TechnologyMinecraft-style Lego Worlds game gets release date for Xbox One and PS4Lego's sandbox video game is set to take on Minecraft early next year on consoles and PCMinecraft's open world is often thought of as a virtual Lego playset, allowing players to construct all manner of things limited only by their imagination (and amount of spare time). Naturally, Lego themselves have decided to have a crack at doing something similar, in the form of Lego Worlds. Announced back in 2015 for Steam Early Access, the brick-based sandbox title has finally been given a release date for PC and consoles, hitting Xbox One , PlayStation 4 and Steam on 24 February 2017. Developed by TT Games - responsible for almost any previous Lego game you can think of - Lego Worlds puts you on a quest to become a Master Builder by finding, doing or building things for other characters. There's also an online multiplayer component which, according to publisher Warner Brothers, will allow players to team up and explore each other's worlds.
Niels Jørgensen, the Vice President of Digital Games for Lego, said: "We are excited to bring our physical and digital play models closer together and know it will resonate with our core audience – and engage new ones. We believe Lego Worlds has the potential to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through its experience of open-ended creative play." PS4 owners will also get access to an Agents DLC pack with extra characters, weapons and vehicles 90 days before anyone else. Whether Lego Worlds can make a name for itself in a genre so utterly dominated by Minecraft remains to be seen. But the promise of an infinite Lego set that won't maim any barefooted parents is certainly a unique selling point. Game of Thrones meets Mass Effect Micro Machines World Series pics Could Sonic Mania be a return to form? Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDaily NewsletterFollow @MirrorTechSubscribe to our Daily newsletterEnter emailIt is what Lego fans have been waiting for, and its absence is perhaps what has allowed the block-building hit Minecraft to flourish so spectacularly.
And now, after weeks of rumours, it is here. Lego Worlds is an open-world construction and exploration game in which the landscapes and everything in them are constructed with digital Lego bricks. Players are able to modify an array of pre-built worlds, or construct their own using virtual Lego sets. Each landscape is populated with Lego vehicles, mini-figs and creatures – all based on real-life playsets. And many more building options are set to follow. Launched onto the PC gaming platform Steam on Monday, the ambitious project is currently available in “Early Access” mode, which means it is unfinished and only has a portion of the planned features. Although players can build and modify worlds, as well as drive vehicles and ride horses and dragons, there is currently no online multiplayer mode – a vital element in the success of Minecraft and other similar block-building games. Developer Traveller’s Tales, which has been responsible for the hugely successful Lego-branded series of action adventure titles including Lego Star Wars and Lego Marvel Super Heroes, has promised that the feature is incoming.
Lego Worlds is expected to remain in Early Access until the end of 2015. Although currently limited, the game has already proved popular on Steam, with over 90% of the 518 user reviews coming in positive. “It’s the Lego game that they should have made years ago,” writes one user. Lego has certainly tried to explore the creative elements of its legendary toy with previous games. In 2010 the company released Lego Universe – a massive multiplayer online world, based around user-creativity. However, the title was quietly abandoned in 2012, and recently a developer on the project stated that the overheads of managing and moderating the user-created content were prohibitively high – allegedly because the company had to check every user model to ensure it was family friendly. It is not yet clear how Lego, a staunchly family-friendly brand, will deal with the twin spectres of customisable virtual environments: namely penises and swastikas. Right now, Lego Worlds features procedurally generated environments which, like Minecraft, means that the program can create unique new landscapes each time it loads up.
These are populated with a small array of animals and vehicles including horses and helicopters. In the final game, Traveller’s Tales is set to create more diverse locations, with specific biomes such as deserts and tundras (again, like Minecraft), and will include a greater selection of digital playsets. The pricing model is not yet clear. Publisher Warner Bros has said that the current £11.99 cost is a reduced price. It’s possible that the final release, due sometime in 2016, will provide a basic array of pre-loaded playsets, but that others will be available as downloadable content. Lego, of course, has access to an array of licensed content from Star Wars to the Hobbit, Batman and Marvel heroes. Often referred to as “digital Lego”, Minecraft has turned large-scale creative gaming into a multimillion dollar industry. The game, created by Swedish studio Mojang was released in 2011 and now has over 100 million registered users. In 2014, Microsoft bought the developer for $2.5bn dollars, and fans are waiting to see what the corporation has planned for the game going forward.
But Lego is making aggressive moves to corner the market in constructive digital play. It has also announced Lego Dimensions, an action adventure title that lets players combine real-world models with on-screen action, in a manner similar to the hugely successful Skylanders and Disney Infinity titles. Although Minecraft has faced plenty of competitors and similar open-world building titles in the past, with newcomers like SkySaga and Roblox bringing in a wealth of added features, it has remained dominant. Given that Lego has already partnered with Mojang on a range of licensed real-world playsets based on the game, Lego Worlds is surely its most intriguing rival. This event has passed. LEGO WORLD Family Festival at The Leonardo Back by popular demand, join us at our LEGO World Family Festival January 14th-16th. That’s right, this event spans over three full days! We are turning our art, science and tech museum into a LEGO world. LEGO World Family Festival is a huge LEGO event.
It’s filled with fun, interactive, creative and educational activities for the whole family. Let’s be honest, you’re never too old to create and play with LEGOs. Our LEGO World Family Festival brings all of the creative, fun and hands-on, experiences that one could have playing with LEGOs. Being creative and building with LEGOs is the perfect way to see art, science and tech in action. The entire weekend is packed with activities. Check them out below. LEGO World Family Festival Activities: Science of plastics demos in the Lab FIRST Lego league demos with FLL-U volunteers Lego architecture collaborative building Lego Fine Art Family fun activity (while supplies last) Xbox Lego games stations with Microsoft Volunteers (14th and 15th only) Lego Mindstorms robotics workshops in the computer lab presented by Microsoft 10am, 11am, 12pm, 3pm, 4pm, (14th and 15th only) Members activity in the curiosity corner (14th only) And so much more!