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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PrestonPlayz] \| [TOKENS: 418]
Contents PrestonPlayz Preston Blaine Arsement (born May 4, 1994), better known as PrestonPlayz, is an American YouTuber. He is known for his videos playing video games including Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite, and his real-life vlogs and challenges. Early life Preston Blaine Arsement was born on May 4, 1994, in Dallas, Texas. He is the eldest of three half-siblings, two half-brothers and one half-sister. Arsement's father, David, is a United States Air Force veteran and the COO of Arsement's company, while his mother, Maye, is the CEO; she formerly worked for AT&T and Southwestern Bell. The first game he played was Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis, when he was four. Arsement was first inspired to pursue YouTube after watching HuskyStarcraft. As a teenager, he watched many RuneScape videos. Career Arsement created his first YouTube channel in November 2010, called TBNRfrags. It first focused on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 gameplay, but later expanded to Call of Duty: Black Ops and, in 2017, Fortnite. He later created a Minecraft channel, PrestonPlayz, in 2012. Arsement went on his first tour in 2017, hosting meet-and-greets at six Main Event Entertainment centers near Dallas. He also started working with talent management company Night in that year. He joined Envy Gaming as an investor and content creator in 2018 and was paired with Lil Yachty for a celebrity-content creator Fortnite tournament. Also in 2018, he switched his gaming content to a separate channel and made his main channel focused around lifestyle, vlog, and challenge content, substantially growing his channel. Personal life Arsement is married to Brianna Paige Barnhart. He is a Messianic Jew. He also enjoys playing paintball for fun. Awards and nominations References External links
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jschlatt] \| [TOKENS: 2769]
Contents jschlatt jschlatt (pronunciation: /d͡ʒeɪ ʃlɑːt/; born (1999-09-10)September 10, 1999), also known as Schlatt (/ʃlɑːt/), is an American YouTuber, entrepreneur, singer, and voice actor. He produces a variety of content, primarily in gaming, commentary, and reaction content. He is a former member of Minecraft server communities such as SMPLive and Dream SMP. He was a co-owner of streamer collective group One True King until his departure in December 2022. He is an acquired owner of the energy drink company Gamersupps from May 2022, and is a co-owner of pre-built gaming computer company Starforge Systems. Schlatt released his debut studio album, A Very 1999 Christmas in December 2024. Schlatt released a variant of the album with 3 additional unreleased tracks in December 2025. Schlatt announced his debut in voice acting, voicing a character from Glitch Productions in January 2026. Internet career Schlatt started making YouTube videos in 2013 at 11-years old, uploading gameplay videos on Call of Duty. He had major influences such as Freddie Wong and Corridor Digital. Schlatt started posting under the name "jschlatt" on June 2014 with a video of his pet pogona. The channel's content evolved from gaming to include comedic sketches, reaction videos, internet commentary, and satirical takes on memes and trending topics. In July 2017, Schlatt started the podcast "Sleep Deprived" with his friend Mikasacus, with Apandah and Aztrosist joining later on. The episodes were posted on the channel until episode 6 where it was transferred to its own independent channel. In January 2018, the "jschlatt" channel got taken down for violating YouTube's guidelines. Schlatt stated that he never knew what rule he had broken. Schlatt was able to reinstate the channel by publicly contacting the YouTube support team on Twitter. On February 6, 2018, Schlatt uploaded "elon r u ok?" which became one of his most viewed videos at the time. Schlatt began streaming on Twitch in June 2018, playing a wide variety of games, including Cities: Skylines, Minecraft, and indie simulation titles. In September 2018, Schlatt started "theweeklyslap", a therapeautic channel where he answers serious questions under Call of Duty gameplay. On March 1, 2019, Schlatt joined the private Minecraft server SMPLive started by Cscoop and CallMeCarson. Viewers were interested in Schlatt's dry humor and usage of terrible audio quality. Schlatt frequently played on the server, posting videos about it. During this time, Schlatt transitioned posting videos over to "jschlattLIVE". In September 2019, as a finale of his SMPLive series, Schlatt revealed his face after beating the game's final boss. In December 2019, Schlatt went on an unannounced hiatus from streaming. In January 2020, Schlatt alongside other members of SMPLive, started a content group channel named Lunch Club. The channel primarily focused on vlog content. In January 2021, the Lunch Club channel ended after multiple allegations were targeted towards one of the founding members. In 2020, Schlatt briefly joined the Dream SMP, a Minecraft roleplay server, participating in collaborative events and storylines. Although his time on the server was limited, it helped consolidate his reputation in the online gaming community. In 2021, Schlatt joined the content organization One True King as a co-owner, participating in videos, livestreams, and online events. In January 2021, Schlatt was a host for Chuckle Sandwich with Ted Nivison and Slimecicle. In December 2021, Schlatt announced his return to streaming on Twitch. In 2022, Schlatt left One True King to focus on personal projects.[citation needed] In April 2022, Schlatt started his reaction content series, where he reacts to user-created or user-requested videos live on stream based on a certain topic. Topics ranged from bedrooms, computer setups, to general vertical content. In August 2022, Schlatt took a hiatus from the Sleep Deprived podcast, only appearing in the channel's gaming videos. In September 2022, Schlatt alongside Ludwig started "Ludwig and Schlatt's Musical Emporium", a channel that released copyright-free recordings of classical music. Alongside it, two tracks inspired by the Animal Crossing soundtrack were released. In June 2023, a full soundtrack album was released containing 12 tracks free of copyright. In 2023, Schlatt created a debate podcast "Did Schlatt Win?" where him and a guest debate over random things. In March 2024, Schlatt announced his return to the Sleep Deprived podcasts under Patreon-exclusive, and their Minecraft server, the SDMP (Sleep Deprived Minecraft Server). In December 2024, Schlatt announced a Christmas album featuring 8 classical Christmas song covers titled "A Very 1999 Christmas". The album was created after an abundance of people requested it when Schlatt covered the song My Way in 2023. In December 2025, the album was re-released with 3 unreleased bonus tracks. Schlatt maintains a multi-platform presence with a large audience across streaming, video, and podcast formats. In December 2025, Schlatt announced he is taking an indefinite hiatus from his largest YouTube channel, jschlattLIVE to focus on his mental health, transitioning over to his popular secondary channel, Schlatt & Co. where he continues to post regular videos there. Schlatt, alongside members of Sleep Deprived announced that they will be ending their Patreon-hosted podcast and decrease the video rates to 1 video per week. Schlatt stated that he will be doing other ventures such as pursuing music and voice acting. In January 2026, Glitch Productions announced their show Gameoverse, which features Schlatt voicing the character Kaboodle. As of December 2025, While no longer his primary YouTube channel, his largest channel, jschlattLIVE, has approximately 4.6 million subscribers and hundreds of millions of views, and his Twitch channel schlatt has roughly 2.2 million followers. Schlatt has a combined following of over 15 million subscribers[b] and over 5.6 billion views[c] on YouTube. He also has nearly 3 million combined followers on Twitch.[a] Business ventures In May 2022, Schlatt acquired GamerSupps, a gaming-focused energy supplement company. The company produces energy supplements marketed towards gamers, with products including their signature "GG" energy formula. Following his acquisition, Schlatt has been involved in the company's marketing and product development, though the company has faced some controversy regarding its business practices with content creators. While part of One True King (OTK), Schlatt was involved with Starforge Systems, a gaming PC company created in partnership with Cr1TiKaL. After his departure from OTK in December 2022, he continued to maintain an advisory role with the company. Schlatt operates through his company Schlatt & Co., which he co-owns with a business partner. The company handles various projects including merchandise sales and content production. Podcasts In addition to solo streaming and Minecraft appearances, Schlatt is a founding member and regular host of the comedy podcast Sleep Deprived. The programme began with episodic uploads to his personal channel in July 2017[non-primary source needed] before moving to its own dedicated channel. The show features apandah, Mikasacus, and Aztrosist, with Sancho listed humorously as a "member" despite not being a real participant,[non-primary source needed] along with guest appearances from other creators. Schlatt temporarily left the podcast for Episodes 101–149, returning to host the series from Episode 150 onward, at which point the podcast began releasing content exclusively on Patreon while still offering select episodes on YouTube.[non-primary source needed] The show is available as video on YouTube and as an audio podcast on platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts; episodes have been released on a largely weekly schedule since the channel relaunch.[non-primary source needed] As of October 2025, the podcast has over 230 episodes on Patreon and more than 744,000 subscribers on YouTube.[non-primary source needed] The Weekly Slap is a laid-back podcast and commentary series hosted by Schlatt, launched in September 2018 on its own YouTube channel.[non-primary source needed] The show features Schlatt discussing personal thoughts, answering audience questions, and exploring topics that interest him, often while playing older Call of Duty titles. Its tone contrasts with his louder or more comedic content, focusing instead on candid monologues and relaxed commentary. While initially uploaded on a weekly basis, new episodes are released irregularly as part of his broader YouTube content.[citation needed] Before his independent success, Schlatt was part of Lunch Club, a collaborative YouTube group and podcast originally known as Goopcast. The group included creators such as CallMeCarson, Ted Nivison, traves, cscoop and others, producing discussion-based comedy videos and podcasts focused on internet culture and gaming.[non-primary source needed] The show premiered in mid-2019 and was briefly one of the more popular creator collectives in the Minecraft and commentary scene, before becoming inactive in early 2021 following internal controversies unrelated to Schlatt's conduct.[dead link] Although the channel remains archived, several episodes continue to circulate on fan channels and archival sites.[non-primary source needed] Schlatt co-created the comedy podcast Chuckle Sandwich alongside Ted Nivison, Tucker Keane, and Slimecicle (Charlie Dalgleish) in early 2021.[non-primary source needed] The show follows a structured yet improvisational format, focusing on comedy discussions, skits, and commentary about internet culture and personal anecdotes. Episodes are released to YouTube and Spotify, frequently featuring guest creators such as Jaiden Animations, Jontron and Joe Bartolozzi.[non-primary source needed] In January 2023, Schlatt launched the short-form channel Did Schlatt Win? as a humorous series tracking his personal gaming challenges and competitive streaks in various titles.[non-primary source needed] Each video follows a brief, punchline-driven format answering the titular question, with topics ranging from simulation games to online competitions. The series quickly gained popularity for its self-aware editing and comedic timing, becoming one of his most viral side projects.[citation needed] Music career On September 28, 2022, Schlatt and Ludwig Ahgren created the YouTube channel Lud and Schlatts Musical Emporium, a collaborative project aimed at providing royalty-free recordings of famous classical compositions, as well as original, Nintendo-inspired music for use in content creation. On December 15, 2023, Schlatt released a cover of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" in response to several artificial intelligence-created song covers that used his voice as well as other parts of his likeness. The cover was later removed by Universal Music Group for alleged copyright infringement. On November 7, 2024, Schlatt released a cover of the Christmas song "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" and announced the beginning of work on his debut Christmas album, A Very 1999 Christmas. The album was created with the help of saxophonist Tom Scott, a former member of the Blues Brothers, to arrange the music sheets. The full album was recorded at The Sound Factory in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Following the worldwide blocking of the cover on YouTube, Schlatt released his second single, "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", on November 21, 2024. The album, which includes Schlatt's first two singles as well as six other classic Christmas songs, officially released on December 1, 2024. On November 28, 2025, Schlatt released a deluxe version of the album which included all eight songs, along with three new songs; a cover of Sleigh Ride, Mele Kalikimaka and Everybody's Waiting for the Man. On December 2, 2025, Schlatt noted in his video announcing the end of uploads to jschlattLIVE that he has plans to release a jazz standards album within the next two years and is looking for venues to perform. Schlatt's musical style draws inspiration from traditional crooners, particularly evident in his covers of classic Christmas songs and his interpretation of Frank Sinatra's "My Way". His debut album A Very 1999 Christmas received positive reception from fans, with particular praise for his vocal abilities in the traditional crooner style. Personal life In early 2021, Schlatt adopted an orange tabby cat named Jambo. On December 2, 2025, Schlatt revealed he had been in a car crash collision with a deer, claiming (as a joke) he had been driving four times over the speed limit when it occurred. He also revealed heart problems run in his family, and that his father had undergone heart surgery around the same time. Filmography Discography 2024–2025[g] Notes References External links
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Minecraft:_Java_Edition#cite_note-40] \| [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/Steve%27s_Lava_Chicken#cite_note-sc_UKindependent_-24] \| [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/Steve%27s_Lava_Chicken#cite_note-sc_Billboardhot100_Jack_Black-25] \| [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/Creeper_(Minecraft)#cite_ref-vg247Birthday_8-1] \| [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/Philza] \| [TOKENS: 620]
Contents Philza Phillip Watson (born 1 March 1988), known online as Philza or Ph1LzA, is an English Twitch streamer and YouTuber. He is known for his Minecraft hardcore series, where he plays the game on its most difficult setting, with permadeath (one life per game) and no respawns. Watson also formerly held the world record for the longest-running Minecraft hardcore world. As of May 2024, he had 4.3 million followers on Twitch. Early life Phillip Watson was born on 1 March 1988. He is from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. He worked in a retail job for more than a decade while making content on Twitch and YouTube before quitting his job to become a full-time content creator. Career Watson created his YouTube account in 2006 and started his channel by uploading Halo 2 and Skate 2 content. He created his Twitch (then Justin.tv) account "Philza" in 2009. In 2014, Watson started his Minecraft hardcore series, playing the game in its most difficult setting with increased mobs difficulty, permadeath (one life per game), and no respawns. The series garnered significant attention in April 2019 when Watson's then-world-record five-year hardcore run ended due to a surprise attack by a fully enchanted golden-armoured baby zombie, a spider, and a skeleton. Watson has described this event as a turning point in his career, propelling him from an average viewership of 5–15 per stream to roughly 180 viewers on Twitch. The success of the series ultimately led him to leave his retail job and pursue content creation full-time. On 26 July 2019, Watson was featured in the official Minecraft series Meet a Minecrafter. In October 2021, Watson appeared in the Twitch leaks, which disclosed the top Twitch streamers' revenue from August 2019 to October 2021. Watson placed 47th on the list, with a reported payout of $1,364,215.61 for this time period. In 2023, Watson, along with fellow Twitch streamers and YouTubers TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot, Slimecicle, and Ranboo, started a new comedy group YouTube channel called The Sorry Boys. The channel mainly posted sketch comedy group vlog content. The group went on an indefinite hiatus in March 2024. Philanthropy In September 2021, Watson participated in a charity livestream fundraising event organized by fellow streamer and YouTuber Technoblade. The event featured a Minecraft game where Watson served as one of the "hunters" tasked with pursuing Technoblade. They managed to raise more than $324,000 for the Sarcoma Foundation of America. Personal life Watson met his wife, Kristin Rosales, an American, on Twitch and began dating. They were married on 12 March 2020, at the Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana, California. Filmography Notes References External links
