A new Minecraft update is heading out for PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, and pretty much every other platform that the massively popular open-world game is available on. This isn’t a massive update, but it is big enough to warrant checking out the extensive patch notes. It looks like all versions are getting pretty much the same patch, so just keep reading to see what to expect from this new Minecraft update.
Minecraft Update 38 on Xbox One or 1.41 on PS4 has a long list of bug fixes that it addresses, all listed in the patch notes. You can click here for the full list from 4J Studios, but we’ve pulled out a few highlights that seem like more impactful changes for the game.
This Minecraft update includes: “Fix for Horses not jumping to the correct height. Re-entering a tutorial area while the playing the Tutorial will reset the chests. Fix for Slab blocks not blocking light. Fix for Chickens not dropping Cooked Chicken when they die on fire. Fix for Blazes not dropping Glowstone Dust when they die. Fixed the drop grate of Gold Nuggets. Fix for Zombie Pigmen not dropping Gold Ingots when they die. Fix for tamed Ocelots remaining hostile to anything they were attacking before being tamed. Fix for crash when spawning too many Shulkers. Added new 11 achievements/trophies for Survival. Added new 7 achievements/trophies for Tumble.” And more.
Minecraft updates are always a nice time to jump back into the long running game. I always seem to hit the game in waves, playing it extensively for a few weeks or months before I kind of get tired of it, or my friends get addicted to some other new game. Then a new update hits and I’m right back in the mine, desperately searching for diamonds. When was the last time you were truly hooked on Minecraft? Let us know in the comments.
Mojang yesterday announced the availability of new Villains Skin Pack for Minecraft console editions. Pocket Edition and Windows 10 players already have access to this pack since last year. Each of these skins is inspired by one of the most evil things in Minecraft – cakes, silverfish, trapdoors to name just a few.
Grab it and join forces with Minecraft’s most dastardly denizens: slink from the shadows as the sinister Stronghold Seer, unleash the fury as the ferocious Lava Fiend, or, er, sell silverfish as the monstrous Silverfish Monger. The evilest of all mongers!
Then there’s the grotesque Patchkin, the enigmatic Endergaunt, the chilling Eyece, the Terror Spawner, Dungeon Spectre, Slymime and Cake Maniac. There’s evil of every flavour: 17 skins in total – the evilest of all numbers!
Minecraft is one of the most popular video games ever created. Since its humble beginnings as an indie game for the PC, the game has amassed over 100 million sales in just over five years. This makes it the second best-selling video game of all time, second only to Tetris. Minecraft has captured the hearts of both adults and children across the globe.
Minecraft’s identity is unique. Its merchandise – ranging from action figures, clothing, books, backpacks and even Lego sets – is instantly recognizable and easily findable in a variety of high-street stores throughout the world. Minecraft has become an everyday part of our lives, even if some of us don’t recognize it yet.
Highsnobiety was lucky enough to speak to the lead designer and lead developer of Minecraft, Jens Bergensten, to figure out what’s made the game the cultural phenomenon it is today.
“We Believed That Minecraft Had Peaked by the End of 2010”
Jens Bergensten has been the lead designer and lead developer of Minecraft since its original creator, Markus Persson, stepped down from his position in December 2011. Since then, the three founding founders of Mojang, the Swedish firm responsible for development of the game, have now left. Highsnobiety asked Jens if he had ever imagined Minecraft would grow into the cultural phenomenon it is now:
“We believed that Minecraft had peaked by the end of 2010, so I think it’s safe to say that it was a surprise to all of us,” Jens tells us. It’s a modest reply. After all, it’s safe to assume that back in 2010, nobody at Mojang would have ever guessed that Microsoft would eventually buy the company for 2.5 billion dollars.
An acquisition by such a large company could have been damaging for a game with its roots in indie culture. Thankfully, it’s been anything but, and the Minecraft brand continues to grow at an unprecedented pace.
A Game That Shows No Signs of Slowing Down
Over time, Minecraft’s popularity has seen the video game evolve into a series that stretches across a whole variety of different media.
Warner Bros. acquired the film rights to Minecraft in February last year, spawning rumors that Steve Carell may play a leading role in the big screen adaption of the game. Featuring in films, documentaries, a Lady Gaga music video, TV series such as South Park and even in schools as an educational tool, Minecraft has successfully cemented itself into popular culture.
The Building Blocks of Virtual Lego
Microsoft
What is the secret to the game’s success? This video game equivalent of Lego is simple to pick up and play, but has a surprising amount of depth thanks to a variety of different game modes.
