Microsoft scraps major graphics update for Minecraft

Microsoft scraps major graphics update for Minecraft

Minecraft fans have been expecting a major update to the game since 2017. But the update has proved “too technically demanding,” Microsoft said Monday, leading the company to cancel production.

The update, called Super Duper Graphics Pack, was expected to bring more with lighting effects like shadows and fog, new motion for some game elements like leaves, and new textures for characters. Microsoft unveiled the “ambitious” update at the massive E3 video game conference in 2017, but on Monday conceded that the update “proved too technically demanding to implement as planned.”

“We aren't happy with how the pack performed across devices,” developer Mojang said in a company blog post. “For this reason, we're stopping development on the pack, and looking into other ways for you to experience Minecraft with a new look.”

Minecraft has come a long way since its introduction a decade ago. It remains one of the top paid mobile games in Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store, while Minecraft: Education Edition has become a popular way to teach kids things like computer coding, engineering, architecture, urban planning and math.

It's also been used to help kids with autism engage in school and build healthy social lives.

Microsoft, which bought Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014, celebrated the game's 10th anniversary in May by revealing Minecraft Earth, a Pokemon Go-style augmented reality phone game.

Minecraft ditches Super Duper graphics plan

Minecraft ditches Super Duper graphics plan

Minecraft will be keeping its block-based look for the foreseeable future as plans to update its graphics are cancelled.

In a statement Minecraft developer Mojang said it had ended development on what was known as the Super Duper graphics pack for the game.

The pack would have given the game realistic textures, lighting effects and all-round better graphics.

The pack has proved “too technically demanding” so has been ditched.

‘Disappointing'

The plan to make Minecraft look more realistic was unveiled in 2017 at the E3 games show. The ambitious plan was to make a downloadable add-on that all but did away with the basic, blocky look of the massively popular game.

In 2017, Mojang said its work also would produce an add-on for the Xbox version of Minecraft that let the game run at a resolution of 4K on the console.

Originally the Super Duper add-on was due to appear in autumn 2017 but the release date was pushed back to 2018 before being cancelled altogether in 2019.

The technical demands of the update have proved too much, it said in a short apology.

It added: “We realise this is disappointing to some of you – there was a lot of enthusiasm for Super Duper from inside and outside the studio – but unfortunately, we aren't happy with how the pack performed across devices.”

Mojang added that it was not entirely finished with improving the look of Minecraft on different game-playing gadgets and said it would share more information about this work soon.

PewDiePie gets extremely lucky in Minecraft in quest to kill epic boss

PewDiePie gets extremely lucky in Minecraft in quest to kill epic boss

In his August 3 Minecraft video, YouTube star Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg was gearing up to take on an epic mob boss when he got extremely lucky with his item drops.

PewDiePie’s recent Minecraft videos have been blowing up on YouTube, as almost every single video in the series has gone on the trending page on the platform.

On August 1, The YouTube star assembled an army of 96 million pigs to help him take on a notorious boss called ‘Wither'. But in order to summon the enemy, he needed to collect several extremely rare items – which he managed to do during his August 3 video.

What is a Wither?

A Wither is a floating undead boss mob that attacks players with skulls that explode. He is the only hostile boss that can be created by players in the game currently.

Making the enemy, requires 4 blocks of soul sand that have to be arranged in a T shape, as well as three ‘Wither Skulls’ that are placed side by side on the top three blocks. However, obtaining Wither Skulls is pretty hard as they are a rare drop.

MICROSOFT / MOJANGThe three headed boss is what PewDiePie is working towards.

Wither Skulls can be found in the Nether after killing a Wither Skeleton. However the drop rate for them is as low as 2.5%, but can go up to 5.5% depending on buffs. The low drop-rates can make it extremely difficult to create the enemy. 

In his August 2 video, PewDiePie managed to get the first skull from his first skeleton spawn. “Whoa! Whoa, I’m so lucky dude. Already!” he shouted with glee.

As if he wasn’t already lucky enough, a skeleton dropped another rare item immediately after the first one. “Oh my god. Dude. Looting three, baby!” the YouTuber beamed with excitement.

YOUTUBE: PEWDIEPIE / MOJANGPewDiePie has incredible luck.

PewDiePie then gets three more Wither Skulls

PewDiePie then ended up getting the third skull after being rushed by two Wither Skeletons at once in a frantic battle.

