Parrots are set to arrive for Minecraft's PC version in the upcoming 1.12 ‘World of Color' Update. However, the colorful birds have already been available in the game's development versions since snapshot 17w13a.
Earlier this week, a user on Reddit going by the name 1jl pointed out a problem with how players breed parrots, which involves feeding the birds cookies. The issue is that in real life, chocolates can be lethal to birds, and since Minecraft cookies appear as chocolate chip cookies, the user had concerns of kids feeding their pet parrots chocolates and causing harm.
The post quickly blew up, with it currently boasting over than 37,000 upvotes and becoming the highest upvoted post ever on the Minecraft subreddit.
Yesterday, in a statement to Motherboard, Minecraft Lead Creative Designer Jens Bergensten said another food item would replace the cookie based parrot breeding mechanic in an upcoming update.
“If Minecraft has any effect on children's behavior, we want it to be a positive one, so we'll change the item used to breed parrots before the 1.12 update is released,” said Bergensten.
In effect, the new update is now live, dubbed 1.12 pre-release 3, where players can now breed parrots using seeds instead, and feeding a cookie to one will instantly kill the bird, with some added poison particles for good measure. Let's just hope kids punching trees will not become a concern at a later date.
The pre-release's full changelog is found here; in addition to parrot dietary changes, the update includes quite a number of bug fixes.
Available for £19.99 from the Nintendo Switch eShop, Minecraft Switch Edition contains the base game, as well as the Super Mario Mash-up Pack from the Wii U version.
The Super Mario Mash-up Pack contains additional content inspired by Super Mario World, Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine.
This includes 40 new Super Mario-themed skins such as Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach, as well as Bowser, Wario and all seven Koopalings.
There's also a selection of Super Mario textures, a Super Mario World to explore and music from Super Mario 64.
But what really sets Minecraft Switch apart from its predecessors is the ability to play in lots of different ways.
Ahead of Express Online's Minecraft Switch review, check out the screenshots above.
The LEGO Minecraft world just got a whole lot bigger. Today LEGO has announced the largest set yet for the minifigure-scale theme, 21137 The Mountain Cave. Coming in at a staggering 2,863 pieces and a retail price of $249.99 when it arrives July 1, young Minecraft fans had better hope Grandma has deep pockets if they put this on the wishlist (though the set does also hit the highest age target in the Minecraft theme at 12+). This is the second large exclusive for the Minecraft theme, following last year’s 21128 The Village.
As the name implies, the set features a sizable stone mountain (12in, or 31cm, high at the peak) that’s riddled with caves. The mountain’s footprint is 20x11in (53x29cm), and has minecart tracks, a small home, and a light brick that can be positioned to light a jack o’ lantern, lava, or several other features. The set features lots of new printed elements, along with two minifigures and 13 mobs, including some new ones such as a baby wolf, bats, a charged creeper, and a giant slime. As with other large exclusives, we expect it to be available about two weeks early for LEGO VIP members.
Official press release:
21137 The Mountain Cave Ages 12+. 2,863 pieces. US $249.99 – CA $299.99 – DE 249.99€ – UK £259.99 – DK 2099.00 DKK
Experience the Mountain Cave!
