By John Walker on December 5th, 2011 at 5:15 pm.
You know how Minecraft is a bit like the world’s biggest and most elaborate Lego set? Except here you start with more green and brown blocks than even Simon Lego himself owns. Well, monolithic megacorp, Mojang, are discussing a deal with the Danish blockmasters to release official Minecraft Lego. They are only next door to the Swedish devs, after all. The news comes via Mojang bod Daniel Kaplan’s Twitter feed, who reports that they’ve gotten past the first stage of Lego’s peculiar means of developing specific themed packs. Via LEGO CUUSOO, someone’s idea for a Lego set appears in a Kickstarter-style site, except here all people are pledging is their support for the idea. Get to 10,000 votes and the idea gets looked at by Lego. And now Kaplan reports they are now chatting with Mojang about the prospect.
Those who get picked get a 1% cut of the profits, which Mojang say they’ll be giving to charity. As they throw another wad of thousand dollar bills out the window to shoo away the pigeons. So they’re after votes again, apparently. Although I’m not sure why.
Is it a good idea? It seems like Minecraft rather supercedes Lego for me. It’s a bit like releasing a plastic rendition of Peggle, with one set of pins and no exploding rainbows. But is it something you want? Clearly lots of others do. And when I look at the pictures on the Cuusoo site, I do rather want some.
In other news, Americans, stop saying “Legos”. You sound ridiculous.
05/12/2011 at 17:35 Hoaxfish says:
I already have Lego (aka LEGO)… isn’t this just Lego themed Lego. Le’ go o’ ma lego.
Though I suppose even Lego is less blocky than Minecraft.
05/12/2011 at 17:41 limboing_leper says:
I’m inclined to agree, I don’t really see what an official set would include to make it more Minecraft like. Perhaps some of the ore and redstone blocks. Although it could be a whole new type like Lego Duplo as the minecraft proportions don’t really fit standard lego ones
05/12/2011 at 17:42 sneetch says:
“isn’t this just Lego themed Lego”
That’s a good point… I mean they’ll have to make a Creeper somehow but surely this would just be a lot of 2x2x1 Lego blocks in a bag surely?
05/12/2011 at 17:46 Xocrates says:
Honestly, I want this to go ahead just for the minifigs.
05/12/2011 at 18:30 ananachaphobiac says:
Isn’t it more, Minecraft but offline?
05/12/2011 at 19:03 bear912 says:
I would say that, when considered architecturally, Lego pieces offer much more variety and depth than the cubes of Minecraft. On the other hand, when considered as a dynamic system, Minecraft seems the clear leader. You would be hard-pressed to implement a working 16-bit ALU with Lego blocks, but you’d also have a hard time creating something as structurally nuanced as this with Minecraft.
05/12/2011 at 23:36 vexis58 says:
It would be pretty cool if you could get a set that’s just the square blocks, except they’re specially painted or something to look just like the default minecraft graphics. A grass block with partially-grassy sides, a gray textured stone block, a blue translucent water block, etc. Might be hard to get the paint to stick to the plastic in a way that it won’t just rub off when you try to connect the pieces though.
07/12/2011 at 06:35 LostViking says:
@bear912
I am pretty sure you could build a 16 bit ALU in technics lego. The problem is you would have to buy a crapload of bricks!
05/12/2011 at 17:39 Tusque D'Ivoire says:
After decades of moving away from simple blocks building anything, and moving towards one-trick-pony Lego parts, are they now actually jsut releasing the standard simple Lego blocks again with a huge rabble about them being licensed Minecraft blocks?
05/12/2011 at 17:58 Hoaxfish says:
They always did the proper ones. Those other ones are the idiot-proof lego, much like Ikea is idiot-proof carpentry (as long as you’re really snobby about what doesn’t constitute an idiot)
05/12/2011 at 17:40 FCA says:
Minecraft is what the Lego MMO should have been….
They should make an offline version of Wordfeud. That would be totally rad.
