p>First glimpse of virtual reality Minecraft at Xbox showcase Dave Lee North America technology reporter
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p>1 March 2016
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p>Comments
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p>Millions of gamers love Minecraft. Microsoft now shows us how virtual reality can be created.
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p>Microsoft bought the block-building game in 2014 for $2.5bn (PS1.8bn) - an incredible deal that left gamers worried about its future.
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p>The US firm has promised not to alter its well-known formula and instead would invest in taking Minecraft to the next level.
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p>In a special event held in San Francisco's fashionable Mission District, its Xbox division showed off the virtual real-world version of Minecraft for the first time.
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p>Palmer Luckey, creator and designer of the Oculus Rift VR headset, claimed that it makes you feel as if you're in Minecraft.
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p>It's similar to many VR experiences. It's a complete immersion. It's a great opportunity to experience the engaging creation process on a VR screen.
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p>But for a game loved by children, there's one figure that might worry parents that is $1,500.
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p>This is the amount to purchase an Oculus headset as well as a powerful PC to power it.
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p>This is surely too costly, so I suggested to Mr Luckey.
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p>"It isn't," he said.
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p>"I mean, it is expensive in comparison to other devices in the world, but when you consider it compared to television or a mobile phone you'll get a lot more technology.
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p>"It's not as if this is simple hardware, and the price is expected to go down as time passes."
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p>It's going to have to be able to go down fairly quickly if it is to be adopted by the mass media in the near future.
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p>In the meantime, I'd expect that there will be a slight revival of the games arcade which is a place where people go to play high-end games that aren't affordable to purchase for their homes.
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p>Big titles
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p>Minecraft on Oculus was one of the games that were on display at Xbox's Spring Showcase, a chance for journalists - as well as a few influential YouTube? gamers, naturally - to be involved with tomorrow's blockbusters.
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p>I was able to lose an hour within the gripping world of Quantum Break. It's a game where you play Jack Joyce, an uncooperative action hero who acquires the ability to manipulate time after an experiment that went wrong.
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p>This could sound like another game scenario However, the game's mechanics are what make it different.
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p>Also, keep an eye out for Tom Clancy's The Division - set in a painstakingly true-to-life Manhattan.
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p>A lot of the titles that were that were featured on the show were also advertised as being great to run on a PC via Microsoft's Windows 10 operating systems.
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p>"If you look at numbers, PC gaming has the fastest-growing segment of gaming," stated Phil Spencer the head of Xbox.
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p>"It's normal that we'd concentrate on gaming on Windows."
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p>Virtual plans
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p>In the realm of virtual reality, Microsoft has opted not to develop its own headset - though it is developing the augmented reality-focused Hololens but is instead trying to make it compatible with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
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p>On the subject of price, Spencer stated that he believes that virtual reality will follow the same path set by high definition TVs. It's a costly item initially, but it becomes hard to resist once you have had the experience.
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p>He said, "The early adopters of VR will be there to boost the industry." https://squareblogs.net/factbrandy66/minecraft-optifine-hd-1-17-1-1-16-5-download </p>
p>I asked Microsoft whether it would make its own VR headset considering that Sony's PlayStation? 4 will soon get its own VR headset.
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p>He said, "I believe it could be something we'll be able to incorporate into our roadmap." He also stressed that Windows 10 was now fully compatible with VR titles, but he did not mention this.
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p>'Not hacked'
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p>New games are useless in the absence of players who can play them online. As of late it's been quite a challenge.
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p>Insufficient reliability on Xbox Live, the online gaming platform used by Xbox gamers, has caused thousands of problems.
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p>Fans who are disgruntled include rapper Snoop Dogg, who - in a video too profane to include here requested Bill Gates to fix the problem or he'd move to PlayStation?.
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p>Mr Spencer apologized for the issue.
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p>"It's evidently always regrettable," he said.
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p>"This outage was a cause for concern. We learned from it. We were able to pinpoint exactly what was at issue but it took longer than we would prefer."
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p>He denied that the company was a victim of hacking and said that even though its network was constantly under attack, it wasn't, as claimed destroyed as a result of a coordinated effort for gamers to be shut off.
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p>The risk of losing Snoop Dogg: "Snoop's been a long-time gamer and long-time patron of Xbox.
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p>"I can understand when people become upset. I see it as an expression of the love and dedication people have to the things we do as a gaming platform."
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p>Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC, and on Facebook.
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p>Orangutans try gaming in Australian zoo
/p>
p>15 February 2016
/p>
p>Microsoft tests a data centre that is submerged
/p>
p>2 February 2016
/p>
p>VR gaming: What we have so far
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p>Oculus VR headset for sale at $599.
/p>
p>7 January 2016
/p>
p>View comments
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p>Microsoft Xbox
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