Minecraft release news used to be a monthly staple, but it’s been a little while since the last one. 1.1 hit in January, and now 1.2 is ready for public consumption. The latest update brings a host of new features, big and small.

Here’s the full list of updates:

• New jungle biome
• Added ocelots
• Added cats
• Added iron golems
• New AI for mobs
• Tame wolves can have puppies
• Villagers will have children if there is room in their village
• New map height limit (256 instead of 128)
• New items and blocks
• Doors have been updated so that double-doors work better with redstone
• Added rare drops for mobs
• Many other minor tweaks and fixes

The new world height is a big deal, allowing players twice as much vertical space to realize their architectural aspirations. The enemies artificial intelligence have again been tweaked, but new iron golem NPCs can be used to fend off the smarter mobs. Random and rare loot will also now randomly drop from killed enemies, and most terrifyingly, zombies will now break down doors to forcibly enter buildings.

[Update] YouTube user Gererikb whipped up a video showing off a host of the new features in Minecraft 1.2 in Rube Goldberb-like fashion.

Source: Mojang