Our presenter Klas Bömecke asks Messe.TV what the fusion of the analog and digital worlds of play is all about. Two friendly gentlemen at the LEGO stand explain to him how an app becomes the interface between the little building blocks in the children's room and an animated, digital world. It's hard to imagine a child's bedroom without Lego. Sure, you know the bricks and the little men - but now Lego is moving into the future, and a digital future at that. We can now find out what this means.
Klas Bömecke: This is the big thing this year. Nexo Knights is Lego's step into the future. Why don't you tell us what it's all about? Lego employee: Nexo Knights is a new product line this year. It's about combining physical play with digital play in the best possible way. Klas Bömecke: How is that supposed to work? I've got the physical game here - a very complicated-looking thing. What is it anyway? Lego employee: That sounds simple at first. First of all, there are the classic Lego building sets and there's an app to go with them. What we have here now is the Fortrex, the rolling fortress and our Nexo Knight knights. They have to defend the kingdom of Knighton from the evil lava monsters. Fortex is one of our focus products in this first half of the year. It can be rolled and folded out at the back to become a fully-fledged fortress in profile. It also features the digital wizard, Merlok. He is the one who paves the way into the digital world. Because he has transformed himself into a hologram and now exists in his computer system - from this he can supply the Nexo Knights with digital Nexo power. Klas Bömecke: How does that work now? Lego employee: I start the app once. The app itself is called Merlok 2.0 and has been available everywhere for free since last December. What we see now is Knighton, the kingdom. We move through the kingdom with the Foretrex, which means we can explore everything here. Klas Bömecke: So I'm digitally immersed in an entire game world.
Lego employee: Exactly recognized. Now we have missions to complete at certain points. These missions are about defending the kingdom against the lava monsters. Of course, we are not on our own, but as already mentioned, we have Merlok on our side. He supports us with digital Nexo powers. Sounds a bit complicated, but perhaps it will become clearer if I show you a scan process, for example. All our heroes have different shields. There are currently 108 shields available. Klas Bömecke: And these are available in real life with the Lego figures? Lego employee: Exactly. If you hold the shield please, I'll take the scanner. (Moves the tablet over the sign of the Lego figure, and the sign vibrates and flashes on the screen) Now it has recognized it. The scan is successful and the Nexo Power is loaded into our Nexo shield memory. It is very nicely animated. Later in the game, I can use these powers to defend Knighton against the lava monsters. Klas Bömecke: I can play everything digitally and play analog with my real toy. Lego employee: Exactly. It's the same game world. Everything you can see in the app is also available as a set to build.
Klas Bömecke: Cool. That really is a big step into the future, isn't it? Lego employee: Exactly. And what's more: as well as linking the app to the building sets, there's also a link to TV. In the Nexo Knights series on Super RTL, you can also scan the signs that are shown. Klas Bömecke: I can see that this is going to be a big hit with the kids next year. Lego employee: We think so too. Klas Bömecke: I wish you every success, thank you.