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piston] \| [TOKENS: 2060]
Contents Piston A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors, hydraulic cylinders and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder and is made gas-tight by piston rings. In an engine, its purpose is to transfer force from expanding gas in the cylinder to the crankshaft via a piston rod and/or connecting rod. In a pump, the function is reversed and force is transferred from the crankshaft to the piston for the purpose of compressing or ejecting the fluid in the cylinder. In some engines, the piston also acts as a valve by covering and uncovering ports in the cylinder. Piston engines An internal combustion engine is acted upon by the pressure of the expanding combustion gases in the combustion chamber space at so the top of the cylinder. This force then acts downwards through the connecting rod and onto the crankshaft. The connecting rod is attached to the piston by a swivelling gudgeon pin (US: wrist pin). This pin is mounted within the piston: unlike the steam engine, there is no piston rod or crosshead (except big two stroke engines). The typical piston design is on the picture. This type of piston is widely used in car diesel engines. According to purpose, supercharging level and working conditions of engines the shape and proportions can be changed. High-power diesel engines work in difficult conditions. Maximum pressure in the combustion chamber can reach 20 MPa and the maximum temperature of some piston surfaces can exceed 450 °C. It is possible to improve piston cooling by creating a special cooling cavity. Injector supplies this cooling cavity «A» with oil through oil supply channel «B». For better temperature reduction construction should be carefully calculated and analysed. Oil flow in the cooling cavity should be not less than 80% of the oil flow through the injector. The pin itself is of hardened steel and is fixed in the piston, but free to move in the connecting rod. A few designs use a 'fully floating' design that is loose in both components. All pins must be prevented from moving sideways and the ends of the pin digging into the cylinder wall, usually by circlips. Gas sealing is achieved by the use of piston rings. These are a number of narrow iron rings, fitted loosely into grooves in the piston, just below the crown. The rings are split at a point in the rim, allowing them to press against the cylinder with a light spring pressure. Two types of ring are used: the upper rings have solid faces and provide gas sealing; lower rings have narrow edges and a U-shaped profile, to act as oil scrapers. There are many proprietary and detail design features associated with piston rings. Pistons are usually cast or forged from aluminium alloys. For better strength and fatigue life, some racing pistons may be forged instead. Billet pistons are also used in racing engines because they do not rely on the size and architecture of available forgings, allowing for last-minute design changes. Although not commonly visible to the naked eye, pistons themselves are designed with a certain level of ovality and profile taper, meaning they are not perfectly round, and their diameter is larger near the bottom of the skirt than at the crown. Early pistons were of cast iron, but there were obvious benefits for engine balancing if a lighter alloy could be used. To produce pistons that could survive engine combustion temperatures, it was necessary to develop new alloys such as Y alloy and Hiduminium, specifically for use as pistons. A few early gas engines[i] had double-acting cylinders, but otherwise effectively all internal combustion engine pistons are single-acting. During World War II, the US submarine Pompano[ii] was fitted with a prototype of the infamously unreliable H.O.R. double-acting two-stroke diesel engine. Although compact, for use in a cramped submarine, this design of engine was not repeated. Media related to Internal combustion engine pistons at Wikimedia Commons Trunk pistons are long relative to their diameter. They act both as a piston and cylindrical crosshead. As the connecting rod is angled for much of its rotation, there is also a side force that reacts along the side of the piston against the cylinder wall. A longer piston helps to support this. Trunk pistons have been a common design of piston since the early days of the reciprocating internal combustion engine. They were used for both petrol and diesel engines, although high speed engines have now adopted the lighter weight slipper piston. A characteristic of most trunk pistons, particularly for diesel engines, is that they have a groove for an oil ring below the gudgeon pin, in addition to the rings between the gudgeon pin and crown. The name 'trunk piston' derives from the 'trunk engine', an early design of marine steam engine. To make these more compact, they avoided the steam engine's usual piston rod with separate crosshead and were instead the first engine design to place the gudgeon pin directly within the piston. Otherwise these trunk engine pistons bore little resemblance to the trunk piston; they were extremely large diameter and double-acting. Their 'trunk' was a narrow cylinder mounted in the centre of the piston. Media related to Trunk pistons at Wikimedia Commons Large slow-speed Diesel engines may require additional support for the side forces on the piston. These engines typically use crosshead pistons. The main piston has a large piston rod extending downwards from the piston to what is effectively a second smaller-diameter piston. The main piston is responsible for gas sealing and carries the piston rings. The smaller piston is purely a mechanical guide. It runs within a small cylinder as a trunk guide and also carries the gudgeon pin. Lubrication of the crosshead has advantages over the trunk piston as its lubricating oil is not subject to the heat of combustion: the oil is not contaminated by combustion soot particles, it does not break down owing to the heat and a thinner, less viscous oil may be used. The friction of both piston and crosshead may be only half of that for a trunk piston. Because of the additional weight of these pistons, they are not used for high-speed engines. Media related to Crosshead pistons at Wikimedia Commons A slipper piston is a piston for a petrol engine that has been reduced in size and weight as much as possible. In the extreme case, they are reduced to the piston crown, support for the piston rings, and just enough of the piston skirt remaining to leave two lands so as to stop the piston rocking in the bore. The sides of the piston skirt around the gudgeon pin are reduced away from the cylinder wall. The purpose is mostly to reduce the reciprocating mass, thus making it easier to balance the engine and so permit high speeds. In racing applications, slipper piston skirts can be configured to yield extremely light weight while maintaining the rigidity and strength of a full skirt. Reduced inertia also improves mechanical efficiency of the engine: the forces required to accelerate and decelerate the reciprocating parts cause more piston friction with the cylinder wall than the fluid pressure on the piston head. A secondary benefit may be some reduction in friction with the cylinder wall, since the area of the skirt, which slides up and down in the cylinder is reduced by half. However, most friction is due to the piston rings, which are the parts which actually fit the tightest in the bore and the bearing surfaces of the wrist pin, and thus the benefit is reduced. Media related to Slipper pistons at Wikimedia Commons Deflector pistons are used in two-stroke engines with crankcase compression, where the gas flow within the cylinder must be carefully directed in order to provide efficient scavenging. With cross scavenging, the transfer (inlet to the cylinder) and exhaust ports are on directly facing sides of the cylinder wall. To prevent the incoming mixture passing straight across from one port to the other, the piston has a raised rib on its crown. This is intended to deflect the incoming mixture upwards, around the combustion chamber. Much effort, and many different designs of piston crown, went into developing improved scavenging. The crowns developed from a simple rib to a large asymmetric bulge, usually with a steep face on the inlet side and a gentle curve on the exhaust. Despite this, cross scavenging was never as effective as hoped. Most engines today use Schnuerle porting instead. This places a pair of transfer ports in the sides of the cylinder and encourages gas flow to rotate around a vertical axis, rather than a horizontal axis. Media related to Deflector pistons at Wikimedia Commons In racing engines, piston strength and stiffness is typically much higher than that of a passenger car engine, while the weight is much less, to achieve the high engine RPM necessary in racing. Hydraulic cylinders can be both single-acting or double-acting. A hydraulic actuator controls the movement of the piston back and/or forth. Guide rings guides the piston and rod and absorb the radial forces that act perpendicularly to the cylinder and prevent contact between sliding the metal parts. Steam engines are usually double-acting (i.e. steam pressure acts alternately on each side of the piston) and the admission and release of steam is controlled by slide valves, piston valves or poppet valves. Consequently, steam engine pistons are nearly always comparatively thin discs: their diameter is several times their thickness. (One exception is the trunk engine piston, shaped more like those in a modern internal-combustion engine.) Another factor is that since almost all steam engines use crossheads to translate the force to the drive rod, there are few lateral forces acting to try and "rock" the piston, so a cylinder-shaped piston skirt isn't necessary. Pumps Piston pumps can be used to move liquids or compress gases. Air cannons There are two special type of pistons used in air cannons: close tolerance pistons and double pistons. In close tolerance pistons O-rings serve as a valve, but O-rings are not used in double piston types.[citation needed] See also Notes References Bibliography External links
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Minecraft:_Java_Edition#cite_note-42] \| [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_Monday#cite_ref-Week2_23-0] \| [TOKENS: 1410]
Contents Minecraft Monday Minecraft Monday was a weekly esports tournament for the sandbox video game Minecraft. It was created by the internet personality Keemstar, known for his content on social media drama and the host of the tournament Fortnite Fridays, upon repeated suggestions from meme YouTuber Grandayy. The event featured online creators, invited based upon their popularity rather than gameplay skill, in teams of two, competing to score the most points across a series of minigames of various genres. The winning team was awarded $10,000 USD. The tournament debuted on June 24, 2019, and ended after its server was breached during the 14th event on October 7, 2019. Minecraft Monday was credited with drawing renewed attention to Minecraft for its roster of popular creators, which included Fortnite player Ninja, YouTuber PewDiePie, and makeup vlogger James Charles, but caused community conflict due to the mixture of experienced and inexperienced Minecraft players. The cast allowed one player, Technoblade, to gain recognition in the Minecraft community after winning 4 out of the 14 events, and placing as the best-scoring individual in 7 of them. Despite social media updates by Keemstar throughout 2020 regarding a revival, the tournament did not return after its hacking. It inspired another Minecraft tournament, MC Championship, by YouTuber Smajor1995 and the group Noxcrew. Format Minecraft Monday was a competitive tournament in Minecraft, a sandbox video game developed by Mojang Studios. Players were divided into teams of two and would compete to score the highest points. Although the first two events only featured the player versus player (PvP) battle royale mode Hunger Games, later events introduced various other minigames to test different skillsets. The revised gamelist, which changed each week, included modes such as Bingo and Capture the Flag. The event was hosted weekly on Mondays and was broadcast live by its players, most often to Twitch; the event's host, UMG Gaming, also livestreamed the events. $10,000 USD, sponsored by the gaming drink mix G Fuel,[‡ 1] and later also the Minecraft server host Apex Hosting,[‡ 2] was awarded to both the winning team and a random viewer. During the event's lifetime, the organizers also hosted a public Minecraft server under the IP mcmondays.com. History Minecraft Monday was created by Keemstar, a controversial internet personality known for his videos about social media drama, after the meme YouTuber Grandayy had spent over a year pushing for him to pursue the idea. Keemstar already hosted the event Fortnite Fridays, and would later launch a third competition, Warzone Wednesday. Like Keemstar's other tournaments, players were invited on basis of online following rather than gameplay skill, in order to attract viewership. The first event on June 24, 2019, was seen live by over one million viewers; according to Dexerto, the Fortnite player Ninja peaked at 400,000 concurrent viewers on his Twitch livestream, before he prematurely quit during the fourth game after dying quickly in every round. The participation of several prominent creators – including Ninja, PewDiePie, and James Charles – allowed Minecraft YouTuber Technoblade to rise in prominence, after he consecutively won the first two weeks of the tournament. Technoblade's winning streak ended in Week 3, which was won by streamers Traves and Cscoop. Conflict generated within the tournament's community due to organizational issues; some viewers considered the teammatching unbalanced due to the participation of both veteran and beginner Minecraft players, and some criticized the minigame selection. Technoblade would win the tournament twice more, in Weeks 6 and 10.[‡ 3] YouTuber Skeppy won with teammate BadBoyHalo in Weeks 5 and 7, and again with Vikkstar123 in Week 9.[‡ 3] A duo consisting of streamers xQc and M0xxy won the tournament back-to-back in Weeks 12 and 13. At the end of the 13th week, YouTuber MrBeast collaborated with Keemstar during Hunger Games to place a $15,000 bounty on Technoblade, which was taken by Bajan Canadian. The Minecraft Monday server was breached during Week 14 on October 7, 2019. Whilst the tournament was ongoing, hackers griefed buildings and the minigame arenas; Minecraft Monday, as well as Fortnite Fridays, were subsequently placed on hiatus. Keemstar complained on Twitter that they had been running Minecraft Monday on a "shoe-string budget" and had been cutting corners, but said that the tournament would return in November 2019. In May 2020, Keemstar's organization KeemPark posted a screenshot of a remade Minecraft Monday lobby, created in collaboration with Bajan Canadian and his developer. KeemPark stated the tournament would return within three weeks. Keemstar would tweet two months later that "Minecraft Monday is coming soon!",[‡ 4] but the event would ultimately not return. Legacy Writers credited Minecraft Monday with causing an increased attention towards Minecraft. Patricia Hernandez, a writer for Polygon, wrote that Minecraft Monday and other online projects, such as PewDiePie's playthrough of the game, caused a resurgence in the game's popularity. In an article for The Esports Observer, Max Miceli noted a significant increase in Twitch viewership for Minecraft as the event went on. While the game only rarely surpassed 500,000 hours watched a day prior to June 2019, the day of the first event reached 781,000 hours watched, and subsequent days surpassed one million. Esport Insider's Marloes Valentina Stella described Minecraft Monday as the second major competitive tournament in Minecraft. Unlike the largely unsuccessful partnership of Badlion Client and major esports organizer ESL around 2017 (the first major tournament series), Stella thought the roster of well-known internet creators made it "no surprise that Minecraft Monday [became] the most famous Minecraft tournament". Regardless, she attributed the event's closure to community conflict, the hacking during Week 14, and the controversial status of Keemstar. YouTuber Smajor1995, who played in the event, said he was inspired by Minecraft Monday to create the tournament MC Championship, which he organizes with the group Noxcrew. Smajor liked the idea of bringing creators together for a Minecraft event, but found Keemstar hard to work with. According to Gökhan Çakır for Dot Esports, MC Championship was able to fill the "gigantic gap" in the competitive Minecraft scene after Minecraft Monday's closure. List of winners Notes References Sources from Keemstar, UMG Gaming, event partners, or participants. In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡): External links
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creeper_(Minecraft)#cite_ref-12] \| [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/Reading,_Berkshire] \| [TOKENS: 9141]
