Through the years, the LEGO company proved quite inventive and perfectly able to move with the times. Thus, there is LEGO MINDSTORMS , which you can build and program your own robots, but there are also many super-successful LEGO games for video game consoles (and now for iPhone and iPad), based on popular formats such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and so on. And recently a decent hit in the cinema (The LEGO Movie), it is obvious that LEGO is hotter than ever. And the company is doing now one step further with LEGO FUSION, a technology that reminds a bit of Skylanders and Disney Infinity, but still a bit smarter
LEGO FUSION creates a bridge between the physical world of LEGO bricks and the world of games.
What is LEGO FUSION
LEGO FUSION is a product that provides a bridge between two worlds: between the physical world of LEGO bricks and the world of games. When you buy a box of LEGO FUSION, you get a set of (special) building blocks and a so-called FUSION plate. Which FUSION Plate is a LEGO building plate with a special imprint, which ensures that the software can see which tiles you use in a building. Then (depending on the set) also have the traditional manual that tells you how to make a particular structure.
The FUSION-plate you what you build in the real world to scan in the digital world.
Construction scan
Each LEGO enthusiast can tell you that building by the book is a bit boring. That you can build anything with LEGO has always been the strength of the toy and that the makers of FUSION realized well. When you download one of the FUSION apps on your iPad (Of which more later) and have your building put together on the FUSION-plate, then you point the camera app from your iPad on the building (where physical FUSION-plate must be aligned with its virtual counterpart). Then you wait a few seconds and the structure that you just put in your own hands together, is immortalized in digital form and is converted into a three-dimensional object that you can use in the game.
Point the camera at your building (on the FUSION-plate) and you see the magic happen
Competition
LEGO FUSION reminiscent of popular products like Disney Infinity and Skylanders:. you buy toy figures in the shop, puts it on a kind of docking station after which they appear then ‘magical’ way in the corresponding game. All figures contain a special chip that can be read by NFC (near field communication, wireless technology) through the docking station (“portal” called). The disadvantage of such a portal is that the current needs and should be linked via Bluetooth. Furthermore, this technology is too limited for what LEGO with FUSION wanted to do. Where the playing figures remain the same, but with the stones from a LEGO FUSION box decide what you build.
In contrast to Skylanders used LEGO FUSION no NFC station.
Free fantasy
What is smart scanning the created works, is that it is not limited to the three-dimensional models that have been ingrained in the games. What you build will be rebuilt in the software. So it really is creating itself, like you used to do with the stone. Which unfortunately you’re limited to the stones in the box, you can not add their own LEGO bricks. Well what can you build in the real world by expanding virtual things in the app to build fixed (as in the app Battle Towers). This LEGO FUSION our opinion the first product that actually manages to bridge the gap between the physical and the virtual world in a way that does not feel forced. This is playing with LEGO as you used to do, where you can continue the power of your imagination in the software.
The underlying technology is the so good, but what about the software? At each FUSION box that you can buy (total of four) you download the corresponding app. But LEGO FUSION also just as fun to play as, for example, Disney Infinity or Skylanders?
FUSION does not work with predefined models, you decide what you build in the game.
Is FUSION fun?
The LEGO FUSION apps, which we will discuss briefly below, have been made by TT Games, the company responsible for the existing LEGO games. The apps are conceptually be a lot simpler and more limited than the other games that we’re used to from LEGO. So you can in Town Master build a city with residents who have certain needs that you have to meet again to build other things. Other apps running to defend your buildings or racing with (self-made) racing cars. It is great fun and appeals to the imagination, let’s say that first, but it does not compare to games like LEGO Lord of the Rings or LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, where you have to go through complete stories with puzzles that you can solve things by to build.
The software feels that way too simple to. Incomprehensible is not, FUSION is the first step in a new direction.
We can imagine when the technology catches on and it turns a commercial success, LEGO chooses to leave games, in which the building physical objects plays a crucial role. Think of a ravine where you have over it, which you put on your plate FUSION builds a bridge, then you are scanning to use in the game. A thought that every LEGO fan will make you smile, because a better excuse to play with LEGO is not there, without building you come does not progress in the game
The games are fun, but in our opinion a little too easy.
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