“AHHHHH!” he screamed as he hacked away at the enemies until they died, leaving behind the item. “YESSSS!”

Then to top it all off, the Swedish YouTuber even ended up getting a fourth one. “Oh. My. God.” he breathed in total disbelief when he realized how lucky he was.

(Timestamp of 00:01:07 for mobile viewers.)

The Swede's battle with the Wither and his army of 96 million pigs is gearing up to be an epic showdown.

Minecraft is having a big comeback in 2019

Minecraft is having a big comeback in 2019

2019 has had a few constants on the internet so far: “Old Town Road,” Keanu Reeves, Area 51, a general sense of unease about our impending ecological disaster. Surprisingly, a 10-year-old video game has also joined the mix — Minecraft, the iconic block builder.

Minecraft, it should be noted, has quietly been dominating video games this entire time: By Mojang’s count back in 2018, over 91 million unique players log in every month across all platforms. (Fortnite, the hottest visible game of 2018, had 78 million unique players during an all-time high.) But things are changing in 2019. Minecraft’s dominance is no longer out of sight from the mainstream. For one thing, it is picking back up on Google searches:

But, perhaps most notably, seemingly every big YouTube star is championing the game right now. What’s causing the uptick?

The first and most obvious reason is that Minecraft is a safe bet on platforms like YouTube. Right now, many top creators feel that monetization on the platform is volatile, but Minecraft seems to be an advertiser favorite. It makes sense, too: Minecraft isn’t violent, and it’s not controversial. Kids love it. Of course influencers are embracing Minecraft again. But the increased interest can also be traced back to specific creators and changing attitudes as well.

For over a year, YouTube creator Grandayy — who is known for his Minecraft memes — kept suggesting the idea of a “Minecraft Monday” to Keemstar, a YouTube gossip reporter who has increasingly been holding more video game competitions over the last year. After begging for Keemstar to host it, the YouTube personality finally gave in. Like his Friday Fortnite tournament, Keemstar opted to bring in big names who could attract huge viewerships, such as Fortnite superstar Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. Blevins alone brought in nearly one million viewers on Twitch for that first week. Then, on week two, there was another megaton: Keemstar had convinced YouTube king Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg to participate in the event alongside beauty guru James Charles. Suddenly, nearly every big name on YouTube and Twitch was playing Mojang’s sandbox game. Minecraft became a spectacle once again. According to Keemstar, millions of people tune in to his show every week.

Kjellberg alone has been driving huge interest to Minecraft. The Swedish YouTuber started a Minecraft play-through in June, and installments in the series are getting enormous views. (The first in the series, for instance, has 21 million views.) A YouTube representative reinforced Kjellberg’s influence on Minecraft’s resurgence to Polygon, citing him as a specific example of “new video formats and trends around the game.” Game developers have noted in the past that Kjellberg has a powerful effect on the visibility of any given game, sometimes improving the sales of a title by orders of magnitude.

But part of what made people turn out for Kjellberg’s playthrough was that the YouTuber has continually joked about refusing to play Minecraft. Part of Kjellberg’s protest against the game was seeing that high-profile YouTubers were heralding the game back in its heyday despite not actually enjoying it. To wit, Adam “SkyDoesMinecraft” Dahlberg made headlines in 2017 after announcing that he was giving up the game because continuing to make content about it felt “fake.” (He has since gone back to making Minecraft videos in 2019.) And so, for longtime PewDiePie viewers, watching the blond YouTuber go back on his word and actually enjoy a game he used to denounce has delighted fans.

Part of why he’s finally diving into Minecraft in 2019 is that he feels that he is flexible enough to not have the game define his channel. He’s playing it for now, because he wants to — not because it’s a trend, or because it’s easily monetizeable.

“If Minecraft gets boring, I can just move on to other things,” Kjellberg said in the video where he explains why he’s playing the game right now.

The combination of being an advertiser-friendly game, Kjellberg’s ownership of the game, and Minecraft Monday has sent visible shockwaves throughout YouTube. Seemingly everyone, from Jacksepticeye to Lazarbeam have been broadcasting the game on the video platform. It’s become a running joke, even, that Fortnite channels are pivoting to Minecraft as interest in the battle royale genre seems to be decreasing on social media.

And, to Minecraft’s credit, the game has managed to maintain interest through updates and increased ways engage with its world. Augmented-reality game Minecraft Earth, which is currently in beta, seems to be the only thing capable of putting up a fight against Pokémon GoMinecraft Dungeons, also announced this year, will bring a Diablo-like experience to a younger audience.

