft recognized that the EA Sports label was in a far stronger position to develop sports games for the Xbox console, and among realignment steps, laid off about 78 employees within Microsoft Game Studios that were developing sports games in-house, and sold Salt Lake Games Studio, now named Indie Games to Take-Two Interactive in 2004, where it became Indie Built. Peter Moore was named in 2003 as vice-president of Microsoft's Home and Entertainment Division, which included MGS, the Xbox division, and Microsoft's home hardware market, reporting to Bach. In addition to pulling big publishers like Electronic Arts to the Xbox platform, Moore tried to push the Xbox in Japan by courting Japanese developers with support from MGS publishing. Such games included Phantom Dust and Blinx: The Time Sweeper. Around 2004, MGS established Carbonated Games as an internal studio for the development of casual games for Microsoft's web games portal MSN Games, on the chat client MSN Messenger, and on the Xbox Live platform. Kim and Fries were instrumental for securing MGS' publishing deal with Lionhead Studios for their 2004 game Fable, which would serve as the first major role-playing game on the Xbox platform. Subsequently, in 2006, MGS acquired Lionhead Studios along with the Fable properties, as it sought to secure a Fable sequel for the upcoming Xbox 360. MGS folded the staff of Digital Anvil into the larger studio in 2005, following the release of 2003's Brute Force, and closed down the studio entirely in 2006. FASA Studio was closed three-and-a-half months after the May 2007 release of their last game, Shadowrun. In 2007, MGS announced the opening of a European office in Reading, England, headed by general manager Phil Spencer. Moore opted to leave Microsoft in July 2007, so to move back to the San Francisco Bay area with his family and to rejoin Electronic Arts. Don Mattrick was named as his replacement as the new vice-president of the Xbox and Games Business, which included MGS. Later in 2007, Bungie amicably split from MGS to become a privately held independent company, with MGS retaining the rights to the Halo property. Bungie continued to develop two additional Halo games for MGS, Halo 3: ODST (2009) and Halo: Reach (2010). Simultaneously, MGS founded 343 Industries as an internal studio to develop future Halo games without Bungie. In 2008, MGS disbanded Carbonated Games and announced the formation of internal studio Xbox Live Productions to develop "high-quality digital content" for Xbox Live Arcade. Microsoft as a whole announced layoffs of up to 5,000 jobs across all divisions in January 2009 due to slowing sales of personal computers as a result of the Great Recession. Within MGS, the studio had already planned to disband Ensemble Studios after the completion of Halo Wars in early 2009, while the new layoffs led MGS to also disband Aces Game Studio. Microsoft acquired Vancouver-based BigPark in May 2009, using the studio to develop some of the first games for the upcoming Kinect sensor for the Xbox 360. Later in 2009, Phil Spencer was promoted to corporate vice-president of MGS, in order to replace the retiring Shane Kim. In 2010, MGS formed a mobile gaming studio, MGS Mobile Gaming, focused on developing gaming and entertainment multimedia for Windows Phone devices. It also expanded Rare with a second studio in Digbeth, Birmingham. By the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 in June 2011, Microsoft Game Studios was quietly renamed to Microsoft Studios. Later in 2011, Microsoft Studios acquired Twisted Pixel Games. In early December 2011, Microsoft Studios created Microsoft Casual Games, a division to revamp its past casual games for Windows (like Windows Solitaire and MSN Games) using more up-to-date software delivery platforms. In 2012, Phil Harrison, the former Sony worldwide studios head, joined Microsoft as head of Microsoft Studios Europe and IEB. Microsoft Studios acquired developer Press Play, known for developing Tentacles and Max & the Magic Marker. They also announced a new development studio in London, England. Later in 2012, Microsoft downsized Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver due to the cancellation of the Kinect family title Project Columbia and announced that the ongoing development of free-to-play title Microsoft Flight had been ceased due to portfolio evaluation. The reduced Vancouver studios were renamed to Black Tusk Studios and tasked with making similar franchise-building title as Halo. In 2013, Microsoft established European studio Lift London, a studio that would create cloud-based games for tablets, mobiles and TVs. Later, they created a new "Deep Tech" team inside its Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) unit; the new team is charged with working with top developers outside the company to build next-generation applications on top of Microsoft platforms. While Mattrick had overseen much of the development of Microsoft's next console, the Xbox One, he left in July 2013, prior to its release, to take over as CEO of Zynga. Mattrick was succeeded by Julie Larson-Green, who was named the president of the Devices and Studios Engineering Group, following a realignment of Microsoft's divisions, overseeing both the Xbox hardware divisions and Microsoft Studios. Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in February 2014. At this time, Microsoft was facing strong competition in the consumer market, and within the gaming sector, the Xbox One (released in 2013) was more expensive than competitors and had too much focus on non-gaming functions. Under Nadella's direction, Phil Spencer was named the new head of Microsoft Studios to replace Jason Holtman, who had only been its lead for the prior six months. Spencer began looking for ways to expand Microsoft Studios to make it a profitable division for Microsoft, and began negotiations for the acquititions of Mojang, the developers behind Minecraft, in late 2014. Microsoft spent US$2.5 billion to acquire the studio, and upon the deal's completion in November, the studio's key founding personnel, Markus Persson, Jakob Porsér and Carl Manneh, departed Mojang. As a result, Persson became valued around US$1.3 billion. Microsoft Studios committed to keeping Minecraft available across multiple platforms, including rival PlayStation consoles. Matt Booty, the studio's corporate vice-president in 2020, said the acquisition of Mojang served as the template for later acquisitions, as Mojang was left to run as an "unplugged studio" with limited integration into the Microsoft corporation, minimizing the disruption of Mojang's normal day-to-day business matters nor impeding on the studio's freedom. Additional intellectual property (IP) acquisitions by Microsoft Studios in 2014 included a publishing contract with Undead Labs for their game State of Decay, the rights to the Gears of War series from Epic Games, and the Rise of IP (Rise of Nations and Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends) from Big Huge Games. Microsoft Studios assigned Gears of War to Black Tusk Studios, which was later rebranded in 2015 as The Coalition. In July 2014, it was announced that Xbox Entertainment Studios would be closed in the following months; the closure was completed by October 29. On March 4, 2015, Microsoft announced that they were merging UK-based studios, Lift London and Soho Productions for further games development, with the amalgam continuing to operate under the Lift London name. On March 7, Microsoft announced at the Game Developers Conference that HoloLens games were coming to Xbox One. On March 9, Microsoft announced that Kudo Tsunoda's role was expanding and that he would be the new studio team leader for studios such as Press Play, Lift London and a new internal studio called Decisive Games. Decisive Games was previously mentioned in job postings, saying that they were hiring for work on a "beloved strategy game" for Xbox One and PC, but this is the first public acknowledgement of the team's existence as a first-party studio. Twisted Pixel and Microsoft Studios agreed to split in September 2015. Kudo Tsunoda left the Xbox division in November 2015 for the development of HoloLens and Microsoft Edge, and other projects that could improve means of human interaction, including voice and gesture. Tsunoda's role was filled by Hanno Lemke and Shannon Loftis. In 2016, Microsoft was perceived as "unifying PC and Xbox One" platforms. In March 2016, Microsoft canceled development of two major projects: Lionhead's Fable Legends and Press Play's Project Knoxville, shuttering both studios in the following months. Around the same time, changes to Microsoft Studios' website indicated that further studios—BigPark, Good Science Studio, Leap Experience Pioneers (LXP), Function Studios and State of the Art (SOTA)—had been closed, Microsoft Studios clarified that all of them had been consolidated into other Microsoft Studios teams over the past several years. In September 2017, Spencer was promoted to the senior leadership team, gaining the title of "executive vice-president of gaming". At this point, Microsoft Studios directly reported to Nadella. In January 2018, Matt Booty was promoted from leader in the Minecraft games business to corporate vice-president of Microsoft Studios. On June 10, 