Minecraft news » Weekly Recap - New Release, 3D Minecraft Printing & More

Minecraft Updates - Lots of Fixes, Some New Features

Very recently, Minecraft officially updated to version 1.1. In addition to features like enchanting bows, wool-regenerating sheep that eat grass and host of others, the release also saw a number of minor tweaks, bugfixes and adjustments to improve the overall game experience. It seems that the most discussed feature recently has been the inclusion of a "flat map" option in the world generator, bypassing the need to build one in an outside editor. This feature certainly makes it easy to build large structures without the added labor of clearing out tons of landscaping for a base to build on, and even lends itself well to retro-style RPG map creation. I go over some of the new features in this video, and you can see the rest in the patch notes.

As an unintentional side-effect, it can also double as a simulation of a mass slime invasion on a hapless village - of course, it can be a challenge in its own right to survive this in Hardcore mode.

3D Printing, Minecraft-Style

Not long ago, we had the chance to show you guys some cool 3D printing Minecraft stuff; Eric Haines (of Autodesk fame) came up with a service that players could use to print out their in-game creations, player models and more, via the program Mineways. Once users make their model (or models), they can have their creations printed out, using a specialized service, and then proudly display their creations wherever they care to. If you ever wanted to have Minecraft all over your home, it is now possible to do so. While some applications of the program are fairly obvious (printing out some of your favorite buildings or landscapes), some players have begun exploring the idea of using landscape printouts and custom-built chunks to use in table-top games, like Warhammer.

I think I'll get a little Sacheverell model for my desk - he can endlessly stalk my computer monitors, looking for coal.

UK Gameshow Accidentally Mentions Minecraft



A TV gameshow in the UK, known as Countdown, has players take randomly chosen letters and attempt to create words from them to win points. In a recent episode, the randomly drawn letters just happened to consist of the title of a popular indie sandbox game; if you don't live in the UK, you can see it for yourself here. It goes without saying that the odds of picking these specific letters at random is astronomically small. Still, it gets one to thinking: what words could you make out of the letters in Minecraft? Feel free to show us some in the comments below!