February, 2019 - Softonic English

What are the best selling video games of all time?

At some point in the life of a gamer, it’s natural to wonder: what are the top-selling video games of all time? What titles really knocked it out of the park and become worldwide phenomenons?

Below, we have the top five, what they’re about, and where to find them! For a more extensive list, visit Wikipedia’s ranking. Note that since profit and earnings are hard to translate over the years, these ratings are tallied by number of copies sold.

Number 1: Tetris

How could it not be Tetris? Released in 1984, Tetris entered the market during a time that video games were becoming widely popular and culturally acceptable. Also, thanks to the introduction of the Game Boy and Game Boy color, it was available to a younger, mobile generation of gamers who could show their newfound treasure to others.

Great timing aside, Tetris is also fun! To this day, the challenge of dropping blocks into the perfect alcove can lead to hours of fun, and makes for a great time killer or challenge amongst friends. Anyone who’s played it for a while knows: there’s something wonderful about seeing an entire row (or four, if you’re skilled) disappear.

If you haven’t had the chance to experience Tetris, give it a shot!

Tetris DOWNLOAD FREE ►

(Also, if you haven’t heard, the prefix of Tetris – Tetra – stands for 4. Every shape in tetris is made of four blocks. Do you ever wonder what Pentis or Hexis would look like?)

Number 2: Minecraft

Even if you live under a rock, you should’ve heard of Minecraft. The game took the world by storm in 2011 as the greatest exploration, survival, and building game of all time, with enormous communities across the internet, most notably our friendly neighborhood YouTube streamers. There’s no way to recommend this game enough.

Minecraft features two modes: survival and creative. In survival, you must eat to regain health while battling monsters that spawn in the dark. In creative, you’re free to roam and build with endless resources. Both modes allow the players to drop in a world with more surface area than planet earth, where they can mine various types of blocks to gain resources for more mining and more building. From there, it’s possible to create an obsidian portal to the Netherworld and finish the “story” by killing the Ender Dragon. Or, like most players, you can just keep building and building:

Amazing Minecraft time lapse build. from r/gaming

Thanks to the power of modern computers, Minecraft also offers several user-created “mods”, which change everything from the game’s appearance to the items available for crafting.

Also, a beautiful soundtrack fills Minecraft’s wide world. In this game, expect simple and calming melodies that compliment the game’s soothing environment and refreshing gameplay.

Minecraft version 1.13 is available for free from our website. Don’t miss out on this awesome game!

Minecraft (v. 1.13) DOWNLOAD now ►

(Strange… Minecraft and Tetris both feature blocks. Coincidence?)

Number 3: Grand Theft Auto V

Ever wanted to be able to do… anything? Well, you can do it in Grand Theft Auto! The game is labeled as an “adventure game” in a “sandbox world”. Essentially, as in Minecraft, you can go anywhere in a surprisingly realistic, modern-day world painted with excellent graphics, and act to your heart’s content. As the title implies, this means you can misbehave in all sorts of ways.

Don’t believe us? There’s even a mod that allows you to become the Hulk:

Grand Theft Auto mod: Hulk from r/gaming

There’s simply too much to explore in this game. If you’re looking to try GTA, give it a download and go crazy!

Grand Theft Auto V DOWNLOAD now ►

Number 4: Wii Sports

Honestly? If you’re like us, this comes as a surprise! Wii Sports, released in 2016, doesn’t have the graphics or story of the other games, though it does have something that launched it to stardom, and around 82,850,000 purchases. Here’s our best guess at what that might be:

The console itself. Nintendo’s Wii, one of the highest selling consoles ever, broke the common mold for immobile entertainment systems. Even the Nintendo console lineage – the NES and our beloved GameCube – were operated with a static controllers that MIGHT have a rumble capability. By creating a motion-sensitive remote to encourage gamers to be active, Nintendo opened an entirely new world that Wii Sports capitalized on perfectly. Despite any other areas it lacked, it provided the quintessential outlet for motion sensitive gameplay.

It’s possible to argue this led, in part, to modern immersive gaming. While Nintendo capitalized on the Wii’s technology with the Switch, other companies like PlayStation have expanded into new territories like Virtual Reality, trying to keep up on new innovations. Due to this, Wii Sports might deserve to be recognized as a founding member of gaming’s future.