According to the people spearheading this new wave, it actually helps that Minecraft is an old game. The people who grew up on Minecraft and left it behind as they got older are starting to miss it, influencers say.

“Nine years later those children are older teens or adults and nostalgia has set in,” Keemstar told Polygon. “Over the last two years, Minecraft has been added to meme culture, making it also cool again.”

Grandayy, who has made a name for himself making elaborate Minecraft jokes on social media, agrees with this assessment. He thinks people are pining for the game based on nostalgia factor, and then are surprised to find that the experience can still feel fresh in 2019.

“To anyone who hasn’t played [Minecraft] since 2013, the game today almost feels like a totally different game … I think Minecraft is one of the few games that never truly gets old, at least not permanently. Since it’s a sandbox and you can do pretty much anything you want in it, it’s more than just a game, it’s almost like a digital toy or digital platform.”

It’s not just that the game has new stuff. Creators on social media continue to reference the game, which helps the game feel relevant even in 2019. I don’t even play Minecraft, but I still enjoy watching Grandayy’s bizarre videos, such as the one where he parodies Belle Delphine

View image on Twitter

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“I pretty much never stopped making Minecraft memes and Minecraft note block music,” Grandayy told Polygon. Some would even credit Grandayy for helping convince Kjellberg to pick up the game, though Grandayy himself says many people were pushing for this to happen. Whatever the case, the ripples are everywhere. Just this month, a 2011 remix of an Usher song created by YouTuber CaptainSparklez started trending again on sites like Genius. As of this writing, the video has 184 million lifetime views.

“Generations in the past collected baseball cards, toy cars or Barbies as adults because of nostalgia,” Keemstar told Polygon. “In this day of age we will see video games of the past resurrected due to the same thing. Minecraft will be hot for the next two years before we see it decline again.”

Minecraft update 1.14.4: Fixes for villagers and a change to suspicious stew

Minecraft update 1.14.4: Fixes for villagers and a change to suspicious stew

What's new in the latest Minecraft 1.14 Java update and Minecraft 1.12.0 Bedrock update.

Just how big is Minecraft? In early 2019 it passed 176 million copies sold, which puts it in a tussle with Tetris as the best-selling game of all time. Today there are two versions of Minecraft still being updated, each with millions of players: Minecraft Java, the original, and Minecraft Bedrock, the modern version built to run across Windows, mobile, and consoles. Minecraft Bedrock is still playing catch-up with Java's features, but it's getting there. Meanwhile, every new Minecraft Java update brings new things to Minecraft.

This is our running catalog of what's new in both versions of Minecraft. On this page, we have the latest Minecraft Java update, while on page two we've collected Minecraft Bedrock's latest patch notes.

Looking through the Minecraft update 1.14.4 patch notes, minor adjustments and a variety of fixes dot the landscape. Adjustments to villager behavior, the new sieges, and some multiplayer settings changes are the highlights.

MINECRAFT JAVA UPDATE: 1.14.4 PATCH NOTES

For access to the full patch notes including bugfixes, check here.

  • Fixed bugs.
  • Performance improvements.
  • Suspicious stew made from poppies now gives you night vision instead of speed.
  • Added /debug report for getting more detailed information.
  • Fixed a memory leak.
  • Removed camera pivot offset in first-person.
  • Improved chunk loading when traveling at high speed.
  • Fixed incorrect Pillager texture.
  • /reload and /forceload are now available to gamemasters.
  • function-permission-level is a new setting in server.properties that controls which commands functions have access to.
  • Villagers now stock more items.
  • Villagers will now remember their gossip after becoming a Zombie Villager .
  • Improved performance of Villager pathfinding.
  • Villagers can now work without also restocking at the same time.
  • Gossip about players who converted a zombie villager will now last longer.
  • The Player Activity button on the Realm screen has been removed.
  • Villagers now wait with restocking until they have trades that need restocking.
  • Village sieges no longer occur on mushroom islands.
  • Mobs will no longer try to pathfind their way through bamboo.
  • Pinged the human.

