Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Guide
Welcome to our Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition guide, breaking down the many activities newbies can experience in this consistently surprising and creative sandbox. The indie sensation needs no introduction — but we’ll provide one anyway. Long ago, a group of insane Swedes put together an open-world mining and building game that caught the attention of the entire internet. And we mean the entire internet, you can’t escape Minecraft, and for those of you without the pleasure of a PC, you can finally get your hands on the only console version of Minecraft there is or ever will be.
The new version comes with a few bells-and-whistles, like a tutorial mode and split-screen co-op. If cooperative mining is something you’re into, check out James, Mitch, Zach and guests on Game Front’s premier feature The Minecraft Show on Youtube.
For more X-box 360 mining goodness, take a trip to our Minecraft achievements and cheats page.
Check back next week after release for constant updates!
Tutorial Mode
Start the tutorial mode and wait for the world to spawn. Be ready to build and survive.
This tutorial will teach you the basics of Minecraft and survival mode. Pay close attention to the on-screen messages at the beginning which will help you learn the controls.
One of the first and most basic things you will need to do is chop down a tree using your hands. The blocks of wood will drop and appear in your inventory.
Next, become familiar with the inventory and crafting interfaces. You will be using them throughout the game.
You can explore the spawn area of the tutorial to find other helpful tips, such as using the furnace.
Night will be coming soon, so you will need to have a shelter. The tutorial will provide an abandoned shelter. However, it is incomplete. Collect resources to complete it. It is suggested you create walls, a door, lighting, and some windows.
Once you have collected your resources, find the Miner’s shelter which is located close to the spawn. Once you find it, you have completed the first part of the tutorial. You can stay in your safe shelter, or continue to explore the area.
If you choose to continue, you can move through the shelter to a village on the other side. The village is home to a few animals, such as sheep. You can collect resources from the animals, such as wool.
From the village, you can see a castle in the distance. Head towards the castle and find the minecart system. Follow it to the castle’s entrance.
Continue forward into the castle and explore. This castle is an example of the endless creative and intricate buildings and designs that you can make in while playing Minecraft.
Climb to a high spot on the castle and take a look around. You can see the vast randomly generated world that is Minecraft. There are endless possibilities, so long as you survive the creatures of the night. Exit the tutorial and begin your journey.
Biomes
Difficulties
Biomes in Minecraft can often cause great difficulties to a player who is trying to survive. When beginning a new game, you may spawn in a biome which can make surviving your first night extremely difficult. If you spawn in a biome void of important resources, such as trees, you should travel towards a biome with an abundance of trees and other resources. When creating a shelter, you should consider the traits of all of the biomes, and build accordingly.
Forest
The forest biome is a very common biome. It is filled with grass and contains many trees. There are many resources available in this biome.
Islands
Islands are not an actual biome, but they are located in a secluded water biome called the ocean. Islands can be found in the ocean biome, but they are secluded with limited resources. They may cause problems to players who spawn on them.
Desert
The desert biome is a dry and sandy biome. You can find plant life such as cacti, and it is filled with dunes. There is not much rain in the desert, but water can be found scattered throughout the area. There are very little resources available.
Plains
The plains biome is a common biome covered in grass. There are no trees in this biome, and water can be found easily. Animals are often found in this biome.
Swamp
The swamp biome is a very wet biome with much water throughout the area. Swamps contain an abundance of vine covered trees.
Jungle
The jungle biome is covered in very large, and tall, trees. Much plant life can be found, including climbable vines, and ferns. Much water can be found in this wet biome, as well as caves. This biome is commonly found adjacent to desert biomes.
Tundra
The tundra is an icy cold biome covered in snow. Water has a layer of slippery ice over it, and it snows frequently, covering blocks in a blanket of snow. Plant life is less common in this biome due to the harsh conditions.
Taiga
The taiga biome is another cold biome. There is much ice and snow, just like the tundra biome. Unlike the tundra biome, taiga contains a vast amount of pine trees.
Forest Hills
The hills biome is a very hilly biome with harsh geography and incredible scenery. There are many lakes, waterfalls, and cliffs. Due to the geography of this biome, you must be cautious of deadly falls.
