Tag Archives: lego universe

There’re just a few precious hours left to play LEGO Universe before the short-lived MMO closes down forever today.

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LEGO Group has announced its to close down its LEGO Universe MMO on January 31 to the lack of players. According to the firm it was a “very difficult decision to make”, but the game didn’t draw in enough members to “keep the game open.” As a thank you, all current, paying subscribers as of December 31, 2011, will get to play the game for the final month for free. The firm will also start processing any applicable refunds on February 1. You can view the entire FAQ on the matter through here. The studios in Denmark and Colorado working on the game will be shuttered as well, resulting in the loss of 115 jobs the game provided to employees. Thanks, Massively.

If you don’t already take building blocks very seriously, this new Lego Universe trailer will probably change that.

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It’s Tuesday morning in your time zone, which means it’s cocktail hour in mine. Enjoy these shorts while I slip off to the pub.

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Gazillion Entertainment president David BreviK has told Joystiq that The Lego Group has acquired the MMO Lego Universe along with most of the NetDevil developers who part of the project.

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To coincide with the release of its new Ninjago product line, the LEGO Group, Warner Brothers, and Traveller’s Tales has announced a DS game called LEGO Battles: Ninjago.

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NetDevil has released the E3 trailer for LEGO Universe, and it’s posted below.

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The subscription plan for LEGO Universe has been revealed on the MMO’s official website, and the pricing seems to be about the norm.

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Those who fancy trying their hand at battling the dark forces of Maelstrom in LEGO Universe, can now sign up for Beta testing of the MMO.

Who knows, you may get a key.

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NetDevil has released a trailer for LEGO Universe, which was shown to the public for the first time during CES this week, and it looks extremely fun.

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LEGO Universe will be shown in public for the first time this Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas.

According to Massively, there will be hands-on demos, a debut trailer and beta sign ups for the MMO, which is slated for launch during the second half of this year.

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This was a rather large week in MMOs as far as news went, and not all of it was Halloween related.

Past the break you will hear all about how Ultima Online is still going strong, get familiarized with the new patch for Aion, read up on Cryptic’s Blood Moon event via a dev chat, PvP henchmen and Guild Wars, Alganon’s delay, China’s ban on males playing females in games, and many other bits of stuff that didn’t hit the front page during the week.

Also, we hope everyone who plays MMOs enjoyed the Halloween and Fall festivities that their particular favorites hosted. Loads had celebrations, more than likely every single one of ‘em. If we forgot to mention your particular game, head on over to the list through the link ther and add it in the comments section so that we may give it its proper shout-out.

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Loads of stuff happened this week in MMO land, and some of it is posted for you after the break.

Should you choose to click on through, you will find why Turine is suing Atari, get caught up on The Green Lantern and DC Universe’s Beta status, hear about new goodies coming to EQII, lament the collapse of the bank in EVE Online, and there’s loads of other stuff along with news on a couple of MMOs you may have never even heard of.

Go on, hit the link. You know you want to.

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NetDevil has revealed that its upcoming MMO, LEGO Universe, could bridge the generation gap between parents and their children.

“I talk a lot about the visual divide between generations, and I feel it quite acutely between, say my mother and my son,” the game’s creative director, Ryan Seabury, told Eurogamer.

“His grandmother I can’t drag onto email kicking and screaming. I’ve tried three times. But he’s going to grow up with email as just part of his vocabulary – it’s not like a new concept or anything. So how are they going to communicate? How are they going to have a relevant conversation?

“I look at LEGO as a language, as an idea. She understands it: she bought it for me when I was a kid. My son likes it, I like it. So even though she may not be playing LEGO Universe, I’ll be playing LEGO Universe, he’ll be playing LEGO Universe and there’s a relevant connection there.

“Good games are fun to play, no matter what. There’s a lot of depth that we can offer that will be there. Obviously it’s family-friendly so it’s going to be in a different context to some of the more adult-themed games. But if you like LEGO and if you like playing MMOs or connecting with your friends and playing games then you’re probably going to like LEGO Universe.”