Unfortunately, since it is a Nintendo exclusive, we can’t offer a download for Wii Sports. Surprisingly, it also doesn’t appear on the Switch store currently, which means purchasing a Wii or Wii U will be necessary to enjoy this classic. If you don’t want to spend the money, consider searching for alternatives on the modern generation of consoles.

Number 5: Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds

Just last year, in 2017, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (AKA PUBG) singularly established the Battle Royale genre. Sorry, kids, it wasn’t Fortnite; PUBG came first!

PUBG works like this: a large number of players drop onto a huge battlefield filled with a wealth of guns, ammo, and vehicles, and then battle to be the last one standing. You can play with friends or alone, whatever floats your boat!

Playerunknown's Battlegrounds Download Now ►

Android Q update: No going back now!

Google is thinking about killing off the back button for Android Q.

Although rumors have been building steadily recently that Google is preparing to ditch the Android operating system, development of Android’s next update, Android Q, hasn’t slowed down. The release date for Android Q is still far off, but there are snippets of information about what we can expect breaking through. One piece of information in particular is very interesting indeed.

Google is thinking about killing off the back button for Android Q

The current version of Android, Android Pie, is the ninth full version of Google’s all-conquering mobile operating system. Throughout all nine versions, the back button has been an ever-present feature. It is a simple enough tool to use. No matter what you’re doing on your Android phone, the back button is there ready to take you back to what you doing before. It looks now that in the next version of Android the back button will no longer be there for you.

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Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean you won’t be able to go back if you end up with a phone running Android Q. It just means there won’t be a button you press, if you want to go back. According to a report by XDA Developers, Google plans to completely replace the back button with a gesture-based navigation system.

If you own or have used an Android Pie device, you might be familiar with gesture-based navigation. In its latest version of Android Google gave users the option to activate its new gesture control mechanism. Android Pie has a variety of different gesture controls. Our favorites include switching the camera to selfie mode by giving the phone a little twist with your wrist, and double-tapping the screen to check notifications when it is in sleep mode. Activating all the gesture controls on Android Pie turned the traditional three-button control system into a two-button system. It replaced the past app button with a swipe gesture.

Crucially though, in Android Pie, Google made all of these gesture controls optional.

Is Google about to kill Android?

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When looking at a pre-release version of Android Q, XDA discovered that Google is working on a way to replace the back button with a gesture. This move is to improve the fluidity as you pass to the “last app.” The other big news they found, however, is that, in the version of Android Q they were looking at, there was no way to disable gestures.

In practice this might not be the big deal it looks like. The back gesture will likely be a slide to the left from the center pill. It’ll be smoother than tapping the back button and will give your phone the ability to animate the back process, from the instant you begin moving your finger in the correct way.

Experimental gestures in Android Q

Tap pill: Go home
Long press pill: Launch Google Assistant
Short swipe up of the pill: Open horizontal recent apps overview
Long swipe up of the pill: App drawer
Slide pill to the right: Scroll through recent apps
Quick slide pill to the right: Open last app
Slide pill to the left: Go back

Facebook Privacy: It is now easier for Android users to hide their location

Is Facebook finally getting the message about user privacy?

It is no secret these days that Facebook wants to know absolutely everything about us. So much so that the social giant even tracks people who aren’t members of Facebook and keeps tracking people who are even when they’re not using the Facebook app. Now, in a gesture that’ll make you ask why they even had to do this in the first place, Facebook is making it easier for Android users to stop its app from tracking their location when they’re not using it.

Is Facebook finally getting the message about user privacy?

Location settings have always been a little more nuanced on iOS than they have been on Android. Android Facebook users have a simple on/off switch for sharing their location with Facebook and other apps. iOS users, however, have always had the option to share their location with the app always, never, or only when the app is in use.

Practically, this makes a huge difference, as it means iOS users can have full location services when using Facebook and not have to worry about Facebook tracking their location for the rest of the day. Android users, on the other hand, have always had to manually switch location services on and off again should they want to use them but then not be tracked. In practice, this usually ends with Android users leaving location tracking on all the time.

Now though, this has changed. The blog post announcing the change had this to say, “Today we’re introducing a new background location control on Facebook for Android so people can choose if they want us to collect location information when they’re not using the app… Until today, people using these features were asked to enable Location History. If you enabled this setting, two things happened: you would share your location when you weren’t using the app and you would allow Facebook to store a history of your precise locations. With this update, you’ll have a dedicated way to choose whether or not to share your location when you aren’t using the app.”

