In an announcement today, Mojang has indicated that a large number of long-awaited changes are coming to the console editions of Minecraft, bringing those editions a lot closer to the Java edition.
The most significant updates are the addition of Ender Cities—pre-generated structures in The End that contain some of Minecraft’s more obscure materials and enemies—and the Elytra, the much sought-after glider that allows players who have beaten all of Minecraft’s structured challenges to explore the world from the skies. Chorus plants, chorus flowers, and purpur blocks, all harvested from The End, give late game players more options when it comes to construction and decoration. You’re also now able to harvest the Ender Dragon’s breath, which opens up a whole new dimension of potion crafting that relies on this particular ingredient (harvested from the dragon’s attacks) giving console players the chance to create throwable potions with lingering effects.
Another cool addition is the addition of the ‘amplified terrain’ world creation feature, which generates a world with much higher highs and lower lows. World generation features have been somewhat lacking on consoles, and opening up more features can only be good.
What’s especially exciting about this, however, is that it’s one of the biggest steps toward feature parity that we’ve seen in a long time. Console players have felt like second-class citizens for a while because of how far those editions have lagged behind the Java edition, but with this update — and a similar one announced recently for the Pocket and Win 10 edition — the gap has closed considerably.
There are still some unknowns at play, like if and when Shulker boxes, Observer blocks and other late additions will be making their way to consoles — but even taking some doubts into consideration, this is a very exciting announcement that could mean big changes for the future direction of Minecraft.
Correction 11/23 9:46 AM: An earlier version of this article identified the part of update as “The End,” rather than Ender Cities. We apologize for the mistake.
Rob Guthrie is a lapsed academic who writes about history, video games, and weird internet things. Follow him @RobertWGuthrie for pithy Tweets and lukewarm takes.
“Minecraft” is a sandbox written in java originally created by Markus “Notch” Persson. It was maintained by Mojan AB, and part of Microsoft Studious. It is heavely inspired by Infiniminer.
“Minecraft” focuses in allowing the player to explore, intertact with, and modify a dynamically-generated map made of one-cubic-sized blocks. In addition to the game, it features plants, mobs and items. It includes activities including mining for ore, fighting activities with hostile mobs, gathering specific resources and crafting new blocks.
The final Minecraft: Console Edition update of this year is also its largest. This Christmas season update brings Elytra (wings that allow players to fly and glide), amplified terrains, end cities, the Dragon’s Breath potion ingredient and more feature to Playstation 4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Vita and Wii U. This means that the “Minecraft” console versions will be close enough to PC editions, as Microsoft assured.
This holiday update allows the UI and includes new mobs, items, blocks and status effects. Gamers will discover Elytra in the end, Minecraft’s third and final dimension. The End itself will be updated with End cities, End ships, chorus plants, chorus flowers, and purpur blocks among other features . New enemies’ will be expected, such as Shulkers which hide near purpur blocks and also fire homing missiles at encroaching players. Dragon’s Breath allow players to create Lingering potions, just throw one of these suckers on the ground to leave some effects behind your enemies and allies.
Developer Mojang is allowing the players to have a sneak peak at the update today, meaning there will be more surprises features when it’s actually go live in this Holiday season. The holiday update is free for those who own Minecraft: Console Editions. The Windows 10 and Pocket Edition of Minecraft recently saw update that connects those versions nearly with the original Java version as well. In addition, “Minecraft” is scheduled to hit Apple TV before year ends.
Wings are finally coming to Minecraft: Console Editions in December.
A free Holiday Update will bring the Elytra insectoid wings, End Cities, lingering potions, levitation and luck buffs, and amplified terrain, which exaggerates the contrast between mountains and valleys – perfect for a bit of flapping around.
The Elytra wings arrived for PC Minecraft in October 2015, and they’re a pain in the arse to find in game. Obtaining them involves going to The End, where be the Ender Dragon, and finding a flying ship where the wings are mounted on a wall. But once you have them you can glide around like a seagull eyeing someone’s lunch below, the majestic bastards.
