LEGO Fusion
© 2014 LEGO Americas
This is a $35 box of 200 LEGO bricks with a special building platform (see LEGO Life of George for a similar idea). Creations can be photographed with Apple or Android phones or tablets and imported into the free app. The idea is to blend physical and digital play using cameras. There will be four apps in the series: Town Master, Battle Towers, Create & Race and Resort Designer; and each has a custom set of bricks that you will need to buy in order to use the corresponding free app. An essential element is the "FUSION capture plate," with a printed design that enables a smart phone or tablet’s camera to identify the size and colors of the LEGO bricks built onto it. In response to game prompts, children build vertically in 2-D on the FUSION capture plate, enabling the app to see, import and transform the creation into 3-D in the digital world. In Town Master, you create and rule your own LEGO town, first by building it with LEGO bricks, and then capturing it and importing it into the game. You build the houses, pizzeria, fire station and bike shop while completing errands and missions like catching robbers, fighting fires and skateboarding. To keep the mini-figure citizens happy, you must solve problems through physical building and earn points to gain access to more structures, and even run additional towns. In Battle Towers, you build a tower with real pieces, and defend it against attack choosing tower defenders like wizards and archers and battle against evil warriors, skeleton armies, and more. If a tower is damaged in battle, you can repair the damage with a timed build with the game’s real LEGO bricks. In Create & Race, you drive the cars you snap together, with modifications for racing, demolition or stunts. You find out that the brick's shape and color matters for performance. Three themed courses offer a variety of challenges, with items to unlock. In Resort Designer, you design new vacation houses, shops and activities for Ambersands Beach. Developed by TT Games, makers of the best-selling LEGO video game franchise. Battle Towers, Create & Race, and Resort Designer app games are free for download from the Apple, Google or Samsung App Store for Apple iOS and Android. LEGO Fusion's senior design manager is Ditte Bruun Pedersen.
$35, iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac OSX, Kindle
Teaches: fine motor skills, logic, timing, fine motor development, building