The Ten News Explains: Minecraft to Grown Ups
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The Ten News Season 3: Bonus Episode!
🤔 Are you curious about the game Minecraft? 🎮 Do you play it and wish more grown ups understood what it was? 🎤 Well, our Ten News kid correspondent Everett joins Head Writer Ryan Willard to break it down. 🎧 Listen in as The Ten News Explains Minecraft to Grown Ups.
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Serena & Venus Williams Doubles Deep Dive (7 Stats) (thetennistribe.com)
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TRANSCRIPT:
Pamela Kirkland 0:04
I think today's gonna be a great day at The Ten News.
Ryan Willard 0:11
I'm telling you, Pete, you've got to use Donatella against Super Shredder. It's the only way.
Pete Musto 0:17
Okay, fine. You're right.
Pamela Kirkland 0:19
What in the blue blazes is happening, Ryan?
Ryan Willard 0:23
Good morning, Pamela. September 12th was National Video Game Day and I missed it. So we're making up for it.
Pamela Kirkland 0:30
Oh, boy. Are you just playing or are we doing a whole gamer episode?
Ryan Willard 0:36
I mean, I was just playing but if we do a gamer episode, Kap can't get mad at me for bringing all these video games to work, right?
Pamela Kirkland 0:44
That's not how that works, but we can try. I bet Kenny could even do a sports segment.
Ryan Willard 0:51
That's a great idea!
Pamela Kirkland 0:52
I'm Pamela Kirkland.
Ryan Willard 0:54
And, I'm Ryan Willard.
Tracy Kaplan 0:59
Ryan Willard, what are all these arcade machines doing in here? And is that my Nintendo Switch on your desk?
Ryan Willard 1:06
It was all Pamela's idea. It's Wednesday, September 28th.
Pamela Kirkland 1:10
And this is the Gamer Episode of The Ten News.
Various Voices 1:14
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Pamela Kirkland 1:22
It's been another busy week in the news and we've got the stories behind the headlines.
Ryan Willard 1:26
Here are ten things you need to know right now.
Pamela Kirkland 1:34
First up in World News, protesters took to the streets in Iran to demand justice after a woman died in police custody. Mahsa Amini had been arrested by the morality police for not wearing her headscarf properly. The strict religious government in Iran polices how women dress and made it mandatory for women to cover their hair. The protester’s movement has spread to more than 80 cities with the goal to end police violence against women and change the strict Islamic government. In Russia, Russian citizens are protesting the war in Ukraine after a recent announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin called up at least 300,000 Russian citizens which means they have to join the military some of the protesters were arrested and then forced to join the armed forces. Others who were called up fled the country. That is bad. Republican governors in Arizona, Florida, and Texas have sent migrants to Washington DC, California, New York, and Massachusetts. Migrants are people who have traveled to the US for work or even to escape violence in their home countries. The governors say their states are burdened by an influx of migrants and they want President Biden to make immigration laws more strict. The migrants were sent by bus or plane and some weren't told where they were going. Kids and even babies were in the migrant groups. Democrats say Republican governors are endangering people to make a point. This is an outrage. In Ocean News, scientists have discovered a potential new sea creature, blue goo was spotted on the seafloor in the Caribbean. Although it's still a mystery, scientists think it could be some sort of Coral, Sea Squirt, or even a sea sponge. Back on dry land, Tesla is recalling more than a million cars for faulty windows. Safety reports say the windows go up too fast and could lead to pinched fingers. Wow.
Ryan Willard 3:44
Okay, this is a gamer episode so I'm taking over the second half of the headlines for the gamer news I know you want. Ted Lasso and AFC Richmond will appear in FIFA 23, the next version of the popular soccer video game will feature characters from the Emmy award-winning TV series Ted Lasso. Awesome. New York Comic Con has announced that on October 6th, they will be premiering the teaser trailer for the new Super Mario Brothers film. The film features Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong, and Jack Black as Bowser. Disney's D23 day just happened and they announced a bunch of upcoming Marvel video games. Spider-Man II will be coming from Insomniac Games who was also making a Wolverine game. EA Motive is making an untitled Iron Man game and Sky Dance New Media has an untitled Captain America Black Panther game that takes place during World War II. You know I'm a Marvel fan so I am hyped. The NFL has released their first-ever virtual reality game. In NFL Pro Era you play as the quarterback and it gets pretty intense and is a lot of fun. You can play through an entire NFL season or just do some drills and throw the ball around. NFL Pro Era is available on Meta Quest 2 and PlayStation VR. Nintendo has released the teaser trailer for the much-anticipated sequel to Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and it's called The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and after some crazy online debate, Nintendo has officially stated that it is Tears of the Kingdom, not tears, I will certainly have tears when I finally get to play it.
Pamela Kirkland 5:28
And, that is the ten things you need to know right now.
Ryan Willard 5:38
By the way, Ten'ers, World Teachers' Day is on October 5th, and we want to hear from you. Who's your favorite teacher and why? Go to thetenews.com/contact and leave us a voice message or call 877-TEN-NEWS, and we might have you on the show. Pamela, who would you say is the GOAT?
