J.K. Rowling reveals how she gave Alan Rickman a major clue about Snape’s character. Warning: manly tears will be shed.
Minecraft Xbox 360 Update TU31 – Everything you need to know
Minecraft released its 1.8.8 edition, also known as version TU31 for the Xbox 360 community, on December 18th. Known as one of the biggest updates Minecraft has ever seen, the new edition is said to bring the console versions closer to the current PC build than they’ve ever been. Adding tons of new items and features as well as a few changes to the core of the game, users are sure to enjoy Minecraft’s entire revamped world.
Over 20 new items have been added to the game including salmon, raw rabbit, Rabbit stew, pufferfish, blue orchid, Tulips, Sunflowers, Lilacs, large Ferns, Rose bushes, and an armor stand.
More than 20 different types of blocks have also been added such as Granite, red sand, coarse dirt, wet sponge, and slime blocks as well as three new enchantments, one new structure, and 10 new biomes to explore.
Changes to the core of the game features new items and treasures that can be caught while fishing, enchanted books that can now receive multiple enchantments all at once, and as if that weren’t already quite the upgrade, Ghasts can now travel through portals in the Nether if the portal is big enough and now most mobs can swim. There are even some new mobs roaming the lands!
A few more added features and changes:
- Villagers now have additional professions, and can now harvest crops and breed. They’ll even turn into witches upon being struck by lightning.
- Any rectangular shape from 4×5 to 23×23 will work as a Nether Portal.
- Pumpkins and Wither Skeleton Skills can be given to spawn Golems and Withers.
- The Anvils have been rebalanced.
- A furnace can be used to create Cracked Stone Bricks and Sponge.
- Empty furnaces will only accept fuel and empty buckets in the fuel slot.
- Item frames emit a Redstone signal, and can rotate in multiple directions.
- Redstone comparators can now detect the rotation of an item in an item frame and output an equivalent power signal.
- Buttons can be placed at the top and bottom of blocks.
- Powered Activator rails dismount entities riding Minecarts.
- Water-filled cauldrons will put out burning entities, taking away one water level each time.
- Sponges have been reintroduced into Survival Mode with a new behavior and texture.
- Sugar Cane color is now affected by the specific biome.
- Melons can be found in patches similar to Pumpkins in the Jungle Biome.
- Extreme Hills Biomes now have snow at higher elevations.
- Ocean Biomes got rid of the sand and dirt, now only featuring gravel on the floor.
- Sheep drop mutton upon death.
- Arrows decelerate more quickly underwater and extinguish if on fire.
- Skeletons flee from wolves.
- Spiders no longer see players through solid blocks.
In addition to these numerous changes, the audio has been updated and an entire new Tutorial World has been created too.
With so many changes and added features, Minecraft has extended the entire world of the game, giving users way more biomes to explore, flowers to check out, and things to do!
Minecraft Xbox 360 Update TU31 – Everything you need to know
Today’s Feat of Minecraft Engineering: A Working Submarine
Admittedly it looks and moves more like a worm (it’s even partly made ofslime blocks), but hey, it’s underwater and it keeps you dry. A bit proof of concept-y, but it’s a Minecraft submarine.
Designed by Minecrafter Alex_you, the sub is constructed out of slime andredstone blocks and glass, with glowstone for lighting and pistons that actually move the cabin forward. The start/stop mechanism is operated by way of flint & tinder, as the video shows:
Looks like a bumpy ride. Still, some engineering. If you wanna give it a try yourself, a download link to the map with the submarine in it can be found here, in the video description.
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Minecraft Methods to Die – Try to Avoid Them
People play violent games, where they kill characters in the most horrific ways. In other games, the murder scenes are not explicit, but only the thought that your characters will “die” is troubling the players. Minecraft is not necessarily a sadistic game, but many deaths happen in it and the players want to know in how many ways they can die.
By The Ghast
Ghasts stay around the Nether, they’re floating and their eyes and mouth are closed and they might trick you to believe they’re cure and harmless with those sounds they make, imitating cats or infants. They have the size of 4x4x4 blocks and their tentacles have the size of a player, and when you’re in their attack range (within sixteen blocks), ghasts will open fire and kill you. Also, these things will make other mobs attack you, but they will never attack mobs.
By TNT
TNT is a cube with an edge length of 0.98 and when it’s activated, it’s spawn at the center of a powered TNT block. If it’s activated by redstone/fire, its fuse lasts 40 redstone ticks, and it’s destroyed by an explosion – a number between 10 – 30 game ticks. Primed TNT’s texture blinks and the texture will alternate between the normal texture and a pure white one. Primed TNT can be pushed by water and when it’s shot through lava, it catches on fire. TNTs can be used for traps such as land mines, which generate naturally in desert temples, and they activated when they’re placed by a dispenser, hit by a fire charge fireball, in contact with fire or lava etc.
By Drowning
Players can’t breathe under water, so they will drown for sure when their air supply value drops. It’s recommended to keep a solid block (cobblestone or dirt) somewhere on the toolbar, so when mining into a spring or ocean and making a hole, the player should use that block to block it. This way, they will not drown.
By Falling
Players can’t fly either, so if they will fall from a height equivalent to 23 blocks, they will surely die, even if they are protected by their armor. The only thing that can save them is an armor enchanted with Feather Falling or Protection.
By The Enderdragon
This is the boss that appears in the end and the death won’t be pleasant! It throws out fire, it’s very healthy (the purple health bar appears at the top of the screen), it can regenerate itself using Ender crystals and when you’re destroying an ender crystal when the dragon is being healed, it will take a 10 damage.
Top 10 Minecraft PE Skins
Minecraft is probably the next best thing after Lego when it comes to building something out of blocks. It’s not every day that those blocks you piled would be under threat as soon as the sun goes down, anyway. You might also need to battle awful things in The Nether if you want to defend your creation.