MINECRAFT JAVA UPDATE: 1.14.3 PATCH NOTES

Check here for the full patch notes, including bugfixes

  • Items can now be repaired by crafting them together again.
  • Reverted the enchanting system to how it was before 1.14.
  • Torches, lanterns and pressure plates can now be placed on glass panes and iron bars.
  • Lanterns can now be attached below iron bars and glass panes.
  • Saturation is no longer required for the “How did we get here?” advancement.
  • You can now turn off raids with ‘/gamerule disableRaids true'
  • Villagers that are panicking now have a bigger chance of spawning Iron Golems, assuming they can occasionally work and sleep
  • “Last slept” and “last worked” is now saved properly for Villagers
  • Farmers now spend more time farming when they are working
  • Farmers can now always give away food even if other villagers don't need it
  • Improved performance
  • Fixed bugs

Patrol Changes:

MINECRAFT JAVA UPDATE: 1.14.2 PATCH NOTES

You can find the full patch notes, with bugfixes, over here.

  • All light will now be re-calculated the first time you open a world saved in a previous version
  • Errors encountered while loading regions now print more diagnostics to the log file
  • Fixed so parrots can spawn on grass blocks and not only on grass
  • Added server-side chunk count to debug screen
  • Modified raider spawning so they can only ever spawn in fully loaded chunks
  • Increased search radius for bell when starting a raid from 48 to 64 blocks
  • Fixed bugs

MINECRAFT JAVA VILLAGE & PILLAGE UPDATE: 1.14.0 PATCH NOTES

Minecraft – Village & Pillage – 1.14.0 patch notes

For the full listing, including technical changes and bug fixes, check here.

General Features Overview

  • Lots of accessibility improvements.
  • Added bamboo blocks into the game.
  • Added bamboo jungles in the world.
  • Added barrels.
  • Added the bell.
  • Added yummy sweet berries and sweet berry bushes to the game.
  • Added blast furnace.
  • Rewrote the book & quill editing to be more intuitive.
  • Added campfire.
  • Added cartography table.
  • Split cats and ocelots to their own creatures and updated cats with new features.
  • Added composter.
  • Added crossbows.
  • Added lots of new blocks.
  • Added lots of new decorative blocks.
  • Added fletching table.
  • Added new dyes and flowers.
  • Added some community suggestions.
  • Updated the credits list.
  • Added in-game buttons for reporting bugs or giving feedback.
  • Improvements to invisibility to allow it to correctly work in many cases where it didn't but you'd expect it to.
  • Added grindstone functionality.
  • Added ‘Hero of the Village' effect.
  • Added leather horse armor.
  • Added lantern.
  • Added lectern.
  • Added loom.
  • Existing special banner patterns can now be crafted into a new item that is not consumed when used, Banner Patterns.
  • Added a new “Globe” banner pattern and item.
  • We're now using the new textures.
  • Added new noteblock sounds.
  • Added pandas.
  • Added foxes.
  • Added Illager patrols.
  • Added Pillagers.
  • Added Pillager outpost.
  • Added raids.
  • Added Ravager.
  • Added Wandering Trader.
  • Added scaffolding.
  • Rewrote the sign editing to be more intuitive.
  • Added smithing table.
  • Added smoker.
  • Added stonecutter.
  • Added suspicious stew.
  • Trading changes.
  • Villager changes.
  • Biome based architecture for villages.

Accessibility

  • There's a new Accessibility menu which provides a useful place for all of our accessibility features to be toggled.
  • When the narrator is turned on, buttons will be narrated on focus.
  • Most screens allow tab and shift+tab navigation through buttons, edit boxes and other UI elements.
  • Most lists allow up/down arrow keys to navigate through them.
  • We've added a new option for turning up the background of all transparent text elements, which should help make them more readable for some people.

Bamboo

  • Can be found in Jungles and the two new biomes: bamboo jungle and bamboo jungle hills.
  • Can grow to a max height of 12 to 16 blocks.
  • When sprinkled with bone meal, bamboo will grow with one or two bamboo blocks on the top.
  • When struck with a sword, bamboo will instantly break.
  • Two bamboo can be crafted into a single stick.
  • Can be used as fuel, with four bamboo required to smelt a single item.
  • Bamboo can be placed into flower pots.
  • Bamboo can also be found in shipwrecks and jungle temples.

Barrels

  • Store things in them!
  • Rotate them!
  • Find them in villages!

Bells

  • Trade with certain villagers to obtain the bell
  • Use the bell to alert villagers of nearby danger
  • A villager will ring the bell to alert other villagers of an impending raid
  • Ringing bells reveals all nearby mobs that can appear in raids

Berries

  • Delicious!
  • Not very filling!
  • Plant your berries in the ground and look with your special eyes as they grow up into a strong, independent bush!