Build and experience the Mountain Cave, featuring an amazing minecart track with an integrated redstone‑powered minecart elevator, and an array of other features and functions, including TNT blasting, rotating spider‑spawner, charged Creeper™ explosion and a lava burst. Position the light brick to illuminate the rotating spider-spawner, wall of redstone, jack o’lantern, first-night shelter, furnace, lava or the torch above the cave entrance. Enjoy hands‑on Minecraft™ adventures featuring your favorite characters and objects with this easy-to-reconfigure, modular LEGO® Minecraft set designed for young fans of the highly successful sandbox video game. Includes Steve and Alex minifigures, plus 13 mobs including a charged Creeper™. ● Includes 2 minifigures: Steve and Alex, plus a cave spider, wolf, baby wolf, slime, 2 small slimes, 2 bats, zombie, enderman, skeleton, sheep and a charged Creeper™. ● Features a minecart track with an integrated redstone-powered minecart elevator; 2 minecarts; first-night shelter with bed, crafting table and torch; a mountaintop shelter with bed, torch and furnace; plus a light brick, trees, waterfall, lava and extra torches. ● Open up the model to access the detailed interior and remodel with easy-to-connect modular sections. ● Remove the diamond ore elements and activate the lava burst function. ● Activate the revolving cave-spider spawner. ● Trigger the charged Creeper™ explosion function. ● Jump aboard the minecart and race around the track, and travel to the mountaintop aboard the redstone powered minecart elevator. ● Blast through the mountain with the TNT to extend the rail track. ● Position the light brick to illuminate the rotating spider-spawner, wall of redstone, jack o’lantern, first-night-shelter, furnace, lava or the torch above the cave entrance. ● Enjoy easy access to the detailed interior. ● Put on your golden armor, grab your diamond sword and shield, and prepare for battle! ● Weapons include a sword and a bow. ● Accessory elements include a Minecraft™ clock, spider eyes, signs, map, golden armor, shield, TNT and 8 ore style elements, including diamond, lapis lazuli, emerald, redstone, golden, iron and 2 coal ores. ● Easy-to-reconfigure, modular design—choose from 3 different model configurations. ● Set your imagination free—rebuild the set for more LEGO® Minecraft™ creations! ● Measures over 12” (31cm) high, 20” (53cm) wide and 11” (29cm) deep.
As shown on the back of the box, the various modules can be rearranged to alter the landscape.
The small stone home has a creeper face made of ice blocks.
The home is equipped with a map, creeper head, bed, and oven, among other things.
A single light brick is included. It slots into a variety of play features. Fortunately, these lights are cheap, with plenty available for a little over a $1 a piece, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get enough to light up everything at once. The moveable light brick can be positioned to light up the torches, such as this one in a small overnight shelter. Or this one above the mine entrance. Alternatively, it can be used to make the redstone glow. Or to give a deadly red glow to the lavafall beside the tracks. Another use for the light brick is to illuminate a good old jack o’ lantern. Finally, it can lend the cave spider spawner an eery glimmer. The spider inside the spawner can also spin, thanks to this dial on the mountain’s exterior. As with many Minecraft sets, a TNT block can blow a hole in a section of terrain. Alex gets a full set of diamond armor and a shield. The shield seems to make use of the new 2×3 tile. Meanwhile, Steve gets iron armor and an enchanted pickaxe for extra lucrative mining (or perhaps just faster mining).
The skeleton and zombi share a set of gold armor.
The new charged creeper is just waiting to ruin your day in an extra big way. The large 4×4-stud slime is made almost entirely of trans bright green elements, with what appear to be two printed eyes.
They may look cute, but both wolf and baby wolf feature the red, angry eyes that indicate they’re hostile mobs.
Bah bah black sheep. We’ve had white sheep for awhile, and recently the Waterfall Base featured an azure blue sheep. But now we finally get the classic black sheep. And last (and certainly least, if we judge by size) is the harmless bat. Featuring a new printed 1×1 plate, you’ll get two of these guys in the set.
Other mobs are included for a total of 13, though the others have all appeared in previous sets.
According to Time, the popular sandbox game runs at 720p in both docked and mobile modes. Some fans might have wanted to see 1080p, but this is not possible due to “issues currently experienced shifting from one resolution to the other when docking/undocking,” Time reported (via DualShockers), citing a Microsoft representative. According to the spokesperson, the Switch's power is not holding the game back from reaching 1080p, but instead the “issues” laid out above are to blame.
As Time points out, it is possible that Minecraft for Switch could reach 1080p if those items are sorted out. We will report back with more details as they become available.
Priced at $30, Minecraft for Switch features local and online multiplayer support as well as Mario-inspired skins, as you can see in the image gallery above.
