by Stone Marshall | Dec 5, 2015 | Minecraft News |
A pair of new Minecraft Update 1.9 preview builds debuted this week, two weeks after the community’s last preview of the next Minecraft patch, but there isn’t all that much to get excited about in this week’s previews of Minecraft Update 1.9.
It’s been a few months, since the last time a week passed without a new preview of Minecraft Update 1.9. Thankfully, following last week’s lull in the release cycle, Mojang has returned with a pair of new Minecraft snapshots this week. Neither of this week’s preview builds consists of much more than bug fixes for issues from recent Minecraft snapshot; a fact that shouldn’t exactly come as a shock, given that Mojang is in the final stretch of its work on Minecraft Update 1.9. But fans might be happy to hear there are a handful of other gameplay tweaks in Minecraft snapshot 15w49a, too.
The first Minecraft Update 1.9 preview build of the week improves the game’s handling of thrown items, converting snowballs and thrown potions back into items if/when they become lodged in cobwebs. The first Minecraft snapshot of the week also improves door functionality, giving players a bit more control over the object’s orientation when placed. Minecraft snapshot 15w49a even features a small tweak for horses, which allows them to rotate with the player going forward.
Here are the complete patch notes for Minecraft snapshot 15w49a, via Jens Bergensten:
- Snowballs and thrown potions now turn into items when stuck in cobwebs – via
- Horses now rotate with the player
- Improved doors
- They are now placed facing left/right depending on which half of the block you click on, unless neighboring doors cause them to place a certain way -via
- Improved path finding
- Balancing tweaks
- A small feature
- MCPE derpy snow golems
- Shear normal snow golems to take their pumpkin
- Changed the /particle command
- Added a params parameter to specify particle parameters (for iconcrack_, …)
- Added a player parameter
- /playsound now supports tab-completion
- Server-known sounds are now tab-completed
- Sweep attacks now do one heart of damage
- Zombies, Zombie Pigmen, Slimes, Magma Cubes, Wither Skeletons, Spiders, Cave Spiders, Silverfishes and Endermites now fight back when hit by other mobs
- Texture changes
- Melons and glistering melons are now oriented the same way
- Health Boost and Absorption now have different icons – Screenshot
- Increased elytra wall damage
- Fixed some bugs
- Fixed items placed into beacons being lost when reloading the world – you can no longer place more than one item in a beacon, hoppers/droppers no longer feed into beacons, you drop the payment item when closing the beacon UI again
- Fixed signs, sugar canes, vines, two block high plants and cobwebs causing glitchy mob behavior
- Fixed clearing the nausea effect showing portal tint
- Fixed projectiles behavior in regard to non-solid blocks: They now ignore non-solid blocks and get “stuck” in cobwebs
- Fixed command selectors with decimals creating fake scoreboard players instead of simply failing
- Fixed players floating above saddled donkeys/mules
- Fixed lightning strikes destroying item frames, paintings, and armor stands
- Fixed endermen being able to pick up blocks behind walls
- Fixed overworld lava flowing towards unreachable drops
- Fixed undead mobs staying in shadows even while wearing stuff on their heads
- Fixed the rain texture being rendered upside down
- Fixed crop hitboxes not adjusting for growth height
- Fixed being unable to put flower pots on pistons
- Fixed blaze fireballs damaging other blazes
- Fixed tamed wolves attacking when wild wolves are hurt
- Fixed being able to place cacti under water
- Fixed trapped chests being listed under “Decoration Blocks” instead of “Redstone”
- Fixed ocelots and rabbits running from players in creative mode
- Fixed clicking on non-existing link target or deleted screenshots giving an error
- Fixed being unable to pick block on the dragon egg
- Fixed teleporting with relative x rotation above 90 affecting y rotation
- Fixed guardian beams turning green at the end of charging
- Fixed lit furnaces still being obtainable using the /give command
- Fixed multiple item textures have partially transparent pixels, causing their item models to have holes
- Fixed the shift+F3 menu remaining on server disconnect
- Fixed server resource packs not staying persistent – more info
- Fixed offhand items rendering while drawing bow (1st and 3rd person view)
- Fixed shulkers deflecting arrows from the side but not the top/arrows being glitchy when shot at the edge
- Fixed punching cake consuming one slice
- Bosses are unaffected by potion effects/tipped arrows: The Wither and the Ender Dragon will now ignore all effects
- Fixed the Infinity enchant working with tipped arrows
