Gaming News

Oh happy day it’s Snapshot Time! We are releasing a new snapshot with several bug fixes, internal changes and probably also some new bugs. It would be amazing if you want to report any non-reported bugs you find in our bug tracker! Many thanks!While we plan to keep larger new features as a surprise to reveal at Minecon, some of the smaller changes will make it into snapshots in the following next weeks. And this snapshot has…Notable changes:Shields will now keep enchantment level and durability when crafted with banners Added an infinite loop Added some more subtitles More things will burn in the furnace (we don’t recommend wool as your main fuel though, and don’t even want to mention carpets…) We have not lowered the range for...

How’s your face? Is it ready? Is it ready to have Minecraft right up in it? It’d better be: today we’re releasing a FREE update to Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta which will enable you to play Minecraft on Oculus Rift. Win 10 players just need to download the bespoke launcher from the Oculus store to get the full stereoscopic experience!Back in April, we released Minecraft VR edition for Gear VR. It was the product of many, many months of hard work, reshaping the game you know and love to precisely fit the new medium of virtual reality. After such an achievement, you’d think we’d pat our beleaguered VR team on the back and send them on holiday, but, instead, we tricked them back into the Coding Pits by saying we’d spotted a Mewtwo...

After the launch of the devious, the devilish, the downright dastardly Villains Skin Pack a week and a bit ago, our devs were inspired to build a special map in which those aspiring scoundrels could demonstrate just how demented they are. And tomorrow at 4.30pm CEST, we’ll be live-streaming a playthrough by our most murderous Mojangstas!Check this page again then and you’ll be able to watch an embed below AND download the map for yourself!The idea behind the map is that you and several so-called friends cooperate to complete a series of puzzles and challenges. This may not sound villainous, but here’s the twist: there can be only one survivor! Though you must collaborate early on, keep a beady eye on your companions. Those...

Snapshot time! What you all have been waiting for is finally happening. We are releasing a new snapshot with all the latest internal changes, improvements, bug fixes and some new bugs.Some of the internal changes are quite complex. If you encounter any problems that don’t have a bug report on our bug tracker already, please make sure to report them and help us improve the game in the next snapshots.While we plan to keep larger new features as a surprise to reveal at Minecon, some of the smaller changes will make it into snapshots in the following next weeks. And this snapshot has…Notable changes:Some mobs are now more afraid to get wet in the water There are now more spawn eggs for many different mobs and this time they are...

Could you vanquish a zombie horde with a fishing rod? Or shut down a fortress assault with no more than a block of sand and a torch? The Survivors know how - they’re an elite group of players who’ve been around since the beta, living off their wits and in the shadows. Now they’ve stepped into the light to offer you their hard-won wisdom in The Survivors’ Book of Secrets.The UK was lucky enough to receive the Survivors’ genius in June, but, as of today, this mighty tome is available in the US. Hooray! Choose how to buy it here!Not only is it a rather useful book, but it’s a bit of a looker too - we were inspired by World War II era manuals, recreating the sort of hard-wearing, practical handbook that was given out to servicemen and...

Last Saturday, Mojang was delighted to take part in Stockholm’s annual Pride parade - an amazing trundling carnival that this year braved both the burning sun and torrential rain to raise awareness for LGBT+ issues and promote free gender expression, love and equality. It was very cool and we were honoured to be a part of it.The Mojang crew, along with some 300 square balloons, took our place between Hard Rock Against Racism and a formidable force of badass roller derby warriors. Somewhere behind us were Vikings for Equality and a flat bed truck containing maybe 80% of the world’s total mass of beards. In the distant beyond was another vehicle carrying seemingly tireless, spandex-clad dancers, who managed to throw shapes for the...

What’s this?! It seems that while I was all snoozed up in bed, our dogged dev teams toiled away to unleash the 0.15.4 update of Pocket and Windows 10 edition - which contains the all new and diabolical Villains Skin Pack.Truly, evil never sleeps.The changelog’s a bit of a whopper, and since all devices are now getting the changes from the 0.15.3 update (previously only available on Google Play) it’s even bigger than normal! Monstrous, you might even say.If you find any pesky new bugs, please fill out a report on http://bugs.mojang.comClick here to give us feedback about the new release on our official feedback.minecraft.net site- we want to know what you think!Please note: we are aware of a possible crash when you set your...

Happy OS-specific birthday to us! Today is the anniversary of Minecraft’s arrival on Windows 10. It’s been a busy year: 12,000 code check-ins, 6000 bugs squashed, 15 major updates and oodles of new features.We’ve bred bunnies of many colours, given squid a fear of mortality and set baby zombies astride squawking avian steeds. We unleashed the power of Redstone and found new ways for players to devise elaborate devices. We introduced our cross-platform Realms service, so players could own always-online worlds just for them and their friends, and play on them with minecrafters on mobile devices. We crafted special skinpacks - like the Villains pack we are releasing today! - and texture packs, too, allowing for even greater levels of...

