HalcyonSpirit

He's even claiming that the Ridley music from Brawl was created by him. He has absolutely no shame (and bad cutting skills as well).

Safety? Bah. Safety's overrated.

Yeah, the server seems to be timing me out very often as well, now. I just got timed out again, and earlier today it did it to me, eating 40 of my diamonds in the process...

Yeah. I'd definitely understand if you wanted to put it together by yourself; it's your proposal, after all. But if you want help, I'm sure we'd gladly offer our assistance. I know I would.

I agree. Previous challenges have been spur of the moment, and that's what has helped them to be so popular, in a sense. There was no formal list, or formal method of introducing them... they were random challenges that just so happened to spark the interest and pride of the community. Once you start formalizing a process like this, it quickly loses its novelty.

Not currently. By the way, everyone, I am taking donations of any spare diamonds you might have. I need a total of 21 diamond blocks, or 189 individual diamonds, for the spawn's railway hub. Not for any kind of functionality, just for decoration. I figure, if I'm going to decorate the floor of the station with artwork of tools, I may as well make them diamond tools! Plus, the diamond's color will help with the color contrast inside the station. If you wish to donate, there's a chest by the hub at spawn labeled for that purpose. EDIT: Also, saw this just now: . You'll see a (small-ish) recreation of the Kingdom of Zeal in the latter portion of the vid, too.

Is there an issue going on with the server today? I haven't been able to connect at all all day. Keeps on saying the connection's timing out when I try to log in.

And you've reminded me with this episode that I need to keep checking for sales on New Vegas, and hope that I have a cash infusion sometime before it comes up so I can get it. Good episode, too. It's something I've noticed with games, but never could quite put into words an explanation for it.

Just a couple days left for this round's submission period. I'm planning on submitting something, but is anyone else?

Nintendo estimates that the battery life of the 3DS can be extended to up to 8 hours just by turning the 3D off, and turning the wireless settings off, dimming the screen, and putting it into a power-saving mode should all help to extend it even further. http://kotaku.com/5738668/short-cords-long-friend-lists-and-other-burning-3ds-questions-answered

God, I haven't played in months... I really ought to play some more. I love watching games, but I never play any...

Hey, Notch!

The good news is that they're finally getting some backend work done, such as having logins be over https, a new file structure, new launcher that shows news, release notes, and gives you the option to update or not. In addition, he's got a meeting tomorrow with some community members (including the makers of Bukkit) to discuss how best to implement modding support. All-in-all, I'd say this is a good day.

Try setting the render distance to less than Far (or less than whatever you have it on right now). My client used to do that on Multiplayer after the Beta update, but after I changed the render distance, it's much more stable. I have no problems with maximum render distance on Singleplayer, but when online I have to take it down a notch.

Abadoss, spiders are still quite easy to kill as long as you aren't taken by surprise, and it makes sense that spiders can climb walls. I don't mind the change, it's quite refreshing. But that's not why I'm posting right now. This is. I have a feeling it's from something, but I don't know what.

I suppose you haven't seen the notes for the next patch about spiders having fire immunity, have you... Kidding! Seriously, just put an outward overhang on your wall and you'll be fine so long as the spiders can't jump from the ground to the side of the overhang itself. As for me, I've discovered that creepers seem to have both a larger activation radius and a larger blast radius. Also, they seem to hold their fuse for much longer if you go out of the activation range... leading to my death when I thought it was safe to get close again when it actually wasn't. Also, this. EDIT:

Yeah, the framerate problems were caused by debug code being left in the release build. The latest update fixed that. There's plenty of unloaded chunks right next door to my base, so I'm going to set up a mining operation back there once the server is back up. Anyone will be allowed to go and mine for LL there.

Based on previous posts by Notch, I'm expecting an expansion of the dye applications to other blocks in the future. In other news... Dispenser MADNESS!

He did mention the new wood blocks. It was just covered under "New tree types" instead. The new tree types are pine/conifer and silver birch. The pine trees have logs that are darker than normal logs but are otherwise identical, and silver birch logs look like... well, silver birch logs. We won't need to go too far away to get to unloaded chunks. Certainly not as far as Aba did with his previous trek...

Yes, anytime a new type of naturally-occurring block is added, you need to go to unexplored chunks to find them. Functionally, the new wood type just looks different, it doesn't act any differently. And the new trees will spawn from any sapling, but the type is determined by the biome you're in. What I do like about wood that's been changed is that you can get charcoal from them. In other words, you'll never be short of coal/charcoal again. I suspect that this will be balanced in the future by the eventual introduction of torches that don't last forever. And with spiders... I have to wonder if fences will still block them, or if they're compromised, too.

You can avoid doing that if you make a 3-block-high wall and put a ledge at the top. They can climb walls, but not ceilings (yet). And supposedly they can't climb sandstone for some reason, so there's another possibility.

This update... Amazing. Aside from some of the bugs (biggest of which is that they forgot to take out some resource-intensive debug code, temporary fix here), the things they've added to the game are great. I have plans for the note boxes. And there are dispenser blocks that release items when activated with redstone that can be set up as either dispensers of needed items or as arrow-shooting traps. Oh, the possibilities... And spiders can now climb vertical walls. I'm not sure, but this might make them the #1 enemy of any player. Imagine exploring a cave system. You come across a huge room. There are spiders on the walls everywhere. Later, you come across a vertical shaft and spiders come climbing up out of it. Yipe. EDIT: Also worth mentioning is the addition of dyes for wool and sandstone. Sandstone looks a bit like sand, is made from crafting four sand in a square, and does not fall to the ground. Gerudo Fortress time, anyone? EDIT 2: List of most known changes. One of the changes is that tools are now more durable in general, and gold tools, while still not very durable at all, supposedly clear out blocks faster than diamond tools. Also, mobs apparently have updated behavior patterns. Interesting.

First off, for anyone laying their own tracks, keep in mind that you only need a booster block ever 150ish blocks for a flat track. Second, I'm looking for a place to put the spawn central hub. I'm not sure where I should put it. Suggestions welcome. I was thinking that, if Schwaltz had a large place in the castle, that'd be grand. But I don't know if he'd want a transit hub in there.

The two intersections that are a part of the current railway are complete. All you have to do is choose a direction by pushing a button, and then push a second button to launch. In other words... Go enjoy the scenery flying by as you ride the railway! If you take the rail all the way to the south, you'll end up inside my fort. Feel free to look around. Not a whole lot there, yet, but I've got something in mind for my next project. I'm now taking requests from anyone who wants to see their place connected to the railway. Just make sure you tell me where you are.

Nice stadium. I prefer ones that are a bit more open-feeling, but nonetheless, impressive. In other news, I just got finished up linking the "Southern States" directly to spawn via railway. It's not completely done, but all the tracks are there. I did have to take the long way around to spawn, though, since you apparently can't put rails on glass. Bummer. Anyway, this means the launcher for the southern rail is currently on the NORTH highway entrance from spawn. Put the cart on the obsidian, get in, push the button, and you're off. Until the intersections are done, you're going to have to switch directions manually, which just involves getting out, putting the cart in the new direction, and pushing it over the next booster block (the gold blocks). Just make sure you get in before it zooms off without you. I hope you guys appreciate the new means of travel. I've already used up close to 200 blocks of my own iron making the rails. I'll get the intersections for this length of track done soon, and then I'll probably take requests for where to bring the tracks to next. I'll also make a central hub at spawn at some point. EDIT: Oh, and if you want to stop the cart at any point, type "/brake" into the chatbox. It brings the cart to a halt, but obviously only if you're in the cart.