LEGO Says Smart Brick Is 'Here to Stay,' and Responds to 'Questions and Concerns' Around Abandoning Non-Digital Play

A time connected from the authoritative uncover of LEGO Smart Brick, the institution has responded to concerns that its large announcement poses a hazard to its halfway ground successful carnal play.

Speaking to IGN, LEGO exec Federico Begher, SVP of Product, New Business, said that the impending accomplishment of astute elements successful LEGO sets was a immense infinitesimal for the company, and 1 it had been moving towards for a agelong period. At the aforesaid time, however, Begher was keen to respond to immoderate of the technology's less-enthused aboriginal reactions, which person questioned whether LEGO was risking its halfway principals arsenic a carnal artifact company.

"It's a large portion of the future," Begher told IGN. "[But] I mean, it's precise important to beryllium wide that this does not mean that we're leaving our halfway proposition behind, which is immoderate of the questions and concerns I've heard, like, 'are you leaving what's been palmy successful the monolithic determination into this?'"

Hands-on with the LEGO X-Wing Smart Play set. Image credit: IGN.

A BBC News study connected yesterday's Smart Brick announcement astatine the CES commercialized amusement successful Las Vegas noted immoderate "unease" among "play experts" astatine the unveiling of bricks and LEGO Minifigures with chips inside. Indeed, the nonfiction includes a punctuation from Josh Golin, enforcement manager of children's wellbeing radical Fairplay, who said helium believed Smart Bricks could "undermine what was erstwhile large astir Lego" and curtail the usage of imaginativeness during play.

"This is an addition, a complementary evolution," Begher continued, speaking to IGN. "We volition inactive precise overmuch nurture and innovate and support doing our halfway experience.

"Sometimes we comparison it with the Minifigure," helium added. "Back successful the day, the Minifigure started small, it was successful a fewer things, and past wherever determination was roleplay, it made consciousness to person the Minifigure. And successful that sense, we spot that successful a akin mode wherever we say, wherever there's accidental for this benignant of dimensional play, we volition astir apt research it. And that's benignant of the thinking.

"It's not to accidental that it replaces anything. It's an added furniture that's present to stay, that we judge in. It volition beryllium portion of our System-in-Play, similar the ceramic is, similar the Minifigure is."

LEGO says its scope of Smart Play elements are designed to summation play potential, and unlock further interactions with its bricks and Minifigures without the request for a screen. (A Parental Control app is disposable and volition beryllium utilized to update Smart Brick firmware arsenic caller sets arrive, though LEGO representatives were keen to marque wide that play itself was wholly physical, and not a mode to present immoderate different signifier of integer interactivity.

"It's not what this is," Begher said. "We surely spot that [digital play] has its worth and its relation and we bash person experiences that bash that successful gaming and truthful on. But it's not wherever this is taking america necessarily. It is screen-free and it's carnal play. It's an acknowledgement that kids person ever dreamed astir this for their carnal toys. And it's the infinitesimal wherever we are starting to beryllium capable to... the technologies beryllium and we recognize we could beryllium capable to commencement to present that dream."

In hands-on demos, IGN was capable to effort retired LEGO's upcoming Star Wars sets with Smart Play elements that volition beryllium utilized to motorboat the exertion successful March. These see an X-Wing acceptable with a Smart Brick inside, which provides swooping motor noises arsenic it detects the velocity and absorption of movement.

The Smart Brick itself is simply a sensor-packed 2x4 ceramic that is told to enactment arsenic a definite happening by wirelessly connecting to Smart Tiles, tiny elements that fundamentally unlock a circumstantial mode for the Brick to run. When told to beryllium an X-Wing, the Smart Brick provides motor noises arsenic it detects movement, illicits responses from a Smart Minifigure of Luke Skywalker oregon R2-D2 erstwhile seated successful the cockpit, and tin observe adjacent weapons occurrence from a Smart Brick-infused TIE Fighter. The Smart Brick's quality to observe colors allows it to consciousness erstwhile different elements from the acceptable are touched to it, specified arsenic a bluish refuelling nozzle oregon greenish hammer, producing due sounds.

LEGO exec Federico Begher. Image credit: IGN.

Begher describes the improvement of Smart Play arsenic iterative, with "pivoting" based connected feedback from children and parents, but besides learnings from erstwhile LEGO projects specified arsenic its interactive Super Mario figures and Hidden Side scope that featured extended play via an augmented world smartphone app. From these, LEGO decided Smart Play needed to beryllium afloat carnal and an integral portion of LEGO's offering, "not thing that's isolated and lone exists successful a country of the portfolio."

"Something that we started to fig retired with things similar Super Mario," Begher continued, "[was] the information that it shouldn't beryllium excessively prescriptive, determination needs to beryllium play triggers. At the extremity of the day, kids request to play with it nevertheless they privation and they privation to goof around. We're not going to archer them, usage the X-Wing this mode oregon that way, it's your X-Wing.

"That was different learning — for instance, successful Super Mario wherever immoderate of the levels were precise prescriptive. If you didn't marque Super Mario bash this, thing would happen. And the information that adjacent if you don't privation to usage interactive technology, this has to beryllium a large physique and it has to person to beryllium a large play experience. So it's a large Lego set, adjacent if you instrumentality the Smart Brick and enactment it aside."

As for wherever Smart Bricks volition make successful the future, Begher remaind tight-lipped, though suggested its existent implementation successful the company's archetypal sets was conscionable "the extremity of iceberg", with the exertion aboriginal proofed for much analyzable uses. "There's overmuch much that this tin bash that volition travel eventually," Begher teased. "We've had to determine however large is the launch, and however large is the leap astatine launch? It needs to beryllium a fantastic acquisition that's caller and exciting, but it tin beryllium a leap truthful large that understanding, acquisition becomes a hurdle, right? We worked connected striking the close equilibrium and the roadmap reasoning of this."

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social