Minecraft Update!

Minecraft 1.5 Beta was recently released and a few interesting things were added to the game:

* Weather (rain, snow, thunder)
* Statistics
* Achievements
* Detector rail
* Booster rail
* Performance improvements


The weather effects are a very nice improvement that make the world seem more alive and real. It will periodically rain, snow, or storm adding nice visuals and sound.

A statistics page has been added in game that keeps tracks of a whole manner of things like time played, distance walked, jumps, items dropped, and more! This is great for seeing just how addicted to Minecraft you are. However, since statistics were just implemented past playtimes are not recorded.

The game also keeps track of blocks and items, counting the number of times you have crafted, used, mined, and depleted them.

An achievement system has been added to the game and so far it is pretty horrible I must say. I'm not a huge fan of achievements and it frustrates me a bit that game developers lately have become so obsessed with them. The first wave of Minecraft achievements are completely horrible, they are not achievements at all! Hopefully the next wave will be much better or Minecraft achievements will be just as pointless as most other game achievements.

Here is the full list of Minecraft Achievements in game as of 1.5, I got most of them in a few minutes:
   *Press tab to open your inventory
   *Attack a tree until a block of wood pops out
   *Craft a workbench
   *Craft a wooden sword
   *Craft a wooden pick
   *Craft a better pick
   *Craft a wooden hoe
   *Kill a monster
   *Harvest some leather (kill a cow)
   *"Fly a pig off a cliff" (this is the only cool achievement, put a saddle on a pig and have it walk off a cliff)
   * Bake bread
   *Bake a cake
   *Craft a furnace
   *Catch and cook a fish
   *Smelt Iron
   *Ride a minecart 1 kilometer (slightly ok achievement)

Yay I made a stone pick, I feel so achieved...not.

I will give Notch credit for the nice achievement "tree" though, I like the design.

Booster rails and detector rails are both very nice additions for those that love to tinker with minecart systems. Detector rails serve as pressure plates in track form and booster rails power minecarts ahead without the hassle of ugly and big booster attachments.