Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Square Enix's Sleeping Dogs

Ladies and Gentlemen: Are you prepared for yet another Grand Theft Auto clone? Well regardless whether you've enthusiastically answered "yes" or a slow sigh of "no," Sleeping Dogs takes the open-world formula and wraps it in some spicy Cantonese flavor.

Yes, this game takes place in the gritty, neon streets of a fictional Hong Kong. The city itself boils of clashing triads and a less-than effective police force. Well, that is until the Hong Kong Police Department receives its newest undercover agent.

Explosions. Guns. Kung Fu. 

Players take the role of Wei Shen, a Hong Kong born badass whose police work in the United States has brought him back to his native city. He's tasked by his superiors to infiltrate the Sun On Yee, one of the dangerous triad groups hellbent on city-control. Wei starts off as a foot soldier, first set out for simpler tasks such as extorting local market-owners. Before long, Wei climbs the gang-hierarchy and treads the fine line between  his duties as undercover cop and a ruthless triad of the Sun On Yee.

Sleeping Dog's plot doesn't do anything new. Players are given their good guys, their bad guys, some betrayals, motives for revenge and anything else you'd find in a typical action adventure. The beauty of Sleeping Dogs, however, revolves around the immersion felt from Hong Kong and its inhabitants.

You don't mess with Mrs. Chu

Sleeping Dogs manages to depict Hong Kong as a vibrant mesh of tradition and modernity. While some areas are spacious and luxurious with cloud-breaking skyscrapers, other neighborhoods feature cramped apartments and humble markets and food stands. The streets are also littered with Chinese-accented npcs.

The voice-acting for this open-world game is top notch. The mix of Cantonese and English create a superb layer of immersion for the fictional city. Market vendors shout out for passerby's to try their wares and npcs often have conversations with one another. However, I was disappointed that many of the major characters spoke strictly in English. While English is actually a major language in Hong Kong, it would have been nice to have more characters like the hot-headed Mrs. Chu who conversed only in Cantonese. (Check out the video to see the real Hong Kong's influence on the Sleeping Dogs)

In regards to gameplay, the focus of Sleeping Dogs stems from its driving, free-running, and strong combat. The driving mechanic is handled as well as other open world games, but it's the arcade feel that makes driving so much fun. In the drivers seat, players are able to use a sort of sideways slam on enemy vehicles that damages them and eventually puts the receiving  vehicle out of commission. This arcade-P.I.T. maneuver  adds to the intensity of driving sequences. Dodging oncoming traffic while taking out droves of motorcycle-riding baddies with just your car produces plenty of "Oh, hell yeah!" moments.

Free-running is a quirky addition that's fun to use and sometimes a spectacle to behold, especially when running through the neon-streets and falling through thin glass. Free-running is typically used for chase sequences. A bad guy may have stolen some cash from you and it is your duty to quickly follow him and eventually take him down. The parkour system, unfortunately, is not perfect. There were times I was hellbent on chasing down a baddie only to have an ankle-high structure impede the flow of running and slow me down or sometimes even bring me to a complete stop. These hiccups aside, Sleeping Dogs' parkour is versatile enough for a lot of fun sequences.

"FINISH HIM!" 

Okay, one of the biggest driving forces of Sleeping Dogs is its combat. Borrowing heavily from Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, the fighting mechanics works on a similar system of strikes and counters. So, the combat is extremely enjoyable. Wei Shen doesn't flow as well as the caped crusader, but his kung fu efforts produce a hefty and brutal barrage that's fun to use and fun to watch. Combat is also further stylized through automatic slow motion moments that emphasize strong finishing attacks.

Sleeping Dogs also introduces environmental kills. Outnumbered and weaponless? No problem. Players can grapple enemies, drag them to dumpsters, hooks, car trunks or even swordfish snouts, and dispose of them accordingly. Environmental kills help players even the odds and just plainly make you feel like a total badass. Through a simple-rpg level system, players may upgrade Wei's arsenal, making him more resistant to damage, stacking more "oomph" behind a roundhouse kick, or overall expanding his kung fu repertoire.

Though a rarity within the Sleeping Dogs realm, this open-world beat 'em up game does feature gun-play. It's not the most polished shooting system. The guns are powerful, but rarely precise. And with a press of one button, Wei may take cover. From here, he can fire blindly, pop out to take pot shots, or even vault over objects for a cinematic, slow-motion moment. Shooting is rather the clunkiest feature compared to the other aspects of Sleeping Dogs, but these rare gun-toting moments are filled enough action to satisfy until the next gun fight.

