Finally, on the first of August 2012 one of the biggest Minecraft updates ever was released. Minecraft 1.3.1 brings a load of new features and items to the game which has had dramatic effects on how the player plays the game.Multilayer and single-player have been combined so you can now do single-player commands. There are also some new commands which can allow you to see your seed and another one to set a default game mode.
If you are new to Minecraft and don't want to start the game with no items you can add a bonus chest which will provide you with some of the basics.
As far as items are concerned there are now sandstone stairs and different coloured wooden slabs for the 4 different types of wood, wooden logs can now be places sideways and the texture of gravel has changed. Other changes to blocks include new Ender Chests, new tripwires and leavers can now be placed on roofs.
Green Emeralds can now be mined. They can then be used as a trading tool with villagers. For example, you could right click on a villager and then swap 1 emerald for 4 bits of red-stone dust.
There are some glitches still in this version which I have noticed so hopefully by the next update they will be fixed. Also, coming in the next update is 'Adventure mode' (I honestly don't know what that is).
In conclusion though, there are loads more features in Minecraft 1.3.1 which I still need to discover and I'm confident that this new update will satisfy Minecraft users.