Minecraft's newest update finally brings more ways to rest your blocky behind, as Cushions and Straw Beds headline the new preview.

On the Minecraft website Mojang details what Minecraft: Bedrock Edition players can expect from update preview 26.40.30, which launches today. While it's not going to introduce any game-changing biomes or new mobs to the game, it does introduce a massive new feature in the form of Straw Beds.

Straw Beds are a new type of bed which allow you to sleep through the night while retaining your previous spawn point, which will be perfect for waiting out the night while you're on an expedition. However, there's a catch, as these beds can only be used one time before being destroyed, and of course you won't be able to use these in the Nether or The End. If you use three Hay Bales you'll get Four Straw Beds to use, so it's not the worst trade for something that's a one-time use, plus you can find them naturally in Abandoned Camps.

The update's focus seems to be to help spruce up the Abandoned Camps that were introduced a few weeks ago in update 26.40.27. The new area will now spawn in the Pale Garden and Flower Forest biomes and boast procedural trees, and an issue which saw loot tables list incorrect potion names has also been fixed.

The other new change is the introduction of the Cushion, which you can craft 16 different colored versions of. These don't exactly have much practical use for your hardcore survival mode run, but they're a new item you can sit on and make your home look that much cuter. These currently aren't found in Abandoned Camps, but Mojang lists this as a "known issue," implying these will find a home there after a while.

Frankly, I'm shocked that it's taken almost 17 years (or 15 years after its official 1.0 launch in 2011) for Minecraft to add a way to sleep through the night without resetting your spawn, now that it's actually in the game, it feels like something that should've been a given on day one, so it's good to finally have the option.

Smaller Minecraft updates like Tiny Takeover and Chaos Cubed "feel more sustainable" for Mojang, says lead: "There's always another one right around the corner."

While the organizers behind Stop Killing Games remain optimistic about the movement's future, they've been dealt another blow from lawmakers. The Protect Our Games Act failed to reach the required committee votes to move forward in California, but what's really gotten the gaming world's attention is the argument made by the Entertainment Software Association during the hearing. According to the lobbying group, private Minecraft servers are illegal.

"They're illegal, and they're not in any way affiliated with Microsoft," according to Jennifer Gibbons, vice president for state government affairs at the ESA (thanks, PC Gamer). "Microsoft, for Minecraft, has gotten a lot of criticism because of those community servers not employing the same safety standards that Microsoft does on their Minecraft servers."

That statement – and Gibbons' later assertion that private servers are tantamount to "piracy" – might seem like a bizarre thing to say, considering that you can download the tools to create your own private server directly from the official Minecraft website. But, unfortunately, that's simply a right that Microsoft is offering to players, and one that it's free to revoke at any time.

"Private servers infringe on the intellectual property (IP) rights of game publishers," the ESA says in a statement to PC Gamer. "Publishers reserve the right to exercise their rights against them." That is, indeed, the law as it stands, and one of the key points that Stop Killing Games is trying to change, hoping to require publishers to provide tools to create community servers after an online game shuts down.

According to the ESA, the provision in the Protect Our Games Act "that proposed these servers as a legitimate alternative to keep games running raises concerns about a publisher's ability to enforce their IP rights. In addition, private servers operate with no oversight from the publisher and do not uphold the same trust and safety standards. This could create an unsafe environment for players and be counter to the industry's commitment to fostering safe and fun game play for all players."

This is the second major decision against Stop Killing Games this month, as the EU Commission decided against introducing new legislation in response to the campaign. Yet, Stop Killing Games founder Ross Scott believes that the campaign has made such significant inroads with members of the EU parliament that legislation will likely happen regardless of the Commission's decision.

"We are not stopping," according to a similarly optimistic message from Stop Killing Games responding to the California decision. "Not even close. Next session, we come back with an in-person lobbying presence, the funding to do this properly, and a long list of organizations and developers signed on in support. We are not limiting this to California. We intend to introduce versions of this in other state legislatures, and we are seriously looking at the federal level. The ESA is about to learn what it is like to fight on many fronts at once. They have to win every single time to keep things the way they are. We only have to win once to change them."

These are the new games for 2026 (and beyond) you need to know about.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 asks you to drop your pickaxe, pick up a sword, and venture into the deep dark (among other locations) with your buddies. This upcoming ARPG has always been lobbied as an approachable dungeon crawler, the sort that provides a pretty cheery alternative to a game like Path of Exile 2 or a way for those who grew up playing Diablo to share love of the genre with their kids. Something Minecraft Dungeons was never great at, however, was having all that many connection points with the core Minecraft experience – you know, visual design aside and all that.

As Mojang approached the development of Minecraft Dungeons 2, design director Laura de Llorens tells me that the team went looking for ways to include more distinct "callbacks to vanilla Minecraft" without diluting what made the 2020 original special. One way is the introduction of an "interconnected world" – not a full open-world, but one that's wide enough to encourage exploration.

Beyond that, Minecraft Dungeons 2 has made some tweaks to its item rarity systems and its character customisation options. Let's start with rarity. Minecraft offers four rarity tiers in Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Epic; the first Minecraft Dungeons game only had three. Minecraft Dungeons 2 arrives with four rarity levels – Common, Rare, Special, and Unique – in an attempt to better capture that sense of item-scale that the vanilla experience is known for.

As for character customization, Minecraft Dungeons 2 has a more expansive system in play. "Instead of one armor slot, you now have four – again, we're calling back a little more to vanilla Minecraft, which also has four." This means you can now equip armor on your head, arms, legs, and torso; with unique variants which can provide "double effects, special enchantments, and all that good stuff," de Llorens teases.

These are small changes that have a big impact on the way Minecraft Dungeons 2 plays, and offer a few more points of connective tissue for fans of the core Minecraft experience. I suspect that the full game will offer even more in this respect, but we'll likely have to wait until September 29, 2026 to discover them all – that's when Minecraft Dungeons 2 releases for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 hands-on preview: I played Mojang's new dungeon crawler, and it may just be one of the most exciting new games of 2026.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 is making a big change. When its predecessor launched in 2020, it was a compelling side-quest for Mojang – a dungeon crawler which sought to deliver a more accessible entry point to the ARPG genre than the likes of Diablo and Path of Exile. It was a fun experience, although its limited points of exploration made it something of a divergence from what we've come to expect from Minecraft games. So Mojang is making some changes for the new game of 2026.

"In Minecraft Dungeons, we had a simple game loop," says Mans Olson, creative director. "You played a mission through to the end, you got a reward, and then you went back to your camp. In Minecraft Dungeons 2, we have what we call an interconnected world."

Internonnected, but not fully open. Olson stresses that Mojang "is purposefully not calling it an open world" as the studio is still creating a curated-style of game. "It's more of a guided experience that we think works really well for Minecraft," he says, adding: "But you will be free to explore the overworld; Minecraft Dungeons 2 is a lot larger than the first game."

Design director Laura de Llorens tells me that "you can walk from one end of the world to the other" in the upcoming Xbox Series X game, as the team emphasises the importance of exploration – unique and rare items, along with powerful Talismans, can be found by digging into every corner of the map. Speaking of maps, there's been some other changes to the Minecraft Dungeons 2 UI to accommodate the shift in focus. "Up in the right-hand corner we have a little mini-map, and we also have a very beautiful world map as well."

Given the 'All-Ages' framing of Minecraft Dungeons 2, are there any concerns over players getting lost in this interconnected world? Thankfully, a click of the left-thumbstick will enable a 'Guiding Light' (that can be activated by any member of your party, at any time) which will "always assist you in finding the next step in your quest," says de Llorens.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 may not be an open-world game, but it is inching ever closer to reflecting its ARPG ambitions into the original Minecraft style with this new interconnected world. The game is an exceptionally fun time, as you can learn more about in my Minecraft Dungeons 2 hands-on preview.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 is out for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X on September 29, 2026.

The many Minecraft biomes are a massive part of what makes the game so enjoyable and diverse today. From the basic origins of just a handful of different biomes, there are now over 20 primary regions, and many more once you consider variations like deep oceans and windswept hills.

There are also loads more biomes being added to the game with each new Minecraft drop, with the Sulfur Caves and Dappled Forest being among the most recent announcements. Here, I've got everything you need to know about those and the existing major Minecraft biomes as of update 26.2.

New Minecraft biomes

Here, I'll tell you about the latest biomes added to the game, that you can find in the current version. So, if you don't yet know and would rather be surprised, skip this part! However, if you want to know more about the latest Minecraft biomes or how to find them, this section's for you.

Sulfur Caves

The Sulfur Cave is the newest biome, added with the 26.2 update on June 16, 2026, and is perfect if you, like me, get a little tired of the same grey surroundings while mining. We may have Lush Caves and The Deep Dark to take our breath away, but there's still plenty of room for something new, and that's exactly what this is.

While it might look like it would fit better in the Nether, the Sulfur biome is so unique to the overworld that it's going to look fantastic when you spot that first red or yellow block during a mining session. These are Cinnabar and Sulfur blocks, and each have an entire family of building blocks relating to them, which will make for some great new Minecraft house ideas.

While you're taking in the sights, though, be careful where you step. Sulfur pools are bodies of water found within these caves, and the presence of Potent Sulfur beneath the water causes pockets of gas. Get too close to this gas, and you'll find yourself feeling a little... funny. You'll also be able to find a new friend or two in these Caves, with new Minecraft mob the Sulfur Cube.

Sulfur Caves can be found at any depth, and Sulfur pools even have a chance to be spotted above ground, indicating a Sulfur Cave beneath. Your best bet at finding one is simply to cave and mine, looking out for the biome's signature yellow or red blocks.

Upcoming Minecraft biomes

This section tells you everything we know so far about any upcoming Minecraft biomes that are set to be added in future drops, so they may not be able to be experienced right now, or you might be able to try them out in Minecraft snapshots or Preview.

The Dappled Forest

Announced during Minecraft Live May 2026, the Dappled Forest is the next new biome to be added to the sandbox game - and this one is really exciting.

Not only does this cute biome add autumnal-colored leaves for the first time without mods, following in the footsteps of the pink-hued Cherry Grove and white-tinged Pale Forest, but it also adds the first new structure we've had in some time: the Abandoned Camp!

The colorful leaves come as part of new Poplar trees, which will add a new family of beige-grey wood blocks for building with. There's also a new red bush variant, which maintains its color no matter where you place it.

The Abandoned Camp, meanwhile, is a small new structure that features a tent, some storage containers, and other handy loot, including a new place to spend the night. However, it's not that safe so take care! Perhaps the most exciting part of the Abandoned Camp, though, is a new building block that players like me have been craving for some time: the wool stair!! White wool stairs will be found as part of the tent structures in camps, but this also means you will be able to turn any wool color into a stair block, which is great news for builders.

All Minecraft biomes

These are all the major Minecraft biomes, excluding variants:

• Plains (overworld)
• Forest (overworld)
• Meadow (overworld)
• Dark Forest (overworld)
• Cherry Grove (overworld)
• Pale Forest (overworld)
• Swamp (overworld)
• Mangrove Swamp (overworld)
• Taiga (overworld)
• Snowy Plains (overworld)
• Ice Spikes (overworld)
• Savanna (overworld)
• Badlands (overworld)
• Desert (overworld)
• Jungle (overworld)
• Mountains (overworld)
• Mushroom Fields (overworld)
• River (overworld)
• Ocean (overworld)
• The Deep Dark (cave)
• Lush Caves (cave)
• Dripstone Caves (cave)
• Nether Wastes (Nether)
• Crimson Forest (Nether)
• Warped Forest (Nether)
• Soul Sand Valley (Nether)
• Basalt Delta (Nether)
• The End (The End)
• End Islands (The End)

As I've mentioned above, there are plenty of variants. For example, Mountains isn't actually a biome in itself any more, since it became Windswept Hills, but now can be used to refer to seven different biomes, including Jagged Peaks and Snowy Slopes. Water biomes, meanwhile, are split into warm, cold, hot, and other variants.

Each Minecraft biome has its own flora, fauna, blocks, and items that be found there, and some are rarer than others, so it's useful to know what you're looking for and how to spot it - or you can just explore and see what you find!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

I thought I needed a break from action-RPGs. I've been a massive fan of crawling dungeons, hoovering up loot, and clicking enemies into oblivion ever since I discovered Diablo as a kid – the terrifying cover art is still seared into my memory to this very day. But after sinking countless hours into Diablo 4 and its expansions, Path of Exile 2 and its (frankly ridiculous) skill tree, and plenty more indie hits besides, I was ready to give myself some time away from the genre.

And then Minecraft Dungeons 2 came along. Listen, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that the spin-off is as densely populated, visually rich, or challenge oriented as the mass of video games that have gone after the genre crown in the last five years, but there's something delightfully refreshing about Mojang's approach. It's every bit a relaxing introduction to dungeon crawlers, as it is for experienced players to share their love of ARPGs with a new generation of players.

Supporting up-to four player co-op, in both couch and online compositions, there's an ease in which Minecraft Dungeons 2 introduces its action. Familiar mobs from the vanilla Minecraft experience swarm as you beat and bash your way through the horde; loot pours from enemies as they explode off the screen, with dungeons carefully lit for maximum awe as Mojang pours more focus than ever before into making blocky spaces worth exploring.

Exploration is a key focus for Minecraft Dungeons 2, with the sequel earning itself an interconnected overworld that's full of collectibles and hidden talismans to uncover – a new type of item with unique capabilities, scaling once equipped in tandem with your levelling to produce more power and panache. Creative director Måns Olson tells me that Mojang is "purposefully not calling it an open world" although is quick to highlight a richer playspace with more room to dive into the depths of dungeons.

Speaking of dungeons, Mojang has answered your calls for more varied biomes. Minecraft Dungeons 2 will finally let you venture into the Deep Dark, complete with mobs that are unique to the playspace. One such enemy is the Twisted Warden, a towering boss that requires all four fighters to work together in tandem to take it down. I should note that this battle revealed one aspect that Mojang hasn't been able to solve between Minecraft Dungeons and its sequel: It's still exceptionally difficult to track your character in battle once the going gets a little chaotic.