- Fixed levitation not affecting squids
- Fixed shulkers teleporting into other shulkers
- Fixed end cities spawning even without Generate Structures
- Fixed dead shulkers teleporting
- Fixed cauldrons getting filled with water while snowing in biomes where it only snows above a certain height
- Fixed shulkers opening into blocks
- Fixed blocks/items on mobs’ heads turning red when the mob takes damage
- Fixed pistons pushing AreaEffectClouds
- Fixed leading zeroes being omitted on dyed leather armor colour
- Fixed the drop item scoreboard objective increasing with /give
- Fixed shulker floating slightly above ground
- Fixed setblocking signs with at least one, but not all 4 lines specified putting “null” on empty lines when reloading the world: It now only accepts proper json for each line and each line has to exist, empty sign otherwise
- Fixed the librarian zombie villager robe texture sometimes being white instead of transparent, sometimes being transparent
- Fixed the shulker hitbox height while peeking
- Fixed levitating slimes moving
- Fixed slimes always moving south first
- Fixed arrows blocked by shield getting stuck above the player
- Fixed shields still displaying metadata
- Fixed the chest armor slot for AttributeModifiers being called “torso” when all other slots were consistent with their /replaceitem names
- Fixed AreaEffectCloud not working with some particles, crashing with others
- Fixed end portals generated with 12 eyes not being activated
- Fixed elytra going invisible on invisible players
- Fixed taking damage while gliding pushing you upwards
- Fixed picking block on frosted ice giving a warning
- Fixed loot table exceptions not being caught
- Fixed rain putting out fires too seldomly
- Fixed being unable to remove container minecarts with invalid loot table
- Fixed being able to place multiple end crystals in the same place
- Fixed an issue with level.dat causing the end dragon fight to fail
- Fixed villagers still not going through doors
- Fixed skeletons riding horses being unable to reach their pathfinding goal/not attacking properly
- Fixed the “Block Broken” subtitle being inaccurate
- Fixed beams from end crystals moving in the wrong direction when spawning Ender Dragon
- Fixed a mob pathing issue
- Fixed Activator Rails and Powered Rails powering each other
- Fixed some subtitles being unrelated to the sound
- Fixed slimes being slightly offset from their actual position
- Fixed silent Shulkers still producing sounds
- Fixed some of the new textures not being compressed properly
- Fixed texture variants switching on nearby block updates
- Fixed the level-up sound originating at a position in the world, not at the player position
- Fixed the baby zombie hitbox being too big, causing floating mob heads and floating Grumm/Dinnerbone baby zombies
- Fixed frost walker not working from transparent blocks
- Fixed right clicking a hoe/shovel on grass/dirt playing the wrong sound
- Fixed each cuboid part of a model rendering smooth lighting as if it were a full block, causing lighting issues on corner stairs and custom models
- Fixed NBT data for SmallFireballs being incomplete
- Fixed server-side resource packs not showing up in the resource pack list
- Fixed being unable to place blocks in marker armor stands
- Fixed zombie/skeleton/zombie pigman arms going up and down if they can’t reach you
- Fixed the enderdragon getting in boats
- Fixed villagers killed by zombies turning into baby zombie villagers/chicken jockeys
- Fixed creepers sometimes dropping gunpowder when their explosion sets off and end crystal
- Fixed being able to place end crystals inside blocks, replacing them with fire in the end
- Fixed the dragon respawn sequence not stopping when /killing the dragon
- Fixed the beam target of end crystals on obsidian pillars not updating when the ender dragon spawn sequence is stopped
- Fixed the end crystal beam appearing detached as the crystal bobs up and down
- Fixed end crystals overlapping when interrupting the dragon rebirth sequence
And here are the patch notes for Minecraft snapshot 15w49b:
- Fixed the bottom of falling sand turning black when remaining space is < 1 block
- Fixed mobs entering a cauldron never leaving the cauldron
- Fixed a crash when depleting an item stack
- Fixed a crash in worlds with double-slab blocks
- Fixed Falling Sand entities being invisible/rendering at 0,0
- Fixed the time query daytimecommand not resetting after day night cycle
- Fixed stat.openInventory whilst riding horse
- Fixed armor stands being able to have potion effects
- Fixed the End Portal teleport range being too large
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes.com and follow Scott on Twitter for more Minecraft coverage throughout the rest of 2015 and for as long as Mojang supports Minecraft in the years ahead.