This is a big change as it now makes it easier for Android users to take advantage of location services without having to submit to 24/7 surveillance. It also means that Facebook features like “Nearby Friends” will no longer show your location, even if you’re not on the app.

iOS users won’t see any change, and neither will Android users who have always had location services set to off. Those privacy-minded Android users won’t be affected as their location services will remain off.

Free desktop and mobile wallpapers: Enjoy this treat from NASA

NASA is giving away some of the most stunning photos of earth ever taken

The earth is such a beautiful and unique place. It can be easy to forget just how special it is. Earth’s natural beauty needs to be seen to be truly understood. But if your situation prevents you from seeing as much as you’d like in person, NASA has something special for you.

To celebrate Earth’s majesty, NASA has released a hardcover book filled with 69 of the best images of earth NASA has ever taken. There aren’t many people who will have seen the world like this. The book retails for $53 and will cost even more if you’re outside the U.S., but the good news is that NASA is giving away an electronic version of the book for free. These images will make some of the best desktop backgrounds we’ve ever seen.

NASA is giving away some of the most stunning photos of earth ever taken

NASA’s new photobook is called “Earth” and takes all the best satellite images the space agency has taken of earth through the years and packages them up for you. There are two ways to get your hands on the incredible images for free. You can either download the ebook as a pdf, epub, or mobi file here; or you can check out NASA’s interactive online version here.

For decades, @NASA has used data from Earth-observing satellites ? to better understand our planet. Satellite imagery in our new book, Earth, shows the story of a 4.5-billion-year-old planet ? where there is always something new to see. https://t.co/uSC7no5BZp pic.twitter.com/PzFqwnEGam

— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) February 20, 2019

The online version of NASA’s book is split into four categories. These categories are atmosphere, water, land, and ice and snow. Each will show you stunning images that tell earth’s 4.5 billion-year-old story and give you an insight into how NASA uses these types of images to learn how the earth has developed over that time.

All the images come with a short description explaining what they’re showing and also include a link to the full story of the image, which will give a much more in-depth explanation of what is going on and how NASA captured the image. If you’re looking for new desktop or mobile wallpapers, this is also where you’ll find links to the full high-resolution versions of the images. These large files will give you the opportunity to zoom in and look at the earth in much greater detail.

Michael Carlowicz who works at NASA’s Earth Observatory had this to say in the book’s foreword, “NASA has a unique vantage point for observing the beauty and wonder of Earth and for making sense of it. Looking back from space, astronaut Edgar Mitchell once called Earth ‘a sparkling blue and white jewel,’ and it does dazzle the eye. The planet’s palette of colors and textures and shapes — far more than just blues and whites — are spread across the pages of this book.”

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The book is designed to show just how beautiful the earth is as it is… “no matter what the human mind can imagine, no matter what the artist can conceive, there are few things more fantastic and inspiring than the world as it already is.” Check out the free ebook now and you’ll see that it does just that.

If you like these types of images, you should check out this extension for Google Chrome. It will show you a new satellite image from around the world every time you open a new tab.

50 sensational wallpapers to download right now

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Faster Google Chrome coming to slower, older PCs

An experimental new feature could cut Chrome RAM usage significantly.

Google Chrome is, without a doubt, the king of all browsers. It has quite literally devoured Microsoft’s Edge browser and all other web browsers are dwarfed by its insane market share. Google Chrome isn’t perfect though, and one of its biggest problems is just how much memory it needs to function properly. Unless you’re working on a top-of-the-line machine with plenty of RAM to spare, opening more than just a few tabs will slow everything down to a crawl.

This RAM problem has long been recognized by Google as an issue that needs fixing and it looks like we could soon see a solution to the problem.

An experimental new feature could cut Chrome RAM usage significantly

The new feature has been spotted in Google’s experimental Chrome Canary browser. Canary is a free-to-use browser that Google has long used to test out new Chrome features and this latest is an absolute doozy. Called “skip best effort tasks” the feature could finally see users not have to worry about how many tabs they have open, if they want their PC to work as it should.

Google Chrome Canary experimental browser — Google’s experimental Chrome Canary browser has a very interesting new feature

Skip best effort tasks works by delaying many of the low priority tasks Chrome usually runs until you shut it down. Rather than these tasks running continuously in the background while you browse, they are only carried out when you hit close after you’ve finished whatever it was, you were doing on the internet.