Contents Reading, Berkshire Reading (/ˈrɛdɪŋ/ ⓘ RED-ing) is a borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is Berkshire's largest town, with a total built-up area population of 355,596.[citation needed] Most of its built-up area lies within the Borough of Reading, although some outer suburbs are parts of neighbouring local authority areas. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Kennet. Reading is a major commercial centre, especially for information technology and insurance. It is also a regional retail centre, serving a large area of the Thames Valley with its shopping centres, including the Oracle, the Broad Street Mall, and the pedestrianised area around Broad Street. It is home to the University of Reading. Every year it hosts the Reading Festival, one of England's biggest music festivals. Reading has a professional association football team, Reading F.C., and participates in many other sports. Reading dates from the 8th century. It was a trading and ecclesiastical centre in the Middle Ages, the site of Reading Abbey, one of the largest and richest monasteries of medieval England with royal connections, of which the 12th-century abbey gateway and significant ancient ruins remain. By 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tenth in England for taxable wealth. The town was seriously affected by the English Civil War, with a major siege and loss of trade, but played a pivotal role in the Glorious Revolution, whose only significant military action was fought on its streets. The 18th century saw the beginning of a major ironworks in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway and the development of the town's brewing, baking and seed-growing businesses, and the town grew rapidly as a manufacturing centre. Etymology The earliest known name for Reading is Readingas, from the 8th century. The name probably comes from the Readingas, an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means Reada's People in Old English (the Anglo-Saxons often had the same name for a place and its inhabitants). The demonym for a person from Reading is Redingensian, giving the name of the local rugby team Redingensians, based in Sonning, and of former members of Reading School. History Occupation at the site of Reading may date back to the Roman period, possibly in the form of a trading port for Calleva Atrebatum. However, the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, when the town came to be known as Readingas. In late 870, an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex and set up camp at Reading. On 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes' defences. The battle is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and that account provides the earliest known written record of the existence of Reading. The Danes remained in Reading until late in 871, when they retreated to their winter quarters in London. Following the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror gave land in and around Reading to his foundation of Battle Abbey. In Domesday Book, the town was explicitly described as a borough. The presence of six mills is recorded: four on land belonging to the king and two on the land given to Battle Abbey. Reading Abbey was founded in 1121 by Henry I, who is buried within the Abbey grounds. As part of his endowments, he gave the abbey his lands in Reading, along with land at Cholsey. The town grew around a crossing of the River Kennet, about 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream from its confluence with the River Thames. In 1312, King Edward II directed that its bridges should be kept in good order. It is not known how badly Reading was affected by the Black Death that swept through England in the 14th century, but it is known that the abbot, Henry of Appleford, was one of its victims in 1361, and that nearby Henley lost 60% of its population. The Abbey was largely destroyed in 1538 during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. The last abbot, Hugh Faringdon, was subsequently tried and convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn and quartered in front of the Abbey Church. By 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire and the tenth largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth reported in tax returns. By 1611, it had a population of over 5,000 and had grown rich on its trade in cloth, as instanced by the fortune made by local merchant John Kendrick. Reading played a role during the English Civil War. Despite its fortifications, it had a Royalist garrison imposed on it in 1642. The subsequent Siege of Reading by Parliamentary forces succeeded in April 1643. The town's cloth trade was especially badly damaged, and the town's economy did not fully recover until the 20th century. Reading played a significant role during the Glorious Revolution: the second Battle of Reading was the only substantial military action of the campaign. The 18th century saw the beginning of a major iron works in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous. Reading's trade benefited from better designed turnpike roads which helped it establish its location on the major coaching routes from London to Oxford and the West Country. In 1723, despite considerable local opposition, the Kennet Navigation opened the River Kennet to boats as far as Newbury. Opposition stopped when it became apparent that the new route benefited the town. After the opening of the Kennet and Avon Canal in 1810, one could go by barge from Reading to the Bristol Channel. From 1714, and probably earlier, the role of county town of Berkshire was shared between Reading and Abingdon. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was one of the southern termini of the Hatfield and Reading Turnpike that allowed travellers from the north to continue their journey to the west without going through the congestion of London. During the 19th century, the town grew rapidly as a manufacturing centre. The Great Western Railway arrived in 1841, followed by the South Eastern Railway in 1849 and the London and South Western Railway in 1856. After the Summer Assizes (courts of assize) were moved from Abingdon to Reading in 1867, the privy council made Reading the sole county town of Berkshire in 1869. The town became county borough under the Local Government Act 1888. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the town's three largest industries were known as the Three Bs: beer (1785–2010, H & G Simonds), bulbs (1837–1974, Suttons Seeds), and biscuits (1822–1976, Huntley and Palmers). The town continued to expand in the 20th century, annexing Caversham across the River Thames in Oxfordshire in 1911, as well as most of Tilehurst to the west at the same time. Reading suffered much less physical damage than many other English towns and cities during the two world wars of the 20th century, although many citizens were killed or injured. In one significant air raid on 10 February 1943 a single Luftwaffe plane strafed and bombed the town centre, causing 41 deaths and over 100 injuries. The Lower Earley development, begun in 1977, was one of the largest private housing developments in Europe, extending the urban area of Reading as far as the M4 Motorway. Further housing developments have increased the number of modern houses and hypermarkets in the outskirts of Reading. A major town-centre shopping centre, The Oracle, opened in 1999, is named after the 17th-century Oracle workhouse, which once occupied a small part of the site. It provides three storeys of shopping space and boosted the local economy by providing 4,000 jobs. As one of the largest urban areas in the United Kingdom without city status, Reading has unsuccessfully bid for city status four times – in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium; in 2002 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II; in 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee; and in 2022 to mark the Platinum Jubilee. Governance Local government for the borough is provided by Reading Borough Council, which has been a unitary authority providing all local government functions since 1998. There are no civil parishes in the borough. Some of the built-up area's outer suburbs are outside the borough boundaries in West Berkshire and Wokingham. These outer suburbs belong to civil parishes, in some cases with their own town status. Reading has elected at least one Member of Parliament to every Parliament since 1295. Since the 2024 general election, the borough of Reading has been divided between the parliamentary constituencies of Reading Central, Reading West and Mid Berkshire (which also covers part of West Berkshire), and Earley and Woodley (which also covers part of the borough of Wokingham). Reading is the site of venues for both the Crown Court, administering criminal justice, and the County Court, responsible for civil cases. Lesser matters are dealt with in a local magistrates' court. Reading was an ancient borough, being described as a borough by the time of the Domesday Book in 1086. The borough was initially controlled by Reading Abbey as its manorial owner. The town gradually gained a degree of independence from the abbey from the 13th century onwards, particularly after the town's gild merchants were granted a royal charter in 1253. Following the dissolution of the abbey in 1538 the borough was granted a new charter in 1542. The borough boundaries were then set out in a subsequent charter from Elizabeth I in 1560. The borough covered the whole of the parish of St Laurence and parts of the parishes of St Giles and St Mary. The part of St Giles' parish outside the borough was known as the hamlet of Whitley, and the part of St Mary's parish outside the borough was known as the tithing of Southcote. The borough was reformed in 1836 to become a municipal borough under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country. The borough boundaries, which had not been changed since 1560, were enlarged in 1887 to take in Southcote, Whitley, the north-western parts of Earley, and the eastern end of the parish of Tilehurst. When elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, Reading was considered large enough for its existing borough council to provide county-level services, and so Reading was made a county borough, independent from Berkshire County Council. The borough boundaries were enlarged again in 1911 to take in Caversham on the north bank of the Thames from Oxfordshire (except the Caversham Park area, which was transferred to the parish of Eye and Dunsden), and most of the parish of Tilehurst (including the main village at Tilehurst Triangle and the area around the parish church at Churchend) to the west. Local government was reformed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, which saw Reading redesignated as a non-metropolitan district, with Berkshire County Council providing county-level services in the borough for the first time. Ahead of those reforms, the borough council campaigned to have Reading's boundaries enlarged to take in Earley, Woodley, Purley on Thames, the residual Tilehurst parish (covering the parts of Tilehurst which had not been transferred into the borough in 1911), and the eastern part of the parish of Theale. The government decided to make no change to Reading's boundaries, leaving them as they had been since last reviewed in 1911. Shortly after the 1974 reforms came into effect, a more limited review of the borough's boundaries north of the Thames was carried out, which saw the Caversham Park area and part of the parish of Mapledurham on the western side of Caversham transferred into the borough of Reading in 1977. The borough council became a unitary authority in 1998, when the county council was abolished under the Banham Review, which saw the borough council take over county-level functions, effectively restoring the council to the powers it had held when Reading was a county borough prior to 1974. As part of those reforms, the Local Government Commission had initially recommended expanding Reading's boundaries to include Earley, Tilehurst parish, Purley on Thames and the parts of the parishes of Shinfield, Burghfield and Theale north of the M4 motorway, but it was ultimately decided to leave Reading's boundaries unchanged. Reading's boundaries south of the Thames therefore have not changed since 1911, despite the urban area having now expanded well beyond the borough boundaries. Cross-boundary working between the borough council and the neighbouring councils which cover the suburban and adjoining rural areas is sometimes criticised, particularly over matters such as transport and school catchment areas. Prior to the 16th century, civic administration for the town of Reading was situated in the Yield Hall, a guild hall situated by the River Kennet near today's Yield Hall Lane. After a brief stay in what later became Greyfriars Church, the town council created a new town hall by inserting an upper floor into the refectory of the Hospitium of St John, the former hospitium of Reading Abbey. For some 400 years up to the 1970s, this was to remain the site of Reading's civic administration through the successive rebuilds that eventually created today's Town Hall. In 1976, Reading Borough Council moved to the new Civic Centre. In 2014, they moved again to civic offices in a refurbished existing office building on Bridge Street, in order to facilitate the demolition and redevelopment of the previous site. Geography Reading is 42 miles (68 km) north of the English south coast, 40 miles west of London and 40 miles east of Swindon. The centre of Reading is on a low ridge between the River Thames and River Kennet, close to their confluence, reflecting the town's history as a river port. Just above the confluence, the Kennet cuts through a narrow steep-sided gap in the hills forming the southern flank of the Thames flood plain. The Kennet, which naturally divided into multiple shallow streams through the centre of Reading, was embanked as part of the construction of the Kennet and Avon Canal in the 18th century, allowing the development of wharves. The floodplains adjoining Reading's two rivers are subject to occasional flooding. Natural England divides Reading between its Chilterns (110) and Thames Valley (115) national character areas. As Reading has grown, its suburbs have spread: to the west between the two rivers into the foothills of the Berkshire Downs as far as Calcot, Tilehurst and Purley; to the south and south-east on the south side of the River Kennet as far as Whitley Wood and Lower Earley and as far north of the Thames into the Chiltern Hills as far as Caversham Heights, Emmer Green and Caversham Park Village. Outside the central area, the floors of the valleys containing the two rivers remain largely unimproved floodplain. Apart from the M4 curving to the south there is only one road across the Kennet flood plain. All other routes between the three built-up areas are in the central area. Like the rest of the United Kingdom, Reading has a maritime climate, with limited seasonal temperature ranges and generally moderate rainfall throughout the year. The nearest official Met Office weather station is located at the Reading University Atmospheric Observatory on the Whiteknights Campus, which has recorded atmospheric measurements and meteorological observations since 1970. The local absolute maximum temperature of 37.6 °C (99.7 °F) was recorded on 19 July 2022 and the local absolute minimum temperature of −14.5 °C (5.9 °F) was recorded in January 1982. Demography In mid-2018, the area covered by the Borough of Reading had 182,907 inhabitants and a population density of 4,528 per square kilometre (11,727/sq mi). Meanwhile, the wider urban area had a population of 318,014 in the 2011 census, ranking 23rd in the United Kingdom. This grew to an estimated 337,108 by mid-2018. According to the 2011 census, 74.8% of the borough's population were described as White (65.3% White British), 9.1% as South Asian, 6.7% as Black, 3.9% Mixed, 4.5% as Chinese and 0.9% as other ethnic group. In 2010, it was reported that Reading had 150 different spoken languages within its population. Reading has a large Polish community, which dates back over 30 years, and in October 2006 the Reading Chronicle printed 5,000 copies of a Polish edition called the Kronika Reading. Economy Reading is a commercial centre in the Thames Valley and Southern England. The town hosts the headquarters of several British companies and the United Kingdom offices of foreign multinationals, as well as being a major retail centre. Whilst located close enough to London to be sometimes regarded as part of the London commuter belt, Reading is a net inward destination for commuters. During the morning peak period, there are some 30,000 inward arrivals in the town, compared to 24,000 departures. Major companies Microsoft, Oracle and Hibu (formerly Yell Group) have their headquarters in the Reading area. The insurance company Prudential has an administration centre in the town. PepsiCo and Wrigley also have offices in the town. Global pharmaceutical giant Bayer Life Sciences relocated to Reading's Green Park Business Park in 2016. Reading has a significant historical involvement in the information technology industry, largely as a result of the early presence in the town of sites of International Computers Limited and Digital Equipment Corporation. Other technology companies with a significant presence in the town include Huawei Technologies, Pegasystems, Access IS, CGI Inc., Agilent Technologies, Cisco, Ericsson, Symantec, Verizon Business, and Commvault. These