Minecraft 1.7.1 Major Release Imminent With Massive Changes

The latest major update to Minecraft (1.7.1) and one of it's biggest yet is about to drop on our plates!

The pre-release is already out and the full release is scheduled for some time today, so stay tuned folks as your blocky world is about to get a lot bigger and a lot better. The new biomes in particular actually make travelling around a bit more worthwhile.

New Stuff

QuoteNew world generation!

    Double the amount of biomes, with new trees/flowers/blocks.
    New “Amplified” world option.
    Less ocean, more awesome.

New blocks!

    Two new types of wood.
    Stained glass! With both blocks and panes.
    Packed ice, red sand, podzol.
    Lots of new flowers, including double-tall versions of current plants.
    Portals can be bigger sizes!

Fishing!

    Added more type of fish.
    Redone the fishing mechanics. Can now catch junk and treasure too.
    Fishing rod enchantments!

Maps!

    Put them in an item frame and hang them on your wall. They’re extra big!
    Lots of new colours for lots of blocks!
    Now with less lag!

Achievement & Statistics overhaul!

    Now both world (or server) specific.
    In multiplayer, it’s announced to everybody when you get an achievement.
        You can move your mouse over this in the chat to see what it was!
    Some new achievements and statistic types were added.
    Zoomable achievements screen!

Multiplayer enhancements!

    Servers can now put a 64×64 image called “server-icon.png” in their folder, that you will see on your server list.
     You can see who’s online before joining a server; move your mouse over the player count!
    Lots of hidden preparation for allowing name changes.

Resource pack changes!

    You can now have multiple selected.
    They can completely re-do your sounds, adding new ones or changing current ones.
    Servers can now recommend a resource pack for you to use.

Chat & command improvements!

    New commands to spawn mobs or blocks of any type.
    Command block minecart!
    Clickable links to achievements and items.
    Click on somebody’s name in the chat to message them!

Lots and lots of technical work!

    Completely rewrote how the network (multiplayer) works.
    Completely rewrote the sound manager.
    New graphics options.
    Basic shader support testing.
    Many, many bugs fixed

Source

Remember we have a community run Minecraft server, although as we run the bukkit moddable server we need to wait for them to push out a 1.7.1 compatible release so sit tight players of our server!

I am really pleased at how well support Minecraft is (not like they don't have the money to support it though).

Sadly I burnt myself out on it, for me they need to add a lot more monsters to fight and add more to the combat system as that side of the game is a bit boring. The creation side is great though so many items in the game nowadays you can build anything! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.