T**his article was first published in the October 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
What do Scooby Doo, Doctor Who and Gandalf have in common?
They've all been recreated in Lego. But whereas kids have long been free to create inter-genre mashups, grown-up property rights meant that Lego video games were unable to join in the fun -- until now. Lego Dimensions, out on September 29, combines the toy franchise's tie-ins in one place -- while merging the physical toys with the digital world for the first time.
"The Lego Movie was a fantastic door opener for this shared universe," says Mark Warburton, producer at Cheshire-based developer TT Games. In Dimensions, players use the Toy Pad, an NFC-connected peripheral, and Lego figurines to connect their physical toys to the game. Although such mechanics aren't new (Skylanders and Disney Infinitycome to mind), Dimensions uses the bricks to introduce new possibilities. "One minute they will be moving the toys around to teleport through the levels, the next they will be using it to shrink their characters," says Warburton. At certain points, players are required to rebuild their bricks according to instructions on screen -- further blurring the line between physical and virtual worlds.
The studio had to create a story that would believably combine so many characters, so they wrote a plot involving a villain who breaks the barriers between the various franchise "worlds". "It was brilliantly written so it can bend and shape as much or as little as we want," he says. "Who would have imagined Chell [from Portal] interacting with Doctor Who and Homer Simpson? It's a real joy to be able to play with these characters. It's the game we all grew up wanting."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
