The developer behind voxel sandbox Allumeria claims Microsoft have withdrawn a DMCA takedown filed against the game over alleged copyright infringement. According to an email posted on Discord by Allumeria developer Unomelon on February 10th, the strike accused their work of using content from Minecraft without Microsoft's permission.
Finding the right biome can change the whole Minecraft experience. This guide explains how biome finders work and why beginners love them. It shows simple ways to explore faster and avoid frustration. With the right tool, rare biomes become much easier to find. The world feels smaller and full of options.
A biome finder is a tool that is useful for locating biomes in a Minecraft world. Beginners usually feel lost when exploring. A minecraft biome finder removes that stress.
These tools save time. They reduce random walking. They help players plan builds and survival routes. New players can focus on fun instead of guessing.
Biome finders work with world seeds. A seed is the code that creates a world. When the seed is known, tools can map the biomes.
This is useful for learning. As William Penn once said, “Knowledge is the treasure of a wise man.” Understanding biomes brings confidence. It also supports smarter play on servers and single-player worlds.
Biome finders pair well with minecraft hosting for mods. Mods often need specific biomes. Finding them fast keeps gameplay smooth and exciting.
Several biome finder types exist. Each one fits a different need.
In-game methods come first. Commands like /locate biome work in newer versions. They require cheats enabled. This option feels natural but has limits.
Online tools are popular. A biome minecraft finder website can scan a seed in seconds. These tools show maps with clear colors. They work for Java and Bedrock versions.
Seed-based tools focus on accuracy. They use math to recreate the world map. A bedrock biome finder is helpful for console and mobile players.
These tools shine on multiplayer worlds. They help admins plan hubs and events. They also support smooth minecraft server hosting. Better planning leads to better servers.
As Yotam Ottolenghi said, “One man's trash is another man's treasure, and the by-product from one food can be perfect for making another.” A simple seed becomes a powerful map with the right tool.
Finding a biome is easier than it looks. Follow these clear steps.
Online tools often allow zooming. Zooming helps avoid map scale confusion. Smaller scales show details. Larger scales show the big picture.
This process works for survival and creative modes. It also works on servers, if the seed is known.
Mistakes happen. Most are easy to fix.
One common issue is using the wrong version. Java and Bedrock worlds differ. Always match the tool to the version.
Another mistake involves wrong seeds. A single missing number changes everything. Double-check before searching.
Map scale causes confusion too. Large maps can hide small biomes. Zoom in to confirm details.
Some players forget server rules. Commands may be disabled. In that case, online tools are the best choice.
These fixes save time. They also prevent disappointment during long trips.
Biome finders make Minecraft more welcoming. They turn confusion into clear choices. Beginners gain control and confidence fast. With the right minecraft biome finder, exploration feels rewarding. Tools like a bedrock biome finder or biome minecraft finder support smarter play. Knowledge opens the map and invites adventure.
Hermitcraft is one of the largest Minecraft server franchises in the game's history. Since 2012, dozens of YouTube's most prolific Minecrafters have consistently banded together to put entertaining, family-friendly content out onto the Internet's bandwaves. Season Eleven of Hermitcraft began in November of 2025, and now, three months in, the results of their labors are staggering. Nearly all the Hermits have made tremendous progress on sprawling megabases that beggar the mind, and are already starting work on complex minigames or finding ways to catapult players halfway across the world.
iJevin has been a Hermit since 2013, participated in ten seasons, and is currently building a pirate-themed base. Welsknight joined Hermitcraft in 2016, has participated in eight seasons, and is currently working on a Japanese village to call his home. Both were more than happy to discuss their experiences with Hermitcraft in the past, plans for the current season, and where they see the Hermits going in the future.
What are your goals and plans for this season of Hermitcraft?
My main goal is just to be more active throughout the season than I have been in recent years. I’m planning to build a sprawling feudal Japanese castle town to serve as my main base, with an industrial area thousands of blocks away for all of my various farms.
