New Lego MMO-2013

[Savage Oppress]

There is going to be a new Lego MMO Online Game coming out in 2013 based on the Minifigures Theme. There is a rumor going around on the Lego Message Boards in the Minifigures section that says that this MMO is coming out in February 2013.

Source: http://www.pcgamer.c...inifigures-mmo/

http://legouniverse.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Polturgighst/A_New_LEGO_MMOG_in_2013

Edited January 1, 2013 by Savage Oppress

[PenPlays]

That is a lie. It's just some kid getting people excited.

From what I heard it's not due until late 2014. I'm excited though, as Lego Universe was fantastic!

[Flipz]

As an avid fan of LEGO Universe, I am not looking forward to this new MMO. Not only has TLG proven themselves unworthy of the trust of their players (c.f. the internal politics behind the sudden closure of LU and the entire mess involved), but people on the development team have explicitly stated things like "we aren't supposed to mention LEGO Universe" and "LEGO would like to forget about Universe and pretend it never happened." It's a shame that LEGO decided to throw the good out with the bad with LU, and I forsee this new MMO being overly-simplistic and "safe", not taking any of the risks that made LU such a great concept.

[Aanchir]

As an avid fan of LEGO Universe, I am not looking forward to this new MMO. Not only has TLG proven themselves unworthy of the trust of their players (c.f. the internal politics behind the sudden closure of LU and the entire mess involved), but people on the development team have explicitly stated things like "we aren't supposed to mention LEGO Universe" and "LEGO would like to forget about Universe and pretend it never happened." It's a shame that LEGO decided to throw the good out with the bad with LU, and I forsee this new MMO being overly-simplistic and "safe", not taking any of the risks that made LU such a great concept.

You say that as though TLG had a lot of choices. While I agree LU's fate was unfortunate, it was the company's first foray into MMOs, and the fumbling approach in the early months of its release (and truly, in aspects of its development) likely killed any chances for damage control at anything but an exorbitant price.

If TLG hadn't done enough to save it, I could understand your attitude, but frankly there comes a point where it's too little, too late. TLG spent a lot of money on LEGO Universe, including hiring a lot of its development team after they were fired by their parent company. It would have likely been even more expensive to save LEGO Universe, and I can't blame TLG for wanting to start from scratch and try things again with a more economically-driven approach.

On a side note, there will be an MMO in 2013, but it's Legends of Chima themed and apparently not related to the Funcom project. It will be free-to-play, but I'm not expecting anything too ambitious. There's a topic on that here.

[jamesster]

Funcom has revealed some more info over the past few months via quarterly reports, I've added the info included to Brickipedia's article for the game: http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Unidentified_LEGO_MMO

[jamesster]

*bump*

We finally got some screenshots today: Classic Space and mythology!

Classic LEGO Space!

If you're wondering where these screenshots came from, they were released in Funcom's 4Q 2012 update. The same press release also reveals that beta is planned for Q3 2013! Tablet versions are also in the works.

Edited February 28, 2013 by jamesster

[Savage Oppress]

• The LEGO® project produced in Oslo based on the LEGO® Minifigure

line has reached all milestones and is currently on schedule for release

late 1st half 2014

• Working towards the next big milestone, “Bosses & Encounters” and

expects to start a limited closed beta in 3Q 2013

• Team is now fully staffed and consists mostly of very senior and

Private and confidential – intended solely for use by the recipient

• Team is now fully staffed and consists mostly of very senior and

experienced developers

• Integration work towards LEGO® ID and other backend systems well

under way

• Production on the tablet version of the LEGO® Minifigures game has

started

[Lance]

So will the game be seen from a bird's eye view? Or will it be a 3rd person view?

[Savage Oppress]

it will probably be third person

[SoupOrFishOil]

Somebody just showed me this .pdf file from Funcom. It has a bit of interesting information about the MMO (The Grandma Visitor sounds fun to play as ) as well as a few new screenshots.

