Minecraft Windows 10 Beta (Photo : YouTube)
About one year after Microsoft purchased Mojang, makers of the Minecraft building game, it is updating the Windows 10 and Pocket editions of the popular sandbox video game. It is adding multiplayer cross-platform support; including features unavailable in the mobile version; and allowing PC, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone players to build on a single server.
Minecraft's purchase price was $2.5 billion. The extraordinarily popular building game was originally released in November 2011.
Players of the $7 Pocket Edition will also get new features, according to PC Mag. They include better weather effects (e.g. directional rain and snow accumulation), the ability to create new items, and the chance to sneak and sprint in their built world. Gameplay upgrades include better touch controls and controller support.
A maximum of five players can soon use different platforms to play Minecraft on a local network. For example, five people in one house could play on one device. Up to five players can also use Xbox Live to play the Windows 10 version, according to The Verge.
The game's latest update was launched on July 29. However, the Microsoft 10 edition is still a beta version, and along with the Pocket edition is missing several features on the PC and game console versions.
Microsoft has made few wholesale changes to Minecraft. Some video game experts have predicted that future Minecraft titles could be exclusive to Microsoft platforms. However, for now it seems that the operating system giant wants the whole world to build new worlds.
In a blog post Microsoft stated that ocelots, golems, and the Nether will also be included in the new Minecraft version. It summed it up as "awesome."