Mushroom
The mushroom biome is void of grass and trees. It is, however, filled with hills and extremely large mushrooms. This mushroom-filled biome is very rare in Minecraft.
Exploration
Importance
Minecraft is all about exploration. Exploring the area in Minecraft will surely bring about a fantastic Minecraft experience. Throughout your exploration, you will make discoveries, find resources, explore biomes, and meet many friendly and deadly creatures.
Chunks
Each Minecraft world is randomly generated using many segments called chunks. Each chunk contains over 65,000 blocks. There are millions of blocks to explore in your Minecraft world, so it is easy to get lost in the jaw-dropping environments. Be sure to craft a map and keep it in your inventory. Unfortunately, it is important to keep in mind that the Xbox 360 edition of Minecraft will limit each world to 1,000 by 1,000 blocks, severely cutting down world sizes.
Seeds
Even though each world is randomly generated, they are generated using something called seeds. The random generation of a Minecraft world is based upon its seed value. Each world has a different value, but two worlds with the same seed value will be exactly the same. You may enter a custom seed upon creating your world to decide the world’s generation, however, the spawn may be random.
Dimensions
If the normal world isn’t enough for you, you should explore the other dimensions of Minecraft. During your exploration, you can find yourself in another dimension such as the Nether, the upcoming Sky dimension, and The End. The End and the Nether can be reached by creating portals. In The End, you may come across Minecraft’s boss mob, the Ender Dragon.
Crafting
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft will be almost identical to the PC version. This does not apply to crafting, however. This version of Minecraft introduces a new, more efficient, way to craft objects. This version includes a new interface where you can browse all of the different objects you can create. All of the objects are sorted into groups which are very easy to navigate, including structures, tools, weapons, food, armor, mechanisms, transport, and decorations. In this version, you can still craft any object that is available in the standard PC edition.
Important Objects
There are three essential objects which are important to crafting in Minecraft. Early in the game, you may want to create a crafting table. Crafting tables give you the ability to craft more intricate objects using the 3×3 grid. While crafting in your inventory, you only have access to a 2×2 grid which limits the amount of objects you can create. Your inventory does not have much room, so you may want to increase its capacity. You can do this by crafting a chest, which will hold materials that you place inside the chest. You can combine two chests for double the space. Furnaces are used for smelting. Smelting is useful for a few different purposes such as melting ingots, and cooking food.
Structures
Structures: When building a shelter you will craft structures often. Structures can be used to build many different things, such as houses and mines. You can craft many different structures used for different purposes, such as doors, stairs, beds, windows, and chests.
Tools
Tools are very important, and help you play the game more efficiently. The main tools you should be familiar with are the axe, pickaxe, hoe, shovel, and sword. Swords are very helpful for attacking nearby enemies. The axe is helpful for cutting down wooden objects such as trees. The hoe is used for planting, and the shovel is used for digging in the dirt. The pickaxe is very helpful for mining. Some resources, such as coal, cannot be gathered unless it is mined using a pickaxe. Tools become stronger and more efficient depending on what they are made out of. You can use wood, stone, iron, gold, and diamond to make tools. Diamond tools are strong and last a very long time, while wooden tools are weak and do not last very long.
Weapons and Armor
Weapons and armor can be crafted for attacking and defending. Just like tools, weapons and armor become more durable depending on what they are made out of. You can create different types of armor, such as leather, gold, chainmail, iron, and diamond armor. Armor absorbs damage and is destroyed after it is worn out. While tools can double as a weapon, there are some tools which are specifically used for attacking enemies or helpless creatures. You can craft bow and arrows from strings, sticks, feathers, and flint, or you can create a sword made from wood, stone, ingots, or diamond.
Survival
Difficulty Levels
When playing Minecraft’s survival mode, you have the choice between four difficulties. An earlier version of Minecraft will be released on Xbox 360, so hunger will not be a problem until it is updated. You can play on peaceful, where there are no mobs or hunger, and you do not need to heal yourself. Next is easy, where mobs do very little damage and are very easy to defeat, but you have to heal yourself and eat to avoid hunger. On normal difficulty, enemies are not easy to defeat, and they do a considerable amount of damage to you. Eating is important because your hunger will increase as you play the game. If you want a real challenge, you can play on hard mode. Mobs are extremely powerful, and zombies can break through wooden doors. You should keep food with you at all times because your hunger will eventually kill you.
