Updated: Changed headline.
What a weird passive aggressive headline. A better default is a good thing, and doesn’t stop modders from doing their own thing.
So long as there’s an option to retain the normal experience, especially for those on older hardware that can’t run fancier stuff. Then it’s all good!
I might not have much of a horse in this race as someone that only really plays Minecraft once in a blue moon (and normally swiftly puts it down because I’m not that kind of creative and I get too stressed out from survival mode), but honestly, I’m not a fan.
This says it all. This person should simply shut the fuck up and not be a games journalist.
That’s like, 95% of games “journalists” these days.
Journalists in general have lost an unbelievable amount of credibility, and games bloggers are the bottom of the barrel.
Ah yes. All those mods on console that you can get…
Aren’t there mods? At least texture packs, right?
On console you can get texture packs and add-ons… from the marketplace.
On other bedrock platforms (Windows or Mobile) you can install textures and add-ons from your own files. The problem is that Bedrock add-ons are significantly less capable than Java’s mods.
I still have no idea if bedrock or java is the better version after all these years.
Java, and its not even close.
Cool, thank you!
Bedrock makes it easier to play with friends, it also has cross-platform support (except for Linux and Mac). Console players can only play on featured servers (unless they use workarounds).
Java is better in most other aspects (I am biased for it though, since it’s what I play): you can mod it, play older versions, use custom shaders (with mods), no microtransactions, play on any server you want, (apparently) less game-breaking bugs, etc.
Thanks! It’s crazy to me they still keep two versions.
Yeah, it is incovenient when you play Java and other people you know play Bedrock (or vice-versa). There is a community-made plugin called Geyser that allows Bedrock players to play on Java servers (it can be buggy sometimes but it is the closest we have to Java-Bedrock crossplay).
Minecraft is the best-selling game of all time, but it’s looked pretty much the same for the entirety of its almost 14 year run
Usually games don’t change how they look no matter how long they’ve been out.
Also people like Minecraft precisely for its comfy basic aesthetic and vibe in general
Lots of games get remasters. This is an optional visual update, but you don’t have to use it.
Original title for anyone who doesn’t want to click on the article:
“Minecraft is getting a visual overhaul you probably don’t need because of all those mods you’ve got installed”
Huh, half a year after Luanti introduced volumetric lighting. I find it hard to believe that Microsoft execs watch out for what Luanti does, but maybe a whole bunch of Android re-packagings of Luanti suddenly looked a whole lot better than Minecraft and that got through to those execs…? It’s a bit of a strange coincidence, at least.
This news site is for PC gaming and it always causes a ruckus when people read their articles and don’t know it.
What a shitty title. Consoles will be happy to get this
First line in their about us:
Rock Paper Shotgun is about PC gaming.
One of the few news sites for PC gaming. The regular readers will probably not be primarily console gamers.
People are trigger happy with the indignation here.
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Maybe I’m blind, but I can’t see it? The target audience is PC gamers, and even though I rarely browse gaming websites anymore, this type of snark seems to be fairly standard for the last 10+ years.
Minecraft is the best-selling game of all time, but it’s looked pretty much the same for the entirety of its almost 14 year run. There’s an argument to be made that it’s showing its age in places, an argument I won’t make because I don’t think so myself, but all the same, as revealed during today’s Minecraft Live, Mojang announced that the sandbox game is getting a pretty big visual overhaul update called Vibrant Visuals. Now, don’t worry, it’ll still be all blocks and squares ‘n’ that, but it will be changing up how lighting looks.
A blog post explains things in a bit more detail, with one of the big things being that there’ll now be volumetric lighting. What that translates to is things like sunlight shining more naturally across different surfaces, even shining through windows, and every individual block will cast its own shadow. Mobs and items will glow a bit more too, so it’s not just about the overworld lighting.
This update is coming to the Bedrock Edition of the game first, with the post noting that it hopes to bring this “graphics revamp (either fully or partially) to as many devices as possible”, though there’s not even a release window for it yet. There are plans to bring it to Java Edition too.
I might not have much of a horse in this race as someone that only really plays Minecraft once in a blue moon (and normally swiftly puts it down because I’m not that kind of creative and I get too stressed out from survival mode), but honestly, I’m not a fan. Minecraft is inherently not a natural looking game, and this lighting overhaul just adds a touch to much realism for my tastes. Besides, this kind of lighting already exists in countless mods, so for plenty of people it’s not even really needed.
In any case, there were a few other announcements from Minecraft Live too, like the fact you’ll soon be able to fly around on friendly versions of ghasts, which I do quite like the look of. There’s a live event taking place from March 25 to April 7 too where you get to hang out with Jack Black’s version of Steve to defend a village in some mini-games, which’ll net you a cape if you’re successful. Bit less exciting, but to each their own!
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Not sure what you’re seeing there. The Bedrock edition is also available on PC and the rest is a direct quote for the reasoning why that version gets it before the Java version.
It’s not like they’re forbidden from acknowledging the existence of other devices either. It’s just not their target audience.
