Lego Universe - RIP?

[SpiderSpaceman]

And the rainbow knights were never a mistake-- they were a successful venture that lasted a good three years (longer than many themes). I for one loved them. LEGO ended them when they ceased to be profitable enough to perpetuate, same as when they ended BIONICLE or Coast Guard.

Thank you! I would say the giant knights were ick, but then all the parts except for the bodies, shields and maybe heads and helmets are glorious. did that give us that joint system, or was it first in creator/designer sets? regardless, plenty of those in plenty of colors and length variations, and I actually LOVE the foot part. A sizable expansion of the little 'racer detail' bricks in the armoring, and weapons fit in great with bionicle/exo-force.

the main event, the playsets, had all manner of great design. no need to mention the joust set

But on topic:

I'm ecstatic about Lego's aquisition, and the promise of further development. I'm sorry about the job losses, because everybody who worked on that is crazy talented, and really deserved their place on that team.

That said, I think we all want to see some overhauls.

I want more robust creation tools. Even the officially published LUG levels seem like they didn't have a lot to work with. I understand that people can't take their things along in public areas, since infinite model files would be happening, but even if a person could make truly interactive mission worlds and only pass them around to "best friends".. maybe they could drop blank (but with set attributes) weapons, helmets, whatever, have them show up as your own custom model to you and whoever thought the file was cool enough to download it themselves, to everybody else a standard part subs it out. they could have an regular "best of fan gear" update from an online gallery.

I also wish I had faster access to all my properties, or at least a way to see where I left models lying around.

I'd like a offline (with online collaboration abilities) editor, free roaming exploration building zones. truthfully all I want is LDD tools, realtime collaboration, and only slightly more advanced Lego Creator style effects, hinge animation and horseplay.

I'd think they could do an LDD "upload to my LU account" and it could even make you a little Shopping List Mission so you'd know where to find the parts if you come up short.

pirates and ninjas and that's it? we don't have any official city, space, aquazone, castle, adventurer, dinosaur, sports, western areas. (dear glorious. maelstrom velociraptors, dark divers, slam-dunkers, and gunslingers? didn't hit me until just now) We don't need a separate planet for each. i just feel like there's so much left unrepresented. And yes I understand there's a geek fixation on pirates vs ninjas. and I know there's plenty of amazing fan service gear on crux.

We need to be able to save all our loot in some vault. picking and choosing is making me lose a lot of my favorite wacky fun gear in favor of crux prime high stat items. still have my fish hat, turkey drumstick weapon, guitar weapon, but I've tossed all kinds of fun accessories.

I dunno. My demands are far too kiddish for my years, but hey,it's just my idea of the perfect virtual lego experience

Edited February 27, 2011 by SpiderSpaceman

[SpiderSpaceman]

I'm even looking forward to the LU minifigs and sets that I know are on the way!

Maelstrom battlepack. pleeeeeeeease Lego? I want my mini/skellie hybrids! (just do the half torso pieces as individual please. no mega blok modeling, cmon naow)

Edit: I really thought those posts were going to merge. sorry guys.

Edited February 27, 2011 by SpiderSpaceman

[Jebediahs]

But how was Galidor fixed? They got rid of it.

Exactly. They realized the idea wasn't working out, scrapped it, and never repeated it.

And the rainbow knights were never a mistake-- they were a successful venture that lasted a good three years (longer than many themes). I for one loved them. LEGO ended them when they ceased to be profitable enough to perpetuate, same as when they ended BIONICLE or Coast Guard.

Yup, it was a fun theme but KK2 was packaged as Knights' Kingdom which was the same name used for KK1. Many initially thought KK2 was supposed to follow the KK1 storyline. With the coming of Fantasy, TLG learned the importance of proper title creation for medieval sets(only ones I follow), especially when differentiating between historical and fantasy.

LU needs you!