Berry Bush

  • Commonly found in taiga, taiga hills, and taiga mountains
  • Rarely found in snowy taiga and snowy taiga hills and snowy taiga mountains
  • You can stand inside them, but be careful, it will hurt to move
  • Has four stages of growth: sapling, no berries, some berries, full berries
  • Drops one or two berries in younger stage, then two or three in full growth stage
  • Supports bone meal!
  • Doesn't support silk touch!

Biome-based Architecture for Villages

  • Villages have recieved an updated look, with several new themes
  • The theme depends on the biome the village is in, taking both climate and to available resources into consideration
  • Uses the new mysterious jigsaw block for generation
  • Adds new structure files, quite many actually

Blast Furnace

  • A new furnace upgrade that allows for smelting ores and melting metals faster than the traditional furnace
  • Can be crafted via three smooth stone, one furnace, and five iron ingots
  • Added to world gen in some villager buildings

Campfire

  • A decorative fireplace without fire spread
  • Cooks up to four foods, but slowly
  • Acts as a smoke signal you can see very (VERY!) far away when a hay bale is below (hint: think note blocks!)
  • Cosy light source
  • Can be lit/unlit

Cartography Table

  • New functional block that provides an easier and simpler way of cloning, extending, and locking of maps
  • New map functionality with cartography table
    • Map Locking: allows you to lock maps in the cartography table with a glass pane so that they can no longer be modified
  • Map Locking: allows you to lock maps in the cartography table with a glass pane so that they can no longer be modified
  • Fancy UI to more closely represent what the recipes actually do functionally
  • Crafted with two planks and two paper

Cat and Ocelot Split

  • Stray cats can be tamed
  • Tamed cats can give lovely (or less lovely) morning gifts to their owners
  • Ocelots can't be tamed, but might start trusting you if you feed them with fish
  • Phantoms are terribly scared of cats – how convenient!
  • Cat collars can now be dyed
  • Added several new cat skins!

Community Suggestions

  • Leaves now have a small chances to drop sticks
  • Chorus fruit flowers now break when shot by an arrow
  • Dead bushes can now be used as furnace fuel
  • Rabbit stew and beetroot soup have been changed to a shapeless recipe
  • Creepers will now drop records when killed by Stray in addition to skeletons
  • Dispensers with shears in them will now shear sheep that have wool in front of them
  • TNT and TNT minecart explosions now have 100% drop rate

Composter

  • Instead of eating your veggies you can make fertilizer from it!
  • Crafted with 3 planks and 4 fences

Crossbows

To charge the crossbow, hold down the “Use” button. Once the crossbow string has been pulled all the way back, let go. Your crossbow is now loaded and ready to shoot with a single click of the “Use” button.”

  • Shoots arrows with base power slightly stronger than the bow, but has less durability
  • Three unique enchantments
  • Fun, challenging advancements
  • New loading mechanics
  • Unique load animation

Enchantments

Three new enchantments for Crossbows.

Decorative Blocks

  • Changed all existing stone slabs to smooth stone slabs (same look, new name!)
  • Changed all existing signs to oak signs (same look, new name!)
  • Made smooth stone slabs craftable from smooth stone
  • Added spruce, birch, jungle, acacia and dark oak signs
  • You can now right click on signs with dyes to change the text colour
  • Added stone stairs and slabs
  • Added granite stairs, slabs and walls
  • Added polished granite stairs and slabs
  • Added diorite stairs, slabs and walls
  • Added polished diorite stairs and slabs
  • Added andesite stairs, slabs and walls
  • Added polished andesite stairs and slabs
  • Added sandstone walls
  • Added smooth red sandstone stairs and slabs
  • Added smooth quartz stairs and slabs
  • Added brick walls
  • Added stone brick walls
  • Added mossy stone brick stairs, slabs and walls
  • Added nether brick walls
  • Added end stone brick stairs, slabs and walls
  • Added prismarine walls
  • Added red sandstone walls
  • Added red nether brick stairs, slabs and walls
  • Added smooth sandstone stairs and slabs
  • Added mossy cobblestone stairs and slabs
  • Made smooth stone obtainable by smelting stone
  • Made smooth sandstone obtainable by smelting sandstone
  • Made smooth red sandstone obtainable by smelting red sandstone
  • Made smooth quartz obtainable by smelting quartz block
  • Changed the recipe of nether brick fence to four brick blocks and two brick items
  • Changed the recipe of signs to require all of the same wood type, not any wood type

Dyes

  • Separated bone meal, ink sac, cocoa beans, and lapis lazuli into their own dyes
  • Unified all dye names (red, yellow, and green dyes no longer have special names)
  • Added new recipes to obtain coloured stained glass and coloured carpet

Fletching Table

  • Crafted with four planks and two flint
  • Villagers use it as a work site

Flowers

  • Added cornflower, wither rose and lily of the valley
  • Be careful of the wither rose!