Jonathan Smith, head of Traveller’s Tales agreeed, stating that LEGO creates a world where parents can come together with their children.

“Online games and the online communications experience are very accessible and children are ready for that, immersed in that, and parents are not,” he said. “So this is where the children can actually lead the parents by the hand and show them what to do, and that can be a really powerful experience together.”

A Beta test is expected for the game in 2010. More through the link.

Lego Universe has been delayed, and will not be released this year as expected.

Lego is also unsure if the MMO will arrive in 2010.

“Within the company we have made a strategic decision within LEGO to make a delay of LEGO Universe. It will not be coming out in 2009,” said business development bossman, Mark Hansen.

“The reason is, we have a luxury right now, the business is going good. We have products launching that are not digital, the physical products, with them going so well we don’t want to take focus away from them.”

Lego Group’s annual earnings report will be released on Monday.

Talking to Massively, Lego Universe project lead Mark Hansen has said that other IPs such as Indiana and Star Wars may be included in the MMO, although if anything is to happen it’ll be as an addition to the launch game.

“I think that IPs would be great to see in the game,” he said. “It’s not for the first launch.”

There’s still no date for this, but if there was ever an online game with “promise,” here it is.

Full thing through the link.

Kotaku’s carrying the first trailer of NetDevil’s upcoming Lego Universe, the MMO based on everyone’s favourite Scandinavian toy brick.

There’s not much to go on in there aside from some on-screen art, but you do get to see what’s going on with the game’s development team, which is better than nothing.

No date as yet. Have a look.

According to this Reuters article, upcoming MMO Lego Universe will use Lego bricks themselves as in-game currency and may head to consoles after an initial PC launch.

“The more a child plays, they collect more coins and more bricks. The more you play, the more you get to build things,” said project head Mark William Hansen.

The piece adds:

Lego Universe will initially launch as a PC game, available in stores or as a download, and may eventually be available on other gaming platforms. It will operate as a pay-as-you-go subscription service at a “competitive price”, Hansen said.

Worth a read, that, especially given the game’s likely to be large beyond belief.

Developer Netdevil’s director of business development, Mark Hansen, has said that the core driving factor behind Lego getting into the MMO space with Lego Universe is to “bring alive” children’s Lego fantasies. That and making a metric truckload of money, obviously.

“What’s really unique now is that the technology is at a level where we can get more than just a single child into a single-player game,” he said. “Now we’re looking at getting a mass of children into an area to play and interact with Lego. One reason for that is simply consumer demand – kids have been asking us about playing online with Lego and their friends. They see the space and the technology – things like Club Penguin – and they want something like that. We see the uniqueness of building a massively multiplayer online game to add on value to the physical product that we have. When the child sits and plays on the floor with an army and a castle and his Lego knights – that’s what we want to bring to the MMO experience, what’s in the child’s mind. It needs to be alive, we can bring that dream alive.”

Lego Universe has no release date as yet, but a trailer’s planned for this year, apparently. The game is to feature innovations such as being able to build anything from Lego in the game then ordering the exact Lego kit online.

Wired just posted the first bits of concept art for the Lego Universe MMO, currently in development and slated for release in 2009.

According to Mark Hansen, Lego’s biz dev boss, the NetDevil-developed game is best described as “Lego Star Wars multiplied by a million.” Small, then.

Aparently you’re going to be able to make vehicles, buildings, and so on, out of Lego in the game then order the physical kits to make them and have them sent to your house.

The game will also include a traditional MMO-style plot which reflects the barebones ideas presented in the firm’s real-world brick sets: LEGO Knights vs Dragons, LEGO Sailors vs Pirates, and so on.

Perry said there was a 70 million user MMO idea out there. Say hello to your new friend. Expect to see a trailer in 2008 and the end of your life soon afterwards. No platforms for this have been revealed yet.