The indie hit Minecraft has certainly been host to a lot of changes recently, with the Adventure Update not only adding Creative Mode, but mixing up Survival Mode by adding a lot of features and flair (read our Minecraft 1.8 Update Guide here). While the wait for the second half of the Minecraft Adventure Update (1.9) is expected to be at least a month, Notch has revealed the next mob, and it’s a little snowy – and a little silly. Behold the wonders of the Snow Golem.
Why the name may sound like a dangerous mob, the Snow Golem is a silly-looking snowman with stick arms, and he’ll be fighting on your side for the duration of his frosty life. Notably, this mob will be a craftable entity, meaning if you’ve got enough resources, you can make an army of Snow Golems to do your bidding! But what exactly do they do, you ask? Well, they… they throw snowballs – which do no damage – at your enemies. But I think the lesson here is that they try, and you should respect that.
Click the below image to see the Snow Golem in all its goofy-grinning glory:
And boy, do we ever mean goofy.
The Snow Golems tend to cause a hectic distraction for creepers and hostile mobs, hitting them with snowballs and causing the mobs to attack the golems, as opposed to you. As much as we love a well-crafted snowman, we’d rather see a creeper blow it up then take on the explosion ourselves, which may be one of the main purpose of the odd-looking mob: to be a pure, random, cannon-fodder decoy.
The mob will follow the player, though it will reportedly start to melt if it leaves the snow biome for too long. It will also leave behind a layer of snow in its tracks which you can shovel up to make some snowballs out of, which seems to the main theme for the mob. No word yet on if you get epic snowball battles going online with other players, but we imagine it might put a strain on the servers.
Notch created the creature while he was ‘bored with AWS’, which we imagine is referring to the toolkit for Eclipse, a java development program. If getting bored at work means a brand new mob, we won’t mind if Notch gets a little hazy-eyed more often.
What do you think about the Snow Golem? Will you be crafting up some winter warriors in the next Minecraft update?
-
Follow me on Twitter @Makelevi
Source: Notch
Electronic Arts Discontinues Online Pass Program 
PlayStation 4 Slogan Revealed; Next-Gen Xbox Name Possibly Confirmed 
Lionhead Job Listings Hint at ‘Fable 4′ ‘Reimagining’ the Franchise 
‘Deadpool’ Box Art Answers the Question: What Does ‘Awesome’ Look Like? 
Loading ...
I was positive this was a joke when I saw it on Twitter. So glad it’s not.
I want to throw snowballs too
Ummm… You can throw snowballs, just shovel up some snow and right click while holding them.
I don’t know what to put as a comment, but I would like to be noticed.
Hello everyone, how are you?
I guess a decoy is true but I wish it did not melt
notch needs to focuse on better mobs like the dragon though. and he needs to allow you to tame it!
Lol, as much as I like Minecraft, this is silly. It doesn’t fit in, and just plainly seems ridiculous. I mean, really Notch? that’s what you spent your time on?
Why not make a short list of a new friendly mob and let the fans pick one?
Like:
1 – Hawk that will hunt and guide you home.
2 – Since dogs are in, how about cats, or rabbits or smaller rodents, look at a list of most popular domesticated house animals (pets).
3 – Hell, improve the dog’s intelligence first, and make it capable of feeding itself too, with loss of loyalty if not fed over time.
4 – …….
I’m sure there are far better suggestions than mine, but the point is, a living snowman seems a bit too silly.
(and the dragon is silly as well, the Minecraft universe is unique, not some wizard and dragon universe)
While I do thing the Snow Golem is funny and cool, you are right in what you’re saying.
Most of the mods we’ve seen not only come out terribly slow (one person working on them, really Mojang?) and most are implementing features we ALREADY CAN GET through user-made mods that do so, so much more than the stock game.
Use that cashflow and hire some of these people.
It seems to me that you’re making minecraft sound more serious and less fun than it actually is. Yes, I agree that more effective mobs would be a nice addition, although I rather like the snowman mob, because it gives players something else to do if they’re bored and can’t think of much to do at the time. Also, cows and have ‘derp’ eyes and there are golden apples, so I don’t think the snowman is too ridiculous.
still waiting for the option to make your own painting designs. and I think it would be perfect to left click on them and they stand still. also, they should make a winter-based lantern that doesn’t melt snow, so that way, snowmen won’t be melted by its light.