05/12/2011 at 18:47 BSG11 says:
This.
I’m confused why Lego and Mojang don’t see the potential of a sandbox game using a hybrid of Lego and Minecraft. Mine Lego terrain for Lego resources, refine and craft said resources into building material, construct building and vehicles.
05/12/2011 at 23:48 Tusque D'Ivoire says:
What You’re describing sounds like a more limited minecraft.
The problem is, The video game is in this case less constricted than the real thing. That is Minecraft’s thing, basically. why make a more constricted version of it?
06/12/2011 at 04:56 InternetBatman says:
Really? It sounds like Minecraft with vehicles. I could get behind that. I never did try the horse mod though.
05/12/2011 at 17:40 Vinraith says:
Construx were better.
05/12/2011 at 17:58 Mistabashi says:
As the owner of a great deal of both when I was young, I feel I’m in the position to tell you you’re absolutely 100% wrong.
05/12/2011 at 18:19 Muzman says:
Fiiiight!
05/12/2011 at 18:30 Eremis77 says:
Ramagon FTW! The ability to make a 3′ tall tower AND attach Lego to it = one very happy kid.
05/12/2011 at 18:50 bear912 says:
My gosh. I haven’t heard of Ramagon for years. You are a good person for reminding me of those spindly construction pieces. I was always a Lego fellow, myself, but Ramagon were still fantastic.
06/12/2011 at 07:49 LionsPhil says:
You all fail at being British.
Meccano!
05/12/2011 at 17:47 oceanclub says:
On the one hand, it seems superfluous.
On the other hand, you could then render your most prized creations from Minecraft in reality.
I vote YES.
P.
05/12/2011 at 17:49 LTK says:
Well, do remember that unlike Minecraft, Lego doesn’t come with an unlimited, lifetime supply of blocks for two tenners.
05/12/2011 at 19:51 oceanclub says:
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.
05/12/2011 at 17:48 LTK says:
Personally I think it’s criminal that ‘Beta Blockers’ was never used as a title in the entire time Minecraft was in beta.
05/12/2011 at 17:50 Kaira- says:
Obligatory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S33vL0zkT0s
05/12/2011 at 18:02 BAshment says:
Mojang is crumbling.
05/12/2011 at 18:22 Muzman says:
Why is he ..German?
05/12/2011 at 17:50 Ninja Foodstuff says:
Shouldn’t that be Ian Lego?
Also, cue misuse of “Legos”
05/12/2011 at 19:10 Teddy Leach says:
That gets on my nerves so much. So much.
05/12/2011 at 22:28 PopeJamal says:
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with “Legos”. To the common American, a “Lego” is a type of block, created by a company of the same name. A group of Lego blocks would then be called “Legos”. It’s pretty simple actually.
You may now return to your pretentious Anglo-European complaints about Americans, full of words spelled with superfluous vowels. And tea…and crackers, or biscuits, or whatever the hell is the crunchy version of a crumpet.
*Drives away in a pickup truck
05/12/2011 at 22:34 sinister agent says:
The crunchy version of a crumpet is a stale crumpet.
05/12/2011 at 23:03 Cooper says:
I hear they have lots of sheeps and mices in North america…
05/12/2011 at 23:05 nemryn says:
We nicked the ‘s’ from ‘maths’ and grafted it onto ‘Lego’.
06/12/2011 at 00:24 BigJonno says:
Nemryn, that made me laugh much harder than it probably should have.
06/12/2011 at 08:48 Sardaukar says:
I cringe every time I see LEGO spelled without caps lock on. I suspect I am alone in this.
05/12/2011 at 17:54 Urthman says:
Having pretty much always used high-res textures packs, just about all Minecraft-themed knock-off products have zero emotional appeal for me. I’ve played hundreds of hours of Minecraft, but I’ve never played a game that looks like that.
05/12/2011 at 18:01 hypercrisis says:
Pre-orders drying up so theyre moving into merchandise?