Foxes

  • Foxes come in two variants: red and snowy
  • Foxes are nocturnal
  • Foxes will hunt rabbits, chickens, and fish
  • Foxes are hunted by wolves and polar bears
  • Foxes are nimble and quick, so sneak up on them carefully!
  • Breed foxes with berries
  • If you breed two foxes, their offspring will trust you forever
  • Trusting foxes will defend you, but will still eat your chickens
  • Foxes like to eat any and every food item they find on the ground
  • You may find a fox exploring a nearby village at night

Grindstone

  • Moved inventory and crafting table repairing into the grindstone, this will be its new home
  • Has the ability to remove all non-curse enchantments from an item; for each enchant removed some XP is reimbursed

Hero of the Village

  • Hero of the Village effect causes the cost of trades with villagers to be reduced by a percentage and scales with level of the effect.
  • Hero of the Village additionally causes Villagers to occassionally toss items to you to thank you!

Horse Leather Armor

  • Added a new armour type for horses
  • Dye it in lots of different colours

Illager Patrols

  • Spawn in the world as a pack of five random illagers
  • Spawn in all variations of the Plains, Taiga, Deserts, Savanna
  • Scary-spooky new banner can be found a top the patrol leaders head

Lantern

  • The lantern is a new light source
  • The lantern can be placed either hanging under a block or on top of a block
  • It gives slightly more light than the torch

Lectern

  • Right-click an empty lectern to place book
  • Right-click a lectern with book to open
  • Current page is persistent and shared between all readers
  • Emits redstone pulses when page is changed
  • Use a comparator to get book reading progress

Loom

  • New and easier way of being able to apply patterns to banners, can still only apply six max patterns to a banner
  • Generic patterns now only require one dye in order to create patterns, instead of one to eight (depending on the pattern)
  • Special banner patterns (oxeye daisy, creeper skull, wither skeleton skull, enchanted golden apple) can now be crafted. These patterns don't consume the pattern item when used in the loom
  • Old pattern recipes in the crafting table for apply patterns to banners have been removed

New Blocks

  • Added barrel
  • Added smoker
  • Added blast furnace
  • Added cartography table
  • Added fletching table
  • Added grindstone
  • Added lectern
  • Added smithing table
  • Added stonecutter
  • Added village bell

New Textures

  • Renovated the old textures of Minecraft and polished them for a new beginning
  • If you're feeling nostalgic you can always enable the old “Programmer Art” textures in the resource pack menu

Noteblock

  • 5 new Noteblock sounds have been added: Iron Xylophone, Cow Bell, Didgeridoo, Bit, and Banjo
  • 1 previously existing, but unused, sound effect has now been made available: Pling
  • The new Noteblock sounds can be heard by using Iron Blocks, Soul Sand, Pumpkins, Emerald Blocks, Hay Blocks, or Glowstone

Pandas

  • Pandas come in different types and personalities! 
  • Pandas love bamboo! They kinda like cake as well
  • Pandas can be bred, and the cubs can inherit traits through a special panda inheritance system
  • Pandas spawn naturally in the new bamboo forest biome
  • Pandas drop bamboo when killed.

Pillager

  • A new type of illager that, well, pillages!
  • Pillagers wield a new weapon, the crossbow!

Pillager Outpost

  • As if finding pillager patrols out in the wild wasn't scary enough, keep an eye out during your explorations and you may just find one of their outposts
  • Can be found in any biome villages generates in
  • Takes advantage of the new mystery block, the jigsaw, for generation

Raids

  • If you find an illager wearing a banner on its head, be careful not to kill it!
  • If you do kill it, you might find yourself facing a ‘Bad Omen'
  • If you find yourself with a bad omen buff, be especially careful not to walk into a village
  • If you do walk into a village with it? Best of luck!

