14 DAY TRIAL // Mojang is rolling out yet another major update for Minecraft. Version 1.6.1 is accompanied by the usual mile-long changelog which also happens to mention something PPC users will not appreciate.
To spare you the suspense (before we delve into the new features in this update), Mojang says “if you have a PowerPC based computer and/or Java 5 installed, a warning will be shown at the main menu.”
It isn’t clear whether this release is the one to drop PPC gamers, or the one after it, as Mojang articulates it in future tense: “Support for Java 5 and PowerPC users will be dropped.”
However, since they’ve taken the liberty to mention this change in the 1.6.1 release notes, it’s safe to assume PPC is no longer supported as of now.
For those who aren’t playing Minecraft on PowerPC Macs, a major new addition they’ll notice is the resource pack system which replaces the texture pack system.
A conversion tool is available here to convert texture packs into resource packs. Its contents: textures, sounds, fonts (partially), end credit, end poem, and splash text.
The internal chat system has been updated to translate messages properly, as well as to modularize messages.
In order to allow the client to use the correct translation according to their language settings, server messages can now be sent by their code-defined name. Preventing leakage into further messages, the color can be specifically designated now.
The Launcher has increased performance and stability and allows LWJGL to be updated (fixing bugs). It supports multiple versions/installs, it’s more user-friendly, and offers a new (more secure) authentication system.
The rest of the changes can be found in the official changelog here. To download the latest version of Minecraft for Mac OS X, see the link below.