How about we take a look at all the news out of Minecon Live? Just in case you were too busy following all the streamers behaving badly at TwitchCon.
The developer of Minecraft, Mojang, recently held a community vote on which of the game’s biomes would get an update. The Mountain Biome was revealed as the winner of the contest at Minecon Live. In addition to the Mountain Biome, the parallel dimension known as the Nether will also get an update.
Alongside the updates to the existing biomes, Mojang is working on two new biomes to add to the game. The ominous-looking Souls and Valley biome and the creepy red and blue Netherwart Forest biomes were shown off at Minecon Live.
In concert with the changes to the world of Minecraft, Mojang revealed two new hostile character types. The Piglin is an aggressive humanoid pig person that can be found in the Nether Biome alongside the new temporarily named Piglin Beast. Mojang is reaching out to the Minecraft community for help in the final name for this combative beast.
Several announcements about games set in the Minecraft universe were made at the show. The new AR game in the Minecraft universe, called Minecraft Earth was announced to be available in October. A new trailer for the still in development Minecraft Dungeons was unveiled for fans. Not much gameplay was on display in the video but the main antagonist and opening of the plot were included. Mojang will be partnering with jigsaw puzzle and tabletop game maker Ravensburger to produce a Minecraft board game, titled Biomes & Builders.
Two new types of blocks were revealed at Minecon Live. The first is a new redstone block with a target on each side that activates when hit by an arrow. The second is made of honey will be added to the game. And where there’s honey you’ll find bees so players will need to be on the lookout for the stinging insects.
The show also announced the addition of some community developed editing tools to Minecraft. An editing stick that allows players to make changes to already placed blocks and items, as well as tools to change the look of player characters in-game, will soon be available to players via an update.
A new upgrade to the Realms subscription service was announced. The service will now be called Realms Plus and will include in-game loot in addition to allowing players to create a private ten-person instance of the game.
A character creator is being added to the bedrock platforms of Minecraft, that’s Xbox One, Windows 10 Edition, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android, for those who don’t follow Minecraft platform tiers so closely. Alongside the character creator, Mojang is adding capes to the game, including a special founder’s cape. And finally, a new official Minecraft themed festival was announced. The event is planned for next September 25 – 27 and will be held in Orlando, Florida.