companies are distributed around Reading or just outside the borough boundary, some in business parks including Thames Valley Park in nearby Earley, Green Park Business Park and Arlington Business Park. Reading town centre is a major shopping centre. In 2007, an independent poll placed Reading 16th in a league table of best performing retail centres in the United Kingdom. The main shopping street is Broad Street, which runs between The Oracle in the east and Broad Street Mall in the west and was pedestrianised in 1995. The smaller Friars Walk in Friar Street is closed and will be demolished if the proposed Station Hill redevelopment project goes ahead. There are three major department stores in Reading: John Lewis & Partners (known as Heelas until 2001), Debenhams (now closed down), and House of Fraser (also now closed down). The Broad Street branch of bookseller Waterstone's is a conversion of a nonconformist chapel dating from 1707. Besides the two major shopping malls, Reading has three smaller shopping arcades, the Bristol and West Arcade, Harris Arcade and The Walk, which contain smaller specialist stores. An older form of retail facility is represented by Union Street, popularly known as Smelly Alley. Reading has no indoor market, but there is a street market in Hosier Street. A farmers' market operates on two Saturdays a month. The old Victorian Corn Exchange now provides an alternative access to a shopping centre. Culture Every year Reading hosts the Reading Festival, which has been running since 1971. The festival takes place on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend and is the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom aside from the Glastonbury Festival. Reading Festival takes place at Little Johns Farm in Reading, Richfield Avenue. For some twenty years until 2006, Reading was also known for its WOMAD Festival until it moved to Charlton Park in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. The Reading Beer Festival was first held in 1994 and has now grown to one of the largest beer festivals in the United Kingdom. It is held at King's Meadow for the five days immediately preceding the May Day bank holiday every year. Reading also holds Reading Pride, an annual LGBT festival in Kings Meadow. The Frank Matcham-designed Royal County Theatre, built in 1895, was located on the south side of Friar Street. It burned down in 1937. Within the town hall is a 700-seat concert hall that houses a Father Willis organ. Reading theatre venues include The Hexagon and South Street Arts Centre. Reading Repertory Theatre is based at Reading College: its Royal Patron is Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh. Amateur theatre venues in Reading include Progress Theatre, a self-governing, self-funding theatre group and registered charity founded in 1947 that operates and maintains its own 97-seat theatre. Rabble Theatre in Caversham and Reading Rep on London Road offer classic and contemporary performances. Jelly is an artist-led organisation that has been committed to improving access to the arts since 1993. Jane Austen attended Reading Ladies Boarding School, based in the Abbey Gateway, in 1784–1786. Mary Russell Mitford lived in Reading for a number of years and then spent the rest of her life just outside the town at Three Mile Cross and Swallowfield. The fictional Belford Regis of her eponymous novel, first published in 1835, is largely based on Reading. Described with topographical accuracy, it is still possible to follow the steps of the novel's characters in present-day Reading. Reading also appears in the works of Thomas Hardy where it is called 'Aldbrickham'. It features most heavily in his final novel, Jude the Obscure, as the temporary home of Jude Fawley and Sue Bridehead. Oscar Wilde was imprisoned in Reading Gaol from 1895 to 1897. While there, he wrote his letter De Profundis. After his release, he lived in exile in France and wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol, based on his experience of the execution of Charles Wooldridge, carried out in Reading Gaol whilst he was imprisoned there. In March 2021, street artist Banksy claimed responsibility for a painting on the wall of the jail. It depicted an inmate escaping with bedsheets and a typewriter, said to resemble Oscar Wilde. Reading was the location of the world's first commercial studio for photograph printing, which was set up by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1844. Ricky Gervais, who is from Reading, made the film Cemetery Junction, which, although filmed elsewhere in the United Kingdom, is set in 1970s Reading and is named after a busy junction in East Reading. Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crimes Division novels, The Big Over Easy and The Fourth Bear, are also placed in Reading. The BBC Two sitcom Beautiful People, based on the memoirs of Simon Doonan, is set in Reading in the late 1990s. The Maiwand Lion in Forbury Gardens, an unofficial symbol of Reading, commemorates the 328 officers of the Royal Berkshire Regiment who died in the Battle of Maiwand in 1880. There are a number of other works of public art in Reading. The Blade, a fourteen-storey building completed in 2009, is 86 m (282 ft) tall and can be seen from the surrounding area. Jacksons Corner with its prominent sign, former home of Jacksons department store, occupies the corner of Kings Road and High Street, just south of the Market Place. Reading has two scheduled monuments, six Grade I, 22 Grade II* and 853 Grade II listed buildings, in a wide variety of architectural styles that range from the medieval to the 21st century. The scheduled monuments are Reading Abbey and High Bridge, whilst the Grade I listed buildings are Reading Abbey, the Abbey Gateway, Greyfriars Church, St Laurence's Church, Reading Minster, and the barn at Chazey Farmhouse on the Warren. Reading has a local newspaper, the Reading Chronicle, published on Thursdays. The town's other local newspaper, the Reading Post, ceased publication on paper in December 2014, in order to transition to an online only format under the title getreading. As of 2018, getreading joined the InYourArea local news network. A local publishing company, the Two Rivers Press, has published over 70 book titles, many on the topic of local history and art. Three local radio stations broadcast from Reading: BBC Radio Berkshire, Heart South and Greatest Hits Radio Berkshire and North Hampshire. Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South and ITV Meridian; BBC London and ITV London can also be received. Reading has one local television station, That's Thames Valley, which broadcasts local news throughout the Greater Reading area. Public services Reading has over 100 parks and playgrounds, including 5 miles (8 km) of riverside paths. In the town centre is Forbury Gardens, a public park built on the site of the outer court of Reading Abbey. The largest public park in Reading is Prospect Park, an estate in west Reading previously owned by Frances Kendrick but acquired by Reading Corporation in 1901. This is complemented by Palmer Park, a purpose built public park in east Reading gifted to the town by the proprietors of Huntley & Palmers in 1889. A string of open spaces stretch along one or other side of the River Thames throughout its passage through Reading. From west to east these are Thameside Promenade, Caversham Court, Christchurch Meadows, Hills Meadow, View Island and King's Meadow. Reading also has five local nature reserves: Clayfield Copse in Caversham, with the other four McIlroy Park, Blundells Copse, Lousehill Copse and Round Copse all in Tilehurst The principal National Health Service (NHS) hospital in Reading is the Royal Berkshire Hospital, founded in 1839 and much enlarged and rebuilt since. A second major NHS general hospital, the Battle Hospital, closed in 2005. Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust runs a NHS hospital, Prospect Park Hospital, which specialises in the provision of care for people with mental health and learning disabilities. Reading has three private hospitals: the Berkshire Independent Hospital in Coley Park, the Dunedin Hospital situated on the main A4 Bath Road, and the Circle Hospital at Kennet Island. Mains water and sewerage services are provided by Thames Water Utilities Limited, a private sector water supply company, whilst water abstraction and disposal is regulated by the Environment Agency. Reading's water supply is largely derived from underground aquifers, and as a consequence the water is hard. The commercial energy supplier for electricity and gas is at the consumer's choice. SSEN runs the local electricity distribution network, while SGN runs the gas distribution network. A notable part of the local energy infrastructure is the presence of a 2 megawatt (peak) Enercon wind turbine at Green Park Business Park, with the potential to produce 2.7 million kWh of electricity a year, enough to power over a thousand homes. Additionally, Reading Hydro runs a micro hydroelectric power station on the Thames. Reading had its own power station in Vastern Road from 1895 to the 1960s. The power station was initially owned and operated by the Reading Electric Supply Company Limited, then from 1933 by the Reading Corporation until the nationalisation of the British electricity supply industry in 1948. The dialling code for fixed-line telephones in Reading is 0118. BT provides fixed-line telephone coverage throughout the town and ADSL broadband internet connection to most areas. Parts of Reading are cabled by Virgin Media, supplying cable television, telephone and broadband internet connections. Hyperoptic also has a presence in the town, supplying Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband internet connections at speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s. Reading School (a state grammar school), founded in 1125, is the 16th oldest school in England. There are six other state secondary schools and 38 state primary schools within the borough, together with a number of private schools and nurseries. Alfred Sutton Boys' School closed in the mid-1980s. Reading College has provided further education in Reading since 1955, with over 8,500 local learners on over 900 courses. English language schools in Reading include Gateway Languages, the English Language Centre, ELC London Street and Eurospeak Language School. The University of Reading was established in 1892 as an affiliate of Oxford University. It moved to its London Road Campus in 1904 and to its new Whiteknights Campus in 1947. It took over the Bulmershe College of Higher Education, a teacher training college, in 1989, becoming Bulmershe Court Campus. The Henley Management College, situated in Buckinghamshire and about 10 miles (16 km) from Reading, was taken over in 2008, becoming Greenlands Campus. The University of West London maintains a presence in the town for its higher education students, principally in nursing, but has now divested itself of its previous ownership of Reading College and its further education students. The Reading Borough Libraries service dates back to 1877. Initially housed in Reading Town Hall, the central branch of the library was relocated to a new building on King's Road in 1985. The Reading Museum opened in 1883 in the town's municipal buildings. It contains galleries relating to the history of Reading and to the excavations of Calleva Atrebatum, together with a full-size bowdlerised replica of the Bayeux Tapestry, an art collection, and galleries relating to Huntley and Palmers. The Museum of English Rural Life, in East Reading, is a museum dedicated to recording the changing face of farming and the countryside in England. It houses designated collections of national importance. It is owned and run by the University of Reading, as are the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, the Cole Museum of Zoology and the Harris Botanic Gardens, all of which can be found on the university's Whiteknights Campus. The small Riverside Museum at Blake's Lock tells the story of Reading's two rivers. The Museum of Berkshire Aviation has a collection of aircraft and other artefacts relating to the aircraft industry in the town. Transport Reading's location in the Thames Valley to the west of London has made the town a significant element in the nation's transport system. The town grew up as a river port at the confluence of the River Thames and the River Kennet. Both of these rivers are navigable, and Caversham Lock, Blake's Lock, County Lock, Fobney Lock and Southcote Lock are all within the borough. Today, navigation is predominantly for purposes of leisure: private and hire boats dominate traffic, while scheduled boat services operate on the Thames from wharves on the Reading side of the river near Caversham Bridge. Reading was a major staging point on the old Bath Road (A4) from London to Avonmouth near Bristol. This road still carries local traffic, but has now been replaced for long-distance traffic by the M4 motorway, which closely skirts the borough and serves it with three junctions, J10-J12. Other main roads serving Reading include the A33, A327, A329, A4074 and A4155. Within Reading there is the Inner Distribution Road (IDR), a ring road for local traffic. The IDR is linked with the M4 by the A33 relief road. The Thames is crossed by both Reading and Caversham road bridges, while several road bridges cross the Kennet, the oldest surviving one of which is High Bridge. Reading has two operational park and ride sites. Mereoak, a short distance south of Junction 11 of the M4, is also a stop for National Express Coaches between London and the West. A site outside the Winnersh Triangle railway station opened in 2015 and is easily accessed from the junction where the A329(M) becomes the A3290. Reading is a major junction point of the National Rail system, and hence Reading station is a transfer point and terminus. In a project that finished in 2015, Reading station was redeveloped at a cost of £850m, with grade separation of some conflicting traffic flows, and extra platforms, to relieve severe congestion at this station. Railway lines link Reading to both Paddington and Waterloo stations in London. Other stations in the Reading area are Reading West, Reading Green Park, Tilehurst and Earley. Reading is a western terminus of the Elizabeth line, which provides stopping services to London Paddington, and means Reading is featured on the London Tube map. Cross-London connections are possible from Reading to Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east. There have been two airfields in or near Reading, one at Coley Park and one at Woodley, but they have both closed. The nearest international airport is London Heathrow, 20 miles (32 km) away. An express bus service named RailAir links Reading with Heathrow, or the airport can be accessed by rail by taking the Elizabeth line to Hayes & Harlington and changing for a connecting service to Heathrow. This journey takes around 45 minutes by rail. London City Airport can be reached via a direct train to Custom House on the Elizabeth line followed by a short bus connection. Gatwick Airport can be accessed via a direct local train operating via Guildford, and Luton and Stansted airports can be accessed with one change in Central London. Further afield, Southampton Airport can be accessed directly by rail in around 50–70 minutes depending on the service, or reached by road in approximately the same timeframe. Today local public transport is largely by road, which is often affected by peak hour congestion in the borough. A frequent local bus network within the borough, and a less frequent network in the surrounding area, are provided by Reading Buses - one of the few remaining municipal bus companies in the country - and its subsidiaries Newbury & District and Thames Valley Buses. Other bus operators serving Reading include Carousel Buses, Thames Travel and RedRose. ReadiBus provides an on-demand transport service for people with restricted mobility in the area. In March 2011, Reading Borough Council approved a bike sharing scheme similar to London Cycle Hire Scheme, with 1,000 bicycles available at up to 150 docking stations across Reading. However this scheme came to an end in March 2019, with the operator unable to cover the operational costs or find a sponsor to do so. Religion Reading Minster (the Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin) is Reading's oldest ecclesiastical foundation, known to have been founded by the 9th century and possibly earlier. Although eclipsed in importance by the later abbey, Reading Minster has regained its importance since the destruction of the abbey. Reading Abbey was founded by Henry I in 1121. He was buried there, as were parts of his daughter Empress Matilda, William of Poitiers, Constance of York, and Princess Isabella of Cornwall, among others. The abbey was one of the pilgrimage centres of medieval England; it held over 230 relics including the hand of St. James. Today all that remains of the abbey are the inner rubble cores of the walls of many of the major buildings of the abbey, together with a much restored inner gateway and the intact hospitium. The medieval borough of Reading was served by three parish churches: Reading Minster, St Giles' Church, and St Laurence's Church. All are still in use by the Church of England. The Franciscan friars built a friary in the town in 1311. After the friars were expelled in 1538, the building was used as a hospital, a poorhouse, and a jail, before being restored as the Church of England parish church of Greyfriars Church in 1863. The Bishop of Reading is a suffragan bishop within the Church of England's Diocese of