That's also true while traversing the dungeons themselves, particularly as the studio has introduced the ability to jump this time around. In combat, this means you now get a unique jump attack which plays off of the weapon-type you have equipped (enhanced further by certain rarity buffs), although in exploration it means you'll get some light platforming sections with distances that are tough to judge.

Small frustrations with character-tracking and pathfinding aside, there's plenty of neat quality-of-life improvements. Armor is now split across head, chest, legs, and arms as Mojang tries to bring Minecraft Dungeons 2 a little closer to the core Minecraft experience, while the introduction of a mini-inventory system feels like a real game changer. You can now press 'up' on the D-Pad to adjust your weapons, swap in new weapons, and mess around with items actively in-game, rather than pulling everybody into the pause menu. It's a nice touch, one that makes Minecraft Dungeons 2 feel more responsive.

Into the Depths

Minecraft Dungeons 2 is a real breath of fresh air. ARPGs have embraced complexity in the modern era, which is delightful – if you have the time to tumble down wiki rabbit holes and assess every minute details of the hundreds of items which fill your inventory. MD2 feels like the sort of title which has a pick-up-and-play simplicity that's missing in the market, even as design director Laura de Llorens stresses that you can make life more complicated if you want to. "We don't have set classes, but you can combine different items to create your own and make your own playstyle. So you'll be able to do plenty of min-maxing here, if that's what you like to engage in."

With a contiguous, interconnected world that's full of dungeons to delve into, a more responsive and layered combat system, widened opportunities to customize your character, and a visual experience with truly vibrant fidelity, it should come as no surprise that I'm pretty keen to dive into the game proper on September 29, 2026 – that's when Minecraft Dungeons 2 releases for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X.

If there's any room for improvement, it's going to be in the way that Mojang identifies and tracks your character on screen, but with months to go until launch there's still time to refine its pathfinding systems. But if nothing else, it speaks volumes that I'm considering diving back into another ARPG right now after Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred decimated another 20 precious hours. Bring it on, Mojang.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 is set to release on September 29, 2026. It's a key upcoming Xbox Series X game, although it's also set to launch for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2. You can learn more about the new Mojang game this week as part of the GamesRadar+ Summer Preview.

Mojang has announced that Minecraft Dungeons 2 will be joining the ever-growing pile of late September releases.

Being announced earlier this year at Minecraft Live 2026, Minecraft Dungeons 2 follows-up the 2020 dungeon crawler with a new game for PC, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2. And now we've got our first proper look at the game with a sleek new trailer that feels like the closest thing to a Minecraft anime that we'll ever get as we see our cuboid warriors take on the usual roster of enemies.

We also got an actual look at gameplay, with the game looking a lot better than its predecessor, both visually, and in terms of the action on screen. The trailer also ended with a teaser of something to come, with a portal opening in front of a zombie. Howeveer, we didn't get a look at anything coming out of it, but I choose to believe it's going to be Jack Black.

However, good luck getting time to play it, as it's releasing on September 29, 2026. So unless you're not interested in Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Ace Combat 8, Silent Hill: Townfall, Control Resonant and the 500 other games coming out in September and October, you may be busy when it releases.

Unfortunately for Microsoft and Mojang, this release date wasn't exactly a surprise, as the Nintendo eShop accidentally spilled the beans earlier this week. The Switch 2 version of the game appeared on the store, with the September 29 release date, and a $29.99 pricepoint being included in the leak.

Spyro: A Realm Beyond is the series' first all-new game in 18 years, and it's launching next year

It looks like we may have had our first glimpse at an upcoming Minecraft mob thanks to none other than greeting card and ornaments company Hallmark, and I'm already in love with it based on its name alone.

Folks, say hello to Blub. Now, I don't know what Blub is, what it really looks like, or exactly how it's going to be added to the Minecraft universe, but what we do know is that Hallmark is going to be selling a holiday ornament of it for you to add to a Christmas tree near you later in the year. Nothing says Christmas like Blub, after all.

As highlighted on the r/GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit, a listing for the "Minecraft Blub Ornament" is visible right now on the Hallmark website. Hallmark says the product will be available on October 10, and that "fans of the popular video game will love to add this Christmas tree ornament to their collection as they explore and create in the newest version of the pixelated-style game."

Interestingly, there is a product image attached, but it's only a silhouette – it's odd that the information has been semi-redacted, but not enough to hide Blub from the world entirely. Personally, I can picture some sort of quadruped design with what looks like a pair of bunny ears and a suspiciously rounded nub on top (which is so uncharacteristically curved for a Minecraft design I wonder if it might actually be the hanger for the decoration), but I might be way off the mark there.

Blub... from r/MinecraftLeaks

There's been some speculation amongst fans wondering if Blub could actually tie into the upcoming Minecraft Dungeons 2 rather than Minecraft itself, with the follow-up dungeon-crawler set to launch sometime this fall. That'd certainly line up with the October release date for the Blub ornament, after all. However, others believe that Hallmark referring to the "newest version of the pixelated-style game" debunks this idea, and that Blub will arrive in some upcoming update to the massive sandbox, instead.

Honestly, I could see it going either way – hell, the description doesn't outright say that Blub is even from this so-called "newest version" in the first place. With that said, it's worth noting that Minecraft Dungeons does have a number of exclusive mobs not present in Mojang's main sandbox game, like the mole and hedgehog. Could Blub be destined for this life, too?

For now, we'll just have to wait and see what comes of this, if anything – who knows, it could even be a case of a placeholder listing for something else gone wrong, but I sincerely hope that's not the case. Fans have already been producing concepts of what Blub might look like, with my personal favorite being this blue bunny, but I can't help but think back to Pokemon Black and White's starter silhouette reveal and wonder if folks are filling in the blanks in a similar, completely wrong (albeit creative) way.

Smaller Minecraft updates like Tiny Takeover and Chaos Cubed "feel more sustainable" for Mojang, says lead: "There's always another one right around the corner".

Minecraft villages are among the most important structures in the game, and are surely one of first things most players go searching for when you load into a new world. There's good reason for that - they're full of loot and useful villager trades. And they always offer a warm and safe bed for the night. If you want to know how to find a village easily or where the best loot is hidden, I've got it all for you here, including the greatest villager trades in Minecraft, the top way of getting emeralds, and how to get rare swamp villagers.

How to find a Minecraft village

Minecraft villages are fairly common, but if you're unlucky, you may have to travel a few hundred blocks before you find one. Luckily, they're fairly easy to spot from a distance, especially at low light.

To find a village when exploring the overworld, the best thing to do is keep an eye out for lights when the sun starts to go down. Of course, this is also when dangerous mobs come out, so if you'd rather not be out and about at night in Minecraft, you can look out for the shapes of houses on the horizon during the day. To make things easier, consider temporarily increasing your render distance in the settings menu.

If you're still having trouble, there is another way to find villages easily, and that's by using online village finders. The most well-known and reliable is the Chunkbase seed map, but you'll need to know your seed number to look it up. Finally, you could use one of our favorite Minecraft village seeds.

Different types of Minecraft village

There are five different types of Minecraft village:

• Plains village
• Desert village
• Savanna village
• Taiga village
• Snowy taiga village

Each of these village types also has a 2% chance of spawning as an abandoned village. These villages have no living villagers present, and some building blocks are missing, while others may be replaces by cobwebs. Zombie villagers can also spawn in abandoned villages, and you could fully restore one to normal.

There are no other types of village, so you won't see any other designs, but due to the natural generation of Minecraft worlds, you can find these villages in other biomes if they spawn near the border.

Because of this, there is also a rare chance of finding naturally spawning Jungle or Swamp villagers. I'll explain this more below, as these two villager types can have their own unique trades.

How to make a Minecraft village

If you so wish, you could even build your own Minecraft village, or expand on an existing one, but you still need to find a natural one first. With that said, all you need to build your own Minecraft village is two villagers. From there, you can do pretty much what you wish. You see, the way Minecraft villages work is that two villagers will breed provided there are enough beds and food for them, so start building a village around them, and the population will keep growing as long as the village itself does.

Another key component to any village, of course, is a Minecraft Iron Golem, which also has a chance to spawn naturally if there is a villager and a bed.

Minecraft villager houses

Within every village, alongside the standard buildings, there is a chance for the following villager homes to spawn, though there is no guarantee.

• Armorer house
• Butcher shop
• Cartographer house
• Fisher's house
• Fletcher house
• Library
• Mason's house
• Shepherd house
• Tannery
• Temple
• Toolsmith
• Weaponsmith/Blacksmith

This isn't an exhaustive list, as there are also normal homes, farms, animal pens, and meeting areas, but these are the main villager homes that are particularly useful for items or loot. The most important ones to look out for are the blacksmith, the temple, and the library, but more on that below.

Minecraft village loot

The reason you want to find a Minecraft village as soon as possible is for the excellent survival loot that they offer. Not only can you pick up food, beds, and crafting tables at most villages, but some special loot can be found in certain villager houses.

The Blacksmith house is the most important to keep an eye out for as it is home to the most valuable village loot. In older versions, they could even include Minecraft diamonds, but they're now more likely to include weapons, armor, iron ingots, and more.

Next up, I'd recommend keeping your eyes peeled for a library, for two reasons. One is that a librarian is a very useful trader to have around. However, you can make a lectern to force a villager to take the librarian profession. The even better reason for finding a library in a village is the building itself, home to bookshelves and, therefore, books. Break every bookshelf you find to be able to craft an enchanting area at your base. You'll also need books to make a lectern, but you could always steal that from the village, too.

Finally, the cleric's temple is another great location to look out for, as it will be home to a free brewing stand. The reason this is particularly helpful is that crafting one requires killing a Blaze in the Nether. Of course, you can't use a brewing stand without entering the Nether Fortress and gathering some Nether Wart, but that's easier to obtain than a Blaze Rod.

Minecraft villager trades

Aside from just stealing the items from their homes, villagers have another great use: trading. While there are loads of trades, including weapons and food, I am just going to focus on the more important villagers to look for (or hire) first. They are:

• Fletcher - a great villager to use first to obtain emeralds
• Librarian - used for getting enchanted books
• Cartographer - sells mansion and ocean maps

The main thing to be aware of here is how villagers take on professions. You can give any villager (except Nitwits) a profession by placing a profession block near them. I'll list every profession block below. Once you trade with a villager, their trades stick. However, by breaking and replacing their profession block, you can choose their initial trade. Use this to be able to get the exact trades you want.

Also keep in mind that a villager won't change profession if their existing block is still placed. For example, you can't turn a farmer into a librarian without first breaking their composter. When you do trade with a villager, they will slowly level up their mastery in their field, offering increasingly valuable trades.

Here is every Minecraft village trader and their profession block:

• Armorer - Blast Furnace
• Butcher - Smoker
• Cartography Table - Cartographer
• Cleric - Brewing Stand
• Farmer - Composter
• Fisherman - Barrel
• Fletcher - Fletching Table
• Leatherworker - Cauldron
• Librarian - Lectern
• Mason - Stonecutter
• Shepherd - Loom
• Toolsmith - Smithing Table
• Weaponsmith - Grindstone

Minecraft fletcher trading

While the librarian is far and away the most important villager to trade with, you can't do so without emeralds, so we're focussing on that first, and the fletcher is the most obvious choice. You could also use the farmer if you have a wheat farm, a librarian (paper farm), or a fisherman (spider farm), but the fletcher is the easiest to do without building a farm first.

First off, you need to craft and place a fletching table using two flint and four wooden planks of any variety. Keep breaking and placing the fletching table until your fletcher offers the first trade of 32 sticks for an Emerald. The reason this is such a great way to obtain the currency is that you can spam place saplings, wait for the trees to grow, and then turn each single log into eight sticks. Don't forget that the trader will run out of stock, so you'll have to return each day for more - or have multiple fletchers at your disposal.

Minecraft Librarian trading

Now, onto the good stuff. The reason you want to get all those emeralds from a fletcher is to be able to buy enchanted books from a librarian. This is the best way to get rare enchantments, as enchanting tables are unpredictable. Remember what I told you above about replacing a profession block, and use that mechanic to find the perfect librarian trade. Your best bet it to block them into a room before you do so.

The main books we're looking for here are Mending, Unbreaking, and Fortune. In recent versions of Minecraft, you can get any of these books from any villager. However, if experimental trading (which may be a vanilla feature in the future) is turned on, only certain villagers give these enchantments. They are:

• Fortune - Taiga librarian
• Unbreaking - Jungle librarian
• Mending - Swamp librarian
• Efficiency - Desert librarian
• Protection - Plains librarian
• Sharpness - Savanna librarian
• Silk Touch - Snowy librarian

As I've mentioned above, Jungle and Swamp villages don't exist. Instead, you can only obtain these valuable trades by breeding villagers in these biomes. Since baby villagers take on the property of the biome they spawn in and not those of their parents, you can bring any villagers to a swamp or jungle biome, force them to breed, and then turn these villagers into librarians. I know it doesn't sound very humane.

Minecraft cartographer trading

The cartographer is another useful trader to consider, given their Woodland and Trial Explorer map trades. They also offer an Ocean Explorer map trade, but ocean temples are quite easy to find, while woodland mansions and Trial Chambers are much rarer.

As I've just given away, the Woodland Explorer map shows the location of the nearest Woodland Mansion (home to cute Minecraft Allays), while the Trial Explorer map shows the closest Trail Chamber. Open the map and hold it in your hand to see if you're heading in the right direction. If you want to explore everything your Minecraft world has to offer, these are two essential structures locate - though you can also do so with Minecraft console commands.

This isn't an exhaustive Minecraft village guide, as there is just so much to know. However, these are the most important things you need to know about villages and why you need them.

Since there's so much going on here, a village might even be a great place to consider building your next Minecraft house, especially since you can find a lot of the best Minecraft mobs around here, too.

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Minecraft's adorable Tiny Takeover update and its mob overhaul includes all sorts of adorable new animal sounds, and Mojang really crossed its meows and dotted its oinks to make sure everything sounded as authentic as possible.

