This week saw the launch of the last great piece of DLC before the next generation kicks off with BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea, available on Xbox Live since Tuesday. As such, we thought it was high... Thanks to IGN, Microsoft have confirmed that there will be a Halo 4 GOTY edition coming out in October. A Microsoft spokesperson has confirmed the Game of the Year Edition and provided the following statement... That’s right folks, you may remember us telling you all about the armour in the new DLC pack for the frankly brilliant Halo 4 a few weeks ago. Well, it’s dropping into the Marketplace’s... The upcoming expansion for 343 Industries’ popular shooter is about to get some fancy new wardrobe items. If you’re bored with staring at the same old Spartan helmet, you’ll be happy... Comic Cons are great. All sorts of useful and interesting information comes from what most would consider to be a realm of sweaty geekery. This week, at the San Diego Comic-Con, Xbox revealed a partnership...
343 Industries are doing the expo circuit again. This time, they’re at the Rooster Teeth Expo in Texas and it’s there they’ve announced a new set of DLC for Halo 4: The Champions Bundle. I’m going to say it, the Halo trailer at this year’s E3 excited me beyond belief, even though it was more than obvious that 343 Industries would be offering us another Halo for the next generation... It’s amazing what you can build with LEGO if you have the imagination, even the most junior LEGO apprentice may replicate an everyday item but it takes a true LEGO master to produce the kind of models... As described earlier in the year, Halo’s matchmaking and weapons system for multiplayer is getting an overhaul. The good news is, it’s happened and live right now. Part of the update is to... Every time we boot into one of those austere blemishes of mediocrity known as a ‘first person shooter multiplayer’, we are affronted with the glories of the sniper rifle.
Call of Duty, Battlefield,... When Halo 4 was released the gaming community rejoiced knowing that 343 Industries had done a great job taking over the Halo franchise, those big shoes didn’t seem so ominous after all. It’s Halo week and to celebrate there’s a whole host of things going on in the competitive world of Halo. It’s not all about new maps though, finally we see the return of TrueSkill. Halo week kicked off yesterday with the release of the Castle Map Pack and the return of a visible TrueSkill. The week concludes on Friday with a DLC sale. Check out the full detail of the week below: Halo 4 developer 343 Industries suggests that there could be room for micro-payment items in its franchise in the future. Speaking to Digital Spy, Dan Ayoud said: “I think Halo certainly has the... Halo Waypoint have blogged about the new Castle Map Pack that is to be released for Halo 4 on the 8th of April. The pack will contain three all-new maps, two new Castle DLC matchmaking playlists and what...
Bioshock is this week’s number one seller on the Xbox 360. The other two releases, Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel and Tiger Wood PGA Tour 14 cam in at 5 & 8 respectivley. The top 20 as... Gears of War: Judgment is the new number one in this weeks charts. Tomb Raider, knocked down to second, enjoyed three weeks at the top which is the longest any game has managed this year. 343 Industries has announced at PAX East this weekend that Halo 4 is getting a new Forge map. There will be plenty of space to allow your creative juices to flow, “Forge... Halo 4 fans should be getting excited by the news that 343 Industries are planning on releasing a new title update in the next few weeks. While the exact date isn’t yet known, some of the details... The next Halo 4 map pack is locked and loaded for April 8. The Castle Map pack includes three new maps and will reignite Team Objective Battles in a brand new playlist. The maps in the third piece of DLC...
Here's how it works: Anybody can ask a question The best answers are voted up and rise to the top What is the LEGO Group's position on war toys? Other brands make tanks and army stuff. I noticed LEGO sets include more realistic guns in the Star Wars range than they used to. What's up with that? From the LEGO Group's Corporate Responsibility report: Guideline for weapons and conflict in LEGO experiences A large number of LEGO minifigures use weapons, and are – assumedly – regularly being charged by each others’ weapons as part of children’s role play. In the LEGO Group, we acknowledge that conflict in play is especially prevalent among 4-9-year-old boys. An inner drive and a need to experiment with their own aggressive feelings in order to learn about other people’s aggressions exist in most children. This in turn enables them to handle and recognize conflict in non-play scenarios. As such, the LEGO Group sees conflict play as perfectly acceptable, and an integral part of children’s development.
We also acknowledge children’s well-proven ability to tell play from reality. however, to make sure to maintain the right balance between play and conflict, we have adhered to a set of unwritten rules for several years. In 2010, we have formalized these rules in a guideline for the use of conflict and weapons in LEGO products. The basic aim is to avoid realistic weapons and military equipment that children may recognize from hot spots around the world and to refrain from showing violent or frightening situations when communicating about LEGO products. At the same time, the purpose is for the LEGO brand not to be associated with issues that glorify conflicts and unethical or harmful behavior. Page 26 of the 2010 report. Their position has shifted over the years, in response to changing attitudes as well as commercial pressures, and the rising age of LEGO enthusiasts! Originally LEGO bricks were only available in bright primary colours e.g. red blue and yellow, with the conspicuous absence of green, aside from baseplates.
It seems quite likely that this was a deliberate attempt to prevent people from building tanks and military vehicles which in Europe were generally painted green. The creator of LEGO was known to be a pacifist and have strong opinions on the issue. I remember that when the Pirates series came out in 1989 they were the first sets to include pieces that were explicitly firearms: muskets, pistols and canon. The Pirates series was also the first to include non smiling faces, allowing figures to show more emotion, including anger. Although LEGO castle sets had featured weapons a decade earlier, the wide smiles on faces of the knights and guards suggested a lack of aggression. Space sets have always had some ambiguity between what is a weapon and what is a scientific instrument, though the same trend is observed toward more conflict in later sets. Competition with other brick toys which feature military sets as well as movie tie-ins have caused conflict/aggression to be a major feature of many LEGO sets made more recently, which is probably what triggered LEGO's shift in official message on the subject, as detailed in the corporate responsibility report linked to above.
I believe that war sets have not been allowed from day one at lego, with the oft-quoted reason that Ole Kirk Christiansen did not was to reduce war to a 'state of child's play.' He was also reportedly a pacifist, and I have found a source stating that while lego may produce generic gun pieces, they will never directly model a contemporary gun, or likewise produce a set of one. As stated (I think) in the 'Ultimate Lego Book,' Christiansen made sure that bricks in 'army colours' (i.e. green, brown, and olive green) were not produced. This changed later on however, when various sets required these colours, of course. LEGO has always been a bit iffy on it's stance towards war related sets, which might be part of the reason most custom part makers specialize in realistic guns. Being primarily a children's toy, they had shied away from depicting tanks and battles in the beginning. It might be said that as popular culture in general had an easier stance with "playing war" (video games were probably a big part of this), LEGO also eased it's policy.
I think the fist time LEGO sets included toy guns for mini-figures might be it's Western theme in the late '90s. There might have been laser blaster type guns earlier than this with the Space and Star Wars themes. Now it seems that with Indiana Jones and other movie licenses they have obtained, Lego is again allowing their sets to be portrayed in a more violent manner. While the current plastic Lego "guns" are generally more tame (blasters, pirate pistols), that was not the case with wooden toys from the 1940's including this machine gun from 1945. It's about 18" long and makes a rat-tat-tat sound when turning the crank. Even some of the classic sets had castles/knights with weapons, though most minifigs were decided in the non-violent category (astronauts, etc.). As other posters have noted, many of the new licensed sets (Star Wars & Indiana Jones) are more violent, though often in a fantasy setting. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google Sign up using Email and Password