Low priority tasks include things like writing user data to the disk, telemetry, and cache cleaning. The new feature will take these drab-sounding yet necessary tasks, and a whole host of others like them, and hold them until Chrome is shut down. Individually, these tasks might not need much RAM, but if you add them all up and then multiply across all the Chrome tabs you generally have open, they quickly become a problem.

Describing the new feature, Google says, “With this flag on, tasks of the lowest priority will not be executed until shutdown. The queue of low-priority tasks can increase memory usage. Also, while it should be possible to use Chrome almost normally with this flag, it is expected that some non-visible operations such as writing user data to disk, cleaning caches, reporting metrics or updating components won’t be performed until shutdown.”

How to try “skip best effort tasks”

As this feature is still in the experimental stage there is no saying when, or even if, it will come to the version of Google Chrome used by 65% of all web users. If you’d like to give the feature a try in the meantime, however, you can do so by downloading Google Chrome Canary below. The feature isn’t active by default though, so once you’ve installed and opened the experimental browser, you’ll have to type chrome://flags/#disable-best-effort-tasks in the address bar and tap enter to open up the Skip best effort tasks menu.

Google Chrome Canary Download now

Windows 10 has a new free Microsoft Office app

Microsoft has released a brand-new version of Microsoft Office, which will give Office 365 users a new way to connect the work they do online and offline.

Microsoft has released a brand-new version of Microsoft Office, which will give Office 365 users a new way to connect the work they do online and offline. The new office app is a progressive web app (PWA) and works like an app version of Office.com. If you have Windows 10 version 1803 or later, you’ll be able to try the new app, as it is only from version 1803 that Windows 10 is compatible with PWAs.

Microsoft Office Download Microsoft Office Now

All your office apps right there at your fingertips

Microsoft is aiming the Office app at business and enterprise as it gives companies the ability to add branding to their office apps. It also gives users the ability to access other third-party apps via the new Office app. The app is available to individuals, however, and still has plenty to offer the personal user.

The key features for individuals revolve around the link the app provides between online and offline work and the ability to pin Office to the taskbar, putting all of your office apps right where you need them. The Office app will automatically open any office programs like Word or Excel locally, if they’re installed on the PC. If the program being accessed isn’t available locally, however, it will launch the web version of the app as found on Office.com. The same goes for files, too. It will act as a bridge between files stored on the PC and files found in OneDrive or SharePoint.

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Microsoft has demoed the new app on YouTube. The demo shows the new Office app able to work on a device in airplane mode as it has enough content in the cache to load app icons and recommended documents.

The new Office app is designed to replace the My Office app, which comes pre-installed on all Windows 10 devices. If you still have the My Office app on your PC, you should see it automatically update in the next few weeks. If you want to get your hands on the app in the meantime, however, or if the automatic update doesn’t happen, you can download and install the app from the Microsoft store.

Although this new Office app is free, it doesn’t actually give you access to any of the popular office apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook etc. It is simply a way to manage these programs and you will still need to have paid to access the office programs or have an ongoing Office 365 subscription to use them. If you’d like to check out some free alternatives to Microsoft Office check out our guide below.

Five fantastic free alternatives to Microsoft Office

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Everything you need to know about the Fortnite World Cup

Epic plans to hand out $100 million. Will you claim the top prize?

Think you’re good at Fortnite? Very soon, you’ll have the chance to prove that and scoop up millions of dollars along the way. The Fortnite World Cup tournament kicks off April 13.

Who is eligible for the Fortnite World Cup?

To enter the tournament, you have to be at least 13 years old. And if you’re not 18 yet, you’ll need permission from your parent or legal guardian. You won’t be able to play if you’ve broken any Epic rules in the past.

Round 1: The Qualifiers

From April 13 to June 16, Epic Games will host 10 Online Open qualifiers. Each week, $1 million in prizes will be up for grabs.

Round 2: The Fortnite World Cup Finals

Based on the results of those qualifiers, the top 100 Solo players and top 50 Duos teams from around the world will be invited to the Fortnite World Cup Finals in New York.

Merely making it to the Finals will get you at least $50,000, guaranteed. But you have a chance at much, much more. Fortnite’s World Cup Finals have a prize pool of $30 million. The Solo champion will walk away with $3 million. That’d buy a hell of a lot of emotes.

