So the snapshots are out (and have been out for a while, actually.) I’ve asked around on the server to see what people think of them so far, but no one had actually heard of this!

I however am freakin’ excited about the stuff that’s been showcased so far. Below is an awesomely concise (or is that concisely awesome?) rundown of what to expect so far. I’ll add to it as new snapshots come out and I test them.

– Horses (and other equines). They come in several different coat and mane colors, as well as several types of markings. Also available are donkeys. Horses and donkeys can be bred to create mules. Right now they’re only available via egg. I imagine they’d appear in plains biomes.
– Horse saddle. Put on horses to ride them. Mojang says they’re temporary; they want the “pig saddles” to also be used for horses.
– Donkeys can carry chests (though right now you can’t actually open them). Mules (of course) cannot be bred.
– Hay blocks. Look like bound hay bales. Used to feed horses, or as decoration.
– Horse armor. Comes in iron, gold, diamond. Not nearly as expensive or useless as the Oblivion DLC.
– Leads (or leashes, if you prefer). You can tie mobs to stuff like fence posts so they don’t wander off. ALL mobs, even hostile ones.

– Carpets. Very thin blocks made from two wool. Now you can have carpeting without having to have 2 meter thick floors. EDIT: Carpets don’t block light at all, so they can be lit from below by redstone lamps. And it looks awesome.
– Minecarts, boats, and horses can now only be dismounted by pressing the sneak key.
– The respiration enchantment now has 3 levels. Each level makes it easier to see underwater.
– Name tags. They can only be found in underground loot chests. Used with an anvil to give it a name (for 5 xp levels). Basically a way for non-creative people to give mobs names.
– Regional mob difficulty. The longer you stick to an area, the more interesting mobs get. Their AI, loot, and item enchantments improve. Also affected by your game difficulty.
– New launcher. Allows you to easily choose a retail version or snapshot to play.
– Hardened clay block. Used by smelting a clay block. Really only for decoration at this point.
– Deserts no longer generate water lakes in their interiors, but instead only along their edges. Lava lakes generate as normal.
– When a zombie is attacked, any nearby zombies will immediately bum jump you (if they weren’t already).

This isn’t QUITE everything, but it’s the highlights. Also, no, no word whatsoever about the plugin API. Time for the magic internet word:
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Discuss.