What happened: NetEase on Monday said it would partner with The Pokémon Company and Gamefreak to release “Pokémon Quest” in China, marking the first official release of a Pokémon game in the country.Released in June 2018, “Pokémon Quest” features cube-shaped Pokémon similar to that in the game “Minecraft.” NetEase started testing the game in March 2019, and still only allows users to sign up for what appears to be another beta during summer vacation.The release date of the game is still unknown.Why it’s important: Pokémon is a highly popular series in China, and NetEase’s release of “Pokémon Quest” could help the company boost its gaming revenue, which saw strong growth in the first quarter of 2019.Tencent’s “Pokémon Go” clone, “Let’s Hunt Monsters,” for instance, has been among the top 10 games in the free game chart of Apple’s Chinese App Store for a month since its launch.The recent box office hit “Detective Pikachu,” which features the most widely known Pokémon, also amassed $70.3 million in China region ticket sales in fewer than 10 days.

Kids today are voracious technology consumers for sure, but they are also active participants—creators, collaborators, and even influencers.So parents have much more to wrestle with than some broad-brush notion of “screen time.” Whatever you think of Fortnite, when children play it they are working together as a team (that’s good!), in a tech-mediated environment (is that bad?); and they’re not just playing a videogame, they’re socializing—factor that into your screen-time calculus.The youngs are also creating their own content, from unboxing toy reviews and “watch me play Minecraft” videos to DIY slime posts on Instagram, some of them attracting massive audiences and making serious money.They have agency and aspirations online, which makes them vulnerable to the same forces and incentives that continue to transform society.

Minecraft, which launched 10 years ago for the PC, has sold more than 176 million copies, which possibly makes it the best-selling video game of all time.Microsoft announced the milestone in an Xbox Wire post that celebrates Minecraft‘s 10th birthday.Despite being around for a decade, the game’s popularity remains strong, helped by its presence in practically all video game platforms available.At more than 176 million copies sold, Minecraft may be the best-selling video game of all time.Tetris is considered its closest rival, but it is difficult to compare the two games due to the different versions of the block-matching puzzler.According to Windows Central, past iterations of Tetris, not including the free-to-play versions, have sold 70 million copies, which was reported in 2009.

Microsoft may believe it has made augmented reality's killer app: the just-announced Minecraft Earth for iOS and Android.AR on mobile devices may carry tremendous potential, but it's easy enough to argue that the mainstream value proposition hasn't arrived yet.Pokémon Go is probably the most oft-cited "killer app" for AR, but it's only barely a true AR app.And there are some neat shopping apps and educational tools (from Warby Parker and Ikea, for example) but none of them have made a big dent in the mainstream consciousness.At first glance, Minecraft Earth seems a bit like Pokémon Go, given that it seems to be location aware in some ways.Players will be able to construct builds on their living room tables either alone or in collaboration with others, then go and place them full-size in the outside world when they're ready.

After teasing the announcement during its Build 2019 keynote, Microsoft has officially announced Minecraft Earth, a new augmented reality (AR) game in the style of Pokemon Go for iOS and Android devices.The announcement was made today – on the game’s 10-year anniversary – and Microsoft says that Minecraft Earth will go into beta this summer (June - August) with pre-registration available now on Minecraft Earth's website.What makes Minecraft Earth different from the other AR games like Pokemon Go or Harry Potter Wizards Unite is that, instead of collecting or battling iconic monsters, Minecraft Earth is putting a heavy emphasis on collaborative building – i.e.the thing that made Minecraft so famous in the first place.According to early details on the game, players will collect resources while walking around their neighborhoods which can then be used in either small-scale construction projects with friends or life-size collaborations with anyone else in your neighborhood.While the foundation of the game seems to be set around the construction aspect, there will also be a survival aspect to the game where you have to fend off creeps, and a cultivation system where mobs (Minecraft’s term for animals) can be crossbred to create new creatures for either your public or private creations.

Today is a pretty big day for Minecraft, being the 10th anniversary of its first public release.The game has come a long way in 10 years, spreading from PC to pretty much every modern platform available, becoming a tool for education, and soon, it’ll even make the jump to augmented reality.It’s one of the most enduring games of the modern era, and today, Microsoft gave us a better idea of just how popular it’s become over these past 10 years.Microsoft has revealed that Minecraft has sold 176 million copies since it first launched, so if there was any question as to the game’s status as one of the most popular games of all time, it can now be laid to rest.In fact, that figure of 176 million sold is likely enough to make Minecraft the best-selling video game of all time.Minecraft‘s popularity only stands to grow further from here.