In other Switch news, the eShop got a welcome upgrade recently, as it now allows users to store their credit card information. Previously, you had to enter it every time you made a new purchase, unless you were willing to add credit to your digital wallet on the system.
The Switch already has its own version of Minecraft, and it’s easily the best portable edition the game has ever seen.
When Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, tweets to say that Minecraft is perfect for Nintendo Switch you know there’s probably something in it. He is in a peculiar position though, in that Microsoft now owns developer Mojang and could easily make Minecraft an Xbox and Windows exclusive if they wanted to. Thankfully, they’ve been more sensible than that, and Minecraft is still available on all Sony consoles. It took a long while for it to arrive on the Wii U though, despite it fitting the format, and the Nintendo audience, perfectly. But no such mistake is being made with the Nintendo Switch.
We’re still surprised that Nintendo themselves (or Lego) weren’t the ones that bought Mojang in the first place. But while they could easily have afforded the $2.5 billion price tag, that’s just not the way the company has ever worked. Even sweet-talking other publishers into bringing multiformat games to their consoles is usually beyond them, but as with much else they seem to have changed their ways with the Switch. And in so doing provided the console with what could easily be regarded as another killer app.
Although the details vary between versions this is fundamentally the same game that’s available on all the other console formats. There is some extra Super Mario-themed texture packs and music throw in (as well as a few other mash-up packs, which seems to be meant as justification for the slightly higher price tag), and good use is made of the Switch’s various multiplayer, but this is still the same old Minecraft at heart. And frankly it’s never felt as at home on any other console.
If you somehow don’t know what Minecraft is – which presumably means you also haven’t been near any children in the last five years – it’s basically digital Lego. Not literally (there’s Lego Worlds for that) but the appeal of building whatever you want out of small building blocks is very similar. You start the experience in a huge, randomly-generated, game world where everything is made out of small cubes composed of different materials such as wood, dirt, stone and other more precious minerals. These can be excavated and used to create a huge range of different items, from tools like shovels and pickaxes to bedroom furniture, boats, and armour.
Most people will play the game in Creative mode, where you’re left to do whatever you want, but there is also a more structured Survival mode, which imposes de facto goals – such as building a shelter to survive the monsters that appear at night. But from there you can still do anything you like, from catching a fish with a fishing rod (that you made) on a stove (which you also made) to making pets of the wandering wild animals.
Although the in-game tutorial does its best the set-up is very disorientating at first, but that’s actually part of the charm. Getting your head around the game’s internal logic takes a little while (the effect of gravity is implemented inconsistently, for example, so trees will happily stay standing even with the middle of their trunks removed). But working out what everything can be used for is a primary appeal and the help system almost ruins it at times by giving too much away.
Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (NS) – four-player is probably best left to TV mode
When it comes to the Nintendo Switch version, this sits somewhere between the Xbox 360 (and Wii U) version and the Xbox One in terms of performance. The maximum world size is ‘medium’, compared to the Xbox 360’s ‘small’ and the Xbox One’s ‘large’. The performance is a smooth 60fps throughout though, even in two-player split-screen mode. There is a little slowdown in four-player split-screen, but given you need both Joy-Cons, or a Pro Controller, for each player that’s probably not going to be an option for most people anyway.
That instantly makes it the best portable version of the game ever seen, especially given the numerous compromises of the Pocket Edition. The draw distance is quite short when in handheld mode though, and there’s a real inconsistency in when and how the touchscreen is used. For some reason you still have to use an onscreen cursor with the inventory, but you can use the touchscreen when crafting.
The other problem with the Nintendo Switch version is that it’s not the latest console update, but is instead stuck back where the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 were in late January. It should be easy for it to catch up, but we’ll have to wait and see if it actually does. The online options are also predictably limited in terms of whose games you can join. You’re fine if you join someone already on your friends list, but there’s no in-game chat of any kind.
