The much-anticipated latest-and-greater version of Minecraft developed by Marcus “Notch” Persson and published by Mojang hit the Internet today with v1.6 and it adds horses. It adds a lot of other things, like bug fixes, better performance, a new launcher, and a lot of other stuff—but for many players, this update is all about the horses.

As an indie-hit that makes it clear that gaming can be popular even if it’s not about guns, explosions, and horror—Minecraft has carved out a very-square shaped niche in gamer culture. With each update, Minecraft has worked upwards from an extremely simplistic beginning: build a world from 8-bit looking blocks, give players the ability to manipulate it or restrict themselves to a “survival mode,” and add in weird monsters that wreck their landscaping. Apparently the recipe for a hit.

Minecraft v1.6.1 adds numerous creatures of the equine variety: horses, donkeys, and mules.

As for horses, they’re a new mob that spawns in the surface world. They can be tamed—by jumping on their backs and trying to ride them a few times until they give up and let it happen—and ridden (with the addition of a saddle after being tamed) and even bred like other mobs in the game. Horses can also take damage, so various types of horse armor have been added.

Since horses can wander, a lead has been added to permit players to leash them to themselves or to posts. I imagine an Old West saloon or two popping up in Minecraft meme images with horses tied out front.

Donkeys and mules, on the other hand, while not quite-for-riding essentially add an extra backpack for adventurers or miners striking out into the untamed wilds, spelunking into dank caverns, or exploring abandoned mineshafts and dungeons. Probably a nice thing for people like me who tend to take our entire exploring party out across the wilderness for thousands of blocks and then set everyone down to rebuild civilization.

Oh, there’s also skeleton and zombie horses in the code. You don’t get to ride or tame those—they’re not implemented yet either so maybe a mod will make use of the code.

The other stuff

Minecraft now uses an entirely new launcher that permits players to run different instances of the game. No more need to run specialized directories and different Minecraft installs to manage separate plugin-setups. Since Minecraft comes with an extremely diverse developer and culture who produce mods left and right for the game and servers themselves can require mods this means less-technically-savvy players will find it easier to mod their install and join servers.

Also with this update performance issues as well as usability has been addressed. In fact, it now launches more swiftly, may use less memory, and takes advantage of more OpenGL commands than before. The full

Texture packs have been replaced with “resource packs,” and a tool has been included to quickly translate textures to resources so there’s less transition pains. Resource packs will permit designers and artists to include textures, sounds, and other in-game assets to completely reskin Minecraft in ways not previously available.

As for interesting items clay can now be dyed colors and carpets have been added to the game. For the longest time, builders in Minecraft have been limited to dying wool (from sheep) to create a rainbow of colors to make interesting and colorful creations with; but now hardened clay can be dyed to various different colors giving a new material to work with. And, for interior decorators, carpets will add to the décor of any room and with dyes (like wool) will brighten up any mineshaft or abode.

As for the nitty-gritty be sure to check out the changelong and the version notes for further information.

Meanwhile, I’m getting myself a horse!