The gritty aura of Hong Kong's criminal underworld make exploring Square Enix's fictional Cantonese city worth while. Though Sleeping Dogs doesn't add anything new to the open-world genre, it does provide a fun romp with its parkour mechanics, arcade style of driving, and Batman-like combat. Not to mention, the excellent voice-acting further immerses this gangster-driven tale of revenge and justice. Overall, Sleeping Dogs is a great game.

Sleeping Dogs gets a 4/5.

So, buy it, rent it, or even borrow it. Stay tuned for Subculture!

The Collector's Preview: DOA 5

Fans of fighting games and scantily clad digital-women rejoice for the September 25 release of Team Ninja's Dead or Alive 5 collector's edition.

The DOA 5 collector's edition, at least as of right now, is only available for pre-order through Gamestop for a cool $79.99.

Now, what could possibly justify purchasing the collector's edition in this economic maelstrom?

 Bikini costumes for all the female characters!

No, this isn't that volleyball game, it's actually DOA 5...

Collector's looking to pick up this enhanced addition will be able to access "Premium Swimsuit costumes for the full cast of playable female characters."

And as a pre-order bonus, players will be treated to 3 exclusive bunny/angel swimsuits.

Yes, apparently the DOA 5 community is still riddled with fourteen-year-old boys longing for that digital-loving that will never arrive.

Essential gameplay mechanics?

While I do appreciate the ... "aesthetics" of the DOA 5's female cast, I can't help but feel this addition of swimsuits as tacked for a quick and easy thrill.

Luckily, bikinis are not the only nuance of  the collector's edition. Those looking forward to this upgraded version will receive the game along with a hardcover art book, the soundtrack for DOA 5, and a poster.

Goodies! 

Not to mention, all these goodies are snug within a premium steel casing.

For more information on Dead or Alive 5 and its new features, visit the official Team Ninja website.

Also, feel free to check out below IGN's first episode covering the development process of DOA 5!

Stay tuned for Subculture!

SWTOR for FREE

 Star Wars: The Old Republic (or SWTOR) will soon be free for the entire PC galaxy. 


An updated cover photo from the official Old Republic Facebook read, "New Free-to-Play Option Coming This Fall." 


The official SWTOR FAQ states:

With the Free-to-Play option, no subscription will be required! You will be able to download and play Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ all the way up to level 50 for free, with gameplay restrictions that limit access to advanced features and group content. However, we will be offering the option to purchase services, items, and content to customize the gameplay experience. These purchases will be made available via the new Cartel Market and will allow you to choose the way that you want to enjoy the game.

Dark side vs. Light side

The shift to the Free-to-play (f2p) model will incorporate rewards and bonuses for current subscribers in the form of Cartel Coins. These coins, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, will be used to purchase in-game content. The extent of purchasable content, however, is still very limited. 

Past subscribers will be rewarded with 150 Cartel Coins for each month of subscription. Current subscribers, and along with those who buy the game beginning August 7 for $14.99 will be rewarded 200 cartel coins from now until the f2p model is adapted.

Continuing to pay for a subscription will allow players full access to SWTOR's game content.  While the story content allows full access for non-subscribers, those who choose the free-to-play model will have limited access to content such as character creations choices, warzones, flashpoints, and space missions according to this Bioware chart.


Those interested in furthering their intel on Star Wars: The Old Republic's f2p transition may visit its official website.

Stay tuned for Subculture!

Back in Blacklist

Hell, Yeah! Sam Fisher is back for his sixth appearance in Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Set for release in the Spring of 2013, Fisher will sleuth through digital battlefields on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. 


Blacklist picks up after the events of Conviction. With Third Echelon in shambles, the U.S. president tasks Fisher as the head of a new government agency, according to August edition of Game Informer. Sam, along with a new crew of specialists, including everyone's favorite behind-the-scenes tactical voice, Anna Grimsdottir, is in charge of keeping America just a bit safer through the new, improved and aptly-named Fourth Echelon.


The GI article notes that the members of Fourth Echelon will serve a bigger purpose than simply being the receiving end of Sam's headset. Given different circumstances, players can call in a nuance of favors from the Fourth Echelon team. Those gamers who wish to leave a trail of bloodied bodies may call in an air-strike, while stealth-players may take the quieter route and ask the team to hack a system of electrical grids.

Fourth Echelon. 