Minecraft Update 1.9: Snapshot 15w49a, 15w49b Deliver Small Tweaks And More Bug Fixes
by Stone Marshall | Dec 4, 2015 | Minecraft News |
Listen up you little Creepers and Zombies out there. Microsoft wants to teach you how to code using Minecraft as a teacher.
On Monday, Microsoft announced a partnership with Code.org that will teach kids (and adults) the basics of computer science in an hour using Minecraft-themed lessons. Microsoft bought Mojang, the Swedish video game company behind the hit game,
for $2.5 billion last year, and wants to use the title to get the more than 100 million players around the world interested in coding.
The new Minecraft module is part of Code.org’s third annual Hour of Code, a worldwide campaign that tries to demystify code by teaching the basics of computer science in just an hour. The Hour of Code takes place during Computer Science Education Week from December 7 – 13.
Minecraft, released in 2009, has no storyline to speak of, but instead lets players create their own worlds and explore others in an infinite digital sandbox.
If users sign up for the free Hour of Code Minecraft module, they’ll learn how to use blocks of code to make Steve or Alex, the two main character skins from the game, adventure through a Minecraft world. Other modules, including some based on Star Wars, “Frozen” and other popular content, are also available on the Code.org site.
Minecraft lead developer Jens Bergensten provides the introductory video for the Minecraft module, and and other members of the Mojang team walk students through the process of building code to get their characters to achieve various goals like shearing sheep and breaking down trees into wood resources.
“A core part of our mission to empower every person on the planet is equipping youth with computational thinking and problem-solving skills to succeed in an increasingly digital world,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said a statement. “With Minecraft and Code.org, we aim to spark creativity in the next generation of innovators in a way that is natural, collaborative and fun.”
Students who choose the Microsoft module will tackle a series of 14 coding challenges, including some free play time so they can take the coding tactics they learn during the module and explore the Minecraft world with code. The Minecraft module is available for crafting now.
Microsoft and Code.org want to teach kids to code with Minecraft
by Stone Marshall | Dec 4, 2015 | Minecraft News |
It’s the battle of the heavyweights as the legendary Mario from the Super Mario video game series takes on the guy from Minecraft in this video published Sunday by Dorkly.
In the clip, Mario and Minecraft Guy — aka The Player, or Steve or Steve? — try to determine once and for all which video game franchise is better. Things get heated the second Minecraft Guy comes into the room, calling Mario “Chef Boyardee,” which really sets Mario off.
The two argue about which franchise is more popular, whether or not people are actually playing any Mario games on the Wii U gaming console and how long kids have spent playing each respective franchise.
Ultimately, the video makes it seem like Minecraft is the winner here, but I have to disagree. I’d much rather sit down with my kiddo and build a level of iconic Mario side-scrolling goodness in the new Mario Maker game than watch him build things in Minecraft.
For me, at least, Mario’s nostalgia easily wins out over the creativity afforded by the blocky sandbox construction game of Minecraft. But maybe that’s justa-me, Mario fan.
Let us know which video game franchise you think is best in the comments.
Mario takes on Minecraft Guy in battle of the video games
by Stone Marshall | Nov 30, 2015 | Minecraft News |
I know that many Minecraft: Pocket Edition [$6.99] players have been anxiously waiting for redstone to be added to the game, and we are finally very, very close to at least trying to build amazing contraptions. MCPE developer, Tomasso Checchi, mentioned out of nowhere the other day that the 0.13 update had been submitted to Apple a while ago. The quite short cycle of this update bodes well for the game’s future because in the past, we had to wait a lot between updates. Now, the road to version parity appears to be both shorter and smoother. Depending on when the update was actually submitted, we might even get it this week, which would be great.
In case you haven’t been following the game’s news, the 0.13 update will bring redstone circuits, redstone lamps, redstone torches, levers, tripwire hooks and tripwire, daylight sensor, pressure plates, buttons, weighted pressure plates, detector rails, activator rails, trapped chests, note blocks, faster boats (finally), bouncing rabbits, iron doors, desert temples, and more. No pistons or dispensers, yet. This is a pretty huge update that will help me add a steampunk aesthetic to my castle. Trust me, simply being able to walk into your castle without having to manually open the door (courtesy of pressure plates) saves so much time.