In celebration of Minecraft‘s tenth anniversary, Microsoft played its Pokemon GO card and released an augmented reality phone app that shows the game pasted over the real world, called Minecraft Earth.This is perhaps the most novel way of incorporating AR into a game since the original Pokemon GO, but it just makes sense, doesn’t it?According to Microsoft, players will be able to gather resources, collaborate with other players on builds, and encounter mobs of creatures — some of which will be hostile and must be fought, which reminds me a little bit of that Walking Dead AR game from a while back.They’ll also be able to partake in challenges and place their creations “in” the world around them, and the reveal video implies your creations will be visible to other players in your area.The only game we really have to compare it with is Pokemon GO but the two don’t actually appear to be that similar.As PokeGO is more about catching monsters, it only needs to show the world around you when you’re actually in the act of throwing a ball at them.

Last week, Mojang and Microsoft started teasing something very interesting ahead of Minecraft‘s 10th anniversary: an AR game.Today, the first public release of Minecraft turns 10 years old, and the two companies are celebrating by ever-so-slightly pulling the veil back on that AR game, which is called Minecraft Earth.Making the jump to AR worked wonders for Pokemon, so can it work for Minecraft too?At this point, it’s probably too early to call.Mojang’s reveal of Minecraft Earth doesn’t delve into many specifics, and indeed, the trailer that you see below doesn’t show off much gameplay.It seems we’ll need to wait longer for the game to be fully detailed, but there are some important morsels of information that Mojang did share today.

First released ten years ago today, the game rose to success through word of mouth.The game remains a mainstay among young gamers to this day.Microsoft says about half of all children in the U.S. between ages 9 and 11 play Minecraft.The map’s numerous icons, most of which are ‘tappables’ – chests or resource nodes that you can tap for a reward once you’re within 70 meters – only deepen comparisons.That’s when your expectations will be shattered.It’s a bit mind-blowing to come across a classic Minecraft tree and, through your phone, see it blend perfectly into the environment.

The Minecraft team at Microsoft has finally taken the wraps off a new mobile augmented reality game.It’s called Minecraft Earth, and it’s going to bring an augmented reality (or AR) Minecraft world to your Android or iOS smartphone later this year.The graphics are given a bit of blocky Minecraft paint, but the overall look and feel of the overworld map isn’t far off previous games in this genre.If you want to pick up loot sitting twenty feet away, you must walk there.There’s no shortcuts or alternatives to playing in AR.That’s where the blocks you collected on your commute or a walk through the nearest park can be used to build a home, a castle, or a dungeon.

One of the most popular games in existence is getting the Pokémon Go treatment.Microsoft has announced a new AR mobile game called Minecraft Earth, slated to arrive on Android and iOS this summer.Well, not so fast — the closed beta version will be available on both mobile platforms this summer, but Microsoft is remaining quiet on full release details.As with other closed beta programs, there will be limited spots available.You also have to be 18 or over to join.The reveal trailer attached above is more of a promotional trailer, so we haven’t seen any actual gameplay yet.

Minecraft turned 10 on Friday and you can turn back the clock to play the original version in your browser right now.Developer Mojang released Minecraft Classic earlier this month, bringing the sandbox creation game back to its original form as seen on May 17, 2009."You can run Minecraft Classic in your browser and you'll soon see why," Mojang's Tom Stone wrote in a release."With just 32 blocks to build with, all the original bugs, and an (inter)face only a mother could love, Minecraft 2009 is even more glorious than we remembered!"Minecraft has come a long way since its earliest blocky days.It remains one of the top paid mobile games in Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store, while Minecraft: Education Edition has become a popular way to teach kids things like computer coding, engineering, architecture, urban planning and math.

More than 90 million people play it every month, and that number has gone up every year, boosted most recently by 200 million Chinese users.Back in the Minecraft offices in Redmond, Washington, where they shared a building with Halo studio 343 Industries, the team would put people in the HoloLens and then send AR sheep walking down the hallway toward them—“slowly, certainly not threateningly,” Persson says now, sitting in a conference room right next to that hallway.Invariably, every single person was so immersed that they would move out of the way to let the blocky Minecraft sheep pass.Something clicked for Persson (who bears no relation to Minecraft creator and Mojang co-founder Markus “Notch” Persson).He began discussing the idea with Mojang chief creative officer Jens Bergensten, even flying to Stockholm the next month and dragging him around the city for hours while they waved their phones and brainstormed.In order for multiple people to be able to see the same thing in the same place—say, a Minecraft pig standing in front of a fountain—you need to be able to permanently establish the pig’s location in the real world, what’s called an anchor.

