New Images for LEGO Battles DS Game

The more and more I see of LEGO Battles for Nintendo DS, the more I’m interested in it. It looks like Ninjas, Islanders, and even the new Space Police aliens will be included in the gameplay.

See More LEGO Battles Artwork at IGN.com

See More LEGO Battles Artwork at IGN.com

The only thing I’m bummed about so far is the lack of the game on other systems like PS2 or Xbox. Nintendo DS has come a long way from the original Gameboy, but it still can’t equal the other systems in visual quality.

After conquering Star Wars, Batman, and Indiana Jones, Lego is finally building a game out of its own parts. Lego Battles for the DS uses the toy maker’s Castle, Pirate, and Space series for more than 70 missions and six different storylines as players create bases and command armies.

To tell you the truth I’m not a big fan of “commanding armies” but I’ll probably buy this one simply because it looks like a great game and I’ve loved all the other LEGO video games created by Travelers Tales.

How Googlers Take A Break At Work

How Do Googlers Take A Break At Work? -2, originally uploaded by Avinash Kaushik.

Avinash Kaushik posted this fun photo. Apparently when Google employees need a brake, one of the options is playing with LEGO. Just by looking you can tell that a lot of the Goolgers grew up in the 80’s playing the same video games as me. I really like the white maze in the middle and the Pac-Man with a Ghost right behind him.

I’ve been interviewed on LEGO.com!

LEGO.com has a new interview on me in their News and Extras page. I think its pretty exciting to be featured on their website! 😉 Want to know what a “typical” day working at the Model Shop is like? Wonder what secrets the Model Makers hide in their models? If you’ve ever wondered what I did as a Master Model Builder while I was working at LEGOLAND CA, here’s your chance to here about it.

Another cool thing was that I was able to talk about what I’ve done since I left LEGOLAND. For those of you who have been following this blog, I’m sure you are familiar with it. But for those of you reading this for the first time I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version.

My name is Mariann Asanuma and I am a former LEGO Master Model Designer from LEGOLAND California. I’ve been playing with LEGO all my life and don’t plan on ever stopping. I quit LEGOLAND after working there for over 5 years. I loved the job, but as with all things, it was time to move on.

I didn’t really know what I was going to do after I quit LEGOLAND. But inspiration struck me one fateful day, a month after I’d quit and four days before my 30th birthday. I woke up at 4 am and spent the next 4 hours writing and drawing out a book I had envisioned in my sleep. I’d always wanted to be a writer, but up until this point in my life, I’d never really done much with my writing. I still feel that I have my “Great American Novel” in the wings (but that is a story for another time). 😉

When I was finished working, I had my first book all laid out before me. It was a LEGO instruction book. I’d been thinking about writing one for years. I didn’t know how at that point, I just knew that I had to make that book a reality. That book became “How to Build a Round Ball with Square Bricks!”

My New Book

After I completed my book I tried to get my book published, I contacted all kinds of publishing houses, but no one could really understand my book. There wasn’t really anything like it. That was when I decided to publish it on my own. I started my company Model Building Secrets in June of last year. My company, just like my blog is to inspire the next (and current) generation of builders. When I was a little girl, it was my dream to become a Master Model Builder, I just didn’t see how that would be possible. One of the questions I’ve often been asked by parents and children alike is “How do you become a Model Maker?”

Through my books, I decided that I would teach people the skills and techniques that makes Master Model Builder what they are. I didn’t want it to be just an instruction book, I wanted it to show the theory behind how I design LEGO models. I also knew that I couldn’t fit it all in one book, it would take too long, and even the most avid LEGO fan might get bored reading it (not to mention that it would be a very, very big book). So I decided to break it up into a series of books. My second one is on the way (its just taking me longer than expected), and I have many more planned in the future.

Along with writing the books, I also build custom LEGO models. In fact, I am the first and only Female LEGO Artist in the whole world! I had no idea that I was making history, until my friend and Certified LEGO Professional Dan Parker pointed it out.

So far I’ve been able to build some pretty cool things including a LEGO Batman Mosaic and a replica of the Afro American Cultural Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

I also write and contribute to the BrickJournal Magazines.

Okay, maybe not the Reader’s Digest version. But once I get started, its hard to stop. 😉 Hope you enjoy the interview.

To Infinity and Beyond . . . LEGO

What a perfect combo — LEGO and Disney. It has just been announced that LEGO and Disney will team up next year. Toy Story, Cars and Prince of Persia all will get a LEGO make over.

Toy Story

Children’s imaginations will go “To infinity and beyond” when, beginning in 2010, they will be able to re-create the adventures of Buzz Lightyear and Woody with LEGO toys inspired by the Toy Story franchise. Toy Story-themed construction sets will be available on both LEGO DUPLO and LEGO System platforms, building the adventure and fun for children ages 2-12. LEGO System products based on Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will launch in January 2010, to be followed in May by construction sets based on the new animated feature, Toy Story 3, scheduled to hit theaters in Disney Digital 3D June 2010. Toy Story-themed LEGO DUPLO products launch in June 2010.

Cars

Lightning McQueen will rev his engine at the starting line of a DUPLO portfolio that will have young builders creating and exploring the high-octane world of the Cars franchise. The Cars-themed LEGO DUPLO line will feature iconic scenes from Radiator Springs and the Piston Cup Championship raceway and will feature favorite Cars characters like McQueen, Mater and Sally. Cars-themed LEGO DUPLO products are scheduled to launch in June 2010.

