lego posts

More LEGO Star Wars 3 trailers! Much like the last ones, they portray the goofy, childlike humor of the game while not really showing any gameplay. Good to give your kid a laugh, perhaps, but we didn't find them particularly funny. The depict, in order: Yoda crash-landing, a bunch of stormtroopers buffing up before a battle, and Anakin trying to take out a couple of troop transports. They are completely tame, and are even accompanied by the plastic clinks of normal LEGOs.

Download HD LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars 'Yoda Backstroke' Trailer
Download HD LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars 'Troopers Working Out' Trailer
Download HD LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars 'Vehicles Reveal' Trailer
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This trailer for LEGO Star Wars 3 has it all. And by "it all," we actually mean a humorous skit involving a poor trooper losing his arm and fighting against enemy droids. It's not really much in terms of explaining the game, but it certainly gets across the humor of the franchise. So while we aren't that interested, those that want a quick laugh with some safe humor will love this trailer.

Download LEGO Star Wars 3 'Storm Trooper Delimbing' Trailer
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Big Download just got off the phone with Gazillion Entertainment's PR head who gave us more info about what's happening with one of its MMO game studios, the Denver-based NetDevil. The rep told us that Lego Group, the owners of the Lego toy brand, are now taking over full development responsbilities for Lego Universe, the family friendly MMO that NetDevil developed for the toy company and launched in October 2010.

As a result of this move, Lego Group is buying both the Lego Universe development team and the NetDevil offices that the team currently works in (Financial terms were not disclosed). The other NetDevil employees will be moving to another office somewhere nearby the original offices. The remaining Netdevil team members will continue to develop the browser-based online action-RPG Fortune Online, which was just announced a few weeks ago and is now in closed beta testing. The Gazillion PR rep would not comment on the status of NetDevil's long-in-development space-based MMO Jumpgate Evolution which is currently involved in a lawsuit with Codemasters.

There are layoffs associated with this transition but at the time of this post the Gazillion PR rep did not have specific numbers available although he did state the numbers would be small. The PR rep also sent this quote from Gazillion president David Brevik:

"The transition of members of our team to the LEGO Group allows us to conclude the work-for-hire segment of NetDevil's business and lets us expand our internally-published, free-to-play game businesses based on our own properties and licensed properties. Gazillion is wholly focused on developing, operating, and publishing the next generation of browser-delivered games We're proud of the LEGO Universe game that our team built, and we are certain that it has a bright future."

Update: We have now been told by Gazillion's PR head that less than a quarter of Lego Universe's team members were let go as a result of this move. However he did not have specific numbers. He also told us that about 40 NetDevil team members are currently working on Fortune Online.

Not city blocks, but LEGO blocks. This trailer for LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is everything we expect from a launch trailer: cinematics interspersed with shots of the game while not actually giving away information on how it is played. However, it does show off the most important part of this game. The battlefield sections are the most intriguing to us, especially give the fusion of strategy and action mechanics. There's also plenty of shots of the characters from the TV show, although they never actually talk beyond simple vocalizations.

Download LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars Launch Trailer
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The LEGO games are known for their child-friendly humor, and LEGO Star Wars 3 isn't breaking this tradition. We know this because of this trailer, which shows off all of the voice actors from the TV show doing the things they do best: voice acting. If you were worried about your favorite character's voices being replaced, then this will come as a relief. Just don't expect the tone to be the same! This is a LEGO game, after all.

Download LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars 'Voice Overs' Trailer
Check out all LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars downloads

Over two weeks before the game officially ships to stores, the long awaited family friendly MMO game Lego Universe is now available to play for a select group of gamers. These are the folks who pre-ordered the game via Lego-specific outlets such as the game's official web site, Lego stores and the Legoland amusement park.

Originally the plan was for those specific pre-orders to have access to the game's servers on October 12 but those plans have now been moved up by a few days. The NetDevil-developed game will be made available for everyone else when it ships to "regular" retail stores on October 26.

Even as developer Netdevil gets ready to finish up work on the family-themed MMO Lego Universe, The Lego Group is working with another developer to release a digital trading card game based on the MMO. Today The Lego Group announced that the trading card game will be released in 2011, after the Lego Universe MMO will be released on October 26.

The trading card game will be created by Dire Wolf Digital, the recently launched developer based in Denver and made up of veterans of Sony Online's various digital trading card games. No other details on the Lego Universe trading card title were announced.

It's safe to say that the child in all of us absolutely loves LEGOs. We certainly adore the little plastic bricks and their capacity to bring to life our imaginations. LEGO Universe aims to scratch this fix with an MMO set in a unique world, and we're mildly excited for it. However, these new trailers show just how dedicated the team is to building an authentic and entertaining LEGO experience.

The first video, above, details the role of a LUP group, or LEGO Universe Partner. These folks act as GMs and construct the world that players will be exploring. These groups are made of volunteers that love LEGOs, and this particular video shows the efforts of one Victoria, British Columbia group. The other two videos, after the cut, detail the relatively standard elements of pets and factions within the game.

This is the playable demo for LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, giving players an early look at the game before it release in North America on June 29th. Continue after the jump for system requirements.

Download LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 Demo (780 MB)
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NetDevil's Jumpgate Evolution may not have a solid release date yet but the developer's other MMO title, the family friendly Lego Universe, just got a release date. In fact it has two of them. At E3 2010 it was announced that the game will launch for "Founders" on October 12 with everyone else getting their chance two weeks later on October 26.

In this case "Founders" are people who purchase the game via official Lego stores, the Lego web site and the Legoland theme park. The game will be made available to other retail outlets via Warner Bros. Interactive on October 26.