Will Tested get hands on time or footage of Minecraft 1.8 at PAX?

@TheAdmin: Not many in the WM staff really care for Minecraft, unfortunately. I mean, I'm pumped for it, but I doubt we'll see any official coverage.

@Mirado: Didn't the Tested staff play for a while?

@Guibone: I'm not sure (perhaps that was before I joined?), but I'm 100% certain that multiple members of the GB staff have either expressed disinterest or outright disdain for Minecraft.

Either way, I'm certainly interested in the idea of Minecraft coverage if the Tested guys can sneak a peak, especially if there's some Minecraft love that I didn't know about.

@Guibone said:

@Mirado: Didn't the Tested staff play for a while?

Yeah, they played a lot. They're how I heard about Minecraft in the first place.

@Mirado: Oh yea, the GiantBomb guys never really like Minecraft because they didn't consider it a game.

@Guibone: Yeah they did. Will dressed up as Mr Minecraft for one of the happy hours. They played on the original Minecraft server for a little bit after the craze hit.

@Guibone: That's what I was talking about, thanks!

@LtSquigs: I must have missed Will in a big Mr. Minecraft suit, or any pro-minecraft talk at all, really.

Either way, they don't seem as enthused as they used to be, or they're a lot quieter about it.

@Mirado: Here you are then sir: http://www.tested.com/profile/ethan/halloween-at-the-office/37-293/ (Scroll down a while till wills sections)

I think momentum for minecraft has been just lost in general by most people. Other games have started to fill the space its created (and I would argue some, like Terraria, are superior) and slow updates and such have caused people to drift away some.

I've been putting minecraft aside to play some other games however this is the update that i will return playing for. I hope that they do give it a look, it is supposed to be the update that makes minecraft an actual game.

• @TheAdmin said:

  Notch, the creator of Minecraft, is at PAX this year to show off the latest version of the game and it's a massive update/change. Since Tested is really the first place I heard about the game and what got me playing it in the first place, I hope that they'll get some hands on time with the newest build and tell us all about it. What are some things they've added? Dungeons with doors and levels, rivers, cliffs, food meter, npc villages, new enemies and more! Are you looking forward to it as well?

  Minecraft wiki has a good round up of the things that have been said by the various Mojang members that will be added changed in this update: http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Upcoming_features

  In the case of 1,8 a ton.

  Dubbed the "Adventure Update", meant to flesh out the game a bit and make exploration and combat more rewarding. Note that this isnotAdventure Mode.Fixes and Changes:

  • Shift+Click on items will work correctly.

  • Labels for items will be added.

  • Redstone circuits not working after glitch going to be fixed in SMP.

  • User placed leaf blocks won't decay.

  • Clouds won't go through buildings anymore. (this is quite a nice fix, it will make sky cities way more feasible)

  • Rain and snow will now render faster.

  • Zombies may drop a new item instead of feathers.

  Features:

  • At least 9 new crafting recipes.

  • Different game modes. (so at least the "old" creative mode)

  • Limited flying in Creative mode

  • "At least one new mob"

  • New Enderman mob.

  • New features in the terrain generator; things which will only appear in new worlds/chunks (rivers and underground ravines that i know of, probably more)

  • Optional NPC Villages with farms and "town borders".

  • Possibility of players to "claim" land in villages. (i wonder if this will be "the" way to protect your structures from griefers)

  • Wells for villages.

  • Villages will contain a smithy with a forge that uses lava.

  • Underground Ravines
  including canyons on the surface and ledges to walk on.

  • Strongholds
  , consisting of 4 new blocks: Stone Brick, Mossy Stone Brick, Cracked Stone Brick, and Iron Bars. (names unconfirmed)

  • Totally new, fractal-based biome code.

  • New Mushroom biome which will include Huge Mushrooms, both brown and red.

  • Larger Biomes(plus that they are larger, oceans will now actually be oceans and not ponds of water scattered around)

  • Rivers
  flowing through/inbetween biomes.

  • Deeper Oceans

  • New combat Mechanics (a very welcome addition, perhaps it will PvP more interesting as well)

  • Critical hits

  • Hold-to-charge bows

  • Player blocking attack animation and hostile mob attack animations, possibly more player animations

  • New farming options, more interesting farming.

  • This could be the Cocoa Bean tree Jeb was talking about.

  • Plantable pumpkins and melons, each with a central stem that grows to max size and spawns a fruit next to it.

  • Animal breeding. (i believe that this actually did not make it into 1,8)

  • New Food System:

  • Food no longer heals directly but indirectly. (as in over time)

  • There is now a food meter.

  • The food meter is possibly optional since Notch has said that it will be possible to play without food.

  • Food will be stackable.

  • Food takes 1.6 seconds to consume.

  • There is now a food eating animation.

  • There will most likely be sound effects for consuming food.

  • 5 new food items.

  • Cooked Chicken
  .

  • Raw Chicken
  .

  • Raw Beef
  and Steak.

  • New Melon block, but not yet confirmed as food. (that's racist)

  • Cooked Porkchop
  has a different texture.

  • New achievements: (yay for new achievements, the first set added quite a bit of value to the single player experience for me)

  • Kill a skeleton with an arrow at 50 meters.

  • Possibly Shoot the Moon with an arrow.

  • Sprinting: By double pressing the forward button, the player will move faster.

  • Sprinting will have a drawback, such as depleting your food bar.

  • Hitting a mob while "rushing" (sprinting?) sends them flying. (looking forward to trying this out on other players)

  • Glass Panes
  .

  • Possibly Spike blocks, Jeb initially considered Spike Pistons, but then pondered making a Spike block that can be pushed by the Sticky Piston.

  • Arrows will be stuck on mobs when they hit.

  • Fence Gates
  .

  • New types of stairs.

  Graphics / UI / Audio:

  • New improved lighting — day/night cycles will not require chunk updates. Lighting will be updated via a texture, whose coordinates are the block's sky light and block light levels.

  • Warmer light from torches.

  • New texture for Moss Stone.

  • Sliders for field of view and gamma in video options.

  • Redesigned HUD, including two new features, food and experience bars. (indeed "experience bar". How it will work is not sure though)

  • New launcher.

  • Possibly a web Applet launcher.

  • A lot of new sounds and some changes, such as minecart sounds and shear sounds, also a change in the sound of rain.

  • New bow sounds (including hits), new door sounds, big slimes sound, and walking skeletons sound more skeletony.

  • Possibly new particle effects.

  • The ability to see the world seed when pressing F3.

  Multiplayer:

  • Multiplayer server list

  • Improved server join screen: The server join screen will feature a list of servers

  • Player List - Press tab in multiplayer and player list comes up.

  • The ability to allow moderators to enter creative mode in SMP. (easy clean up of griefer damage)

  Modding:

  • Modding Support.

  • Including easier changing of the max level (map) height.