Got an evil streak? Let your inner demons out with the latest skin pack to hit Pocket / Win 10 edition! It costs $1.99 - although, as with all our skin packs, you get a few for free! The evilest of all giveaways!The Villains Skin Pack will be rolling out across devices at some point today. Grab it and join forces with Minecraft’s most dastardly denizens: slink from the shadows as the sinister Stronghold Seer, unleash the fury as the ferocious Lava Fiend, or, er, sell silverfish as the monstrous Silverfish Monger. The evilest of all mongers!Then there’s the grotesque Patchkin, the enigmatic Endergaunt, the chilling Eyece, the Terror Spawner, Dungeon Spectre, Slymime and Cake Maniac. There’s evil of every flavour: 17 skins in total -...

Hello!I’m happy to announce that two pieces of DLC are landing on all console editions of Minecraft today! Grasp your digital wallet and prepare for purchase!First up, there’s Battle Map Pack 2. This competitive bundle includes three maps created exclusively for the Battle mini-game - Atlantis, Ruin and Siege. The pack costs $2.99 USD or equivalent, and comes with guaranteed good times. You can see some hot Battle action taking place in the screenshot below.In case you didn’t get the memo, Battle came to console versions a few months ago - it’s a free mini-game that tasks you with taking down friends and enemies in ferocious combat. You can play online or locally in split-screen with up to three victims.We’re also adding...

Having barely escaped the murderous mansion-dwelling maniac in Episode 6, new and even weirder hazards await Jesse and the gang as they explore the Portal Hallway. Doorways lead to a multitude of worlds - but each proves more dangerous than the last. How will the New Order of the Stone ever find their way back home?Perhaps the secrets of the Old Builders lie in a world of redstone riches. Surely such a place might conceal the incredible tech necessary to see our heroes home safely. But are such clever computing powers so easily contained?(No.)You can play this latest episode, titled “Access Denied”, next Tuesday July 26th.Episode 7 can be purchased as part of the $14.99 Adventure Pass - three extra DLC episodes that follow Jesse...

Hello everyone,Changelog time! We’re rolling out an update to all versions of Minecraft: Pocket Edition and the Windows 10 Edition Beta. It should be available to download on your phone, tablet, or Windows 10 machine soon.This update is mostly concerned with tweaks and bug fixes. It’s still worth downloading though, especially if the odd positioning of zombie jockeys was getting you down.TweaksMultiplayer invite screen text alignment fixed Tweaks to moving blocks to make them work better & more consistently Fixes to horse breeding to make it consistent with other versions Tweaks to atlas generation Tweaked some Realms purchase functions Small tweak to mouse controls Store screen layout scales better nowBug FixesPlayers...

We already knew that Minecraft could make players smarter - but now it’s being used to make computers smarter, too. The folks over at Project Malmo (two of whom, Katja Hofmann and Matthew Johnson, are pictured above) are using Minecraft as a platform to develop better Artificial Intelligence, and they’ve made their open source tool-set available to the public today.AI is already pretty good at specific, limited tasks: it can be taught to understand or translate speech, identify faces and generate text. How clever! But to make them smarter still, AIs need to be taught how to learn by themselves. The ambition is to achieve “artificial general intelligence” - not simply computers with an ability to solve individual problems, like...

Hello!The PC version of Cobalt is featured in the Steam Summer sale! It’s got a whopping 65% off it’s standard price! If you’re a fan of crisp combat, cute robots, slick combat and absolute bargains, click the handy button below.I’ve embedded a trailer above but it you prefer promotional materials in written form, check out this unbiased piece on why Cobalt is so great.Thanks for ready everybody! Enjoy Cobalt!Owen - @bopogamelContinue reading...

MINECON couldn’t happen without Agents: a super-special crew of awesome volunteers who dedicate ten hours of their weekend to helping the conference run smoothly. This year’s MINECON is bigger than ever, so we’re looking for even more fine folk to give us a hand. Sound like something you’re interested in? Over 18? Then apply right here! If accepted, you won’t need to pay for a ticket.You’ll need to apply by July 10, and you’ll hear back from us by email by July 18. You do have to put a deposit down of $60 which we’ll refund after you’ve successfully volunteered at MINECON. You only have to work one full day - outside of that you are free to enjoy MINECON as you please.Join us! Go on, go on, go on!Cheerio!Marsh - @marshdavies...