Ravager

  • A fearsome new foe who packs quite a wallop. Grab your sword and shield and prepare to get knocked around!

Rewrite of Book and Quill Editing

  • Movable cursor for free text editing
  • Selection support
  • Copy & paste
  • Keyboard and mouse handling
  • Improved page filling and line wrapping
  • Increased book length (100 pages)

Rewrite of Sign Editing

  • Movable cursor for free text editing
  • Selection support
  • Copy & paste

Scaffolding

  • Easily buildable
  • Easily destroyable
  • Easily climbable
  • Easily the best use of your Bamboo

Smithing Table

  • Crafted with 4 planks + 2 iron ingots
  • Villagers use it as a work site

Smoker

  • New furnace upgrade that allows for the smelting of foods faster than the traditional furnace
  • Can be crafted via four Logs, and one furnace
  • Added to world gen in some villager buildings

Stonecutter

  • New functional block that provides a simpler way to craft various stones (stairs, slabs, chiseled, and more)
  • Crafted with three stone + one iron ingot

Suspicious Stew

  • Found in buried ship treasure chests
  • Also craftable!
  • Whoever eats this stew will be imbued with an unknown effect for several seconds!
  • Whoever crafts the stew will know what effect they gave it

Trading Changes

  • Lots of new trades have been added
  • Villagers now level up in a new way
  • The trading UI is updated (WIP)
  • The trading prices now depend on your reputation and on demand
  • The villagers will restock up to two times per day (if they can work at their work station!)
  • Added visual trading; villagers will display the item they want to trade for your in-hand item

Villager Changes

  • Villagers and zombie villagers now have new fancy skins
  • Added mason profession
  • Cured zombie villagers retain their trades
  • Villagers now have a daily schedule. They will for example go to work and meet up at the village bell
  • Each villager will try to find their own bed and work station
  • Each profession has a specific block that works as a work station for them (e.g. lectern for the librarian and cauldron for the leatherworker)
  • Village detection is now based on beds, job sites, and meeting points instead of doors
  • Iron Golems will spawn when enough villagers meet

Wandering Trader

  • A mysterious trader that can be randomly found around
  • Provides various random trades from a variety of different biomes
  • Is escorted around by a few llama with some sweet new decorations! (Careful! They can be temperamental)
Shroud mocks Tyler1 during hilarious Minecraft VR stream

Shroud mocks Tyler1 during hilarious Minecraft VR stream

Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek poked fun at fellow streamer Tyler ‘Tyler1‘ Steinkamp's height, after encountering a tiny zombie during his Minecraft playthrough.

As one of the most popular streamers on Twitch, shroud can usually be found showcasing his world-class FPS skills in games like PUBGApex Legends, and even Overwatch.

Yet, sometimes, the former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professional opts to try his hand at a less-challenging game like The Sims or, more recently, Minecraft. Of course, he can’t use his human aim-bot abilities to wow fans in those titles and instead has to find something else to entertain them with. That’s where his comedic side is on full show.

TWITCH:SHROUDShroud is usually stoic on-stream, but can pull out jokes.

During his August 3 stream, shroud had been playing some Minecraft VR with Hannah ‘Bnans’ Kennedy when the pair found themselves stuck in a cave and searching for a way out. With Bnans’ health running low, shroud tossed over a cooked porkchop in a bid to give her a boost. 

Of course, immediately after she had done so, Bnans was set upon by a fast-moving baby zombie, who began whittling away her health. “You got Tyler1 behind you, you got Tyler 1,” called out shroud once he realized what was happening. 

“I got him, I got him, come here Tyler,” the former CS:GO pro added, as he poked the tiny zombie to death with a sword. “Don’t fucking hit my girlfriend like that.” 

Yet, it wasn’t just Tyler1 who caused disruption during the couples stream. In fact, shroud himself did damage to Bnans – completely by accident – with a hilarious outcome. 

The Canadian had been gifting his girlfriend some armor and tools before he started dancing, clearly happy with his work. Yet, he left his sword equipped and he swung his arms in the air, the game decided to attack Bnans and take some health away.

Recognizing his mistake, shroud immediately ran and hit in a corner, going completely silent and looking pretty solemn – despite his viewers laughing about the whole exchange. 

If the couple decide to keep up their Minecraft adventures moving forward, shroud might just need to be aware of friendly fire. 

Who knows, he might even run into a spider that he can mock for being a Dr Disrespect look-a-like.