A guide to getting the Elytra wings on PC in Creative mode, but it should be the same in Survival and on console.
The lingering potions are created using the dragon’s breath ingredient collected (bottled) from dragons. Lingering potions leave status effects on the ground.
October’s update.
The Holiday Update follows October’s console patch that introduced banners, blocks, beets and polar bears.
Microsoft announced today that it will bring a Holiday Update to Minecraft on Xbox and other consoles in December. This update will include new mobs, items, blocks and status effects, in addition to UI, game and tutorial updates, the firm says.
“Since adding banners, beets and polar bears with our last update in October, the team has been hard at work on our biggest Minecraft console update of the year – the Holiday Update,” Microsoft’s Jeff Rivait explains.
The Holiday Update is for what Microsoft calls the Minecraft: Console Edition, which includes the versions of the game for Xbox 360 and Xbox One, plus Playstation 3 and 4, PlayStation Vita, and Wii U. Microsoft also makes a Minecraft: Computer Edition for PC, Mac, and Linux, and Minecraft: Pocket Edition for Android, iOS, Windows phones, and Amazon Fire. It’s not clear if the Holiday Update will ship on these other platforms. Nor is it clear when or if Microsoft will ever consolidate these various products into a single line of compatible games.
Anyway.
Today’s announcement is just a sneak peek and Microsoft says it will reveal more next month. But Mr. Rivait included the following list of enhancements that we can expect:
Fly with the new Elytra. “If you’re sick of spending all your time walking on solid ground, just equip the new Elytra, which enables players to glide through the air!”
Updates to The End. “You’ll find your Elytra in The End, which has been updated to include End Cities, End Ships and all the Chorus Plants, Flowers and Purpur you can handle. Don’t say we didn’t warn you if one turns out to be a Shulker.”
New Potions. “Like potions? Use Dragon’s Breath to create Lingering Potions if you want to leave some status effects on the ground for a friend or foe to happen upon. Speaking of status effects, we’re adding a couple new ones as well – Levitation and Luck.”
Amplified Terrain (Xbox One only). “If you’re just getting started on a new world on Xbox One or PlayStation 4, you can turn on Amplified Terrain. This option makes the differences between mountains and valleys more extreme – so put that Elytra to good use!”
It’ll look familiar to those who’ve used introductory programming projects like Google’s Pencil Code or MIT’s Scratch: Commands take the form of Lego-like pieces you snap together into a sequence that controls an on-screen character. Puzzles alternate with video tutorials explaining new programming concepts.
Programming isn’t for everyone, but many schools and businesses are trying to expose students to it as a way to build skills for the 21st century, when tech is spreading beyond PCs and phones into cars, refrigerators, thermostats, and many other corners of our lives.
President Barack Obama has endorsed the Code.org effort.
“If we want America to stay on the cutting edge, we need young Americans like you to master the tools and technology that will change the way we do just about everything,” Obama said in a 2013 video. “Don’t just buy a new video game. Make one… Don’t just play on your phone. Program it.”
If you want your Minecraft Pocket Edition [$6.99] to look like a silly Saturday morning cartoon or as if you just had a breakdown and the whole world looks like a joke, then the latest texture pack is just the thing for you. Cartoon Textures, which was just added to the game, doesn’t change the environment that much but it makes a huge difference on how people and mobs look. I mean look at the image below; you can’t go much sillier than that. I can see this texture pack being great for those who like to stream multiplayer Minecraft because it will add a veneer of silliness on top of any shenanigans. The Texture Pack costs $2.99 and is available in the Store.
In addition to the texture pack, we got possible hints that music might be coming to the game. According to this reddit post, there’s been code discovered that talks about downloading the Minecraft Music to your device. While I don’t know how valid this post is, the developers have said in the past that if the game’s music makes it to the Pocket Edition, it will be as a separate download because of space considerations. Here’s hoping.
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