Minecraft 1.8

Minecraft 1.8 is available now. The big stuff includes new types of stone: diorite, andesite and granite. It is available only as blocks: No slabs or stairs yet. But think about it: granite countertops in your polished diorite home. Doors and fences now come in all wood types (the acacia door looks like an American screen door), and there is now an iron trapdoor.

For nourishment, no new plants (you would at least think of creating apple pies in the same way as pumpkin pies), but you can butcher sheep for mutton, and there are now rabbits … and rabbit stew!

Then there is the ocean monument, with its unique kinds of stone. It is a temple on the ocean floor, but it is obvious that you are near it because the water rises around it in a high wall that you must push through in order to reach the top of the temple, which is also encased in water. Then there are those laserfish! If you are a newbie, you stay far away from them for now. Or borrow under the ocean floor and attack from below.

I only wish it was all good news. I read that Mojang, the maker of Minecraft, may be bought out by Microsoft. May it never be!