Talking to PCGN, Minecraft senior product manager Anna Lundgren revealed that Mojang hired "real animal voice actors" to add some authentic new variety to its baby and adult mob sounds. Tiny Takeover's baby mob overhaul is the highlight, with Lundgren explaining that new sounds were recorded "for kittens, wolf puppies, foals, piglets, and baby chickens," but adult animals also got new sound variants.

Audio designer Sandra Karlsson explained during last weekend's Minecraft Live 2026 (via PCGN) what it was like being in the studio with actual, full-sized cows and someone whose job it is to communicate with them

"Sometimes there are a lot of animals, and sometimes the animals are really big," Karlsson said, adding that a "cow whisperer" was hired to elicit genuine cow noises from the herd. "He started to make some kind of 'Maaah' sound, and the cows started to speak to him immediately."

It's hard to be upset about new animal noises, especially those voiced by real animals, but generally the Minecraft community has been divided about update 26.1. An ongoing discussion on Reddit has players on one side arguing that the new update is "a low effort marketplace add-on" adding "zero value to the survival experience or the game's progression," while people on the other side say "Mojang can never win.

"They go for big updates that take ages, people complain; they go for smaller updates that come out more frequently, but people complain."

Minecraft devs say anything is possible in the sandbox game's future as they start to dip into old ideas for new updates: "You always have more ideas than you can realize"

Minecraft will soon follow up its precious, new Tiny Takeover update with the underground overhaul Chaos Cubed, but developer Mojang wants players to know its tight timeline doesn't mean its sandbox game's future is set. Actually, anything is possible for Minecraft.

Talking to Gamespot, product manager Anna Lundgren says, "Nothing is ever off the table when it comes to what's possible in the future." In fact, Mojang has been actively revisiting abandoned ideas to see if they could work in modern Minecraft.

"You always have more ideas than you can realize at one point in time," says Lundgren, "But I also love how that doesn't necessarily mean that things won't happen." She gives an example with the handmade copper golem first introduced as a possible mob candidate in the 2021 Minecraft Live 2021 mob vote poll – which it lost.

But "after a lot of years of thinking out in the public," Lundgren says, "the Copper Golem from the mob vote [in 2021] finally made its way in" as part of The Copper Age game drop this past September. Plus, "we had the firefly bushes coming in as a second interpretation of the fireflies we had been thinking about for 2022," which were announced in 2021, but were soon removed.

Developers had found out fireflies were poisonous to real frogs, but not their Minecraft frogs, which I suppose broke their immersion more than the existence of lava blocks and zombies. In any case, Mojang introduced its more eco-friendly firefly bushes in 2025.

"It's really nice when you have those ideas that, for some reason – time or other challenges – [don't] make sense at the time," Lundgren says. But then they come back around.

Familiarize yourself with all Minecraft mobs before they do.

Mojang Studios is taking another stab at making its own Diablo rival set in the beloved, blocky world of Minecraft.

The company announced Minecraft Dungeons 2 last night at Minecraft Live 2026 with a pretty brief but cool trailer down below. The loot-filled action-RPG is coming sometime later this year on PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Game Pass, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2 - despite appearing on the OG Switch, it's worth noting that a PS4 or Xbox One version doesn't seem to be on the cards.

Details about the sequel are scarce, but the original game was a surprisingly great and approachable take on Diablo's formula. It was essentially a top-down co-op ARPG that would have you clicking on enemies and buildcrafting until your pupils shriveled up, and what it lacked in Diablo-flavored depth it made up for by being a perfect introduction to the subgenre for younger gamers.

"A hero's work is never done! Disorder is brewing, and the world stands before a threat unlike any other," Minecraft Dungeons 2's Steam page says. "A new danger is growing in power, ready to descend upon the land and unleash mayhem." The storefront listing also promises more "high‑stakes encounters, thrilling challenges, and never‑before‑seen locations, as you set out to save a world in crisis."

A press release tells us that, yes, "there will also be loot," in case you needed a reminder on what these types of games are all about. "Loads of it. Grab it all, or share with up to three friends as you co-operate to save a world in crisis."

The first Minecraft Dungeons was a massive success, courting over 25 million players by April 2024. That makes it the most successful Minecraft spin-off games yet.

"Trying to build a skyscraper with hand tools": Minecraft devs swore off yearly updates after giant Caves and Cliffs patch pushed them to the brink

Minecraft mobs are truly at the heart of the sandbox game. After all, what fun would building and mining be if there were no cute farm animals to raise or deadly Creepers ready to scare you at any moment. Even peaceful mode keeps hostile mobs around, making them passive mobs instead of removing them entirely.

While said Creeper may be the face of Minecraft, and one of the game's very first mobs, there are now over 180 mobs in Minecraft, from cute critters to terrifying enemies and even powerful bosses. If you can't keep up with them all, well, I can't blame you, so I've compiled a list of every Minecraft mob you can find.

New Minecraft mobs

The next Minecraft update, 26.2, also known as Chaos Cubed, introduces at least one new mob - the Sulphur Cube. So far, this is the only addition that has been announced, but there could be others. Either way, we love this adorable new bouncy block.

The Sulphur Cube is similar in many ways to Slime and Magma Cubes, and bounces merrily around new Sulphur Caves. However, this entirely unique mob actually consumes blocks that are fed to it, changing its behaviour.

All passive Minecraft mobs

Passive Minecraft mobs are those which don't attack the player, even when provoked. A cow, for example, will never do damage to any other entity, player or otherwise. A Minecraft axolotl, meanwhile, never hurts the player, but does attack fish. These are all the passive Minecraft mobs available in the vanilla game right now:

• Sheep
• Cow
• Mooshroom
• Pig
• Chicken
• Fox
• Wolf
• Cat
• Ocelot
• Rabbit
• Horse
• Donkey
• Mule
• Cod
• Salmon
• Parrot
• Allay
• Glow Squid
• Squid
• Dolphin
• Panda
• Tropical fish
• Turtle
• Villager
• Axolotl
• Frog
• Nautilus
• Armadillo
• Bat
• Copper Golem
• Skeleton horse
• Snow golem
• Happy Ghast
• Strider
• Wandering trader
• Sniffer
• Camel
• Zombie horse
• Camel Husk
• Baby Piglin

Many of these passive Mineccraft mobs can be tamed, bred, and, for want of a better word, farmed. For more information, we've got guides on taming Minecraft foxes, frogs, and allays.

All neutral Minecraft mobs

Neutral mobs are perhaps those I can relate to most - they attack, but only when provoked. Wolves and llamas, for example, attack when you attack first, while piglins turn on you when you try and steal their stuff. Oh, and when you're not wearing at least one piece of gold armor. That part I don't relate with so much. Here's every neutral mob in Minecraft, and their criteria for attacking:

• Spider - attacks in low light levels
• Enderman - becomes hostile when looked in the eye or attacked
• Bee - attacks when its hive is broken
• Goat - can ram the player at random
• Pufferfish - defends itself when an entity gets too close
• Polar bear - defends its cubs when an entity gets too close
• Llama - becomes hostile when attacked
• Trader llama - becomes hostile when attacked
• Iron Golem - becomes hostile when attacked, or when a nearby villager is attacked
• Piglin - attacks players not wearing at least one piece of gold armor, when a player opens a nearby chest, or when a player mines Nether gold ore
• Zombified Piglin - retaliates when they or a nearby Zombie Piglin is attacked

All hostile Minecraft mobs

Hostile Minecraft mobs are those that are immediately hostile to the player without any provocation, and they will attack upon sight. With the classic Creepers, skeletons, and zombies falling into this category, you're already familiar with these enemies, but there are a surprisingly large number of hostile mobs to be found now. They are:

• Creeper
• Spider
• Skeleton
• Zombie
• Zombie Villager
• Pillager
• Drowned
• Husk
• Parched
• Bogged
• Breeze
• Stray
• Guardian
• Elder Guardian
• Phantom
• Minecraft slime
• Witch
• The Creaking
• Bogged
• Minecraft slime
• Minecraft Warden
• Cave spider
• Wither Skeleton
• Blaze
• Ghast
• Magma Cube
• Hoglin
• Zoglin
• Piglin Brute
• Ender Dragon
• Endermite
• Shulker
• Evoker
• Vindicator
• Ravager
• Ravager Jockey
• Vex
• Chicken Jockey
• Spider Jockey
• Skeleton Horseman
• Silverfish
• Wither

Special Minecraft mobs

Interestingly, there are some very special mob variants that you can come across in survival or creative mode using nametags.

First off, there's a very pretty rainbow sheep named after Mojang chief creative officer Jens Bergensten, or rather his nickname, Jeb. Pop a jeb_ name tag on any sheep, and watch it turn into a magical color-changing sheep whose wool cycles through all 16 Minecraft dye colors. If you shear the sheep, though, it does only drop its original color, so be sure to dye it your required color first.

It's not just sheep that get this treatment, as you can also spawn a special bunny skin using the nametag Toast. Toast was a Minecraft fan's real black-and-white bunny who sadly went missing, and a Reddit plea to incorporate him into the game got picked up by then Mojang employee Ryan Holtz. While the Toast-inspired rabbit colorway isn't available in the random spawn table, you can name a bunny Toast to make it look like the real thing.

If that's still not enough for you, then there's always the iconic Dinnerbone nametag, which turns any mob on its head. Literally.

Finally, horror fans out there will appreciate the The Shining reference that you can implement by naming a Vindicator Johnny, also using a name tag. Paying homage to the Stephen King character, this axe-wielding enemy will become instantly hostile towards all nearby entities. Just be warned that getting close enough to a vindicator to name them is no easy feat.

Staying on the killer theme, there's one more special mob, the killer bunny, but sadly this one isn't available in survival mode without cheats. If you do want to spawn the hostile rabbit, though, you can toggle Minecraft cheats on, then enter /summon rabbit ~ ~ ~ {RabbitType:99} into the text channel.

If this massive list of Minecraft mobs isn't enough for you, there are tons of cool Minecraft mods that add even more, from real-life creatures to mythical beasts.

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As ever, the next Minecraft update is set to bring a bunch of exciting new features to everyone's favorite sandbox game. After all, Minecraft has come a long way over the years, with huge annual updates bringing in new biomes, mobs, building blocks, and more.

While Minecraft updates, now known as drops, are a little smaller and more frequent than they used to be, this just means that we get those same massive content changes spread out over a long period, so there are more updates to get excited about. There are now four a year, and the next Minecraft update, 26.3, follows the bonkers Chaos Cubed update up with a new biome and structure, so let's check it out.

When is the Minecraft 26.3 update release date?

The next Minecraft update release date is likely to fall around Tuesday, September 15, 2026, fitting in with the usual three-month schedule.

With their now being four Minecraft drops a year, this means they fall roughly every three months. Given that the Chaos Cubed update arrived on June 16, 2026, we can estimate that the Dappled Forest and Abandoned Camp will be added to the game around mid September.

Minecraft 26.3 features

The next Minecraft drop, 26.3, doesn't have a name yet, but we do know some of the upcoming features, including a new biome, a new structure, and a long-awaited new block type. Here's what we know so far.

• The Dappled Forest
  • Poplar trees, with orange, yellow, and red leaves
  • Poplar wood
  • Shelf Mushroom
  • Red Shrub
  • Abandoned Camp
• Abandoned Camp
  • Wool stairs
  • Wool Slabs
• Cushions
• Straw Bed

The Dappled Forest

This beautiful new Minecraft biome features gorgeous autumnal coloring previously only obtained through Minecraft mods. This is thanks to the new Poplar tree, which also brings a new wood variation, too - adding a soft beige-grey wood palette to the ever-increasing catalogue of wood blocks.

Abandoned Camp and wool steps

The Abandoned Camp, meanwhile, adds a brand-new structure, which is super exciting for survival players, offering a new place to discover and a new place to find important loot. Narratively, this is also super cool, suggesting that there have been other people exploring this world before you.

Perhaps the most exciting part about the Abandoned Camp, though, is that the tent is built from a block builders have been clamoring for for years: wool stairs. Not only can you now find them in Abandoned Camps, but you will also be able to craft them in any colorway! I cant wait to get building with these.

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Mojang admits the Caves and Cliffs update's new world generation tech was so much of a monumental task, the studio swore off yearly updates.

Speaking at a GDC 2026 Minecraft panel (attended by and reported on by PC Gamer), general manager Ryan Cooper describes Mojang's approach to player feedback when deciding on new updates. And with the Caves and Cliffs update, Cooper explains, "We were getting so much feedback from our community that we just decided to take on additional work."

Caves and Cliffs ended up releasing throughout 2021, but it was so big, it had to be released in two different content drops – with the first half releasing in June 2021, and the second releasing on the last day of November that same year.

However, in the process of making massive changes to the way worlds are generated, Mojang discovered it needed to update its own technology, too, which resulted in the developers working on a massive Minecraft update alongside upgrading its development tech. Cooper says the team described it as "akin to trying to build a skyscraper with hand tools." And after going through that with Caves and Cliffs, Mojang decided it didn't want to make the same mistake going forward.

"What happened as a result of Caves & Cliffs was we decided that we wanted to move to a more rapid cadence of updates," Cooper says. And a few years later, in 2024, Mojang confirmed it would be ditching its yearly update formula in favor of smaller updates arriving far more frequently, which has so far resulted in four updates per year in 2024 and 2025.

15 years later, infamous Minecraft anarchy servers strengthen chat moderation at the reported request of Mojang itself.

Knowing when and how to watch Minecraft Live 2026 is key to finding out the biggest Minecraft news first. Among other things, Mojang will announce the Tiny Takeover release date and the next big drop.

If you want to be one of the first in the know, then read on to find out when Minecraft Live May 2026 takes place, and where you can watch it live.

Minecraft Live 2026 date and time

The next Minecraft Live takes place on Saturday, May 30, 2026, at 8:30 A.M. PDT / 11:30 A.A. EDT / 4:30 P.M. BST / 5:30 P.M. CEST.