[Shroud]

I think if they made the game more of a sandbox where you could free roam through large citys or environments it would be better. Imagine joining with your mates to build a central space station where you could fly space ships around a nearby city or walking giant mechs around. A player driven game where you fight over territory with certain 'sector' rules in place, just take a look at Eveonline, can you imagine free creating any vehicle and flying/driving/walking around in your own creation with little restrictions?

My 2 cents....

- Shroud

[Miss Kyle]

We were given free copies of LU while waiting in the queue to get into the London Westfields store yesterday. A sign?

[Aanchir]

Exactly. They realized the idea wasn't working out, scrapped it, and never repeated it.

Yup, it was a fun theme but KK2 was packaged as Knights' Kingdom which was the same name used for KK1. Many initially thought KK2 was supposed to follow the KK1 storyline. With the coming of Fantasy, TLG learned the importance of proper title creation for medieval sets(only ones I follow), especially when differentiating between historical and fantasy.

LU needs you!

...Except Fantasy-Era Castle was just called "Castle" officially. "Fantasy" or "Fantasy-Era" have always been merely fan terms. Granted, it was the first Castle theme to be called Castle on the packaging-- previously, sets had either had the yellow "LEGOLAND" banner, or the name of their faction/subtheme. But the name was still just "Castle": no more, no less.

Also, LEGO reuses names all the time for unrelated themes. 2007 Aqua Raiders had no connection to the previous Aquaraiders theme, or, for that matter, to the Aquazone theme (most notably, the 2007 theme took place on a known Earth location rather than an unnamed water-covered planet). The 1979 Scala theme was a craft and jewelry design theme, much like the later Clikits, while the late 90s Scala theme was a completely unrelated "dollhouse" theme. "Exo-Force" was the name of a faction in 2002 Racers sets before it became the name for an unrelated Japanese-inspired "mecha" theme. One of the alien criminals in Space Police III was named "Slizer". And just last year, the three Hero Factory figures with specialized torsos and arm-mounted weapons were called the "Alpha team".

Perhaps in 2004 this trend was not as well-known as it is now, but I don't see why it should have been so confusing. After all, many Space themes had two vastly-different iterations, but back in those days only assumptions and similar story roles really tied the iterations together (Today LEGO does acknowledge past themes as part of the same universe through "easter-eggs" in the Space Police III theme and others). In that sense, there's no reason to assume Knights' Kingdom I and II weren't part of the same universe, if you can fabricate some ties between the two themes. After all, in my childhood all themes were connected, no matter what the differences (my epileptic trees justifying the connections between Ice Planet and Rock Raiders, or between Slizer and BIONICLE, were quite amusing in retrospect).

Anyway, on-topic, I hope LEGO Universe is better-managed under LEGO's direction than under Gazillion's. LEGO has a much greater stake in its success, so hopefully they might be willing to do whatever it takes for its recovery. Promotions like we've seen (lowering the price of the software itself or giving it away free) might help to an extent. Of course, interface problems and inherent problems with its appeal to the target demographic are still present.

[BasOne]

^ how do you manage without a credit card?

How do you manage with one?

Seriously, my debit card can be used all through Europe, and i either use Ideal or Paypal for international orders, why would i need a credit card?

[SpiderSpaceman]

I think if they made the game more of a sandbox where you could free roam through large citys or environments it would be better. Imagine joining with your mates to build a central space station where you could fly space ships around a nearby city or walking giant mechs around. A player driven game where you fight over territory with certain 'sector' rules in place, just take a look at Eveonline, can you imagine free creating any vehicle and flying/driving/walking around in your own creation with little restrictions?

My 2 cents....

- Shroud

exactly what I want. and maybe that's a separate program, more multiplayer than massively multiplayer, not something where kids are connected to possible inappropriateness, but I want that.

and like I keep saying, to everyone's annoyance , that's not a far cry from an updated LEGO Creator.

