HalcyonSpirit

The March 2011 Short Story Competition is now underway! Get your writing on! In other news, those reviews are coming. I just got preoccupied over the weekend with some important stuff.

A guy has released a Minecraft-inspired rap album for free: Creepers Gotta Creep I have to say, it's not bad, and I usually dislike rap.

Same. Nearly got it one time, but got hung up on what was probably the last divider, so to speak. Never got to it again.

Minecraft.net is down, so I can't connect to the server. Argh, I'm feeling the need to complete my town, too. I hope Mojang finds the new server they're looking for soon.

Dear oh dear. This one was a tough round for me to judge. All of the entries were quite good in their own ways. I almost wish I could just declare it a 5-way tie. Alas, I cannot, and I had to finally choose which ones I liked best. Honestly, this round has been one of the hardest, if not the hardest, for me to personally vote on since I started participating. So congrats to everyone for making me have to dig deep to decide on a good point distribution for my vote. So, here it is, the results of the January 2011 Freeform Competition! 1st Place: Sunset by HalcyonSpirit Runners-Up: The Arc of Heaven by Random Hajile AND Kid Zap by JH Sounds The vote tally: Sunset by HalcyonSpirit - 9 The Arc of Heaven by Random Hajile - 6 Kid Zap by JH Sounds - 6 Caregiver, Caretaker by Soul Splint - 5 Experience Points by Nintendude794 - 4 You guys... I really don't understand why you liked my entry. Seriously. I almost didn't even give myself a point in my vote, but I did so just because I couldn't figure out who I should give that extra point in my vote without upsetting the balance I had come to! Seriously, guys... please explain this to me. My mind is just... argh. I can't wrap my head around it. I appreciate it, but dammit, you're making my head hurt! My comments on the entries will come over the weekend, probably. P.S.: All but one participant voted this time, which is good! And the missing one was made up for by a previous participant's vote (thanks, dio!), so all is well. I want to at least maintain this level of participation; at least as many votes as there are submissions. So please, make your votes each round even if you haven't submitted anything in that round, as every little bit helps us!

New update is live. Early reports say that Mojang accidentally the debug code again; starting a new world gives you diamond tools, torches and beds to start with.

Last day to vote! Don't wait until the last minute, or you'll make me a very sad person. I'm still missing votes from two of the entrants. You know who you are. In fact, I'll go PM you both because I want all entrants to vote, at the very least.

Remember, you only have until Monday night to vote! Please vote, especially if you have an entry for this round, but everyone should vote as well; we need the votes to keep the competition alive. And send the votes as soon as possible. The sooner I get them, the better.

http://twitter.com/notch/status/38621269331025921 The new launcher has been released by Notch for testing. It works for me, but some people are complaining about "Too many login attempts" errors. Use at your own discretion. EDIT: Rock, Paper Shotgun is reporting that the new update will include beds, which will allow you to skip the night, and in a later update will also serve as your new spawn point when used. It's unconfirmed so far, but I suppose this is what the "secret update" is.

We're starting to learn about the new things being included in the 1.3 update coming next week (Tuesday or Wednesday). What we know so far: - The file system will be updated using a modified version of McRegion. - Ambient Occlusion will be added (can be turned off). - Redstone repeaters will be added with configurable delays, and active redstone wires will fade in brightness as you get further from the power source. ( )- Wooden and cobble half-blocks. - New game launcher. - Various bug fixes. - A secret update. EDIT: Just saw the PC Gamer article with more details on the update. Added them above.

I believe the Bukkit team has specifically asked Mojang not to compensate them in any way.

That sucks. That usually doesn't happen anymore. Ask Crowbar for replacements if you want to. Still, it should be even more fixed in the near future with the next update, I believe. I know Bukkit has it fixed (for whenever our server makes the switch to it), and I think the main game is going to be using some of that code in the update.

It doesn't say it's SMP compatible, so I'm assuming it isn't. EDIT: Also, someone's working on a height-limit mod. Finally.

Ice Mod I think we're going to be seeing a lot more new dimensions being added through modding in the near-ish future. This looks really cool already.

Just wanted to let you guys know, after a fit of inspiration, I wrote a fanfiction-type piece of Minecraft for the Writing Competition we run in the Competitions forum here. (I haven't written anything non-original in ages, so this was a different experience for me.) If you're interested in reading it or the other entries for this round, you can go here: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?p=752357#post752357 I highly encourage anyone who does read the entries to also vote in this round. We need more regularly participating voters, so whoever you think should win, vote for them. /promotion of competition

Submission period is over! We have 5 entries this time! Woohoo! Caregiver, Caretaker by Soul Splint Experience Points by Nintendude794 Kid Zap by JH Sounds Sunset by HalcyonSpirit The Arc of Heaven by Random Hajile You have until the end of the 21st to vote! I did decide to tweak the voting rules a little: VOTING RULES CHANGE: If you have submitted in this round or any other in the past, you have 6 points to distribute for voting. If you have not submitted this round or in the past, you have 3.

Ah, good, I was hoping you would submit something before I closed things out. Good thing I waited. Now then, to close the submission period, here's my entry. In a break from tradition, I chose to write "fanfiction" of sorts, in that the setting is from the game Minecraft. The backstory is my own, however, as Minecraft doesn't have a story. Got the inspiration while playing one day and I ran with it. I haven't written anything even remotely based on another work since high school, so this was interesting for me to write. ------

Less than a day left to submit! I'm currently editing my entry, so you'll see one from me!

http://twitter.com/Craftbukkit/status/34070132108034049 DUDE, awesome.

James Brown - Hell Gotta respect the classics! Funk for all!

I can't play any instruments, but to listen to, my favorite is the saxophone. Alto saxophones, specifically.

It's the combination of the finger mustache/frown and the comment about being lonely along with the explosion that gives it away. Those are both associated with creepers in memes. Not to mention, there was another instance a few months ago where Colbert baked a cake that looks suspiciously like the inventory sprite of the iron pickaxe (context was breaking Tom Delay out of prison, I think). Coincidence? Possible, but I doubt it. That look he gave with the impression was a knowing one. He may as well just winked at the audience.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/372964/february-01-2011/michael-lewis Go to about 3:10 and watch. I love the look he gave in the middle of it. He knows exactly what he's doing. Gotta give him props; he knows his audience.

Happy Birthday!

Due to some very mysterious circumstances ( ), there's only 3 submissions right now, and the submission deadline has passed. As per the rules, the deadline has been extended one week!