Biome
Location is very important to your survival. Gaining a general understanding of the biomes can help you use them to your advantage. Some biomes allow you to see vast distances to keep an eye out for enemies but lack resources, while others are close to many resources but are difficult to defend.
Shelter
One of the first things you will do in Minecraft is build a shelter. Throughout your time surviving, you should continue to build your shelter to fit your needs. Start building a shelter early in the game to defend yourself from mobs, store important items, and sleep. A well-built shelter in a good location is a major factor in your survival.
Mining
Mining is a great way to collect resources for crafting and building. You will need to mine to collect resources such as gold, diamond, iron, and coal. You may need to dig deep into the ground to find certain resources such as diamond, while coal and stone can be found on the surface.
Other Resources
Not all resources in Minecraft need to be mined out of the ground. There are other resources that are important such as food, lava, water, and animals. Animals can be found wandering around in certain biomes, and can give you resources such as wool, pork, leather, and eggs. You can farm and breed animals easily in Minecraft by using resources such as wheat. You can use wheat to attract animals, and then feed the animals to breed them. Some animals do not provide resources, but they offer companionship. After feeding a wolf bones, it will follow you as a companion. Ocelots will also follow you if you hold raw fish and move slowly towards the ocelot. When the ocelot approaches you, stop and let it eat the raw fish. It will change color and follow you. Ocelots, along with companionship, offer the perk of scaring off creepers.
Defense
To survive in Minecraft you will need to be defensive. It is recommended that you build fencing to keep out enemies, and stay in a shelter during the night. Some say the best defense is a good offense, which can also be true in Minecraft. You can fend off enemies with tools, such as a shovel, or weapons such as a sword or a bow and arrow. When attacking an enemy head-on, it is recommended that you wear armor.
Mobs
There are different types of mobs in Minecraft. Mobs are moving entities that can walk around, just like you. Mobs can be friendly, like animals, and give you resources. Some are friendly until they are threatened by you, in which case they will attack. Other mobs simply want to attack you, such as creepers, spiders, and skeletons. It is important to defend yourself, and your shelter, from hostile mobs.
Day Cycle
Just like in real life, there is a cycle between night and day. In the Minecraft world, this cycle repeats every twenty minutes. The cycle starts with a one and a half minute sunrise, followed by a peaceful ten minute day. During the one and a half minute time period in which the sun is setting, it is recommended to find shelter. After sunset everything will be dark, and hostile mobs will roam the world. The nighttime is the only time in which you can use a bed. A bed will allow you to skip the deadly night, and skip straight to daytime, so long as you are safe from monsters.
Building
Creativity
Minecraft, as well as a survival game, can be seen as an artistic canvas. Many players play Minecraft to show their creative side, and construct impressive projects such as buildings, cities, statues, replicas, pixel art, or even mechanical creations using redstone circuitry. It is almost certain that Xbox 360 players out there will want to build their own masterpieces. After all, the endless creative possibilities are one of the reasons why Minecraft is so popular today.
Building Tips
Although you may already have an idea of what you want to build, getting started may not be that easy. You have to worry about biomes, mobs, and limited resources that will surely affect the way you construct your project. Since Creative mode is not yet ready for the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft, you will have to improvise. You will want to avoid creepers, or other mobs, that may destroy your creations at night. To do this, simply change the difficulty to peaceful. While on this difficulty, hostile mobs will not spawn. However, you still have to worry about resources and biomes. You will want to build your creation in a place where the biome will not affect your project. For example, while building it in the tundra, your project may become covered in a layer of snow which can be difficult to remove. Before starting your project, carefully consider the traits of each biome and decide where you want to build. Limited resources will definitely be a problem at first. In the middle of building your project, you may run out of blocks to use. You will want to have materials stockpiled so you can continue to build without stopping. Rare materials, such as diamond, may be more difficult to find than common materials such as stone, so it is not recommended to use vast amounts of rare resources. You can keep your materials neatly organized by using chests for storage.
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