Gaming News

Hello!We’re proud to announce that Minecraft is part of this year’s Hour of Code campaign.Hour of Code is focused on introducing basic programming skills in a simple, accessible way. It feels like a great fit for Minecraft, so we’ve been working with Microsoft to create a themed set of challenges.The Minecraft Hour of Code takes about 3,600 seconds to complete and will introduce you to programming logic like Repeat Loops and If Statements. If you don’t know what those things are, play through this thing and find out!The tutorial is designed for ages over six and up, and you get to play as either Steve or Alex. It’s completely free, and doesn’t require you to download or install anything.Check it out here: www.code.org/mc...

Here it is, this weeks snapshot, going by the fancy name “15w46a” is now available. There are still a lot of bug open on our bugtracker that need to be taken care of before we can release version 1.9 of Minecraft, but with each of these snapshots we are getting a little bit closer to that point.Now is also a good time to look into the changes between 1.8 and 1.9 if you are creating resource packs or custom maps with command blocks.Notable changes:Fixed a lot of bugs Updated version number Less strict about entities behavior, but more strict about the colors they use Made up at least one notable change to make the list look longerBugs fixed in this snapshot:[Bug MC-128] - 3rd person view reverts to 1st person view if head...

Hello again Minecrafters!Whether you’re looking for a spawn area for a new survival map, an adventure to go on with your friends, or a quick mini-game, we’ve got you covered. With a few clicks, these new maps pop right into your Realm. Here’s what we’ve added recently:CastleRise: Brothers’ Feud by KanocIn CastleRise, your goal is simple: each team has a castle, and while protecting your prince, you must attack the enemy’s. There’s a build phase where you can buy and place structures such as walls, siege factories, and moats. When the build phase is over, it’s time to attack! I’ve been playing this map non-stop recently, and it’s quickly become one of my favorite mini-games.Skylight by SpringstofSkylight is a fun survival...

Hello!Unless you’ve been hiding under a cobblestone block for the past few weeks, you’ll be aware that redstone is coming to Minecraft: Pocket Edition and the Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta in the near future.Redstone is a bit like Minecraft’s version of electrical circuitry. Though you can already make amazing builds in Minecraft: Pocket Edition and for Windows 10, redstone will provide opportunity to create actual devices, like rollercoasters, automated doors, and mob grinders. Players of the Java version of Minecraft have been using redstone for a long time now, and they’ve made things that even the cleverest of clever brains at Mojang couldn’t have predicted.To show off just a few of the things that are possible with...

We’re getting closer to a release version of Minecraft 1.9 and this is another snapshot on our way to get there. In the coming weeks we will focus more on performance, stability and bug fixing.If you want us to look into certain bugs with higher priority, vote for the most annoying bugs on our bug tracker to draw our attention to them.Notable changes:A lot of bugs are fixed Tweaks to pathfinding and monster-AI Adjusted the temperature inside igloos Some performance optimisationsBugs fixed in this snapshot:[Bug MC-417] - Arrows first bounce back then appear at correct location [Bug MC-1451] - Sideway placed blocks (quartz, hay bales, wood logs) textures are not rotated properly [Bug MC-36933] - When using “Pick Block” on...

Hello,As the eagle-eyed among you might have noticed, we’ve updated mojang.com with new fonts, margins, and lots of other things that are of no concern to you. Please continue to read our words as normal.Seeing as this is a new thing that exists on the internet, there’s a high chance something might go wrong. If that happens blame @tomassommar.However, if everything works perfectly and you think the site is great, thank me - @bopogamel.Have a great day, people!Continue reading...

A beta test of Minecraft: Pocket Edition is available for download for Android devices. This one is extra-special because it includes a feature that a lot of you are excited about – Redstone Circuits!Though we’re very happy to give Google Play Store users opportunity to test this update, it’s worth mentioning that all of these features are coming to Minecraft: Pocket Edition and the Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition beta in the near future.Here’s a quick explanation of how to join and leave the test group. We strongly recommend you make backups of your existing worlds first.You’ll need three things to join the test:An Android device that can run Minecraft Pocket Edition. Minecraft: Pocket Edition Android purchased from Google Play...

Update: We’ve released a ‘b’ snapshot making End Crystals, End Rods and Tipped Arrows properly obtainable in Survival. In addition, it fixes numerous bugs and some crashes.We’ve come a long way, but we’re finally approaching The End of the 1.9 snapshot series and are starting to work closer towards a full release.We’ve now got almost all the features we wanted for 1.9 done and stable, with a few minor balancing and polishing tasks left to do. In the coming weeks we will focus more on performance, stability and bug fixing.Notable changes:Rebalanced loot found in generated chests (dungeons, for example) Added new mechanic for respawning the Ender Dragon New item: End Crystal. Currently drops from Skeletal Horses. Re-rebalanced...