The Nintendo Switch Edition is a small step-down from the other current gen console versions, although to the casual observer it will seem all but identical. As a portable version of the game though, this is easily the best there’s ever been. And given how versatile it is in terms of multiplayer and playing it on the TV it’s easy to imagine it becoming many people’s favourite version. So while technically this is just another port, it’s also further proof of just how energising the Switch can be for even the most familiar games.
Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition
In Short: The definitive portable version of Minecraft, with almost all the features of the current gen home console editions combined with the convenience of the Nintendo Switch.
Pros: A good port of the original, with excellent performance in both handheld and TV mode. Minecraft is naturally well-suited to Switch, and there a few fun extras with the mash-up pack.
Cons: World sizes aren’t as big as the PC or other next gen consoles. Restrictive online options and not the latest update. Inconsistent use of the touchscreen.
Score: 8/10
Formats: Nintendo Switch Price: £19.99 Publisher: Mojang Developer: 4J Studios and Mojang Release Date: 12th May 2017 (currently eShop only) Age Rating: 7
I’m frankly a little surprised we haven’t started hearing more E3 leaks yet, but everyone seems to be playing everything pretty close to their chest for the show which kicks off in a month. But one little tidbit has purposefully dropped about the Microsoft event, thanks to someone from 343 itself.
Responding to some community excitement on the Halo subreddit, 343 community manager Brian Jarrad had to step in to manage expectations about what might appear in Microsoft’s show at E3. And namely what wouldn’t appear: Halo 6.
“I'll slip into my Dreamcrusher persona for a minute in the name of realistic expectations,” Jarrad said. “We've said this already but we'll have a little something at E3 but it's not related to the next major entry in the franchise.”
Some are saying that there could still be a tease for Halo 6, while “the game” itself may not be there, but Jarrad’s wording is pretty clear. Something “not related” to the next major entry in the franchise, which would be Halo 6, or Halo: Whatever Subtitle They Use Instead of 6.
Obviously in a perfect world, Microsoft would have been able to launch this fall’s Xbox Scorpio with some sort of major Halo game, given that it’s still the console’s most beloved exclusive series by a mile, but the timing is just not in the cards for that, clearly. If anything, it seems like Crackdown 3 may end up being the “launch game” for Scorpio, as the dev is teasing a big presence at E3, but Halo? Doubtful.
Still, Jarrad’s comment about some sort of Halo presence at E3 has sparked a number of theories about what that could actually mean. Here are a few I could believe:
– Halo 3 Anniversary Edition
– Halo 5 standalone DLC
– Halo Wars 2 DLC/Expansion
– More info on Microsoft’s alleged collaboration with Steven Spielberg for a Halo show (remember that?)
Obviously the best news of the bunch here would be Halo 3 Anniversary, and if that could somehow arrive in time for Scorpio’s release? That would be pretty fantastic.
Microsoft has had their E3 shows bested by Sony pretty routinely for the most part the past few years, but I think they’re going to have a good run this year as (presumably) the only company show off new hardware. Technically the Scorpio has already “debuted,” but not really. Last year, we just had a spec tease, and so far this year, all we’ve seen from the console is a Digital Foundry examination of just how powerful the thing is. I expect Scorpio to dominate Microsoft’s show this year, with the full unveiling of the box, price and name.
Obviously it would be nice for Halo, their biggest franchise, to also have a major reveal there at the same time, but it doesn’t look like that will be in the cards. I do think it’s wise for 343 to keep their heads down and simply polish Halo 6 to a mirror shine. We have already heard some changes in the works, from a story focused solely on Master Chief after criticisms about Halo 5 (that wasn’t the reason that story didn’t work, but whatever) and a return to local split-screen play, which 343 admitted was a mistake to remove after the fact. The success of local co-op Battlefront probably did much to help with that decision as well.
I’m looking forward to whatever 343 and Microsoft bring to E3, and to picking up a Scorpio this fall, even if I’m skeptical about the overall market for an expensive superconsole in this day and age. But we’ll see how it all plays out in the coming year.
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