‘Minecraft: Pocket Edition’ 0.13 (Redstone) Update Has Already Been Submitted for Review
by Stone Marshall | Nov 29, 2015 | Minecraft News |
The third entry to Telltale Games’ new series “Minecraft: Story Mode” has finally been released, and if the last two games were able to keep your attention, you’re bound to know what’s in store for this title.
The third episode is titled “The Last Place You Look” and takes place right where the last episode left players hanging. Along with introducing a new part of the “Minecraft” world, the mysterious creatures known as the Endermen are brought to this entry and play a major role.
Here are what the critics are saying about the third chapter:
Gamespot
Gamespot finds this entry to be the best in the series so far despite being noticeably short.
“Minecraft Story Mode’s third episode is the best so far, weaving action and story in a tight, focused package. This is another short episode (my first playthrough clocked in at less than 90 minutes), which makes Story Mode a little on the brief side compared to recent Telltale offerings. But that brevity is my biggest complaint, which, if you look at it from the most charitable view, means the game never outstayed its welcome. Story Mode remains a great experience–especially if you’re playing with younger fans of Minecraft–and my anticipation for the next episode remains high.”
We Got This Covered
We Got This Covered found “The Last Place You Look” to be a huge improvement from the last entries and advises Telltale Games keeps up the pace.
“The Last Place You Look is undeniably a major improvement over the last outing, and hopefully Telltale can keep this momentum going for the remaining episodes. They’re continuing to get an impressive amount of material out of a license many fans doubted, and while it would still be nice to get longer installments, people who enjoyed the first portion of the season will get another very enjoyable outing here.”
God is a Geek
God is a Geek concurs that the series is on an incline with this title, but still believes there’s a lot to be desired from the developers.
“This is the strongest entry to date in Minecraft: Story Mode. It still isn’t hitting the heights of some of Telltale Games’ best work, but this episode makes good strides in that direction. It has a lot more action than the previous two, and the narrative is tighter, with greater focus on character development and progression. I’m interested to see how the next episode plays out, and going on the release schedule for the first three episodes, hopefully we won’t have to wait too long.”
Game Informer
Game Informer highlights the entry’s progression in narrative and action, which makes it the best out of the three so far.
“With a feeling of real narrative progression, strong action sequences, and a script that draws you in to the events unfolding in the story, The Last Place You Look is Minecraft: Story Mode’s best episode yet. Episode 3 gets the series back on track and make any fears I had stemming from Episode 2 feel like a distant memory.”
Minecraft Story Mode Episode Three: ‘The Last Place You Look’ – Review Roundup; Best Entry In The Series So Far
by Stone Marshall | Nov 29, 2015 | Minecraft News |
Two new updates are coming to the Minecraft game on Xbox consoles. A new holiday pack for the Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3: The Last Place is now available for the Minecraft fans that are playing this game from their Xbox consoles.
Telltale Games and Mojang have worked on the Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3: The Last Place and it seems that this new episode is finally available on both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles.
Lawrence Hryb (aka Major Nelson), director of programming at Microsoft, made the announcement a few days ago, on November 24, 2015, that the Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3 : The Last Place is available for download on Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
We remind you that two other episodes from “Minecraft: Story Mode” are expected to be released for Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. To get access to all five episodes, the players will need to pay 24.99 dollars for the PC version or 29.99 dollars for the Xbox 360 or Xbox One version.
Minecraft: Holiday Pack for Xbox One
In another post, Hryb announced that the Minecraft: Xbox One Edition has received a new holiday pack. In concordance with WinBeta, the holiday pack for the Minecraft game on Xbox One will contain a full digital version of the game along with a number of DLCs.
Even if Christmas is not here yet, the game also includes the Festive Mash-up DLC which features Santa Skins, new music, snow textures and a “festive world”. In addition, the holiday pack comes with three texture packs: City Texture Pack, Minecraft Fantasy texture Pack and Nature Texture Pack.
In addition, the players will notice that they will have two skin packs: Beasts skin pack and Battle Skin pack that will allow them to customize their characters. If you are a Halo fan, then you should know that you will receive some “Halo” textures, music and skins along with a “Halo” themed Minecraft world.
Minecraft Story Mode Episode 3 The Last Place is Now Available