Like Splinter Cell: Conviction, Blacklist will expand on the mobility and lethality of Sam Fisher. The top-tier U.S agent can now seamlessly flow through combat and movement with the greatest ease. Ubisoft's Creative Director Maxime Béland called Sam's deadly talent "killing in motion" at the Blacklist E3 demo showcase. "After mastering Sam's abilities, you can move efficiently through the environment while taking out targets, quickly and fluidly" Béland added.


Here's a delicious demo of what we can expect next year (instant action begins around the two-minute mark):

According to the article, there are promises of multiplayer. Specifically, "Spies versus Mercs is returning." Detail about this mode and other multiplayer modes, however, are scarce. Ubisoft, like Sam's shift to a more versatile, and mobile individual, also plans to streamline the main menu.

Back in Blacklist

The SMI, or Strategic Mission Interface, will "tie together all the elements of the game. 'We have this concept of the SMI and blurring the lines between co-op and adversarial . . . We're not making three games that are separate.'"

Following the nuances of the series' progressions since the very first Splinter Cell, I am, as always with a new release from this particular franchise, excitied. However, even at the top of my excitement, I am saddened to say Michael Ironside will not reprise his role as Sam Fisher. The gruff, sardonic yet sarcastic tone Ironside has establish will be replaced by Eric Johnson, which according to imdb.com he played Steve Gordon of the 2007 Flash Gordon T.V. series. I think it's too early to tell whether we see an entirely new Sam Fisher or a re-imagining of the character, but I still feel Splinter Cell has damaged some of its aesthetics.

If your mug isn't filled with enough Splinter Cell, feel free to visit the official Splinter cell: Blacklist website.

Stay tuned for Subculture!

Ain't no Rest for the Wicked Weekend

From now until 1 p.m. on Sunday, gamers can taste the mayhem-infused, cel-shaded, action-RPG of Borderlands for free courtesy of Steam.

Left out of the loop? This slice of game follows four scavengers on a trail for the biggest dump of treasure on Pandora. That's it...


The fun isn't to be found in the story, however. It's in the guns and the 4-player co-op. In regards to gameplay, Borderlands is a shooter with rpg elements. Think components of  Halo and Diablo thrown into a blender with that one game no one played, Cel-Damage, and a pint of vodka. 

Ya shoot bandits, complete quests, upgrade your character and collect mounds and mounds of dangerous, gun powdered-infested LOOT!

Luckily for those who enjoyed, or will enjoy 'cause of this free-pass weekend, Borderlands is on a Steam sale until July 30 for $4.99. And the game of the year edition is only $7.99 for those feeling really adventurous.


Also, players who already own Borderlands can get a 10% discount, this weekend only, on a pre-purchase for the upcoming sequel Borderlands 2. 

So, try it. Buy it. And stay tuned for Subculture! 

Skyrim's 1.7 update is on Steam-beta mode

Steam users, according to a Bethesda Blog post today, can download the 1.7 beta update for Skyrim.  
No date has been given yet for an official release, so PS3 owners and Xbox players will have to wait  through the beta-phase. 

"Someone stole your sweetroll?" 

Unlike some previous updates, which deliciously included several new finishing animations, this brand new patch fixes general bugs and some crashing issues. Also, mounted combat will finally be available for PS3 Skyrim players once the 1.7 patch is finally released.

The fixes are intended for all systems except otherwise specified:

• General memory and stability optimizations
• Fixed crash related to new water shaders
• Fixed rare crash related to dragon landings
• Fixed logic error with loading screens from add-ons (Xbox 360)
• Using vampiric grip and swimming no longer prevents swimming animation from playing afterwards
• Improved recognition with Kinect voice commands (Xbox 360)
• Kinect-enabled dragon language shouts for French, German, Italian and Spanish work properly (Xbox 360)
• Fixed issue with Dawnguard Kinect-enabled dragon shouts for French, German, Italian and Spanish (Xbox 360)

• Fixed issue with Dawnguard Kinect-enabled dragon shouts for French, German, Italian and Spanish (Xbox 360)

Bethesda offers a word of warning for those who choose to participate in the beta: If you opt into the Beta, be sure to back up your saved games or simply be careful not to overwrite your existing saves. If you decide to opt out of the beta program, your old saves will still work with the current release of Skyrim on Steam (v 1.6).

For more information on all things Bethesda, readers may glance, creep or comb the pages of Bethesda's unofficial blog.

Stay tuned for Subculture! 

