Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor Trailer Reveals Interesting Gameplay

by Sylvie Krekow, Posted Jan 23rd 2014 11:05AM

Here's the newest trailer for the upcoming "Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor" game, and boy, does it look... interesting. In the game, which is set between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, you're a Ranger named Talion who has special Wraith powers. These powers allow you to do several awesome slow-mo-Assassins-Creed-like moves, and you're also able to terrify certain enemies into becoming loyal to you. The game also features a unique "nemesis system" feature, which basically means it remembers your interactions with specific characters and enemies and adjusts the gameplay and storyline accordingly.
Although the gameplay looks pretty fun, however, it remains to be seen how interesting the plot actually is. And even though it's being developed for next-gen consoles like the Xbox One and the PS4 (along with being developed for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC), the graphics seem a bit unimpressive. Hopefully the the developer, Monolith Productions, spruces everything up in time for release.
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Interview reveals new Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag details

by Tate Steinlage, GameZone, Posted Aug 15th 2013 10:45AM

Pirates, rum and Templars, oh my! The world of Assassin's Creed is now bigger than ever with Ubisoft's upcoming blockbuster, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. With the game's launch just over the horizon, we had a chance to chat with Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag's Creative Director, Jean Guesdon, about the world, its design and how Black Flag will forever reshape a series that's delivered on so many levels.

[GameZone]: First off, thanks for joining us for an interview! Can you start off by giving our readers a better glance at what you do on Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, what that looks like on daily basis, and what other development areas you work closely with?

[Jean Guesdon]: I'm the Creative Director of the project. I am ultimately responsible for the content of the game, which means that I have my word to say on any aspect of story, gameplay, realization and overall structure of the game.

In the early phase of the project, the conception, my role is to align everybody in the same direction. I'm the owner of the "vision" of the game, and I have to share it so that everybody understands what we're making altogether. Then, when in active development, I have to answer A LOT of questions, because it's the time in the project when we have to make choices in one or another direction depending on resources or technical issues. And finally, in the polish phase, I have to remind everybody of the WHY of the project, the key elements they should focus on, like the fluidity for example.

Since the beginning I'm also working a lot with the producer and the management to make sure that both content and resources are aligned and that we properly manage our scope. Another team we've been really close during the project was the development marketing team – the guys responsible of the incredible assets you can see from trailers and screenshots. This is important so we can communicate on what the game really is.

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King reveals closure of five Facebook apps, including Hoop de Loop and Bubble ‘Sagas’

Image via King

Candy Crush Saga developer King (formerly King.com) has quietly revealed the closure of some of its older, less successful Facebook games. The move will see Bubble Saga, Hoop de Loop Saga, Miner Speed and Puzzle Saga all close on September 10, but the company’s most popular ‘Saga’ games won’t be affected. This closure also affects King’s test project King Gold Games, a Facebook hub for events and new game discovery.

Both Bubble Saga and Hoop de Loop Saga still have over 1 million monthly active players, according to our app tracking service AppData, but they have experienced steady declines in their player bases over the past month. Bubble Saga, for instance, lost 1.5 million monthly active players since July 15. The other games currently have less than 100,000 monthly active players each.

According to King, the decision comes as a way for the company to reallocate resources to current games in development, and its most popular active games, including Pet Rescue Saga (our review) and Papa Pear Saga (our review).

Overall, the move seems like a positive one for King, as the affected games were already on the decline, and having fewer games in its portfolio frees up more resources for new and hopefully, more successful ideas. Specifics on those upcoming games are still being held under wraps, but players of King’s closing games are encouraged to play the many games that will remain open. This includes Candy Crush Saga, which remains the No. 1 Facebook game with over 44 million monthly active players.

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Facebook reveals ad unit improvements, will phase out Questions and Offers products

Facebook has announced plans of streamlining its ad products by simplifying its offerings. From these changes, users will see a more standard set of ads, as the social network intends to reduce its 27 different ad units to less than half of that in the next six months.

