Minecraft is one of the hottest games on the market and has not received any new versions since its creation in 2009. Of course there have been many minor updates improving the game, but there have been no official new releases of the game until now.
After the purchase of Minecraft by Microsoft, it was quickly wrapped into a Windows 10 Edition and handed out to all Windows owners for free and made available for download. We were hoping that is brand new version of Minecraft would improve the players experience and be a new adventure, but many including myself were disappointed with the current product. It is apparent, though, that it has the potential to be an amazing enhancement to the game once it is out of its Beta phase and more features are released along the way.
There isn’t much to review as far as gameplay goes as it is exactly the same as the Minecraft we all know and love. If you’ve played the blocky builder before, you’ll have no problems getting a handle on what Minecraft Windows 10 Edition is all about. When you load the game up for the first time you will instantly recognize the Pocket Edition interface that was utilized and is a bit awkward on a desktop computer, but, again, if you’ve played it before on a mobile device, it’s instantly familiar.
For now it more or less seems that this Windows 10 edition is simply the Pocket Edition written in C. What does this mean for the game though? When loading up a new world it was almost instant, allowing me to go from introduction screen to a completely new game in a mere matter of seconds which is a significant upgrade in performance.
Looking deeper into the game you can see that it’s connected quite nicely with Xbox Live and will be a cross-platform game allowing players on mobile devices, desktop computers and consoles to play in the same world which will be an awesome upgrade – when it eventually appears. Not only for the sake of being able to play with friends who might prefer an Xbox over a desktop, but it means that you will be able to play on your world from anywhere in the world, on any device; so long as it’s part of the Windows/Xbox eco-system.
Currently, you need to have different servers set up for playing on desktop, pocket or console. Desktop servers are probably the most popular as seen on Minecraft server hosting websites like apexminecrafthosting.com but if you don’t have access to a desktop you have no way to play on it. A Minecraft Windows 10 Edition world will be playable from all devices making it a much more useful tool.
Currently there is no multiplayer available but this is currently planned and we are hoping to see it soon so we can test the performance. With the enhancement of the software coding language we expect it to run much faster especially after constructing massive worlds with many players and modifications.
Another awesome feature of the integration with Xbox Live is that you will be able to easily record your builds and memorable moments from within the game using Xbox Live GameDVR. You can then easily share these screenshots and videos with your Xbox Live friends and, for the Kardashians amongst us, straight to social media. This will make the game much more connected and fun to play and share with friends online.
In its current state there is no reason to switch out from the main release as the Window 10 Edition of Minecraft is still in beta and seems to have been a tool for Microsoft to market Windows 10 to the masses. It is a clever tactic and I hope that it’s not the only thing that they use it for. It has great potential and I believe it can truly enhance the experience and way that players interact with each other and the game.
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