Is there anything you're looking forward to in particular in this season? Like playing around with new Minecraft updates, or shops and minigames from other Hermits?
As with any new season, there is a lot of anticipation. Of course, things like Minecraft updates are fun to play with, but I'm much more interested in the happenings on the server: The new builds and games being built (such as TangoTek's Decked Out 3), plus all the hilarious shenanigans.
TangoTek’s Decked Out 3 will almost certainly be a highlight of the season once he finishes it. Beyond that, I’m just looking forward to all the random interactions and spontaneous shenanigans.
What are some of your favorite moments and builds from last season? Regarding this season's builds, what are you planning to do, similarly or differently?
I loved the things I built last season. From the forest to the castle, I was extremely happy with the results. Each season, I strive to do things differently, and this season is no different. The theme this year is pirates!
Despite being inactive for a good chunk of the season, I’m pretty happy with how my fantasy castle turned out in the end. I’ll be following a lot of the same design methodology for my castle this season.
Jevin, this is your tenth season of Hermitcraft. Does it feel like it's been that long? What's it like, being part of a community and seeing it evolve over the years?
Being a Hermit is fascinating. Working alongside some of the most talented Minecrafters is very interesting. At any given point, you can look around and just be floored. The counter to that is I always need to invest and reinvest my skills to keep up. Sometimes it can be stressful, but it's good stress.
Welsknight, for you its been eight seasons; does it feel that long?
No, it doesn’t. The years have flown by. It’s incredible to see how Hermitcraft has grown and evolved into such a prominent part of the greater Minecraft community, and I’m also really proud of how positive and wholesome the Hermitcraft community is despite its popularity. It’s really special.
What are your thoughts on Hermitcraft and its history? Did you ever see it becoming as popular and impactful as it's become today?
When I joined Hermitcraft all those years ago, I never imagined it would get to this point. I'm just so proud of everyone involved.
When I first started playing Minecraft, some of my largest influences as I learned how to build were GoodTimesWithScar, BdoubleO100, and Keralis. Countless other people learned how to play the game from watching Etho, or learned all about the technical side of Minecraft from people like Mumbo Jumbo or Docm77. It’s wild to me that not only am I playing on a server with those people today, but also that Hermitcraft as a collective has been such a big influence and source of inspiration to Minecraft players all over the world.
Where do you see Hermitcraft's future?
As for the future, it's hard to say. I just know I'll continue to keep putting my best foot forward.
I don’t think about that too much. I imagine we’ll be around for a long time. I just like to enjoy the ride.
Almost any game is improved when played with friends. If you don't have any, well, you can make some. That's why we jumped into some of the most popular multiplayer servers around to find the best, friendliest, and most fun of them all. Whether you want PvP action or some more friendly roleplay, there's a server on this list to suit you. After over ten years, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of public Minecraft servers to choose from. Safety, security, and content all need to be considered when you're thinking about joining in with some multiplayer fun, so we've narrowed your options down to a few safe bets. All of these Minecraft servers have strict rules, dedicated staff, and a welcoming playerbase, and we'll let you know below about age requirements or other caveats.
Read the full story on PCGamesN: Minecraft server list 2026 - the best Bedrock and Java servers
Your first few days in any survival crafting game are pure hard, manual labor. In Minecraft specifically, we know that includes punching a few trees with your bare fists and digging your way into the ground when night falls for the first time. It must get easier than this, right? That's where Minecraft farms help. Right. It may take a day or two to find your feet, but once you have a few basic materials at your disposal, you can start building the simple Minecraft farm designs we've compiled below. In no time, you'll have infinite food, a renewable iron source for armor and tools, and even an XP farm so you can enchant your gear with ease.