In efforts to improve the ad creation process, Facebook plans on changing the way advertisers reach users. It has also revealed plans of removing both the Questions and Offers products from pages. For Questions, Facebook offers the advice to simply ask the question in the post and allowing users to reply as a comment. For Offers, the social network found that page post ads were more effective at driving sales to a business’s website. It will begin shifting from these ad types starting in July.

By reducing the number of ad units, Facebook will make its ad units more consistent across all types. It will also enable Sponsored Stories for all ads automatically. Previously, advertisers had to purchase sponsored stories separately.

By simplifying the ad creation process and ad types, Facebook looks to be making a push in getting more page managers to become ad buyers regardless of their expertise. The easier it is to create ads and the easier it is for the uninformed to understand how to measure their results, the higher potential for page managers to purchase ads. It also makes it easier for users as they find familiar ad units easier to understand and engage with.

Facebook’s proposed elimination of its Offers product comes at a surprise since it introduced a new look for offer emails just last week. It may be removing the ad type, but it is possible it will still use offers in some capacity in the future.

Mediabistro Event

Get personalized advice from industry insiders at Facebook, Deloitte, Chartboost, Tango, and more at Inside Social Apps, this Thursday and Friday in San Francisco. Newly added speakers include Val Bauduin of Deloitte & Touche, LLP and Doug Purdy, Director of Developer Products at Facebook, so don’t miss the chance to add these valuable contacts to your network. Tickets are available onsite.

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Kabam officially reveals it’s in the publishing game

Mid-core developer Kabam today announced the official launch of Kabam Publishing, a new part of the company that will allow third-party game developers to utilize Kabam’s technology platform and marketing tools across all the platforms Kabam is present on (Facebook, web, iOS and Android).

Note the term “official.” Kabam’s actually been publishing third party games since Casual Connect 2012, something we picked up on at the time and confirmed with Kabam VP, Corporate Communications Steve Swasey. At the time, the company was testing the publishing waters with 5th Planet’s Clash of the Dragons.

Now Kabam has 15 publishing partners, including Reality Square Games (of Wartune fame), Venan Games (known for Book of Heroes) and ZQ Game Inc (Shadowland Online).

When it comes to mobile partners, there are few game developers with a larger audience than Kabam, which managed to find huge success with its Kingdoms of Camelot franchise across a variety of platforms (including taking the No. 1 spot on iOS). Venan Games is a case study on the power of Kabam’s promotion power: In the two months since Book of Heroes launched, the game’s made it into the top 100 grossing apps on iOS, and CEO Brandon Curiel says Kabam increased the game’s number of daily active users approximately tenfold.

As the mobile games scene grows increasingly crowded, we’re hearing more and more from developers who struggle with discoverability. Zynga’s been another company that’s been bullish about getting into publishing mobile games. When we spoke to COO David Ko this past summer about Zynga’s mobile efforts, he was quick to point out both how Zynga has a great deal of development, optimization and marketing experience to lend to mobile studios, as well as a substantial audience of mobile gamers to tap into. While Zynga’s also been aggressively courting mid-core game developers lately, Kabam might be more appealing to said studios simply because the entirety of their audience is composed of mid-core players.

Developers interested in learning more about this program can head over to Kabam’s website for more info.

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The Lego Group reveals new Legends of Chima games for iOS, PC and more

by Brandy Shaul, Posted Jan 2nd 2013 6:25PM

With the arrival of the new year, Warner Bros. Interactive and the LEGO Group have announced three new titles in the LEGO Legends of Chima series. Based around tribes of lions, crocodiles, eagles, and wolves (all made of LEGO blocks, of course), the trio of Legends of Chima games will see players working to become the best adventurer or racer possible across iOS, LEGO.com, PC, and even Nintendo 3DS and PS Vita.

Leading the pack of this year's releases, Legends of Chima: Speedorz is a racing game that will launch on iOS on January 3 (that's this week, folks). The game will see players racing against famous characters within the world of Chima, collecting studs and other rewards along the way. As players make progress and win races, they'll unlock new customization options for their characters and Speedorz vehicles. The ultimate goal in Legends of Chima: Speedorz is to collect the Golden Chi, which unlocks new races, among other boosts.

