The official Mojang blog brings word of the upcoming 1.3 Update for the PC version of Minecraft, which is now scheduled for an August 1st 2012 launch.

Chief among the changes is that the single-player mode has now been converted to operate in the same way as the multiplayer mode, which Mojang explains as it being "turned into a shell on top of a background server", but seasoned PC gamers will likely be more familiar with the term "listen server".

This change is expected to make it easier for the developers to fix bugs and improve the game going forward, but has meant that the long-promised modding API has been pushed back until the next major update. The conversion also means that single-player will be more system intensive, as the player's computer is now acting as both a server and a client while playing, but on the plus side, it opens the door to sharing your single-player creations with other players on your local LAN.

In terms of new content, the update promises a swag of new goodies, including emeralds and emerald ore, a trading system to buy and sell items from NPC villagers, tripwires as another device trigger, and "new stairs, new half-slabs, cocoa plants and tweaked dispensers, leaves, cauldrons, levers, gravel, pressure plates, cookies, buckets, boats, minecarts, ice, furnaces". Phew!