Minecraft Redstone Update

Mojang has been enjoying much success as of late, with Minecraft sales skyrocketing across all platforms. It's been some time since the last major update, but Mojang has just announced that Minecraft's long-coming 1.5 Update will arrive this March.

The Minecraft 1.5 update, which is more well-known as the Redstone Update, has been in the works ever since it was discussed at MineCon. As the update's title implies, Mojang has focused on expanding redstone-based items and qualities. Items like the redstone comparator will be used for making more complex redstone circuits, as it can output varying levels of signal strength based on what it is comparing. Other new items, like the daylight sensor, will output a signal based on whether or not there is daylight.

Aside from focusing on some major redstone-centric updates, 1.5 will also include several new items. Hoppers will help gamers collect items, as any item dropped near the hopper will be absorbed into its funnel and, if a chest is below it, the item will be automatically placed in the chest. This means people using water as a way of collecting items no longer have to manually put items in the chest, saving much time and effort in the collection process, and helping further automate systems. Then there's the dropper (it has the same appearance as a dispenser), which drops items in front of itself when powered by redstone. Likewise, if a chest is placed in front of the dropper, the item will be transferred to this chest.

Minecraft Hopper

The update also introduces the Nether Quarts Ore item, which will be used in crafting redstone comparators, droppers and nether quartz blocks. This is the first ore item to be made available in the nether, which finally makes going to the scream-filled world more worthwhile once gamers have explored nether fortresses and collected glowstone. Plenty of Minecart updates will also be included in the update, such as adding hopper functionality and redstone-based Activator Rails.

With several months between the announcement of the Redstone Update and the planned release, fans have been waiting on these features for some time now. As always, we'll have a Game Rant Guide ready when the update is released.

What do you think, Ranters? Are you excited for Minecraft's Redstone Update?

Minecraft Update 1.5 will be available in March, 2013.

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Source: Joystiq