Thursday 27 March 2014

When to expect Xbox Minecraft Update

Well actually the Minecraft 14 update for Xbox is now live (and the PS3 version should follow in a day or so.) We've had a quick play through of the 4J studios flagship titles and we've definitely got a list of favourite new MC XBOX360 features and some that we still have yet to try.
Some of our favourite speculation going down right now is how efficient the new tripwire hooks are going to be in creating trapchests. Combine a tripwire with the new ender chest and you're going to have an awesome multi dimensional trap! Will this be useful to trap ghast when they start pouring out into the overworked through abandoned nether portals, hmmm.
New blocks like emerald look great and the addiction of carpets is another interesting decorative feature, one of those aforementioned we'd like to try is to see if we can combine trapdoors with a carpet on top to disguise them(and pressure plates too). Pig riding has also got easier thanks to ten carrot on a stick which really gets the little porkers racing, and it's easier to get a pig ride too as some pigs now drop saddles on their demise. Thoughts go out to the villagers who now have to take up the daily grind by all having different professions, and even death is no escape from the Minecraft villager rat race as Zombie villagers have reportedly been seen! Perhaps those villagers with better professions can save up for a  yacht from www.a2a-yachting.net - BVI Yacht Charters  ! Here is the 
List of Minecraft Xbox Update features:
New items in Minecraft Xbox
  • Emerald
  • Emerald Ore
  • Block of Emerald
  • Ender Chest
  • Tripwire Hook
  • Enchanted Golden Apple
  • Anvil
  • Flower Pot
  • Cobblestone Walls
  • Mossy Cobblestone Walls
  • Wither Painting
  • Potato
  • Baked Potato
  • Poisonous Potato
  • Carrot
  • Golden Carrot
  • Carrot on a Stick
  • Pumpkin Pie
  • Night Vision Potion
  • Invisibility Potion
  • Nether Quartz
  • Nether Quartz Ore
  • Block of Quartz
  • Quartz Slab
  • Quartz Stair
  • Chiseled Quartz Block
  • Pillar Quartz Block
  • Enchanted Book
New features in Minecraft Xbox 360 update 14
  • - Book recipe changed.
  • - Boats break Lily Pads, instead of Lily Pads breaking Boats.
  • - Pigs drop more Porkchops.
  • - Slimes spawn less in Superflat worlds.
  • - Creeper damage variable based on difficulty setting, more knockback.
  • - Fixed Endermen not opening their jaws.
  • - Added new Host Options for flying, invisibility and invulnerability for remote players.
  • - Added teleporting of players (using the player menu in-game).
  • - Furnace will return an empty bucket when fueled by a bucket of lava.
  • - Updated Bonus Chest content with more items.
  • - Added new tutorials to the Tutorial World for new items and features.
  • - Updated the positions of the Music Disc Chests in the Tutorial World.
  • - Updated all texture packs and mash-up packs with new TU14 additions.
  • - Changed the gray wool texture for City Texture Pack to be more like a road surface.
  • - Added new recipes for Smooth Sandstone and Chiseled Sandstone.
  • - Added new Mobs – Zombie Villagers.
  • - Added new terrain generation features – Desert Temples, Desert Villages, and Jungle Temples.
  • - Added Trading with villagers.
  • - Added Anvil interface.
  • - Added sideways log placement.
  • - Changed placement of half blocks and other blocks on half blocks.
  • - Changed placement of upside down stairs and slabs.
  • - Wooden Buttons and Wooden Pressure Plates can be activated with Arrows.
  • - Can dye leather armor.
  • - Can dye wolf collars.
  • - Can control riding a pig with a Carrot on a Stick.
  • - Added different villager professions.
  • - Villagers spawned from a spawn egg will have a random profession.
  • - Furnaces can use wooden tools as a fuel.
  • - Ice and Glass panes can be collected with silk touch enchanted tools.
  • - Nether mobs can spawn in the Overworld from Portals.
  • - Creepers and Spiders are aggressive towards the last player that hit them.
  • - Mobs in Creative mode become neutral again after a short period.
  • - Remove knockback when drowning.
  • - Doors being broken by zombies show damage.
  • - Ice melts in the Nether.
  • - Cauldrons fill up when out in the rain.
  • - Pistons take twice as long to update.
  • - Pig drops Saddle when killed (if has one).
  • - Sky color in The End changed.
  • - String can be placed (for Tripwires).
  • - Rain drips through leaves.
  • - Levers can be placed on the bottom of blocks.
  • - TNT does variable damage depending on difficulty setting.

