Minecraft…….. who hasn’t heard that name by now? my son absolutely loves it, and I must admit I’m a big fan as well. I have lost count just how many hours I’ve spent on that game digging through stone to try and find diamonds. Or how many times I’ve heard the familiar ‘hhhiisssss’ just before a creeper blows me up as its snuck up behind me in my mine.

Not just a big hit in my household, the game has a huge fan base spanning all ages, and as the fans will tell you, it is in a constant state of change. It is continually being given updates to help improve every aspect of the game. If your reading this then your more than likely a fan like me, you will be pleased to see just whats being tweaked this time round. The new updates that are being added to the console version have just been sent over to Microsoft from 4J Studios for final testing. And boy are there are a lot of them:

Additions

Items

Armor Stand, Raw Rabbit, Cooked Rabbit, Rabbit Stew, Raw Mutton, Cooked Mutton, Rabbit’s Foot, Rabbit Hide, Potion of Leaping, Potion of Water Breathing, Salmon, Cooked Salmon, Clownfish, Pufferfish, Blue Orchid, Allium, Azure Bluet, Tulips, Oxeye Daisy, Sunflower, Lilac, Poppy (replaces Rose), Rose Bush, Peony, Double Tall Grass, Large Ferns, Prismarine Crystals, Prismarine Shard.

Creative Mode only: Rabbit Spawn Egg, Endermite Spawn Egg, and Guardian Spawn Egg.

Blocks

Podzol, Granite, Polished Granite, Andesite, Polished Andesite, Diorite, Polished Diorite, Prismarine, Dark Prismarine, Prismarine Bricks, Red Sand, Red Sandstone, Smooth Red Sandstone, Chiseled Red Sandstone, Red Sandstone Stairs, Sea Lanterns, Wet Sponge, Slime Blocks, Coarse Dirt, Packed Ice, Acacia Saplings, Dark Oak Saplings.

Mobs

Endermite, Guardian, Elder Guardian, Rabbit, Chicken Jockey.

Biomes

Mesa, Mega Taiga, Roofed Forest, Birch Forest, Forest, Savanna, Extreme Hills+, Deep Ocean, Snowless Taiga, 20 new Technical Biomes.

Structures

Ocean Monument

Enchantments

Luck of the Sea, Lure, Depth Strider

Changes

Fishing

Now has particle effects – bubbles will show up moving towards the bobber just before the player has something on the hook. This has the appearance of a fish swimming towards the hook.

New items can be caught from fishing

Treasure: enchanted fishing rod, enchanted bow, enchanted book, name tag, tripwire hook, lily pad and saddle.

Junk: damaged fishing rod, water bottle, rotten flesh, string, leather, bowl, stick, bone, tripwire hook, ink sac and damaged leather boots.

Enchanting

Now consumes lapis lazuli and has been rebalanced.

Enchanted books can receive multiple enchants at once.

Nether portal

New nether portal building rules: Any rectangular shape from 4×5 to 23×23

If the portal in the nether is big enough, ghasts can travel through.

Will now be activated by any fire block within the frame.

Blocks

Dispensers can place pumpkins or wither skeleton skulls to spawn iron golems, snow golems and withers, provided the body is built in a valid configuration.

Anvil repairing has been rebalanced.

Moss stone, mossy stone bricks and chiseled stone bricks are now obtainable via crafting.

Cracked stone bricks and sponges are now obtainable via smelting.

When a furnace runs out of fuel, the smelting progress will rewind at 2× speed.

Empty furnaces will only accept fuel and empty buckets in the fuel slot.

Item frames now emit a redstone signal, and can rotate in 8 directions.

Redstone comparators can now detect the rotation of an item in an item frame and output an equivalent power signal.

Buttons can now be placed on the top and bottom of blocks.

Powered activator rails now dismount entities riding minecarts.

Cauldrons with water in them will put out burning entities, taking away one water level each time.

When harvested with Silk Touch enchantment, huge mushrooms now drop blocks with corresponding mushroom texture (red or brown) on all sides, rather than the one with spores.

Sponges are now obtainable in survival mode, and now soak up contiguous water source blocks out to a taxicab distance of 5 when placed, thereupon turning into a new wet sponge.

Sugar cane color is affected by the biome color (similar to leaves, grass and vines).

Items

Added flint and steel and fire charge sound effect when igniting blocks.

Arrows decelerate much more quickly underwater, and extinguish if on fire.

Updated audio for minecarts.

Mobs

Most mobs can now swim.

Skeletons flee from wolves.

Creepers, skeletons, wither skeletons and zombies drop their heads when killed by charged creepers.

Spiders no longer see players through solid blocks.

Babies’ growth can be accelerated by feeding them.

Baby zombies now drop experience.

Creepers can now be ignited with flint and steel.

Adult zombie pigmen will forgive after a short time (and lose the aggro speed boost), but will continue to attack until the player escapes their aggro distance.

Witches can now drink and drop potions of water breathing.

Sheep now drop mutton when they die.

Updated sounds for cows and mooshrooms.

Villagers have additional professions and trades, will now harvest crops if they are farmers, will only breed when willing and will turn into witches when struck by lightning.

Generation

Melons can now be found in jungle biomes similar to pumpkins.

Swamp biomes now spawn with blue orchid flowers, and the coast is covered in staggered dirt block with lily pads between them.

Plains biomes now generate with azure bluets, oxeye daises, tulips and double tall grass.

Extreme hills biomes now have snow at higher elevations, gravel, flat valleys near sea level and are slightly higher.

Ocean biomes contains only gravel on the floor instead of sand, dirt and gravel.

Desert temples now spawn with stained clay instead of dyed wool.

Created a new tutorial world.

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