We have exciting news!  Starting today, Curse is running a Minecon 2011 Premium Sweepstakes contest!  This sweepstakes is for U.S. residents only. Our friends in the EU can still enjoy the many benefits of our premium service and we hope to have a sweepstakes available for them soon!  The sweepstakes will run from September 27th through October 25th, with winners being selected close to October 31st, 2011.  Prizes will include the following:

• Grand Prize (1 winner) - All expenses-paid trip for 2 to Minecon 2011 in Las Vegas (including airfare from the nearest major airport, a room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, a food stipend, and tickets to the convention).
• First Place (4 winners) - Intel Solid State Hard Drive
• Second Place (8 winners) - Logitech Gaming Headset
• Third Place (10 winners) - C418's Minecraft album, Volume Alpha
• Fourth Place (20 winners) - Curse T-shirt

Entering the contest is really easy - just sign up for a Curse Premium membership!   Premium users can submit a sweepstakes entry here - benefits of Premium membership include:

• Ad-free MinecraftForum experience - No annoying or intrusive ads
• Premium only beta key giveaways - Periodically, Curse gives away exclusive beta keys to only our Premium members
• Premium sweepstakes - Like the Minecon 2011 sweepstakes, Curse is constantly running Premium sweepstakes and giving away amazing loot to our premium members
• Support MinecraftForum and MinecraftWiki - support your community and help us develop new features for the websites you love

Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity - take a look!



We would like to show our appreciation to Intel for their generosity in providing the solid-state drives, and Logitech for their copious contribution of headsets.  Thanks, guys! Back to Top

Today's Digital Diamond is brought to us by longhornman99001, who has created an amazing DDR conversion in Minecraft!  Using an exceptionally clever series of pressure plates, pistons, colored wool and a real-time scoreboard, this game is certainly more challenging than it looks at first glance.  The level of engineering precision in this game is awe-inspiring - give it a look!


Digital Diamonds is an ongoing look at Minecraft-related videos that have been submitted to the Minecraft forum video section. We'll be selecting memorable videos and those resonating with the community to share with everyone on the front page. Back to Top

Jeb just tweeted a bit of welcome news to many subterranean enthusiasts - fire (or more specifically, burning effects from fire) will be significantly reduced in the coming updates, making a brief touch with lava much less of a guaranteed death sentence.  As burning on a player is the same regardless of source, this also makes fireplaces, netherrack torches and other players with flint-and-steel quite a bit less likely to accidentally kill players.

Keep an eye out as we bring you up-to-the-minute info on the latest 1.9 features! Back to Top

The 1.9 pre-release is out right now, download it here!  Notch has also said that the 1.10 release will be coming soon, with even more Adventure-related updates.  As we are going into the new update, the previous 1.8 section is now closed, and all 1.9-related discusson can be discussed here.  Enjoy!

Server hosts can update their servers here.  Also, be sure to check on and report any bugs on our Wiki!

1.9 includes:

• New mobs
  
• Villager
  
• Magma Cube
  
• Snow Golem
  
• Mooshroom
  
• Blaze
  
• New blocks
  
• Nether Bricks
  
• Nether Stairs
  
• Nether Fence
  
• Lily Pad
  
• New items
  
• Blaze Rod
  
• Ghast Tear
  
• Nether Wart
  
• Gold Nugget
  
• New generated structures
  
• Nether Ruins
  
• Can no longer jump repeatedly by holding a key
  
• Snow golems do not take fall damage

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Not long ago, we had a video contest where you, the users, voted up the best of the best.  Now, it's time to tally up the results!

• Basuverse's Bashcraft was far and away the leader of the contest, netting a staggering 3199 votes!
  
  
• CorridorDigital's hit "Last Minecart" video earned an impressive 1231 votes - they have, however, decided to pass along their victory to the next contender in line, generously donating their prize winnings!  Thanks guys!
  
  
• iFirez's "Time-Lapse Lakeside City" earned an amazing 1028 votes, securing a second place victory!
  
  
• Last but certainly not least, Salted's "How to Close a Door With Style" video earned a cool 879 votes, landing them a 3rd place victory!

As a reminder, the winners will get the following:

1st Place:

- A set of Minecraft-themed Happy Socks (Creeper, Landscape and Pig pattern) - in a special box, autographed by the one and only Notch!

- One Scroll, as seen at PAX, which comes with an Alpha key for the upcoming Mojang game, Scrolls

2nd Place:

- A set of Minecraft-themed socks, signed by Notch

3rd Place:

- One scroll, with Alpha key

Congratulations to all the contestants, who we will be contacting for prize distribution very soon.  Stay tuned for our next big contest! Back to Top

Next week, we will be starting a Curse Premium sweepstakes in which the grand prize will be an all-expenses paid trip for two to Minecon 2011 in Las Vegas!  We'll provide the winner with round-trip air fare (from the nearest major airport), lodging at the Mandalay Bay Resort (where the conference is being held), a food stipend, and tickets to the show!  That's not all - Curse will be giving away a ton of swag, as well as many other exciting things!  While we can't yet tell you about every detail, we can definitely say you'll be excited at what we've got in store!

We will be revealing details of the contest in the coming days, as well as all the exciting developments for MineCon - keep an eye out! Back to Top

A post on Reddit by user SonomaSam has a call to arms for all Minecrafters. His son is in the hospital, and is needing some cheering up, he has requested for people to make some pictures for him. We know the Minecraft community is creative, so let's see it! All images must be posted within the next 4 hours, so time is of the essence! Back to Top

Notch recently tweeted about a new mob, which appears to be an assembled snowman!  Few details were released about its nature, abilities or behavior, but it seems safe to say that it would likely spawn in snow biomes, leave snow trails and fire off snowballs.  


Additionally - we have exciting news for the forums!  In the near future, we will be implementing a new Streaming feature for the site, to allow us the ability to stream all things Minecraft.  This is where you, the community come in - we want to hear what you want streamed!  Notch doing things?  Let's Play videos?  Anything at all!  Make your suggestions in this thread, and we will compile and vote on the top suggestions, as decided by the community! Back to Top

Tal brings us a special treat today, and one that I personally never expected to see - Minecraft Parkour!  With an amazing demonstration of agility and reaction time, he clears a ready-made (if not insanely dangerous!) obstacle course with the reflexes of a cat.  Give it a look, and see how many times you find yourself saying "How did he not fall there?!"


Digital Diamonds is an ongoing look at Minecraft-related videos that have been submitted to the Minecraft forum video section. We'll be selecting memorable videos and those resonating with the community to share with everyone on the front page. Back to Top

BebopVox has uploaded his most recent episode of the hit series, Minecraft Monday!  This episode covers numerous updates from 1.8, some nifty goings-on with Mojang and more - including some very recently leaked info on a possible new Nether mob!  Sit back, relax, and enjoy! Back to Top