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If you're playing on a console or mobile device-an Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, or Android/iOS device, you'll be playing Bedrock. Which version you want will depend a little bit on your needs. There are a number of differences between Java and Bedrock editions of Minecraft, including little mechanical differences-Minecraft on Java has more combat moves, and some mobs and items have different variables-though Microsoft has made an effort in recent years to ensure that Minecraft's Bedrock and Java Editions are getting closer and closer together, rather than further apart.
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Bedrock is a complete rebuild of Minecraft that both takes care of that security issue and lets Microsoft better optimize the game for modern game console hardware. Java is also not terribly well optimized for 3D games like Minecraft, and wouldn't have run well on the first round of consoles it released on, which includes the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. If you're putting your game onto every console in existence, you probably don't want to accidentally make them all hackable-as much as console modders would love that. One is that Java has tons of security vulnerabilities a major vulnerability affected Minecraft's Java edition as recently as December 2021, in which the Log4j vulnerability allowed users to execute code on a Minecraft server just by entering text into the game's chatbox. Bedrock, meanwhile, began its life as Minecraft Pocket Edition, a version meant to run well on mobile devices, but would eventually form the base for Bedrock Edition.īedrock Edition exists for a few reasons. Minecraft was built in Java and played on Windows and Linux. When Minecraft just started to become popular in the early 2010s, there was just one platform and one version. If you're looking to get into Minecraft, you'll see people talking about these two versions, but what is the difference-and which one is best? Java vs. But the truth is that despite being on a dozen platforms, there are really just two versions: Bedrock and Java. You can play Minecraft just about anywhere-PC, consoles, and mobile devices all run Mojang's seemingly immortal game.
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