There used to be one big Minecraft Live event every year, which had recently become two, smaller annual events. However, this surprise announcement suggests there could now be four of these exciting livestreams every year, fitting in with the release of four separate content updates.

Of course, for the next big drop, we're all still hoping for that big End update announcement, which I'm sure will happen one day. I can dream, anyway. For now, we'll find out more about the upcoming Sulphur Caves, the next Minecraft update release date, and perhaps some hints about what's to come after.

How to watch Minecraft Live May 2026

You can tune in to Minecraft Live on the following channels:

• Twitch
• Youtube
• Minecraft.net

By tuning in on any of the channels listed above on May 30, you'll be among the first to find out when the Chaos Cubed update is set to arrive, as well as whatever's coming to the following Minecraft drop, so don't be late!

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Former Xbox and Sega boss Peter Moore says that he believes Microsoft hasn't taken advantage of owning Minecraft as it should.

Speaking to GamesBeat, Moore says, "When they acquired Mojang and Minecraft, it was purposely built, almost, for – how do we use AI to continuously evolve this?" He says this is mostly down to Minecraft's potential for user-generated content in the vein of something like Fortnite.

He explains, "UGC has always been an important part of keeping people engaged. Roblox is obviously a great example. You put creativity in the hands of the gamer, rather than telling the gamer what they’re going to do."

Moore admits, "Microsoft has maybe not taken full advantage of Minecraft." As for why that is, the former Xbox boss reckons that "maybe a bit of that is on the heels of Activision Blizzard and Bethesda. All of a sudden there were shinier objects that came along, with much bigger price tags attached."

He continues, "These are the moments, when Microsoft jumps in like that – where does Xbox fit all of a sudden? Where does the old business model fit?" And when it comes to the various high-profile acquisitions made by the company over the years, Moore adds, "You’re no longer a first party. I don’t think, once you start making the acquisitions that they did, because you can’t spend that kind of money and keep everything as an exclusive on your console. The math doesn’t math."

Minecraft does have an in-game store that allows fans to eventually join a partner program and release content into the Minecraft Marketplace, but it's not quite a platform in the same way Roblox or Fortnite are. But then again, Minecraft is literally the best-selling game of all-time, so I'm not entirely sure Microsoft are regretting owning the game too much right now.

Minecraft modders behind the sandbox game's most popular unofficial dimension unveil its sequel, flying mounts and all

The legacy of Minecraft has proven infinite as Mojang continues to breathe fresh life into the beloved 2009 sandbox game time and time again with new updates – but it's not just the devs keeping the iconic gem alive.

It's also its dedicated community, boasting countless talented modders, resource pack makers, shader creators, and you name it. The Aether Team is certainly no exception, standing strong behind one of the best Minecraft mods to date – The Aether.

If you're not familiar with The Aether, it adds an entirely new dimension to the game (you guessed it, The Aether) that acts as a sort of opposing force to the canonical Nether. The original Aether mod first launched in 2011, just two years after Minecraft released into the wild, so it's been quite a long while. Now, however, we finally have something new to look forward to from The Aether Team – an Aether 2.0.

Yes, really. The modders blew my mind while I was casually scrolling through YouTube at midnight or so last night with a surprise trailer for The Aether 2's alpha release, and it looks incredible.

Already live to download on CurseForge, The Aether 2 boasts "beautiful landscapes, high winds, vast oceans of cloud, and deep, mysterious caves," as its creators describe.

That's not all, though – much like the Nether, this dimension has its own native materials to gather, like Gravitite. This means more equipment (some with "supernatural abilities," excitingly), and all sorts of fresh builds to ponder crafting up.

There are new fantasy animals – and, yes, flying mounts – and unique dungeons to boot. It's huge, and unsurprisingly, Minecraft stans can't contain their excitement. Under the trailer lies a plethora of comments that prove as much, with one person declaring, "I've waited 15 years for this moment."

Another chimes in, "Got goosebumps looking at the title on my home page, I needed this right about now." Me too, random user. Me too.

Elsewhere in the replies, someone writes, "Might cry dude, this is amazing, thank you guys," later following up with an amusing edit: "I did cry." It's safe to say The Aether 2 won't see any shortage of downloads, methinks.

15 years later, infamous Minecraft anarchy servers strengthen chat moderation at the reported request of Mojang itself.

Back in October, an Arizona-based grandma began a series of YouTube videos in which she plays Minecraft to help pay for her grandson's cancer treatment. Today, 17-year-old grandson Jack Self is "cancer free" and "feeling great."

81-year-old Sue Jacquot never envisioned herself a gamer, but in an effort to connect with her grandchildren, Jack and Austin, she began learning the ropes this past summer. And just a few months later, she felt confident enough to share her adventures with the world and start a YouTube channel called GrammaCrackers, all with the intention of easing the financial burden of Jack's aggressive cancer treatment.

Her first video, a genuinely life-affirming 15-minute introduction titled 'The BEST START EVER', quickly went viral and now has more than half a million views. It, along with every subsequent video, has a link to Jack's GoFundMe, which at the time of writing has more than $42,000 in donations. Meanwhile, the GrammaCrackers YouTube channel currently has almost 200,000 subscribers, the proceeds of which all go to Jack's treatment.

ABC 15 recently had the chance to visit Jacquot's family in Queen Creek, Arizona, and received wonderful news. "I am cancer free," said Jack. "I'm feeling great."

Jack was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer called sarcoma in 2024 and has since undergone more than 200 chemotherapy treatments. For Jacquot, getting into Minecraft and YouTube was a no-brainer, even as someone who didn't much play games previously.

"I was never really curious about it, but when you have grandkids who want to interact with you, you do it," she said, adding that she's received an outpouring of support, from prayers to uplifting messages, since she started her YouTube channel.

Jack's brother Austin said "we were all mind blown that she was able to figure it out and then it just kind of went from there," and as for Jack, "it was just very sweet to watch everybody being so kind to me and my grandma."

Minecraft has redesigned its baby mobs to be even cuter, and I need you to stop and look at them because they're just too precious

Hi, Minecraft devs? Big fan! I just want to ask, how dare you? It's January, motivation is low, and now at any given time I could be hanging out with a plethora of cute animals in your blocky wonderland rather than dealing with reality. It's a disgrace. A fluffy, adorable disgrace.

My existential crises aside, Minecraft’s latest update is focused on making various critters even more precious. Eight farm animals now have proper infant counterparts available in testing. "But they already did?" I hear you asking. Correct, but those models were just the adult ones shrank down. Now we have actual newborn rabbits, wolf pups, kittens, and beyond.

"Typically mobs in Minecraft have two-pixel eyes, but now baby mobs have just one which creates a new vibe for them, which is just adorable," game director Agnes Larsson says in an official rundown. You're right, Larsson; you're so, so right.

In addition to the aforementioned interactive squishmallows, Mojang is giving us calves, piglets, chickens, ocelots, and lambs. Each has gotten a particular re-design to maximize cuteness and create a sense of growth between baby and adult forms. This include distinct sounds. The lamb apparently inspired some internal discussion.

"Initially I had a fluffy one with a big wool coat, but it didn't make sense gameplay wise," Sarah Boeving, game artist on Minecraft, says. "Mainly because it looked like it could be sheared like the adults (it can't) but also that they didn't really reflect real-life lambs very well. It was a tough choice but I'm really happy with the final baby sheep."

I'm really happy with them too. And the fact the chicks are just yellow cubes. You can give them individual names, as well. It's the rabbits, though, that have already stolen my heart. "I really hope players get to experience the new rabbit (both adult and baby!) hopping around," Boeving explains.

"I'm especially fond of the 'toast' variant and the history behind it," she continues. "It was added in a while back to memorialize a player's pet which had gone missing. There's something really sweet about being able to immortalize the memory of dear ones in games."

You can check these out now using the snapshot functionality and Bedrock beta/preview on Minecraft. You're welcome.

Microsoft's seemingly first IP crossover with Activision Blizzard is giving a Minecraft spinoff to the Candy Crush dev.

From the moment you start up Creative Mode in Minecraft, a layer of Zen rests on your process. You stare out into the blank canvas of a forest world and begin your steady diet of exploring and constructing, with little pressure from objectives or time limits. Even the enemy-filled Survival Mode is a relatively relaxed option – the point of Minecraft isn't to fight, but to build. It is all about contentedly shaping the world, combining comfort food and creative ambition, and Minecraft's simple pleasures have turned it into the best-selling video game of all time.

First launched in 2009 for the PC and now available on virtually every modern console imaginable, Minecraft, like many other famous games, harnesses a real-world activity in a digital space. Like Pokémon was originally conceived as a translation of its creator's passion for bug-catching, like The Legend of Zelda was an effort to capture a love of exploring, Minecraft is the world's most unlimited collection of building blocks. Anyone that has ever looked up from Lego to discover that they've lost half a day to their intricate work can likely find at least a spiritual connection to Minecraft.

Building blocks

Since that 2009 debut, Minecraft has become so much more. It's a mega-franchise now – There are video game spinoffs, a manga adaptation, copious books for children and teens, toys, and, as of 2025, a blockbuster film that's likely going to end up as one of the top 5 highest grossers of the year.

It's even got a wider lore that mixes official branding with fan-made dedication – the creepypasta figure "Herobrine" is now as famous as some of the official characters. In short, it's a powerhouse that proves, if nothing else, the grip and influence that gaming has on wider pop culture. However, the most profound joy that comes from it isn't pulled from "CHICKEN JOCKEY" memes. It comes from you, by yourself or in a little group, making things out of materials you gather from its earth.

Minecraft, despite its trademark blocky look, has led to some fantastic structures. Whole online series devoted themselves for years to developing different ways to play it. Entire separate video game worlds have been concocted in it, from the Mushroom Kingdom to iconic buildings from Resident Evil. Players, sometimes with the support of plentiful mods, have built Jurassic Park and the Death Star, Arkham Asylum and Pandora. There are times, when you stand in its sky atop a spire of your own making that it feels limitless, like a procedurally-generated tribute to your dreams.

But in just highlighting the grand architecture, you miss out on one of Minecraft's most exciting features – how empowering it can feel to young players and kids who might be so new to video games that Minecraft is the first one that they spend any real time with.

There's a reason why Reddit is full of parents inquiring if Minecraft is an appropriate interest for the kids and even more parents responding in the affirmative. You watch one kid begin their first dig underground and discover their first cavern, one that might be filled with lava or waterfalls or precious jewels, and you watch their eyes light up with the spark of possibility.

How ready the kid is to take their projects to the internet and interact with the potentially chaotic array of folks they may find there is up to the parent. And the youngest ones might be flummoxed by Minecraft's organizational system, which demands you pay attention to what's in all your little boxes. That aspect often requires constant mixing and matching in order to maximize your space and the efficacy of the items you have. It's in those cases that "easy-going dirt pile simulator" becomes "Dad, can you come help me with this? I went into a cave and now I can't see anything."

A world of your own

Once you get the hang of it, though, and learn that so much is based on the gentle repetitiveness of laying down lines of blocks as you chip away at the gargantuan plans you have, Minecraft reaches its ultimate emotional potency.

Its worth as an actual therapeutic tool is up for debate, but many have claimed that playing it allows for a certain form of meditative state. While the soundtrack, a mix of melodies that rarely becomes more than subdued ambience, drones on, you devote yourself to tasks that are downright transportive. Minecraft can feel less like a game and more like a frame of mind that you enter.

Those that want more will likely need to look elsewhere. Every attempt to offer Minecraft a story has received a mixed reception at best, from spinoffs like Minecraft: Story Mode to the 2025 film. The plots of video game adaptations are notoriously threadbare and self-referential, with their success being reliant on at least matching the joy of the source material. Minecraft, though, took it to another level, and not even the buoyancy of the actors (no one commits to the bit quite like Jack Black), could hide the fact that there was no narrative strength to be, well, mined. The Minecraft Movie was a movie about how fun the general idea of Minecraft is.

Minecraft was destined to be simple. It's supposed to rely on a quite literal form of tunnel vision as you smash your pickaxe into the side of a cliff a hundred million times until you achieve your pixelated intentions. And that's why, to this day, it remains immensely popular and effortlessly playable. It's a testament to creativity, and if you match what's in your head with what's underground, you can build it.

We're celebrating the best Xbox Series X games to commemorate the console's five-year anniversary, and there's plenty more where Minecraft comes from!

Way back before Microsoft was shuttering game studios, canceling long-awaited projects, and laying off developers by the thousands, the optimistic among us had some hope that Xbox's acquisition spree would mean that we'd get some wild crossovers between beloved studios and the company's increasingly vast IP library. Maybe we'd get Double Fine's Banjo-Kazooie? id Software's StarCraft: Ghost revival? Obsidian finally getting the chance to make Fallout: New Vegas 2?

None of that ended up happening, of course, but what we are getting is Minecraft Blast, a mobile game built in collaboration between Mojang and Candy Crush developer King, which came under the Microsoft umbrella as part of the Activision Blizzard acquisition. As is often the case for mobile titles, this one quietly launched in a single test market – Malaysia – and the only info we have comes from a small official FAQ.

Minecraft Blast is a free-to-play game that will "combine modern match puzzle gameplay with ever-evolving scenarios set in a Minecraft-themed world. The game will offer quick, easy to jump-in-and-play sessions plus the ability to unlock and build imaginative Minecraft-style spaces."

You'd think it would be fairly easy to make sense of the rules of a mobile puzzle game from a handful of screenshots, but I can't really make heads or tails of what's going on in the preview images. There's a tile grid with a bunch of zombies, items, and blocks of various types, and a move counter suggesting you'll have a limited number of turns to complete your ultimate goal. More concerning is the main menu screen with what appears to be a premium currency and an energy counter, but hey, that's par for the free-to-play mobile course.

Minecraft Blast is still in playtesting, and invites are "time-limited, up to a week or two, to gather early feedback and refine the experience before broader release." It's currently only available on iOS, but the devs "hope to include more mobile platforms with future playtests," and say that "more regions will be included down the road."

