On top of all that, dwellings can now sport five new door types, and new biome settler character skins are also available. The full list of new additions can be found below.
- Redstone Circuits: Today’s .13 update is sure to light up your life by delivering one of the most player-requested features for Windows 10 and Pocket Edition--redstone. Mining blocks of this very useful, rare material produces a substance called redstone dust. This dust can then be used to carry signals between objects and build some of the more advanced items in Minecraft. Players can make a wire out of redstone dust by placing it on blocks next to each other. By adding a redstone signal and components, players can create anything from doorbells to switchable lights to mob grinders to rollercoasters.
- The .13 update brings the first of three groups of simple redstone items to the Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition beta and Pocket Edition including redstone wires, redstone torches, redstone lamps, levers, buttons, pressure plates, tripwire hooks, note blocks, trapped chests, detector rails and TNT. But don’t worry- Minecrafters who’ve already mastered advanced redstone can look forward to advanced blocks like Pistons, Repeaters and others are planned in future updates with the final two groups of redstone functionality.
- Desert Temples and Rabbits: Redstone is a huge, much-awaited update, but we’ve also got icing to put on top of the cake! While exploring desert biomes, players may find mysterious desert temples emerging from the sands. Built from sandstone, these structures offer adventurous Minecrafters a chance at grabbing some valuable loot--provided they can make it out in one piece. Players will also now find six types of adorable, cuddly bunnies hopping around their Minecraft worlds. We’ve invested the most sophisticated in revolutionary Bunny AI Technology to ensure that, just like in real life, these skittish bundles of fur will help themselves to your crops when they are hungry. Cute, but destructive.
- Biome Settlers: Also available today, the Biome Settler Pack I ($1.99 USD)--the first of a series of forest, tundra and desert biome-inspired skin packs, adds more than two dozen new character skins to the game. This new skin pack brings a slew of new settler characters like archers, hunters and brewers into the game, offering Minecrafters biome-themed skins they can use to roleplay with their friends.
Microsoft spent $2.5 billion to buy Mojang and the Minecraftproperty in September 2014. According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, its in-development augmented reality headset, HoloLens, was a major part of the decision to acquire the studio and its game.
“Let's have a game that, in fact, will fundamentally help us change new categories," Nadella said. “HoloLens was very much in the works [when Microsoft announced the deal last year], and we knew it."
Microsoft has also confirmed that it will introduce Oculus Rift support for Minecraft in 2016.
On November 12, Minecraft was listed for a Wii U release by European ratings board PEGI. According to the listing, the Wii U Edition will be released this year. However, Nintendo, neither Mojang, nor its parent company, Microsoft, have officially announced the release yet.