Edit: The MMO is covered on pages 14 and 15. I probably should have mentioned that earlier.

Edited May 3, 2013 by Superficial Username

[jamesster]

Those screenshots...

Holy crud, this looks great.

And the last page of the file... FUTURON MONORAIL. HECK YES.

I'm really looking forward to this. Thanks for posting!

Edit: Interesting, the pirate shacks on the beach there

. I wonder what other LU models might turn up in this game? Edited May 3, 2013 by jamesster

[CM4Sci]

That's awesome!

I'll be extremely happy if you can customize your figure. I can make my sig-fig then!

-Sci

[just2good]

I'm definitely interested in the game now. Thanks for sharing the find, 'jamesster'!

[Flipz]

Edit: Interesting, the pirate shacks on the beach there

. I wonder what other LU models might turn up in this game?

Hmm...actually, that pic on the beach actually looks rather similar to the pirate encampment at the end of Gnarled Forest, just with the rocks re-textured and the caves on the left (of the image) removed.

If the new game pulls from LU, I will be very happy. Might be willing to take a chance on it.

Edited May 4, 2013 by Flipz

[Faefrost]

Right now I'm betting it's at best a 50/50 craps shoot whether or not Funcom survives to their late 1st half 2014 launch estimate. Their financials have been declining rapidly. They have just about lost everything in the debacle of the poor sales of The Secret World. I think their best profit point last year was from their 12 year old subscription game AO. Right now a huge amount of their funding revolves around this Lego game. If it slips release they have a huge issue. And that is never a good position for an MMO company to be in, as it invariably leads to a shoddy incomplete product being raced out the door to poor player retention.

The truly sad thing of it all is they do make great MMOs. The Secret Workd is a very good game. But it is such a weird niche that they were never able to well market it or find a large enough client base. They spent too much money making it for the niche "MMO horror" audience to adequately support. I'm hoping they aren't doing the same with this one. What's worrying is that's the same thing that killed Lego Universe.

Edited May 4, 2013 by Faefrost

[Flipz]

Right now I'm betting it's at best a 50/50 craps shoot whether or not Funcom survives to their late 1st half 2014 launch estimate. Their financials have been declining rapidly. They have just about lost everything in the debacle of the poor sales of The Secret World. I think their best profit point last year was from their 12 year old subscription game AO. Right now a huge amount of their funding revolves around this Lego game. If it slips release they have a huge issue. And that is never a good position for an MMO company to be in, as it invariably leads to a shoddy incomplete product being raced out the door to poor player retention.

The truly sad thing of it all is they do make great MMOs. The Secret Workd is a very good game. But it is such a weird niche that they were never able to well market it or find a large enough client base. They spent too much money making it for the niche "MMO horror" audience to adequately support. I'm hoping they aren't doing the same with this one. What's worrying is that's the same thing that killed Lego Universe.

Another thing that killed LU was the necessity of such huge amounts of constant moderation, on such a HUGE scale--which came at a HUGE expense. And this is something that this MMO will have to deal with one way or another.

I think part of the issue is that MMOs naturally cater to an older audience, and TLG seems really nervous about there being interactions period in an online space. While there's some validity to that, I also think that TLG may be shooting themselves in the foot if they again try to allow younger fans to play; MMOs are an inherently social experience, and yet if they try to reach their normal age target, they are required by law and their own company principles to partially hinder that experience for the safety of the children. Realistically, if TLG wants a truly successful MMO, they'd have to restrict it to 13+ (or older) to avoid those sorts of problems--and that goes against the target age group for most of their existing brands. (Perhaps TLG could hit the best of both worlds by making a BIONICLE MMO? )

Now, for all I know, the Funcom MMO has a brilliant, revolutionary concept that makes moderation almost completely unnecessary. For their sake, I hope so. But if Funcom's finances are anything less than stellar, there is NO way they'd be able to afford anything near the level of moderation that LU had--which, despite everything else that happened with LU, is still the standard that TLG would require.