Hello!We’re updating our EULAs, Brand and Asset Guidelines, and Website Account Terms today, as well as releasing some brand-new Commercial Use Guidelines. I know that’s an intimidating first sentence but you don’t need to panic. If you want to jump in at the deep end, view all of our legal documents at account.mojang.com/terms and minecraft.net/termsThe majority of the changes won’t affect most of you, but we think it’s worth trying to explain the reasons behind them. The changes go into effect on November 20.How our Commercial Use Guidelines affect videos and streamsThough we’ve explained the ways you can make money from Minecraft in the past, our Commercial Use Guidelines represent the first time the rules have been laid out...

Hello!It seems that lots of you are having a great time on Minecraft: Story Mode - a narrative-driven game developed by Telltale Games and set in the world of Minecraft. That makes us very happy!Well, prepare yourselves for even more enjoyment because Episode 2 - Assembly Required is now available for download on all platforms. That was quick, eh? Watch the trailer for a taste of what’s to come.For more on Minecraft: Story Mode, check out the official website. It’s packed with fun info and cool animations.Have fun, narrativing, story-folk!Owen - @bopogamelContinue reading...

Hello!According to a detailed study we haven’t actually performed, chances are you like Minecraft. That means you probably like Minecraft merchandise. Lovely, real-life Minecraft things to sit on your desk, or wear, or put in your pocket.If that’s the case I bring good news! Mine Chest is now a thing.Sign up for Mine Chest and a boxed bundle of Minecraft merch will get delivered to your door once a month. Each Mine Chest is themed around a specific aspect of Minecraft and no two will contain the same bits and bobs, which can range from t-shirts to collectable figurines.Mine Chest costs $29.99 per month and can be ordered on a recurring three or six month plan. Read more about it, and place an order at www.minechest.com, if you...

Update: We’ve released snapshot 15w43c, to fix some bugs & improve the loot tables format.Update: We’ve released snapshot 15w43b, to fix some crashes and introduce a new feature: subtitles! You can enable them in the sound options. Huge thanks to Ian Hamilton & Game Accessibility Guidelines for design feedback on this feature.It’s getting colder and colder here in Stockholm, so we’ve built ourselves a little igloo to hold off the incoming frost.I’d tell you more, but my fingers are freezing off.Notable changes:New structure in the world. New “loot table” concept, allows you (or custom map creators) to change the loot inside randomly generated chests, or what mobs drop. Improved debug menu. Increased the amount of strongholds...

We’ve come a long way, but we’re finally approaching The End of the 1.9 snapshot series and are starting to work closer towards a full release.We’ve now got almost all the features we wanted for 1.9 done and stable, with a few minor balancing and polishing tasks left to do. In the coming weeks we will focus more on performance, stability and bug fixing.Notable changes:Rebalanced loot found in generated chests (dungeons, for example) Added new mechanic for respawning the Ender Dragon New item: End Crystal. Currently drops from Skeletal Horses. Re-rebalanced the golden apples. Made the “buff bar” at the top of the screen properly respect hidden & ambient effects. Made the new saturation -> food mechanic only apply when you’re not...

Hello!We’re updating our EULAs, Brand and Asset Guidelines, and Website Account Terms today, as well as releasing some brand-new Commercial Use Guidelines. I know that’s an intimidating first sentence but you don’t need to panic. If you want to jump in at the deep end, view all of our legal documents at account.mojang.com/terms and minecraft.net/termsThe majority of the changes won’t affect most of you, but we think it’s worth trying to explain the reasons behind them. The changes go into effect on November 20.How our Commercial Use Guidelines affect videos and streams Though we’ve explained the ways you can make money from Minecraft in the past, our Commercial Use Guidelines represent the first time the rules have been laid out...

Hi everyone,You’re probably already familiar with Cobalt – a game published by Mojang and developed by Oxeye Game Studio. Watch the trailer below, if you like.Unfortunately, despite what that trailer says, we’re not going to hit our planned release date of October 30th. Cobalt has been delayed until February, 2016.We’ve been working on Cobalt for a long time and, though the game is feature complete, our current build is buggier than we’re comfortable with. We want every part of Cobalt – the campaign, challenges, and local and online multiplayer to live up to your expectations, no matter which platform you play it on. That’s going to require a bit more development time.In honesty, we don’t need four months to fix the outstanding...

The scariest time of the year is almost upon us! Aside from Minecon, Halloween is the only times that the average person will respect your need to roam the streets dressed as your favourite Minecraft mob. Sad but true.In true Minecraft tradition, we’ve created a themed skin pack for Minecraft on Windows 10 and Minecraft: Pocket Edition to celebrate. But we’ve done something special this time around. This year’s pack is more about dressing up as your favourite mob – it’s kinda like your Minecraft avatar is about to head out for a trick or treating session, just like you might do on October 30th.I think this is one of the most creative skin packs we’ve done so far. I hope you enjoy it too!There are 15 skins in total, and it costs a...

