Minecraft 1.5 is out today, with several long awaited improvements, some bug fixes, and of course some new bugs:
Achievements have been added to the game. You can access the Achievements from the options menu when you hit the Escape key. More will be added over time.
Statistics have been added to the game, tracking all sorts of things from falls to deaths, etc. You can access your Statistics from the options menu when you hit the Escape key. More will be added over time.
Weather has been added to the game.
- Rain waters your crops, puts out fires (besides netherrack blocks), and increases your chances of catching fish
- Snow will make snow and ice blocks regenerate
- Thunderstorms can make it dark enough to spawn monsters
- Pigs struck by lighting will cause them to turn into a Zombie Pigman
Booster/Break Rails have been added to the game. They will boost powered carts, and slow down unpowered carts. Recipe: Three gold ignot on the left, three gold ignot on the right, Stick in the middle, and Redstone on the bottom.
Detector Rails have been added to the game. Detector rails act like pressure plates for minecarts. Recipe: Three Iron Ignot on the left, three Iron Ignot on the right, Iron Pressure Plate in the middle, Redstone on the bottom.
Other interesting stuff:
- Pigs that die from fire now drop cooked porkchops
- Shift clicking items in a chest will automatically add/remove them
- Items in water move much faster
- Spruce and Birch trees now have their own saplings
- Trees drop fewer saplings than before
- Fully grown wheat harvested by water now drops seeds
Some bug fixes introduced in 1.5:
- Dogs will no longer attack you if you hit yourself with an arrow
- Ladders with gaps can no longer be climbed, but the ladder recipe produces twice as many ladder pieces
- Tabbing through the text fields in the menu is now possible
- Water currents have been fixed
- Wolves can now walk through doors properly
New bugs introduced in 1.5:
- Empty minecarts are no longer pushed by water streams
- Blocks can’t be placed on top of snow
- Placing a detector rail next to another rail line crashes the game
- Rain passes through stairs and glass
The official full release of the game is now set to 11/11/11 as well.