Read the full story on PCGamesN: Minecraft farm designs 2026 - the 10 best layouts
Minecraft remains one of the best games of all time over a decade on from its release, but spending such a long time in one game could lead to you running out of ideas. We've been there: you've already built a city, a castle, or even a Wild West outpost, so what's next? Luckily, there are plenty of unique builds, farms, and creations out there to inspire your next Minecraft project. This list includes everything from simple-but-essential base designs to epic creations of mind-blowing proportions. So, whether you're looking for Minecraft ideas that will take you a few hours or a few months to build, look no further; these builds can be copied directly or simply used to inspire your next creation.
Read the full story on PCGamesN: Minecraft ideas 2026 - tutorials for 36 inspiring creations
Part of Minecraft's charm has always been its simple, blocky, pixelated aesthetic. With more items than ever, and some retextures over the years, vanilla Minecraft looks slightly less grassroots than it did in its early days. However, that elementary appeal remains. That said, over ten years on from those early days, it can be nice to change things up a bit, and Minecraft can look absolutely incredible with the addition of texture packs and shaders. Where shaders affect things like lighting, shadow, and color, texture packs alter the actual textures of the blocks and items around you, so the options are almost endless. Here, we've compiled a list of the coolest and most beautiful texture packs for both Java and Bedrock editions for 1.21.11. Do note that, while some of these may not be completely up-to-date, they can still be used in the latest Minecraft version, they just might not run entirely as intended.
Read the full story on PCGamesN: Minecraft texture packs 2026 - Java and Bedrock resources
A collaboration between two of the biggest franchises in gaming, Fortnite and Minecraft, has been long-requested. Today, collaboration rumours have started.
Fortnite and Minecraft have become household names, and despite both franchises’ meteoric rise to prominence (and multitude of crossover events for both), they have never collaborated before. New rumours hit the Fortnite feed almost daily, and it’s about time the Mojang juggernaut Minecraft, has entered the picture. A new rumour indicates that Battle Island could be accepting new entrants with Minecraft, in what would be one of their biggest crossover events to date (this is the company that has thrown an Eminem concert in-game).
MINECRAFT x FORTNITE IS *RUMORED* TO BE IN EARLY DEVELOPMENT
— HYPEX (@HYPEX) January 14, 2026
[VIA @AdiraFNInfo] pic.twitter.com/myLzSGcEBf
The information about the potential Minecraft crossover being in early development comes from an X user (formerly Twitter), AdiraFNInfo, then reposted by the reliable Fortnite leaker HYPEX (which lent ‘credibility’ to the leak). HYPEX’s post has ‘rumoured’ emblazoned across the post, so even that account hasn’t been able to confirm if this rumour is true or not. It’s worth noting that alongside other prominent Fortnite leakers like ShiinaBR (who echoed the Minecraft rumours in their own post) on X (who has been responsible for some of the most accurate ‘leaks’ coming to Fortnite), HYPEX has “Epic Games Partner” in their bio, alongside a blue checkmark for verification.
The next confirmed season scheduled to hit Battle Island will be Chapter 7, Season 2, following the current Pacific Break season, which has been steeped in Hollywood and Tarantino additions to the Item Shop. As of these rumours, nothing has been confirmed as concrete regarding the next season. Although both accounts have been responsible for accurate leaks before, fans should take this news with a grain of salt until the collaboration is confirmed by Mojang Studios or Epic Games. Both parties will undoubtedly have a huge announcement if it’s indeed going down.
The top five games played on the PlayStation in 2025 by US players were exactly the same as in 2024, according to Circana's Player Engagement Tracker.
Any studio looking to release a new live service game in 2026 needs to take a long hard look at what the most played games in the US were last year.
The start of a new year should instil everyone with a sense of anticipation and the thought of new possibilities. But for the games industry at least, the last few years have brought more worries than excitement.
As we laid out in our end of year review, 2025 belonged to indie studios, thanks to successes like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Hollow Knight: Silksong. And in an ideal world, larger publishers would learn a thing or two from these smaller developers.
At the very least, it’d be nice to see publishers stop pinning all their hopes on live service games and becoming the next Fortnite, because it’s simply not going to happen. If you need further evidence of that, just take a look at what most people in the US were playing last year.