Even more prizes

Even if you don’t make it to the Finals, there are still plenty of prizes up for grabs. Fortnite will continue its weekly $1 million tournaments through the end of 2019. Between the World Cup and its weekly prizes, Epic hopes to hand out $100 million this year.

For more information on the World Cup, you can check with Epic’s news site and stay tuned to Softonic for the very latest.

Training regimen

Need a little help training up for the battles to come? Check out our Fortnite Gym Series, where we can take you from noob to Ninja in no time.

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Watch free streaming movies and TV shows with IMDB Freedive

IMDB offers free streaming movies. What’s the catch?

Looking for another option for free movies and TV shows? IMDB Freedive is here to scratch that itch, provided you’re willing to watch a few ads.

Guide to IMDB Freedive

How do I watch IMDB Freedive?

You can watch on your computer or any Amazon Fire TV device. Click here to access IMDB Freedive. You can also find the content by browsing the Amazon Prime Video app on an Android-enabled TV. Just keep scrolling down until you see the Freedive section.

What’s up with the ads?

The number and frequency of ads appear to vary, depending on what you’re watching. “The Last Samurai” has 14 commercial breaks. “Battlefield Earth” has five. You can’t skip or fast-forward the ads. You also can’t buy your way out of the ads; Freedive suggests buying movies through Amazon Prime if you want an ad-free experience.

On the plus side, the ad breaks are only 15-65 seconds and there’s a countdown so you know how long you’re stuck. Like many free streaming options, however, the ad breaks appear to be dropped totally at random. That can be jarring.

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Is the Freedive selection any good?

There are some gems, but not many at the time of publication. Right now, there are just 15 films from the IMDB Top 1000:

Big Fish
True Romance
Drive
Memento
Midnight in Paris
The Last Samurai
The Illusionist
Adaptation
Donnie Brasco
Awakenings
Stranger Than Fiction
Run Lola Run
Tangerines
Drunken Master
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within

There are a few other quality films in the mix:

The Natural
The Fisher King
The Mask of Zorro
Legends of the Fall
Pollock
Blue Jasmine
Closer
Foxcatcher
Junebug
Roxanne
Multiplicity

And if you love bad or cheesy movies, they have some holy grails, including “Miami Connection,” “Anaconda,” and the aforementioned “Battlefield Earth.” You could also watch “The Net” and see how badly it holds up. Or watch all three movies in the “Look Who’s Talking” trilogy.

As with most streaming services, we expect the selection will rotate, but it’s a decent start.

Can you watch Freedive anywhere?

Right now, it’s only available in the United States and U.S. territories. That’s nothing a VPN can’t fix, however.

The 5 best sites for streaming recommendations

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Any other cool stuff?

Here’s one area where IMDB Freedive surpasses every other streaming system: its search function.

When you’re on Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Now, or its streaming cousins, you’re often stuck scrolling endlessly, hoping that the algorithm can pull an appealing title from the library.

With Freedive, you can cross-reference your search with IMDB’s data. So you can find free movies that have won Academy Awards (Freedive has nine Oscar-winners at the moment). Or find movies that filmed in Chicago (Freedive offers 13). Or get even more specific by choosing 20th Century Fox movies with Dolby Digital sound (Freedive has three.)

The ability to slice and dice your search according to your specific criteria is a feature no other streaming service can match.

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What TV options are available?

It’s a mixed bag, but you may find something that appeals to you. “Heroes,” “Dallas,” “Quantum Leap,” “Fringe,” “Kitchen Nightmares,” and “Gilligan’s Island” are available. You can also watch “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette.” So it’s mostly “comfort food” TV.

Conclusion

Much like other free streaming options, the selection of films you actually want to watch is pretty small. Beyond that, IMDB Freedive is a weird junk drawer full of random content. But if you were to cobble together Freedive with Hoopla, Pluto, and some others, you’d have a respectable mix of free movie options.

Keep your eyes peeled to see if Freedive can set itself apart from the free streaming competition. The incredible search function alone is reason to give it a shot.

Facebook under pressure to remove anti-vax groups

Why won’t Facebook take action against anti-vax groups? Here are some theories.

Adding to the growing list of Facebook controversies, the company has been accused of promoting anti-vax groups. Anti-vaxxers are people who ignore the scientifically proven benefits of vaccines by consuming or spreading misinformation, intentionally or not. Through Facebook, anti-vaxxers have found their greatest opportunities to thrive and grow.

