If you happened to miss this weekend's Brickcon 2008 in Seattle, as we unfortunately did, you missed the appearance of the "Zombie Apocafest" project. It was one part Left 4 Dead, one part The Big Lebowski and two parts LEGO. It was also 6.8 parts awesome, with a massive zombie-filled scene of Left 4 Dead-style destruction, featuring copious amounts of LEGO gore.

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LEGO Universe producer Ryan Seabury sat down with us last week to talk about the future of the massively multiplayer online game. Seabury says that a core group of 50 LEGO users have already started messing around with the game, building in-world models and adding to their own private game maps. Some of that content may even make it the final game when it launches sometime in 2009.

As they work on the game, Seabury says that NetDevil is trying to identify what is "really core LEGO play" and not create a directed adventure like you find in the Traveller's Tales games. In fact, he hopes that the game could get people to do the same in the real world. Right now, it seems that lots of kids buy the pre-packs to make the models found on the box cover. Seabury says playing the game inspires he and his child to actually take their virtual creations and make them with real-world LEGOs.

Seabury also talks about how LEGO Universe will compare to LittleBigPlanet and Spore when it comes to user created content. It's a chunky, though interesting interview if you have the time.

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Adam and I had a chance to run over to NetDevil's office last week to talk with them about their work on the upcoming LEGO massively multiplayer online game LEGO Universe. We also got a tour of their place, including the fabled LEGO library and got some more hands on time with an up-to-the-minute build of Jumpgate Evolution.

In the coming weeks (blame TGS) we'll be posting some in-game videos, hands-on impressions, interviews and tour videos on the site. While LEGO Universe isn't quite playable(by me) yet, producer Ryan Seabury took some time to talk to us about where the game was headed and what we could expect to see. He also showed off his totally kick-arse real-world Starcraft LEGO diorama. Look for that one a bit later today.

In the meantime amuse yourself at my expense:

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NetDevil - the guys behind the upcoming Lego MMO Lego Universe - are taking the game seriously. Very seriously. So seriously that they've made some changes to the normal development process by making use of a team of die-hard, adult, "purist" Lego fans. Lead producer Ryan Seabury explains:

We've been working with about 50 of them — and now up to 68, and it's only going to keep expanding. We've brought them out to Denver twice... the first time, it was more about getting them up to speed on the concept and what was going on and hearing a lot of feedback and opening a dialogue, and the next time we brought them back out, they actually got hands-on with the tools and the technology.

Conceptually, we think of them as developers helping us build the game...You never hear about a community being involved in an MMO besides coming in at the beta test at the end. Those people that can be the most influential... [are] heavily involved and tell us what their expectations are.

I can tell you our expectations: if we can't recreate the original Lego castle, all bets are off.

NetDevil Talks Merits, Precautions Of Early Focus Testing [Gamasutra]

No doubt there are LEGO architects in the wild who consider this a horrible affront to blocksmithing, but this 29" tall Mario sculpt is obsessively well done. And we're not just using the "obsessively" adjective because the final product was photographed in front of what appear to be Super Mario Bros. wall decals from Blik, we use it because he over-teched it.

The creator used a "NextEngine 3D scanner, modo and big pile of Lego" to get the job done. The final product? Awesome. In-progress pics are available, in case you're wondering exactly what a NextEngine 3D scanner is. (Formal apologies to anyone who thought this post was going to be about Traveller's Tales getting the Mario license.)

Lego Mario designed using modo [Luxology Forums via Gizmodo]

The Batpod won't be the only ride you'll be slaughtering Gotham's worst in. Behold the completely kick arse rides of Lego Batman! What could possibly be better than chomping down on enemies with a 15 foot alligator?

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If a lesser developer had had the success with the Lego Star Wars series that Traveller's Tales did, we'd be buried up to our necks in bullshit by now. As much as I desire to see every major film property made into a Lego-based video game, I'm quite pleased that a more responsible company than I would run is handling the property. Speaking to Eurogamer, Lego Batman producer Rich Earl reaffirms the company's commitment to quality.

"There's an expectation now that there would be a LEGO game per year, and we certainly feel that one or two games would be the right amount per year, otherwise there'd be a saturation of LEGO games and they'd lose the charm...We're also conscious that we're making games for young kids. We don't want to take the piss out of the consumer and end up making any old rubbish. We're hoping people feel our games are of a high standard and we want to continue doing that".

Thank goodness I say. Games like Lego Caligula and Lego Schindler's List need to stay in my imagination, for the good of all mankind.

TT not going to "take the piss" out of LEGO-game fans News [Eurogamer]

It's an exciting day for everyone in Lego Gotham City. A new hero err heroine has been announced, Batgirl! She will be joining forces with Lego Batman's great cast of characters. Batgirl will also be able to sport Batman's gadgets such as the Glide Suit and Sonic Suit. Expect the game out in September.

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Swear, I don't have a sentry gun fetish. Although it would be cool to meet a girl who did (I don't judge). Last week we churned up a video of a guy who developed a paintball sentry, and now reader Mohammed I. passes along a less functional, but no less impressive version: A Lego Sentry. Props to the builder, and especially for the game-screen render around it. Seriously, new desktop pic. It's a work of art and should stand for all time. Until some bastard-arse Spy whips up a Lego sapper.

Team Fortress 2 Sentry [Lair of the Legomancer, via Shift Gamer, thanks reader Mohammed]

Failure was my middle name when I recently spoke to head of Traveller's Tales, Jonathan Smith.

There I am chatting with him about the upcoming Lego: Batman game and suggesting that a Lego: Transformers game would be fun. He asks me, essentially, for an on-the-spot verbal pitch. As chronicled on my Multiplayer blog, I say

I said, you'd take advantage of the wide cast of Transformers characters and put them in the format started by "Lego: Star Wars." There are plenty of Transformers for gamers to control and swap, certainly more characters in the pantheon than there were for "Lego: Indiana Jones."

I said TT coul have all sorts of fun letting the characters transform to get through the levels. You have the existing good mix of character and vehicle stuff in the Lego games, so there's a blueprint there.

"Sounds like you just want a good Transformers game," Smith replied

I tried more. He didn't bite. Where did I go wrong? Bad concept?

How I Failed To Successfully Pitch 'Lego: Transformers - The Game' [MTV Multiplayer blog] [Pic]