Edited May 4, 2013 by Flipz

[BrickG]

Mehhhh...

Honestly one of the big factors that pissed me off about Lego Universe (besides it's extreme lack of content) was the incredibly strict community. You could barely talk. If you said "butt" the mods would probably ban you for a week.

Being an adult in the Lego world tends to suck. To much ridiculous censorship. They cater to kids and screw adults. I don't expect this to change as it's Lego's policy with online.

[Flipz]

Mehhhh...

Honestly one of the big factors that pissed me off about Lego Universe (besides it's extreme lack of content) was the incredibly strict community. You could barely talk. If you said "butt" the mods would probably ban you for a week.

Being an adult in the Lego world tends to suck. To much ridiculous censorship. They cater to kids and screw adults. I don't expect this to change as it's Lego's policy with online.

Keep in mind, LEGO cares about its fans--in this case, they want to protect them from the very real dangers that exist here on the internet. It's what anyone has to (and should) do if they're going to allow contact between minors and adults online...and that means a lot of heavy moderation. It's part of why Eurobricks doesn't allow KFOLs and TFOLs on the site; we have a LOT more freedom in our creations and discussions because we're an adults-only community. That's the sort of thing that TLG will have to do if they actually want to reach the MMO crowd: exclude the kids so that they don't have to go overboard on moderation.

And really, LEGO does NOT hate AFOLs. I mean, look at it: I'm sure if they really wanted to, TLG could get all the AFOL websites shut down. (It would be stupid on a number of levels, but that's not the point.) Not only do they allow us to exist and share our creations, they watch our discussions and try to cater to at least some of our interests. TLG encourages AFOLs and the AFOL community; it's only in interacting with KFOLs and TFOLs that they get rather protective. In my opinion, that's how it should be; not only are they watching themselves legally (i.e. COPPA and other legislation), they are sending a message broadcasting the type of company they are and their attitude towards protecting their younger fans, and that's a good thing for company and children alike.

[Kalhiki]

Cool! I actually kinda forgot about this until just now when I decided to stroll down Culture and Multimedia.

Looks good so far. Hopefully we'll get something similar to Lego Universe. And if I can play as the Galaxy Patrol guy, I'm instantly sold.

Kalhiki

[Savage Oppress]

• The licensed LEGO® online game is on schedule with several significant deliveries during 1Q13 including two new worlds, series 9 Minifigures, projectiles, and both destructible and buildable objects added to the game.

• Work on the browser client during 1Q13 went as planned and parts of the game engine now run in the browser. Remaining parts will be operational during Q2. The browser client comes in addition to the standard PC Direct X 11 client.

• During 1Q13 Funcom and the LEGO group agreed to establish closer integration between the physical product and the game. Details will be given in a future update.

• Production on the tablet version of the LEGO® Minifigures is progressing according to plan.

Edited May 26, 2013 by Savage Oppress

[Lance]

So there will be a boxed copy?

[Savage Oppress]

we don't know yet, they haven't announce anything about a boxed copy, the stuff that I posted earlier were from the meeting on May 24, 2013.

[LegoLotRGuy]

we don't know yet, they haven't announce anything about a boxed copy, the stuff that I posted earlier were from the meeting on May 24, 2013.

The Game is going to be free-to-play, but i think that CLM will have codes inside them when the game comes out to unlock new content and or features and or playable characters (or pieces EX legs, torso, head) in side the game!

On another note, i played LU but not beta, does anyone know if you could use character(s) when the game came out?

Thanks!

[gryffindorcommonroom]

I am definitely excited to see this in action - for I Love both MMOs and Lego. But unfortunately, except for WoW - I haven't played a single MMO that I really liked. Again, I think it's because WoW ruined me for others :))

[Savage Oppress]

More Lego Minifigures MMO news will be coming from Funcom on August 30, 2013 in their Presentation of Q2 2013, so we will get news about new worlds and other stuff, and we might get news when closed beta testing starts, since it's supposed to come out sometime in 2014.