Gaming News

Hear ye! Hear ye! Today we’re releasing Exploded Builds: Medieval Fortress - a new book that teaches you how to put together your own medieval kingdom piece by (possibly plague-ridden) piece.If you’re a history nerd like me, it’s an absolute delight, jam-packed with both Minecraft and medieval facts, and full of gorgeous rendered diagrams demonstrating how each bit of your mighty castle plugs together. It has ramparts, dungeons, everything in between and a good deal outside too, from Ye Olde taverns to bustling market squares. It’s not just about antique architectural artistry either: the book includes detailed explanations of redstone engineering, helping you to construct elaborate trap rooms, a switch-activated portcullis...

Hello! The 0.15.10 update for Pocket and Windows 10 Edition slunk out during the dark hours of the night, bringing with it the chilling Campfire Tales skin pack and squishing a fair few bugs.We’ve been having a few issues distributing the special MINECON skins and associated capes. They are meant to be free, but some users have been asked for money while trying to obtain them through the Google Play store. If you do get prompted for a fee, use the code MINECON2016, and it should let you have them for the correct price of zero money.Android users who want the skins should do this as soon as possible - the skins won’t be available for much longer!Anyway, on to the log:New Features:Campfire Tales skin pack!Tweaks:Fixed...

Halloween is almost upon us! The land falls into shadow. The moon is but a sallow, spiteful eye, glowering through black clouds. Ancient things - forgotten things - begin to stir in the lonely places of the earth. A sickly fog rasps through the streets. Lock the doors! Shutter the windows! Huddle round the fire. It’s time to swap stories of the strange, the sinister and the supernatural!Scared out of your skin? Luckily for you, the Campfire Tales skin pack comes with 16 more! It crept from the shadows and onto Pocket / Win 10 Edition during the night.Each skin is exceptionally spooky. If you’ve been following our Twitter feed, you may have spotted some of the twisted tales behind them - the jealous Headless Haunter, the vengeful...

It’s here! Rolling out across consoles today and tomorrow: an update that brings polar bears young and old, customisable banners, beetroots and related restorative soups, new blocks, buildings and more.The update will hit Xbox consoles first today, along with Wii U in the US, and then follow along with other consoles tomorrow.You’ll be able to take shelter from the harsh weather of Arctic Biomes in new igloos, and delve beneath the earth for primordial treasures in the shape of giant fossils made of Bone Blocks.Other new blocks include: End Bricks, Grass Path, Frosted Ice, Magma, Nether Wart Block and Red Nether Brick. And that ain’t all: the update also signals the availability of the sumptuous Chinese Mash Up Pack. It’s...

Seven years and counting, Minecraft is still growing and expanding. We thought it is about time we add something to guide you through the vastness of the endless overworlds. Introducing the Exploration Update!Among your villager friends, you will now find the Cartographer residing in the library. Spend your hard-earned emeralds to obtain maps leading you to adventurous locations such as the Ocean Monument and the new Woodland Mansion.This procedurally generated dungeon is the home of the villager’s outcast cousins, the Illagers. This insidious and spooky crowd will not tolerate any trespassers in their home, so you should expect a fight when you venture there for the mansion’s treasure.The Exploration Update also brings the...

What a couple of days! There’ve been celebs, surprise reveals, intense tournaments, amazing costumes, talks by clever-clogs, manic panel shows, comedians and more. Best of all, there’s been you: the coolest, smartest and friendliest gaming community on Earth. We love you, and it was great meeting so many of you! The Mojang team are happily exhausted - how about you lot?Here are just a few of the cool things that happened…We announced a novel!Written by mega-author Max Brooks, no less. He’s a big fan of Minecraft, and we’re a big fan of him. What a match! Read more about it here.We launched a site all about Add-Ons!Add-Ons are the first step on our journey towards bringing even greater levels of customisation to all...

Grand development wizard Jens has unveiled a slew of awesome new things coming in the next update of PC / Mac edition - dubbed “The Exploration Update”. And with good reason, as you shall find out.The update introduces the Illagers - a new bunch of mobs who inhabit Woodland Mansions. They’re a mean lot who attack intruders with deadly magic and summon mischievous flying imps called Vexes.True to the update’s name, you can now buy maps from village Cartographers which will lead you to Ocean Monuments and Woodland Mansions. There be treasure!You will also be able to manage your bloated inventory with Shulker Boxes - special chests that retain their contents even when knocked down.And let’s not forget the fluffiest of 1.11’s...

There are loads of good things on their way to Console Edition this fall. The Chinese Mythology Mash-Up pack arrives, bringing with it an exquisitely crafted world inspired by the myths of the far East: there are ancient cities to explore, gargantuan sculptures to gawp at and cherry blossom aplenty. Beware, though - there’s a reason they call this the land of dragons! There are also 41 new skins and 13 themed music tracks for you to use in your own worlds. Plus: it comes with a special map for the Battle Mini Game we released in June!It’s completely, ridiculously gorgeous, too. Just look!Also coming to Console Edition as a free update:Polar bears and their adorable offspring are to be found wandering frozen biomes...