Perhaps one of the most impressive things about the game is the way players can use their imagination to recreate locations from the Game of Thrones universe, Harry Potter, New York and even a life-sized recreation of the Taj Mahal. We wanted to know if Jens thought that the aesthetic and visuals of Minecraft helped to determine its success:
“In a sense it did help the success, as it allowed Markus Persson to develop the game very rapidly and focus on gameplay instead of visuals,” he explains. “As the game and development team grew, we realized that it was also one of the game’s strengths. This gave it a clear visual identity, while allowing the very creative Minecraft community to participate. Anybody can make a 16×16 pixel image for Minecraft.”
Minecraft Continues to Build and Improve on Its Merits
It would be foolish to dismiss Minecraft as nothing more than a sandbox creation game. Minecraft has a variety of different game modes to help it appeal to as many different audiences as possible, and Microsoft has continued to show the same amount of support for the game as Mojang post-release.
Microsoft’s commitment to Minecraft’s player base is shown through a variety of different updates across all of its platforms, providing them with new and exciting ways to play the game. Consistent patches also eliminate any bugs that may appear along the way. The responsiveness of the development team is certainly reason for praise.
The 16×16 pixels that Jens speaks of have also allowed for the release of official skin packs to be used by a variety of different characters in the game.
Among these are packs inspired by games such as Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Skyrim and Mass Effect, as well as loads of skin packs focused around popular films and TV shows. The beauty of Minecraft’s identity is that it pretty much allows for anything to be replicated into the game.
Growing the Minecraft Story
At the end of 2015, Telltale games (the company behind the episodic The Walking Dead and Games of Thrones titles) released the first episode Minecraft: Story Mode. Adding further exploration into the narrative aspect of Minecraft, these episodic releases allowed players to connect with Minecraft characters on a whole new level.
“Story Mode is one of many possible stories told in Minecraft,” Jens explains. “The idea is that players will make their own story in Minecraft, so we try not to explain too much in the game.”
“There are elements in the Minecraft universe that act as a narrative, such as a dragon in The End, and the evil villagers that attack the villagers,” he continues. “But they are intended as a background for other people to base their stories on.”
Following on from the success of these episodic releases, the Minecraft story continues to grow as it enters into an entirely new and somewhat unexpected medium: the novel. Last year, Mojang announced Minecraft: The Island, the first official Minecraft novel.
Behind any great game is a passionate community. Conventions such as Minecon attract scores of Minecraft fans in their thousands, with the 2015 London Minecon breaking a Guinness World Record for the largest ever attendance at a convention for a single game.
The game has literally created careers for thousands of YouTube stars, and millions of people flock online to watch a variety of YouTube-generated Minecraft content. What role do the fans of Minecraft play in shaping its future?
“We obviously listen to the feedback and take suggestions, but ultimately, we attempt to develop a game for everyone,” Jens says. “Different kinds of players like different things, so we try to grow the game without overcrowding it with any specific kind of feature.”
Looking to the Future
Microsoft
With Minecraft already exploring different genres thanks to their partnership with Telltale games, we ask Jens if we could ever see the Minecraft name extended into other areas. “Yes,” he said, “although we would probably look for game types that have some kind of crossover with the core Minecraft audience already. A racing game is, in other words, a stretch.”
For someone leading the development and design for such a popular video game, it’s easy to wonder if he could ever feel shackled by the success of Minecraft. Shortly before his departure, series creator Markus said he “doesn’t want to be responsible for something huge that [he doesn’t] understand, that [he doesn’t] want to work on.” Mojang echoed his sentiment with a statement explaining that Markus “doesn’t want the responsibility of owning a company of such global significance.”
“Sometimes I wish I had time to work on games other than Minecraft, but that’s a privileged problem,” Jens says. “I really like strategy games, so I would probably work on something along those lines.” He goes on to add that some of his favourite video game releases in 2016 are Inside by Playdead, Factorio by Wube Software and Cobalt by Mojang.
Minecraft is already available for the Gear VR and Oculus Rift, and was recently announced as a title for the Nintendo Switch. And with the Minecraft movie promising to introduce a large group of people who are possibly yet to try the game, the future certainly looks bright for the franchise.
Having achieved 100 million sales in just over five years, we can only wonder what the series will achieve next.
4J Studios, the Scottish game studio who developed the Minecraft console ports, has announced last week a new content update for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition and Minecraft: Xbox One Edition. The sandbox video game has received some new bug fixes and gameplay improvements as well as additional achievements for Survival and Tumble.
The changelog is identical for both versions of the game and you can find it below:
Fix for Horses not jumping to the correct height.
Re-entering a tutorial area while the playing the Tutorial will reset the chests.
Fix for Slab blocks not blocking light.