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella took to Bluesky to share the top five most played video games in the US, on both PlayStation and Xbox consoles, according to a survey of ‘active’ gamers.
On PlayStation, the top five were Fortnite, Call Of Duty, GTA 5, Minecraft, and Roblox. And on Xbox, it’s the exact same list, with the only difference being Roblox and Minecraft’s positions are swapped.
These are all long-running games with a heavy emphasis on multiplayer and have been consistently updated over the years – with only Call Of Duty being a traditional yearly release.
What’s especially telling is that, according to Piscatella, these lists are unchanged compared to 2024. The order’s slightly different for Xbox, but it’s still the same five games.
2025's top 5 most played games on US Xbox ranked by % of active panel that played:1 – Fortnite2 – Call of Duty3 – GTAV4 – Minecraft5 – RobloxSame list for 2024:1 – Call of Duty2 – Fortnite3 – Minecraft4 – GTAV5 – RobloxSource: Circana Player Engagement Tracker
— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-01-06T15:20:42.099Z
Fortnite is the youngest of the bunch, having launched in 2017, which means no other games, live service ones or otherwise, have managed to come close to this list’s level of popularity in the last eight years.
Knowing this, it’s hard to imagine things being any different this time next year. Call Of Duty may drop a couple of places thanks to Black Ops 7, which only launched two months ago and has been a relative flop, at least by the series’ standards.
While there are no public figures on console, SteamDB’s data shows Call Of Duty has been bleeding players for years on PC, with even 2024’s well received Black Ops 6 bucking the trend.
Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders may be the go-to multiplayer shooters for the moment but Call Of Duty clearly has a tight stranglehold on the gaming community when it’s still among the most played games in the US despite its online reputation.
This knowledge should be a turn-off for any studio hoping to break into the live service games market, but comments from Ubisoft suggest it’s unperturbed (even after multiple failures) and the big closure of The Game Awards 2025 was a new live service shooter from the Apex Legends creators called Highguard, that’s set to launch later this month.
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Minecraft has just unveiled some of the first features coming to its next game drop, and it's made me all warm and gooey inside. Clearly wanting to start 2026 by tackling the most important tasks first, Mojang has revealed an overhaul for several baby mobs in order to make them way cuter - the perfect prioritization for one of the biggest and best PC games on the planet, if you ask me. With new textures, models, and audio, if you thought Minecraft's kittens, piglets, and chicks were adorable before, you're simply not prepared for how they look now.
Read the full story on PCGamesN: Minecraft unveils new models for baby mobs, making them "chunkier, floofier, and more charming than ever"
Despite seeming close to death just a couple of months ago, we're now just days away from Hytale arriving in very early access. There's been huge buzz around the Minecraft rival for years, but since being prised from the clutches of Riot Games, the hype has reached new levels. Despite its art style, I've always been struck by how beautiful Hytale looks, but apparently, it'll look even better soon - and things will get much easier when it comes to creating and editing your own cubic kingdoms. V2 of Hytale's world generation system will "redefine the block-game genre," according to Hypixel Studios' top dog - and although it'll launch with V1, it'll offer you small glimpses of V2 worlds.
Read the full story on PCGamesN: Watch out Minecraft, Hytale says its new world generation system will "redefine the block game genre"
All Minecraft mobs are pretty adorable on their own, but the baby variants are especially cute. With the first major update of 2026, Mojang is reworking some of the most common creatures with new baby mob forms.
Exploring any Minecraft world is so much better with some cute companions who can adventure at your side or be waiting for you at your base when you return. You might be unsure which creatures actually have unique variants, though, and what needs to be done to meet them, so here are all baby mobs and how to find them in Minecraft.
Minecraft's getting marginally cuter with its next update, as it continues to pretend it isn't designed for the express purpose of teaching innocent children that in order to survive, you've sometimes got to beat some pigs and trees to death with your bare hands. Baby farm animal mobs, long just mini-mes of their adult versions with slightly different head/body size ratios are getting their own unique appearances.
