Mojang has revealed that Minecraft's patch 1.3 will finally be arriving on August 1, 2012. A week before the release of the patch, a "release candidate" will be given out that contains the exact contents of patch 1.3. This is to grant server admins and modders time to prepare for the newest version of Minecraft. In addition to revealing an official release date, Mojang announced a meaty list of changes that will be arriving with the patch. Players can expect a wide array of bug fixes and features once they boot up the game after the update. Perhaps, the biggest alteration lies within a fundamental change to the game engine. Minecraft post 1.3, now makes single-player a layer on top of the game's multi-player. This change was implemented as a means to allow for single additions of mods, and allowing fixes for the game to span across one single game entity. Basically, they no longer have to patch single-player and multi-player. This merger has also created the possibility for your sinlge-player worlds to be shared with friends who are on the same local network. Here are some of the main gameplay additions Mojang implemented: Added emeralds, emerald ore, and a trading system that allows to purchase from villagers Books can now be written in, and players can leave stories for other people Updated chat screen New terrain features Players can begin with a "bonus chest" to help start the game faster Tripwire has been added, so gamers can create new traps and contraptions New stairs New half-slabs Magic orbs are gained from mining and smelting Added a basic version of Adventure Mode These are just a sampling of the many additions and tweaks Mojang will be making to the game. Currently, I'm already planning an epic trilogy of fantasy novels to write in the game world. If you find them however, be sure to watch out for the traps I've set up with the new Tripwires. I felt I should warn you. Unfortunately, Mojang also revealed that there would be a downside to the newest additions. Since single-player is no longer independent of multi-player, and runs on top of a background server, the game now requires a greater amount of resources to run. Mojang assures fans that they are attempting to optimize rendering, but this will not arrive until Minecraft 1.4. Several other issues have been pushed to the later patch including the issues with lighting causing black regions in the terrain, and modding API. What do you think of patch 1.3? Are you still playing on PC or are you one of the millions now mining away on XBLA? Let us know in the comments below! Source: Mojang