Return of The Dragon of Dojima 2012

Kazuma Kiryu, the infamous Dragon of Dojima, is slated to first hit Japanese PS3s this December for the fifth-installment of the GTA-like Yakuza video game series. In regards to an American release, Sega has yet to determine a release date.

The Crew: Kazuma. Shinada. Saejima. Akiyama. Haruka. 

Yakuza 5 will feature, coincidentally, five playable protagonist according to Eurogamer.net. Including Kazuma Kiryu, players can look forward to exploring the intertwining stories of Tiaga Saejima, Shun Akiyama (two usable characters from the previous game), Tatsuo Shinada (a brand new character who's an ex-baseball player with some serious debt) and Kazuma's adopted daughter Haruka (who is a playable for the very first time in the series). Long-time-fans Yakuza looking to kick butt as Haruka will  surely be disappointed, though. 

Eurogamer.net reported players will not "be able to fight as her. Haruka won't battle street thugs . . . She will have a different sort of battle . . . Presumably it will tie into her new role as a pop-star in training." Also, Haruka will not be able to go into the hostess bars. Yeah, a total bummer, I know. But seeing as Sega's Yakuza 4 could produce something as weird as the massage parlor mini-game (click link if you dare and are alone), I can see how it is safe to keep a young girl away from the adult venues of Kamarucho.

Kamurocho, baby!

But, with new characters, comes new locations. For the past four games, the fictional city of Kamurocho has been the heart of Yakuza. Once released, players will also be able to explore Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka. I doubt the majority of these new locales are as expansive as Kamurocho, which in the past games have included dozens of side-quests, mini-games, hostess bars, and the infamous Don Quijote super store. Nonetheless, new environments seem like a great nuance for an already established series. 

So, you think you can play Yakuza 5?

Every iteration of Yakuza has witnessed an expansion of the series' mini-games playlist. In addition to claw machines, video slots, poker, roulette, blackjack, and karaoke, Yakuza 5 can now add dancing and hunting to that list of extra in-game activities. The former mini-game strictly revolves around Haruka and her path as a television pop-star. From released screenshots, the dancing segments look rhythm-based much like the Karaoke mini-game, while the hunting portion, all according to a shogungamer.com article,  "will sport a rather realistic look" and may only be played as Taiga Saejima. 

Boom! Deershot! 

If that's not enough mini-game for you, Kazuma will not only return with an entirely new storyline but with a brand new occupation: taxi driver. PSU.com states: 

Kiryu-san, who has starred in the series since its inception, will have to ferry passengers around while obeying various instructions given to him. These include prioritizing things such as speed and safety, as well as following a certain vehicle.

 . . . Yakuza 5 will also allow gamers to take part in street races with the gang known as Devil Killer. Here, Kiryu-san will have to race a rival and come out on top, using techniques such as drifting and fast cornering to stay one step ahead. Heat Action will also come into play, letting you quickly pull ahead of your opponent.

Among the big changes, the game's graphics seem to be be recycled but Eurogamer.net reported  Yakuza 5 as the front-runner for a new game engine. The character models do look cleaner and more detailed  than the previous two Yakuza games, but it's still early to dissect. Feel free to browse the short Yakuza 5 gallery courtesy of  computerandvideogames.com and decide for yourself. 

Meanwhile, Sega will digitally re-release the first two Yakuza games for the PS3 later this year. Yakuza 1 and 2 will be remastered in HD, but according to digitaltrends.com a U.S. release "depends on how willing Sega is to localize the game. . .  a great deal of work will need to be done to accommodate the U.S. editions of both games." For those unfamiliar to the series, first of all a thanks and super kudos to you for reading this far into the article, the first Yakuza game was dubbed in English while the rest of the series followed in a subbed-fashion. Thus, we have a possible turn off point for the mainstream PS3 community. 

Hopefully, America and the rest of the world can get their hands on a subbed copy of Yakuza 5 soon after the Japan release. 

But until then, stay tuned for Subculture as we aim to fill your mug with news, reviews and news!  

Silence of the Colossus

Silence is golden. Such a statement is at its absolute artistic pinnacle when addressing Shadow of the Colossus. For those unfamiliar with SotC, the nameless hero travels to forbidden lands in search of some mystical means to revive a woman who was sacrificed. Arriving at a sacred temple, a disembodied voice tells the wanderer he must destroy the 16 colossi for such an endeavor to be plausible. The player is then thrown into the world of the dark Goliaths. Very little back story is actually given, yet so much emotional narrative is constantly unearthed through the adventure. Though the game accomplishes much of this feat through the combat driven story of the unamed hero's plight against the Colossi, it is the use of ambiance and silence that, I feel, immerses and creates deeper meanings between this game and its players.