Minecraft’s final update of the year is getting close, and it’s easily one of the biggest ones yet. The Mounts of Mayhem drop is introducing loads of new ways to ride around, plus plenty of chaos to go with it.
If you’re eager to start exploring everything the final drop of 2025 has to offer, you’ll likely want to know when you can expect to start playing. Here’s when the Mounts of Mayhem update will be released for Minecraft.
With younger gamers increasingly only playing free-to-play games like Fortnite a reader argues that parents should introduce them to a wider range of options.
There has been a lot of stories lately about how people are no longer buying as many new games as they used to and most are still playing games that are five years older or more. Most of these are free-to-play games like Fortnite and Minecraft and while it’s a thing that seems to be affecting everyone (because who doesn’t want free games?) it’s most common with younger gamers.
We had that terrible story this week, that said that most children would rather have in-game currency, to speed on cosmetics, than anything physical for Christmas and that is just sad to me. I’m not looking to spoil anyone’s fun, you like what you like, but I have a very hard time believing these same kids wouldn’t enjoy proper games just as much, if only they were exposed to them more.
I’ve got nothing against Fortnite, or whatever, but only playing that game, for years and years? While knowing there’s a whole world of other, completely different, games out there as well. It seems like a literal hell to me. But maybe they don’t actually know about the other games, or if they do they’re not in a position to really come across them.
The price of triple-A games increasing to £70 is bad news for everyone, but just imagine being a young kid, or even a student, and you’re faced with that kind of price tag. Try and keep up with the yearly Call Of Duty or EA Sports FC and you’d be out of money in one go.
I think this is one of the things driving the popularity of indie games at the moment, because they’re usually relatively cheap and very imaginative (if they’re not yet another roguelike or Metroidvania). But as good as indie games are they’re not everything that video games can be, and it’s very hard to find the good ones if you don’t know what you’re looking for – which someone who plays nothing but Fortnite probably won’t.
Games take so long to make nowadays that if they have a gap or just aren’t very good for a game or two, they can easily fall out of the pop culture consciousness. Halo got announced for PlayStation 5 recently and there were genuine questions about whether younger gamers even knew what Halo is – and I feel there’s a lot of games in a similar situation to that at the moment.
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If that keeps happening, then not only will younger people never know of such games but their lack of interest and support will mean those games don’t get made anymore and then it literally will be nothing but Fortnite and free-to-play games.
We’re at a point in history now where everyone has grown up with video games. They might not have ever been interested in them, but every parent today has played a video game and knows what they are – which is not how things were a few decades ago.
We’re also at a point where phones and tablets are being used as free babysitters to keep kids quiet and it ends up being all they know in terms of playing games (or watching movies, which is also worse on a phone compared to basically every other option). But a parent can introduce them to age appropriate titles, Nintendo at first but also things like the Lego games and Ratchet & Clank, depending on what formats you own.
Most kids are going to be experiencing the same thing so they’re not going to learn about the full breadth of gaming from each other and not from anywhere else really, unless they happen to come across the right kind of YouTubers. I think it’s only right that a parent doesn’t just leave it up to chance and tries to show them everything, to see what they’ll like.
It’s not a question of trying to push your likes onto your kids, as this already happens with music and movies, where parents expose their kids to what they like, intentionally or not. But with games I think it’s a bit different, there’s far less games appropriate for a young age so you have to make the effort to seek them out – it’s not like you should be showing your six-year-old Silent Hill 2.
Personally, I think it’s just good parenting. I often find the people who are not really into music or movies, and just go along with what’s popular, never really got a grounding in either from their parents. Specifically, I remember a colleague who knew almost nothing about music, to the point where it came across as weird, and he told me that his parents never really had records or the radio on in the house.
Parents have to give their children a head start with many things in life and I think art is part of that, and that definitely includes video games.
By reader Soldat
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