Minecraft 1.7 - The Best New Features and Official Release Date

Minecraft 1.7 is certainly one of the biggest updates in recent memory. Not just in terms of new features but behind the scenes code refinements and improvements ready for the API. The Minecraft 1.7 pre-release is available to download now with the official release of Minecraft 1.7 planned for Friday (25th Oct) - all being well that is.

So where do we start with Minecraft 1.7? Well, those of you on an old or lower spec computer will be pleased to know that Minecraft 1.7 is similar to 1.5. It comes with vast improvements to performance, helping even the lightweight gaming machines run the game smoothly.

What about the new features? The list is huge, I mean really huge. We've got new blocks, new biomes, new configuration options, new multiplayer options, new world generation...the list just goes on and on. Rather than go through the entire list, which you can easily check on the Mojang website, we'll give a quick taster of the best features you'll likely to be interested in.

New world generation

There are now twice as many biomes as in 1.6 with new trees, flowers and blocks to go with them. Oceans have been refined to be more 'awesome' as Dinnerbone put it without consuming such a vast space in your world.

There is also a new amplified world generation option - useful for bigger and bolder biome creation.

Some of the new biomes..

Taiga
Savanna
Mega Taiga
Swampland
Extreme Hills+
Roofed Fores
Stone Beach

New blocks

There are two new types of wood, packed ice, red sand and podzol.

Minecraft 1.7 - packed ice

New flowers including a tall version of current plants, rose bush, sunflower, lilac.

Minecraft 1.7 - New flowers

But most of all, we finally got the stained glass block and pane! A very sought after feature that dates back to the days of Notch and the first introduction of glass. Now everything just looks more authentic with that multi-coloured, transparent effect.

Minecraft 1.7 - stained glass

Fishing

New types of fish have been added - that includes the new Puffer fish, Salmon and Clownfish. The fishing mechanics were also revamped to include the ability to catch junk and treasure too.

Two new enchantments also added:

Luck of the Sea I, II, III
Lure I, II, III

Multiplayer enhancements

Server administrators can now add a 64x64 icon in their server folder which is visible on the browse server screen. Players can also hover their mouse over the player count to see who's online before joining a particular server.

Resource pack improvements

You can now select multiple resource packs and even configure the sounds for your game. This includes both sound effects and the music played during the game. All you need is an ogg file of the music and a simple text editor to edit the sounds.json file.

Other small but great features