travelers-tales posts

People play with Legos and also play Lego-based PC games. A lot. That is the likely reason why the Lego Group has signed a new deal today with game developer Traveller's Tales to continue their previous licensing agreement to make more Lego-based games until the year 2016. Financial terms were not disclosed

Traveller's Tales, owned by Warner Bros. Interactive, had a massive critical and sales hit with their Lego Star Wars game. Since then the developer has sold almost 50 million units of its Lego based games which also include Lego Indiana Jones and Lego Batman. Their next projects are Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars which will be released later in 2010.

Giving the LEGO video game treatment these days seems like it should be a measurement of something, but we're not entirely sure what. In any case, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 will let players re-experience the magic of the books and movies with a new LEGO twist. The trailer above covers The Chamber of Secrets, the second book in the epic story. Continue after the jump for more trailers, including a short trailer covering The Philosopher's Stone.

Download HD LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 'Year 2' Trailer (199 MB)
Download HD LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 'Year 1' Trailer (19 MB)
Download HD LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 Teaser Trailer (84 MB)

I won't lie to you: I'm a huge Batman fan. A Bat-freak, you might say. From collecting comics and watching The Animated Series ad infinitum to camping out for tickets to the midnight showing of new Bat-films (barring the Joel Schumacher travesties), if it's Batman, I'll give it a shot.

So great is my Batman fanaticism that I purposely skipped LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures in order to maintain my anticipation for LEGO Batman. The two properties may seem unrelated, but the truth is, I knew full well that despite all the Batman lore that Traveler's Tales would no doubt cram into a Gotham built brick by LEGO brick, taking in too much of the LEGO action game formula would kill Batman's fun factor quicker than a whiff of the Joker's deadly gas. As I predicted, LEGO Batman is immense fun -- if you can look past the LEGO formula's reoccurring flaws that should have been fixed after the first LEGO Star Wars.

There's a new LEGO Batman video now available for download! One of the gameplay trailers, this video shows off some of the villain gameplay you'll be doing in the game. It looks like pretty typical LEGO fare, but much like the force-inspired puzzle in LEGO Star Wars, it looks like you will be using your own villainous powers to do things such as create platforms and hypnotize policemen. You can download the trailer right off our own download section. Be warned, it's rather large, clocking in at a whopping 831 mb. It's HD footage though, which is always a bonus.

Download the E3 2008 LEGO Batman gameplay trailer on Big Download today!

In addition to unveiling the official LEGO Batman website, Traveler's Tales has also issued an E3 trailer showing Gotham City in its usual state of pandemonium. Showcased in the trailer is the player's ability to either "take on the criminal masterminds - or become one."

Characters such as Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Catwoman, Bane, Joker, Killer Croc, Penguin, and more will all be playable in the upcoming action title. The question is: do your allegiances lie with justice, or anarchy?

Traveler's Tales has opened the official site for this September's LEGO Batman video game, which will be available on all major platforms. Interested crime fighters or evildoers can view hero and villain dioramas by selecting either Batman or Joker at the main screen. Character info for most major characters is available, as is a plethora of videos and screenshots.