Minecon 2015 took place this weekend at the ExCeL exhibition centre in London. The event, which ran over both Saturday and Sunday, featured lots of panels and exhibitors showing off Minecraft stuff. Probably the biggest reveals of the weekend were the announcement of Minecraft: Story Mode (plus video trailer publication) and Microsoft's announcement of Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta.
Minecraft: Story Mode
Telltale Games has published a video trailer for Minecraft: Story Mode. You might have heard of Telltale before as it has published adventure games to accompany hit TV series like The Walking Dead and hit FPS game Borderlands. Using its particular narrative and constructional style, Minecraft: Story Mode will present a player choices through the game which will influence the story as it plays out.
Story Mode was made in close collaboration with Mojang. Owen Hill from Mojang said that the story "follows the logic of Minecraft, but still manages to feel original." It contains characteristic Telltale humour "And the pig is adorable," added Hill. Minecraft: Story Mode is a five part episodic series that will take you to the Nether, the Farlands, the End, and beyond.
The Independent reports that the video trailer was produced "with a cast of stars". Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Scott Porter, Martha Plimpton, Dave Fennoy, Corey Feldman, Billy West and Paul Reubens all lent their voice talents to the production. The game will be released on PC, Mac, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, compatible iOS devices, and Android later this year.
Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta
This edition of the game will be released to the Windows Store on 29th July – the first day of Windows 10 general availability on PCs and tablets. Microsoft says that those who already own Minecraft on PC can get this edition for free. If you are new to Minecraft you can grab this for $10 during the beta period and enjoy the game out of beta and all future updates.
The Windows Blog reports that Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta players will be able to "craft, create, and explore online with up to seven friends" locally or via Xbox Live, play online and locally with Pocket Edition players, use multiple inputs such as controllers, keyboards and touch, record and share gameplay, provide feedback and interact with the likes of "chickens, zombies, pigs, boats, armed skeletons, potatoes, zombies, baby squids, enchantment tables, villagers, naked sheep, iron golems, potions, ghasts, pickaxes, carrots" and more.
Other new feature announcements
IGN covered the rest of the major announcements at Minecon and reported that the following key features are coming to the game:
- dual wielding; plus left and right handedness
- enchanted arrows for long range players
- expansion of the area known as The End
- updates to the Pocket Edition bringing it nearer to console and PC counterparts