Holy moly! Those busy bees at Oxeye Studios have been rebuilding their amazing robot-blastin’ game, Cobalt, improving the engine and redesigning the controls to accommodate mouse-aim and WASD. That would be enough by itself, but they’ve also repurposed Cobalt’s core to create a massive, new, competitive team-based bomb-defusal game using new and improved modding tools - that will be available to all to use. Ooh!The new gametype is a sort of side-scrolling Counter-Strike with somersaulting robots and it’s really, really good. They plan to release the whole lot on Steam in one sumptuous package. PC FTW!“It’s awesome!” is the official quote from Oxeye Studios’ exceptionally handsome Pontus Hammarberg, and he’s not wrong.Whet your...

Not only does the Boss Update for Pocket and Windows 10 bring some much awaited mobs - the Elder Guardian can now be found in the sprawling, mysterious Ocean Monuments, and the Wither appears in revamped fighting form - there are loads of big technical tweaks besides. It’s boss in every sense!The biggest news is that this update will see the first implementation of Add-Ons. You’ll hear even more about Add-Ons tomorrow if you tune into Searge and Jason Major’s talk at 3.30pm PST, but here’s the low-down: Add-Ons are the first step on our journey towards bringing even greater levels of customisation to all editions of Minecraft - starting with Pocket and Windows 10.They let you remix mobs, switching out the models, textures and...

Yes, that’s Max Brooks, the author of amazing future-history zombie yarn World War Z. He’s writing a Minecraft novel, titled “Minecraft: The Island”. I’ve peeked at an early draft and it’s entirely amazing, just as we knew it would be. Think cuboid Robinson Crusoe, but madder: a hero stranded in an unfamiliar land, with unfamiliar rules, learning to survive against tremendous odds.We’re all huge fans of Max’s work in books and comics - The Harlem Hellfighters and The Extinction Parade are personal favourites - and his enthusiasm for Minecraft is truly inspiring.Here are some official quotes from important people!“I’m very excited to be part of this new venture,” said Max Brooks. “Finally I can justify all those hours I’ve spent...

Earlier this year, we launched an early access version of Minecraft: Education Edition. It went pretty well! Some 15,000 students and teachers got involved, helping to make our Minecraft-based smartification tools even smarter than they already were.Now, we’re happy to announce that the full version of Minecraft: Education Edition will be available to buy from November 1. If you want to check it out before purchase, the early access version will still be freely available until then.Based on the feedback we got from the early access version, we’re rolling out even more hot stuff in the November release build:Classroom mode: a companion app that allows teachers to view the world as a map, list all the present students, teleport...

Go, go, go! Today we’re launching special MINECON 2016 skins for FREE! But hurry - you have only until 3rd October to claim yours. You even get Alex and Steve skins wearing swishy and spooky Enderman capes, too! The skins will roll out across Pocket and Windows 10 platforms today, with Console Editions following tomorrow.This year’s time-limited celebratory skin pack features four biome-themed adventurers: prowl through the treeline as the furtive Forest Fighter; brave blizzards as the intrepid Ice Pioneer; craft the incredible as the meticulous Mesa Artisan; or plumb the depths as the outlandish Ocean Engineer. He’s totally subnautical!Not only do you get all this in honour of MINECON 2016 - you get all of last year’s...

If you’re going to MINECON you may be interested to know that toy-wizards Mattel are offering a supercool skin-printing service, so you can slap your game-face (and game-body, game-legs and game-arms) onto a nifty figurine!It’s seriously cool. You craft the look of your unique figure by using an actual skin from the game. Mattel creates and prints a custom label based on your in-game skin (or one of the exclusive soon-to-be-revealed MINECON 2016 designs!), and then you stick it onto the figure. Just come to the Mattel booth at MINECON, purchase your Survival Mode Player One Figure ($15.00 + tax), print your label at the booth and you’ll have your very own mini-minecrafter, ready to create, explore and survive the sprawling landscape...

It’s snapshot time again!This snapshot gives you a lot of bug fixes and also a new gamerule! If you are longing for new features - don’t worry, since MINECON is very close now! And during MINECON we will give you info about several new exciting 1.11 features!And this snapshot includes…Notable changes:The poor squids shouldn’t spawn in lava anymore. At least I would not enjoy spawning in lava We have a new gamerule: maxEntityCramming Mooshrooms now really appreciates to walk on mycelium. Probably it feels soft and cosy on their hoovesBugs fixed in 16w38a:[Bug MC-3841] - Attacking an unsaddled pig while holding a saddle saddles the pig [Bug MC-36927] - Durability of Golden Swords occasionally dropped by Zombie Pigmen is...

