Minecraft Monday!

It's Monday, and that means our first edition of Minecraft Monday! So lets get to it.

This week the 1.6 update is planned to be released. It's features include:

"Map item.

Shift-clicking objects in crafting windows will place the crafted item in your inventory.

Mass bug fixes from various sources, including the wiki's known bugs page. On May 11th alone, Notch fixed 31 bugs and on May 12th he fixed a further 34.

Notable fixes include:

Minecart collisions causing extreme velocities (Minecart bug boosting will not work)

Boat/Water elevator nerfs

Beds in the Nether are fixed

Fire will no longer spread infinitely

Nether portals will work in SMP.

Powered Rails will provide a larger boost.

Powered Minecarts will be more powerful.

Hatches. 'They work just like normal doors, except flat. They require a solid block next to them for various reasons. They do NOT let water pass through, unfortunately. They open upwards.'"

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So, in a nut shell, a lot of bugs have been fixed, nether will be in smp, primitive cart boosters (relying on parallel carts) has been fixed, and hatches have been added! I'm really excited for this update, personally. Even if there aren't many "new" additions (hatches) there will be many streamlined fixes enhancing game play experience in general.

It also makes me wonder, even though parallel mine cart boosters will be broken now, a plus to this could be compacting mine cart stations down even more, by allowing tracks to run right next to each other without affecting the speed of carts. It would be great, but it is definitely a downfall for mine cart enthusiasts who will now have to get in the ground to get gold to make booster tracks. It gives people something to do, at least.

I'm excited about hatches. I'm expecting a youtube reenactment of lost. How about adding a smoke monster while your at it notch? Or at least a modder could throw it in. How about it? Polar bears and a smoke monster.

Speaking of monsters and strange islands, Notch confirmed on his twitter that he's working on a "Sky Realm," essentially the opposite of the nether. That's exciting, but I'm strongly hoping it takes inspiration from this idea.

This idea is so well thought out, and brilliant. I mean, seriously, sky whales. That would be epic.

Whatever this sky realm turns out to be, I hope it opens doors to the "recreational flight" that Notch mentioned he'd add at some point. There should be new mobs, sky oriented, and special items that allow for flight.

So, looks like that's all I got for this week. Uh-oh, the sun is setting and I didn't get any coal yet. Better go mining, because making charcoal is for wusses (not really...I do it all the time, but I gotta live up to that title of "Miner Tom.")

-Miner Tom

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