This year's MineCon Earth, the annual convention that celebrates all things "Minecraft," brought both good and bad news for its loyal players.
On the plus side, the game's waters are getting the biggest update yet. Mojang announced the update Aquatic over the weekend, which will add tons of features and refine the game's underwater adventures. This will include explorable shipwrecks, additional creatures like dolphins, new fish species, and even new water physics. There will be a new underwater weapon, too: the trident.
In a blog post, the developer wrote: "Not only can this weapon be thrown at enemies and used in close-combat, it can also be enchanted for ace tactical advantages." The Loyalty enchantment, for example, would make the trident come back to one's direction like a boomerang. Other enchantments include the Impaler and Slipstream Dash. This will roll out in spring 2018.
The bad news is, the Super Duper Graphics Pack, which was announced back in June has been delayed. The update, which will significantly improve the visual experience and include 4K support, was meant to come out this fall. However, Mojang announced it will not be able to meet the original launch date with little explanation except that it still needs more work. Instead, the content will arrive sometime in 2018.
The same goes for the much-lauded cross-platform multiplayer compatibility for the Nintendo Switch version of "Minecraft." "Nintendo has been a great partner and we're really excited to fully bring Switch players into the fold, however, we need to make sure we deliver the best experience possible," Mojang said.
To help ease the pain of the two major delays, the game granted players access to some free marketplace content to commemorate MineCon Earth 2017. The game's mini-game server "The Hive" was also announced as its latest partner, bringing with it a new and exciting racing-based game titled "Death Run."