Pokemon Go changed the way people think of mobile games, with its slick use of augmented reality overlaying computer-generated monsters on the real world.Here's how the game works: Using your own two feet, you explore your neighborhood with your phone pointed in front of you.It may seem like a fad, particularly because it's most popularly used with filters in Instagram and Snapchat.But AR is also powering headsets like Microsoft's HoloLens 2, Magic Leap and an unannounced headset from Apple, which sources told CNET is expected to be released next year.Minecraft Earth could represent Minecraft's next era.Quite the opposite: The game will be up against a lot of competition, including Pokemon Go-creator Niantic's next big title, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, due later this year.

There's a new " Minecraft" game coming this summer, and it's a twist on the wildly popular franchise.The game is called "Minecraft Earth" — a nod to the central concept of the game, which promises to bring the world of "Minecraft" into reality.Like "Pokémon Go" before it, "Minecraft Earth" is a free-to-play, smartphone-only game that's intended to get players exploring the world around them.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.The next major "Minecraft" game costs nothing, exists only on smartphones, and brings the blockbuster building game into the world around you.Microsoft revealed "Minecraft Earth" on Friday — an upcoming smartphone game that intends to do for "Minecraft" what "Pokémon Go" did for "Pokémon."

As he stands in front of me inside a Minecraft-themed conference room on Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington, I’m immediately drawn to the stacks of Lego blocks on the table beside him.Lego is the perfect analogy for Minecraft.We’ve already seen holograms through Microsoft’s HoloLens headset, but the company now wants to bring this technology to a much broader scale with the help of Minecraft Earth.Minecraft has 91 million active players, and now Microsoft wants to take the Pokémon Go concept a big step further by letting Minecraft players create and share whatever they’ve made in the game with friends in the real world, away from TV screens and monitors.While it’s an adaptation, it’s built on the existing Bedrock engine so it will be very familiar to existing Minecraft players.These adventures spawn dynamically on the Minecraft Earth map and are designed for multiple people to get involved in.

As part of its ongoing celebration, publisher Microsoft revealed today that lifetime sales of Minecraft have surpassed 176 million copies across consoles, PC, and mobile.It also said that developer Mojang is working on a new game in the beloved franchise.Minecraft Earth is a free-to-play augmented reality game for iOS and Android that transports the familiar block-building gameplay into the real world.You’ll gather resources, fight against mobs (Minecraft’s deadly monsters), and interact with other people’s creations.Mojang will launch a closed beta this summer, and you can sign up for it here.In a blog post, Microsoft said Minecraft Earth is using the company’s Azure Spatial Anchors AR tracking technology and integrates with its backend platform PlayFab.

When your game tops a hundred million players, your thoughts naturally turn to doubling that number.That’s the case with the creators, or rather stewards, of Minecraft at Microsoft, where the game has become a product category unto itself.Where it’s unlike other such games is that it’s built on top of Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, meaning it’s not some offshoot or mobile cash-in; this is straight-up Minecraft, with all the blocks, monsters, and redstone switches you desire, but in AR format.That introduces some fun opportunities and a few non-trivial limitations.There’s a map, of courseBecause it’s Minecraft Earth, you’ll inhabit a special Minecraftified version of the real world, just as Pokemon GO and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite put a layer atop existing streets and landmarks.

Netflix revealed today that it was going to host a panel at E3, of all things.It’s not-so-subtly hinting at an interest in games, which it’s been developing for several months despite outwardly expressing the opposite.If nothing else, I’d be curious to see what its idea of a Netflix show-to-video game adaptation would look like, given its recent ventures in interactive film.The NX on Netflix Twitter account, which promotes the platform’s fantasy and sci-fi titles, did that thing where it tweets at another verified company account, in this case the E3 account.— NX (@NXOnNetflix) May 13, 2019The E3 account “asked” what the company could be bringing to their panel, titled, “Bringing Your Favorite Shows to Life: Developing Netflix Originals into Video Games.

In CrazySteve, you’re nevertheless exclusive, one man and an unending supply of TNT, limited who likewise develops to boundless sizes by eating apples.This amusement has special illustrations, appropriate for all ages, particularly kids and families.You can encounter this diversion on your program since it is a glimmer amusement.In this diversion, you control a minecraft character.You will play with different players on the planet since this is a web-based diversion.Endeavor to gather jewels and precious stones so you can plant 6 bombs in the meantime and push them in the direction you need.