If you've been wanting to play Minecraft with your other gamers on the Apple TV now is the time to start getting excited. "Realms" the Minecraft subscription-based multiplayer has been added to the Apple TV version. Servers upgraded version also comes with Xbox Live authentication support, that allows players to access their avatars linked to them and character skins.
Realms accounts are like buying a Minecraft server. However the account is managed by Microsoft and you don't need to worry about IP addresses or hosting. You get to control who can access your private Minecraft Realm, too. That way you don't have to worry about anyone trashing your world while you race around fighting explosions of Creepers or creating insane recreations of King's Landing from Game of Thrones. For $3.99 and $7.99 respectively you can build an entire Realm for 2 or 10 players.
Existing Realms subscriptions for Mac, Linux, or PC are not allowed to play with their iOS and Apple TV brethren. There are two Realms systems that are available for PCs and one that is compatible with iOS and Android users. We've asked whether there is a plan to connect the two systems.
The procedurally-generated worlds of Minecraft deserve to be explored with others; now Apple TV and iOS fans have a chance to do just that... as long as they stick to their own platform.
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