Now that Skyrim Grandma's retired, you can occupy your time watching this Minecraft Grandma who yells "die, die, die" at every zombie and skeleton in the game.

You've heard of Skyrim Grandma, now sadly retired. You might've even come across and enjoyed content from a retired JRPG super fan. But, today, let me bring your attention to Minecraft Grandma, a wholesome content creator who's documenting her new adventure in the evergreen block-based classic.

YouTuber GrammaCrackers posted her first video just two weeks ago, but she's been playing Minecraft for about four months now. Seeing an old game through fresh eyes is part of the fun of her channel, though, as she explains now familiar basics in a new light by, say, comparing tree punching to something Rocky Balboa would do.

Those delights are only doubled when GrammaCrackers makes a new discovery with more excitement than even I had when playing Minecraft for the first time as a literal child. "You just cannot understand how important this is to me," she says in one episode, speaking about finally making something to sleep on in-game. "I can't believe I have a bed."

"I think the ones I dislike most are the zombies," she says of the game's combat. "They just don't fight fair. I mean, you'll kill one and if you kill it, it leaves dead flesh. What an insult. Who gets dead flesh?... And then, they call in their buddies to beat you up."

She also likes to scold foes - "They are attacking an unarmed grandma" - and, even more delightfully, she likes to get real scary with them, too, continuously yelling "die, die, die" whenever she's punching up a zombie or skeleton.

Again, it's just delightful viewing.

Minecraft Mounts of Mayhem will finally let you give your horse the armor it deserves: a top-tier Netherite suit

Minecraft's Mounts of Mayhem game drop is scheduled to launch by the end of the year, and while that deadline is coming in fast, the devs at Mojang have found time to bring in at least one more additional feature: Netherite horse armor. Yes, horses are finally getting to use the top armor tier, and if you want to try it for yourself, you don't even have to wait for the patch to drop.

Netherite horse armor was revealed with the release of Minecraft snapshot 25w45a, which is available now in Java Edition, and preview version 1.21.130.26, which you can grab via Bedrock. In the announcement post, Mojang says this is "the final testing opportunity" for Mounts of Mayhem, so it sounds like the game drop itself won't be too far off.

"Your horses have always been mighty, but now they’re going to be able to withstand even more mayhem with their brand new Netherite armor!" the devs exclaim with typical enthusiasm. "As we all know, Netherite is not only great for protection, but it is also very, very cool. Just ask the lava it can withstand! As one of the most metal metals Minecraft has to offer, it is only fitting that mayhem-loving mounts can don this awesome armor!"

To craft the Netherite horse armor, you simply need to upgrade a set of diamond horse armor with a Netherite ingot and the appropriate upgrade template.

As somebody who was gaming back when Bethesda kicked open the DLC floodgates with The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, horse armor is still a loaded concept for me – but I get why you'd want to protect your furry mount friends to the best of your ability. At least you can finally get your Minecraft horses that maximum level of protection.

Minecraft surprise drops a full-blown Dragon Ball Z fighting game with 1v1, 5v5, and co-op modes, voxelized Goku and buff Bulma, and skins for the main game.

Minecraft has surprise dropped a Dragon Ball Z crossover DLC, complete with a full-blown fighting game and skins to wear outside the fighting ring.

On Minecraft's official website, developer Mojang announced that the Minecraft Dragon Ball Z DLC, developed by Cyclone, is available now on Minecraft Marketplace. It costs 1510 in-game coins, or around $8.99, and includes a 5v5 mode, co-op, and individual rounds, as well as a suite of themed skins for the main game. You can see it all in action in the trailer embedded just below:

The roster of 11 fighters includes fan-favorite villains and heroes including Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Gohan, Frieza, Trunks, Krillin, Android 18, Cell, Android 17, and Majin Buu, each with their own unique abilities. Goku's got his Kamehameha and Ki blasts, Vegeta has his Galick Gun and Ultimate Final Flash... you get the idea. You unlock characters as you go by defeating them in battle.

True to form, you'll take part in the World Martial Arts Tournament and climb the ranks by duking it out in iconic locations from the manga and anime series like the Cell Games Arena and Planet Namek, while other spots like Kami's Temple will be used to let you choose your character. Meanwhile, you can also chill out and recharge in Capsule Corporation.

Outside of the arena, the DLC also includes a skin pack that lets you dress up as various DBZ icons like the above fighters, but also as a wonderfully jacked Bulma and others. Finally, there's a limited time Scouter headband you can pick up as part of the collab. That way you can clock the power levels of both friend and foe, naturally, at "over 9000."

Mojang is finally revealing all of Minecraft: Java Edition's code after 16 years to "make it quicker and easier for modders to create and improve mods"

Mojang has revealed two new mobs coming to Minecraft in the upcoming Mounts of Mayhem update, making the desert that much more hostile.

The next major update, Mounts of Mayhem, was announced during Minecraft Live last month, and while the new Nautilus mob (which doubles as a new mount for the game) and inclusion of spears have been the headlines, Mojang has also confirmed some new enemy mobs to make things that much tougher for desert explorers. In a blog post on the Minecraft website, Mojang writes, "even more challengers have entered the arena formally known as the Overworld."

First to the plate is the Camel Husk – although contrary to being introduced as a challenger, it isn't actually a hostile mob. The post reads, "The days of lazy treks in the desert are OVER. No more sunbathing beneath badlands peaks – no more relaxed sunrises, because the new undead mob – the camel husk – that spawns there may be passive, but the mobs that ride it are most certainly not!"

The Camel Husk can be ridden by Husk or Parched mobs (more on them later), but if you manage to take out its rider (or two at a time), it'll immediately become a friend, allowing you to mount it right away.

While skeletons in Minecraft have the key weakness of hating the sunlight as much as your average League of Legends ranked player (joking), the Parched is a new variant that excels in the desert climate, blasting arrows your way at any time of the day. They can also ride on the back of the Camel Husks for a bit of cooperation.

Speaking of mounts, the new update also allows them to swim. While the Nautilus is obviously the ideal mount for swimming, you'll now be able to traverse waters "at a slower pace" with all in-game. These changes are available right now for those who have enabled snapshots in Minecraft: Java Edition, with the preview for Bedrock and beta set to arrive "very soon."

Minecraft creator weighs in on the Creeper debate sparked by Mojang CCO's recent comments, says he "tried to fix" it years ago because it was "anti-fun."

Minecraft's developers have explained why the Ender Dragon is bound to its own realm underground and not allowed to roam the overworld.

For a game about building and creation, Minecraft sure has a lot of ways to absolutely ruin all of your creations, and the progress you made towards accruing the materials for said creations. The developers at Mojang seem to understand that, with the CCO of Mojang Jens Bergensten admitting that they probably would not add the Creeper to the game today, despite being the series de-facto mascot, since the ability to destroy builds would undoubtedly be controversial if implemented 14 years later.

In a video titled "THE BIOME THAT BROKE MINECRAFT" Bergensten and creative lead Cory Scheviak talk about designing difficulty in the iconic survival game. "We have this guiding principle that bad things happen, but they're technically the player's fault" Bergensten explains, saying that every issue a player should face is either caused by them or something they could prevent (like stepping on a rogue pressure plate), with the aforementioned Creeper being an exception.

Another one of the rules set out in the video is "don't add features that wrecks player's builds." Scheviak says that "it wouldn't really be a good idea to bring the Ender Dragon to the Overworld because," pausing for a ton of different reasons (such as "I don't need that kind of stress," "it destroys everything," and "it might break a wing on an ice spike").

He adds: "You're just home planting your potatoes and suddenly there's a dragon coming after you." Bergensten agrees: "That's not a great game experience."

Bergensten explains that "players have a different appetite for challenge and difficulty," so a boss fight that comes flying at you and destroys everything isn't exactly going to suit everyone. He cites the Wither boss as an example, which has destructive power akin to a dragon, but you choose when and where you'll summon it for a scrap, allowing you to minimise damage to your house.

After 14-and-a-half years and over $500k raised for charity, Minecraft YouTuber KurtJMac finally reaches the Far Lands

Cameras have started to roll on A Minecraft Movie 2 over in New Zealand, with stars Jack Back, Jason Momoa, and more back in character, ready to take on the blocktastic world again. Although we're still a little while away from seeing the movie hit screens in summer 2027, the sequel is keeping us fed with behind-the-scenes looks and a brand spanking new title: A Minecraft Movie Squared.

Can you believe it has been over one year since A Minecraft Movie was unleashed on the world? Based on the hit game by Mojang, the film followed four real-world humans who were led to a pixelated dimension by Black's eccentric miner, Steve. The group managed to defeat the Piglins and find their way back home, but it sounds like they will get pulled right back in again. Luckily for Steve and co, they have an extra pair of hands this time, as the sequel adds another in-game character, Alex.

Below, we have built the necessary terrain and have mined everything we know so far about A Minecraft Movie 2, including its release date, cast list, and our biggest plot theories. So what are you waiting for? Grab your pickaxe, as it's almost time to head back into the Overworld. Warning, A Minecraft Movie spoilers follow. After, check out our A Minecraft Movie review, and keep up with other upcoming video game movies.

A Minecraft Movie 2 release date

A Minecraft Movie Squared will release on July 23, 2027. The news was announced on October 9, 2025, by A Minecraft Movie via Twitter captioned, "Building terrain." Jared Hess is set to return to direct the sequel.

That's just over two years and three months after the first movie hit screens, which is pretty impressive considering the star power behind the franchise. Not to mention the amount of VFX work the first movie faced, which will undoubtedly be a factor going into the sequel, too.

Filming began at the end of April 2026 across multiple locations in New Zealand, which is where the first movie was also shot. Jack Black marked the start of production by sharing a commissioned painting by Kristoffer Zetterstrand, the same artist who created 40 paintings for the Minecraft video game. The movie was officially titled A Minecraft Movie Squared during Minecraft Live in May 2026.

A Minecraft Movie 2 plot predictions

Details surrounding A Minecraft Movie 2 have been pretty thin on the ground. Even Jack Black is keeping tight-lipped. However, Jason Momoa teased the script on The Tonight Show, "The script is even better. It’s so good, I’m laughing out loud. I haven’t laughed out loud in a very long time at a script."

Now, as promising as that sounds, that dosent really give us any insight as to what the sequel will be about. But don't worry, we have our theories. The list of items you can source, things you can build, and the tools you can unlock in Minecraft is pretty much infinite, so anything is possible when it comes to the sequel. That being said, the first movie may have left some clues as to where the sequel could go.

After defeating Malgosha and the Piglins, Steve is reluctant to leave the Overworld, but is ultimately persuaded by Natalie, who asks him to imagine “what you could do with that magic in the real world." Back in the real world, the fabulous five are living their best lives, with Natalie running a self-defense class, Henry finding popularity in school, Garrett's business with his and Henry's own version of Minecraft, and Dawn hosting kids’ birthday parties with the help of Denis the wolf, and Steve singing his heart out in Garrett's store. Check out our A Minecraft Movie ending explained for the full rundown.

It looks like the movie will start off in the real world and catch us up on what Steve and co. have been up to since we last saw them. In a leaked picture from set posted on Twitter, we can see a camper van with the words 'Steve's Lava Chicken' on the side. It looks like Steve has brought his tasty Overworld snack to the real world.

However, just like Jumanji, we predict that the five will either get pulled back into the Overworld, or the blocky land will spill out into the real world, and it will be up to Steve and co to save us. But, whatever happens, the group will have another in-world character to help them out, as Kirsten Dunst has been cast as Alex, the main female player character from the game. We got our first look at Dunst during Minecraft Live. As Jack Black and Jason Momoa took us behind the scenes of the sequel, we met Dunst, who was sporting Alex's signature red hair tied in a side plait.

When the second movie was announced, the official Minecraft Movie Twitter page also shared the sequel's first poster, which you can see below. The poster includes two axes placed tip to toe to create a number two in Roman numerals. However, the most interesting part is the color of the axes. Unlike the axes used in the first movie, which were blue due to being made out of diamonds, the axes in the poster glow purple. In Minecraft, a pickaxe glows purple when it is enchanted.

This suggests that the five will venture into the more magical side of Minecraft in movie number two, and get the chance to play with enchantment tables, enchanted books, and potions, and maybe even build different portals.

In terms of villains, the first movie's main antagonist was Piglin leader Malgosha, but if magic plays a big part in the next movie, the sequel could bring to life one of the game's most annoying baddies. Witches. These villains often hide in caves or in magical forests and throw dangerous potions at players, which can poison a player and eventually kill them if not protected by armor and other factors.

However, the purple pickaxes may suggest that the sequel will explore The End, a dark dimension crawling with monsters and consisting of islands made out of end stone. The End can be reached via a stronghold holding an End Portal. When players reach The End, they are faced with The Ender Dragon, which is essentially the 'final boss' of Minecraft.

Well, our wish to see a real-life Ender Dragon just may come true, as in an interview with Collider, producer Roy Lee says the team has heard fans' requests. Lee revealed: "A lot of people said, 'Yeah, just make that movie, but make sure the Ender Dragon is in it.' I think that's what a lot of the requests have been." If Steve and co were to fight and defeat the Dragon, they may be able to close the portal from the Minecraft World into the real world for good.

Speaking of villains, the sequel could dive into a creepy Minecraft urban legend. During a behind-the-scenes look at the sequel, Matt Berry teased that he is playing a different character this time around, who may or may not look like Steve. This has led fans to believe he will be Herobrine. The figure comes from an online Creepypasta, where players reported sightings of an evil version of Steve with solid white eyes, who would stalk players and destroy their builds. Could Berry be Black's evil twin? Check out the video below.

In terms of setting, the sequel has a lot of different Biomes to play around with. Back in March 2025 before A Minecraft Movie hit screens, director Jared Hess told Gamesradar+ that he'd "love" to make a sequel so he could explore the game even further. "I mean, look, the world's infinite," said Hess, "so many amazing mods and characters and biomes we haven't explored yet, so it'd be amazing." The Minecraft movie was set in the main grassy Biome.

