Dec 18 2014

Minecraft Story Mode Announced

Minecraft Story Mode is coming in 2015.

The fact that Minecraft does not have a story is apparently not a problem.

Minecraft Sales Stats 8-16-13

This was back in 2013.

Confused? That’s OK. You’re probably an adult. Ask your kids. Or check out this semi-game on Mojang.com. (More on that later.)

The new game will be made by Mojang, the original developer of Minecraft, and Telltale Games. Telltale is best-known for their mega-hit episodic game The Walking Dead, based on the comic book and TV show. That game is NOT for children, and since Minecraft is played by a lot of young’uns, some have expressed concern that Minecraft Story Mode will be violent. What I’ve read says this will not be the case. I’m inclined to believe it, since that would hurt sales enormously.

Minecraft, of course, is the game that your children are probably playing, possibly right now as you read this. Mojang, the company that spawned the worldwide phenomenon, was purchased by Microsoft for a huge pile of money earlier this year.

This latest news about Minecraft Story Mode was hailed on Twitter by California Representative Jared Huffman

…and he received mad props for doing so:

What’s my point? That Minecraft is a big deal. Microsoft reportedly paid $2.5 billion for Mojang, and they expect to make that money back by July of 2015, according to a story on IGN.com. That should give you an idea of why this is newsworthy.

I don’t play Minecraft, and don’t plan on playing the new game, although I imagine I will at least hear more about it and possibly find myself being asked “Dad can I buy Minecraft Story Mode?” I did play with this interactive press release on Mojang.com called Info Quest II. It’s actually a fairly amusing bit of business, and a clever way to answer folks’ questions about a new game. Obviously this particular announcement lends itself to an 8-bit-style kindasorta game; I doubt we’ll see car companies use this technique to let the public know about their latest offerings. In this case, I paid more attention to the news than I would have if it had just been a press release. Here’s the link if you want to check it out.

Play Info Quest II. You might learn something…. (Mojang.com)

H/T GameInformer.com

If there’s a Minecrafter in your house, you might want to buy them Minecraft: The Complete Handbook Collection, a boxed set of books about Minecraft. Or a Minecraft Steve Action Figure. (Trust me, that’s a thing.)

Also of interest: This “Minecraft” Community Is Saving The Lives Of Children With Autism (Buzzfeed.com)


Aug 19 2014

Real Life Japanese Toy (Buying) Story

From Kotaku East, the story of a father trying to buy a Yokai Watch watch, which apparently isn’t a watch. It’s some kind of anime-related toy. The story, which I admit I expected to find exasperating, is actually rather sweet, mostly because the author, Brian Ashcraft, appears to have raised his son well. There’s no whining, no “dad, you go wait on line for the toy while I sit home and ignore the 782 toys that I already have”. The kid, who is 5 years old, even calls Toys R Us himself. He also does something very cute that I won’t spoil for you because it’s, well, cute, and the original article isn’t very long so just go ahead and click the link below and read it.

Consider it research: according to one of the related links below, the company that makes the Yokai Watch non-watch could release it over here. Looking at how popular this thing is in Japan, I’d say it’s worth a try.

Buying Japan’s Most Popular Toy Was Crazy Hard – Kotaku


May 27 2014

inFAMOUS: Second Son PS4 Amazon Lightning Deal

An Amazon Lightning Deal on the PS4 video game inFAMOUS: Second Son. Order quick because they do sell out of these. Basically you get the game for 40% less than the regular price. Details:

inFAMOUS: Second Son PS4 Amazon Deal

List Price:$59.99
Price:$35.99
You Save:$24.00 (40%)

Not bad, eh? Grab it… son. (Or daughter. Or neither.)

Amazon.com: inFAMOUS: Second Son Standard Edition PlayStation 4: Video Games. (Amazon Lightning Deal, may expire at any time)

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