2018, during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018, Microsoft announced the acquisitions of Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Undead Labs and Compulsion Games, as well as the opening of a new studio in Santa Monica, California, entitled The Initiative, which would be led by the former Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher. In November, Microsoft Studios announced further acquisitions with Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment. The studio rebranded itself on February 5, 2019, as Xbox Game Studios, as to reflect Microsoft's intent to use the Xbox brand to support gaming across all the devices it supports. At E3 2019, Xbox Game Studios announced it had acquired Double Fine, and established a new internal studio dedicated to Age of Empires headed by Shannon Loftis, bringing their total studio count to fifteen. This studio, later named World's Edge, does not directly develop any games, but oversees efforts from external studios, such as Relic Entertainment, Forgotten Empires and Tantalus Media, to assure the series is being developed in the right direction, according to creative director Adam Isgreen. Booty has stated that with studios like Obsidian, Ninja Theory, and Double Fine, which have traditionally supported multiplatform games, they will determine if it makes sense for their future products to be treated as Microsoft-exclusive content for Xbox and Windows computers, or to allow these to be published across multiple platforms. That decision will be based on a "network effect", whether having these games on other platforms will better support the franchise and thus worthwhile for Microsoft to help dedicate resources towards it, such as they had with Minecraft. Xbox Game Studios has allowed some of the content developed by its studios or that was previously published exclusively for the Xbox and Windows systems to be released on Nintendo systems, notably the Nintendo Switch versions of Cuphead from Studio MDHR and Ori and the Blind Forest from Moon Studios, and allowing for the titular characters from Rare's Banjo-Kazooie into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. However, the division stated that these releases were generally "existing commitments to other platforms" that they allowed studios to honor, but they otherwise have "no plans to further expand our exclusive first party games to other consoles." Near the end of 2019, with the combined fifteen studios now under Xbox Game Studios, Booty stated that they now had more games than ever to handle, and were likely not going to acquire any additional studios in the near future, stating "we've been shifting our focus inside Xbox Game Studios from acquisition and growth, to a phase of execution and delivery". Additionally, as Microsoft started promotion of its fourth-generation of Xbox, including the Xbox Series X, Booty stated that titles developed by Xbox Game Studios in year or two following its release will not be exclusively for the new generation of consoles, but instead will support both Xbox One and the new console, with some games receiving enhanced performance when played on the new console lineup. Booty said that with the large number of studios they had recently acquired, as well as ongoing external partnerships and their Xbox Game Pass service, the Studios are able to support a "breadth of offerings in the portfolio" designed to attract a large number of players. Further, in an interview in November 2020, Phil Spencer said during an interview regarding the future of the Xbox brand that he intends to put more focus on outputting RPGs, which had to that point been underserved. Microsoft and ZeniMax Media announced on September 21, 2020, that Microsoft planned to acquire ZeniMax and its family of studios, which include Bethesda Game Studios, Arkane Studios, id Software, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, and ZeniMax Online Studios, for over US$7.5 billion in cash. According to Spencer, the ZeniMax acquisition was intended to give Microsoft a large library of games known around the world, and to expand the library of Xbox Game Pass and XCloud. However, during 2023 hearings regarding the Federal Trade Commission's concern over the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, Spencer said that Sony Interactive Entertainment had made sways at Bethesda to keep Starfield as a PlayStation-exclusive, further prompting Microsoft to purchase Zenimax. Both U.S. and European Union regulatory agencies approved the acquisition by early March 2021, and the acquisition was formally completed by March 9, 2021. The total price of the deal