As for the other handheld game in the trio, Legends of Chima: Laval's Journey will launch on Nintendo 3DS and PS Vita this summer (along with original Nintendo DS this fall). The game sees players teaming with the lion Laval and his animal friends as they fight for "justice" in a world gone bad.Finally, the free-to-play Legends of Chima Online will launch on PC this fall. The game will allow players to build a Kingdom of their very own within the safety of Chima's online world, while interacting with characters from the show and traveling to various themed locations to complete quests. All along the way, LEGO bricks will allow players to build their own weapons, gadgets and much more.

What makes this trio especially unique is The Chima Vault, a rewards system that combines player progress across all three games and allows them to earn points that can be redeemed for other items within Legends of Chima Online. After the failed showing of LEGO Universe, we're definitely interested in how this next free-to-play online LEGO game will stack up. Stay tuned for more.

Are you excited about this new land of Chima in the overall LEGO universe? Will you be one of the first to download Legends of Chima: Speedorz when it launches on iOS this week? Sound off in the comments!

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Zynga reveals revised executive leadership team, promoted from within

Zynga today announced a slew of changes to the company’s executive team, following a number of high-profile departures earlier this year.

Today’s reveal features four high-profile changes to the company’s leadership team:

David Ko is the company’s new Chief Operations Officer. Ko used to be the Chief Mobile Officer of the company, but took on extra duties and was reporting directly to CEO Mark Pincus following John Schappert’s high-profile resignation.Steve Chiang is now President of Games. Chiang was the company’s Executive Vice President of Games but was working with Ko to help manage things after Schappert. Chiang’s duties will now include overseeing all new IP on both web and mobile platforms.Barry Cottle is the new Chief Revenue Officer, replacing Jeff Karp. Cottle joined the company in January from EA and was on the company’s business development team before this.Mark Vranesh is the new Chief Financial Officer and will continue to serve as Chief Accounting Officer. Vranesh has been with Zynga for quite some time, even serving as CFO from 2008 to 2010. He was replaced as CFO by Dave Wehner, who just left Zynga to become Facebook’s VP of Corporate Finance & Business Planning.Zynga also reaffirmed its 2012 financial outlook from it Q3 2012 financial results. At that time, Zynga lowered its 2012 guidance due to the quarter’s performance, dropping its projected bookings to $1 billion to $1.1 billion, down $500 million from the company’s original guidance stated in Q1 2012.

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Game Insight reveals MMO Dragon Eternity for iOS, Android and web

Game Insight today revealed its newest free-to-play title, a Facebook-enabled massively multiplayer online game called Dragon Eternity planned for iOS, Android and the web.

Dragon Eternity is a fantasy-themed MMO in which players are cast as adventurers working for the opposing countries Vaalor or Sadar; the two nations are at war, while the countryside is filled with monsters, criminals and dungeons housing other evil powers. Players are tasked with quests from in-game characters, which they have to travel around the game world to accomplish. Most of these quests involve battling enemies and collecting items they drop.

In order to enter a battle, all one has to do is click on a character wandering around the game map and then select the attack option. Players are then brought into a turn-based battle, where they choose have a limited amount of time to select a type of battle stance to use in their attack; stances have different effects like delivering extra damage, improving defense or replenishing magic.

Dragon Eternity also contains non-combat focused professions, player clans, an in-game auction house where players can buy and sell items and player-versus-player combat. Game Insight says the title will feature synchronous cross-platform compatibility, so players will be able to game with other users regardless of whether they’re playing on a mobile device or the web.

Game Insight tells us Dragon Eternity has been in development for over two years. The company hasn’t revealed a launch date for the Android and iOS versions of the game, but Dragon Eternity is currently in open beta on the web. There are no current plans to make a Facebook-only version.

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Facebook Reveals Most Shared Articles in 2011

Facebook has posted a Most Shared Articles on Facebook in 2011 Page that links more often to parenting-related topics, human interest pieces and odd trivia stories than it does to the major news stories of the year.