Save.

Video games typically work through several senses. Disregarding touch, players are left with their sight and their ability to hear. These senses define our experience in these digital worlds. If a video game villain yells obscenities as he or she is stomping a mudhole in my character, I react swiftly with a few obscenities of my own and a fully loaded assault rifle. If I witness the protagonist's comic-sidekick slip on a banana peel and tumble to their death off a cliff into a gorge filled with shark-porcupines, I'd probably laugh.

But, to what effect do audio and visual cues elicit proper and genuine emotion from players?

Movie goers see this in action all the time. In a typical horror scenario, lights frantically flicker on and off in a small room, the music slowly swells to a dirge-like low hum, and, when we least expect it, the killer finally leaps out with a lead pipe accompanied by an ear-shattering scream; thus, the conventional cheap scare. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing faulty or fallible with a cheap scare. I vividly remember, even today, coming across the shotgun for the first time in Bioshock; I walked my character over and picked up the brand new gun, only to have the room suddenly drenched in darkness, several voices booming around me, and one of the biggest scares that haunted the rest my Bioshock playthrough.

Survive.

Horror games are like like Rock n' Roll in regards to ambiance; loud crashes of distortion and wild leads work well in a controlled frenzy. Shadow of the Colossus, on the other hand, follows a subtle approach in building its atmosphere.While the combat between the protagonist and the colossi remain a massive, and brutish physical element throughout the entire game, the mute, unspoken nature between these foes manifests the blurred individualism they share.


The killing strike to each colossus end in the same way: as the swift sword makes its final pierce into the Herculean monoliths, the beasts cry one last stifled groan of pain and topple toward the cold ground beneath them.
At the beginning of the battles, I can't help but feel some animosity toward the creatures. However, their silent falls remind me that both the wanderer and the colossi are essentially fighting for survival. Nowhere in the entirety of Shadow of the Colossus is a choice given. Either the wanderer fights or he dies; this is the bitter truth that lies within the forbidden lands. It is the same fate that intertwines the lives of the sixteen giants to the no-named hero. Different in body, the towering entities are, however, of the same essence as the protagonist. (Sorry, but spoilers ahead. Click here to see the ending. )

The unspoken bond of these beings are physically linked when the wanderer finally defeats the last of the colossi.  Destroying the beasts, as fate would have it, embedded their souls into the wanderer. Upon returning to the disembodied voice, players learn that all the colossi were once a single being. Its power was perceived as a thundering danger and thus later split into the 16 gargantuan figures. Now, that power resides in the wandering warrior. It transforms him into a shadowy monolith, a colossus.

What the wanderer sought to destroy has literally overtaken him.The blood they spilled and the silence they shared culminated to this moment. Even in the final minutes of transformation, nothing was spoken between the colossi and the wander. The silent soldier had sacrificed his life. The consequence was understood in silence.

Consequence.

Shadow of the Colossus was crafted perfectly in its execution. The absence of reluctance in the wanderer's journey from man to beast echoed the resiliency of past video game heroes such as Link, Gordon Freeman, and Jack from Bioshock. These latter icons, like the wanderer, bore their burdens in silence. And upon completion of their quests, they remained in silence, becoming even stronger for it.


In Shadow of the Colossus, the fate of the wanderer weaves a melancholic tone for the endgame as his new form is cast down and cursed. Though the woman he set to save has been revived, the silent protagonist has no knowledge whether his endeavors actually paid off. My heart sank at the realization of his fate and how powerful SotC carried itself. He lived, survived, and thrived in silence, never once complaining and never questioning what he fights for. 


Never in another game have I found silence to speak such volumes....

We're Expendable...'Cause We Have Several Lives Left!

Everyone's favorite Hollywood badasses are not only back for a second round on the big screen, but those lovable mercenaries are hitting the digital street in their own game: The Expendables 2: The Video Game.

Real creative on the title, I know. But going from the trailer, the game resembles it's movie-parent in regards to action, guns,explosions, brutality, and a whole lot more Terry Crews. Check out the newly released trailer (actual gameplay begins around 0:50).

Like many action-oriented titles, the plot for this game seems to take a back seat. "Four Expendables," according to the Lionsgate Youtube channel are hired to rescue an extremely valuable, kidnapped Chinese Billionaire. It's all business, until all hell breaks loose . . . in a massive fireball that never lets up as the relentless action concludes where the new movie begins."  

