The newest updates for the console version of Minecraft are out this week, bringing all sorts of new features over from the PC/Mac versions of the game.

Title Update 19 brings a number of weird and wonderful additions to the game, such as new friendly (and not so friendly) NPCs, a new mode to play in, new blocks, and a slew of bugfixes, too.

Horses make their appearance on the console version of the game for the first time, allowing players to ride around on them to their heart's content, as well as horse armor for barding your mount as you charge into battle. Donkeys and mules will also spawn in the game, too.

A number of new enemies are included in the game, too – including Witches, which only spawn in special Witch Huts that you can find in the wild, or when a Villager is struck by lightning. Witches attack the player character by means of flinging splash potions at them. Also included is the frankly harrowing Wither, a boss NPC with three heads that float menacingly hither and thither and generally make much of your life a misery. Just what you always wanted!

Alongside the generally horrible Witches and Wither, the player will also face off against Bats, typically found inside caves and which roam around during the night, as well as Wither Skeletons, which, true to their name, are connected with the appearance of aforementioned horror, The Wither.

The console version of Adventure Mode has also been included, alongside numerous new blocks with all sorts of interesting features – Hoppers, Droppers, Daylight Sensors, Activator Rails and Beacons make appearances having been brought over from the computer version and allow for ever more intridcate functionality in the game, and you can now craft stained and hardened clay, leads, trapped chests, and even fireworks!

As with previous updates to the console versions of the game, there's also a brand new Tutorial World for you to explore, which not only teaches the basics of the world of Minecraft to beginners, but also includes numerous hidden areas for veterans to explore and puzzle their way through to find the Music Discs which are scattered throughout the level.

At the moment, only the Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions of Minecraft have received their updates;  testing from various international branches of Sony has delayed Playstation 3, 4 and Vita versions of the new Minecraft update a little longer.

A full listing of all the changes, fixes and additions is available at the Minecraft forum.