The story type that appears most often on the list of 40 articles is parenting advice and parenting-related stories reported by CNN, The Washington Post, Yahoo News, The Wall Street Journal, and The Huffington Post. Another popular theme is the change in zodiac sings, which first gained media traction in late 2010 before spilling over into early 2011. A slightly less popular theme is the late Steve Jobs — but given that it’s a more recent development in the year, it comes as no surprise that people had less time to circulate the story through Facebook.

The number one most-shared story, however, was a top news item — a New York Times photo gallery of Japan before and after the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Several other quake news stories and human interest stories about the tragedy also appear on the list.

Facebook itself also gets a bit of attention at No.7 with a CNN story on Timeline, announced at f8.

Stories are shared on Facebook both directly from the story source itself, with the aid of a Facebook button, and from within Facebook’s News Feed and user Walls where a “Share” option will appear if the user posting the link to the story has the option enabled in their privacy settings.

Here’s the full list:

1. Satellite Photos of Japan, Before and After the Quake and Tsunami (New York Times)

2. What teachers really want to tell parents  (CNN)

3.No, your zodiac sign hasn’t changed (CNN)

4. Parents, don’t dress your girls like tramps (CNN)

5. (video) – Father Daughter Dance Medley  (Yahoo)

6. At funeral, dog mourns the death of Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan  (Yahoo)

7. You’ll freak when you see the new Facebook  (CNN)

8. Dog in Japan stays by the side of ailing friend in the rubble  (Yahoo)

9.  Giant crocodile captured alive in Philippines  (Yahoo)

10. New Zodiac Sign Dates: Ophiuchus The 13th Sign? (The Huffington Post)

11. Parents keep child’s gender under wraps   (Yahoo)

12. How to Talk to Little Girls  (The Huffington Post)

13. Stop Coddling the Super-Rich  (New York Times)

14.Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior  (Wall Street Journal)

15.  (video) – Twin Baby Boys Have A Conversation!   (Yahoo)

16. Man robs bank to get medical care in jail (Yahoo)

17. Why You’re Not Married (The Huffington Post)

18. A Sister’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs (New York Times)

19. Ryan Dunn Dead: ‘Jackass’ Star Dies In Car Crash  (The Huffington Post)

20. Scientists warn California could be struck by winter ‘superstorm’  (Yahoo)

21. Notes From a Dragon Mom (New York Times)

22.  A Message to Women From a Man: You Are Not “Crazy” (The Huffington Post)

23. Obama’s and Bush’s effects on the deficit in one graph  (Washington Post)

24. Penn State, my final loss of faith  (Washington Post)

25.  Golden-Voiced Homeless Man Captivates Internet   (Yahoo)

26. The most typical face on the planet  (Yahoo)

27. Widespread destruction from Japan earthquake, tsunamis   (CNN)

28. Permissive parents: Curb your brats  (CNN)

29. A father’s day wish: Dads, wake the hell up! (CNN)

30. (video) – Laughing Baby Loves Ripping Paper!  (Yahoo)

31. Epic Cover Letter: How To Get Hired For Your Dream Job (PICTURE)  (The Huffington Post)

32. New Zodiac sign dates: Don’t switch horoscopes yet  (Washington Post)

33. Things Babies Born in 2011 Will Never Know (Yahoo)

34.  The Psychology of Revenge: Why We Should Stop Celebrating Osama Bin Laden’s Death  (The Huffington Post)

35. (photo gallery) – ‘Where Children Sleep’ (New York Times)

36. Quake moved Japan coast 8 feet, shifted Earth’s axis (CNN)

37. Steve Jobs, Apple founder, dies (CNN)

38. China’s latest craze: dyeing pets to look like other wild animals  (CNN)

39. Grant Hill’s Response to Jalen Rose (New York Times)

40. Steve Jobs’s Patents  (New York Times)

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Zynga reveals Mafia Wars 2, to be a 'badass' Facebook game [Video]

To most, Facebook gaming is nothing but farmland, cows and rainbows with a dash of brand endorsement. Zynga, one of the stereotype's main offenders, hopes to set the record straight with Mafia Wars 2. A full-blown sequel to the original text-based Facebook RPG (role-playing game), Mafia Wars 2 will bring the franchise into "a vast 3D world where being bad never felt so good."