was $8.1 billion Bethesda Softworks, the primarily publisher for all of ZeniMax's games, remained as an operational unit under Microsoft with the acquisition and retained all its current leadership. With the acquisition, future games from the studios will be exclusive to Xbox consoles, but existing commitments to other platforms (such as Arkane Studios' Deathloop and Tango Gameworks' Ghostwire: Tokyo, which are contractually exclusive to PlayStation 5 for a period of 12 months before their release on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S) will still be honored. Spencer stated that Game Pass was also fundamental driver for the acquisition. A preliminary injunction to block the acquisition had been sought in an ongoing class-action lawsuit that ZeniMax faced over Fallout 4, with the plaintiffs in the case arguing that Microsoft could shield ZeniMax's assets from damages should they be found liable after the acquisition. The ZeniMax Board of Directors was dissolved following the Microsoft purchase. On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard in an all-cash deal valued at $68.7 billion. Microsoft stated that this acquisition would make it the third-largest gaming company by revenue, following Tencent and Sony. With the announcement, Microsoft also announced a major change to its corporate structure, with Phil Spencer becoming CEO of the new division Microsoft Gaming, with Matt Booty leading Xbox Game Studios under it. Once approved, Activision Blizzard would then become a subdivision of Microsoft Gaming. The deal was cleared by various national regulators by October 13, 2023, with Microsoft closing the deal the same day. During litigation on the merger with the United States Federal Trade Commission, internal documents from Microsoft c. 2020 show strong interest in re-acquiring Bungie, or acquiring Sega's game development companies, Supergiant Games, Niantic, Inc., Thunderful Group, Zynga, IO Interactive, Scopely, or Playrix as part of Xbox Game Studios, as well as publisher Square Enix to help bolster its Asian presence and mobile market share. In January 2023, Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees, which represented about 5% of its global workforce. Included in those layoffs were many employees from 343 Industries, The Coalition, and Bethesda Game Studios. On October 26, 2023, Microsoft announced the promotion of several employees in the company, including Sarah Bond being promoted to president of Xbox, overseeing all Xbox platform, business, and hardware work, and Matt Booty promoted from president of Xbox to president of Game Content and Studios, including the new responsibility of overseeing ZeniMax and Bethesda, with Jamie Leder still running Zenimax as a limited integration entity, but now reporting to Matt. In the wake of Matt Booty's promotion, Alan Hartman, then the head of Turn 10, was subsequently promoted to head of Xbox Game Studios. On October 6, 2024, 343 Industries officially announced their rebranding as Halo Studios, additionally confirming that multiple Halo games were in development and that said projects would now use Unreal Engine 5 as opposed to the proprietary Slipspace Engine that powered Halo Infinite. On October 14, Rare creative lead Craig Duncan was announced to be succeeding Alan Hartman as head of Xbox Game Studios beginning in November 2024, with Hartman retiring after a three-decade tenure at Microsoft. In July 2025, Microsoft Gaming performed a business restructuring ahead of the new financial year, which resulted in layoffs at Xbox Game Studios Rare, Compulsion Games, Undead Labs and Turn 10 Studios. The latter, who conceived and developed the Forza Motorsport series, was reported to have lost almost half of its workforce and was anticipated to be restructured as a support studio for Motorsport's sister series Forza Horizon and developments for the ForzaTech engine, according to former content coordinator Fred Russell. In addition, Rare's action-adventure game Everwild ceased production, while Microsoft also canceled the Perfect Dark reboot and closed its developer The Initiative simultaneously. Alongside Everwild's cancelation, Rare veteran and designer Gregg Mayles also departed the company after 35 years, alongside producer Louise O'Connor. Over 2024 and 2025, a series of video games published by Microsoft Gaming divisions, most notably Xbox Game Studios' titles, were released on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles under an initiative to pivot focus from the Xbox series of consoles and eventually cease to produce exclusive titles for the consoles like Sega. Xbox Game Studios had also released Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo 64 video games on the Nintendo Switch Online service in 2024, all of whom were developed by Rare and in some cases, formerly published by Nintendo. Studios Games published References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:Cosplay] | [TOKENS: 48] |
