More Dimensions News

[Hapori Tohu]

Polygon has another article revealing more information about the LEGO Dimensions game coming this fall. In addition to the base game, there will also be expansion packs of three types: level packs, team packs and fun packs. Each pack will include new buildable characters, vehicles, tools and gadgets, as well as game content. The first wave of packs include characters from Back to the Future, Ninjago, DC Comics, The Lord of the Rings, The LEGO Movie, and The Wizard of Oz. I can't say I saw that last one coming, but it's pretty awesome! This game could really put a hurt on our wallets...

 

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[Vorahk1Panrahk2]

It's sort of a shame that you have to buy these packs despite the minifigures being already available, but I guess that's how these things work. Hopefully there's nothing special about the figs themselves (like glue) that make them hard to integrate with standard figures.

 

But even though I don't have much interest in the game I'll definitely be buying up those Wizard of Oz packs if we don't end up getting regular sets.

[Ford]

What disappoints me is the fact that all of the themes represented thus far are licensed themes (with the exception of Ninjago, I guess). Maybe as time progresses, more of Lego's homegrown themes will surface (like Chima, Pirates, Bionicle, and maybe even Ultra Agents). One can hope.

 

This does, however, look like a way for Lego to cash in on Skylanders, Disney Infinity, and Amiibo. It's just like what happened with Lego cashing in on the popularity of Minecraft, and we all know how that's going.

[J46 Nui]

And they just announced the pricing of these booster packs on different video game news sites. And with the prices, I have lost most of my hope for this game. They are bad by both Lego and Skylander prices. $15 for just the smallest pack, which is barely more than a minifigure. I was expecting a bit of a price increase for the figure stands that work with the game, but that is about a $10 increase. I was hoping this would be a cheap way for me to round out some of my minifigure collections, but that was too much to hope for.

 

That is just too bad, because I have been waiting for games like these to get actually good toy components instead of just mini-statues for a while now.

[Zeb]

And they just announced the pricing of these booster packs on different video game news sites. And with the prices, I have lost most of my hope for this game. They are bad by both Lego and Skylander prices. $15 for just the smallest pack, which is barely more than a minifigure. I was expecting a bit of a price increase for the figure stands that work with the game, but that is about a $10 increase. I was hoping this would be a cheap way for me to round out some of my minifigure collections, but that was too much to hope for.

 

That is just too bad, because I have been waiting for games like these to get actually good toy components instead of just mini-statues for a while now.

$15 for Benny? I can see spending $10 but that extra 5 dollars is just too much. I think I'll wait for a sale or something...

[Smitty]

It's sort of a shame that you have to buy these packs despite the minifigures being already available, but I guess that's how these things work. Hopefully there's nothing special about the figs themselves (like glue) that make them hard to integrate with standard figures.

 

But even though I don't have much interest in the game I'll definitely be buying up those Wizard of Oz packs if we don't end up getting regular sets.

I was thinknig that it would be cool if upcoming minifigure waves had the game stands in lieu of the normal stands.

[Aanchir]

 

It's sort of a shame that you have to buy these packs despite the minifigures being already available, but I guess that's how these things work. Hopefully there's nothing special about the figs themselves (like glue) that make them hard to integrate with standard figures.

 

But even though I don't have much interest in the game I'll definitely be buying up those Wizard of Oz packs if we don't end up getting regular sets.

I was thinknig that it would be cool if upcoming minifigure waves had the game stands in lieu of the normal stands.

 

That would be cool but they'd basically have to double in price in order to make that economical.

[Smitty]

 

 

It's sort of a shame that you have to buy these packs despite the minifigures being already available, but I guess that's how these things work. Hopefully there's nothing special about the figs themselves (like glue) that make them hard to integrate with standard figures.

 

But even though I don't have much interest in the game I'll definitely be buying up those Wizard of Oz packs if we don't end up getting regular sets.

I was thinknig that it would be cool if upcoming minifigure waves had the game stands in lieu of the normal stands.

 

That would be cool but they'd basically have to double in price in order to make that economical.

 

Really that much? Yeesh, never mind.

[Toa Smoke Monster]

All of these themes for the first wave sound really cool. Though I do agree that the prices on them are kind of high. Hopefully the packs have enough content in them to justify the pricing on them. 

[Adventurer]

Not sure I'm going to be able to afford this - but I wish I could.

[aldero]

It's sort of a shame that you have to buy these packs despite the minifigures being already available, but I guess that's how these things work. Hopefully there's nothing special about the figs themselves (like glue) that make them hard to integrate with standard figures.