Hello!We’re super happy to present update 0.12.3 for Minecraft: Pocket Edition and Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta.Here’s the tweaks:[JIRA 9985] Tooltip position was incorrect and visibility time was too short Sneaking (Crouching) animation is now visible from First Person View Fixed so controller doesn’t lose its functionality on the death screen Prevented Mojang logo from appearing sideways on iPhone 6+ Stopped so mining strength doesn’t passively grow, allowing one-hit breaks Item from 1st slot of hotbar got duplicated when placed on different hotbar slot from inventory Fixed so saving doesn’t corrupt Monster Rooms Controller tooltip (“[X] Tab”) doesn’t overlap in the hotbar in Inventory Menu Player couldn’t use...

It’s getting colder and colder here in Stockholm, so we’ve built ourselves a little igloo to hold off the incoming frost.I’d tell you more, but my fingers are freezing off.Notable changes:New structure in the world. New “loot table” concept, allows you (or custom map creators) to change the loot inside randomly generated chests, or what mobs drop. Improved debug menu. Increased the amount of strongholds. Realigned the ■■■■■■■ Some bug fixes & bug unfixes.Please report any and all bugs you find in Minecraft to bugs.mojang.com. If nobody reports a bug, we can’t fix it!To get snapshots, open your launcher and press the “New Profile” button. Call it “snapshots” and check the box saying “Enable experimental development snapshots”...

Hi, everyone!Minecraft is about to get spooky!The good folks at 4J have created an entire mash-up pack dedicated to the eeriest time of the year. Not only does this Halloween pack include a whopping 43 skins, a creepy texture pack you can apply to your other Minecraft worlds, and ghostly music, it comes with an entire world that’s guaranteed to scare you senseless. Well, that’s not actually true, but it is kinda freaky. There’s even a rollercoaster that you and your friends can ride on as many times as you like for no additional charge. The ride doesn’t feature boring things like height restrictions or tickets, you’ll be happy to hear.The Halloween Mashup pack is available on all console versions of Minecraft and costs $3.99...

Hello!It’s been a long time coming, but Episode one of Minecraft: Story Mode – The Order of the Stone – is now available on all platforms. Well, apart from Wii U – that version is coming later on.However, Minecraft: Story Mode is available to download on PC, Mac, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android, and iOS devices.To celebrate, the good folks at Telltale have prepared the insightful launch trailer. I’ve embedded it up there for convenience.So yes, download and enjoy! For more on Minecraft: Story Mode check out this informative website. It really is quite fancy.Have a great day!Owen – @bopogamelContinue reading...

Today is a very special day. Do you know why? No? Well then nevermind, it clearly isn’t important.Oh, you’d like to know? Well, fine, I guess. It’s a snapshot day. There, happy now? You’ve gone and ruined all the surprise. I might as well just tell you exactly what’s in the snapshot then, and forgo any fun or mystery.Notable changes:Added two new “treasure” enchantments: “Frost Walker” and “Mending”. Treasure enchantments cannot be created, only found. “Frost Walker” enchant leaves a path of frost (new block) behind you, when walking across water. “Mending” enchant allows items to stay durable, at a cost. Improved speed & handling of boats. Added new cost to using brewing stands. Fixed a bunch of bugs. Optimised a bunch of plugs...

Update: We released a ‘b’ snapshot to fix a crash that affected some users on launch.This week’s snapshot brings you the ability to smash out of the window of a high tower building, fly past the bad guys who are all shooting you with surprisingly bad accuracy, swoop down and land flawlessly into a strategically placed boat and then paddle away at moderately high speeds with the stolen prize pig in the back.I’m not really sure what it all means, though.Notable changes:Fixed boats. Added reward to End Cities. Broke boats. Improved cheat detection in multiplayer. Fixed boats again. Swoosh. Splash. Oink.Please report any and all bugs you find in Minecraft to bugs.mojang.com. If nobody reports a bug, we can’t fix it!To get...

Hello!The first episode of Minecraft: Story Mode is almost here! It’ll be available to download on October 13th which is less than two weeks away! Watch the trailer up there for a sneak peak of the action.Minecraft: Story Mode is an episodic game series from Telltale Games. You play as Jesse who (in a first from the studio) can be a male or female hero, and embark on an exciting adventure to save the world while learning about a group of legends known as The Order of the Stone.Telltale’s games are more about story and characters than building and crafting, but the world of Story Mode will be familiar to anyone who’s played Minecraft. We’ve been working closely with our buddies at Telltale to make things as authentic as possible...