The Expendables 2: The Video Game, still according to Lionsgate, will allow players to use four of The Expendables. Of the all-star ensemble, Barney (Sylvester Stallone), Gunner ( Dolph Lundgren), Caesar (Terry Crews), and Yin Yang (Jet Li) are the mercenaries gamers can employ to kick virtual ass. Each character differs from one another in regards to weapon arsenal; Barney carries an assault rifle, Caesar wields the infamous automatic shotgun, Gunner uses a sniper, and Yin Yang brandishes throwing knives and an SMG. 

Jul. 31 for PS3.  Aug. 17 for Xbox 360

Whether the roster is restricted to only those four Expendables or perhaps the game contains unlockable characters has yet to be determined. Hopefully, we will all have a chance to select Chuck Norris, only to have his fists as his only weapon and his natural beard armor deflect all bullets and projectiles.

The Expendables 2, as far as gameplay, is a top-down action shooter. Like Hunter: The Reckoning, up to four players share the same screen, gunning, lobbing grenades, and from the looks of it even close-quarters-combating (sorry for the neologism). A Kotaku article states the game also features a "rudimentary cover system" and signature kills for each mercenary. 

We're Expendable!

Admittedly, as a giant fan of the first Expendables flick, this game's attempt to bridge a piece of video game canon with the brand new movie. Being a gamer, I'm a bit apprehensive given the reputation of movie-based video games. However speculations tend to go, nothing should be assumed until the final product is released. Gamers and action-junkies can look forward to getting their mercenary gloves on The Expendables 2: The Video Game on July 31 for the PS3 and, along with the movie, August 17 for the Xbox 360 and the PC.

Minecraft Update for 360 Edition

That's right! Minecraft for the Xbox 360 has just gotten it's first major update!
For those of you that also play Minecraft on PC, the 360 edition has been update to the 1.7.2 version. For those of you that don't play Minecraft on PC, here is a list of what the update has.

Features:

• Added Pistons & Sticky Pistons.
• Added Stackable fences.
• Added Shears – required to get wool from sheep, and to collect leaf blocks.
• TNT needs Flint and Steel or Redstone to detonate.
• Redstone wire will now connect to a repeater.
• New textures for Cobblestone and Brick.
• Added Character Skin Selector to allow players to choose their skin from the default skins, or from Downloadable Content skin packs.
• Added lighting improvements (brought forward from 1.8.2 update) and snow & rain improvements.
• Added a save file cache to improve the speed of displaying the saves list.
• Added ban list functionality to allow players to self-ban from levels they feel contain offensive content.
• Added a ban list section to the How To Play menus.
• Added an option for the host to limit online games to only players in their friends list (no friends of friends).
• Added a seed display to the level load screen (requires existing levels to be saved out again to add the display).
• Changed the tooltip display setting to in-game tooltip display, so that tooltips always display in menus.
• Added the crosshair to the list of things affected by the opacity slider.
• On using the quickselect bar, the opacity of the quickselect, tooltips, splitscreen gamertag display, and crosshair will be set to 80, and will fade back down to the user opacity setting after 6 seconds of no quickselect bar use.
• Added some more Tips & Trivia to the loading/saving screen display.

Tutorial World changes & additions: 

• Added optional tutorial for Pistons and Redstone.
• Added a self-building bridge to the castle using Pistons.
• Added some sugar cane, cactii and clay to the world.
• Added a few other things for players to discover.

Fixes:

• Fix for only the host being shown the pop-up when any player attempts to place lava near the spawn point.
• Fixed tooltip for Flint and Steel.
• Fix for Note blocks not showing notes.
• Fix for Leaderboard reads taking too long.
• Fix to block players re-entering a level they have been kicked from, until the level is restarted.
• Fix to stop players being able to join a game when they are not a friend of any player in the game.
• Fix for Netherracks re-appearing after being mined.
• Fix for a rare crash on entering the Nether.
• Fix for attacking enemies at a different level not damaging them.
• Fixed a problem causing some save games not to load.
• Removed Herobrine.

The most exciting thing, of course, is the addition of Pistons, and at least for me that fact that you can change your character skin (Tuxedo Steve all the time!) hopefully we will see some cool Character skins on the XBL Marketplace soon.

The list of feature is taken from mojang.com, and you can also look at this by going to Help & Options on the Minceraft main menu, then clicking How to Play, and then What's New.