Prince of Persia

A line of LEGO System construction toys based on Walt Disney Pictures’ and Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, directed by Mike Newell and scheduled to release in May 2010 is also in development. The film, based on the best-selling video game franchise of the same name, stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina and Gemma Arterton in an epic tale of Prince Dastan’s struggle to stop an evil ruler from unleashing a sandstorm that could destroy the world. Prince of Persia-themed LEGO products are scheduled to launch in April 2010.

I’m pretty excited about this one! Just think Buzz and Woody minifigs, or even better L.G.M.s (Little Green Men)! It will be interesting to see what famous scenes will be used as sets. I wonder what Prince of Persia sets will be like. I don’t really play the game, but I could see how the sets could be really cool. I guess we will just have to wait and see. 😉

Anticipation builds on the Digital Horizon

Warner Brothers Interactive and TT Games have officially announced a new LEGO game for Nintendo DS. LEGO Battles is slated to come out some time this summer.

(LEGO Battles is) a videogame based on classic play scenarios in evergreen themes that include LEGO Castle, LEGO Pirates and LEGO Space. Produced by TT Games, developed by Hellbent Games and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, LEGO® Battles pulls three LEGO themes together to create a unique extension of the LEGO build-and-play experience that stays true to the customization and humor that are the foundation of LEGO videogames. The game is scheduled to be available this summer.

LEGO® Battles offers a new kind of “build and battle” LEGO gameplay. Through six distinct story lines, players build their own LEGO bases and battle teams as they engage in over 70 different levels, mixing and matching units to create the ultimate customized LEGO squad. These unique LEGO battles teams see pirate swordsmen fighting side-by-side with wizards and aliens; dragons battling ninjas; and pirate ships launching broadsides against spacecraft and knights!

I’m very excited about this one!

On a slightly related note, TT Games is looking for a LEGO Designer/Artist. Check out The Brothers Brick for the details.

LEGO Batman and Robin Sculptures

I really love these two LEGO models. The first time I saw them was at the San Diego Comic Con and then again at the LEGO Batman Video Game Launch Party in New York. I did not build them, but I am really impressed by them. Although it may not seem like it by just looking, these two models had to have been difficult to build. Its easy enough to design a LEGO Minifigure that is posed like real Minifigs can move, its pretty straight forward actually.

As you can see in the above picture from the new SeaLife, the LEGO Friends (that’s the official name by the way) are pretty much straight up building. Each “movable” section is actually individual models that are built onto a steel frame that can be posed.

I actually designed and built several of these LEGO Friends at my time in the Model Shop at LEGOLAND California. Most notably were several of the Driving School Minifig models including the “Fancy Lady” (Her official name) with the white hat and pet poodle and the Pilot that ran out of gas.

Fun Fact: There is a Minifig in Driving School that is holding the newspaper. The date on the paper is the one when they officially renamed it Volvo Driving School and the “writers” of the articles on the paper are the two Graphic Artists that worked there at the time and who made the newpaper.

Any how, back to where I was.

No, what makes the Batman and Robin Minifigs different is the fact that they are made to look like the LEGO figures in the Video Game. The game figures are able to move more like a normal person, so to be able to fully capture this “movement” is the really tricky thing. Its also really difficult to make any sort of pattern such as Robin’s belt when it is not on a flat surface. I had to make the Flute Playing Pirate in the Pirate Shores area with a checkered patch on the back of his pants, trust me, its hard.

Now I don’t doubt that they were partially designed using LEGO’s Brickbuilder program, its a computer program that helps design 3D sculptures by first creating them in a program like 3DSMax and then transferring them over. The program basically makes a virtual model as many bricks high as you tell it to. But its not straight out instructions on how to build a model. Its more like a rough sketch of what the model will turn out to look like, an outline if you will. There are still curves that have to be fixed virtually on the model and you still have to design the steel frame that will go inside as well as a lot of other details that I won’t go into at this time.

But even with the program, there still was a true Master Model Designer behind it and who ever that was, I commend their skills! 😉

P.S. I’m going to do some checking and see if I can find out exactly who designed it. If I find out I’ll let you know (actually I have a pretty good idea who designed it already, but I don’t want to say until I know for sure).

LEGO Batman The Video Game

So, who’s ready for the next LEGO video game?

I was able to try a small sampling of the game at the most recent San Diego Comic Con and from what I saw, this is going to be a great game. There are so many new and interesting features like different outfits for Robin to wear, one of them allows him to walk up magnetic walls.

Although I can’t give a true review of the game until I play it for more than five minutes, I am super excited about it.

Comic Con Exclusive

This little gem was the give away you would get by playing the game at three different booths at the Comic Con. At each booth (Warner Brothers, LEGO, and DC) you would get a section of the Joker minifigure (head, torso, legs) then you would go back to Warner Brothers and get Batman and a cool little box to put them in.

LEGO Batman hits the Happy Meal

The Caped Crusader has hit the Happy Meal!

McDonald’s has eight LEGO Happy Meal toys for the upcoming Batman Video game. They are not actual LEGO bricks, but they are pretty neat. The “Minifigures” are more like the Gentle Giant LEGO Star Wars figures. And they also have four vehicles with mini characters driving them.

I would have prefered actual LEGO. But at the same time I plan on getting at least some of them.
So check it out at your local McD’s and don’t forget that LEGO Batman is coming out on the 23rd. 😉