LEGO will release the Mindstorms NXT 2.0 in August of 2009. In comparing the stats to the older 8527 Mindstorm NXT it doesn’t appear to be a major upgrade. They have replaced the noise sensor with a color sensor, added a couple dozen Technic bricks, updated the challenges, and improved the programming software to make it easier for young kids to program their bots. I’m curious to see the color sensor, which doubles as a lamp, to see how sensitive it is and if we can think up any cool things to build with it.
LEGO Agents, the series that brought us sharks with friggin laser beams attached to their heads, will get a few updates in August. I’m curious to get a close look at 8970 Robot Attack. It appears to have a few new pieces and a huge (by minifig standards) robot.
I seem to have a lot of LEGO cars in my collections. Starting with 8448, about 10 years ago and ending with last year’s Ferrari F430, I have built many of the car kits. My 2009 must have kit is the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 due in August. As a kid, my friends and I would build LEGO cars, dragsters, stock cars, crazy cars, and play chicken on the patio. We’d smash them up, rebuild them, and smash them again. The winner was the one who lost the fewest pieces in the collision. I’ll have to introduce the geeklets to that game using the Power Racers, or the new Track Turbo RC.
LEGO had a bunch more cool stuff, including Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Bionicle in the works for this year, but I’ll have to save some of that for later. Look for a LEGO Star Wars 10th Anniversary post in a few weeks and some more Toy Fair posts in the next few days. I talked to enough people that I think I could fill a post a day for a few weeks, but my attention deficit will probably take over by …
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