Hello future Minecraft movie-goers!I know you’ve been thinking just about every day, “When’s the Minecraft movie coming out?” Luckily for you, we can finally say!The Minecraft movie will be released on May 24, 2019! The film will also be released in 3D & IMAX.Yes, that might seem like a long time away, but it just so happens to be the right amount of time to make it completely awesome. And we all want an awesome Minecraft movie, right?That’s it for now, but as time goes on we’ll share loads more. Loads!-Vu (@vubui)Continue reading...

You might have heard this already, but Minecraft is a pretty cool, fun, popular game. We could have just stopped there and felt reasonably proud of ourselves. But we at Mojang also passionately believe that Minecraft is a Good Thing - not just an inspiring, delightful, mind-expanding pastime, but something that brings real, positive change to people’s lives the world over. That’s why we encourage Minecraft’s use as an educational tool and it’s also why we set up Block by Block - a partnership with UN-Habitat which uses Minecraft as a way of engaging communities in the development of public space, allowing locals to take control of their environment.Public spaces are super important. They’re the backbone of any community and a vital...

Hello!You might not have spotted this, but we’ve been updating the store over on minecraft.net, adding loads of hot, hot merch that you can buy from our partner, Jinx.We’ve got the latest Lego Minecraft kits up there now, so you can recreate the terror of the wither, construct tree-top safe-havens and snow-bound strongholds. Then there are Mattel’s snazzy new range of action figures - skeletons with firing bows and sheep you can sheer. And that’s not to mention the updated editions of our handbooks, coveted collectible mini figures, huggably soft plushies and loads of super duper tees.My favourite is this reversible pig plush. Turn it inside out and it instantly transforms into a pork chop! Just like a real pig! (Maybe?)Go...

This is a smaller update taking care of some of the most annoying reported bugs. We are also planning to release another update for 1.10.x in a few weeks that takes care of some less critical but still annoying issues.Issues fixed in this version:[Bug MC-85162] - Slight player/mob offset when on Farmland Block [Bug MC-99914] - DataWatcher / EntityMetadata ID is based on the class load order [Bug MC-100333] - Entities from old (<= 1.5.2) worlds are killed when loaded in current versions due to a typo in the health data fixer [Bug MC-102072] - Structure Block: Unable to navigate in the “structure name” field of structure blocks, using the arrow-keys, pos1, end or the delete key [Bug MC-102867] - chat key bound to unicode char causes...

Hello again, Minecrafters! Today we’ve got another selection of Minecraft minigames and adventures for you to try. Most Realms maps are available online through their creators, but we’ve gone the extra mile and worked with them to load the maps into Realms for PC. If you or a friend has a subscription, these adventures are available to play right now!Unsure how to load custom content into Realms? Here’s a handy help article for you. Now, let’s dig in!Captive Minecraft IV: Winter Realm by The FarlandersThe Captive Minecraft series started in 2014, after the inclusion of world borders in Minecraft 1.8. You begin in a 1x1 play area, but each time you earn an achievement, that area expands. Open your inventory to get started!Terra...

Are you a master swordsman? A dead-shot with a bow? A demolitions expert? A fisherperson with an unusual lust for vengeance? Then sharpen those tools of destruction and strap on your toughest enchanted helm: it’s time to do Battle!Battle is the first of several mini games we’re releasing for Console Edition and will be rolling out as free update across Xbox, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, PS Vita and Wii U today. It’s a last-minecrafter-standing deathmatch in which players tussle over resources and weapons in perilous arenas, fending off would-be assassins and their own hunger pangs.We’ve designed it specifically for consoles in mind - it’s super-accessible and fast-paced, made to support couch-based competition just as easily as online...

With E3 out the way, it’s the perfect time to put the kettle on and kick back with one of those papery, real-world thingamies that we enjoyed in the days before the internet shattered our attention spans. What were they called? Boofs? Boops?Of course, we here at Mojang are learned folk who love few things more than reading a good boop, er, book. And what better book could you read than this? - our newly launched, high-quality tome: The Survivors’ Book of Secrets.Unlike, say, Ulysses or the collected works of Maya Angelou, The Survivors’ Book of Secrets can tell you which splash potion to chuck in the heat of combat and how to organise snow golems into the ultimate battlement defence. What have you got, Mrs Dalloway? NOTHING.Our...

Phew! What a week. E3’s finally over! Jetlagged developers and giddy gamers the world over can finally slump back into their chairs in happy exhaustion, satisfied in the knowledge that a year of amazing digital diversion lies ahead.What’s that? You missed the entire thing? Dear oh dear. Well, luckily for you, we’ve collated all the most important news (which is to say Minecraft news) and put it in this post.Here’s the full video of Microsoft’s conference. There’s lots of cool stuff in there - a new, slim version of the Xbox One; customisable game pads; high seas hijinks in Sea of Thieves and highway hijinks in Forza Horizons 3; Gwent, Recore and much more. But if you want to cut to the ‘crafting, watch the edit below:Doesn’t...