Template talk:Cosplay Talk pages are where people discuss how to make content on Wikipedia the best that it can be. You can use this page to start a discussion with others about how to improve the "Template:Cosplay" page. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ladies%27_Bras] | [TOKENS: 345] |
Contents The Ladies' Bras "The Ladies' Bras" is a song by Jonny Trunk and Wisbey which reached number 27 in the UK singles chart in September 2007. At 36 seconds, it was the shortest song ever to enter the chart, taking the record just a few weeks after the song "Spider Pig" (1 minute, 4 seconds), from the 2007 film The Simpsons Movie had taken it. Before that, the shortest charting single had been Liam Lynch's 2002 "United States of Whatever" (1 minutes, 26 seconds). In 2025, the record of the shortest song to enter the UK top 40 chart was broken by the 34-second long "Steve's Lava Chicken" by Jack Black from the film A Minecraft Movie. "The Ladies' Bras" became popular after it was played on Danny Baker's All Day Breakfast Show podcast show, reaching number 70 on the UK singles chart with 1,644 sales and no national airplay. It was later picked up by Scott Mills on BBC Radio 1, who campaigned to get it in the charts by asking guests on his show including McFly and Dannii Minogue to sing it live on air. Originally available on the Trunk Records 10th anniversary compilation CD Now We Are Ten, the track was also available for download on services such as iTunes and Wippit and had no official music video. The melody is "The Gonk" from George Romero's 1978 Dawn of the Dead soundtrack, as played in the supermarket scenes. References External links This 2000s British single-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aether_(mod)#cite_ref-7] | [TOKENS: 451] |
Contents The Aether (mod) The Aether is a Minecraft mod originally released by a team of six modders. The mod adds a new Heaven-like dimension to Minecraft, complete with new materials, mobs, dungeons and bosses. The mod was released on 22 July 2011 and received acclaim, with the lead developer being hired at Mojang Studios. A sequel to the mod was released in June 2013. Gameplay The Aether mod adds a new eponymous dimension to Minecraft. The dimension's pastel aesthetics and floating islands contrast the Nether, a dimension from the base game themed after Hell. The Aether is accessed by building, activating and going through the Aether portal, constructed in the same shape as the Nether portal but with different materials. The dimension is made out of islands floating in mid-air; falling down sends the player out of the dimension. Various friendly and hostile mobs can be encountered in the Aether. Overworld tools become obsolete in the Aether, requiring the player to make tools out of new materials found inside the dimension, effectively restarting the progression chain. The mod also adds accessories, which provide buffs to a player when placed in a specific inventory slot. Dungeons can be found in the Aether, containing a boss at the end that drops valuable items upon defeat. Development As of June 2013, the mod team had seven members: project lead Brandon "kingbdogz" Pearce, programmers Jaryt and Saspiron, artists Dark and Oscar Payn, composer Emile van Krieken and writer Liberty. In December 2021, The Aether was updated to support newer Minecraft versions. Reception Being one of the first large-scale mods for Minecraft, The Aether has received acclaim and is considered a classic. PCGamesN called the mod "one of Minecraft's most impressive historic mods". Various news outlets described the mod's themes as antithetical to the Nether. In January 2020, Pearce became a Mojang Studios employee. In June 2013, The Aether 2 was announced, a mod that aims to overhaul The Aether and add new content as well as a multiplayer party system, designed to make cooperative play more convenient. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Trunk] | [TOKENS: 1106] |
