Items tagged with LEGO
It doesn't matter where geeks and gamers come from; we all tend to have some of the same likes. Many gamers have a soft spot in their heart for Super Mario as gamers of a certain age probably cut their console gaming teeth in the 80s trying to defeat Super Mario Bros. enemies on the original Nintendo. Geeks and gamers also tend to have a fondness for LEGO, often starting from childhood and sticking with them into adulthood. Fans of Nintendo and LEGO should be excited to hear that the two companies have teamed up and will be producing Super Mario LEGO building kits that will launch later this year. The creation the two companies have come up with is described as neither a video game nor a traditional...
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Retro gaming is all the rage right now, and companies are trying to replicate the success Nintendo had with the NES Classic and SNES Classic. Amid all the noise, however, is a fun and interesting project that pays homage to the Commodore 64, one of the most popular home computers of all time, while combining a passion for Lego blocks. A self-proclaimed "retroholic" who goes by the name Perifractic wanted to find out if he could build a full-size working Lego Commodore 64, complete with a functioning LED, a mechanical Lego keyboard, and a Lego PCB. "When I saw a mini Commodore 64 made of Lego, I thought 'What about a full-size one'? This started me down a wormhole or discovery and creation. You...
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Lego has rolled out the only way the 99% will ever get to own the Bugatti Chiron hypercar in the form of a sweet new Lego Technic kit #42083. This is a beast of a Lego kit with 3,599 pieces that will set you back $349.99. That is most certainly not cheap, but considering the real car costs about $2.5 million, this miniature Bugatti is a true bargain. The Lego Chiron is a large kit at 1:8 scale and was developed in partnership with Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. That means it has all those little touches that make the real Chiron so special. Builders get a Technic 8-speed gearbox to match to the detailed W16 engine that has actual moving pistons inside. Even the "flappy paddles" behind the steering...
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Children are the future. Drones are the future. Apparently, kid-controlled drones are also the future, which is why Flybrix has released a programmable LEGO drone for young adventurers. There are currently two available kits: the basic ($189) and deluxe ($249). The basic kit works with an app, while the deluxe kit includes a handheld controller. The handheld controller can also be purchased separately for $80. Both kits include 56 pre-used LEGO pieces from LEGO wholesalers. This keeps the LEGO from the landfills and also lowers the overall price of the kits. The packages also include a pre-programmed circuit board with LED lights, motors, propellers, and a mini pilot figurine. Parts of the circuit...
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In what must be considered one of the most obvious, inherently logical, and overdue moves in open world gameplay, the Internet, technology, commerce, business, marketing, etc., LEGO has launched LEGO Worlds, the company's entry into the sandbox gaming space. Available through Valve's PC gaming Stream platform (Windows only, at this stage), LEGO Worlds players can procedurally generate their own landscapes using LEGO bricks that can be freely manipulated (virtual ones, of course), and they can dynamically populate their worlds with LEGO models based on real-world LEGO play sets (mini-figs, vehicles, creatures...other LEGO-branded whatnot!). The website speaks specifically of a...
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Kids have never had it so good. As if having myriad digital entertainment options in addition to marvelous physical toys such as LEGOs weren’t enough, now they get both. LEGO is coming out with Fusion kits, which consist of 200 pieces and let you build facades on a special “Fusion Capture Plate”. The facades are 16x16 bricks, and they must have a door; then, you capture your creation with the game’s free iOS or Android app, and it’s reconstructed virtually inside the game. Townspeople interact with your building and give you feedback on it. But wait, there’s more: You can build a tower for battle within a Tower Defense game. You can strategize by creating a...
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Inspired by Lego, a small team has developed TinkerBots, which are building blocks that you (er, your children) can use to create robotic toys. They’re designed to let you create whatever you want without necessarily locking you into a specific end product. The heart and brain of TinkerBots is the red cube Power Brain, which contains the battery, Bluetooth 4.0, a speaker, an Arduino microcontroller, serial bus interface, USB charging port, a gyro and ACC sensors, and the button interface. There are other cubes, including a motor, a pivot, a twister, a grabber, IR sensor, light sensor, wheels, and more, and there are plenty of “passive” building cubes, as well. You can also augment...
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In a world where browsing is increasingly moving to mobile, the desktop browser is in a strange state. It's still far too popular globally to ignore, but how is a company to make browsing on the desktop anything more than a mere utility? Leave it to Google. Google has just announced a tie-in with LEGO that'll allow you to build and imagine right in Chrome using WebGL technology. The story goes as such: a Google team in Australia developed this in 2012, and just now it's being opened up to the world. The social aspects are (naturally) powered by Google+, but you can ignore all of that if you're just keen on building. As of now, the brick selection isn't incredibly vast, but it's a great time waster...
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There are many things you could build with 11,396 Lego pieces, but for Xiaosheng Li, a 23-year-old freelance writer for Chinese websites and an avid NVIDIA fan, there was only one thing on his mind. He wanted to build a replica GeForce GTX 690 graphics card, so in July he created a digital mockup using Lego modeling software. Three months later, he had accomplished his goal. According to NVIDIA, the 23-year-old writer came up with the idea after seeing a "crude model of a competing company's graphics card" that also used Legos. Being an NVIDIA fan, he wanted to make a better looking model. It appears he succeeded, having built a realistic looking replica that measures almost 6 feet long, more...
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These days, it's not tough to find a case for your smartphone. In fact, the world is overrun with them. But try finding an official LEGO case -- it's not an easy as you may think. But for fans of those popular building bricks, Belkin has some great news. The accessory company has just announced a licensing deal with the LEGO Group, which will allow Belkin to produce a new line of cases inspired by those bricks. Starting in spring 2013, Belkin will launch a variety of smartphone cases incorporating Belkin's quality product design with LEGOs. The initial line will obviously focus on iOS products (iPhone and iPod touch, namely), but other platforms will be included in the future. And yes, if you're...
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In need of a feel-good story heading into the heart of the holiday season? Well friends, you have one, and it comes courtesy of LEGO, or "The best company in the world" as seen through the eyes of one extremely grateful 11-year-old boy who received a discontinued train set from LEGO after he tried acquiring it on his own. His name is James Groccia, and like many kids, he has a love for LEGOs. His just happens to run deeper, and by the time he was 10 years old, he had already accumulated a handful of LEGO sets, including Hero Factory, Creationary, Lunar, Limo, and others. For Groccia, LEGO sets are more than just toys. He has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, and he participates in a LEGO...
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Yes, we know you may not think LEGO relates to tech - but without LEGO we'd have no LEGO Star Wars games, right? Or MINDSTORMS. Monday was the 50th anniversary of the patenting of the LEGO.The Lego company plans to celebrate the anniversary with, among other things, a worldwide contest to discover the best kid Lego builder. Each country will have its own national champion, Lego promises, and these lucky kids will get the right to come to headquarters in Denmark to fight it out for the world title.Even Google recognized the day, revamping their logo for the anniversary, as they typically do on a special occasion. Let's not forget, LEGO MINDSTORMS turns 10 years old this year...
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