Cuddly creepers are next I’m sure.
05/12/2011 at 18:07 Durkonkell says:
I think they’re just called “orders” now.
05/12/2011 at 18:22 frymaster says:
given the “profits to charity” angle, if you’re going to make paranoid statements, it’ll have to be along the “trying to drum up publicity” lines.
also I would totally buy a cuddly creeper. or maybe slime.
05/12/2011 at 22:37 sinister agent says:
Creeper sound effect burglar alarms.
Pro: Burglary rate drops 15% in two weeks. Con: NHS reports unusual spike in heart attack admissions.
05/12/2011 at 18:39 Bishop149 says:
How very meta. . .
05/12/2011 at 19:09 Faldrath says:
To the Moon reference, John? Clever!
05/12/2011 at 19:32 Skabooga says:
I am thinking that myself, although a Google search reveals that they are indeed a real compound. But I still prefer to think of it as a reference.
05/12/2011 at 19:10 youthful cynic says:
aaaaaaand the snake eats itself
05/12/2011 at 19:33 ninjapirate says:
What’s next? New Lego computer games based on the Minecraft Lego sets?
05/12/2011 at 19:52 LostSoviet says:
Next up: a Lego computer running Minecraft!
05/12/2011 at 21:03 hypercrisis says:
Lego Minecraft: The Video Game
I can see it
05/12/2011 at 19:49 Jake says:
Wouldn’t it be better to do this the other way around? Instead of making Lego uglier by having it look like Minecraft (I really struggle to see why you would need to buy instructions to build a pile of rocks with some grass nearby) why not make Minecraft prettier by having it look like Lego?
05/12/2011 at 23:38 Urthman says:
You mean like this?
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/676573-16×181-legopak-lego-look-alike-updated-version/page__hl__lego
05/12/2011 at 20:04 LuciusAxelrod says:
I’ve always wanted a version of Minecraft with microtransactions. Now I can pay for every block!
05/12/2011 at 20:22 Barman1942 says:
Leh
Gos
Legos!
05/12/2011 at 21:29 tomatojustice says:
^agreed.
I’d love some Minecraft legos!
anyways, off to pick some Erbs from my gaRden…
05/12/2011 at 22:50 MythArcana says:
So…we just send in $10 each and wait for 2 years for an unfinished Lego kit to be released then?
06/12/2011 at 04:41 Walter Heisenberg says:
The Search for More Money
I never thought I’d begin to loathe indie darlings…
06/12/2011 at 07:15 Bob Sacamano says:
How is this different from regular legos? I don’t understand the world anymore…
06/12/2011 at 08:23 Dervish says:
I like how people are acting superior about “lego” as a pluralization when that equally misses the point that LEGO is a brand name and shouldn’t be used as a mass noun at all.
See also: BAND-AID brand adhesive bandages.
06/12/2011 at 17:39 tomatojustice says:
yes it should.
06/12/2011 at 23:11 Dervish says:
1) a trademark being genericized has nothing to do with how to pluralize it, only what other products people use the term to refer to
2) LEGO isn’t even on that list
3) Band-Aid is on that list, and yet people say “I have 56 band-aids” and not “I have 56 band-aid” (see #1)
I don’t know what you’re attempting, here.
06/12/2011 at 10:10 Tony M says:
I heard Blizzard is doing the DRM. You won’t be able to play Lego unless you’re logged into battle net. They want to make sure nobody builds something that isn’t one of their pre-approved designs.
06/12/2011 at 10:21 Ryn Taylor says:
Legos.
Just so you know, half the reason I read RPS is so I can enjoy at all the Britishisms.
07/12/2011 at 06:42 LostViking says:
How cool would Minecraft be if it had all the Lego bricks?
I love Minecraft, but I do find the selection of shapes a bit limiting. Having arches, cylinders, triangles, tiles and all the good stuff you have in Lego would open up even more possibilities.