The Beano's Dennis, Gnasher and Walter Join Minecraft

The Beano's Dennis, Gnasher and Walter join Minecraft By Emily Thomas Newsbeat reporter

Minecraft players should be on the lookout for Walter "softy" and his stinky pants.

You can now add Walter, Dennis, the Menace, and Gnasher from The Beano to the PC version of the game.

Players can make a sausage for Gnasher and use all of Dennis Gnasher's best tricks such as catapults and stink bombs.

It's part of the Beano's wider plans to expand into digital media and its model has emerged from a partnership between the animated series and Frima Studios, a Canadian multiplatform game developer.

Mark Cotton, who is the head of digital transformation at Beano Mark Cotton, the Beano's digital leader, told Newsbeat that Minecraft is "their most fervent passion and their greatest love"

Mark says that the game is an "extension" of The Beano comic and an attempt to make The Beano "a more overall experience" for children.

"Roughly 32,000 comics are sold every week at the Beano which is an extremely healthy amount," he says.

But it's still far less than the two million sold during the peak of the magazines.

"We are well aware that kids today have a passion for digital," Mark says. Mark.
Offtopic Hut

"We have to transform The Beano into an all-encompassing brand where Dennis and Gnasher is everywhere that children are, instead expecting them to come to us.

"So we're working on a whole series of initiatives over the next three to six months."

There are puzzle games interactive comics, puzzles, and an "action 3-D game for children".

DC Thompson, The Beano's publisher has already expanded The Beano brand to include a TV show and a photo-sharing app as well as YouTube channel.

Grand Theft Auto?

The comic has been around since 1938 and has plenty of adult fans. Also, could the Beano characters be featured in any of the adult games? Dennis the Menace in Grand Theft Auto perhaps?

"No. We don't have anything to focus on at the moment," says Mark.

"We're focused on the 7-11-year-old digital product - at the moment, digital for us is about truly engaging with kids and knowing their interests."

They've been working with a group of 10 Minecraft and Beano enthusiasts aged 7-11 throughout the development process.

Minnie the Minx?

"We mostly asked children"If Beano were to appear in Minecraft What would it look like?

"This was the first step to begin to imagine what they desired. Obviously their imaginations are much greater than we can possibly do for the moment.

"But they wanted Pranks They wanted Walter They wanted Gnasher, they wanted to dress up as Dennis, and that's what we've offered them.

"We'll continue to talk to them. Our desire is to extend this and build Beanotown and let children be creative.

"Minecraft is so popular because it gives the power to children. If we try to restrict the kids and tell them what they should do, they'd probably reject it."

Are there any other characters that could be allowed to participate in?

"We definitely want to expand it," says Mark.

"Minnie the Minx is the obvious persona and the one that the kids have been asking about, so I'd likely take a look at next."