Here we are again! Though we last spoke mere days ago, as promised, the release cycle of new Realms maps on PC has changed. That means that instead of a recap post, the maps you’ll see below are brand new to Realms, and are available right… now!Read on, brave adventurer!Makers Wars by Minemakers TeamThe Minemakers team is at it again, this time showing off their take on the skywars PvP minigame genre. Choose your team, your map, and your starting items, then fight across islands in the sky; the last team standing wins!Chicken’s Courage by MitheyIf you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be a chicken (and let’s face it, who hasn’t?), Chicken’s Courage has you covered. In this adventure, you’ll need to get to the bottom...

The furnaces have been burning late into the night over at the great Binary Tree that is home to the Pocket Edition coding elves, the hungry blue flames dancing ever higher with each shovelful of untempered C++ ore that is thrust within. Soon, using words and signs unthinkable to mortal kind, these arch digi-wizards will conjure update 0.16 from the shadowy beta realm, fixing it into its final form! But even though they labour so, in a feat of true Tolkien-esque heroism and/or caffeination, they have managed to bend spacetime to summon the 0.15.8 update into existence, bringing with it support for the Fantasy texture pack.Look at them go! Well done, elves.The Fantasy texture pack transforms Minecraft into a world of medievalism and...

The calendar event of the year approaches! Don’t worry if you haven’t got a ticket - you can join in the festivities remotely using the power of internet streaming video. Watch the event live from our MINECON site on the 24th and 25th September.If you’re one of the lucky 12,000 attendees, don’t forget to hone those crafting skills: our chums at Hypixel are putting on a tournament for you to compete in, featuring community-favourite minigames: Sky Wars, Walls, Build Battle and Parkour. Or, if you’re a dab hand with a thread and needle, you might like to take part in the costume competition.Of course there are loads of panels and other activities, too - you can keep track of the times by checking the schedule on our MINECON site, or...

Hey there mining and crafting enthusiasts! It’s been a while since we’ve gotten to show off what awesome, new content has appeared on Realms lately. Since we last checked in, fourteen new pieces of content have been added for you to explore!Makers Spleef by MineMakers TeamMakers Spleef is simply one of the best spleef maps we’ve played. The clean design makes gameplay easy to understand, and the different game modes keep it interesting as you replay over and over.Blocked In Combat by PingiPuck, pandymit, EpicMelon, DarkPiepMany Minecrafters have found themselves in a battle with other players at some point; it’s the basis for many of the most popular minigames! Blocked In Combat offers a neat twist on this genre, encasing you...

Time for a new 1.11 snapshot!The main focus for this snapshot is bug fixes, but Minecon is getting closer and closer. Actually, it’s only two weeks left! Yay! And during Minecon, we will show you all the new exciting features for 1.11!And this snapshot includes…Notable changes:Multiple bug reports are now in prime state to be reopened again!Bugs fixed in 16w36a:[Bug MC-29544] - Particles from falling/landing/sprinting on leaves do not use foliage color [Bug MC-41270] - Resourcepack’s glyph_sizes.bin and some unicode_pages are only loaded on startup [Bug MC-83905] - Compass animates incorrectly [Bug MC-95460] - Compass needle spins only in lower half randomly in the End and Nether [Bug MC-96463] - UV mapping in cross.json...

Are you sitting down? I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that Story Mode Episode 8 is almost here! It’s due to roll out on September 13th for PC, Mac and consoles. Hooray! The bad news is that this thrilling caper represents the very final instalment of the three-part DLC adventure. I know, I know. Do you need to be held? I’ve heard that breathing into a paper bag helps.But if Jesse and the gang’s tale is coming to a conclusion, then it’s certainly not going out quietly. Having survived supernatural storms, maniacs in mansions, malevolent intelligence and more, Jesse’s crew have one last and potentially lethal trial before they can find their way back through the Portal Corridor. In their haste to obtain the Atlas, our...

Hello!We’ve recently released Map pack 3 for Battle - our free, combat-focused mini-game - on all console editions of Minecraft. It includes three new locations for you to take on your friends and enemies and costs a cool $2.99 or equivalent.First, there’s Castle that will have you jumping off ramparts, climbing ladders, and engaging in hand-to-hand combat on huge banqueting tables majestic halls.Invasion is a modern city that’s been destroyed by an unknown presence. The crashed UFOs hint that aliens might be involved, but who knows? Maybe that Herobrine chap had something to do with it.And, finally, Shipyard - a city build around an airship suspended miles above the ground. A truly epic location and a great place to prove your...