In Minecraft Java Edition, there are 64 different biome types consisting of snowy, sandy, fiery, and Nether Biomes. The possibilities are endless.

A Minecraft Movie 2 cast

The core cast will return for A Minecraft Movie Squared. That's Jack Black as Steve, Jason Momoa as Garett the Garbage Man, Danielle Brooks as Dawn, Emma Myers as Natalie, and Sebastian Hansen as Henry. The group will be joined by another in-game character, Alex, played by Kirsten Dunst. In the game, Alex is presented as female with red hair and wears a green shirt, contrasting with Steve's bright blue get-up, so it looks like Dunst is going back to her redhead Spider-Man roots.

In terms of other characters, Jennifer Coolidge will return as Principal Marlene, alongside her Nitwit Villager, who turned out to be Matt Berry all along. However, during Minecraft Live, Berry showed up in a behind-the-scenes clip dressed as though he was appearing in the movie rather than just voicing the CGI blocky character. Many fans suspect that he will play Herobrine, Steve's evil twin of sorts. However, Warner Bros has yet to confirm the star's new character.

Here's who we expect to star in A Minecraft Movie 2:

• Jack Black as Steve
• Kirsten Dunst as Alex
• Jason Momoa as Garett 'Garbage Man' Garrison
• Danielle Brooks as Dawn
• Emma Myers as Natalie
• Sebastian Hansen as Henry
• Jennifer Coolidge as Principal Marlene
• Matt Berry

Is there an A Minecraft Movie 2 trailer?

As filming on A Minecraft Movie 2 has only just started, there is no trailer or teaser in sight as of writing. However, the first (and rather cursed) A Minecraft Movie teaser appeared online on September 4, 2024, followed by the first A Minecraft Movie trailer on November 19. That is six months and three-and-a-half months before the film hit screens, respectively.

If the sequel follows a similar timeline, we can expect the first Minecraft Movie 2 teaser to hit the internet towards the end of January 2027, followed by the first trailer in April 2027. However, as A Minecraft Movie faced quite a lot of backlash over the first teaser's unfinished look, we don't think Warner Bros. will want to rush and make that mistake again.

For more, check out our picks of the best video game movies of all time, or keep up with other upcoming movies.

If I were to ask you about Minecraft's mascot, which would you think of first, Steve or a Creeper? I'm betting it's a Creeper, the exploding green monster who's been roaming people's blocky maps since 2011.

Appearing in all sorts of merchandise, a long-time subject of memes, and recently jumping to the silver screen in A Minecraft Movie, the Creeper is an indelible part of the sandbox game. But as a creature that spawns in the dark, sneaks up behind players, and blows itself up, it’s not altogether conducive to the current design principles, to the point that the team probably wouldn’t add it now if it weren’t already available.

"If you were to follow the rules that we have today, we would probably not add the Creeper," Jens Bergensten, Mojang CCO, explained in a video on Minecraft’s development. "Because it would actually be so controversial to have a monster that would show up and destroy what you built."

He concedes, though, that the explosive creation is "iconic," and that's an understatement. Minecraft wouldn't be the same without the unpredictable risk factor they bring. Although annoying (and occasionally scary), Creepers keep you on your toes while constructing and gathering resources.

I'd argue they're crucial to its overall popularity, both as a slightly cooler ‘face’ of the brand than Steve (no offense, pal), and as an engine for calamity. Minecraft has been a cottage industry on YouTube and other platforms for over a decade, and the sudden fright and despair at the disastrous arrival of Creepers have led to many hilarious viral moments, thus spreading the word about the joy that comes from harnessing these cubes for your own.

All in all, they're not going anywhere. Frankly, I'm glad - just stay away from my next floating castle.

Minecraft modder makes "Minecraft 2" by replacing literally everything in Mojang's iconic sandbox game with the number 2.

If you've ever wondered what the Far Lands look like in Minecraft, YouTuber KurtJMac can finally give you an answer. Just short of a decade and a half after starting the expedition, he's now reached the anomalous region, and it's truly a joyous spectacle.

For a little added context, in March 2011, KurtJMac kicked off Far Lands or Bust, a one-man journey to find the eponymous glitched-out area in the outer fringes of Minecraft. He did it without using any mods, simply pushing out in something resembling a straight line for however long it takes.

Fast forward to October 2025, and after hundreds of episodes and over $500,000 raised for charity, he's done it. He reached the Far Lands, rejoicing in their fantastical splendor as a 14-and-a-half-year trek came to a close.

The moment arrived during Day 69 (nice) of the 2025 sub-a-thon, an event where Kurt streamed daily in aid of the UNRWA. It was expected he'd find his destination during one of these sessions, given his positioning and trajectory, but when, exactly, was the question.

Then, at 3:43:30 into the stream, he does it. While sailing around an island in the middle of a vast ocean, the distinct floating chunks of land appear in the distance. Kurt cheers looking at the mythical wall, as balloons bounce around him in celebration of the momentous occasion.

See, the Far Lands are a glitch from earlier versions of Minecraft where the land RNG eventually goes haywire, resulting in enormous archipelagoes in the sky. It’s long since been patched out, but besides adventures like Kurt's, the continent lives on in lore present in Minecraft: Story Mode and the like.

Not only did Kurt have to push through a lot of distance, he’d to navigate large swathes of instability as well, as his version of Minecraft simply wasn't all that optimized. Nonetheless, he persevered, just short of celebrating 15 years on the road, alongside his canine companion, Wolfie.

A testament to what’s possible with some dedication, a little bit of perseverance, and a high tolerance for video game nonsense. To the Far Lands!

Minecraft "is actually a hardcore action RPG in disguise," says former Path of Exile co-creator, "more hardcore than even Path of Exile," in fact, because there's lava

One legendary Minecraft player has spent months building a purported "CraftGPT," a small language model AI styled after ChatGPT and assembled entirely in Minecraft, which can finally fulfill mankind's greatest calling: talking to a computer inside a computer.

Minecraft legend Sammyuri, last seen three years ago with the bold declaration that "I made Minecraft in Minecraft with redstone," is the architect of CraftGPT. In a remarkably short video released on September 28, Uri lays out the sheer volume of work that went into this functional Minecraft AI chatbot – and the volume it occupies.

After making Minecraft^2, Uri says "I ran out of motivation to build redstone for quite a while and focused on other areas of life," so CraftGPT hasn't actually been in the works for a full three years. Rather, it "was built over a period of many months, with a significant amount of planning and dedication."

The numbers under the hood of the mod-augmented custom build, which is technically feasible in vanilla Minecraft but would operate much more slowly and only render in chunks, boggle my mind and gast my flabber.

"The build occupies a volume of 1020x260x1656 blocks," Uri explains, putting the frame volume of CraftGPT's many parts at around 439 million blocks. Obviously, a lot of those blocks are empty air, so the actual block count of the build would be substantially lower. These blocks weren't all individually placed by hand, either; Minecraft map editors allow for much faster and more sophisticated blueprinting and pasting. But the footprint volume speaks to the scope and complexity of the redstone at work here.

Minecraft's redstone wiring system, capable of sending and storing input and power signals analogous to electricity, has evolved from a simple way to open your base's secret door to a bottomless gateway drug for programming and computer science. CraftGPT limit tests what the material can feasibly power, including, as I understand it:

• A tokenizer which translates input text into sequences of data to be analyzed
• Token embedding array which processes that data
• Matrix multipliers which service processing and computation work
• A KV cache which stores computations for faster reuse
• Token output module to submit text responses
• Multiple layers of this and other infrastructure amounting to 6.171 million bytes of simulated memory

"The model has 5,087,280 parameters, trained in Python on the TinyChat dataset of basic English conversations," Uri says. This is technically a small language model because of the limited scope of training and responses. Large language models, the LLMs that everyone and their dog is talking about today, have much wider use cases and scrape a lot more material for their fact base.

"It can produce a response in about 2 hours when the tick rate is increased using MCHPRS (Minecraft High Performance Redstone Server) to about 40,000x speed," Uri clarifies. I've never used ChatGPT, but from what I hear it takes slightly less than two hours to respond. But factor in the redstone debuff and that's still downright incredible.

In the video, Uri demonstrates CraftGPT's conversational ability, hovering over an in-game keyboard. (Back in the day, that keyboard build alone would be impressive.)

Uri asks, "How are you today?"

The response is: "I am feeling quite happy today, thank you for asking."

Showing the AI's "basic factual knowledge," Uri asks "what color is the sky?" This is where things take an existential turn. The response reads: "The sky is bright blue, and the sky looks very beautiful." Is that our sky, or the Minecraft sky – that is, the limitless blue void enveloping CraftGPT?

Responses can vary and may have errors or redundancies, but the flexibility of the AI is impressive given its medium. Existentialism peaks when Uri asks, "What do you think about technology?"

"I believe technology is very important for our daily lives," the response reads.

"Did you know you are a machine?" Uri continues. (Goodness, Uri. You can't just ask that.)

"Yes, I think it is quite interesting, especially with new technology and technology," the final response reads. As far as coincidences born of limited language training go, this response is equal parts serendipitous and head-turning.

On Github, Uri admits "you shouldn't have high expectations" if you want to use this for yourself. "The model is very prone to going off topic, producing responses that are not grammatically correct, or simply outputting garbage.

"The model also has a very small context window of only 64 tokens. The conversations in the showcase video show the model at its best, not necessarily at its average performance."

The CraftGPT world is available for download, with the other brightest minds in redstone already poking through it like budding engineers dismantling the family VCR with poor prospects of reassembling it before movie night begins.

The response from Minecraft players has been tremendous so far, with some calling it the most advanced redstone build ever released. It will be interesting to see what results and responses other players see in practice, not to mention how the build may be stress tested.

You'll find installation and operation instructions on Github. Just be warned: Uri says "You will need a machine with at least 32GB of RAM to even load the server, but ideally you'd want 64GB or more."

Meanwhile, in the world of mortals: After 14 years and nearly $500,000 raised for charity, one dedicated Minecraft player is finally set to reach the fabled end-of-world Far Lands – a feat that may just be "one of the single greatest achievements" in gaming.

What did you just say? "Minecraft is a sandbox game that babies can play with their foreheads"? Ha. Shows how much you know. Path of Exile co-creator Chris Wilson says that, contrary to what some might think, Minecraft is a pretty intense action role-playing game experience.

Minecraft's survival mode might be "more hardcore than even Path of Exile," Wilson says in a new YouTube video exploring the topic, because if you drop items near lava after dying, those items are destroyed by the heat. Also, there's fishing. Are you convinced yet?

"It turns out that, regardless of where I go, everything in my life is going to look like Diablo 2 or Path of Exile if I stare at it hard enough," Wilson – who exited Path of Exile studio Grinding Gear Games in 2023 after helping found it in 2006 – admits. Though, he dreamed of escaping his ARPG history when he first picked up Minecraft.

"Action RPGs are a fun niche, but I needed to branch out to try something mass market," he remembers thinking. "There's no way that this pixelated kids' game with cute characters, a Jack Black movie, and a trillion views on YouTube is actually a hardcore action RPG in disguise, right?"

WRONG. "Minecraft is all real time," Wilson argues. "Progression in Minecraft is also very item-centric. [...] They've got item enchantments, basically mods from a Diablo or Path of Exile-like game."

And, perhaps the most damning evidence of all, "Minecraft is no exception" in having "extensive fishing systems."

"I find it interesting that, at 42 years of age, I'm sitting there memorizing how, if you fish during a thunderstorm in Minecraft, it will give a 20% faster fishing chance," Wilson says. I also find that interesting.

Minecraft fans are convinced that Mojang has accidentally leaked its next Live event date, but don't get your hopes up – it looks like it might actually be the remains of an old typo.

Ice Cube has seemingly swapped one office cubicle for another as the star of Amazon's recent War of the Worlds disaster takes center stage in a new Minecraft commercial.

"I'm Ice Cube and this is my Ice Cubicle. And I'm here to insure your cubes," the commercial begins, with the rapper-actor seated at an office desk. "If you just straight-up died," Ice Cube continues, interspersed with clips of Minecraft users meeting untimely ends, "you could be entitled to a lump sum settlement. So, send me, Ice Cube, a video of your Minecraft mishap and file a Cube Claim today."

Players are replying to the video, which was posted on Twitter, with their own Minecraft troubles, including deaths by everything from skeletons to fishing rods, but each claim so far seems to have been denied.

Ice Cube was most recently seen in Amazon's new adaptation of War of the Worlds – which made it onto Rotten Tomatoes' list of the worst movies of all time thanks to its 3% critics' score. Ice Cube, who plays Homeland Security surveillance expert Will Radford, spends the whole movie seated at his work desktop computer (despite the alien invasion happening around him) and the film takes place entirely on phone or computer screens.

Based on H.G. Wells' iconic 19th Century novel, this latest "screenlife" adaptation joins movies like Speed 2: Cruise Control and Jaws: The Revenge as some of the lowest-rated films ever made.

War of the Worlds is streaming now on Prime Video. For more, check out our guide to the best upcoming movies still to come in 2025.

Fans think Mojang has leaked the date of the next Minecraft Live showcase ahead of its official announcement, but I'm not so certain.

Back in March, Minecraft developer Mojang confirmed that it would be hosting two of its previously annual live events, Minecraft Live, every year going forward, with the March edition being held outside of the typical Fall slot (ahead of The Minecraft Movie releasing), and confirming the Vibrant Visuals update. Yesterday, Mojang posted its weekly Minecraft snapshot and mentioned a game drop that "we are excited to tell you about soon!" However, it didn't mention when "soon" actually is.

Well turns out someone else at Mojang could have accidentally flipped a switch too early, as Twitter user Nintenleaks noticed that Mojang's FAQ section on the Spanish Minecraft Live webpage said (via machine translation) "Minecraft Live will be held virtually on September 22, 2025, starting at 1:00 PM ET," meaning the second of the now bi-annual stream would be taking place in just over a month's time.

