The Minecraft holiday update, update 1.11, introduces wings to the console versions of the game, along with new mobs and additional content for The End dimension.

Earlier this week, developer Mojang released the Minecraft Fallout Mashup DLC pack, turning the console versions of the game into an "irradiated wasteland." Although that DLC pack was mostly cosmetic (it adds a few new characters, but the biggest draw is its character skins) and costs money, Mojang has now announced another update for the console versions of Minecraft which is free and a bit more practical.

Called update 1.10, Mojang says that this adds "a wide range of Minecraft goodness" to the console versions of the game. According to the changelog, "significant" changes have been made to the game's The End dimension with End Cities and End Ships being introduced. End Cities are mostly made out of end stone bricks and purpur blocks and can even be just a lone tower, while End Ships have been described as pirate-ship like by PC and Mac players.

Additionally, Minecraft update 1.10 adds several new items including Dragon's Breath, the Water Splash Potion, Tipped Arrow, and Elytra. Elytra is a worn item found in End Cities that allows the player to fly when equipped as a chestplate item. The update also introduces an Elytra tutorial which should be handy for those who may struggle to get to grips with it.

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Other new features are a couple of new status effects (Levitation and Luck), new blocks (including End Gateway, Chorus Flower and Dragon Head) and several new mobs (Shulker, Stray Skeleton, Husk Zombie, Skeleton Trap Horses). For all that it adds, however, this free update does not seem quite as significant as the Minecraft Exploration update which hit the PC and Mac versions of the game last month.

Minecraft's Exploration update added llamas, new locations, new NPCs, and more. The PC and Mac versions also got another small update this week, which added rocket-powered Elytra flight and several other minor changes. So, although update 1.10 is a massive step forward in getting the console versions more in line with those playing on computers, there are still big steps between them.

Hopefully, though, Mojang will continue to work to get the two versions on level footing. According to a premature social media posting, Minecraft with cross-platform play across PC and consoles is in the works, after the Minecraft Friendly Update enabled cross-play across mobile devices. So, the developer has plenty of reasons to make sure that the console and computer versions have access to all of the same blocks, characters, and locations.

Minecraft is available now on Android and iOS devices, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.