Hello, everyone!It’s exactly as the title says. Our privacy policy was looking a little dog-eared and a refresh was due! So, in order to bring things up to date, we’ve now adopted the privacy policy of our owner, Microsoft.It’s pretty normal for a company of Microsoft’s size to have a single privacy policy for all of its different bits as it takes a lot of time and effort to maintain multiple policies and translate them into different languages for our users all around the world. By joining the Microsoft Privacy Statement , we can spend less time maintaining all these separate policies and more time making our games even more awesome. This is the same policy used by Skype, Outlook and our fellow devs over at 343 Industries - so...

Another week, another snapshot. And another opportunity for me to use that exact same phrase to introduce it.We are still focused on fixing bugs in the 1.11 snapshots, but Minecon is getting closer and we have some new features to show there.We made text change to bring the Snooper Data description into line with the updated privacy policy. This refers to the fact that we collect a hashed identifier for your Minecraft account, so we can get an idea of the size of our active userbase. Remember you can always opt out!Notable changes:Some bugs have been asked to bother another game Most bugs agreed to move onBugs fixed in 16w35a:[Bug MC-2298] - Placing trapdoors / fence gates right beside a redstone source will not update...

We may have just released the Android beta for 0.16, but rest assured we aren’t getting too far ahead of ourselves: our devs have been working on packaging up all manner of bug-fixes and tweaks for the less experimental 0.15.7 Pocket / Windows Edition release! It’ll be rolling out today.Much of the effort has gone into resolving issues with the Oculus Rift features on Windows 10, but we also added support for the Natural texture pack, so you can enjoy higher-res textures and more realistic sheep faces - that’s 108 extra pixels for every inscrutable ruminant stare. Wow!If you find any bugs, be sure to report them here! Click here to go to the official feedback site and tell us what you like, don’t like, or just upvote a suggestion...

The South by Southwest Conference, aka SXSW, is an amazing celebration of the convergence of interactive, film and music industries. It’s held in Austin, Texas each year, and is the height of all that is hip and cool. You know who else is hip and cool? We are. (You can tell by the way we use hip and cool phrases like “hip and cool”.)We’d really like to go along to SXSW and tell people about our charity work with Block By Block, and our educational efforts with Minecraft: Education Edition. We’ve proposed a bunch of panels to present - and these are now up for a public vote. That means you can help us!If you fancy giving us a hand, head over to the SXSW community voting page, sign up, and give us a thumbs up on these two panels...

Break blocks and bring your foes low! Tumble is the second mini game we’ve released for Console Edition - a frantic competitive clash in which players destroy the very floor beneath their enemies’ feet, sending them plummeting to their doom.Sound familiar? It’s inspired by community favourite: Spleef! We wanted to bring that experience to console and, as with Battle, streamline the experience so players don’t have to worry about re-setting maps between matches or even keeping score.Oh, and it’s available as a free update today! Freeeeeeeeeeee!There are two variants of the game to choose from: one which lets players launch snowballs, the other equipping combatants with shovels. Each bout consists of a best of three, on a series...

The adventurous among you will know there’s nothing quite like taking down a ferocious boss to prove your gaming might. Until now, that’s been a tricky thing for Pocket Edition/Windows 10 crafters to do.Thanks to update 0.16 that’s about to change. Soon Pocket Edition/Windows 10 players will have access to some of the most ferocious mobs we’ve ever devised. But we’re not stopping there - the update will also include ocean monuments and the trinkets to explore them, a bunch of new blocks, beacons, and Slash commands. We’re calling it The Boss Update because it includes bosses, is “boss” in nature, and is in charge of hiring and firing all the other updates released so far.So yes, the big baddies. First, there’s the Elder Guardian who...

Hey there everyone!As you may have heard, we’ve been making a few changes to the way redstone works in Pocket / Windows 10 Edition - just part of our ongoing mission to give minecrafters as many cool tools as possible. Most recently, we’ve been trying to simplify the peculiarities of redstone without compromising on the power.Talking of power, right now a block can:give off power (often referred to as a strong signal or directly powered signal) be powered (often referred to as giving off a weak, or indirectly powered signal) be unpoweredIn the image below you can see this in action. The redstone block on the left gives off a strong signal, lighting up the adjacent lamp. But the lamp diagonal to the redstone block and the one...

Earlier this week we put out an update enabling a massive suite of VR-specific features that let you play Minecraft Windows 10 Edition on the Oculus Rift. Since then, we’ve worked doubletime to put out fixes for some of the issues you were encountering. Details below!If you’re still having issues with your Magic Minecraft Goggles, scroll down and have a look through the FAQ we’ve prepared. As always, if you run into any bugs, please report them on Jira! We want to know what you think about our Oculus Rift integration. Click here to give us feedback!ChangelogNew Features:Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta now has Oculus Rift support! Wow!Tweaks:Better keyboard and mouse support when Oculus Rift is enabled. Tweaked Windows...