Minecraft Update 1.5, Redstone, Gets First Details

MineCon, the annual convention dedicated to all things Minecraft, was just held over the weekend and the next patch for the game, update 1.5, received some big details, including an actual name – Redstone.

Minecraft is a true global and multi-platform phenomenon, as the indie game once made only by Markus “Notch” Persson, is now a best seller across the PC, Xbox 360, and on mobile platforms, allowing Persson to create his own studio – Mojang – and organize special themed conventions called MineCon.

The latest edition of MineCon was just held at Disneyworld in Paris and saw Mojang studio lead Jens Bergensten detail the next big patch for Minecraft – update 1.5.

The expansion is actually called Redstone and, as you can tell by the name, focuses on the redstone ore, which will now have all sorts of properties, including a variable signal strength, as well as new capacitor block.

The new block will behave just like a repeater, with one input and one output, according to Gamespot, and will only produce a full output signal when the input level is high enough.

This new feature can be used to make weighted pressure plates, for example, that can output different signals depending on how much pressure they sense, or detector rails that have a stronger output when a mine craft is filled, thereby allowing players to create all sorts of systems that manage the actual carts.

Speaking of carts, they’ll also be improved by update 1.5, as new mods that use pipes to transport items around are going to be added, as well as a special track to unload freeloaders like pigs, new systems for filling and emptying chests, and the option to link carts together, creating miniature trains.

Other improvements for update 1.5 include a daylight detector, fireworks for New Year’s Eve, or a nether-based ore that can be used to make capacitors.

As always, various bugs will be squashed by the update and lots of other improvements might be added to the patch ahead of its release in January 2013.