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Probably DirectX and C++. And in fact, Microsoft would most likely buy some other game which is close to what they want, then task the studio with making it into Minecraft 2. There are loads of Minecraft clones out there, the trick is finding one which is both technically competent and developed by someone willing to work for Microsoft and sell them their baby.

The existing mods wouldn't work with the new game, obviously. But many Microsoft games have been modded fairly extensively, and Microsoft has even released the sources to one of their games when they were done with it (Allegiance.)

So I place a USB wifi stick at the focal point of a baby satellite dish and point it at your camera, cheap and easy

He's not shilling, he's just also not thinking. A lot of people want to believe that they live in a great country, because they think that makes them great. So they shout up their country every chance they get because they think it improves their credibility. Heh heh heh

Yeah, the game is not for everyone. If you're lazy, you're better off with a computer game. I resemble the remark; I've spent far more time video gaming than miniatures gaming. I may still have some battletech minis here someplace, I definitely still have a small space marines army with a couple of sidecar bikes, a couple of floaters, a land raider, a couple rhinos... Sits in a box.

1) Problem?
2) U Mad, bro?
3) Seriously, it's not worth getting that bent over someone saying something in a way you don't like.

I see they have a demo, I will try it. Thanks.

Look, you only need three paint colors, and primer counts. So you base coat them in either white or black, paint helmets and shoulders in another color, and paint weapons either in gray (or gunmetal, fancy!) for models with black primer, or in black for models with any other color of primer. Now you're done. You don't even have to paint your bases green.

This is not really an arduous requirement. The level of fine motor skill necessary for this level of painting is pretty low, it takes a fair amount just to position your models on any kind of decent playing field, take your measurements and so on. If you can handle that, you should be able to handle the paintwork.

Well, that's a valid reason why they're going away. Another is that video gaming now makes the more rules-and-dice tabletop gaming obsolete. The computer now manages all that annoying fiddly stuff. It's really put the boot into warhammer, battletech, and all the other miniatures-heavy games with rulers and protractors and shit-tons of dice, even if they are all D6.

No, that sound is reserved for errors in the accompanying physics engine, Cling1.

The water is truly frustrating, though. It wouldn't be so bad if you could just go around the top edge of a large space and have the space fill with water sources all the way down. And having realistic water start at ocean level and go down might be a nice touch.

Microsoft is pretty good at buying games and not ruining them, the original Halo aside. I actually think that was a great game in every way except for the monotonous level design in the end, and the lack of cross-platform support. You can't rush greatness, and you shouldn't force your operating system on people. That's kind of what they do, though, so it's not much of a surprise.

Microsoft has their hits, but they also have their significant misses. Where's our Freelancer 2? Handing that franchise to anyone competent and telling them to support capships and not ruin the control scheme would have permitted them to simply print money.

I've bought quite a few Microsoft games, it's one of the things I think they do best in fact, mostly by virtue of not doing it themselves. I hope they don't totally bone it, but I won't be surprised if they do. And if they do, someone will surely replace it.

Anyway, off the topic of Microsoft, and to join in talking about what would be cool for Minecraft, it absolutely must have functioning boats. Along with more realistic water, specifically ocean that fills in to level on its own, it would add a new dimension that would probably give the series a whole new kick in the pants. Ninjas vs. Pirates, anyone?

And with that said, anyone know of any minecraft clones which are capable of doing something like that? You build a ship, and then either roll it into the sea or dig the land out from beneath it? It seems like rather an obvious thing to have wanted to support from the beginning. A one-block boat doesn't do it for me.

Tee hee. Maybe not all of them.

Yeah, look at the other cartoons which were competing with D&D. They were simply handed a complete franchise for a great deal, of course they took it. And it was a flop.

Wood-burning kits are kind of a reasonable crossover, because that was a dying hobby, too.

I would expect the PC game to cost slightly more than the Xbox 180 version, and not have a subscription fee. I presume your other predictions will actually come true. I could also see it being a free-to-pay game, though. Given Windows 10 is going to be free for Windows 7 and 8 users, it might make sense to give MC2 away to Windows 10 users as well, and charge a small fee to other players. Use some lame excuse about having to support older versions of DirectX.

The one thing that Minecraft provably does better than minetest is the GUI. At least, last I checked into minetest, which was not so very long ago. I keep a source tree on my Linux boot. Are there any mods which make the UI at least as good as minecraft? This is not a very high bar.

It's not that I'm not in favor of that, it's that there's a valid counterargument. It may not be compelling, but at least it isn't invented.

Yeah, we tried that with Windows 3.1, but Win32 permitted storing the icon in the executable because you could do that on the Macintosh.

If you want all exes to have a boring icon, use a boring file manager for admin tasks.