Oxford. The bishop is based in Reading, and is responsible for the archdeaconry of Berkshire. There are a total of 18 Church of England parish churches in Reading. St James's Church was built on a portion of the site of the abbey between 1837 and 1840, and marked the return of the Roman Catholic faith to Reading. Reading was also the site of the death of Blessed Dominic Barberi, the Catholic missionary to England in the 19th century who received John Henry Newman into the Catholic faith. There are now eight Roman Catholic parish churches in Reading. Kings Road Baptist Church was founded in Reading in 1640 or 1641. In addition to Catholicism and the Church of England, the Seventh-Day Adventist denomination is also represented in the town, particularly by Reading West SDA Church on Loverock Road, Reading Central SDA Church on Tilehurst Road, and various other churches around Reading. Reading has had an organised Jewish community since 1886. At least one Jewish family living in the area has been traced back as far as 1842. The group grew to 13 families, who in 1886 declared themselves a community and commenced building a synagogue. On 31 October 1900, Reading Hebrew Congregation officially opened in a solemn public ceremony, packed to capacity with dignitaries, led by the Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler. Reading Hebrew Congregation, which still stands on its original site at the junction of Goldsmid Road and Clifton Street near the town centre, is a Grade II-listed building, built to a traditional design in the Moorish style. The community is affiliated with the Orthodox United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. Reading also has a Liberal Jewish community which convenes in the Reading Quaker Meeting House, a Modern Orthodox Judaism community, an active Jewish Society for students at the university, as well as being served by a Reform Jewish community which convenes in nearby Maidenhead Synagogue. There are presently three mosques in Reading, initially just having the Central Reading Mosque on Waylen Street. The £3–4m Abu Bakr Islamic Centre, on Oxford Road in West Reading, was granted planning permission in 2002. The community-funded project began construction in 2007, and opened its doors in July 2013 - the holy month of Ramadan for this year. A second Islamic centre in eastern Reading has also been granted planning permission. This £4m project has garnered some controversy. Reading also has places of worship of other religions: the Shantideva Mahayana Buddhist centre, a Hindu temple, a Sikh gurdwara, a Salvation Army citadel, a Quaker meeting house, and a Christadelphian Hall. Sport Reading is the home of Reading Football Club, an association football club nicknamed The Royals, formed in 1871. Formerly nicknamed 'The Biscuitmen' and based at Elm Park, the club plays at the 24,161 capacity Select Car Leasing Stadium, first named after chairman Sir John Madejski which opened in 1998, and later renamed "Select Car Leasing Stadium" in 2021, after a sponsor. After winning the 2005–06 Football League Championship with a record of 106 points, Reading spent two seasons in the Premier League before being relegated to The Championship. For the 2012–2013 season, the club again competed in the Premier League, after securing first place in the Championship in the 2011–2012 season, but were relegated back down to the Championship at season's end. Reading Town Football Club, formed in 1966, played at Scours Lane and were playing in the Hellenic League Premier Division but were dissolved in 2016, while fellow non-league football club Reading City Football Club now play at Scours Lane after moving from Palmer Park Stadium at the end of the 2015–16 season. Scours Lane was also renamed to Rivermoor Stadium in 2016. Reading is home to three senior semi-professional rugby clubs: Reading Abbey RFC, Rams RFC and Reading RFC. The Reading Rockets are the town's semi-professional basketball team. They compete in the second tier English Basketball League Division 1, though they have tried several times in recent years to move up to the top tier British Basketball League. They play home games at Loddon Valley Leisure Centre, and are coached by Samit Nuruzade. In 2016–17 the club embarked on an 18-game winning streak. During the 24-25 Season, They were able to win 3 out of the 4 available Domestic Trophies. The town hosts Australian Rules football team Reading Kangaroos and American football team Berkshire Renegades. Palmer Park Stadium has a velodrome and athletics track. It is used by Reading Athletic Club and the Berkshire Renegades for training. Reading Hockey Club enter teams in both the Men's and Women's England Hockey Leagues. Rowing is pursued by the Reading Rowing Club and the Reading University Boat Club, both next to Caversham Bridge, whilst Reading Blue Coat School trains at Sonning adjacent to the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake in Caversham, which provides training facilities for the Great Britain National Squad. However, almost all club rowing is done on the River Thames. The annual Reading Town Regatta takes place near Thames Valley Park, with the Reading Amateur Regatta taking place in June, usually two weeks before the Henley Royal Regatta. The town was home to a motorcycle speedway team, Reading Racers. Speedway came to Reading in 1968 at Tilehurst Stadium, until the team moved to Smallmead Stadium in Whitley, which was demolished at the end of 2008. The team is inactive pending the building of a new stadium, which was once hoped to be completed in 2012. The Reading Racers reformed in 2016 and joined the new Southern Developmental League upon its formation in 2017 winning its inaugural season undefeated. The team started back up in Eastbourne and currently races in Swindon awaiting return to a track in Reading. The Reading Half Marathon is held on the streets of Reading in March of each year, with 16,000 competitors from elite to fun runners. It was first run in 1983 and has taken place in every subsequent year except 2001, when it was cancelled because of concerns over that year's outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, 2018, when it was cancelled on the morning of the race due to heavy overnight snowfall, and 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The British Triathlon Association was formed at the town's former Mall health club on 11 December 1982. Britain's first ever triathlon took place just outside Reading at Kirtons's Farm in Pingewood in 1983 and was revived 10 years' later by Banana Leisure with one of the original organisers as Event Director. Thames Valley Triathletes, based in the town, is Britain's oldest triathlon club, having its origins in the 1984 event at nearby Heckfield, when a relay team raced under the name Reading Triathlon Club. The Hexagon was home to snooker's Grand Prix tournament, one of the sport's "Big Four", from 1984 to 1994. Notable people Twin towns Reading is twinned with: Though not twinned with Reading, two suburbs of the New Zealand city of Dunedin—Caversham and Forbury—were named after places in and around Reading by early New Zealand settler and Reading native William Henry Valpy. See also References Bibliography External links
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creeper_(Minecraft)#cite_ref-14] \| [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/List_of_music_recording_certifications] \| [TOKENS: 2797]
Contents List of music recording certifications Music recording certifications are typically awarded by the worldwide music industry based on the total units sold, streamed, or shipped to retailers. These awards and their requirements are defined by the various certifying bodies representing the music industry in various countries and territories worldwide. The standard certification awards given consist of Gold, Platinum, and sometimes Diamond awards, in ascending order; the UK and Australia also have a Silver certification, ranking below Gold. In most cases, a "Multi-Platinum" or "Multi-Diamond" award is given for multiples of the Platinum or Diamond requirements. Many music industries around the world are represented by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The IFPI operates in 66 countries and services affiliated industry associations in 45 countries. In some cases, the IFPI is merely affiliated with the already operational certification bodies of a country, but in many countries with lesser-developed industries, the IFPI acts as the sole certifying body servicing the country or region's music industry. Still other countries not represented by the IFPI have certifying bodies operating independently, such as individual record companies which service the country or region's music industry as a whole. Though all certifying bodies give awards for album sales or shipments, many also certify singles, paid digital downloads, streaming media, music videos, music DVDs, and master ringtones. Additionally, some certifying bodies have separate threshold scales for works of domestic or international origins, varying genres, lengths, and formats. From the 2010s digital streaming was included in some territories. Albums "—" denotes that an award is not given by the certifying body. ^ I Australian, Belgian, Danish, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Mexican, Norwegian, Polish, Spanish, Swedish, British and American figures can include digital album sales. ^ II GCC sales refer to sales in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE. ^ III For German sales, the thresholds in the table are for albums released from January 1, 2003. For albums released until September 24, 1999, the thresholds are 250,000 for Gold and 500,000 for Platinum. For albums released between September 25, 1999, and December 31, 2002, the thresholds are 150,000 for Gold and 300,000 for Platinum. Also, for Jazz albums, the thresholds are 10,000 for Gold and 20,000 for Platinum. Diamond-award is applicable to titles released on/after January 1, 2013. ^ IV Hungarian sales figures provided refer to "Pop" albums. A separate scale is used for jazz, spoken word, classical, and world music albums: sales exceeding 1,500 and 3,000 for Gold and Platinum awards respectively. ^ V Indian figures provided refer to "Hindi Films" and "International" scales. However, there are six separate release scales in all. Each scale is provided here with Gold and Platinum sales thresholds in parentheses: "Hindi Films" (100,000; 200,000); "Regional Films" (50,000; 100,000); "Regional Basic" (25,000, 50,000); "National Basic" (50,000; 100,000); "Classical/Non-Classical" (15,000; 30,000); and "International" (4,000; 6,000). In addition, there is a time limit for an album in one of the categories to reach gold and platinum, which is in one calendar year (for example: albums released on July 1, 2006, has only until June 30, 2007, for a Gold or Platinum award). ^ VI Malaysian sales figures provided refer to albums released after 1 July 2009. For albums released before 1 July 2009, sales exceeding 10,000 and 20,000 for Gold and Platinum awards, respectively. Physical albums only; when combined with digital sales, thresholds are 15,000 for Gold and 30,000 for Platinum, whereby the digital sales are counted as 1/10 actual digital sales (10 downloads = 1 unit). ^ VII For Mexican sales, albums add physical, digital and streaming sales, for singles digital and streaming sales are taken into account. It should also be noted that Mexico awards incremental gold certifications even after platinum has been achieved, so an album may be, for example, certified 2× Platinum + Gold. ^ VIII Dutch sales figures provided refer to "Popular" albums. A separate scale is used for jazz, classical, and world music albums: sales exceeding 10,000 and 20,000 for Gold and Platinum awards respectively. ^ IX In Norway, the thresholds were previously 15,000 units for Gold and 30,000 units for Platinum. ^ X Polish sales figures provided refer to domestic "Pop" albums. Separate scales are used for jazz/blues/folk/source music/classical albums, and soundtracks. Each scale is provided here with Gold, Platinum, and Diamond sales thresholds in parentheses: "jazz/blues/folk/source music/classical" (5,000; 10,000; 50,000); and "soundtracks" (10,000; 20,000; 100,000). ^ XI Swedish sales figures provided refer to "Pop" albums. A separate scale is used for children, jazz, classical, and folk music albums: sales exceeding 10,000 and 20,000 for Gold and Platinum awards respectively. ^ XII South African sales figures provided refer to albums released after 1 December 2015. For albums released before 1 December 2015 but after 1 August 2006, a Gold award is given for sales exceeding 20,000 and a Platinum award for sales exceeding 40,000. For albums released before 1 August 2006, a Gold award is given for sales exceeding 25,000, a Platinum award for sales exceeding 50,000. ^ XIII United Kingdom thresholds were established in 1979 for albums above a minimum RRP. From 1973–79 the thresholds were based on monetary revenue: Platinum (£1,000,000), Gold (£150,000 from April 1973 to September 1974, £250,000 from September 1974 to January 1977, and £300,000 from 1977 until 1979) and Silver (£75,000 from April 1973 to January 1975, £100,000 from January 1975 to January 1977, and £150,000 from 1977 until 1979). ^ XIV Awarded for actual retail sales in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom. ^ XV South Korean physical album sales exceeding 1,000,000 are given the "Million" award. ^ XVI Although UPFR's certifications levels have never been clearly defined, it is known that they have been repeatedly lowered since their introduction, due to heavy music piracy and financial crisises in Romania. UPFR's certifications are based on both the units sold and the sales price of an album. Several awards have been handed out since the early 1990s. ^ XVII Czech certifications for albums are based on revenue (without VAT) of 500,000 Kč for Gold and 1,000,000 Kč for Platinum. ^ XVIII Previously, thresholds of 2,000 units (Gold) and 4,000 units (Platinum) were used in Slovakia. ^ XVIX Slovak certifications for albums are based on revenue (without VAT) of €10,000 for Gold and €20,000 for Platinum. Singles "—" denotes that an award is not given by the certifying body. (40,000) (80,000) (800,000) ^ XIV Australian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Indian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, New Zealand, Norwegian, South African, Swedish, and British figures can include sales from legal digital downloads. ^ XV For German sales, the thresholds in the table are for singles released from January 1, 2003. For singles released prior to that thresholds are 250,000 for Gold and 500,000 for Platinum. As of June 1, 2014[update], the German thresholds for the single-titles, are 200,000 for Gold and 400,000 for Platinum. German industry also introduced a Diamond-award which is applicable to all titles released on/after January 1, 2013. For Jazz singles, the thresholds are 10,000 for Gold and 20,000 for Platinum. ^ XVI Malaysian sales figures for physical singles only; when combined with digital sales, thresholds are 15,000 for Gold and 30,000 for Platinum, whereby the digital sales are counted as 1/10 actual digital sales (10 downloads = 1 unit). ^ XVII In Norway, the thresholds were previously 2,000,000 units for Gold and 4,000,000 units for Platinum. ^ XVIII In the United Kingdom, the number of sales required to qualify for Platinum, Gold and Silver discs was dropped for singles released after 1 January 1989 to the current thresholds of Silver (200,000 units), Gold (400,000 units), and Platinum (600,000 units). Prior to this the thresholds were Silver (250,000 units), Gold (500,000 units), and Platinum (1,000,000 units). ^ XIX In the United States, the number of sales required to qualify for Platinum and Gold discs was dropped to the current thresholds of Gold (500,000 units) and Platinum (1,000,000 units), effective 1 January 1989; prior to this the thresholds were Gold (1,000,000 units), and Platinum (2,000,000 units). For EP-length configurations including the 12-inch single, the thresholds were lowered to Gold (250,000 units) and Platinum (500,000 units); previously the thresholds were Gold (500,000 units) and Platinum (1,000,000 units). From then on, the lowered thresholds applied to certification of all singles, regardless of whether they were released before or after the change. ^ XX Previously, thresholds of 1,000 units (Platinum) and 2,000 units (Diamond) were used in the Czech Republic. ^ XXI Czech certifications for albums are based on revenue (without VAT) of 200,000 Kč for Gold and 400,000 Kč for Platinum. ^ XXII Slovak certifications for albums are based on revenue (without VAT) of €2,000 for Gold and €4,000 for Platinum. ^ XXIII Previously, thresholds of 75,000 units (Gold), 150,000 units (Platinum), and 250,000 units (Diamond) were used in France. ^ XXIV In India, the thresholds of 60,000 units (Gold) and 120,000 units (Platinum) are used for songs from regional films and pop/basic songs, as well as international songs. For devotional songs, thresholds of 50,000 units (Gold) and 100,000 units (Platinum) are used, whereas for classical and folk music, thresholds of 10,000 units (Gold) and 20,000 units (Platinum) are used. "—" denotes that an award is not given by the certifying body. ^ XX Japanese awards refer to online singles and mobile singles. ^ XXI Japanese physical and digital download sales exceeding 1,000,000 are given the "Million" award. "—" denotes that an award is not given by the certifying body. ^ XX Japanese awards refer to online singles and mobile singles. ^ XXI Japanese physical and digital download sales exceeding 1,000,000 are given the "Million" award. Music videos/DVDs "—" denotes that an award is not given by the certifying body. ^ XXI Danish DVD sales figures provided refer to Music/Single DVDs. Full-length DVDs are on a differing scale: sales exceeding 10,000 and 20,000 for Gold and Platinum awards (beginning January 7, 2011), reduced from 15,000 and 30,000 copies, respectively. ^ XXII Hungarian DVD sales figures provided refer to "Pop" DVDs. A separate scale is used for jazz, spoken word, classical, and world music DVDs: sales exceeding 1,000 and 2,000 for Gold and Platinum awards respectively. ^ XXIII Polish sales figures provided refer to "Pop" music videos. A separate scale is used for jazz/classical music videos: sales exceeding 2,500, 5,000, and 25,000 for Gold, Platinum, and Diamond awards respectively. ^ XXIV U.S. sales figures provided refer to "Video singles". A separate scale is used for "Long form videos" and "Multi-Box Music Video Sets": sales exceeding 50,000 and 100,000 for Gold and Platinum awards respectively. Master ringtones "—" denotes that an award is not given by the certifying body. ^ XXV Japanese master ringtone sales exceeding 1,000,000, is awarded "million", rather than "diamond". See also References External links