Wednesday 5 March 2014

Finding your Friv game

The Friv game culture is something that has almost passed us by on Gametrender with a lot of our gaming coming in the form of IOS or Android, but every once in a while being a game reviewer you have to explore the roots of gaming culture and what really matters at the time. The friv gaming scene(frivolous games) is the post modern answer to Flash games. With the likes of Flappy Bird literally turning the idea of what makes a good game a concept without set boundaries friv gaming is putting the jeugosinto modern games.
Stepping back temporarily into the browser world we set out on a journey to see what happened to Flash gaming when it grew up and moved away from home.
It's not hard to find a dedicated site for friv gaming , although very hard to find one that seems totally trustworthy and dubiousness free.
A nice little site that we've come across is frivver, the user interface of the home screen is simplicity itself and projects not only a trustworthy harbour for online games , but certainly doesn't seem to be a bogus online site that is going to fill my PC with bitcoin mining Trojans!
There's a huge variety of games on the site, all presented in post stamp icon size rendering all the fun a click away. Naturally eyes are drawn to the familiar and a visit to the site for many will be worthwhile by the mere fact that it serves as a portal for a decent online version of Flappy Bird. More to the point when web surfing for these online friv games we were a little lazy and set off on the journey via iPad browser. We were stunned to find that the version of Flappy Birds on Frivver was actually playable on Ipad!


Digging a little deeper and postulating we guess that the site is a combination of HTML 5 and Java based Flash gaming. That's not to mislead you as we soon had to carry on our exploration via PC as a lot of games on the IPad , as expected, didn't load up. Although, a nice feature we found was that many of these games that had their roots on the AppStore would, if not playable in the Safari browser, have a handy link to the AppStore.
On a PC the world is the frivolous game of your choice, it's hard to put an accurate figure on it, but we've seen mention of over 700 decent games on this site. Personal favourites so far include a version of Minion Rush as well as a much needed "Kill Flappy Bird" game!
The site is ad supported but these aren't obtrusive and placed with some thought in mind. The easy to use interface quickly gets you to where you want to be and if you're stuck with your choice than a simple search or category search should and will turn up a playing session of whatever duration you wish. So go home or go Friv!

Supernauts Guide

Yet another MineCraft rip off or the biggest social build 'em up crafter of the year? Either way Supernauts is sure to capture a certain type of gamer's attention. The social aspect of the game is also being heavily pushed, so if you want to get a head start enjoy our
Supernauts Guide

If you're already a player then this little beginners guide might not teach you much new about Grand Cru's game, but we'll follow up with a complete Supernauts Walkthrough in the future, in the meantime here's your hints and tips :
How to move
No surprises here with a simple tap to move dynamic. However if your Spacenaut can't access an area than he can't go there.

Moving the Camera
No new tricks here with 2 finger rotation and pinch to zoom supported.
What is the Supernauts universe?
While just a fancy way of naming the games multiplayer, if the devs have their way it'll be the main game universe we occupy this year, access the Supernauts universe by Tapping on the rocket icon on the right-hand side of the screen, this will allow you to see other people's universes. If the multiplayer is as tightly synced as PC Minecraft or even the Blockheads, than this could definitely catch on.

What is SP
SP is the experience points that you gain in Supernauts. Get more SP by completing  Missions, collecting from Citizens, and trading goods. Naturally this SP is used for levelling up and unlocks.


Coins courtesy of Grand Cru
You've got to earn coins in this game to make various purchases, upgrades and trade blocks with the trader. Hopefully this virtual currency paywall won't limit your imagination.
How to earn coins:
Two ways are open to get coins, either complete missions or collect rent from inhabitants. 

 Finding more Gems in Supernauts
In traditional p2p dynamics expect the premium gem currency to be hard to find. Luckily unlike recent p2p efforts by EA(ahem, Dungeon Keeper hide your head in shame), this one has been thought through and the majority of items in game can be purchased with in game currency and gems used just to speed up build times etc. In the meantime if you'd prefer to spend your gem money on something more substantial we recommend a good E-store   http://www.topreplicashopping.com to buy great 1:1 grade Hermes handbags replica and AAA grade Swiss watches replica.
Block Behaviour 
 Blocks are graphically different  but generally have the same properties.
Accessing missions in Supernauts
Now it's time to earn coins and help out your fellow Spacenauts. These objectives can be found by Tapping on the rocket in your World.

What does the Zapper do?
In 1950's Raygun homage the Zapper is used to add and remove blocks in the world. Different Zappers can be selected from the in game wheel.

What are Makers used for?
These items will create materials for you out of space dust. They're used in conjunction with BOTS to convert resources to varying block types.

Decorations
Every decent crafting game has to have decorations, and so does this one , they add nothing except aesthetic appeal.


How do you expand your Supernauts Universe?
The life support cube should be your first port of call if you have expansionist ambitions, upgrading this will speed things up. Expanding more is just a question of purchasing new land from the in game shop and visiting the Block Market. In the meantime if you'd rather spend that gem money on something more substantial we recommend a good E-store http://www.topreplicashopping.com to buy great 1:1 grade Hermes handbags replica and AAA grade swiss watches replica.