Judging from this early artwork and the ... interesting trailer below, it seems as if Zynga could make good on previous speculation that its next Mafia Wars game would take a more literal approach in paying homage to its inspirations.

The trailer is set to Jane's Addiction's "Mountain Song," you know, so its badassery really sets in. Jokes (about the narration) aside, the video is impressively-edited with its stylistic, "golden" approach to blood and gore.

Unfortunately, all we know about Mafia Wars 2 is apparently how badass it's going to be. While that may be all some need to get psyched, you can check out and "Like" the game's official Facebook fan page to find out more about the game.

Oh, and you'll score some early items for the game by hopping on board early like some accessories for your character and decorations. These already tell us a great deal about the game--fully customizable 3D avatars, anyone? Alright, now we know you're hyped.

[Video and Image Credit: Zynga]

Are you excited to get your clickers on some fresh gang bustin' in Mafia Wars 2? What did you think of the announcement trailer? Share with us in the comments. Add Comment.

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Pioneer Trail survey reveals possible storylines involving... pirates?

Yes, you read that correctly - pirates. They may be coming to the Pioneer Trail in the future, if a recent fan survey (released by the big Z itself on the Pioneer Trail fan page) comes true. We've been given quite a few options to toss around in this new survey, but unfortunately, we're not told if these are story ideas that would pertain to Pioneer Trail itself (either the Homestead or actual Pioneer Trail portion of the game), or if this is just a general survey about future game ideas that Zynga is exploring. As it stands, no other fan page, as of this writing, has linked to the survey, which does give some weight to the former idea above.

As for this pirate story itself, we're told that we could "set sail for Booty Island," and play pirates with a full crew. We'll plunder ships and neighbors' islands, and can match up friends with others (this portion is lacking in fine details) for either love or "pirate mischief." If that isn't a wild enough storyline, then how about heading into space? In this storyline, we'd find ourselves crash-landing on an "uncharted planet," where we're forced to build a farm using alien plants or creatures (that is, instead of Cows or other traditional farm animals).

When it comes to this space storyline, I'm reminded of Astro Ranch on iPhone, which is a space-themed farming game allowing you to grow crops and livestock with the help of aliens. As we all know Zynga likes to cop---err, draw inspiration from other titles, could this be a definite game in Zynga's development cycle?

As with all things, we're left to speculate about which of these storylines/game ideas (or lack thereof) will actually come to light, but if you see something in the survey that you're more excited about than others, make sure to give it your vote. Who knows? Your vote could be the deciding factor between playing pirates and launching off into outer space, whether we do so with our Pioneer Trail characters, or in a whole new game.

What do you think of these new storyline ideas? Which ones did you vote for? Let us know in the comments.

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Bejeweled Blitz: PopCap reveals Cat's Eye Gem's real story [Video]

by Joe Osborne, Posted Jun 10th 2011 2:20PM

We'll admit that the Cat's Eye Gem in Bejeweled Blitz is a little crazy--even for PopCap. (Seriously, it made a game about plants that fend off a zombie attack.) So, it's only natural for players to ask, "What's the deal with the Cat's Eye?" Well, the eye-laser-blasting kitty has a deeper origin story than you might think. In fact, this feline has a name, and it's Snackers. We won't give everything away--that would spoil the laughs--but stay tuned until the end for some extra fun at some select games' expense.

[Video via Bejeweled Blitz]

What do you think of the Cat's Eye Gem now that you know the whole story? What other PopCap mysteries do you hope the company explains in the form of hilarious video? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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Tags: Bejeweled, bejeweled blitz, bejeweled blitz cats eye gem, Bejeweled eye gem, BejeweledBlitz, cats eye gem, popcap, popcap games, PopCap-Games, PopcapGames

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Zynga Reveals FrontierVille Same-Sex Marriage Rate and the Value of Sexual Innuendo

Bryan Reynolds, Chief Game Designer at Zynga, revealed facts about same-sex marriage in FrontierVille and the success of sexual innuendos in his solo panel “The New Frontier of Social Gaming” at South By Southwest Interactive Conference. He noted that FrontierVille has triple the number of same sex marriages as are reported in the US, and that adults will frequently click-through and share posts containing sexual innuendos when published by games.