Note: oh please read this I've had this idea stagnant in my head for six years. I just need to get it out of my system

I've also had an idea for an arena style scavenger hunt mode (intend to illustrate shortly). Minifigs get ghostbuster/honey i shrunk the kids vacuum storage on their backs. (yes it's vacuum suit robin, but I came up with it prior to that. honest! ) Kick apart structures (bit by bit) and suck parts up. beat up on other players to kick parts out of them. gain abilities (theme based by world level) like short spurts of immunity, cloaking (spyrius), high powered football kick (sports), and so on.

Integral feature: on the fly build and spit back out for dynamic re-purposing to reach goals, and storage for a select number of your own prebuilts. (examples: build a cage to stall opponents, a stairway, a bridge you can kick a hinge from underneath (cut the ropes), a ramp, a mechanized walker, other vehicles) The building area takes up a corner and preferably uses motion control for maximum quickness and natural building. Possible extra feature: quick launch 2x4 ammo.

Also storage for costumes, again, user defined, not necessarily minifig. Examples: bush for camouflage (IJ style), stealth gear, any sort of appropriately sized brickbuilt robot, creature, or minifig character you want to play as.

A team collecting all the list parts reaches a portal, and the round is ended. you keep your collected elements and blueprints for any models spit out during the round. you return to a fully interactive personal base of operations and deposit the parts, to ready yourself for new assignments. there are flipthrough "quantum closets" for mass storage of models and costumes, and a swirly vortex part tank (xpod) hanging above a build area for model creation (bricks stay shrunken compared to your figure). light effects for bricks, full control hinge animation, link to commands.

then a portal to blank worlds for you to populate as custom levels. diplayed back at your base as table sized setups. invite people over to gawk at your galleries and enter your custom levels.

The design of your base interior begins as space age ruins on a harsh planet landscape, and you can actually build it up break it down like anything else. fully custom.

Iiiii was 15 and mowing lawns in the brain-frying sun. I think it's still my dream of the perfect videogame. But it's never gonna happen. and it makes me sick to talk about because its been impossible dream project clogging my head for a stupid long amount of time.

early concept

[dr_spock]

How do you manage with one?

Seriously, my debit card can be used all through Europe, and i either use Ideal or Paypal for international orders, why would i need a credit card?

If you can manage without one, that's great. Here in North America, you need a credit card to do almost anything like renting car, booking a hotel, internet shopping, etc. I pay my bill in full each month so I don't accrue any interests.

Hopefully Lego Universe will stick around at least until the 6 month subscription I bought my son runs out. He really enjoys it (he must be the target audience). As a parent, I like the effort Lego put into moderating.

[Aanchir]

If you can manage without one, that's great. Here in North America, you need a credit card to do almost anything like renting car, booking a hotel, internet shopping, etc. I pay my bill in full each month so I don't accrue any interests.

Actually, I live in the US, and I also have a debit card that can perform most of the functions a credit card can. It's essentially just a "pre-paid" credit card (i.e. instead of building a debt you need to pay off, you're drawing directly from your checking account), and it works for ATMs, credit-card machines, etc. both at home and abroad. I'm not sure about certain functions like internet shopping, since I don't do much of that, but I'm pretty sure as long as I have enough money in my account it would work just fine.

[Blondie-Wan]

I am very, very glad to see that quote saying the game is here for the long haul. I've been looking forward to it a long time, and preordered the game so I could jump in on Day 1 (and get the promo minifigure!), but I can't play it on my ancient computer - I was hoping to play it on my girlfriend's machine until I could finally get a new system, but then her computer's optical drive doesn't like the game disc.... *sigh*. I've therefore gotten to play the game for a grand total of maybe an hour or two of my initial one-month allotment, and all the rest of my introductory period was wasted. Meanwhile, I've been going crazy with my increasing awareness of the game's financial disappointment, while being unable to play the game myself but really wanting to. It's been terribly frustrating, and I was beginning to fear I'd never get to play it again before the plug was pulled. I'm very relieved to see it'll be around at least a bit longer. Now if only I can get the capacity to play it in the near future...