Contents Jonny Trunk Jonny Trunk, born Jonathan Benton-Hughes, is an English writer, broadcaster and DJ as well as the owner and founder of Trunk Records. Career Jonny Trunk founded Trunk Records in 1995, a cult British label that specialises in film music, library music, early electronics and exotic, nostalgic recordings. It was the first label to release music from cult horror films such as The Wicker Man. On his label he has also released Dirty Fan Male, an album based on his own experiences organising various glamour models' fan clubs including that of his sister, Emma Benton-Hughes, who modelled under the name Eve Vorley. The album contained amusing recitals of the fan mail they received, and was later turned into an award-winning live show and a book, with the album getting 4/5 stars from The Guardian. Trunk has also released his own material through the label, including his album The Inside Outside. Since 2003, Trunk has been responsible for the rediscovery of Basil Kirchin, by releasing his unknown 1960s experimental jazz and soundtrack work. "The Ladies' Bras", a single by Jonny Trunk and Wisbey, made number 70 on the UK Singles Chart in August 2007, and re-entered at number 27 in September 2007 after a campaign by BBC Radio 1's Scott Mills and Danny Baker. At 36 seconds long, it is the shortest track ever to chart in the top 30. Various Jonny Trunk side projects have included directing the now-banned pop video "Plug Me In" for Add N to (X). This video was shot in Wales, and was edited as the standard pop version and a longer, more controversial Add N To XXX 45 minute version. Trunk has also held modern music and movement classes using vintage electronic recordings, issued official Tony Hart Vision On tee shirts and screenprints, ran action painting sessions to Ken Nordine's colours, and regularly finds music for advertising, film and TV. In recent years Trunk has been lecturing at art colleges throughout the UK. His talks focus on the art of creativity based on nostalgia, enthusiasm and cunning. Trunk is also a regular broadcaster on London's art radio station Resonance FM. His long-running radio show OST has concentrated on film music, TV music, library music and related recordings since 2003 until 2022 and is the only show of its kind on British radio. It has championed the work of François de Roubaix, Roger Roger (composer), Krzysztof Komeda and many other obscure international soundtrack and library artists.[citation needed] Other recent broadcasting has included the BBC Radio 4 documentary Into The Music Library and presenting on BBC Two's The Culture Show. Trunk was the first dedicated film music DJ in the UK. HarperCollins published the Jonny Trunk book Dirty Fan Male in 2005. It subsequently became a Channel 4 documentary. He also writes for Vice, Record Collector, and Mojo. Working with art publishers FUEL Design, Jonny Trunk published the world's first and only book dedicated to the graphic art of production library music on Trunk Records. This book, known as The Music Library, was the first book to bring to the public the hidden art and design of vintage library recordings. The book was expanded in 2016. The original "Music Library" book was followed up in 2010 with Dressing for Pleasure in Rubber, Vinyl and Leather: The Best of Atomage 1972-1980, about AtomAge. 2011 saw the publication of Own Label, Sainsbury's Design Studio 1962 - 1977. This book brought together a vast array of own label packaging developed and designed by the supermarket's in house studio. Conceived by Jonny Trunk and based on his memory of the 1975 Own Label Cornflake packet, the book brings some 400+ rare, period and often curious designs from the Sainsbury's Archive into the modern graphic world. Trunk licensed the document and letter archive of Mary Whitehouse based at the University of Essex, and made a deal with publishers Faber and Faber. The book based on this material, Ban This Filth! Letters From the Mary Whitehouse Archive (2012), was edited by Ben Thompson. 2014 saw the publication of "The Art Of Smallfilms", a book exploring the archives of Smallfilms and the world of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. The book is the first to examine their work in minute detail. It was conceived and edited by Jonny Trunk and has a foreword by Stewart Lee. Trunk also features frequently in the 2011 book Retromania by Simon Reynolds: "Cheezy sleaze and sepia–toned melancholy seem unlikely bedfellows at first glance. But in his 1935 travel book Journey Without Maps, Graham Greene put his finger on or near the place where musty and lustful meet. He wrote about how ‘seediness has a very deep appeal…it seems to satisfy, temporarily, the sense of nostalgia for something lost; it seems to represent a stage further back.’ With their aura of wistful reverie and faded decay, the sounds exhumed by Trunk offer a portal into Britain's cultural unconscious." Discography See also Bibliography References External links |
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