Reynolds also explained that  word “sex” is the most shared word on Facebook when included in posts by games and Pages, while “Facebook” comes in second. These insights can help game developers improve their viral reach and turn bland posts like “[Name] leveled up” into fun posts that engage players.

Same-sex marriage in FrontierVille was originally a bug that users discovered and immediately took to. Zynga decided to leave the option in the game, and now there are 646,000 same-sex marriages in FrontierVille. That means 3.5% of  its 18.8 million monthly active users create a same-sex marriage, according to our data tracking service AppData. This dwarfs the 150,000 same-sex marriages in the United States, showing their may be pent up demand for the public display of this type of relationship.

Game designers should consider allowing same-sex relationships in their games to allow users to identifying themselves however they want. Facebook shows this type of tolerance, recently adding civil unions and domestic partnerships as relationship options for users.

Reynolds also discussed FrontierVille’s viral success from using sexual innuendos in the form of text and images in the posts that users can share with their friends. He described how posts such as “Scott just got wood” and “Margaret needs a few good screws” receive a high click-through and share rate from adults, but don’t offend younger users as they don’t even recognize the jokes.

He described how Zynga’s data focus has helped them recognize the reach of fun posts game, and evolve from the bland Mafia Wars “[Name] leveled up” posts the company’s games use to generate. Even now that only users who already play a game see posts about that game shared by friends, reducing their virality, innuendos still helps re-engage users who’ve stopped playing. They also inspire these user to comment on the posts by friends and initiate playful discussions, making both parties feel that the game enhances their lives.

While developers need to be careful not to make sexual innuendos or other potentially objectionable content too overt, by walking the line they can make games more social. Reynolds explained “friends don’t want to know about what you’ve done in a game, they want to know something funny about you or something they can start a conversation with.”

[Image Credits: FrontierVille Info and Swd8880]

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Notch Reveals Plans For After Minecraft

In a story appearing later today on Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Minecraft‘s creator, Markus ‘Notch’ Persson reveals that rather than developing Minecraft 2, he has three ideas for development once Minecraft is complete. With the blocky phenomenon intended to be finished by the end of 2011, and Scrolls being developed by others at Mojang, Persson’s mind is already pondering the possibilities for what might come next. And with an unfailing need to say every secret he has out loud, he tells us how he wants to make a “nerdy” space trading simulator, a real-world town simulation game, and a fantasy version of Football Manager. No, really. Find out more in a truncated extract from our exclusive Day In The Life Of Mojang feature, below.

“I have many games in mind,” says Persson. Does he know which will come next? “It keeps going back and forth. I’m really annoyed with how there are no space trading simulators at the moment. And the ones there have been always kind of miss the point. They’re fun, but even Elite 2 which was a great game, wasn’t really what I wanted. I really want to make that, but that’s going to be lots of work, and be extremely nerdy, and probably won’t sell very well. But hopefully I can convince other people here that they want to do it.”

Well, there’s our headline then: “Mojang’s next game is a space trading simulator.” But he’s not done.

“And then I have this weird town simulation thing, which is basically a single character Sims. You’re just one character in the town, just living. It wouldn’t be a super-realistic city simulator. It would be my take on what real life is.”

The headline I’m writing in my head starts to get a bit more convoluted. “Notch’s next game is either a space trading sim, or a real-world calm city, experiencer.” But it gets more complicated. I ask him if there’s any more ideas.

“Er… yeah. I shouldn’t probably say this because people might steal it, but what the hell. It’s like a football manager, but it’s for fantasy heroes. If you have a troll and a goblin in the same team, the troll might eat the goblin. Stuff like that.”

You can read the rest of the exclusive feature, including the many more details about these planned games, along with many more secrets from Mojang, later today on this very site.

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