On Facebook, users can create groups around pretty much any topic they want. The admins and moderators of these groups can choose to make the group open (allowing anyone to join), closed (allowing only approved members to join), or secret (the group can only be found when someone inside the group invites you, and you still must get approved).

In closed and secret groups, aspiring members usually have to fill out a questionnaire before they’re allowed to join. If the moderators don’t like someone’s answer, they can decline them from entering the group. The vast majority of anti-vax groups on Facebook are closed, meaning that if moderators feel that someone’s going to enter the group with the intention of debating members or spreading pro-vaccine content, they’ll simply shut the door in their face. This leads anti-vax groups to become echo chambers, where the anti-vax narrative goes unquestioned and is fed into with further misinformation.

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It should also be noted that many admins of these groups promote alternative medicine that they sell, encouraging users to buy their snake oil instead of using vaccines. This obvious manipulation, for financial gain or otherwise, takes advantage of people who don’t have the facts.

The World Health Organization named “vaccine hesitancy” one of its top 10 health concerns for 2019. Facebook does not seem to care, as its algorithms promote anti-vax groups and pages when the topic of vaccines is searched (this is presumably due to anti-vax groups having more activity, likes, and posts than pro-vaccine groups).

Additionally, Facebook’s targeted ad system sends anti-vax ads to users it identifies as anti-vax, further confirming their biases and keeping them tightly locked in an echo chamber. Facebook has long been criticized for allowing these misinformative ads to flourish, as these anti-vax ads join other harmful targeted ads that promote things like white supremacy and anti-Semitism. For a company that has vowed since 2016 to remove fake news, bigotry, and intentional misinformation, Facebook has done a remarkably awful job. Controversial content generates a lot of buzz on Facebook, and the company doesn’t appear to care whether that content includes fake information or not, as it brings more activity to the site, which brings more advertising dollars.

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In a statement released last week, Facebook said it is “exploring additional measures to best combat the problem.” Measures mentioned in the statement include “reducing or removing this type of content from recommendations, including Groups You Should Join, and demoting it in search results, while also ensuring that higher quality and more authoritative information is available.” Whether or not these are hollow words remains to be seen, but based on Facebook’s track record with promoting blatantly fake news and misinformation, it’s hard to believe they’ll follow through.

The 5 coolest upcoming high tech theme park rides

Join us for a look at the mind-blowing next-gen theme park rides under construction right now.

Long before video games or virtual reality, theme parks offered the most immersive fantasy experiences you could find. From exploring the syrupy Americana of Disneyland’s Main Street to making a bike escape with E.T. at Universal Studios, the grand scale and careful design of theme parks have enchanted audiences for decades. Now that digital technology is rapidly improving, the theme park industry is going to see massive shakeups with new high tech, immersive rides. Here are a few of the most exciting ones.

5 coolest high-tech theme park rides of the future

5. Donkey Kong Minecart Coaster – Universal Studios

Anyone who’s played the excellent Donkey Kong Country series can tell you about the minecart levels. These infamously difficult sections have players flying through caves on jumping minecarts, dodging enemies and flinging over gaps in the track. If you’ve ever hoped to experience these death-defying antics in person, then you’re in luck.

A Donkey Kong minecart coaster is underway as part of Universal Studios’ Super Nintendo Land area. While it is currently unconfirmed as to where Super Nintendo Land will be located within the Universal parks, it is rumored that the Donkey Kong coaster, along with ride we’ll get to later on this list, will be part of a brand new Universal Orlando park.

Revealed via patent, the Donkey Kong minecart coaster will see guests jumping around on minecarts through an expansive cave.

As shown by the figure above, the ride simulates the famous jumping minecarts by placing an unseen track below the guests. Underneath guests, another cart rides attached via an extendable pole, safely jumping over the “gaps” in the track ridden on by guests. This is a brilliant piece of engineering that is sure to faithfully replicate the stress and chaos of a Donkey Kong minecart ride in real life.

4. Maxx Force – Six Flags Great America

Dubbed the “Thrill Capital of the Midwest,” Six Flags Great America is home to numerous dizzying roller coasters. For those looking for a new way to churn their stomach, Six Flags is currently building a coaster that will be the country’s fastest launch coaster ever. Maxx Force is a launch coaster that will accelerate guests from 0 to 78mph in less than 2 seconds (to put that into perspective, guests will feel more G-forces than astronauts do while rocketing into space). That isn’t the only record Maxx Force will break, however; the coaster also features the world’s fastest inversion (a Zero-G roll at 60mph) and the world’s highest double inversion at 175 feet.

