The Nether



The Nether (Also referred to as "The Nexus" in Notch's Blog and was previously known as Hell and The Slip) is part of the Minecraft Halloween Update. It exists in a completely different world from the normal world above. The terrain is dimly lit, full of lava streams flowing from the ceiling, sudden cliffs, and lava lakes, making it extremely dangerous to explore. The ceiling and the base of the Nether are made of bedrock. Mushrooms are also commonly found. If the player dies in The Nether, they will be transported back to the spawn point on the surface world.

Portals and Fast Travel
The portals are made by creating a 4x5 (2x3 on inside) door frame out of obsidian and then lighting the inside of the frame on fire with Flint and Steel. The corners of the frame may be left out, using only 10 obsidian. When you stand inside the portal for the first time, it will create a portal in its equivalent area of the Nether. A loading screen will appear during the change of worlds.

When re-entering the normal world, any distance covered in the Nether is multiplied by 8 times, effectively making the Nether a fast travel zone that allows for greater distances to be covered in a short amount of time in the normal world.

Portals can be walked through. In order to use them, the player has to stand still inside the purple haze. Currently, they won't transport mobs or mine carts. Attempting to go through a portal while in a mine cart will result in the player needing to restart the game to continue.

Mobs
Mobs that spawn in the main world do not appear here. Instead, there are special mobs that appear in the Nether, that have a rare chance at spawning in the normal world in front of portals.


 * Ghasts - Hostile, flying, jellyfish-like monsters which shoot fireballs and are immune to fire. It is possible for Ghasts to fly into lava falls, effectively suiciding and dropping Gunpowder. The fireballs can be shot back at the Ghasts using a fist or any tool by hitting it just before impact (shooting an arrow on the fireballs works too).


 * Zombie Pigmen - Peaceful, humanoid creatures, that turn hostile when attacked. They drop grilled pork and feathers. They carry swords which are often gold.

Blocks
Blocks can be brought to and from the main world. So far, there are three block types only found in the Nether:


 * Hellstone - Also known as Brimstone, Red Cobblestone. Burns indefinitely, the main block type forming the Nether. Setting these on fire while travelling in the Nether is a great way to save on torches.


 * Lightstone - Also known as Australium, Brittle Gold. A golden block that glows indefinitely, commonly found as stalactites on the ceiling of the Nether. These can be used as a light source underwater on the surface world, and the powder produced when it is mined is suspected to be an ingredient in making lanterns.


 * Slow Sand - Also known as Mud. A grey block resembling a creeper face. When walked on, it slows the movement speed of the player and mobs that walk across it, and sinks them down a tiny bit.

There are three blocks that spawn in both worlds. They are gravel, lava and bedrock.

Water
Water cannot be placed from buckets normally in the Nether. Instead, it generates a smoke effect and the fizz.ogg sound effect (the same used when lava destroys an object) is played. If an inventory hack is used to give the player a water block, they can place the block. The water block will behave and flow normally, and it will react with lava as usual, creating obsidian.

Because water is normally unplaceable in the Nether, if a player falls into a lava pit or otherwise catches fire, they are unable to put themselves out unless they change the difficulty to peaceful and wait.

Naming
In the original announcement, Notch mentioned "a brand new Hell world". However, he's since stated that he doesn't want to use religious names, and prefers for Minecraft to be unique. When the preview was sent out on 29 October 2010 to a couple of gaming websites, the new dimension was called the Slip. This was changed to The Nether on the day of the update release.

Trivia

 * While inside the Nether, Watches and Compasses will be unable to tell the time or direction and will flail back and forth.
 * If you exit the game while in the Nether, when you re-enter the loading screen will say "Leaving The Nether" and when you are in the world you appear at the corresponding place on Earth (eg. If you went in a cave in The Nether, exited and came back, you will be underground back at Earth.)
 * Entering or exiting the Nether while riding a mine cart will cause your character to glitch and become stuck in the ground on the other side.

Media
There are several commentaries on and in The Nether including Davidr64yt (X) and FTW.