Minecraft patch 1.6 out today!

The 1.6 patch actually came out today, what a lovely suprise! When I wrote about it just a few days ago we didn't even have an estimated release date, and now it's suddently staring us in the face. You can read the post here if you want to know more about the patch, but I also took the liberty of copying the patch notes for you to look at. If you want to see all the bug fixes you can find them here. There is ALOT of them!

New features:

+ Added Nether support to multiplayer
+ The client will ask minecraft.net if the current login is valid. If the server says “no”, a warning message appears in the client. You can still play the game even if this happens.
+ Added craftable maps

+ Added tall grass in some biomes
+ Mushrooms now spreads (very) slowly
+ Added server property view-distance. Sets the radius of terrain updates (in chunks) to send to the players. Range 3-15, default 10.
+ Added dead shrubs in deserts
+ Added allow-nether (set to true or false) in server.properties
+ Blocks destroyed by other players in multiplayer now shows the breaking block particle effect
+ Doors make sound for other players in multiplayer
+ The record player now supports more than 15 different songs (you can’t get the records yet, though)
+ Added hatches

+ Activated dispensers make sounds and trigger particles in multiplayer
+ Players stuck in walls will slide towards the nearest gap if there is one

Changes:

* Disabled Advanced OpenGL until we can fix some bugs with it
* It’s no longer possible to build solid blocks on the top layer of the maps (sorry!)
* Made booster tracks speedier
* Severely nerfed fire so it spread slower, and doesn’t spread infinitely
* Seeds are now found in tall grass, using a hoe on the ground no longer works
* Compressed network traffic more agressively
* Blocks that don’t change appearance when the data changes don’t send block updates when their data changes now
* Arrows shot by players can now be picked up by all players
* Nothing riding anything or being ridden by anything can enter portals

Minecraft patch 1.6

This will be the largest patch yet, and all you miners have alot to look forward to. Because this will include the thing everyone have been waiting for, a functional nether portal on multiplayer servers! Yes, we will be able to go to minecratf hell together. And there are more fun coming our way with this patch, it will also include:

• more achievements
• functional pistons
• maps and mapping tools 
• more underwater content 
• online sync for statistics and achievements 
• and of course bug fixes

The release date is as of now set to "not soon" so there will probably be more content announced. "Not soon" sounds like a long time, but I think we can be optimistic about it and say that the only reason he has set that "date" is because he is playing it safe and dont want to dissapoint us, but I'm betting it will be out at the start of july at the latest! If I'm wrong I will give away a minecraft key! Remember that this is a very small company so a giveaway will probably be happening heh.  I am an achievement whore so I'm hoping for lots and lots of achieves, also underwater content sounds interresting altough we have no idea what it will be yet, I'm guessing more animals and maybe some plants. That might not sound so interresting but it would mean that we will be able to make more stuff. Lets hope he makes is easier to find cocoa beans aswell! 

Goodies and skins for Minecraft fans

T-shirt from think geek.

T-shirt from think geek.

T-shirt from The Jinx store. 

Foam pickaxe from think geek.

Caracter skins from minecraftskins.com

Pretty cool Minecraft online skin editor, you can customize your own Minecraft 

skin to your liking quickly and easily, check it out here.

And if you don't already have the game, I suggest you head on over to minecraft.net and get started on doin' some crafting of the mines.

The wonderful Yogscast

The weekend is usually very slow on the news front, so I will give you a special treat. If you haven't yet heard of them listen up! The Yogscast is Simon and Lewis, or Honeydew and Xephos who makes Youtube videos and podcasts. Theire popularity sky rockeded at the start of this year and now they are loved by the whole world. they started last year by just doing videos of them playing games, giving advise and just fooling around, then they discovered minecraft  and made a "how to survive your first day" video and it got so popular that they continued playing. That might not sound so interresting but the reason is, they are just amasingly funny and whimsical. Theire minecraft adventure suddently got very very interresting and exciting and actually kinda scary.Ever since the hundreds of thousands fans have been sitting pinned to the screen following the adventure. They are on a big quest and have met many characters on the way that we have all fell in love with, or grown to hate. where they last left of they have stumbled into a war between pirates, but managed to sink the enemy ship, which  ended with a big unforseen twist.

 The "shadow of israphel" (which the series are called) is now on its third series so those of you that have not seen it have alot to look forward to! Deaths, twists, scary and touching moments, heroes, badies and most of all you will be laughing your ass of the whole way through. They also play Portal 2 and many other games which are equally fun. Here are a Trailer of the show, its SO good!

You can find theire youtube channel here. Homepage here, And the podcast on itunes here.

Just a fantastic minecraft song!

Minecraft patch 1.5: Funny weather

Right before the release og Portal 2 last week, patch 1.5 was released in Minecraft. Notch, the maker of minecraft said they had to rush the release before Portal came out, and that the rest of it would be out soon after he had played through Portal 2. Now, I have only read/heard some responses from the minecraft fans, and he seems to have gotten an even better reputation because of this. He is actually more loved because he delayed half of an awaited patch. I just thought that deserved to be told! Now for the weather. thunder, rain, snow and lightning was added in this patch, and I have noticed that it is acting quite weird. When the weather comes, est. every 5 minecraft days, it is both snowing and raining at the same time, not mixed but next to each other, and outside my house it is a tunnel of rain inside the snow. It's lovely :D So now that the winter has finally passed here in Norway, and we have been inside playing our games in hiding for so long, we get winter inside! Can we ever catch a break? :P The weather effects is a great addition though, I'm just glad the winter in minecraft doesn't last as long as in scandinavia.

Totally normal.