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/343_Industries] \| [TOKENS: 1342]
Contents Halo Studios Halo Studios (formerly 343 Industries) is an American video game developer based in Redmond, Washington, part of Xbox Game Studios. Headed by Pierre Hintze, the studio is responsible for the Halo science fiction franchise, and develops Halo projects internally, and in collaboration with other studios. The studio was created in 2007 to oversee the franchise after original Halo developer Bungie regained its independence from Microsoft, and originally named after the character 343 Guilty Spark. After co-developing downloadable content for Halo: Reach, Bungie's final Halo game, 343 Industries released Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and Halo 4, the latter starting the studio's "Reclaimer Saga" of the mainline games, which further encompassed Halo 5: Guardians (2015) and concluded with Halo Infinite in 2021. The studio rebranded in October 2024. History Bungie was a video game developer working on their next project when they were acquired by Microsoft in 2000. Their in-development game, Halo: Combat Evolved, turned into a launch title for Microsoft's Xbox console. Bungie and Microsoft's cultures never meshed, and after the release of Halo 2 Bungie began renegotiating for better profit sharing for their next game, Halo 3. These discussions led to Bungie announcing its independence from Microsoft in 2007. While Bungie was still contracted to deliver new Halo games, the rights to the franchise remained with Microsoft. Xbox general manager Bonnie Ross recalled that her colleagues felt Halo was a waning property and looked at contracting an outside company to produce new games;: 21:45–23:00 the series's deep backstory and universe appealed to Ross, and she argued for a different approach.: 26:15–27:05 Ross' pitch won over Microsoft Game Studios general manager Shane Kim, and she was put in charge of a new internal Halo studio, 343 Industries, named after the Halo character 343 Guilty Spark. 343 Industries started with a staff of roughly a dozen people in late 2007.: 28:22 Bungie staffer Frank O'Connor assisted in the transition, and left Bungie to serve as 343 Industries' franchise director. Ross' vision for Halo also impressed Microsoft art director Kiki Wolfkill, who joined the team as a studio head. During the transition, 343 Industries worked with the company Starlight Runner to compile a centralized story bible for the universe.: 30:50 In July 2009, 343 Industries announced it was working on a seven-part Halo anime series called Halo Legends. Later that year the studio created Halo Waypoint, a downloadable application that tracks a user's Halo accomplishments. 343 Industries also increased staff for Halo development, recruiting staff from the defunct Pandemic Studios. 343 Industries also collaborated with Certain Affinity on Halo: Reach's map packs. Wanting to mark the occasion of Halo: Combat Evolved's tenth anniversary, 343 Industries contracted Saber Interactive to develop Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, which released on November 15, 2011. Following Bungie's completion of their last Halo title, Halo: Reach, 343 Industries was eventually given complete control of the Halo franchise including servers and data on March 31, 2012. The studio's development of Halo 4, which began in 2009, was completed in September. It was released on November 6, 2012, as the first title of a new Halo Reclaimer Trilogy which would include at least two more installments over the years. At E3 2013, Microsoft and 343 Industries announced the next "Halo" installment set for release on the Xbox One. Shortly after the announcement, the Reclaimer Trilogy was confirmed by Microsoft Studios corporate vice-president Phil Spencer to be expanded into a Reclaimer Saga. The following year at E3 2014, the official title was revealed as "Halo 5: Guardians" along with plans for its release on October 27, 2015. Microsoft, in a contract with Mega Bloks, is in conjunction with 343 Industries to manufacture a new line of toys and other memorabilia for the upcoming Halo saga. Halo 5: Guardians was released on October 27, 2015, with semi-exclusive content to those who purchased select Mega Bloks sets. 343 Industries has since released free monthly content updates since Halo 5's launch. At E3 2018, Microsoft Studios and 343 Industries announced the next Halo game, titled Halo Infinite, which was originally scheduled to launch in holiday 2020 for Xbox One and Windows PCs, in addition to being a launch title for the next Xbox console, the Xbox Series X. However, the game was delayed to release in 2021, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the 343 staff to switch to remote work. Infinite was developed using 343's in-house Slipspace Engine. After Infinite's release, 343 Industries supported the game via updates. On September 12, 2022, Bonnie Ross announced she would step down as studio head. Following her departure, her responsibilities were split into three positions. Pierre Hintze took over as studio head, Bryan Koski became GM of the franchise and Elizabeth Van Wyck took over business and operations. Amid wider layoffs in the tech industry and Microsoft, 343 Industries was heavily affected, and Bloomberg News reported the studio would be making large changes to its development structure going forward. In October 2024, 343 Industries announced a rebrand as Halo Studios, amid a shift to Unreal Engine 5 for future project development, moving away from Slipspace Engine. A Halo Waypoint blog post in early July 2025 confirmed that Halo Studios would reveal details on their first project in Unreal Engine 5 during that October's Halo World Championships. The studio was subject to internal layoffs coinciding with Microsoft's business reorganizations later that month, with an anonymous former employee interviewed by Engadget citing "tension" that had been arising within the developer regarding unspecified projects that were "recently in crisis." The individual also spoke of Microsoft pivoting Halo development towards collaborating with contracted studios across the United States and Europe, as opposed to individual contractors as 343 Industries relied on, mirroring the development pipelines for other first-person-shooter titles like Call of Duty and Battlefield. Additional personnel were laid off of the studio in 2025 amid wider Microsoft layoffs, with sources reporting to Engadget dissatisfaction and tension at the studio. Games overseen References External links
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Game_Studios#cite_note-32] \| [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/Minecraft_Monday#cite_note-Heck2021_3-22] \| [TOKENS: 1410]
Contents Minecraft Monday Minecraft Monday was a weekly esports tournament for the sandbox video game Minecraft. It was created by the internet personality Keemstar, known for his content on social media drama and the host of the tournament Fortnite Fridays, upon repeated suggestions from meme YouTuber Grandayy. The event featured online creators, invited based upon their popularity rather than gameplay skill, in teams of two, competing to score the most points across a series of minigames of various genres. The winning team was awarded $10,000 USD. The tournament debuted on June 24, 2019, and ended after its server was breached during the 14th event on October 7, 2019. Minecraft Monday was credited with drawing renewed attention to Minecraft for its roster of popular creators, which included Fortnite player Ninja, YouTuber PewDiePie, and makeup vlogger James Charles, but caused community conflict due to the mixture of experienced and inexperienced Minecraft players. The cast allowed one player, Technoblade, to gain recognition in the Minecraft community after winning 4 out of the 14 events, and placing as the best-scoring individual in 7 of them. Despite social media updates by Keemstar throughout 2020 regarding a revival, the tournament did not return after its hacking. It inspired another Minecraft tournament, MC Championship, by YouTuber Smajor1995 and the group Noxcrew. Format Minecraft Monday was a competitive tournament in Minecraft, a sandbox video game developed by Mojang Studios. Players were divided into teams of two and would compete to score the highest points. Although the first two events only featured the player versus player (PvP) battle royale mode Hunger Games, later events introduced various other minigames to test different skillsets. The revised gamelist, which changed each week, included modes such as Bingo and Capture the Flag. The event was hosted weekly on Mondays and was broadcast live by its players, most often to Twitch; the event's host, UMG Gaming, also livestreamed the events. $10,000 USD, sponsored by the gaming drink mix G Fuel,[‡ 1] and later also the Minecraft server host Apex Hosting,[‡ 2] was awarded to both the winning team and a random viewer. During the event's lifetime, the organizers also hosted a public Minecraft server under the IP mcmondays.com. History Minecraft Monday was created by Keemstar, a controversial internet personality known for his videos about social media drama, after the meme YouTuber Grandayy had spent over a year pushing for him to pursue the idea. Keemstar already hosted the event Fortnite Fridays, and would later launch a third competition, Warzone Wednesday. Like Keemstar's other tournaments, players were invited on basis of online following rather than gameplay skill, in order to attract viewership. The first event on June 24, 2019, was seen live by over one million viewers; according to Dexerto, the Fortnite player Ninja peaked at 400,000 concurrent viewers on his Twitch livestream, before he prematurely quit during the fourth game after dying quickly in every round. The participation of several prominent creators – including Ninja, PewDiePie, and James Charles – allowed Minecraft YouTuber Technoblade to rise in prominence, after he consecutively won the first two weeks of the tournament. Technoblade's winning streak ended in Week 3, which was won by streamers Traves and Cscoop. Conflict generated within the tournament's community due to organizational issues; some viewers considered the teammatching unbalanced due to the participation of both veteran and beginner Minecraft players, and some criticized the minigame selection. Technoblade would win the tournament twice more, in Weeks 6 and 10.[‡ 3] YouTuber Skeppy won with teammate BadBoyHalo in Weeks 5 and 7, and again with Vikkstar123 in Week 9.[‡ 3] A duo consisting of streamers xQc and M0xxy won the tournament back-to-back in Weeks 12 and 13. At the end of the 13th week, YouTuber MrBeast collaborated with Keemstar during Hunger Games to place a $15,000 bounty on Technoblade, which was taken by Bajan Canadian. The Minecraft Monday server was breached during Week 14 on October 7, 2019. Whilst the tournament was ongoing, hackers griefed buildings and the minigame arenas; Minecraft Monday, as well as Fortnite Fridays, were subsequently placed on hiatus. Keemstar complained on Twitter that they had been running Minecraft Monday on a "shoe-string budget" and had been cutting corners, but said that the tournament would return in November 2019. In May 2020, Keemstar's organization KeemPark posted a screenshot of a remade Minecraft Monday lobby, created in collaboration with Bajan Canadian and his developer. KeemPark stated the tournament would return within three weeks. Keemstar would tweet two months later that "Minecraft Monday is coming soon!",[‡ 4] but the event would ultimately not return. Legacy Writers credited Minecraft Monday with causing an increased attention towards Minecraft. Patricia Hernandez, a writer for Polygon, wrote that Minecraft Monday and other online projects, such as PewDiePie's playthrough of the game, caused a resurgence in the game's popularity. In an article for The Esports Observer, Max Miceli noted a significant increase in Twitch viewership for Minecraft as the event went on. While the game only rarely surpassed 500,000 hours watched a day prior to June 2019, the day of the first event reached 781,000 hours watched, and subsequent days surpassed one million. Esport Insider's Marloes Valentina Stella described Minecraft Monday as the second major competitive tournament in Minecraft. Unlike the largely unsuccessful partnership of Badlion Client and major esports organizer ESL around 2017 (the first major tournament series), Stella thought the roster of well-known internet creators made it "no surprise that Minecraft Monday [became] the most famous Minecraft tournament". Regardless, she attributed the event's closure to community conflict, the hacking during Week 14, and the controversial status of Keemstar. YouTuber Smajor1995, who played in the event, said he was inspired by Minecraft Monday to create the tournament MC Championship, which he organizes with the group Noxcrew. Smajor liked the idea of bringing creators together for a Minecraft event, but found Keemstar hard to work with. According to Gökhan Çakır for Dot Esports, MC Championship was able to fill the "gigantic gap" in the competitive Minecraft scene after Minecraft Monday's closure. List of winners Notes References Sources from Keemstar, UMG Gaming, event partners, or participants. In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡): External links
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprint_(running)] \| [TOKENS: 3668]
Contents Sprint (running) Sprinting is running as fast as possible over a relatively short distance and period of time. It involves the whole body working as one in order to produce maximum forward thrust in a series of sprinting strides which are taken as quickly as possible. It is used in many sports that incorporate running, typically as a way of rapidly reaching a target or goal, avoiding or catching an opponent, or intercepting a ball. In athletics and track and field, sprints (or dashes) are races over short distances. They are among the oldest running competitions, being recorded at the Ancient Olympic Games. Three sprints are currently held at the modern Summer Olympics and outdoor World Championships: the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 400 metres. At the professional level, sprinters begin the race by assuming a crouching position in the starting blocks before driving forward and gradually moving into an upright position as the race progresses and momentum is gained. The set position differs depending on the start. The use of starting blocks allows the sprinter to perform an enhanced isometric preload; this generates muscular pre-tension which is channeled into the subsequent forward drive, making it more powerful. Body alignment is of key importance in producing the optimal amount of force. Ideally, the athlete should begin in a 4-point stance and drive forwards concurrently pushing off using both legs for maximum force production. This initial forward thrust is asymmetric in nature usually meaning that the rear foot is lifted sooner while the front foot continues to push off from the front plate. As they come up from their low stance and their posture becomes increasingly upright they continue to thrust forwards in the direction of travel. Athletes remain in the same lane on the running track throughout all sprinting events, with the sole exception of the 400 metres indoors. Races up to 100 metres are largely focused upon acceleration to an athlete's maximum speed. All sprints beyond this distance increasingly incorporate an element of endurance. History . The Ancient Olympic Games were begun in 776 B.C. The first 13 editions featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a sprinting race from one end of the stadium to the other. The Diaulos (Δίαυλος, "double pipe") was a double-stadion race, c. 400 metres (1,300 feet), introduced in the 14th Olympiad of the ancient Olympic Games (724 BC). Sprinting, and sprint training, in Ancient Greece emphasised the need to be as light-footed as possible while also ensuring that the foot was placed stably. The contemporary Hellenised, Syrian writer Lucian, in his treatise Anachasis, or Athletics, states that: Furthermore, we train them to be good runners, habituating them to hold out for a long distance, and also making them light-footed for extreme speed in a short distance. And the running is not done on hard, resisting ground but in deep sand, where it is not easy to plant