Tag Archives: Video Games

Even if you’re not an Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo gamer yourself, and even if you’ve never played one of the many LEGO games, it’s hard not to appreciate the strange and stunning LEGO creations inspired by video games. Look for lots of LEGO models inspired by Halo, the Legend of Zelda, Gears of War, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, and more. Game on!

The city of Midgar…before the Mako disaster

As dystopias go, Midgar from the cult-classic game Final Fantasy VII has to be as dystopian as it gets – a Pangea of slums surrounding a giant reactor sucking out the planet’s lifeblood and to top that off, it always seems to be night in this location. Fletcher Floyd conjures up an amazing micro-scale LEGO build of the most iconic setting in the widely loved game.

Midgar

In a circular pattern, Floyd assembles a menagerie of smaller light grey elements to construct the metropolis. Literally any grey LEGO piece you can think of is included in this build – from 1×1 cones and cylinders, to lightsaber hilts and binoculars, even chalices and steering wheels help render the industrial mess that is Midgar. The area surrounding the city is rendered with some tiles and mostly 1×1 plates in earth tones such as tan, reddish brown, and light brown. Overall this build perfectly recreates the look and feel of Midgar in miniature.

Asteroids dead ahead! Shields up!

Creative part usage crosses over with retro-gaming nostalgia in Classic Space Arcade by brickleas. This entry into the Iron Builder contest takes uncommon Large Figure Part Shield Holder with Axle LEGO elements and mashes them up with side-scrolling in a way that’s sure to earn a high score. The use of the shield as both a part of the spaceship and the scoring counters is brilliant, but I also like the other creative touches. The smallest white stars are made from headlight bricks with white bars inserted into them, for example. And check out the similar-but-not-identical builds on the asteroids. It looks like classic Atari graphics to me!

Classic Space Arcade

Over the years, we’ve featured a lot of creative builds resulting from Iron Builder challenges. Why not check our archives and see what you’ve missed?

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga delayed again; new release date to be announced “as soon as possible” [News]

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will not be released this Spring, according to the announcement made by TT Games on their official Twitter feed. The new release window is unknown, but the game developer promises to share an update “as soon as possible.”

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was unveiled at E3 back in 2019, and last August, the game was delayed until Spring 2021. Now, we have to wait a bit longer before jumping back to the adventures in the galaxy far, far away.

Keep out Inky and Blinky

One of the things I love about writing for The Brothers Brick is that I learn something new with every article. For instance, I never knew the ghosts from the arcade game Pac-Man had names. Apparently, they do. In this creation by Mikael Montelius Inky and Blinky are featured. Inky is the blue one, Blinky the red one. Somehow LEGO is a great medium to make 2D Arcade Games come to life. One of the things that always amazes me is how perfectly the 2×2 curved slopes fit together to make a (half) circle. These pieces are used to create not only Inky and Blinky, but also our beloved hero Pac-Man. I’m also a fan of the use of dark blue and black tiles to create the maze on the floor of this creation.

I’m just trying to appreciate the gravity of the anti-gravity situation

I’m something of a sucker for sleek, futuristic racers. Whether the physics of the blazing fast machines checks out is another matter, but I’m no scientist, so who cares? As long as it looks cool, I’m happy. Tino Poutiainen knows how to build something with LEGO that’s just up my alley, inspired by the videogame Wipeout, which is all about anti-gravity racers. How does it work? Umm, well, shoot, where’s one of those scientists now when I need them? Er, it works, you see, by utilizing the power of superb color blocking (the Blacktron fan in me is loving the black and yellow, especially the thin stripe in the back using hinge bricks) along with a perfect amount of greebling, together with a simple yet crisp base in a contrasting color. Does it look fast? Yes. Is it sleek? Yes. Is it just about perfect? Yes.

Radon VII

This isn’t the first time we’ve featured LEGO builds by Tino Poutiainen, nor is it the first time we’ve featured some LEGO Wipeout anti-gravity racers. You should do yourself a favor and check them out.

There is one imposter among us...

Just a few months ago, I caught on the trend and started playing Among Us. The game has been everywhere— from memes, politics, and more recently, in LEGO. Here Vincent Kiew has recreated The Skeld‘s security room. Vincent uses two triple curved wedge pieces uses to shape each player’s rounded suits and a nice teal for the floor. The hats on each player are also a fantastic addition; there’s a minifig toilet plunger, brick-built nest and one of my go-to’s, the toilet paper roll. This diorama is adorable to see outside of the game—but I will say, three people in security seems kinda sus.

Among Us.

From animals to pop culture, Vincent has created a vast range of models, some of which you can check out here. A few of my personal favorites are his building studies of Malaysian architecture, like his model of Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown and a heritage house with a complete interior.

I am the future. The Tiberian Sun has risen!

Just like LEGO builder Gregory Coquelz, I was a huge fan of Commander & Conquer: Tiberian Sun when it debuted in 1999. So as soon as I saw this excellent pair of dioramas depicting GDI and Nod forces, I knew we had to feature them. First up is GDI with an iconic ore harvester sweeping through the fields of blue Tiberium Vinifera, accompanied by a Wolverine mech and a few soldiers. The diorama is simple, but it captures the bleak wastelands of the game. A blossom tree adds some interest (as well as a renewable source of Tiberium).