UPDATE: Version 15w40b is now available and it fixes the problem that it wasn’t possible to connect to servers.This weeks snapshot brings some further changes to mob AI. We’ve sprayed every single cactus with animal repellant and hopefully this should keep your pets out of danger just a little bit longer.I’ve also been working on boats, but that’s not ready yet!Notable changes:Lots of changes to mob pathfinding. Changes to how health regenerates. Some bug fixes. Some optimisations. Some hugs. Some bugs.Please report any and all bugs you find in Minecraft to bugs.mojang.com. If nobody reports a bug, we can’t fix it!To get snapshots, open your launcher and press the “New Profile” button. Call it “snapshots” and check the box...

Update: We’ve released 15w39b. Buckets am became Death, destroyer of blocks.The Minecraft team are out for a company workshop, but I’ve decided to stay behind, hold the fort and man the guns. Ain’t no bugs getting past me!This means I’m all alone. I can do anything I want. Creepers? They’re upside down now. Stairs? They’re sideways… and upside down. I added dirtbikes, removed blocks, and inverted the nether. And nobody can stop me!Okay maybe not.Notable changes:Found a big cause of FPS loss from 1.8, and hopefully fixed it. Made a funny joke in a changelog. [Bug MC-51987] – Minecart/Activator Dismount Location is Inconsistent in Cardinal Directions [Bug MC-52274] – Dismounting does not work to the South, South east, and South...

Hello!You probably remember us talking about Minecraft: Story Mode back in December. It’s a narrative driven adventure made by Telltale Games which takes place in the world of Minecraft. Read on, crafter, because we finally have a release date!The first Episode of Minecraft: Story Mode will be released on Tuesday October 13th this year. It’ll be called “The Order of The Stone” and will almost definitely be the best thing to happen in the whole of that month.One of my favourite things about Story Mode is that you get to choose which type of Jessie – the main character – you want to play as, regardless of gender or look. That’s the first time any Telltale game has let you do that; it’s great that we can represent our playerbase so...

Clonk. Clunk. Chunk. Clonk.(These are the sounds of skeletons, just before they shoot you.)Notable changes:Clonk. Clunk. Neigh! More optimisations! More bug fixes! Further improvements to general mob AI. Taught skeletons how to multitask. Made all pet (ocelot & wolves) deaths be announced to their owners, not just named ones. Thunder & Lightning is 0.02% more scary. Clank. Clonk. Twang. Thud.Please report any and all bugs you find in Minecraft to bugs.mojang.com. If nobody reports a bug, we can’t fix it!To get snapshots, open your launcher and press the “New Profile” button. Call it “snapshots” and check the box saying “Enable experimental development snapshots” and save. To switch to the normal version, you can select it in...

This weeks snapshot is not late, we just decided that Thursday is basically Wednesday+1!Notable changes:Rebalanced weapon, tools again. Rebalanced shields. Hardcore mode no longer deletes your world on death; instead you may spectate it. Added new gamerule to disable chunk generation for spectators. Allowed the bow to be shot from off-hand. Made chunk generation much smoother in both multiplayer and singleplayer. Added new flatworld preset. Lots of optimisations. Many bug fixes. Cuddling increases happiness by 35%.Please report any and all bugs you find in Minecraft to bugs.mojang.com. If nobody reports a bug, we can’t fix it!To get snapshots, open your launcher and press the “New Profile” button. Call it “snapshots” and check...

Hey!We hope you enjoyed Doki Doki Compatibility Quest: 3. It took up a lot of resources (all typos and bugs are intentional). Extra special thanks to Stephen Velema for letting us use his nostalgic tunes.Doki Doki Compatibility Quest III was created in celebration of our latest update to Minecraft Pocket Edition and the Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta.Patch 0.12.1 is packed with content, but one of the most exciting things is that you can now play cross-platform. That means a Windows 10 Edition Beta player can jump into their friend’s world, even if they’re playing on a phone or tablet.One of our long-term goals for Minecraft is to bring our community closer, and give as many players as possible a chance to play together...

It’s wednesday again – really wednesday this time, not a phony monwednesday! This can only mean three things – but we only care about the second possibility… snapshot!Notable changes:Rebalanced armour. Changed damage & protection enchantments to match new armour system. Fixed a few AI bugs across lots of mobs. Made endermen creepy again. Vwooop. More optimisations! Many optimisations! Added player collision again. Fishing rods can now catch entities properly again. Added team-based options for collision. The world may corrupt slightly less times now! Or slightly more, we’re not sure! I like hugs!Please report any and all bugs you find in Minecraft to bugs.mojang.com. If nobody reports a bug, we can’t fix it!To get snapshots...