Pamela Kirkland 5:58
Is this a video game question? Because I know about Goat Simulator and it seems like a lot of fun.
Ryan Willard 6:04
No, I meant the greatest of all time.
Pamela Kirkland 6:07
Oh, that's easy. Serena Williams.
Ryan Willard 6:10
I couldn't agree more. And the Ten News' own Kenny Curtis is here to chronicle the incredible career of tennis legend Serena Williams.
Kenny Curtis 6:20
When you think of tennis, what's the first name that comes to mind? If you said Serena Williams, you are probably not alone. Serena is basically the goat of the tennis world. And we're talking about goat like the greatest of all time, not the farm animal. Okay. But unfortunately, Serena recently decided to step away from the sport of tennis. Many consider it to be the end of an era as Serena has dominated the sport for more than 20 years. Wow. Well, after announcing that she would return to the US Open for what would probably be the last tournament before her retirement, Serena played in front of a sold-out crowd. She won the first two games but ultimately lost against Australian Isla Tomjanovich in the third round. It was a hard-fought battle that lasted more than three hours, and the game average more than 4.8 million viewers and was ESPN's most-watched tennis match ever. And although Serena didn't emerge victorious, it doesn't take away from the brilliance of her career. Serena first started playing professional tennis in 1995 at the age of 14. Since her debut, she's won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, four Olympic gold medals, and 14 Grand Slam doubles titles. Yeah, she's that good. That's incredible. She's also known for competing with and against her older sister Venus Williams. Serena has played against her sister 31 times in her career and holds the advantage with 19 wins. Together. The two have won 14 Major doubles titles and even though they were often each other's biggest competition on the court, they have always been in one another's corner and never let jealousy affect their close relationship. I love you. But despite her dominance in the tennis world, Serena has legacy extends far beyond the tennis court. She has truly redefined what it means to be a woman athlete. Throughout her years in the limelight. She has been unfairly criticized for her appearance, her work ethic, and professional demeanor. Serena received an onslaught of insults and harassment over everything from her outfit choices to her muscular build to showing her emotions on the court. Are you kidding me being a woman of color, she's also had to endure racist comments and harassment as well. It took years for her family to be respected by the tennis establishment, even though Serena and her sister were almost always two of the most talented players on the court. Come on. But Serena never let those attacks bring her down. She simply continued to dominate. She proved to the sports world that women and women of color especially could be competitive, strong, and assertive while also feminine and in touch with their emotions. She's competed while pregnant. And after giving birth once again, showing the world that women can do anything men can do. And then so Wow. For more than 20 years, Serena embraced being a woman and an athlete and she made it possible for women and men everywhere to own their individuality and do the same thing. The impact she has left on athletics is invaluable. When announcing her retirement, Serena has been intentionally vague about the future of her tennis career. She stated that she was ready to quote evolve away from tennis and quote and hinted that the US Open was probably her last tournament. Serena plans to focus on her family and growing her business and charity involvement. But in postgame interviews, she's made a point to say that she doesn't know what the future has in store. And she's even commented on Tom Brady's decision to come back and play again after he announced his retirement. One way or another, Serena Williams has made it clear that she still wants to be involved in the world of tennis. And even if we never see her back on the court, again, sports fans across the globe, we'll be happy to have her involved in any way she sees fit.
Pamela Kirkland 10:25
Serena Williams is definitely the GOAT.
Ryan Willard 10:29
Absolutely. Oh, and stay tuned for some Serena Williams trivia later in the show.
Pamela Kirkland 10:43
I don't know why. I just don't get Minecraft.
Ryan Willard 10:47
This is one of the greatest and most important games of all time. It's incredibly fun and good for creativity.
Pamela Kirkland 10:52
Then, Ryan, I think you need to break that down for us. Who better than the Ten News Head Writer?
Ryan Willard 10:59
I got this. Also, I might have someone better that can help. This is the Ten News Explains: Minecraft. Minecraft is probably the most influential sandbox game of all time. It's the brainchild of Swedish programmer Marcus notch person and was released to the public on November 18, 2011. Minecraft is also one of the best-selling games of all time, with 238 million copies sold as of April 2021. Wow. It's available on every gaming platform, PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and mobile. And the only game with more sales is Tetris, which leads me to believe that humans are obsessed with blocks. But I think we need to go right to the source. I've got Ten News Correspondent Everett, who's played more Minecraft than anyone I know. Everett, can you please explain what Minecraft is?