Somewhere out there, on a hot stage in LA, Lydia has just announced the release of The Friendly Update, aka 0.15, for Pocket and Windows 10 Edition. And not just that! We can now reveal that The Friendly Update’s hitherto mysteriously unspecified friendliness is a result of two major features: Realms and cross-device multiplayer!Realms are servers, run by us, just for you and your friends. Now, you can keep your Pocket / Win 10 Edition Minecraft world online and always accessible, even when you log-off. It’s safe, too! Only people you invite can join your world, and what you do there is up to you: create, survive or compete.Not convinced? Then try out the month-long free trial! Read all about how to get your hands on Realms on our...

Hello!You might remember us posting about Minecraft: Education Edition back in January. It’s a version of Minecraft designed to help educators teach all kinds of subjects.Now the time has finally come. If you’re blessed with a particularly hip and likeable teacher, Minecraft: Education Edition could soon be appearing in a class near you soon! The early access version is available for download!You might be surprised to know that Education Edition features some interesting bits and pieces that you can’t find in other versions of Minecraft. Aside from the tools necessary to get students working together, it features a snazzy camera and compatible portfolio, non-player characters that can be programmed to teach stuff, and even...

What comes after 9? Well surprise, surprise: we’ve updated Minecraft to version 1.10! Get it hot off the stove in the Minecraft launcher.The update contains changes for both the coldest and hottest areas of the Minecraft world. Polar bears roam the frozen plains, and a stronger kind of zombie may approach you in the deserts. There are also other additions you may find pleasant.For instance, the update includes the second “technical block” after Command Blocks: the Structure Block. This block allows map makers to store templates of structures and place them dynamically with the help of Redstone trickery. Since it’s a technical block, you will not find it in the game menus, and is restricted to players who are admins in creative...

The second pre-release for Minecraft 1.10 fixes some more issues that were reported to us via the bugtracker. Thanks to everyone who found and reported bugs.Reporting bugs on our bugtracker is the best way to tell us about things that are horribly broken or even crash your game. Please make sure the issue is not already reported before posting a new ticket.The bug tracker has a “search” function that will help you to figure out if there’s already a ticket about the problem you want to report.Notable changes:Fixed more bugs Added missing soundsBugs fixed in 1.10-pre2:[Bug MC-94576] - (Player) Head in inventory causes buggy rendering of certain inventory slots, potion effect display and attack cooldown [Bug MC-94896] - Tab...

What’s coming in The Friendly Update - the much anticipated 0.15 update for Pocket / Windows 10 Edition? Crazy piston-powered contraptions aplenty! Watch the video above to see some of the redstone features coming soon to a pocket near you. Preferably your own pocket.The video was made for us by the talented folk over at Blockworks with music by TheMusicalKnight - which is, of course, played entirely in-game by the insane contraption they’ve built. When the 0.15 update launches, you’ll be able to download this machine for yourself by using this link.And pistons are far from the only thing to be included in the update. Have a look at the massive changelist we posted. There’s pig-riding, a fancy new Observer block (which works like a...

Who’s excited about 0.15, then? Judging by Shoghi’s inundated Twitter feed, quite a lot of you. We aren’t quite ready to tell you when it’ll launch, but we can tell you a few of the things you might find in it. We’ll be releasing an Android beta soon, so you’ll be able to explore some of the new features for yourselves.Here’s some - but definitely not all - of what you’ll find in 0.15, aka The Friendly Update.New FeaturesMysterious, as-yet-unspecified friendliness Pistons and sticky pistons! Observer blocks: new blocks that can detect changes in neighboring blocks Xbox Live Achievements on iOS and Android Online multiplayer with Xbox Live friends! Leads, horses and dyeable horse armor! Fire charges Pig riding! A whole new UI for...

It is time. Here is this weeks snapshot the first Minecraft 1.10 pre-release. We will decide when the final Minecraft 1.10 update will be released based on the feedback we get and the reported issues on our bugtracker.Reporting bugs on our bugtracker is the best way to tell us about things that are horribly broken or even crash your game. Please make sure the issue is not already reported before posting a new ticket.The bug tracker has a “search” function that will help you to figure out if there’s already a ticket about the problem you want to report.Notable changes:Bugs fixed in 1.10-pre1:[Bug MC-3437] - Flowers/tall grass being placed on top of Gravel by the World Generator [Bug MC-90659] - Mobs that are on fire will not...