Minecraft - 1.8 Update

So, Notch is going to release an update for Minecraft.  When?  Right around the time of the Minecon Convention.  So, it'll be a couple months yet.  At the same time, not everything is really confirmed in the release.  What is confirmed?  Well, here's a list of things below.

• New Biome Code (Confirmed biomes: Large cliffs, Mountains, Islands, Canyons)
• Snow is now covered over the whole cubic block to look more realistic?
• Creative Mode (That mode will allow flying without mods both in SSP and SMP.)
• New Mobs! (Confirmed Mobs: Endermen)
• New lighting system.
• Rivers
• Food eating w/ animation.
• Skills
• Experience orbs.
• Hunger
• New HUD. (Whats new: Hunger bar, skill bar)
• Randomly generate mineshafts.
• New title menu background.
• Volcanoes will not be in 1.8, but Notch confirmed they are possible and could be coming in the future.
• Biomes will be much more distinct, and rivers will separate some of them.
• Endermen will have a two block reach and will teleport to attack you when you move your crosshairs off of them. They do, however, have a major weakness: Water. If you can lure them into chasing you into water they die off fairly quickly. They will also collect blocks to make geometric shapes. They are considered rare.
• Silverfish is some sort of new random mob.
• Oceans are much larger and with randomly dotted islands.
• Rain has been improved, “like a thousand times better” according to Notch.
• NPC Villages are ready to go, but not the characters themselves, they will be released down the road. They will be peaceful and leave you alone unless you attack one. Sort of like Zombie Pigmen in the Nether.
• Speaking of the Nether, there will be no updates for the Minecraft underworld just yet, but there will be at some point in the future.
• Lava and torches will have new lighting effects, and in possibly one of the most exciting updates, torches will give off light in your hand while holding it.
• Zombies will now drop rotten flesh as opposed to feathers (which never really made sense, anyway).
• Bows & Arrows have new animations, and charged arrows will have a lot more power and fly further.
• You’ll finally be able to grow pumpkins thanks to seeds.
• Melons have been added and can also be grown in farms.
• You will now have a Hunger Bar on your HUD. The more you sprint, the hungrier you get.
• There is now an animation for eating, and it also takes a few seconds now instead of being instantaneous.
• Tables. Finally … tables. No more just placing a wooden block and making people think it’s a table.
• Glass panes will be super thin glass and you can remove them unlike glass blocks.
• “Dead Mine Shafts” will be randomly generated like Dungeons and will feature rails, torches and wooden pillars.
• New Creative Mode will allow you to fly, hover, instantly destroy blocks – including Bedrock – and spawn items in unlimited numbers.
• You will be able to pull up a menu and just click on the items you wish to create. Admins will be able to turn this on and off.
• Killing animals and mobs will now drop Experience Orbs, and you gain skill points by filling up your XP bar, but you can’t do anything with those points … yet.
• Due to the number of updates, 1.8 updates may come in parts. (i.e. 1.8.1, 1.8.2)

  This is quite exciting and there are a number of useful features in this.  First, we'll start with the biomes.  Biomes that are separated by rivers, now that's something new to the game that will make it more interesting.

Creative mode and the fact that you'll be able to have every item at your disposal is an awesome feature for Minecraft.  No longer will you have a need for the TooManyItems mod.  I mean, if you want to go into adventure mode, why do you really need it?  This is great for those who want to join the game and just build.

Endermen, I'm not sure how I feel about these at the moment.  The fact that they do have a weakness, makes it even more interesting.  I just hope I'm not in the middle of a Desert when I run into one of them.

Oceans will be larger and randomly dotted with Islands?  This opens up a whole new level of Gameplay.  So, who wants to be a Pirate?  Anyone?  Join my crew?

Rotting Flesh from Zombies?  What is that uses for anyway?  A mask you can wear in the Nether?

The NPCs feature will be epic.  I can see the potential of this now.  Lot's of adventures in Minecraft to be had now.  As though there wasn't enough to do right?  Still, going to be awesome.

Charged Bows and new achievements will bring a slight fun factor to Minecraft.  This is going to be interesting.  I imagine it being sort of like the Charged Sword attack in Zelda.

New animations for eating?  I'm not sure how I feel about this one.  I mean, why not leave it the same.  Unless Notch wants to make it a little harder to play.  Maybe he thinks we have it too easy?

The Dead Mine Shafts will be a site to see.  This will add a new scary factor to Minecraft.  Yet another way to creep people out.  Just make sure you don't get too scared when that Zombie jumps out from around the corner.

XP Bar.  While this is an interesting feature, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.  Will there be magical skills that you can purchase as upgrades so to speak?  That would be awesome.

This has been my epic review of the Minecraft 1.8 update features.  Hope you enjoyed it.  There are some things that aren't set in stone yet, but we'll have to wait and see what comes out when it finally comes.  There is however going to be a couple of other features, such as Floating Islands and Baby Animals that you can supposedly tame and train.  Good luck on your Minecraft Adventures and look toward the future.