GDI - C&C Tiberian Sun

Of course, no C&C creation would be complete with the insane machinations of Nod, and so Gregory has also made an iconic scene with a Hand of Nod, along with a turret, buggy, and a few more soldiers. The broken road is a great touch, with the wedge plates fitting together perfectly to create the uneven edges. Continue reading →

LEGO celebrates 25th anniversary of LEGO video games with 10-part Bits N’ Bricks podcast [News]

December 2020 marks the 25th anniversary since the LEGO company’s first video game released. To celebrate the milestone, the company has produced a 10-part podcast series called Bits N’ Bricks that walk through the history of the plastic brick company’s foray into digital games, from Minecraft to LEGO Island and the LEGO Star Wars games, and everything in between. LEGO says they’ve been working on the show for more than a year, and have interviewed at least 120 people and researched more than 50 games in the course of production. The podcasts will be released weekly, with the inaugural episode launching today. The first episode is actually a teaser that’s not part of the main 10-part series, and along with a Christmas special in a few weeks, means the whole series will run for 12 weeks.

The podcast will be hosted by journalist Brian Crecente and documentarian Ethan Vincent. Crecente has a long history with video game journalism, having founded Kotaku and co-founded Polygon, and Vincent likewise has an impressive resume as an Emmy Award-winning documentary director for PBS.

Check out the timeline below to double-check your own LEGO video games knowledge, and you can read the whole press release and check out a gallery of images from classic LEGO games. Most of us probably thought LEGO Island was the first video game with the LEGO logo, but actually the original LEGO video game, released in 1995, was an educational game produced by SEGA for the Japanese market called Fun to Build. It was followed two years later by the much better known LEGO Island. Continue reading →

LEGO reveals new Super Mario sets for 2021, bringing Tanooki, Wiggler, and more [News]

Today LEGO has taken the wraps off the second wave of its Super Mario sets, revealing five new sets and 10 new Series 2 blind bags that bring a host of new characters and locations to the build-it-yourself augmented reality game. Slated to hit store shelves starting January 1, 2021, the sets will still require the purchase of the original 71360 Adventures with Mario Starter Course US $59.99 | CAN $69.99 | UK £49.99, but bring new functionality to the game system with a variety of play features.

The Master Your Adventure Maker Set adds a yellow starter pipe that enables a time-challenge mode of play, where you’ll need to rush your Mario through the course as quickly as possible. Two new Power-Up suits for Mario are also coming to the mix: Penguin Mario, which will enable sliding, and Tanooki Mario for spinning. The new wave also introduces a new biome (in addition to the water (blue), fire (red), sand (yellow), and grass (green) from wave 1. The new poisonous Soda Jungle biome will be purple.

Don’t miss the other new sets for 2021:

Check out all the new Super Mario sets below.

Continue reading →

Space salvage done with style

Based on the iconic salvage tug from the computer video game Star Citizen, this model of the Drake Industries Vulture by Volker Brodkorb is a stunningly detailed replica of its on-screen inspiration. From the rotating engine modules to the forward prongs, loaded with juicy greebly bits, and an assortment of stickers.

DRAKE - Vulture (Star Citizen)

This impressive model, built to minifig scale, even boasts some great interiors.

DRAKE - Vulture (Star Citizen)

Bloodborne Hunters Dream

The game Bloodborne holds a very special place in the heart of Nathan Hake. It inspired him to make this LEGO Bloodborne Hunters Dream creation. The build took about a year to make and I can understand why. Hunters Dream is a location in Bloodborne. Also known as Dream Refuge, it is the place where the player goes after their first death and operates as a central hub, providing trade and upgrade services. The player can port from this location to any of the Lamps that they have activated.

Bloodborne hunters dream LEGO moc close ups. This build took about a year to make and was my first display at cbs. The build was inspired by the amazing video game Bloodborne which holds a very special place in my heart.

More than a year later Nathan decides to remember his epic creation by making a micro-scale hunters dream and it is absolutely stunning. Not only is the building very recognizable. The whole ambiance of the big creation is well translated to the micro-scale build.

Micro hunters dream

The (Pumpkin) Spice must flow

Don your Uggs and yoga pants as Pumpkin Spice season is upon us once again. But where do all those pumpkin spice lattes, lipgloss, scented candles, and dog shampoos come from? It’s probably all harvested by this creepy fellow constructed by Brothers Brick regular and LEGO builder extraordinaire Joss Woodyard. He tells us this is Pumpkinhead Fiddlesticks, a character from the game League of Legends which, upon further research, seems to have nothing to do with harvesting pumpkin spice. Well, there goes my humorous holiday tie-in! No one said we were good journalists, did they? Regardless of your opinions of my journalistic integrity, you’ll have to agree Joss is a pretty formidable builder. We offer a well-deserved pumpkin spice latte salute to all things Halloween and maybe you should too.

Pumpkinhead Fiddlesticks