Well, it’s been a long time coming but finally we’re getting close to the time all PC-based Minecraft players have been waiting for. Mojang have announced that if they don’t identify any more big game-breaking bugs in the latest snapshot, Minecraft version 1.8 should see pre-release on Thursday.

The update’s been a long time coming, but that’s mostly because in terms of what it adds to the sandbox game, it is one of the biggest in recent memory. Indeed we’re on snapshot 14w34c and has 1.7.10 come out during the build-up to its release because there has been that much added in stages that needed careful integration into the game. This includes new mechanics, new blocks and even a handful of new mobs for players to play with.

The most important ones for me are the addition of 3 new stone types beyond the type regular ‘stone’ block that forms the basis for most generated worlds; the new rabbit mobs which will provide some cute wildlife to the game as well as a new source of food if you so desire; a new way to generate worlds based on data values which could give you a world full of water, floating islands or even mountains and valleys as far as the eye can see; the addition of the slime block, which not only gives you a way to better store extra slimeballs (if you happen to have enough of those!) but also a way to make a landing pad that cancels fall damage; a new skin system that sees a ‘hat’ layer applied all over the avatar model; and finally the addition of Spectator Mode, which will be of tremendous use for the PvP community I’m sure.

This isn’t all that we’re getting of course, but it’s what stood out for me. What are you most looking forward to with 1.8’s release? Leave a comment below!

Mojang 14w34c post: [x]