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LEGO AR-Studio Extends Brick Building Play

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There's a new app coming to the app store for iOS devices that offers families a new augmented reality experience. The uses the phone's camera to create a virtual world. However, unlike virtual reality, you still see the world around you -- just now it has projected objects on the screen.

The app is from LEGO and it's called the LEGO AR-Studio. You point it at your room to orient it, before picking a LEGO set to magically conjure up. It then appears in front of you.

The novelty is that it's not a static picture, you can move around it, peer from any angle and inspect every last brick. The game also offers an open-world style collecting challenge there players interact with the different buildings and monsters to find the sought after Gold LEGO bricks.

The gameplay changes depending on which sets you select at any given time. For example, if you bring in the Ninjago Dragon set to the LEGO Police set, the little LEGO police characters get all flusters and send out the chopper to investigate.

It's a lot of fun, and will encourage children to extend their play into the virtual world. There's even a recording feature so you can capture gameplay moments or use the system as a movie maker.

The app should launch this week in the store and requires an iPhone or iPad as it's based on Apple's ARkit technology. It will also be free and come with the following six sets:

  • LEGO City Police Station - 60047
  • LEGO City Train Set - 60052
  • LEGO City Fire Station - 60110
  • LEGO Ninjago The Green NRG Dragon - 70593
  • LEGO Ninjago Movie – Cole’s Mech - 70632
  • LEGO Ninjago Movie – Destiny’s Bounty - 70618
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Andrew Robertson
Andy Robertson is the editor of AskAboutGames and has written for national press and broadcast about video games and families for over 15 years. He has just published the Taming Gaming book with its Family Video Game Database.