Fancy keeping up to date with all the latest gadgets and tech? Why don't you sign up to our monthly newsletter? Access to exclusive content Big discounts on Imagine products Are you also intrested in... Lego Minifigures Online is relaunching as a buy-to-play game Free for those who spent any money on the F2P beta. Lego Minifigures Online, the MMO by The Secret World developer Funcom, is launching on 29th June as a buy-to-play affair. Its beta was previously available in free-to-play form. This buy-to-play version will cost $29.99 on PC, Mac and Linux, while its iOS and Android versions will go for $4.99. Granted the mobile versions will only include the first world for that price, but players will be able to purchase additional worlds as in-app purchases. This option will be available at launch for the iOS version, while the Android version's add-on content won't arrive until summer. While some may scoff at the notion of having to pay for what was previously free, developer Funcom is adamant that it's drastically improved the game since the beta.
"To ensure a fresh, new, and even higher-quality experience for everyone, the developers at Funcom have spent months overhauling the game in preparation for this launch," the developer stated. "New features and content, such as unique events, cinematics, voice acting, and a fun and engaging story are included, as well as numerous gameplay additions and major improvements throughout the entire game." Those who already spent money - any money - on the free-to-play beta will gain access to this official launch at no additional cost, Funcom noted in its FAQ. Furthermore, player progress will be carried over as well. Lego Minifigures Online will be set in the same persistent world for all players, though the mobile and desktop versions need to be purchased separately. Lego Minifigures Online should not be confused with TT Games' Minecraft-like Lego MMO Lego Worlds, a successor to the ill-fated Lego Universe which failed in no small part due to the difficulty in developing "dong-detection" software.
For more details about this official Lego Minifigures Online release or how it's recalibrating its payment model, head on over to Funcom's FAQ. Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chattingExplore many wondrous worlds of LEGO each teeming with life, detail and awesome adventure! From lush islands held by swashbuckling pirates to alien worlds where the Galaxy Patrol must battle dangers such as the mind-controlling Pluuvian Brain-Beast! Find, collect and play with almost one hundred different minifigures! The Ice Skater, the Chicken Suit Guy, the Roller Derby Girl, The Policeman and many, many more; millions of LEGO fans all over the world have held them in their hands and now they can step into their shoes as they explore the world of LEGO Minifigures Online! Interact with the environment around you and use it to your advantage! Smash an enemy turret and re-build it to work for you, destroy a wall to discover a hidden passage and even build machines to help you take down the big bosses!
Smashing stuff definitely feels good, but as all LEGO fans will know, building something feels even better! Play together with thousands of other players from all over the world! Face the adventure together or engage in awesome player vs. player battles where you must build towers, traps, mines and turrets while taking on the enemy and smashing theirs! Discover unique abilities with each minifigure! Take control of the rocked-out DJ and literally drop your beats on unsuspecting enemies, or assume the role of the Aztec Warrior and go to battle making sure no one is spared your mighty spear! Maybe the Plumber is your guy? unclog those baddies and make a mess of them! Gather experience and level up minifigures by smashing your way through enemies, rocks and LEGO blocks! Customize your playstyle by collecting special bricks and put them together in unique shapes to upgrade abilities such as luck and creativity! Since 1975, LEGO has made more than 3600 different minifigures available and Funcom will continuously keep adding more and more of these for players to collect in-game!
Funcom and LEGO are working closely together to blend the physical world of LEGO with the digital one; for instance players who purchase bags containing real minifigure will immediately be able to jump into the game and play with their virtual counterparts! Unravel what is surely an Academy Award Winning* story! Take on quests such as searching for buried treasure in the pirate world, rescuing the kingnapped king in the medieval world, and even helping Zeus himself in the mythology world!If there’s one segment of pop culture that’s ripe for a cinematic universe or even just a crossover fighting game, it’s fast food mascots. They have such striking, iconic designs, and their threadbare lore could easily be fleshed out into something exciting by an ambitious writer. It’s not like it would be any more shameless or marketing-driven than building a blockbuster out of a board game or theme park ride. With so many colonels and clowns and kings to choose from, though, which of these sentient brands shines brightest?
I have to level with you folks, this whole post is one big excuse to talk about Mac Tonight, McDonald’s other major mascot. Imagine you’re part of McDonald’s marketing team in the 1980s. People sure do love eating your slop for lunch and breakfast if they wake up on time, but there’s a whole other time of day people could potentially eat McDonald’s that’s being completely ignored. How do you convince folks to eat McDonald’s “when the clock strikes half past six?” Well, because you’re on a marketing team, you come up with a new campaign complete with a new character, and because it’s the 1980s and cocaine is a hell of a drug, you come up with Mac Tonight. Just look at that moon man! In theory, I can understand why the desire to create a “night-themed” character to desperately pitch fast food for dinner led to a Jay Leno-esque man with a crescent moon for a head, but why the jacket and cool shades and crooner gimmick? Why the floating cloud piano? Why the little flicking hand gestures?
Don’t get me wrong, I think all of those things are stupendous. They just don’t make any sense. The experience is heightened by the surreal stage-bound look of the ads, the awesome practical prosthetics and body acting of Guillermo del Toro stalwart Doug Jones, and the catchy cover of Bobby Darin’s jazz standard “Mack the Knife.” A lawsuit from the Darin estate ultimately sent Mac packing, outside of some forgettable CGI appearances in foreign markets. Let’s not dwell on how Mac Tonight died, let’s celebrate how he lived. The amount of Mac Tonight arcana on the internet keeps the spokesmoon interesting well after the initial excitement of finding out he exists. For instance, did you know his dance is officially called the Mac Tonight Trot and that at one point you could go to a McDonald’s and learn it? Did you know Mac Tonight wears sunglasses beneath his sunglasses and that you could buy a pair for yourself? Remember how food used to cost less than a dollar? It all makes me smile so much.
I nearly fell out of my chair when I learned that the Japanese version of the Mac Tonight theme was both a real thing instead of an anime fever dream and a thing I could listen to. While the original Mac Tonight content is a thing of beauty, it’s ultimately finite. Fortunately, the weird side of the internet has done a fine job carrying on the lounge singer’s legacy. Vaporwave is a topic too big for this post, but Saint Pepsi, a pioneer of the musical microgenre now known as Skylar Spence, prominently features the burger moon on the cover of his album Late Night Delight. That album also includes a song called “Mac Tonight,” and in general, vaporwave’s softly surreal warped nostalgia aesthetic perfectly complements modern Mac Tonight appreciation. Just look at how well they go together in this music video for “Enjoy Yourself” by Saint Pepsi, as well as my Miitomo remix. The internet does a lot of wonderful things, but it’s also a gutter, and it never lets us forget that.
So, while we must thank web dwellers for making sure Mac Tonight will live on for generations, we must also reject some of those same dwellers who have perverted him into something he isn’t. Look up The Moon Man and you’ll find some videos that appear to have Mac Tonight, but in reality they are racist raps and Donald Trump praise featuring Mac Tonight’s face generated via a text-to-speech program. I’m not going to link to it. It’s a mockery of all Mac Tonight stands for both as a moon man and a musician. If this article accomplishes anything, I hope it puts the internet back on a path towards the one true Mac Tonight. Reject racist false idols! To go back to my initial, fig leaf of a point, Mac Tonight is a fantastic forgotten mascot who should totally make a comeback as the lead of some kind of fast food cinematic universe. Throw in that sexy new Hamburglar, too. Or maybe a versus film where he squares off against his obvious nemesis: intense, sunglass-wearing football creature Boltman.