Construction is still underway on the Maxx Force, and the coaster is expected to open sometime in 2019. A video simulating the experience can be seen below:

3. Tron Lightcycle Power Run – Walt Disney World

American theme park fans can rest assured that this popular Shanghai Disneyland attraction will hit the Magic Kingdom by 2021. Based off of Tron: Legacy’s fantastic Lightcycle sequence, Tron Lightcycle Power Run has guests mount the iconic Lightcycles, blazing through cyberspace at over 60 mph.

The ride has been one of the most popular attractions at Shanghai Disneyland for good reason. The strong theming of the ride helps to highlight the unique neon aesthetic of the Tron universe, aided by ambient music in the queue and blaring outrun chase music during the ride.

Uniquely, guests lie forward on their bikes, gripping the handlebars. By sitting closer to the ground, guests feel more visceral thrills, especially considering that this is Disney’s fastest roller coaster ever. Mirrors, screens, and other visual tricks simulate a race with an enemy Lightcycle team, giving the illusion that they are chasing down and trying to eliminate guests. The ride’s queue is a highly immersive experience in itself, featuring advanced LED technology that shows light trails as the coaster speeds by. At one point, the ride does go outside of its building, so ride at night for the most immersive experience.

A POV video of the Shanghai Disneyland version can be seen below:

2. Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run – Walt Disney World

“Chewie, we’re home.”

For years, Star Wars megafans have been hotly anticipating Galaxy’s Edge, a massive 14 acre Star Wars-themed addition to Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The section is supposed to represent an Outer Rim planet in the Star Wars universe and is set to be populated with droids, aliens, and other colorful characters. Galaxy’s Edge is set to open in late 2019, along with its most anticipated attraction: Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run.

Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run is one of the most unique and interactive attractions Disney has worked on to date. The simulator ride takes place inside of a massive, painstakingly-detailed replica of the Millennium Falcon. The ride comes complete with over 200 interactable controls, including joysticks, buttons, and switches. These aren’t just for show, however. All of these controls are fully functional, and they control the flight of the Millenium Falcon in real time. Depending on your group’s performance, the Millenium Falcon can either complete its smuggling run safely or in shambles. Characters in the area will chastise you for flying poorly or praise you for flying well. Plenty of flying scenarios, in addition to these controls, ensure that every ride will be a fresh experience.

A teaser trailer for the ride can be seen below:

1. Mario Kart Experience- Universal Studios

When Super Nintendo Land is finally finished, visitors will enter through a gigantic green warp pipe. One of the first things they’ll see is Bowser’s Castle, a gigantic and imposing landmark that hosts the Mario Kart Experience.

Universal Studios Mario Kart — These guests are surprisingly cool with the giant killer plants

Blending VR, AR, physical sets, and 360 screens, Universal promises the Mario Kart Experience will be “an attraction that is unlike any that the world has ever seen, the most immersive and cutting-edge technological attraction that we could have possibly have imagined.” Universal and Nintendo have been notoriously tight-lipped about the attraction, though a few details have slipped out. Judging from a few leaked patents, Universal isn’t just spouting empty words, the attraction does, in fact, look like the most advanced theme park ride the world has ever seen.

The Mario Kart Experience will be the world’s first ever theme park ride to use augmented reality. Using augmented reality goggles, riders can experience objects, such as items or fellow racers, imposed onto the ride’s physical sets. This allows the ride to have replayability, as the ride can place different items and obstacles, like bananas or Koopa shells, onto the track that can move or behave in unexpected ways. Augmented reality, when combined with immersive tube-like 360 screens, will give guests a sense of speed combined with the chaotic hazards Mario Kart is known for.

Half the fun of Mario Kart is power sliding around the track, which gives players a speed boost and allows them to conquer sharp turns. The ride designers clearly haven’t forgotten this, as the patent appears to show drifting capabilities in the ride’s cars. Being able to actually control your kart’s drift would add an awesome amount of interactivity to the ride. Judging from the picture, two riders enter each car (not unlike Mario Kart Double Dash), with the front rider driving and the other controlling something else (assumedly throwing items). This combination of advanced physical and virtual technology has never been seen in a ride, and we can’t wait to get our first look at the Mario Kart Experience.

Watch: Mario Kart VR looks INTENSE

Would you play this?