When Minecraft Players Are Also Trekkies, Insanity Goes To Warp Speed

A Minecraft player with great ambition and loads of spare time is building a 1:1 replica model of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s massive flagship vessel, the Enterprise D—and he needs some help getting it done.

Patient Minecraft fan “halnicholas” has finished preliminary work on the Enterprise’s frame. It’s lacking in warp nacelles, deck details, paneling, sonic showers, cups of Earl Gray… well, lots. But the grunt work has been done to get this “fucking enormous” Minecraft creation ready for space dock. Its creator has put the word out for volunteers, saying he “needs help building out the decks.”

If you know your Minecraft material crafting and your Enterprise D blueprints, please, help this brave man seek out new life and new civilizations on his PC. Boldly go where no Minecraft player has gone before!

*cue Jerry Goldsmith music*

Building Megaobjects in Minecraft [YouTube via Reddit]

For a video companion to our new hands-on preview of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty’s single-player campaign, this seven minute long video of hot SCV on mineral action and giant laser drill management is just what the doctor ordered.

Don’t expect drama, spoilers or sexy editing here. Instead enjoy the raw gameplay of StarCraft II in action, with the missions “The Dig” and “Welcome to the Jungle” highlighted here, along with some of the Terran cast.

This is the latest GameTrailers video on the subject; five other gameplay videos were posted back on Wednesday. You can catch them all through the link.

StarCraft II [GameTrailers]

Meetings of the two may not be quite this awful in real life, but in my mind, this is exactly how such a reunion would go down.

A makeover like the one provided by Filip Victor. It adds HDR lighting, new models, new textures, an upgrade to the Orange Box engine (Valve performed their own tweaks for the 2007 re-release of the game on Xbox 360) and even some new Steam achievements to the ageing PC version of the original Half-Life 2.

You can see examples of the improvements made in the clip above (though be advised, you’ll want to kill the sound). If you like what you see, you can find instructions on how to download the mod below.

Hl2 Pc Achivements & HDR Released [Steam, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

Take for example the loss of Altair’s ring finger on his hidden-knife-hand. From playing Assassin’s Creed, we know he lost it as part of the Assassin’s initiation. But try as I might, I can’t remember actually seeing that happen in the game — I only remember internalizing Altair’s missing finger as fact.

This is where creative video group, TheDuoGroup, steps in to show us what that moment could have looked like.

In the almost-10-minute animated feature, titled “Initiation,” Altair undergoes the part of his training where he loses that finger and takes the final step toward badassery. TheDuoGroup blurbs that, “Like all young men, Altair aspired to leave his mark on the world. After years of grueling training, fear and anticipation course through his veins. Anticipation, because he understands that this is the last right of passage towards brotherhood. Fear, because he knows that though hundreds of apprentices have reached this point, few come back alive.”

Thanks for sharing your work with us, Graham!

Note: This is not an official Ubisoft video. It’s just a pretty, spiffy fan video.

A Destructoid reader reckons this was shot at a “Christmas Party”, though that’s where the information dries up. On the “could be” side of things, there’s lag at several points, and even a freeze, both issues that are reportedly affecting early development for the camera.

On the “probably not” side, however, is the fact at several instances the movement of the guy’s hands have no bearing whatsoever on what’s happening on-screen.

Whichever the case may be, it’s still an interesting look at how Natal has the potential to change the way you approach a game. Normally, Geometry Wars is a raw shooter, a seat-of-the-pants kind of affair. Combine it with Natal, though, and – provided that’s how you’d actually control the game – it suddenly becomes a more synaesthetic experience, as you move from “player” to “conductor”.

Is this a Natal-powered game of Geometry Wars? [Destructoid]

Some of those details you may have heard creep out from recent GameStop and Game Crazy get togethers. Things like Modern Warfare 2‘s thrown knife kills, featured near the end of the clip. Some, like brilliant-looking blood splatter effects and host migration, are definitely better seen and not heard.

If that host migration addition, also seen near the end of the clip, works that well… well, good lord. Looks like when the multiplayer game host drops out, the game won’t end or drop players back to the lobby, but quickly—very quickly—find a new host. Perfect for when you’re up against an elite group of Sore Losers.

And, you know, that riot shield gameplay doesn’t look to shabby either. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 drops November 10, in case you hadn’t heard.

For more Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer footage, have fun revisiting the game’s multiplayer video reveal.

The music was written by Daniel Larsson and the animation was done by Tomas Redigh, of the Swedish electronica duo Rymdreglage.

8-Bit Trip [YouTube]