Everett 11:50
Hey, Ten'ers, what's up, old humans? I mean, what's up grownups? Everett here and I'm just chillin. Minecraft is a fun, creative game where the world is one giant block. In this game, you drop into a huge open world with mountains, forests, caves, planes, and oceans. But it's infinite, like it goes on forever, and ever, and ever, and ever. But there's no specific goal objective. The world is filled with blocks that you can destroy you move build. And the resources you collect help you build things. It's like you get to explore an open world with a whole bunch of Legos. And it's up to you to figure out how you want to play and what you want to build. There are four levels of difficulty, peaceful, easy, normal, and hard. And for different game modes, it is adventurer, survivor, creative, and spectator. When you creator mode, you can just chill out and build stuff without worrying about staying alive. It's great for newer and younger players, thought all ages love this mode because it can show off all the cool stuff they built. There's also spectator mode, where you just watch the players do what they do. Adventure in survival mode is similar. But adventure mode is designed for gamers to plan downloadable maps created by other players. In both modes you must survive as many days as possible. And a day in the Minecraft universe is about 20 minutes. You collect resources, build structures, and basically had to survive the mobs. Oh, mob, show me anything. A mob can be a chicken or a cow. Or a zombie. Sometimes hostile mobs mean they don't like you and only attack you who can be neutral mobs they basically only attack you if you attack them, or also there are chicken zombies, which is basically, a baby zombie riding a chicken. They're pretty rad. Oh, just so you know the graphics of Minecraft aren't really good. You have 16-bit graphics, which is like a Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo. Those game systems are from late 1900s.
Ryan Willard 13:51
Hey, don't call the 90s the late 1900s.
Everett 13:54
Well, it's true so sorry, not sorry. Anyway, there can violence in the game when you're fighting the mobs of witches and chicken zombies but blocky graphics make it feel really unrealistic and not too scary. Honestly, I don't care that the graphics aren't very good because the game is so fun and has infinite possibilities. Minecraft is so popular now that it spawned five spinoff games, books, toys, merchandise and an interactive Choose Your Own Adventure Netflix show, and an upcoming feature film which I'm really really really hyped about. Yes!
Ryan Willard 14:29
Everett, can you please tell the grownups why you and other Ten'ers should get more screentime to play Minecraft?
Everett 14:35
Well, there's Minecraft Education Edition, which is where you can create things in math and science. You can get elements from the periodic table, like sodium which you can bind with TNT and make it explode into water. So, not only is it just a fun game, but it uses real science to teach us as we play.
Ryan Willard 14:57
Thank you so much, Everett, and if you're wondering if Minecraft is safe to play, our friends at Common Sense Media give it four stars and recommend it for kids ages 8 & up, and since players can create maps and environments, there is a possibility it might not be safe for kids playing multiplayer. The best way to minimize the risk of exposure to inappropriate content, language, and interactions is to let them join a realm that is an invitation-only personal Minecraft server for up to 10 players created by someone they know. Or you can search for vetted Minecraft servers just for kids. All right, Pam. Did that do the trick for you?
Pamela Kirkland 15:28
Wow. I actually learned a lot. Thank you, Ryan and Everett.
Tessa Flannery 15:39
Welcome to the trivia room.
Everett 15:42
Oh, my gosh, I can't believe I am in the trivia room. I am so excited. Hi, Tessa!
Tessa Flannery 15:49
Hey, Everett. Are you ready to try out the trivia thrown where I ask guests today's trivia question?
Everett 15:55
Yes, of course I am. I've been waiting my whole life for this moment. Let's go!
Various Voices 16:03
What is going on here? Trivia on the Ten...
Tessa Flannery 16:13
Serena Williams is the undeniable greatest of all time, but she didn't get to the top alone. Her sister Venus Williams is also a tennis champion and the two of them have won Olympic gold playing doubles together. But how many times have Venus and Serena won the gold medal in doubles tennis? Is it a) three times, b) four times or, c) five times? Everett? What do you think?
Everett 16:41
I think A, because there's no way, I said no way that someone could win four or five times gold medal in the Olympics. That's just insane.
Tessa Flannery 16:53
Ten'ers, did you guess it? The answer is... A. Venus and Serena have won three gold medals playing doubles together at the Olympics. They both are famous for their careers playing singles. But together they are truly unstoppable. Way to go.
Everett 17:13
Maybe, I should start playing tennis with my brother, Bennett.
Tessa Flannery 17:17
Totally. Hey, Ten'ers, do you want to sit on the trivia throne and share your trivia knowledge? Visit thetennews.com/contact to get in touch. And we might have you on the show!
Ryan Willard 17:29
Oh, Pamela, I never thought I'd say this, but I think I've played enough games today.
Pamela Kirkland 17:36
Wow. Well, here's an idea. Maybe you should read a book, check out this copy of Holes.
Ryan Willard 17:42
Ooh, I like that idea.
Pamela Kirkland 17:44
And I'll start wrapping up the show. But first, here's a quick note for the grownups.
Ryan Willard 17:50
Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Our show is now weekly and drops every Wednesday. But, if you want some bonus content, you could join the Ten'ers Club on our website or Apple Podcasts. Club members get special bonus content and more. Check out the website or our channel on Apple.
Pamela Kirkland 18:05
The Ten News is a coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts.
Ryan Willard 18:11
The Ten News credit team is swinging their rackets and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Adam Barnard, and Tessa Flannery. Special thanks to our guest correspondent, Everett.
Pamela Kirkland 18:20
Our production directors Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Pamela Kirkland.
Ryan Willard 18:29
I'm Ryan Willard and thanks for listening to The Ten News.
