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Fan-Designed Mindstorms Release Next Tuesday
EaglesNest writes "The Washington Post has a story describing Lego's new Mindstorms. Two years ago, Lego formed their own 'star chamber' to decide what the next iteration of Mindstorms would look like. Eventually reaching 14 people, the Mindstorm users panel had a huge impact on what will be released commercially next week." From the article: "One member was even able to pressure the company into building a part that makes its debut in the new Mindstorms set -- a rare event at Lego, which treats every individual piece with reverence. The new part is a connector that allows two long pieces to be joined at a 90-degree angle. The resulting toy has much more up-to-date technology than the original set, including a USB 2.0 port for fast downloads and Bluetooth for wireless connections. With the right parts and programming, a Mindstorms robot can dance in response to sounds or follow the beam of a flashlight."
The Lego company just kept doing business as it always had... which was fine when the bricks were selling, but once the video game crowd eroded their sales - they tanked. Since, they have laid off a number of employees - not making the town they reside in happy but the alternative was much worse. They have also moved production off to eastern european countries where labor costs are reasonable and they can compete in the global market. The new CEO means business and I am optimistic they will survive and maybe thrive.
Excuse me if I'm mistaken, but isn't a Star Chamber a secret tribunal used for attacking political enemies of the state? If this is correct, somehow I don't think that Lego used a Star Chamber of fans to design the new Mindstorms.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
When I was a kid UI was able to build an entire rebel base for my star wars figures with a blanket and lego bricks but today I have to buy a $75 kit. Todays sets appear to be more of a model kit than a creative toy.
$75? Yeah there are sets you can buy for that little. Check out Lego shop-at-home and you will see that lego sets can run up to $249 for the Mindstorms NXT. There are probably pricier sets I am not thinking of.
Inasmuch as I can get 5 new release video games or 12 older games for that money, no wonder Lego is having a hard time competing.
Unrelated, but it's worth noting that the Seattle Nordic Heritage Museum has some fabulous Lego displays, all made before Lego came out with the Viking series.
-- I Am Not A Terrorist.
There is a number of explanations:
1) The period of being "child" has become shorter. Previously children would happily play with LEGO till age 15, but now kids loose interest around age 10-12 if not before.
2) Computers take a lot of the attention, which was the reason to launch Mindstorms, make the kid creative with the computer. And when computers don't take the attention then cellphones do. Kids communicate much more (quantity, no word about if this is good or bad) than previously, chat rooms, blogs, sms, social networks etc. None of which involve any bricks.
3) Media take a lot of attention, and there's not much to do about it. Today it is common to find tv sets in childrens room and programs directed towards children get more exposure.
And 3) is part the explanation that childhod has become shorter: Just think about all the boys and girls bands that become the big hit, and kids want to be like them. Say, Britney Spears? (there are certainly others, I'm just not young enough any longer to catch interest).
So, it's no surprise that LEGO looses ground. And they are investigating hugely other ways to get through and catch interests. Which explains the losses.
PS: Don't know if the loss mentioned is actually danish kroner, in which case it's only a 6th.
There are too many things to keep kids busy today. For example, tv, video games and let us not forget the Internet. When I was growing up we could only watch cartoons on Sunday morning for an hour and had no access to this amazing toy called a computer. So, I am not surprised that LEGO is not doing so well financially. At least they have started listening to their customers so there is still hope that they will survive for a long time. I would want my kids to have access to LEGO toys more than anything.
/. post so be gentle :-)
PS: This is my first
Smart Machines Blog
Reading the article, I was surprised to find that they changed the kits so that it only takes about 30 minutes to finish a project. Part of the joy of Lego is to lose yourself for hours in the experience.
Also... have specs on the NXT hardware been published (either by lego or somebody else) so that people can build their own sensors like they did with the RCX? Lego has been very hacker-friendly in the past, I hope this new Mindstorms set doesn't change that.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'