lego

The Free Universal Construction Kit

24 March 2012
news

The whole point about Lego, Duplo, Blocksm is not to build amazing Star Wars spaceships or any other super-complicated spaceships, megabuildings or structures…. but to create your own universe and personal paraphernalia where to place your toys and play with.

But when you’re a kid and have to play with 3000 pieces from 4 different systems, say Lego, Tente, Meccano… or else, you never get to build your wild dream… because you simply can’t mix all those pieces!

Thank god the people at FAT (Free Art and Technology Lab… sort of another Media Lab but for Pop culture) just unveiled earlier this week the “Free Universal Construction Kit”, a set of nearly 80 adapters for you to mix & mash 10 of the most popular construction games out there:  Lego, Duplo, Fischertechnik, Gears! Gears! Gears!, K’Nex, Krinkles (Bristle Blocks), Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, Zome, and Zoob

Yes, you kids will go as crazy as those in the clip, for sure. “Hybrid constructive play” is what the kit promises, enabling some weird creations and previously impossible designs.

The Kit in use, connecting four different systems together
The Kit in use, connecting four different systems together

 As a lab which mixes open source & pop culture the Universal Construction Kit was conceived precisely to eliminate that proprietary barrier all the aforementioned construction toys have… maybe the manufacturers of those toy companies won’t be as happy as of this week; more info and downloadable models on their page. Have fun!

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I Am George

30 September 2011
news

Mmmmmm Lego keeps diversifying their product portfolio. Long gone the days when Lego’s big selling hits were toy hospitals, pig farms or red cargo trains. The Danish house needs to adapt, and signing massive deals with Disney or Lucasfilm isn’t enough. Videogames aren’t enough. Their MMO community isn’t enough. Apps like Lego Photo, Duplo or Creationary aren’t enough neither. So where’s the next step?

Blending digital and real world with an AR app of course! Released just yesterday “Life of George” combines their famous bricks with your iPhone… maybe as a desperate attempt to bring the people back to the physical multicolored pieces, back to the LEGO roots.

Priced at 29$ you’ll get a pack of 144 LEGO bricks and something called a Playmat which acts as the famous Cinema “green screen” and helps recognizing the model you’ve built and placed on it with Ey Cue’s “Brick Recognition” technology.

A game to play solo or against an opponent with 12 levels & 10 models per level… and which remains as a casual game in the end, maybe ideal for those of you who actually never played with the real bricks (will be available on their online shop next month).

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