Well, fighting your nemesis would look much better if you dress the part. And there isn’t a shortage of skins in this game.
Best Minecraft PE (Pocket Edition) Skins
Are you looking for skins for Minecraft 0.11.0? Here are some of your best options.
Arab Man
Regardless of what you associate with the Arab Man, it is a fact that playing the game garbed in the traditional than would be interesting. Do you feel like making your own oil depot and silo all of a sudden?
Sheriff Woody
Ah, who doesn’t love Woody from Toy Story? You must be crazy if you don’t have the hearts for him. Although Buzz Lightyear is pretty cool too. But hey, nothing beats a cowboy boots and hat to go with the Wild West look.
Groot
“I am Groot!” Well, don’t believe every word said, because “I am Groot” can be anything. But, as one of the coolest characters in the movie Guardians of the Galaxy, you would not be the only one rooting for Groot. Get it?
Squid Man
Have you always wanted to be the Kraken or…Squidward? In Minecraft PE, the closest you can get to making your dreams come true is to have Squid Man as your skin. Just bear with the squid water mobs style. You would be able to swim very fast, anyway. Part of the skin’s secret feature.
Rana
Previously an old mob that was removed in Minecraft in 2010, Rana is back! But, as a human skin. No reason to be disappointed, right? Better a Rana skin than no Rana at all.
Derp
What rhymes with burp, but sounds more like twerk? Derp! Nothing about the riddle makes sense. But so does having a strange face attached to a human body. Why can’t it be just a normal face? Just leaves you wondering, is derp man or not?
Pumpkin Boss
Think of this Minecraft PE skin as a huge improvement with the scarecrow. Because now he’s wearing a suit instead of rags, although the pumpkin would still give anyone nightmares, especially those that aren’t a fan. Hey, you can use that as a strategy. All you need to do is find out which if your opponents are scared of scarecrows with a Jack O’Lantern for a head.
Tree
Isn’t Groot a tree as well? What makes this skin different is that it can pass as an actual tree in Minecraft. This means you can camouflage yourself as one and then attack. Very few might see you coming.
Barry the Bear
Unlike the usual bear, Barry the Bear is more cute than scary. But because he’s in Minecraft, you can’t trust him to be all that warm and cuddly.
Clown Boy
How many clowns have turned murderer in movies? Well, Clown Boy is just as scary, and being killed by him in survival games can be downright frightening.
MINECRAFT: STORY MODE EPISODE 4 – A BLOCK AND A HARD PLACE REVIEW
A Block and a Hard Place, Episode 4 of Minecraft: Story Mode, is another middling chapter in Telltale’s kid-friendly Minecraft tale. Its attention to Minecraft detail and satisfying, action-packed climax keep it from being a complete bust, but these highs aren’t enough to overcome the rest of the episode’s predictable plot twists, inconsequential story, and often uninteresting dialogue.
This dichotomy is encapsulated in Episode 4’s first major event: a quest in which Jesse and his posse have to travel to the “Far Lands” to retrieve a MacGuffin that will hopefully allow them to defeat the Wither Storm and save the world. The Far Lands are a real Minecraft concept – if you can manage to reach the edge of the (nearly) infinite map, Minecraft can glitch out and strange things can be seen. It’s a cute and clever to see this fabled place discussed and eventually explored by a group of people that actually live in this world. And as usual, the set itself is massive and detailed.
Unfortunately, this is an example of real dialogue experienced while making the long and arduous journey: “Is it much further?” “Not too much further.”
Riveting stuff, I know.
“The dialogue commonly succumbs to cliche.
In addition to often feeling flat and uninteresting, the dialogue commonly succumbs to cliche. “How long have you been standing there?” One character is asked when walking in on the second half of an incriminating conversation. “Long enough,” is (of course) the reply.
A Block and a Hard Place continues Story Mode’s emphasis on the past, to mixed results. Its explorations of themes like the dangers of hero worship and how ego or hubris can ruin friendships is well done, and a welcome bit of thoughtfulness in an otherwise fairly light story. But in practical terms, this means Story Mode spends a whole lot of time focusing on characters and conflicts that aren’t directly related to Jesse, instead focusing on the legendary heroes The Order of the Stone. This puts us in the back seat, often taking a passive role in the drama.
Thankfully, the final showdown manages to satisfy on multiple levels. The victory for Jesse and company feels well earned – they come up with a plan, and execute on it via fun, and occasionally actually challenging, QTE button-prompts. By the end, it genuinely feels like this group of heroes really is a group of heroes, even though they started Episode 1 as a bunch of goofballs. The entire sequence is also well-directed and acted. It’s a satisfying end to Story Mode’s overarching threat.
Unfortunately the iffy storytelling returns to the forefront as the episode draws to a close. Multiple story threads that have spanned the entire series are wrapped up off-screen thanks to a small time jump. Amnesia? Gone. A friend’s life-threatening illness Jesse kept promising he would fix? It fixes itself. This neat wrap-up is especially disappointing because, like Story Mode’s other episodes, the adventure is fairly short at around an hour and 45 minutes.
As for what’s next… well that’s the big question, isn’t it? We know a fifth episode is coming, but A Block and a Hard Place ends the current story arc. We’ll have to wait and see what this means for our motley crew, and for Story Mode’s potential long-term future.
The Verdict
Telltale’s love and deep understanding of Minecraft combined with a thrilling satisfying climax keep Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 4 – A Block and a Hard Place from reaching a new series low at the hands of poor dialogue and a meandering plot. It’s still a little too slow-paced and predictable to recommend wholeheartedly.
MINECRAFT: STORY MODE EPISODE 4 – A BLOCK AND A HARD PLACE REVIEW