one's foot solidly or to get a purchase with it, since it slips from under one as the sand gives way beneath it. We also train them to jump a ditch, if need be, or any other obstacle, even carrying lead weights as large as they can grasp. Training in heavy sand helped the sprinters to develop their technique. As the sand could move awkwardly when they placed their feet it meant that they were in danger of losing their sense of balance. Therefore they had to place their feet more lightly and carefully in order to avoid this happening. With continued practice this developed their ability to be as light-footed and as sure-footed as possible. Jump training, with and without weights, were methods used to develop the light-footedness and explosive power of sprinters and other athletes. In the middle-ages sprint races were referred to as foot-races. They were a popular pastime and considered to be a worthy pursuit especially for males raised in military professions. Writing in 1801, the sports writer Joseph Strutt stated 'There is no other exercise that has more uniformly met the approbation of authors than running. In the middle-ages, foot-racing was considered as an essential part of a young man's education, especially if he was the son of a man of rank, and brought up in a military profession.' In America in 1691, Sir Francis Nicholson hosted a Virginia athletic games which involved foot-races among its events. These races were partly based on a practice from Britain where aristocrats would race their footmen against each other for entertainment. As betting became more a part of the races, professional runners began to increasingly emerge. Writing in 1838, the Hawaiian intellectual, David Malo, described foot-races which were part of traditional Hawaiian culture. The participants were called Kukini, meaning swift-runners, and they trained with task-specific physical training exercises and ate a specialised diet. Malo states 'The runner was first exercised in walking on his toes, without touching the heel of the foot to the ground. Then he was set to running, at first for a short distance at a moderate pace. Finally he was made to run at full speed for great distances. While in training they were denied poi and all soggy, heavy food, but were fed on rare-done flesh of the fowl and roasted vegetables, taro, sweet-potato, bread-fruit, etc.' The sprinters had to race from a starting point to a flag on a pole. Bets were placed on the runners by the spectators. These runners were also employed as messengers for civil and military matters. The first modern Olympic Games started in the late 19th century (Athens 1896) and featured the 100 metres and 400 metres. Athletes started both races from a crouched start (4-point stance). In both the original Olympics and the modern Olympics, only men were allowed to participate in track and field until the 1928 games in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The 1928 games were also the first games to use a 400-metre track, which became the standard for track and field. The modern sprinting events have their roots in races of imperial measurements which were later altered to metric: the 100 m evolved from the 100-yard dash, the 200 m distance came from the furlong (or 1⁄8 mile), and the 400 m was the successor to the 440-yard dash or quarter-mile race. Technological advances have always improved sprint performances (i.e., starting blocks, synthetic track material, and shoe technology). In 1924, athletes used a small shovel to dig holes to start the race. The world record in the 100-metre dash in 1924 was 10.4 seconds, while in 1948, (the first use of starting blocks) was 10.2 seconds, and was 10.1 seconds in 1956. The constant drive for faster athletes with better technology has brought man from 10.4 seconds to 9.58 seconds in less than 100 years. Track events were measured with the metric system except for the United Kingdom and the United States until 1965 and 1974 respectively. The Amateur Athletic Association (AAU) decided to switch track and field in the U.S. to the metric system to finally make track and field internationally equivalent. Biological factors for runners Biological factors that determine a sprinter's potential include: Competitions Note: Indoor distances are less standardized, as many facilities run shorter or occasionally longer distances depending on available space. 60 m is the championship distance. Source: Source: Source: Source: Source: The event was a common event for most American students because it was one of the standardized test events as part of the President's Award on Physical Fitness. The 50 metres is an uncommon event and alternative to the 60 metres. Donovan Bailey holds the men's world record with a time of 5.56 seconds and Irina Privalova holds the women's world record with a time of 5.96 seconds. The 55 metres is an uncommon event that resulted from the metrication of the 60 yards and is an alternative to the 60 metres. An extremely rare sprinting event, that was occasionally run in the 1960s. The world record of 6.90 seconds is held by Bob Hayes. The stadion, also known as the stade, was the standard short distance sprint in ancient Greece and ran the length of a stadium. However, stadiums could vary in size and there was apparently no definite standard length for them, e.g., the stadium at Delphi measures 177 m and the one at Pergamon 210 m. The diaulos was an event contested in the Ancient Greek Olympia that was double the length of a stadion. As well as standard foot races, in Ancient Greece there was also a sprint race called the hoplitodromos ('armed diaulos'). This required the sprinters to additionally carry a large shield, wear greaves and a helmet. The wearing of greaves was discontinued around 450 BC. Similarly to the diaulos, they ran two stades in length i.e. one stade ending with a 180 degree turn around a post, which led onto the second stade in length back down the track. In the diaulos, each sprinter had an individual post to run around. However, for some hoplitodromos races all of the sprinters ran around a single central post. Source: Equipment Typically, a sprinter only needs two types of shoes, training shoes and sprinting spikes. Sprinting spikes are typically designed to be lightweight, with a minimal cushion on the heels and a plate on the forefoot to keep the runner on the toes of each foot. The spike plate will typically have the maximum number of holes for metal spikes to be inserted to keep a proper grip on the track surface. These metal removable spikes also come in varying sizes. The spikes typically range from 4 mm to 15 mm and come in different styles. Most facilities have specific requirements for what size and style spikes can be used. Starting blocks are not a necessity but are highly suggested for use in sprinting events. Starting blocks are a piece of equipment that typically consists of foot pads attached to a central rail. The point of using blocks is to help the athlete push themselves further down the track as quickly as possible. The baton is a required element for any relay race. The baton is passed to each athlete through different exchange zones, with different techniques. Typically, about 30 centimetres (1 ft) long and 3.8 centimetres (1.5 in) in diameter. Used typically in training sessions to measure relative times and recovery times. Stopwatches are not always the most accurate way to measure times in a race setting, Fully Automatic Timing (FAT) and gate systems are used to accurately measure races, with results as accurate as up to 1/1000 of a second. Governing bodies As of 2021, World Athletics (WA) is the governing body for track and field around the world. Every country that wishes to participate in WA competitions must become a member. Rules Each governing body sets its own rules for how competition is deemed fair. World Athletics sets the competition rules internationally. The World Athletics rulebook is broken into 4 separate books. Starting blocks are used for all competition sprints (up to and including 400 m) and relay events (first leg only, up to 4x400 m). The starting blocks consist of two adjustable footplates attached to a rigid frame. Races commence with the firing of the starter's gun. The starting commands are "On your marks" and "Set". Once all athletes are in the set position, the starter's gun is fired, officially starting the race. For the 100 m, all competitors are lined up side by side. For the 200 m, 300 m, and 400 m, which involve curves, runners are staggered for the start. In the rare event that there are technical issues with a start, a green card is shown to all the athletes. The green card carries no penalty. If an athlete is unhappy with track conditions after the "on your marks" command is given, the athlete must raise a hand before the "set" command and provide the Start referee with a reason. It is then up to the Start referee to decide if the reason is valid. If the Start referee deems the reason invalid, a yellow card (warning) is issued to that particular athlete. If the athlete is already on a warning, the athlete is disqualified. According to the World Athletics (WA) rules, "An athlete, after assuming a full and final set position, shall not commence his starting motion until after receiving the report of the gun or approved starting apparatus. If, in the judgement of the Starter or Recallers, he does so any earlier, it shall be deemed a false start." The 100 m Olympic gold and silver medallist Linford Christie of Great Britain famously had frequent false starts that were marginally below the legal reaction time of 0.1 seconds. Christie and his coach, Ron Roddan, both claimed that the false starts were due to Christie's exceptional reaction times being under legal time. His frequent false starting eventually led to his disqualification from the 1996 Summer Olympics 100 m final in Atlanta, the US, due to a second false start by Christie. Since January 2010, under WA rules, a single false start by an athlete resulted in disqualification. In 2012, a new development to the false start rule was added. Because certain athletes could be disqualified for twitching in the starting blocks, but some athletes could make a twitch without the starter noticing and disqualifying the athlete, it was decided that twitching in the starting block while being in the 'set' position would only carry a maximum penalty of a yellow card or a warning. To instantly be disqualified for a false start, an athlete's hands must leave the track or their feet must leave the starting blocks, while the athlete is in their final 'set' position. For all Olympic sprint events, runners must remain within their pre-assigned lanes, which measure 1.22 metres (4 feet) wide, from start to finish. The lanes can be numbered 1 through 8, 9, or rarely 10, starting with the inside lane. Any athlete who runs outside the assigned lane to gain an advantage is subject to disqualification. If the athlete is forced to run outside of their lane by another person, and no material advantage is gained, there will be no disqualification. Also, a runner who strays from their lane in the straightaway, or crosses the outer line of their lane on the bend, and gains no advantage by it, will not be disqualified as long as no other runner is obstructed. The first athlete whose torso reaches the vertical plane of the closest edge of the finish line is the winner. To ensure that the sprinter's torso triggers the timing impulse at the finish line rather than an arm, foot, or other body parts, a double Photocell is commonly used. Times are only recorded by an electronic timing system when both of these Photocells are simultaneously blocked. Photo finish systems are also used at some track and field events. World records Worldwide events involving sprint races Sprint training While genetics play a large role in one's ability to sprint, athletes must be dedicated to their training to ensure that they can optimize their performances. Sprint training includes various running workouts, targeting acceleration, speed development, speed endurance, special endurance, and tempo endurance. Additionally, athletes perform intense strength training workouts, as well as plyometric or jumping workouts. Collectively, these training methods produce qualities that allow athletes to be stronger, and more powerful, in hopes of ultimately running faster. In is important for sprinters that their muscular system is in the optimum ratio in order to maximise their chances of success. As such, in their training they seek to avoid excessive muscle imbalances developing especially in regard to a lateral imbalance between the left and right sides of their body. For example, the strength of their left and right legs should be approximately even and neither leg should be excessively stronger than the other. If there is an excessive lateral imbalance, with one side of the body much stronger than the other, then it can result in negative physical stresses, overuse injuries and poor sprinting form. Methods to avoid this are therefore incorporated into sprint training. During the 200m and 400m sprints athletes run counter-clockwise around curved sections of the track. This is known as running the bend or curvilinear running. When sprinters run around these curved sections of track, their gait becomes asynchronous meaning that their left stride is shorter and their right stride longer. In order to avoid their leg muscles developing in a lop sided fashion they also run clockwise around the track during training. This means that, overall, they are using their left and right legs in a more even manner and therefore their strength develops in more of a balanced way. Similarly, launching from starting blocks is an asynchronous action. The foot on the front pedal drives for longer and applies significantly more force overall in this phase. In order to avoid a strength imbalance developing between the leg used on the front pedal and the one used on the rear pedal, the athlete alternates the foot they use for each pedal i.e. uses the left foot in the front pedal some of the time and the right foot in the front pedal at other times. Such a training practice results in a more even muscular development, improves overall efficiency and reduces the risk of injury. In races, sprinters use their strongest set up and put their preferred foot in the front pedal. Alternating asynchronous actions is a standard method used by athletes to ensure they achieve the optimum muscular development for their discipline and ensure higher levels of success. See also Notes and references External links
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft_Monday#cite_ref-Stella2021_1-3] \| [TOKENS: 1410]
Contents Minecraft Monday Minecraft Monday was a weekly esports tournament for the sandbox video game Minecraft. It was created by the internet personality Keemstar, known for his content on social media drama and the host of the tournament Fortnite Fridays, upon repeated suggestions from meme YouTuber Grandayy. The event featured online creators, invited based upon their popularity rather than gameplay skill, in teams of two, competing to score the most points across a series of minigames of various genres. The winning team was awarded $10,000 USD. The tournament debuted on June 24, 2019, and ended after its server was breached during the 14th event on October 7, 2019. Minecraft Monday was credited with drawing renewed attention to Minecraft for its roster of popular creators, which included Fortnite player Ninja, YouTuber PewDiePie, and makeup vlogger James Charles, but caused community conflict due to the mixture of experienced and inexperienced Minecraft players. The cast allowed one player, Technoblade, to gain recognition in the Minecraft community after winning 4 out of the 14 events, and placing as the best-scoring individual in 7 of them. Despite social media updates by Keemstar throughout 2020 regarding a revival, the tournament did not return after its hacking. It inspired another Minecraft tournament, MC Championship, by YouTuber Smajor1995 and the group Noxcrew. Format Minecraft Monday was a competitive tournament in Minecraft, a sandbox video game developed by Mojang Studios. Players were divided into teams of two and would compete to score the highest points. Although the first two events only featured the player versus player (PvP) battle royale mode Hunger Games, later events introduced various other minigames to test different skillsets. The revised gamelist, which changed each week, included modes such as Bingo and Capture the Flag. The event was hosted weekly on Mondays and was broadcast live by its players, most often to Twitch; the event's host, UMG Gaming, also livestreamed the events. $10,000 USD, sponsored by the gaming drink mix G Fuel,[‡ 1] and later also the Minecraft server host Apex Hosting,[‡ 2] was awarded to both the winning team and a random viewer. During the event's lifetime, the organizers also hosted a public Minecraft server under the IP mcmondays.com. History Minecraft Monday was created by Keemstar, a controversial internet personality known for his videos about social media drama, after the meme YouTuber Grandayy had spent over a year pushing for him to pursue the idea. Keemstar already hosted the event Fortnite Fridays, and would later launch a third competition, Warzone Wednesday. Like Keemstar's other tournaments, players were invited on basis of online following rather than gameplay skill, in order to attract viewership. The first event on June 24, 2019, was seen live by over one million viewers; according to Dexerto, the Fortnite player Ninja peaked at 400,000 concurrent viewers on his Twitch livestream, before he prematurely quit during the fourth game after dying quickly in every round. The participation of several prominent creators – including Ninja, PewDiePie, and James Charles – allowed Minecraft YouTuber Technoblade to rise in prominence, after he consecutively won the first two weeks of the tournament. Technoblade's winning streak ended in Week 3, which was won by streamers Traves and Cscoop. Conflict generated within the tournament's community due to organizational issues; some viewers considered the teammatching unbalanced due to the participation of both veteran and beginner Minecraft players, and some criticized the minigame selection. Technoblade would win the tournament twice more, in Weeks 6 and 10.