 

But even though I don't have much interest in the game I'll definitely be buying up those Wizard of Oz packs if we don't end up getting regular sets.

 

True, true. As for the possible tampering of the minifigures to make them unusable, that would be unlikely. They managed to compress the AppBrick into a 1x1 brick, and it's still compatible with any other brick. Given the similar nature of the AppBrick to the system that Dimensions will be using, I think the minifigure's legs will be the only part that will be changed noticeably or at all.

[Lyichir]

 

It's sort of a shame that you have to buy these packs despite the minifigures being already available, but I guess that's how these things work. Hopefully there's nothing special about the figs themselves (like glue) that make them hard to integrate with standard figures.

 

But even though I don't have much interest in the game I'll definitely be buying up those Wizard of Oz packs if we don't end up getting regular sets.

 

True, true. As for the possible tampering of the minifigures to make them unusable, that would be unlikely. They managed to compress the AppBrick into a 1x1 brick, and it's still compatible with any other brick. Given the similar nature of the AppBrick to the system that Dimensions will be using, I think the minifigure's legs will be the only part that will be changed noticeably or at all.

 

No, no, no. The minifigures will be the same as regular minifigures, by all indications—the stands themselves are the parts that interact with the game. And those stands are a heck of a lot more complex than the app bricks.

 

The app bricks are just molded in a special conductive blend of plastic and carbon fiber—every "app brick" is the same, and the only thing that changes how the Ultra Agents app responds to them is their position relative to one another on a multitouch screen. It would be impractical to put any identifying information into solo minifigures in that way, as it would require the scanner to be a multitouch device and for the minifigure feet themselves to have distinct, differing textures that change how the surface touches the device. Luckily, that's not a concern, because the minifigures only work when standing on special patterned bases—that's where the actual magic lies.

 

The bases for these "Lego Dimensions" figures are most likely more like Skylanders, Amiibo, or Disney Infinity figures: They actually have an RFID chip inside them which the portal scanner can "read" through Near Field Communication (NFC) to determine which figure is which. And it's possible that like Amiibo, the scanner can actually write new information to the internal chip of those bases—allowing characters to "level up" or store customized information like a memory card. This might be how the "vehicles" in the sets work—it's possible that you could rebuild them in the game itself, build it the same way on the stand, and then "scan" your custom build into the software so that it could be loaded back into the game fully built when you need it again. That last part's just speculation, based on the fact that the "vehicle" bases lack any sort of identifying features and could thus be "mixed up" if you disassembled them and reassembled them on a non-matching base.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Lyichir

[Zeb]

 

 

It's sort of a shame that you have to buy these packs despite the minifigures being already available, but I guess that's how these things work. Hopefully there's nothing special about the figs themselves (like glue) that make them hard to integrate with standard figures.

 

But even though I don't have much interest in the game I'll definitely be buying up those Wizard of Oz packs if we don't end up getting regular sets.

 

True, true. As for the possible tampering of the minifigures to make them unusable, that would be unlikely. They managed to compress the AppBrick into a 1x1 brick, and it's still compatible with any other brick. Given the similar nature of the AppBrick to the system that Dimensions will be using, I think the minifigure's legs will be the only part that will be changed noticeably or at all.

 

No, no, no. The minifigures will be the same as regular minifigures, by all indications—the stands themselves are the parts that interact with the game. And those stands are a heck of a lot more complex than the app bricks.

 

The app bricks are just molded in a special conductive blend of plastic and carbon fiber—every "app brick" is the same, and the only thing that changes how the Ultra Agents app responds to them is their position relative to one another on a multitouch screen.

 

The bases for these "Lego Dimensions" figures, on the other hand, are most likely more like Skylanders, Amiibo, or Disney Infinity figures: They actually have an RFID chip inside them which the portal scanner can "read" to determine which figure is which. And it's possible that like Amiibo, the scanner can actually write new information to the internal chip of those bases—allowing characters to "level up" or store customized information like a memory card.

 

I believe Disney Infinity (I own it) stores information on the characters as well, because using the same character on separate accounts (and even going from Infinity to Infinity 2.0) keeps the level stats.

 

I look forward to the day when they combine Fusion technology with this game so you can scan in creations. Not entirely sure how it would be implemented, but that would be awesome. I'm also hoping that the game has free-build worlds (like Lego Universe properties or Infinity Toy Boxes), because that would make this game even more "Lego".