Why play the game, when I have so many real bricks? Well, it does also still have all the appeal of an MMO, or even gaming in general. I love building my own little worlds for real, as do we all, but it's pretty tough for me to make those worlds come visibly alive the way they do in LU, to say nothing of interacting with others in our shared LEGO universe (something I couldn't really do in real life, unless I wanted to invite tons of strangers to my home and let them handle my bricks - no thanks!

*whew!*

Edited March 9, 2011 by Blondie-Wan

[fred67]

Actually, I live in the US, and I also have a debit card that can perform most of the functions a credit card can.

Yup. Sorry, don't want to make a frivolous post, but this is I think the second time the subject has come up... you don't need credit cards in the U.S., most bank issued debit cards will function identically... and then there's no interest or bill to pay every month.

[Dodger]

I just got a free copy of LU with my spring 2011 catalogue, as a thanks for being a VIP member.

That's aside from the fact that I was one of those idiots that preordered the game, thyself missing out on the free rocket set!

But is it a move of desperation to now be giving it away? If you look around the MMO world, there are plenty of high profile games (not least LOTR online) that have move to a free play + micro transactions model, and are making 2 or 3 times the revenue from when they were subscription only. TLG should strongly consider this model.

They also dropped the ball with cross-pollination. Where are the physical LU sets in stores? Wher are the themes like Atlantis or Power Miners in LU? This lack of basically free marketing is bizarre and inexplicable. I know I've definitely bought Indy, Star Wars and Harry Potter sets after playing the video games.

A shame that such an awesome concept has been so poorly handled.

[vynsane]

I just got a free copy of LU with my spring 2011 catalogue, as a thanks for being a VIP member.

Interesting, I wonder if it's tied to a certain dollar amount spent via VIP, or if all VIP members will receive it.

But is it a move of desperation to now be giving it away? If you look around the MMO world, there are plenty of high profile games (not least LOTR online) that have move to a free play + micro transactions model, and are making 2 or 3 times the revenue from when they were subscription only. TLG should strongly consider this model.

That does seem like a more reasonable way to do it. I don't have the time to play enough of the game each month to justify a monthly charge, but would like to check it out. Until they do something like this, if I get a free disk, it will just gather dust.

They also dropped the ball with cross-pollination. Where are the physical LU sets in stores? Wher are the themes like Atlantis or Power Miners in LU? This lack of basically free marketing is bizarre and inexplicable. I know I've definitely bought Indy, Star Wars and Harry Potter sets after playing the video games.

Most likely now that TLG has taken over control of the game, we will see incremental updates in the direction you're talking about. As new themes arise, new 'worlds' that correspond to those themes could be developed, to both promote the physical builds and also build upon the game.

[cimddwc]

I just got a free copy of LU with my spring 2011 catalogue, as a thanks for being a VIP member.

I only got an extra leaflet in the German spring catalogue advertising it for 9.99€ (with free shipping for the DVD). So I don't know if it's a regional limitation or if the hundreds and hundreds of Euro I've already spent weren't enough...

[AndyC]

I only got an extra leaflet in the German spring catalogue advertising it for 9.99€ (with free shipping for the DVD). So I don't know if it's a regional limitation or if the hundreds and hundreds of Euro I've already spent weren't enough...

Yeah, I just got the £7.49 offer leaflet too, so it's either a regional thing or you need to be a much bigger spender.

[Brickdoctor]

Interesting, I wonder if it's tied to a certain dollar amount spent via VIP, or if all VIP members will receive it.

Yeah, I just got the £7.49 offer leaflet too, so it's either a regional thing or you need to be a much bigger spender.

I'm pretty sure this is not linked to the VIP program at all. I remember when the White Boba Fetts (or Chrome Vaders?) came out, they too were sent out to S@H's customers that spent the most.

[Eskallon]

They are desperate.

We were given free copies of LU while waiting in the queue to get into the London Westfields store yesterday. A sign?

I received a copy today with a month's membership today in the catalouge free for being a VIP member.

[vynsane]

I received a copy today with a month's membership today in the catalouge free for being a VIP member.