[‡ 3] YouTuber Skeppy won with teammate BadBoyHalo in Weeks 5 and 7, and again with Vikkstar123 in Week 9.[‡ 3] A duo consisting of streamers xQc and M0xxy won the tournament back-to-back in Weeks 12 and 13. At the end of the 13th week, YouTuber MrBeast collaborated with Keemstar during Hunger Games to place a $15,000 bounty on Technoblade, which was taken by Bajan Canadian. The Minecraft Monday server was breached during Week 14 on October 7, 2019. Whilst the tournament was ongoing, hackers griefed buildings and the minigame arenas; Minecraft Monday, as well as Fortnite Fridays, were subsequently placed on hiatus. Keemstar complained on Twitter that they had been running Minecraft Monday on a "shoe-string budget" and had been cutting corners, but said that the tournament would return in November 2019. In May 2020, Keemstar's organization KeemPark posted a screenshot of a remade Minecraft Monday lobby, created in collaboration with Bajan Canadian and his developer. KeemPark stated the tournament would return within three weeks. Keemstar would tweet two months later that "Minecraft Monday is coming soon!",[‡ 4] but the event would ultimately not return. Legacy Writers credited Minecraft Monday with causing an increased attention towards Minecraft. Patricia Hernandez, a writer for Polygon, wrote that Minecraft Monday and other online projects, such as PewDiePie's playthrough of the game, caused a resurgence in the game's popularity. In an article for The Esports Observer, Max Miceli noted a significant increase in Twitch viewership for Minecraft as the event went on. While the game only rarely surpassed 500,000 hours watched a day prior to June 2019, the day of the first event reached 781,000 hours watched, and subsequent days surpassed one million. Esport Insider's Marloes Valentina Stella described Minecraft Monday as the second major competitive tournament in Minecraft. Unlike the largely unsuccessful partnership of Badlion Client and major esports organizer ESL around 2017 (the first major tournament series), Stella thought the roster of well-known internet creators made it "no surprise that Minecraft Monday [became] the most famous Minecraft tournament". Regardless, she attributed the event's closure to community conflict, the hacking during Week 14, and the controversial status of Keemstar. YouTuber Smajor1995, who played in the event, said he was inspired by Minecraft Monday to create the tournament MC Championship, which he organizes with the group Noxcrew. Smajor liked the idea of bringing creators together for a Minecraft event, but found Keemstar hard to work with. According to Gökhan Çakır for Dot Esports, MC Championship was able to fill the "gigantic gap" in the competitive Minecraft scene after Minecraft Monday's closure. List of winners Notes References Sources from Keemstar, UMG Gaming, event partners, or participants. In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡): External links
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve%27s_Lava_Chicken#cite_ref-1] \| [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/Minecraft_Monday#cite_ref-Heck2021_1_2-1] \| [TOKENS: 1410]
Contents Minecraft Monday Minecraft Monday was a weekly esports tournament for the sandbox video game Minecraft. It was created by the internet personality Keemstar, known for his content on social media drama and the host of the tournament Fortnite Fridays, upon repeated suggestions from meme YouTuber Grandayy. The event featured online creators, invited based upon their popularity rather than gameplay skill, in teams of two, competing to score the most points across a series of minigames of various genres. The winning team was awarded $10,000 USD. The tournament debuted on June 24, 2019, and ended after its server was breached during the 14th event on October 7, 2019. Minecraft Monday was credited with drawing renewed attention to Minecraft for its roster of popular creators, which included Fortnite player Ninja, YouTuber PewDiePie, and makeup vlogger James Charles, but caused community conflict due to the mixture of experienced and inexperienced Minecraft players. The cast allowed one player, Technoblade, to gain recognition in the Minecraft community after winning 4 out of the 14 events, and placing as the best-scoring individual in 7 of them. Despite social media updates by Keemstar throughout 2020 regarding a revival, the tournament did not return after its hacking. It inspired another Minecraft tournament, MC Championship, by YouTuber Smajor1995 and the group Noxcrew. Format Minecraft Monday was a competitive tournament in Minecraft, a sandbox video game developed by Mojang Studios. Players were divided into teams of two and would compete to score the highest points. Although the first two events only featured the player versus player (PvP) battle royale mode Hunger Games, later events introduced various other minigames to test different skillsets. The revised gamelist, which changed each week, included modes such as Bingo and Capture the Flag. The event was hosted weekly on Mondays and was broadcast live by its players, most often to Twitch; the event's host, UMG Gaming, also livestreamed the events. $10,000 USD, sponsored by the gaming drink mix G Fuel,[‡ 1] and later also the Minecraft server host Apex Hosting,[‡ 2] was awarded to both the winning team and a random viewer. During the event's lifetime, the organizers also hosted a public Minecraft server under the IP mcmondays.com. History Minecraft Monday was created by Keemstar, a controversial internet personality known for his videos about social media drama, after the meme YouTuber Grandayy had spent over a year pushing for him to pursue the idea. Keemstar already hosted the event Fortnite Fridays, and would later launch a third competition, Warzone Wednesday. Like Keemstar's other tournaments, players were invited on basis of online following rather than gameplay skill, in order to attract viewership. The first event on June 24, 2019, was seen live by over one million viewers; according to Dexerto, the Fortnite player Ninja peaked at 400,000 concurrent viewers on his Twitch livestream, before he prematurely quit during the fourth game after dying quickly in every round. The participation of several prominent creators – including Ninja, PewDiePie, and James Charles – allowed Minecraft YouTuber Technoblade to rise in prominence, after he consecutively won the first two weeks of the tournament. Technoblade's winning streak ended in Week 3, which was won by streamers Traves and Cscoop. Conflict generated within the tournament's community due to organizational issues; some viewers considered the teammatching unbalanced due to the participation of both veteran and beginner Minecraft players, and some criticized the minigame selection. Technoblade would win the tournament twice more, in Weeks 6 and 10.[‡ 3] YouTuber Skeppy won with teammate BadBoyHalo in Weeks 5 and 7, and again with Vikkstar123 in Week 9.[‡ 3] A duo consisting of streamers xQc and M0xxy won the tournament back-to-back in Weeks 12 and 13. At the end of the 13th week, YouTuber MrBeast collaborated with Keemstar during Hunger Games to place a $15,000 bounty on Technoblade, which was taken by Bajan Canadian. The Minecraft Monday server was breached during Week 14 on October 7, 2019. Whilst the tournament was ongoing, hackers griefed buildings and the minigame arenas; Minecraft Monday, as well as Fortnite Fridays, were subsequently placed on hiatus. Keemstar complained on Twitter that they had been running Minecraft Monday on a "shoe-string budget" and had been cutting corners, but said that the tournament would return in November 2019. In May 2020, Keemstar's organization KeemPark posted a screenshot of a remade Minecraft Monday lobby, created in collaboration with Bajan Canadian and his developer. KeemPark stated the tournament would return within three weeks. Keemstar would tweet two months later that "Minecraft Monday is coming soon!",[‡ 4] but the event would ultimately not return. Legacy Writers credited Minecraft Monday with causing an increased attention towards Minecraft. Patricia Hernandez, a writer for Polygon, wrote that Minecraft Monday and other online projects, such as PewDiePie's playthrough of the game, caused a resurgence in the game's popularity. In an article for The Esports Observer, Max Miceli noted a significant increase in Twitch viewership for Minecraft as the event went on. While the game only rarely surpassed 500,000 hours watched a day prior to June 2019, the day of the first event reached 781,000 hours watched, and subsequent days surpassed one million. Esport Insider's Marloes Valentina Stella described Minecraft Monday as the second major competitive tournament in Minecraft. Unlike the largely unsuccessful partnership of Badlion Client and major esports organizer ESL around 2017 (the first major tournament series), Stella thought the roster of well-known internet creators made it "no surprise that Minecraft Monday [became] the most famous Minecraft tournament". Regardless, she attributed the event's closure to community conflict, the hacking during Week 14, and the controversial status of Keemstar. YouTuber Smajor1995, who played in the event, said he was inspired by Minecraft Monday to create the tournament MC Championship, which he organizes with the group Noxcrew. Smajor liked the idea of bringing creators together for a Minecraft event, but found Keemstar hard to work with. According to Gökhan Çakır for Dot Esports, MC Championship was able to fill the "gigantic gap" in the competitive Minecraft scene after Minecraft Monday's closure. List of winners Notes References Sources from Keemstar, UMG Gaming, event partners, or participants. In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡): External links
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Minecraft_Legends&action=edit&section=5] \| [TOKENS: 1430]
Editing Minecraft Legends (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 â Ä ä Ǎ ǎ Ă ă Ā ā Ã 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 6 hidden categories (help):
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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/Steve%27s_Lava_Chicken#cite_ref-:0_3-0] \| [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/Minecraft_Monday#cite_ref-Newell2019_1_3-1] \| [TOKENS: 1410]
Contents Minecraft Monday Minecraft Monday was a weekly esports tournament for the sandbox video game Minecraft. It was created by the internet personality Keemstar, known for his content on social media drama and the host of the tournament Fortnite Fridays, upon repeated suggestions from meme YouTuber Grandayy. The event featured online creators, invited based upon their popularity rather than gameplay skill, in teams of two, competing to score the most points across a series of minigames of various genres. The winning team was awarded $10,000 USD. The tournament debuted on June 24, 2019, and ended after its server was breached during the 14th event on October 7, 2019. Minecraft Monday was credited with drawing renewed attention to Minecraft for its roster of popular creators, which included Fortnite player Ninja, YouTuber PewDiePie, and makeup vlogger James Charles, but caused community conflict due to the mixture of experienced and inexperienced Minecraft players. The cast allowed one player, Technoblade, to gain recognition in the Minecraft community after winning 4 out of the 14 events, and placing as the best-scoring individual in 7 of them. Despite social media updates by Keemstar throughout 2020 regarding a revival, the tournament did not return after its hacking. It inspired another Minecraft tournament, MC Championship, by YouTuber Smajor1995 and the group Noxcrew. Format Minecraft Monday was a competitive tournament in Minecraft, a sandbox video game developed by Mojang Studios. Players were divided into teams of two and would compete to score the highest points. Although the first two events only featured the player versus player (PvP) battle royale mode Hunger Games, later events introduced various other minigames to test different skillsets. The revised gamelist, which changed each week, included modes such as Bingo and Capture the Flag. The event was hosted weekly on Mondays and was broadcast live by its players, most often to Twitch; the event's host, UMG Gaming, also livestreamed the events. $10,000 USD, sponsored by the gaming drink mix G Fuel,[‡ 1] and later also the Minecraft server host Apex Hosting,[‡ 2] was awarded to both the winning team and a random viewer. During the event's lifetime, the organizers also hosted a public Minecraft server under the IP mcmondays.com. History Minecraft Monday was created by Keemstar, a controversial internet personality known for his videos about social media drama, after the meme YouTuber Grandayy had spent over a year pushing for him to pursue the idea. Keemstar already hosted the event Fortnite Fridays, and would later launch a third competition, Warzone Wednesday. Like Keemstar's other tournaments, players were invited on basis of online following rather than gameplay skill, in order to attract viewership. The first event on June 24, 2019, was seen live by over one million viewers; according to Dexerto, the Fortnite player Ninja peaked at 400,000 concurrent viewers on his Twitch livestream, before he prematurely quit during the fourth game after dying quickly in every round. The participation of several prominent creators – including Ninja, PewDiePie, and James Charles – allowed Minecraft YouTuber Technoblade to rise in prominence, after he consecutively won the first two weeks of the tournament. Technoblade's winning streak ended in Week 3, which was won by streamers Traves and Cscoop. Conflict generated within the tournament's community due to organizational issues; some viewers considered the teammatching unbalanced due to the participation of both veteran and beginner Minecraft players, and some criticized the minigame selection. Technoblade would win the tournament twice more, in Weeks 6 and 10.[‡ 3] YouTuber Skeppy won with teammate BadBoyHalo in Weeks 5 and 7, and again with Vikkstar123 in Week 9.[‡ 3] A duo consisting of streamers xQc and M0xxy won the tournament back-to-back in Weeks 12 and 13. At the end of the 13th week, YouTuber MrBeast collaborated with Keemstar during Hunger Games to place a $15,000 bounty on Technoblade, which was taken by Bajan Canadian. The Minecraft Monday server was breached during Week 14 on October 7, 2019. Whilst the tournament was ongoing, hackers griefed buildings and the minigame arenas; Minecraft Monday, as well as Fortnite Fridays, were subsequently placed on hiatus. Keemstar complained on Twitter that they had been running Minecraft Monday on a "shoe-string budget" and had been cutting corners, but said that the tournament would return in November 2019. In May 2020, Keemstar's organization KeemPark posted a screenshot of a remade Minecraft Monday lobby, created in collaboration with Bajan Canadian and his developer. KeemPark stated the tournament would return within three weeks. Keemstar would tweet two months later that "Minecraft Monday is coming soon!",[‡ 4] but the event would ultimately not return. Legacy Writers credited Minecraft Monday with causing an increased attention towards Minecraft. Patricia Hernandez, a writer for Polygon, wrote that Minecraft Monday and other online projects, such as PewDiePie's playthrough of the game, caused a resurgence in the game's popularity. In an article for The Esports Observer, Max Miceli noted a significant increase in Twitch viewership for Minecraft as the event went on. While the game only rarely surpassed 500,000 hours watched a day prior to June 2019, the day of the first event reached 781,000 hours watched, and subsequent days surpassed one million. Esport Insider's Marloes Valentina Stella described Minecraft Monday as the second major competitive tournament in Minecraft. Unlike the largely unsuccessful partnership of Badlion Client and major esports organizer ESL around 2017 (the first major tournament series), Stella thought the roster of well-known internet creators made it "no surprise that Minecraft Monday [became] the most famous Minecraft tournament". Regardless, she attributed the event's closure to community conflict, the hacking during Week 14, and the controversial status of Keemstar. YouTuber Smajor1995, who played in the event, said he was inspired by Minecraft Monday to create the tournament MC Championship, which he organizes with the group Noxcrew. Smajor liked the idea of bringing creators together for a Minecraft event, but found Keemstar hard to work with. According to Gökhan Çakır for Dot Esports, MC Championship was able to fill the "gigantic gap" in the competitive Minecraft scene after Minecraft Monday's closure. List of winners Notes References Sources from Keemstar, UMG Gaming, event partners, or participants. In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡): External links
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