Java Edition Beta 1.5

Beta 1.5 added statistics and achievements, new types of rails and saplings, cobwebs and other changes and fixes.

Additions

 * Weather, including rain, snow, and thunderstorms
 * Pigs struck by a lighting bolt become zombie pigmen.
 * Creepers struck by lightning become charged and will have a much more powerful explosion.
 * Statistics and achievements, which are transferred between worlds
 * Blocks
 * Detector rail and powered rail
 * Birch and spruce saplings
 * Cobweb
 * Cannot exist in the game without inventory editing until Beta 1.8.
 * New settings in options:
 * Ability to change GUI size (Small, Normal, Large, Auto).
 * Advanced OpenGL (Occlusion Culling: doesn't render blocks that the player can't "see", helps performance in cards that support it)
 * +clicking on something in a chest will immediately move the selected item(s) into your inventory and vice-versa.

Changes

 * Birch and spruce trees now drop birch and spruce saplings, respectively.
 * Pigs that die by burning now drop cooked porkchops upon death.
 * Huge performance improvements for old and slow computers.
 * Crafting a ladder now produces 2 ladders to offset the fix of the staggered-ladder exploit.
 * Saplings can now serve as fuel in furnaces; they have the same smelting time as Sticks.
 * Dropped items in flowing water move faster than before.
 * Redstone dust can be placed on snow.
 * Wolves are more common, even in non-taiga/forest biomes.
 * Unarmed damage was increased from to.
 * Pressing will switch between input boxes.
 * The sides of grass blocks now use the same color as the top.

Fixes
15 bugs fixed


 * You are only 'on' a ladder (can climb it/fall slowly) if your lower half is in the ladder block, rather than any part of you.
 * It is no longer possible to climb with a one-block gap in a ladder, or a ladder that starts at eye level.
 * On fancy graphics, the sides of grass blocks are now biome-specific and match the shade on the top.
 * Player movement through water has been fixed to previous speed.
 * Wolves' pathfinding now has a better understanding of doors. They will go through doors most of the time, but will sometimes get stuck on the 3 pixel thickness of the door.
 * The lighting on portals and ice has been fixed when using Smooth Lighting.
 * Stairs are no longer transparent to light.
 * On SMP, the health of wolves are now synchronized between server and client, causing wolves to only whimper when low on health, opposed to all of the time.
 * Redstone in off state is red again.
 * Fixed saplings occasionally growing trees that stretch to world limit
 * Crops hit with water now drop seeds and wheat, as opposed to just wheat.
 * Moving minecarts will continue to move if the world is closed.
 * The Mojang logo is the correct size when Minecraft is maximized.
 * The exploit to make chests three or more side by side by placing a water source and placing a chest in that source has been fixed.
 * + doesn't attempt to create massive .tga screenshots, which are more than 1GB in size, anymore.
 * Sugar cane can no longer be placed on any block that is not dirt.

Gallery
Beta 1.5 Beta 1.5 Beta 1.5