What is Digg?Sponsored by Threadless
42 Comments
- engalicorn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1nice! i think lego is starting to get it!
no one wants these dumb bionic kits... we want to build mismatched houses out of blue green yellow and red bricks! - caffeine211, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Before I bother downloading it, how extensive is the parts list? And is there a limit on how many pieces one can use?
- sonic767, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2This software is so close to spyware it's not funny. Install wants to upload a *detailed* description of your hardware. On first execution it phones home and does ghod knows what. When you consider that their target audience is largely children, this is taking the whole abuse of privacy thing a bit too far for my liking. Bad Lego, no digg.
- msx80, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is far better:
http://www.lm-software.com/mlcad/ - osuadh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0this is a terrible program. The 1000+ people who dugg this obviously didn't both to download it and try it. Since you have to purchase legos in sets, it would cost a fortune more than necessary to buy a custom designed set given the number of unnecessary pieces included in your purchase. The program itself is also difficult to use and way more frustrating than it would be worth even if the pricing system wasn't stupid.
- multifaceted, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That's cool. If I have 'disposible' income any time soon I might do that.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Cool but I dont think that many people would do that.
- swankidelic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Dugg for Legos. Now they need to fabricate the kits on-demand, like Cafe Press.
- koly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This has even been out for the Mac for months (which means it's probably been out a reeeeeally long time).
- error401, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@zonkzor
If I remember being 7 correctly, I'd obtained from Lego a catalogue of replacement parts that included everything they made, and that they would ship for a nominal fee. Being 7, I think I only bought a few things, but the option was definitely there.
Lego is cool. It was fun using it in a college course a couple semesters ago. - TurkishSquirrel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0meh. It's 11:00 at night, I'ma play around with it.
- yensed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0LEGO 4 LIFE, HOMIE!
- link470, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That's awsome. Good link.
- Punk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Thier software needs a little tweaking. Took like 15 minutes to build a simple phone model.
- dizzyd_23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'm guessing that "the Build It" is supposed to be then.
- nick11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I downloaded the Lego software - its not as good as http://www.lm-software.com/mlcad/ of which I tried an older version last year, but I would say that the mlcad is for the older kids, whereas the Lego software interface is more for kids. mlcad had all the bricks that I knew of except 2.
There seems to be a lot of bricks in each pack, but each pack is multicolored. I didn't like making my models randomly colored if I could help it. However in my quick look I didn't see too many technic parts.
It also appears that the available brick packs will change too, as they were available until the 1st of March.The problem with the brick packs changing is you may design a model for a particular pack, and later want to get the parts again for a present or a friend may want the parts to build your model, there will be more work to recreate the model, as it removes bricks from your model if you unload a pack.
How I would have done it has packs of bricks in different colors. And all bricks covered by at least 1 pack. The packs would be about the size of the current packs in existing kits - not much more than 20 bricks. Then the packs would not have to expire. You enter in the part numbers of any existing kits you have that you want to use the bricks of and it works out the extra packs you need. I guess what I am saying is rather than sell a few large packs were people get a lot of bricks they don't need, is to sell lots of smaller packs, where people get just enough bricks for the model.
At the moment the packs are just a few large collections of bricks and the software figures out how many packs you need. I would have gone the other way and having lot of small collections of bricks grouped by color, type use etc.
Personally I think Lego is struggling to come to grips with how to leverage computers & microcontrollers to sell more bricks. A while back (On /. before I found digg) I read an interesting comment about the mindstorms cannibalizing their existing product range. - frem001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0there is a limited amount of parts you can use, so no giant starwars battlecruisers
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0would be better if we could animate it...not that it would be any more usefull or useless than it is...
- gnalakalaciath5, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0this is old news, has been out for ages.
also, even if you can have unlimited bricks on this software, nothing beats just sitting down and building the physical model yourself, with real bricks.
P.S. Lego rocks! - tw0bit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That is VERY cool, I love lego...
- lilazndrumrboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i second what cwoolf34 said..........this has been out for like 4 months, if not earlier........my little brother gets lego magazine, and it's been featured in the spring lego catalog, i believe..........
- Otto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This program has been around a couple years now, and for the most part, yes, it sucks at first. However, if you do even a little searching around on the hardcore lego communities, you can find that the program has been hacked all to hell and back. Basically people figured out the file formats and such and now you can put in lists of bricks you already have, the packs are rearranged to make things cheaper, the algorithims are better, etc. So if you really do want to use the program, go digging around the various unofficial lego forums for more info on how to customize this stuff and make it actually work *well*.
- pimaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"This software is so close to spyware it's not funny."
I was dissapointed by the detailed information in there, thou, I was happy to hand over the lite information required fo HL2: Sorry lego no data for U!
"Before I bother downloading it, how extensive is the parts list? And is there a limit on how many pieces one can use?"
As far as I can tell, you can only buy a 'set' of lego, colour it and design as you need. As far as picking from an unlimited list, an building a huge tower, this program is not for you.
The interface is a pain in the neck, and I think it hogs too many resources. It would be nice if it was responsive, but it lags badly.
Nice in theory, needs tweeking before being released. - Life2Death, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wow, about ***** time some 'genius' figured this one out! I still enjoy legos even to this day, and will look into this further...
Any mention of the new mindstorms? - dbpigeon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I love legos.
- ChadKirchner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Cool idea, sounds like it's been out forever though. Dugg because Legos = Cool.
- Dabellah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It's not a great program, but a good concept. Played around with it MONTHS ago. Not calling this digg "old" like most people would claim, but it has been around. At least now more people know about it =)
- jakepaulus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Great idea...but the software is really horribly unintuitive. Dugg because I love legos, uninstalled because I don't like the software.
- erathean, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0As Designhaus said even a small house costs £30 because bricks are effectively being bought in packs. Your not paying for your model, your paying for different bags of bricks sometimes much bigger than you need
- Malacoi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is actually quite old, people have already found a way to cut the cost through deduction of which sets include which parts, but I do not have a link to any information on this.
- Designhaus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The application sucks. It really does. I've used it many moons ago. You can't build squat and it costs you a fortune for even a small design.
- shawgo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0coolest idea ever! I love lego.
- LoganKriete, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0This is old - A) it's been on Digg before, and B) it's been around for at least 2 years. It's very great if you're a hardcore Lego builder (like some here have professed themselves to be :-D), but otherwise, not that great. Because they sell the parts you need in certain quantities (like packs of 10 white bricks) - so, if you have a model with 15 white bricks, they'll ship you two 10-packs - which means you're now paying for 5 more bricks than you need, and only hardcore Lego builders would take that risk, or build it in such a way that it minimizes that issue.
Still, it's pretty good (even if it does run slow and is a memory hog, as some have mentioned). And it doesn't "phone home" - it contacts Lego just so it can get an updated list of the parts they're selling and the packs they sell them in (it's not sending any identifiable info with it, other than the parts in your current model). - xelloss, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Just Think of what we could build, hehe.
- kcghost, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0They have had this for sooooooo long. All the major lego geeks that build huge statues use it. No digg.
- ajmoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0...then?
- emberwolf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0as seen on bungie.net :P
- SpazticChips, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1...They've had this for months, you just noticed.
- Zonkzor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Ok this sucks. I wanted this when I was 7 years old. But nooo, lego has to wait until the internet was invented and then create a website where I can order all the cool parts I don't have. Thanks Lego for ruining my childhood.
-----
How To Be A http://CollegeCheapskate.com - TheQwe, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0ooooooold news.
- dirtyfratboy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0ooo
- cwoolf34, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0WAY ***** OLD!!!!! DIGG SUCKS THESE DAYS!!!!
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is