Kotaku
I was lucky enough to get a chance to sit down with Lego's Mark Hanson to talk a bit about their upcoming MMO project, LEGO Universe. What we've seen and heard about it so far has been a bit limited so I was looking forward to hearing about what could be one of the most interesting and fun MMO's to come along in quite a while.
The Lego world is all about creativity and building and Lego Universe will be no different. Players will start the game by customizing their mini-figs. According to Hanson, each figure will be endlessly customizable so that you can create a character that looks just like you (or not) to inhabit your little section of bricks. Each world of the universe will have a different theme that corresponds to the different sets of Legos. For example, you will be able to visit the Pirate Planet or perhaps jet over to the Medieval Castle Planet. Lego will provide the basis for each world and then the rest is all up the the users. You can own property and build up whatever creations your mind can come up with using your stock of bricks. Bricks can be earned by a combination of randomly finding them, completing missions and even battling. The more you play, the more bricks you can earn. While there will be no actual PVP battles, players will be able to create creatures/machines and use them to battle other players creations in their quest for more bricks. And of course, in the Lego Universe no one ever bleeds or dies, they just break apart.
There will be a blueprinting system so you can take your favorite creations and pass the plans off to friends or lock it up tight so no one well ever know how you created your awesome giant machine. The best part of all though is that unlike playing with real Legos, you'll never run out of bricks or be missing that one essential piece to finish your pirate ship. Single and multiplayer building missions will be available as well Hanson notes that you can play through the game on your own, but it will be slower and take a lot longer than playing cooperatively.
The game will be mainly aimed at the 8-12 set, but much like the Star Wars games, Hanson expects that quite a few adults will be interested as well. But the main goal is to create a safe space MMO where kids can go to play comfortably without all the nonsense that many adult MMOs bring to the table. Regular chat will be a moderated system with canned questions and responses, but there will also be a free "friend list" chat that will be available to players with parental approved friend's lists.
I'm looking forward to seeing more fom this game which I think really has some incredible potential to expand the minds and creativity of the players along the lins of something like Little Big Planet where its all about user generated content. So come 2009, be ready to ditch that Second Life, put away that WOW addiction and get ready to brick build your way to the ultimate Lego Universe.
Comments
Sounds like good fun.
This just might have what it takes to close the gaping hole of disappointment in my heart, left behind a long, long time ago by Lego Island.
Here's what I'd do with this game:
First, I'd make a character that looked like me. Then I'd build a house in the shape of a giant replica of, well, me. The psychological implications of living inside oneself makes the game seem...deep.
For kids, huh? Is it odd that I REALLY want to play this?
@StevenRafael: I loved lego island! Fond childhood memories of playing with virtual legos while I could have been playing with real legos. Even at the time I felt a little silly.
It felt good to catch that criminal bastard.
Yes, but will there be a LEGO Star Wars planet?
They shouldn't be so quick to limit their target audience to the "8 to 12" range. I'm 24 years old and very excited to play this game. This is the most imaginative game idea I've seen in a while. Problem is, I can only converse of Hannah Montana and Ben 10 for so long. Maybe they could distinguish servers by age...
I've been trying not to get my hopes up with this game because I really doubt it will live up to the potential of Lego MMO. I want the freedom and player-driven universe of EVE with the infinite customization and dynamic gameplay of Sourceforts. Imagine claiming an island in the Lego Universe and building your territory from scratch, brick by brick, and defending it from invaders. Or setting up catapults outside someone else's town and blowing it to pieces with physics-based combat.
A truly open-ended Lego MMO would be absolutely amazing, but I'm not holding my breath. :/
@Tybee: I just came a little bit.
@mind in rewind: Nah, im with you on this one, and I'm probably not the only one over 20 that see's a huge amount of potential for this game if they pull it off right.
@TrevWolf: It seemed catching that criminal was pretty much the climax of that game, I remember he would break out, and you'd have to catch him again, the game was such a disapointment but at the same time, I was so young I could see past the lame gameplay and lack of customization Id hoped for, and just focused on that damn convict.
@mind in rewind: Me too, but I'm worried that they make it too kiddie, it is looking so freaking good.
Oh and if anyone tuches my blueprints prepare for the self destruct :)
Just can't wait for it. Hope it will be Free to play :(.
I used to play Lego Loco over and over, just to build my city and tickle my Lego people, and then messing with the trains... When I was older, I played it again, and say: What kind of easy game is that? Everything is free?. But I can't forget how I enjoyed playing with my Lego City.
So this is my reason to wait for Lego Universe.
@mind in rewind: I'm 28 and like you and the other commenters I'm really interested in this game. In fact, I'd hazard a guess that many 20-somethings will be interested in this game. Lego was huge in the 80s when we were kids, and I'm sure a lot of people will be curious if the game can recapture the magic of building space colonies and castles in our bedrooms.
if the game lives up to its potential I'm going to build a friggin huge castle on an island to replace the one my little brother smashed to bits when I was 7. that fucking bastard.
@TrevWolf:
It was still fun... I explored just about every corner of it...
But all I remember now is a choppy framerate, tons of lag, and disappointment from the limitations. I thought I'd be able to create ANYTHING, and take ANYTHING apart...
But of course, that wasn't the case :/
im 21, and i would love to play this. i used to make so much bomb stuff..
legos was huge. just look at how many people play the lego star wars, indiana jones, batman,ect.
Aquanauts!
It's all fun and games until someone builds a huge lego penis with an eye patch in Pirate Planet.
@StevenRafael:
You son of a bitch, take that back!
@StevenRafael: Maybe your just bitter because you couldn't catch the Brickster.
That pizza loving criminal mastermind is too good.
Sporekiller? I called it first!
@Stogies: They did say they expect adults to be interested as well.
Lego Island and the like were more like practice for Lego Star Wars and the like. They've figured out how to make games that are the pure essence of fun and quality.
I'd love to see a Lego/Nintendo team-up. It could be brilliant.
If you can actually build anything in Lego Universe that you could in real life, and have it work correctly, this is probably the best game concept ever! (admitting at the same time that my tastes might not be standard kotaku fare).
I'm just thinking that it might not be so kiddy at all. Anyone here ever checked out Lego Midstorms? The average users age for those bricks has to be in the upper twenties ;) You can construct diabolically complex machines with some electrical motors, sensors and a mindstorm brick. Add pneumatics and external power sources to that and...
I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for this one!
I LOVE Lego, despite never being able to build anything half decent with it. I do hope there won't be any subscription costs, I hate that crap.
Wow, if each world is exactly like the set it represents, thic could become some sort of omnigame. Think Battlefront on the Star Wars world, RPG in the Bionicle world (well, sorta), LOLSEAEXPLORATION in the Pirate World, FPS in the...
well.
[shop.lego.com]
Those are all the currently active sets, although I'm sure there has to be more tahn that.
Now that I think of it, the online Exo-Force flash game was an FPS, albeit a shoddy one. Maybe Lego will be the first to make a Gundam game that doesn't suck (well, giant mecha game, but I don't really know any of them, and Exo-Force is rather Gundam-like) :P
If this is on the PC, I'm going to get it, end of story.
*than
And Mars Mission, if my memory serves, could lend itself pretty well to a RTS.
If this Universe has some old school Lego "Space" (as in Outer Space) where ships like the LL924, LL928, and Galaxy Commander, then I'm in. Sure, these ships aren't as sleek as current modern Lego sets, but they were much more fun to build, IMHO. Oh, and I'd need the Mobile Rocket Transport, that was one of the best.
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