So, is this a UK-only thing then? Drat... I was hoping to get a copy.

EDIT: Darth Yorec over at Brickset confirmed he received two copies, one with each catalog they received in Canada. Looks like there's hope for The States yet!

Edited March 25, 2011 by vynsane

[Lalror]

I got a free copy directly from the developers. The admin for a LU fan site that I help moderate had an extra copy!

[Dilvish]

The "freemium" model where you get to play for free but pay for some of the higher level stuff might work.

Also, I like the idea proposed earlier in this thread where you get credits you can apply to the game every time you buy a real set.

Of the two, I prefer option #2.

Edited March 28, 2011 by Dilvish

[Blondie-Wan]

I just got a free copy of LU with my spring 2011 catalogue, as a thanks for being a VIP member.

That's aside from the fact that I was one of those idiots that preordered the game, thyself missing out on the free rocket set!

FWIW, some LEGO Stores sold (sell?) the rocketship sets on their own as well as giving them away with the game. I was at the Dallas, TX store in November, and they had copies of both the preorder astronaut minifigure and the rocketship set that they were giving away with purchases of the game, but while that was the only way they'd give one the astronaut, they were selling the ship on its own (I know the online store wouldn't do this - perhaps it was up to individual stores whether to sell the rocket independently or not?). If you got the astronaut, perhaps you could take comfort in that, and call around to the stores to see if any of them still have the rocket.

Verrry interesting to hear you got a free copy of the game! Where are you located, if I may ask?

But is it a move of desperation to now be giving it away? If you look around the MMO world, there are plenty of high profile games (not least LOTR online) that have move to a free play + micro transactions model, and are making 2 or 3 times the revenue from when they were subscription only. TLG should strongly consider this model.

That's interesting, and I'm sure a lot of people who haven't gotten into the game yet might give it a try if it went that route.

I'm sure TLG is looking at various business models used by other MMOs and evaluating them to see what would work best for the game.

They also dropped the ball with cross-pollination. Where are the physical LU sets in stores? Wher are the themes like Atlantis or Power Miners in LU? This lack of basically free marketing is bizarre and inexplicable. I know I've definitely bought Indy, Star Wars and Harry Potter sets after playing the video games.

A shame that such an awesome concept has been so poorly handled.

I think LU is supposed to reflect pretty much all those other themes, rather than being tied to a single theme unto itself - it's like a virtual world made up of bricks just the way many kids might have their collections (i.e., all mixed together, with City cops, Castle knights, etc. all in one big pool). But I do think you have a point - it would be better to have more cross-pollination between the game world and our physical bricks. Perhaps they can entice more people to try the game with some exclusive sets? I do see they put LU blurbs on the sides of some set boxes now, so I think they're taking some tentative additional steps, but of course more would be better.

[AndyC]

But is it a move of desperation to now be giving it away? If you look around the MMO world, there are plenty of high profile games (not least LOTR online) that have move to a free play + micro transactions model, and are making 2 or 3 times the revenue from when they were subscription only. TLG should strongly consider this model.

Quite a few of those have come under heavy criticism when the target audience is predominantly children though, because it's all to easy to end up spending a fortune when you aren't really aware of the real cost behind things. Parents have been understandably upset by the idea that their child playing what seemed like an 'innocent' game have ended up running up huge debts.

Edited March 30, 2011 by AndyC

[DLuders]

It seems that TLG has been listening to their (potential) customers. I already have a 1-year subscription to Lego Universe, but I got this e-mail today from the "Lego Universe Team":

"Special Offer: LEGO® Universe Game only $9.99!‏"

"For a limited time, you can get your own copy of LEGO Universe for $9.99! Your first month of play is still included! Place your order with LEGO® Shop at Home today, this offer won't last long!"

[vynsane]

I don't understand why they don't give you more payment options - I would buy credits of playtime over a monthly subscription model, I just don't have the spare time to justify a charge that's going to go relatively unused each month. They should have a $10/month unlimited plan, and a $0.50 per hour plan or something.