Little Coloured Bricks

Here’s some news for those who love to visit Lego retail shops. If you are from Troy, MI, you should go to the Grand Opening of Troy’s Lego Store on September 17 to 19. Kids and Lego enthusiasts can help the master builder construct a mammoth-like Lego version of Buzz Lightyear. Those who visit the store and make a purchase during those dates will also get exclusive offers.

Those in Minneapolis, MN should be happy as well because the Lego Group is constructing a bigger and better store at Mall of America. The grand-reopening is on November but we are not informed yet on which dates this will be.

Other Lego Stores

Lego has new locations all over the globe and they are in the following cities:

Somerset Collection, Troy, MI

Barton Creek Square, Austin, TX

Chinook Centre, Calgary, AB, Canada

Wiesbaden, Germany

Aventura Mall, Mmiami, FL

Rockeffeller Center, New York City, NY

Queens Center, Elmhurst, NY

Roosevelt Field Mall, Garden City, NY

Houston Galleria, Houston, TX

Other Lego News

In other news, Lego enthusiasts living near Westfield Annapolis Shopping Center can join Race Annapolis (LEGO) on September 18 (Saturday) 12 noon to 6 in the evening and since it’s a Saturday, you should make sure that you bring the kids as well.

Lego stores at Concord Mills and Arundel Mills are offering Lego Education Classes for children ages 4 to 5, 6 to 7, 8 and above and children with their family members. This education will last you a lifetime and will surely teach parents a thing or two about educating their children through the little coloured bricks.

Do not forget that all Lego stores also have monthly mini model building programs for children ages 6 to 14. Stores teach the kids how to build a certain creation and the kids can take that model/creation home for free. All you have to do is check with your local Lego stores for the date and time.

Are you excited about Lego Universe? If you are updated with the happenings in the world of Legos and minifigs, you probably have ordered your Lego Universe game. If not, here is a treat for you.

If you do a pre-order, you will be able to play Lego Universe for 30 days without paying for anything and you get to have a free minifigure too! And you will be able to see the game earlier than its official launch and get ahead of the rest.

Remember however that paid subscription is required to continue the game. You can pay monthly, semi-annually or annually.

Here are the specs needed for your computer:

You should have either Windows XP,  Vista or Windows 7 with the newest service packs. Your computer should have at least 1 GB RAM for XP and 2 GB RAM for Vista and Windows 7. Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz is needed (or Athlon XP 3200+).

For Mac users, you would need at least 1 GB RAM, 5 GB free HD space with either Mac OS X 10.5.3 Leopard or higher.

You should check your video card too. You can do that by going to Lego’s official website for Lego Universe.

Oh, here is one more thing, apart from the limited edition minifig for Lego Universe, those who will pre-order the MMO will also get an exclusive outfit for your character and a launch bonus shop. If you buy from non-Lego outlets however, these bonuses will not be given to you because they are only available in Lego stores and at the Lego Online Shop. To access the Lego Online Shop, you should visit www.Lego.com and click on shop.

If you are ready to go, get your credit card or PayPal ready and click on the Buy Now button or whatever button there is for you to do a pre-order.

Here is some good news to all parents out there, Lego Universe was given the Best Family Game award. The E3 awards sure keep on coming for the Lego Group and they are very proud of it. Zam, the group that gave Lego the award said “the developers are working hard to make this a game where parents who play games can introduce their kids to an MMO where they have no concern over questionable content”.[1]

This is a very exciting thing not only for the Lego Group but for parents who constantly worry about the games their children play online.

This gives a new face to MMOs (which are usually very violent and feature characters who have very womanly curves in tight fitting clothes) since Lego Universe is a wholesome game that can be played by any age group.

More Lego Universe News

Here is some more good news. The Lego Universe team just released an announcement that they are looking for Lego Universe Beta Testers. The team needs fans to help them with the final touches before its October 2010 launch. The game is available in English or German.

To sign up you can either go to Lego.com or click here.

A Compelling Story

Don’t know the story of Lego Universe? Imagine 4 minifigs in a quest for Pure Imagination. Baron Typhonus, Doctor Overbuild, Duke Exeter and Hael Storm embark on a dangerous journey to find Imagination Nexus. in their journey, they are led to Crux, a strange planet where they eventually find Imagination Nexus. Something bad happens after that though because the greedy Baron Typhonus gets pulled into the nexus and eventually causes a Maelstorm of chaotic energy. Amidst the rubble, the good Doctor Overbuild finds a tiny shard of the nexus. The three adventurers then decides to go through another quest –to defend Imagination Nexus from all evil.

If you are over 25 and think you are alone when it comes to your Lego addiction even if you find people who are like you online, you need to reeducate yourself with some brick-love through this blocumentary about AFOL (Adult Fans of Lego).

Although the abbreviation sounds kinda awful and sounds actually like awful, adult Lego fans are not ashamed and they are always ready to show what they have built.

According to the rather humorous documentary, there are different kinds of adult Lego fans. There are those who have invested a lot of their time to Lego-building without putting up a group or a company while there are those who do. There are LCPs or Lego Certified Professionals who can take the LEGO name and do public events for the company. These fans usually mix business with pleasure but who said there is something wrong with that especially if you are talking about something as wholesome as the Danish bricks.

From all around the world, Lego fans range from 2 year olds to those in their late 50s and 60s. From grandchildren to grandparents, even to those who are not super fans of the bricks, there is always one great memory associated with Legos. According to enthusiasts, this is a great thing because after so many years of surviving the toy market in general, Lego is gaining strength when it comes to its fan base and it has established itself as a staple for every child’s playroom.

Although we all know that Legos are not just toys but are tools for education, team building and the like, Lego will forever be a toy loved by millions, maybe even billions of people around the world.

Watching this documentary will inspire you to build more if you are having doubts about your Lego addiction.

To access the video if your server is slow, you can click here.

Many parents love Legos mainly because they act like an unofficial tool for learning. But apart from developing a child’s fundamental skillset, Lego is also an inspiration to many. Described as a lifesaver by many educators, Lego has proved its worth not only as a toy, a learning and teaching tool and a training tool for businesses but as a way to relieve one from stress.

Lego enthusiasts who are no longer treated by pediatricians look into Lego as a stress reliever. Chinese engineer Hsu Lin Yin says he builds things through the little building blocks to relieve stress.

For those who are into Lego bricks but do not have the time to build things, there are such things as squeezable brick stress toys. These products are not from the Lego Group, they are just patterned from the bricks and are as squeezable as those stress ball smileys given to office workers.

The stress item is a best seller. The UK based company that produces it sell the Lego Stress Toy by the bulk. Argon has been selling these toys for years but it is not only Lego bricks that they sell, they also have badges, bags, baseball caps, bottle openers, cooler bags, calculators, clothing, among other things.

Fighting stress through playing with the Danish blocks is a great way to spend your day. Apart from that, you would get to spend time with your children while de-stressing.

You can build simple structures or whatever it is that you feel like making and spend some quiet time on your own. For those who have children, spending time with the kids, the whole day can be stressful but if you are doing something fun, you do not really need to worry about stress at all.