4J Studios, developer behind the popular and successful game Minecraft, confirmed via Twitter that it has sent the Title Update 14 for testing to both Sony and Microsoft on 20 March. Both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will get the update but the processing will take time, and only after that, release dates will be issued for the new patch.
The update adds various items like Emerald, Ender Chest, Tripwire Hook, Enchanted Golden Apple, Baked Potato and so on. It will also add new mobs, trading with villagers, new terrains, new anvil interface, new recipes and new abilities.
The company has released the complete Changelog for the 1.04 patch (Minecraft Forum):
Added new items:
- Emerald
- Emerald Ore
- Block of Emerald
- Ender Chest
- Tripwire Hook
- Enchanted Golden Apple
- Anvil
- Flower Pot
- Cobblestone Walls
- Mossy Cobblestone Walls
- Wither Painting
- Potato
- Baked Potato
- Poisonous Potato
- Carrot
- Golden Carrot
- Carrot on a Stick
- Pumpkin Pie
- Night Vision Potion
- Invisibility Potion
- Nether Quartz
- Nether Quartz Ore
- Block of Quartz
- Quartz Slab
- Quartz Stair
- Chiseled Quartz Block
- Pillar Quartz Block
- Enchanted Book
- Carpet
In addition to the above, the following will also be added:
- Added new recipes for Smooth Sandstone and Chiseled Sandstone.
- Added new Mobs - Zombie Villagers.
- Added new terrain generation features - Desert Temples, Desert Villages, and Jungle Temples.
- Added Trading with villagers.
- Added Anvil interface.
- Added sideways log placement.
- Changed placement of half blocks and other blocks on half blocks.
- Changed placement of upside down stairs and slabs.
- Wooden Buttons and Wooden Pressure Plates can be activated with Arrows.
- Can dye leather armor.
- Can dye wolf collars.
- Can control riding a pig with a Carrot on a Stick.
- Added different villager professions.
- Villagers spawned from a spawn egg will have a random profession.
- Furnaces can use wooden tools as a fuel.
- Ice and Glass panes can be collected with silk touch enchanted tools.
- Nether mobs can spawn in the Overworld from Portals.
- Creepers and Spiders are aggressive towards the last player that hit them.
- Mobs in Creative mode become neutral again after a short period.
- Remove knockback when drowning.
- Doors being broken by zombies show damage.
- Ice melts in the Nether.
- Cauldrons fill up when out in the rain.
- Pistons take twice as long to update.
- Pig drops Saddle when killed (if has one).
- Sky color in The End changed.
- String can be placed (for Tripwires).
- Rain drips through leaves.
- Levers can be placed on the bottom of blocks.
- TNT does variable damage depending on difficulty setting.
- Book recipe changed.
- Boats break Lily Pads, instead of Lily Pads breaking Boats.
- Pigs drop more Porkchops.
- Slimes spawn less in Superflat worlds.
- Creeper damage variable based on difficulty setting, more knockback.
- Fixed Endermen not opening their jaws.
- Added new Host Options for flying, invisibility and invulnerability for remote players.
- Added teleporting of players (using the player menu in-game).
- Furnace will return an empty bucket when fuelled by a bucket of lava.
- Updated Bonus Chest content with more items.
- Added new tutorials to the Tutorial World for new items and features.
- Updated the positions of the Music Disc Chests in the Tutorial World.
- Added new languages - Danish, Finnish, Latin American Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish and Turkish
- Various network issue fixes.
Mojang's Profits Double
For Mojang, developer of the sandbox title, Minecraft has helped double its profits in 2013, allowing the company to earn 816 million Swedish kronor ($128million), The Wall Street Journal reported. It also said that the revenue of the company that has about 40 employees was up by 38 percent.
Markus "Notch" Persson, creator and founder Mojang, had previously said that 14 million units of the PC version were sold with 100 million registered users; 11 million sales for Xbox 360 version and PlayStation 3 version sold 1 million units.
Movie in Pipeline and Xbox One in Works
Persson also revealed on Twitter that Mojang is teaming up with Warner Bros. to come up with a movie.
"Someone is trying leak the fact that we're working with Warner Brothers on a potential Minecraft Movie. I wanted to be the leak!" said Persson.
It was also revealed by Deadline that Warner Bros has acquired the movie rights of the game and it will be a live-action film. It added that the early production was taken up by Lego movie producer Roy Lee.
Roger Carpenter, producer of the game, was asked by a fan if there were any updates on Minecraft Xbox One. He revealed that the company was still developing the Xbox One port but also added that it will be worth the wait.
"Still working on #minecraftxbox1, we'll share news when there's news to tell. It'll be worth the wait!"