However, a user on the r/GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit has since pointed out via the Wayback Machine that this date has actually been on the website since before the Live on March 22 earlier this year, so there's a chance this was simply a big typo. And, considering September 22 is a Monday, when every single Minecraft Live has taken place on a Saturday (barring 2023, which was a Sunday), the likelihood of this being the actual date seems less strong. What's more, the website has now been updated to refer to the March date.

Granted, we know a second Minecraft Live is coming, and that it will probably be in the event's usual September/October time slot. The real interesting leak would be what's to come, as it could be anything. We could get a boring update that just adds a few new mobs and call it a day, or maybe this is the time that the community finally gets it's most requested update: The End update. Or they could add a second type of bee, that'd be cool too.

$1.1 billion worth of Minecraft accounts have played the Hypixel Minecraft server in the past 13 years, founder says, and it's "still growing."

The abrupt collapse of Minecraft-inspired sandbox game Hytale has at times eclipsed the magnitude of the Hypixel Minecraft server that started all this – which, according to its founder, is still very much smashing it.

Hypixel founder Simon Collins-Laflamme, who's recently made headlines over suggestions that he'd spend up to $25 million buying Hytale back from Riot just to see it finished, recently announced that the Hypixel Minecraft server, for the PC Java edition, has seen "38,717,739 unique players" in its 13-year history.

"That's about $1,161,532,170 USD worth of Minecraft accounts," Collins-Laflamme added. This $1.1 billion figure uses the $30 rate for the standard PC edition of Minecraft, which includes Minecraft: Bedrock Edition and Minecraft: Java Edition.

If we use the $40 deluxe collection instead, the value of those accounts jumps over $1.5 billion. Of course, this is all applying the current price of Minecraft to 13 years worth of accounts, when in reality the game was a fair bit cheaper in its earliest days.

That said, this is still a staggering total player count. "An estimated half of players who bought this version of Minecraft played once on Hypixel!" Collins-Laflamme says, adding that the server is "still growing after 13 years."

According to Minecraft MP and Minecraft Server List rankings, Hypixel is also still the most active Minecraft server today. Both sites put it in first place with over 34,000 players online at the time of writing, which is quite a leap over the runnerups.

Hypixel development remains very active as well. Just last week, patch 0.23.2 hit Hypixel Skyblock, adding "the fifth and final tier Spider Slayer boss, being a step up from the Tier V Revenant Horror. It brings with it not just several exciting new drops that aim to alter the overarching slayer progression, but also several key revamps to older items."

Granted, I haven't played Minecraft in a long time, but these patch notes make it pretty clear that Hypixel has essentially spun off into its own thing, using Minecraft as a medium more so than a design reference.

Not even beloved Minecraft servers are immune to live service woes, though. In a reply to the patch notes, Hypixel staffer Donpireso tells frustrated players that "the missing stuff" in the update is "still on the way," admitting that it "would probably have been a better idea for us to delay the update a few days and add the rest."

Minecraft is finally making copper useful with a new tier of tools bridging the gap from stone to iron, and a long-lost mob returning as the automatic item sorter fans have wanted for years.

What do you do when a multiplayer game's queue lasts too long? Scroll on your phone? Grab a snack? Give up? Stare into the endless void? One streamer decided to be so productive, it puts all my bad habits to shame, beating the entirety of Minecraft for the very first time while waiting in an Overwatch 2 queue.

"I BEAT MINECRAFT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN AN OVERWATCH QUEUE LETS GOOOOOOOOOO. 9.4 HOUR SPEEDRUN," streamer Aspen celebrated in a recent tweet.

In yesterday's stream, Aspen had the unfortunate luck of queueing for a game of Overwatch 2 in the middle of server maintenance. Normally, reloading the game and waiting a while would sort out of the problem of overly long queues. Aspen instead decided to pick up where they left off on their Minecraft "speedrun".

In the time it took to find a match, Aspen properly rolled credits on the truly never-ending survival game, beating the Ender Dragon before Overwatch 2's more than two-hour queue was done.

"I won! Oh my gosh, I can't believe I just beat Minecraft in an Overwatch queue," Aspen said on stream, explaining that her 9-ish hour playthrough took around a week to complete "every game between every queue."

While 9.4 hours isn't necessarily considered impressive as far as Minecraft speedruns go, this is Aspen's first run across the blocky classic, and most of it was accomplished while getting interrupted by Overwatch matches here and there, so I can't say I'd have done any better under the same circumstances.

Overwatch 2 director thinks "competition is healthy" in the hero shooter space, but says the FPS' new features aren't "a response to Marvel Rivals"

I've somehow managed to avoid becoming a Minecraft fan. Other than having to upskill myself on the global phenomenon for work, I've never been sucked into the blocky void, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate these new KontrolFreek Minecraft Creeper Edition thumbsticks.

KontrolFreek, the brand behind some of the best PS5 accessories out there, has teamed up with Minecraft to launch these new sticks today, which feature that iconic and terrifying Creeper face in all its grippy glory.

These new sticks are "purpose built for Minecraft fans" and their laser-etched rubber tops provide an extra grip that's ideal to aid you while you're fending off mobs of zombies, or just hoarding rare materials and building something you can later show off to your friends.

For $19.99 at Amazon they're also available for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S controllers, and as Thumb Grips for the Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Cons and Switch 2 Pro Controller for those who prefer to play Minecraft on the go.

While I'm not a die-hard Minecraft fan, I do use thumbsticks pretty much every day. The best PS5 controllers have never been comfortable enough for me, and having that extra bit of elevation provided by sticks like the Minecraft Creeper Editions can be a literal game-changer.

Normally, I have my KontrolFreek Clutch PS5 Thumbsticks at my disposal, but I was fortunate enough to take these test drive this week. The first thing I noticed after easily popping them on my DualSense sticks was their slightly sticky texture, which took a bit of getting used to as someone with sensory issues up the wahzoo.

That being said, they were still super comfortable to use, and I managed to almost get MVP as Jeff the Land Shark in Marvel Rivals on the PS5, which was a surprise as I just started learning to play him this week (and I'm not the best at the game). The slight added elevation won't be for everyone, but it helped alleviate any discomfort I typically have in my thumbs after too long spent on my PS5.

If you prefer to play Minecraft on the Switch 2, or you have kids who do, these sticks are also available as Thumb Grips compatible with the sticks of the Joy-Con 2 controllers, and the Switch 2 Pro Controller. I didn't get the chance to test these out for myself, but they feature the same funky Creeper design as the PS5 and Xbox versions.

Better yet, they're slightly cheaper too. Hopefully, these Creeper sticks are also a sign of more Switch 2 accessories to come, as I'd love to see KontrolFreek try its hands at creating some yellow banana-inspired Donkey Kong Bananza sticks too.

More KontrolFreek thumbsticks...

• KontrolFreek South Park: Kenny Edition Thumbsticks: $19.99 at Amazon
• KontrolFreek Saints Row Thumbsticks $19.99 at Amazon
• KontrolFreek Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III Thumbsticks: $19.99 at Amazon

Our guides to the best Nintendo Switch controllers, the best Xbox Series X controllers, and the best PC controller for gaming are full of high-quality alternatives for a more comfortable playing experience.

If you've seen the Minecraft movie, chances are you've had the Lava Chicken song stuck in your head – our very own deputy news editor Catherine Lewis is concerned with how high up her Spotify Wrapped list it'll be come December. Well, now she can get it out of her head and onto her screens, because it's been added to Minecraft, the game.

The Lava Chicken song by Hyper Potions in the game isn't exactly the same as the version of the song in the movie, that would be tonally very strange. Instead, like all the music discs, it's an 8-bit-esque rendition without any vocals.

As spotted by Dexerto, this disc was added in Minecraft's 1.21.94 Bedrock update. But finding the disc won't be easy. To get it, you'll need to kill a chicken jockey. These are baby zombies riding chickens, and they have a ridiculously low spawn chance – just 0.25% to 0.4875%. I've played Minecraft on and off since its Alpha days, and I don't think I've ever seen one in my own worlds.

If you want to be in with a chance of finding one naturally, you'll have to breed a bunch of chickens and hang around them at night while you wait for zombies to spawn.

Adding the song into the game and tying it to finding a rare mob seems like a great way for Minecraft to capitalize on the success of the movie and the hype drummed up by the chicken jockey that appears in a fighting ring at one point during the film – there were so many TikToks of that moment. I remember during my screening teenagers were whooping and cheering for the critter.

If you need a break from trying to find those pesky chicken jockeys, check out the best games like Minecraft you can play instead.

Copper hit Minecraft back in 2021, but hasn't really done a great job justifying its own existence. Now, Mojang has a new update in store that'll finally give you a reason to use the material, including a whole new tier of tools and the long-awaited return of the copper golem.

In a new update currently available in beta preview on Bedrock - it will eventually hit Java, too - you're able to craft copper pickaxes, swords, and much more. This is a full new equipment tier that'll bridge the gap between stone and iron items, which should hopefully make the early-game grind just a bit less arduous.

"My personal relation to copper in-game is that I mine a bunch of it, forget that I can't use it for tools, and then hold it in my inventory," senior gameplay engineer Matthew Clohessey says in the announcement video. The intent here is to give the very abundant material a proper purpose so it's not just clogging up your chests anymore.

But the return of the copper golem is arguably even more exciting. This creature previously contended for the 2021 mob vote, but ultimately lost to the allay, a creature that would fly around and collect loose items for you. The allay's ultimate form was a bit disappointing because it didn't turn out to be the item-sorting solution players wanted, but the new-and-improved copper golem is set to fulfill that role now.

"The new design is that it's going to move around and take items from copper chests," Clohessey explains, "and put them in either empty chests or chests with a matching copy of that item, to help clean up your inventory management and your chests."

Minecraft players have been building elaborate item-sorting contraptions for years to avoid the pain of inventory management, but the copper golem looks poised to finally offer a vanilla solution to that problem. The fact that it's going to be craftable with such a readily available early-game material is a very nice bonus.

If you're looking for more games like Minecraft, you know where to click.

Minecraft fully released almost 15 years ago, and in that time, it's more or less looked like the same blocky game we all know and love, but it's now getting a sweeping visual overhaul.

Mojang Studios broke down the 'Vibrant Visuals' update, coming June 17, in a new video that also shows side-by-side comparisons of the game before and after. The main differences are that shadows now move organically and are cast by the sun, fog plays a much bigger role, water looks absolutely lush, and biomes feel a lot more distinct.

More importantly, however, is that every new effect has been slightly pixelated so it all still feels recognizably Minecrafty, as the studio had promised before. Mojang has also apparently added more than 3,000 new textures and the devs seem very proud that you can actually tell how rough or shiny or metallic every material is just by looking at them. Color isn't the only thing that separates your blocks anymore.

"We didn't want to take away from what makes Minecraft Minecraft, so everything we added needed to feel really natural - a natural evolution of what players were already used to," lead rendering engineer A.J. Fairfield said.

"Even though you have this modern look and feel, it's also very familiar glimpses of the regular Minecraft that you know," Vibrant Visuals lead Dejan Dimic added. It's certainly a sweeping, handsome update, without making the now-iconic game look uncanny. So, mission accomplished?

Minecraft's redone visuals will be available in the Bedrock Edition later this month and will be turned on by default. Don't worry, though! You can toggle it off in the menus, and the update will also be coming to Java Edition at some point in the future.

25 Games like Minecraft to play that will let your imagination run wild

After dominating the box office, fans of A Minecraft Movie have very little time to wait for it to be available to stream, with news that it'll be arriving on Max by next week.

The Jared Hess-directed film made an impressive haul of over $951 million at the box office, with $313 million earned in its opening weekend alone. Audiences attended in droves to see Jack Black shout out "chicken jockey" and leave in a perfectly calm and respectful manner, making it the second most successful video game movie adaptation of all time after The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Now, though, they can enjoy it from the comfort of their own homes with confirmation (via Variety) that it will be arriving on Max on June 20.

For those who might have been living under a pixelated rock, the Minecraft Movie followed a group of individuals who were transported into the Overworld and roped in an overly plucky miner, Steve (Black), to survive the unpredictable terrain. Given its huge reception, it will be unsurprising if the film draws in massive viewing numbers when it hits the streaming service, and that's even with the not-so-impressive reaction it got from critics.

While fans may have stormed theaters to see the film, critics weren't so welcoming, with the film earning only 48% on Rotten Tomatoes. That's pretty disappointing when the likes of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise have gone no lower than 64%.

Regardless of what the critics have said, though, a second Minecraft movie has been made all but official thanks to Warner Bros Pictures co-chairman/CEOs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy confirming via Deadline that it has been added to the studio's to-do list, which makes sense given the teaseworthy ending we were given.

While we wait to be reunited with Steve, though, here's a list of every upcoming video game movie we need to keep an eye out for.

The worst time to lose a race has got to be right at the finish line. Imagine getting right to the End, everything's gone swimmingly, and then you fall at the last hurdle. That's what happened to speedrunner "skycrab1," who missed out on a world record Minecraft run because an Enderman killed them mere frames before the credits rolled.

As most of you know, each Minecraft world you generate is based on a random seed, meaning it's almost impossible to get two worlds that are the same through sheer chance. As such, it's difficult to properly plan each speedrun attempt, as you need lots of things to go right immediately.

For skycrab1, they did.

They spawned by a ruined portal and a village, meaning they could quickly grab the tools and Obsidian they needed to head to the Nether. They then quickly found the Bastion and Fortress required to get Ender Pearls and Blaze Rods to make Eyes of Ender, and rushed to the End Portal.

In they went, ascending skyward to kill the Ender Dragon with exploding beds, an old trick.

It all went perfectly, they were on track to become the first person to ever beat a random seed in Minecraft in under seven minutes. But, as they dropped back down to the ground with just half a heart of health remaining, waiting for the portal to transport them into the end credits, an Enderman teleported behind them and killed them. Skycrab1's world record victory was gone, and they let out a scream as it happened.

So, what went wrong?

