"LEGO Fusion" Pictures: Build Real Brick Houses, then Scan 'em into the Digital World

Toy Play Patterns are Different these Days. It Used to be that on Rainy Days, you'd Stay Indoors and Read Through a Stack of Comics or Play with LEGO All Day. (Heck, Maybe you still do that — and on Sunny Days too.) But, Kids these Days Don't Play with Toys as Much, Mostly because they're Glued to their iPads and iPhones. LEGO, like Every Other Toy Major Toy Maker, Wants to Mix its Physical Toys with the Digital App World. "LEGO Fusion" is What it's Come Up with. "Fusion" Involves Building your Own Town Out by actually Using Real LEGO Bricks to Build the Facades of Houses, Stores and Other Buildings a Town Full of Minifigs Would Enjoy and then Scanning them into the Digital World with a Smartphone or Tablet App. When I Say Facade, I Really do Mean the Face of a Building. Before the "LEGO Fusion" App Can Scan a House, there are Some Requirements: Each House Facade Can be Up to 16 x 16 Studs (and No More). They Need to be Built on Top of a Special LEGO "Capture Plate" (Think of it as QR Marker, if you will) and there Needs to be a Door. (Although I Should Have Tried Putting a Door on the Roof, to See if it Would still Work.)


For the Most Part, the Scanning Works Really Well. It was Able to Scan my Crudely Assembled "House" which you See in the Photo on Top. It's Not Perfect, though. If you Look Closely, the Camera Scanned in a Few Extra Beige-Colored Bricks on the Left Side because, it Detected the Color in the Background. A LEGO Designer Told me, they've still Got Some Time to Work on Tweaking the Scanning before "Fusion" Launches this Summer. But All in All, Not Bad. You Don't Get any Control Over How Deep you Want your Building to be, though. If the Building Facade you Built is 8 x 8 Studs, it'll Extrude Up to 8 Studs Deep. If it's 16, then 16 Studs Deep and so on. "Fusion" is Without a Doubt a Lot of Fun. I Only Played with it for 15 Minutes and I was Blown Away at its Potential. I Can Definitely See Kids (and Adults; because LEGO is for People of All Ages) really Getting Absorbed into the Creation Process and Seeing them Come to Life on their Tablets.


Little Kids will especially be Amazed; they're Gonna Think this is Magic. LEGO's Planning to Release 4 "Fusion" Boxsets: Town Master (you're the Mayor of your Own LEGO Town), Battle Towers (a Tower-Defense like Game with a Medieval Theme), Create & Race (Build Race Cars and then Race on a Track) and Resort Designer (Manage your Own Resort !). Each Boxset Comes with 200 Pieces in an Assortment of Colors so, you Can Get Super Creative. The Application will be Free on iOS and Android (Sorry Windows Phone !) and "Fusion" Sets will Retail for $34.99, When they Come Out in Mid-August. The Only Boxset that Comes Out a Little Later is the Resort Designer Pack, which is Slated for September.