Fix for Chickens not dropping Cooked Chicken when they die on fire.
Fix for Blazes not dropping Glowstone Dust when they die.
Fixed the drop rate of Gold Nuggets.
Fix for Zombie Pigmen not dropping Gold Ingots when they die.
Fix for tamed Ocelots remaining hostile to anything they were attacking before being tamed.
Fix for crash when spawning too many Shulkers.
Fix for Enderman not taking damage from rain while in a Boat.
Improvements to framerate when throwing a lot of Lingering Potions.
Fix for Wither Skeleton being able to walk through two block high spaces.
Minor changes to Battle Mini Game maps to close off areas that should not be accessible.
Fix for lighting issues when digging down in spawn area.
Fix for rename Record losing its name after being in a Jukebox.
Added chance of Melon, Pumpkin, and Beetroot Seeds, and Jungle Saplings spawning in the Bonus Chest.
Fix for a range of tooltips that would appear when the action was not available.
Fix for Mob Spawner error that occured after using a spawn egg to change what it should spawn.
Fixes to End Gateway generation.
Fix for End spawn location being in the wrong place.
Added a particle effect and sound effect when a mob spawner fails to spawn due to spawn limits.
Fix for crash when placing a Sign on top of Tall Grass.
Stop End Crystals exploding when “TNT Explodes” is disabled.
Fix for Hoppers not collecting items above them.
Added new 11 achievements for Survival.
Added new 7 achievements for Tumble.
The content update should download automatically on your Xbox 360 or Xbox One. Sound off in the comments if you think these various improvements will make your gaming experience better.
Egmont will this year release four new Minecraft titles, created to replace the original ‘handbook’ series.
John Packard, publishing director for brands and licensing at Egmont Publishing, said: “We are tremendously excited to be launching the Minecraft Guides this spring as they represent a real landmark in our Minecraft publishing plans. These new titles will explore new topics in depth for players at different stages in their Minecraft journey [and] will form a key plank of our publishing for the next three years.”
Two books are scheduled for release on 1st June; Minecraft Guide to Creative (which is about building structures in the game) and Minecraft Guide to Exploration (which shows players how to defend themselves). The next two books, Minecraft Guide to Redstone (about engineering) and Minecraft Guide to the Nether and the End (about a new terrain in the game), will follow in September.
All four titles were created with input from Minecraft’s developer Mojang and will be released in hardback, priced at £9.99.
Egmont said there are also “further titles planned” for 2018 and 2019.
Minecraft is one of the most successful children’s publishing tie-ins of recent years. The series launched in 2013 with four handbooks: The Official Beginner’s Handbook, The Official Redstone Handbook, The Official Construction Handbook and The Official Combat Handbook. A fifth title, Blockopedia followed in December 2014.
By February last year had sold 620,152 copies for £2.96m to date, according to Nielsen BookScan, whilst Blockopedia had sold 187,070 copies for £2.86m.
According to Egmont, total sales of the game (across all editions) are in excess of 107 million units.
Minecraft is one of the most popular games ever made, and it appears to be just as beloved in classrooms as it is at home. Looking to continue that trend, Microsoft and Mojang have been working hard at further developing Minecraft Education Edition, and at the start of 2017, the two firms have announced that this version of the game has now hit 1.0.
Minecraft Education Edition is the same Minecraft world you know and love, but with specific features aimed at students and teachers. It has NPCs for tutorials, simple multiplayer server setup, camera and portfolio recording, in-game chalkboards and downloadable lesson plans for educators.
While all of those features have been present since the early days of Minecraft Education Edition in late 2016, now that it’s hit version 1.0, there are a number of new features to enjoy, too.
There is now a global pause button, which brings the whole world to a quick halt in order to give children a break, and which also lets the teacher control when and how the lesson ends. Text-to-speech and other accessibility features have also been added and they make it easier for those with disabilities to join in, too. A newly arranged UI makes interaction easier, and an increased world height to 256 means bigger and better projects.
Added features from the main game’s v1.0 update, like The End dimension, are now included and there are also igloos and polar bears in snowy biomes. To top it all off, there’s a new, streamlined uploading process with support for .mcworld files.
To continue encouraging teachers and educators around the world to use Minecraft Education Edition, Microsoft has also announced a new mentor system. This will see some 60 educators from 19 countries around the world posting blogs, lesson plans, live-streams and videos on a regular basis as part of a “Mentor of the Week” ongoing series.
Microsoft and Mojang aren’t stopping there though. They plan many more updates to the educational version of Minecraft throughout 2017, so keep your eyes peeled and make sure you know your granite from your redstone, as chances are your kids will be playing it before long, if they haven’t already.