"When the pearl landed at 5:49, he looked at an enderman for 15 frames (nine of which were in the crafting menu)," explains one commenter. "15 frames = 0.25 seconds. It takes an enderman 0.25 seconds to aggro at the player. If he was in the crafting menu for one less frame, or 0.017 seconds less, this would've been the world record. Also, if his crosshair was four pixels to the right, this would've been the world record. It's literally divine intervention."

The community is devastated by this loss. "This is the most depressing thing I've ever seen in my life," writes one person. "I keep rewatching, hoping one time he doesn't die," states another.

Others believe skycrab1 should keep trying. "I'm so incredibly shocked at this run. You shattered every single split record and even killed the dragon. If this isn't proof of you deserving the world record the most, then I don't know what is. Keep your head up."

Despite getting into the End the fastest and even killing the Ender Dragon the fastest, the elusive sub-seven-minute world record still remains tantalizingly out of reach.

If you want more excitement, check out the best speedruns you'll ever see.

A Minecraft Movie's cultural domination shows no signs of slowing down, as Jack Black's solo has become the shortest song to ever enter the Billboard Hot 100.

'Steve's Lava Chicken' clocks in at just 34 seconds, with lyrics like "la-la-la-lava, ch-ch-ch-chicken."

The song debuted at number 78 on the Hot 100, on the chart dated May 3, 2025, according to Billboard. It has also reached number 10 on the Hot Rock Songs chart. Black and director Jared Hess co-wrote the song.

This isn't Black's first time on the chart, either – 'Peaches,' from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, charted at 58 back in 2023.

If you're a 'Lava Chicken' fan, you can soon sing along to your heart's content at special screenings meant for memeing and generally being rowdy. "Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures invite fans back to the theater to experience A Minecraft Movie together in a whole new way! You know the moments. You know the lines. You love the songs! Now it's time to get loose, laugh out loud and belt out those lyrics like a true diamond-tier fan," reads the announcement for these Block Party Edition screenings.

A Minecraft Movie memes have taken on a life of their own, especially chicken jockey, which has become such a big deal that Black has even had to step in. At one screening, someone even brought a live chicken.

A Minecraft Movie is in theaters now. For more, check out our A Minecraft Movie review or our guide to the A Minecraft Movie post-credits scene.

A Minecraft Movie screenings have been going so wild that even Jack Black has had to step in – but, very soon, you'll be able to meme to your heart's content at screenings of one of the best video game movies of recent years.

"Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures invite fans back to the theater to experience A Minecraft Movie together in a whole new way! You know the moments. You know the lines. You love the songs! Now it's time to get loose, laugh out loud and belt out those lyrics like a true diamond-tier fan," says the announcement for the Block Party Edition screenings.

These screenings will take place on May 2 in North America and select other international locations, and fans will be able to "embrace the film anew by singing – or meme-ing – along with their favorite moments from the movie."

"It's way too funny. It's been a total blast. I'm just laughing my brains out every time someone sends me a new video," director Jared Hess has said of the audience reaction. "Just the fact that people are making memories at the movies - that's what it's all about. That's why we do it. I never could have anticipated this level of passion and fun and craziness that's happening."

During the movie, and especially at the now-infamous "chicken jockey" scene, audiences are going absolutely wild, throwing popcorn and, in one theater, even bringing a live chicken with them. We'll just have to wait and see how rowdy the Block Party Edition screenings might get.

A Minecraft Movie is in theaters now. For more, check out our A Minecraft Movie review or our guide to the A Minecraft Movie post-credits scene.

Minecraft's latest snapshot beta introduces the option to chain boats together with a series of leads, and now fans are reuniting in a demand many of them have been making for years: we really should be able to link minecarts together to build proper trains.

In the 25W16A snapshot, which went live yesterday, the devs have implemented array of changes to how leashes work. Most notably, you can now leash multiple mobs together, letting you take your pets for a walk all at once. What developer Mojang didn't explicitly call out in this announcement is that you can also now leash boats together.

The possibilities of boat-leashing quickly became clear to players. "YOU CAN MAKE TRAINS IN MINECRAFT NOW," as a Twitter post from Minecraft creator silentwisperer puts it. "PLEASE MOJANG LET US DO THIS WITH MINECARTS!"

Being able to leash minecarts together would essentially let you create proper trains which, somehow, Minecraft has never allowed before. At least, not properly – you could technically put small minecart trains together with furnaces in Java Edition, but these constructions were always a little buggy, and the feature has effectively been abandoned by Mojang.

Requests to be able to leash minecarts together have been going since the leash mechanics first started changing in 1.21, and the new showcase of boats getting leashed together has gotten the community once again demanding the feature through Minecraft's official feedback site.

"Trust us Mojang," a slightly ominous comment on that post says. "We NEED this."

Mojang says Minecraft 2 isn't going to happen because it'd be like getting an "Earth 2," but the studio hopes the OG sandbox game stays relevant "at least 15 years more."

Minecraft discounts have been plentiful as Smooth Stone since the release of the Minecraft movie. So that you don't have to waste time expeditioning the unknown to see what's on offer, I've been checking around for some funky Minecraft deals and rounding up the best ones below. That way, you can get on with building and mining, without getting caught up in an endless scrolling session.

I've manage to find some great deals in both the US and the UK, including Minecraft: Builders & Biomes, a strategy board game. Released back in 2019 for Minecraft's tenth anniversary, it's made by Ravensburger (the company behind Villainous, which is arguably one of the best board games around).

With a tasty 15%, Builders & Biomes has dropped to $33.98 at Amazon against its usual $39.99. That's a saving of just over $6. For UK folk, the same game is sadly still £30.98 at Amazon, though it's a little cheaper at £29.99 on ToyVille.

Aside from that, there's heaps of Minecraft Lego deals popping off at the moment, with the Lego Minecraft Baby Pig House currently just $15.99 at Amazon. That's a 20% discount, and the cheapest we've ever seen it going for. UK folk get an even better 22% discount on the Baby Pig House, currently down to just £13.98 at Amazon, against the usual £17.99 price tag.

The Lego Minecraft Armadillo Mine Expedition set is also sitting at it's cheapest price ever right now for US folks. That's $23.99 at Amazon against its $29.99 RRP. For UK Minecraft enjoyers, its still £24.99 at Zavvi which is the standard price, sadly.

Still, UK folk can nab the Ender Dragon and End Ship Minecraft Lego set, complete with Ender Explorer, Ender Knight and a Minecraft Enderman for £55.99 at Lego, down from the usual £69.99. That's £14 saved that could be spent on loot boxes or whatever Minecraft kids are into nowadays.

Should you buy this Minecraft board game or Lego Minecraft sets?

We've not had a chance to check out the Minecraft: Builders & Biomes board game, but its clearly a well thought out game. It's a much more simplified version of the Minecraft experience but you get the general gist without overcomplicating things. In it you can play as Steve or Alex, and will collect resources, and explore the overworld, revealing potential buildings and gaining experience points as you build ever more complex buildings. You'll also be battling mobs with crafted weapons, so there's more to it than just building.

As for the Lego sets I've added above, there are so many to choose from. Basically we'd recommend going first for the one that draws you in the most, and of course whichever one will fit on whatever space you still have left on your Lego shelf (or shelves).

If you nabbed each of the above Lego sets, that would tot up to a collective saving of $20.40, which isn't half bad when you just want to be surrounded head-to-toe in Minecraft merchandise having loved every second of Jack Black's Steve performance.

For more discounts, be sure to drop by our gifts for gamers guide. And if you wanted to know how Jack Black really feels about Minecraft, he told us. Maybe some best Lego Star Wars sets are piquing your interest on the leadup to May 4, too.

During the most recent edition of Minecraft Live, developer Mojang announced the upcoming Vibrant Visuals update, which will bring a host of modern graphical upgrades to the sandbox game. Minecraft looked old-school even when its first public alpha build launched in 2009, and the fancy new lighting and shadow effects still come with an old-school twist.

"One of my favorite things that the team created is the way shadows align with the grids and pixels," chief creative officer Jens Bergensten says in a video breaking down the Vibrant Visuals update. "I have not seen that in any other game and it feels true to Minecraft."

If you look closely at the shadows in the preview footage, you'll see that they align directly with the pixel grid of the textures they're being cast against. While mobs like bees, for example, are made out of straight-edged rectangles, at many angles their shadows will take on pixelated edges to better match the retro aesthetics of those textures. The same goes reflections on the surface of the water or the scattered light hitting a lake bed floor.

"The shadows, they add a lot of good contrast to the world," art director Jasper Boerstra adds. "It helps put everything in context and it will make the world feel a little bit more familiar. You can also see in the reflections that they're pixelated according to the texture. This is for the sake of consistency and we think it looks great."

Texture tricks aside, the new lighting effects will seem pretty familiar if you've ever messed with Java Edition mods. "Over time, and after seeing all the cool things players were making," Bergensten says, "we decided that Vanilla Minecraft deserved something better." Consequently, Mojang added dedicated visual artists to the team, and their work is paying off in updates like World of Color and Vibrant Visuals.

Vibrant Visuals will hit "compatible Bedrock devices in the coming months." Mojang has not announced exactly which devices those will be, but it's a safe bet they'll include PCs and current-gen consoles at a minimum. It's a purely visual upgrade that you can toggle in the settings, so if you're running on a lower-end device or playing with friends who don't want it there's no downside.

Don't expect Minecraft to go free-to-play anytime soon, as Mojang says "It doesn't really work with the way we built it."

You know the drill by now: Minecraft is massive; it's the best-selling game ever made and is even more popular in 2025 than it was back when it launched in 2011. But following Minecraft, the majority of hyper-popular game releases on that level have been free-to-play games like Fortnite, Marvel Rivals, and Roblox (which did release before Minecraft but grew way more popular in the years since). And despite that, Minecraft has remained a paid title, which has worked. I can't think of a time where I noticed it wasn't in the Nintendo Switch eShop's best-selling list since it launched in 2017.

Speaking to IGN, Mojang producer Ingela Garneij revealed that despite the way the industry is going, Minecraft isn't jumping on the free-to-play wagon. "It doesn't really work with the way we built it," Garneij explained, saying, "we built the game for a different purpose. So monetization doesn't work in that way for us. It's a purchase of the game, and then that's it," and dubbed the game "the best deal in the world."

This sentiment was echoed by Vanilla Minecraft game director Agnes Larsson, who told IGN, "for me, it’s part of the important values of Minecraft. I think it's become such an important thing of what Minecraft is and the perfect culture and values, and I think we all here can agree on that. It's a thing for the game, and it's one part of what makes the game strong. It has strong values.”

Of course, Minecraft has had ways to monetize following the original purchase, with skins, texture packs, and a variety of other additions to the game being available in the Minecraft Marketplace. Plus the game has become a marketing beast with Lego collabs, countless toys, and a Jack Black-led Minecraft movie on the horizon. I'd say Mojang is doing just fine the way it is.

A former Mojang developer recently revealed that Minecraft: Pocket Edition's name was actually a tribute to the Nintendo Game Boy Pocket.

Minecraft is one of those games that's on just about every platform imaginable. Its mobile version used to adorably be called the Pocket Edition, and now we know why: one of its developers is a massive Nintendo nerd.

"A bit sad to see that the naming 'Minecraft: Pocket Edition' is completely gone nowadays, but understandable," tweets Daniel Kaplan, a founding member of Mojang, co-founder of Coffee Stain, and current CEO of Keepsake Games.

"Why Minecraft was called Pocket Edition and not Mobile Edition on mobiles? Because I’m a Nintendo nerd, and it was a nod to Game Boy Pocket."

I'll be honest, this is the first I'm hearing of the Game Boy Pocket. Turns out it was a refinement of the original Game Boy that was smaller, lighter, and had a better display. I only started with the Game Boy Advance, but I did have a Color too.

Now, Minecraft's mobile version is called the Bedrock Edition, so named because there are two versions of the game; the Java Edition runs on Java while the Bedrock Edition runs C++. This is why some farms work on one version of the game but not the other, the underlying code itself is different.

Nowadays, it's quite common for mobile games to have the Pocket subheading. Pokemon TCG Pocket is the most recent example I can think of, and that game's been consuming a lot of my waking hours this last month or so. I just can't get enough of the card collecting, and now that I have a proper Darkrai and Weaville ex deck, I'm unstoppable in PvP.

If you're looking for something similar to play, check out our list of all the best games like Minecraft you can get stuck into.

The Minecraft community continues to impress well over a decade following the monumental arrival of Mojang's sandbox gem – most recently, with a hilarious mod that pulls Jack Black's voice from the upcoming Minecraft movie and gives it to player character Steve.

As a longtime Minecraft stan myself, I never thought I'd see Steve get his own voice – and I certainly never thought it'd be Jack Black's, but here we are. Modder "SnailMan" has given the iconic turquoise shirt-wearing character some of Black's lines from the new live-action Minecraft film, and it's quite a sight (or sound) to behold: "Now you can be Steve from the hit movie Minecraft in the game Minecraft based on the movie Minecraft."

Their post showcases the mod in action, with Black's voice heard as soon as a world is loaded: "Steve." SnailMan then makes a crafting table in-game, and the voice returns, simply saying "crafting table." The "crafting table" line plays on repeat as the modder places and interacts with it. It's a short clip containing just the two lines, but SnailMan isn't finished with the mod – in fact, there could be more Steve shenanigans to come in the future.

"I'll publish the mod once I'll get more sounds and events in," explains SnailMan, linking to their Modrinth page where the download will soon be available to all players. The modder also posts another clip showing some of the other lines added to the mod, with Black saying "the Nether" and "the Overworld" every time Steve steps in and out of a Nether portal. It's absolutely ridiculous and highly unnecessary – and that's why I love it.

There's no telling when it'll be up just yet, but the creator did leave an update last night saying the Jack Black voice mod has been submitted "for review," with SnailMan having "no idea how much it's gonna take" before Modrinth allows it to go live on the website. When it does, I, for one, will be downloading it – and I'm probably not the only one who will be, with SnailMain already garnering over a thousand reposts and 15 thousand likes.

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