Minecraft is a sandbox video game that has been created by a Swedish programmer by the name of Markus Persson. It was later developed and published by Mojang. It was recently announced by Mojang that a new website has been set up by them for Block by Block.
Block by Block is actually a partnership of Mojang with UN-Habitat that uses Minecraft as means of engaging communities in the development of public space. Using this initiative, people who reside in poor and impoverished communities could come together and get involved in tasks which would promote civic identity and improve public spaces.
A public place is incorporated into Minecraft, and then people are asked to come up with ideas as to what should be added to the place and what changes should be brought about into it. People will be able to express their ideas through the game itself.
When a final design is achieved, people can take that to the local council, and other communities. They can then look into it and implement the changes in the public space in real life if the feel it necessary.
If the council decides to implement the changes, monetary aid is provided by Mojang for the project. The whole Block by Block project was fist tested in Kenya and Nepal. However, it has now been initiated in 13 countries.
Some sources have confirmed that fans who want Xbox Live only for Minecraft will not have to double their subscriptions. Microsoft has confirmed itself that fans who want to use the cross-platform multiplayer features of Minecraft Realms will not need to pay for a Xbox Live subscription.
In the previous month, it was announced by the tech giant that it will make the Realm server-renting membership available to those who play the game on mobiles. Fans were quite happy with the announcement as it enabled them to play the game together no matter the platform they were using. Which means that using Xbox Live, fans who played the game on Android, iOS or Windows 10 were able to play the game together for the first time.
Fans will need not subscribe to Xbox Live to take advantage of this feature. The normal subscription of the Realm could cost up to $8 on a monthly basis.
It has been reported that Minecraft has been added to a brand new Battle mini-game. The update arrived free of cost, and it will enable players who play the game on gaming consoles to battle with each other.
Up to 4 players can engage in a battle in the split-screen mode. In the online mode, up to 8 players will be able to battle it out with each other simultaneously. The mini game has been developed by 4J Studios.
A total of three new maps will be included in the update. These maps will become available free of cost. It has been revealed that more maps will be released in the future. These maps will be a part of the map packs that will be released by the developers. Each of these map packs will come with a price tag of $2.99.
However, no announcements regarding the number of map packs that will be released have not been made yet.
The Battle mode shares a close resemblance to the Hunger Games style multiplayer mode that is found in the PC version of Minecraft. Fans who take part in this mode will be put in an arena where they will have to battle with each other.
The battle will last till there is only one player standing. The arena will contain loots which can be collected by the players during the battle.