Mario meets LEGO in these fun stop-motion clips hand animated by Nintendo fan Michael Hickox.

Michael painstakingly shot thousands of individual frames to recreate the first two levels of the classic Super Mario Brothers game. The levels are surprisingly accurate reproductions of the game. You’ll want to crank up your sound to get the full impact with the original game music as accompaniment. 

Mario too cute for your taste? Be sure to check out Michael’s headbanging LEGO Megadeth concert.

[via Laughing Squid - thanks for the tip PDW !]

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UTIII is one of the few console games out there that really lets gamers create their own unique maps. I don’t mean just moving a few things around like you can with Halo 3’s Forge mode. Nope, with the right tools, you can make your own completely custom environment, letting your imagination run wild. Take, for example, this great LEGO map that the guys over at PS3Fanboy found.

Created by Unreal Tournament 3 mod-man Lord Simeon, the map features a totally destructible LEGO block environment. The map features about 20 types of LEGO blocks (including those little yellow dudes), built into structures you can blow to smithereens, thanks to the game’s excellent physics model. 

Remember when you were a kid and you’d build some awesome LEGO creation, then smash it into pieces? That’s what it reminds me of. You can grab the entire mod, packaged up for US or European consoles here.

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While I don’t think these are officially sanctioned by LEGO, these whimsical MP3 players bear a striking resemblance to the colorful interlocking plastic blocks.

Homade’s LEGO-esque media players cleverly conceal their controls into the raised dots on the surface of each block. The players come in a variety of bold primary colors, and like their snap-together doppelgangers, are made primarily from plastic. 

Each one comes with a built-in rechargeable Li-ion battery that should give you about 6 hours of play time, and from what I can tell, you’ll have to provide your own microSD card for storage (2GB max). At $46 a pop, they are a bit expensive for players with no included memory.

Already have an iPod? Then you might want to pick up Homade’s LEGO-like iPod stereo dock, which conceals its speakers under the bumpy block surface. The iPod dock runs about $40 bucks.

 If you’re just an absolute LEGO block fanatic (and don’t mind that they’re not really LEGOs) you can find the whole collection all over at Homeloo.

With all the buzz about the new iPhone SDK, all kinds of nifty applications are starting to crawl out of the woodwork. Of all the coming programs, this LEGO construction concept application has to be one of my favorites.

Designed by Nicholas G Panas of play /, LEGO-touch will let you build virtual LEGO creations using a large catalog of basic building blocks. Using the iPhone’s multi-touch display, you can easily grab blocks and assemble them into just about any shape you can imagine. A slick user interface lets you easily zoom in and rotate your designs, and easily apply any color in the spectrum to each of your blocks.

 In addition to the basic block construction kit, Nicholas’ concept will let share your designs over the Internet. You can even create your own Mii-like avatar using those familiar LEGO block people. One of my favorite features is the ability to challenge your online friends to a LEGO “build-off”.

While you don’t get the tactile experience of holding real LEGO blocks in your hands, you do get the advantage of being able to carry all your creations in your pocket wherever you go. Plus, you never have to worry about running out of blocks.

play/ is currently working to launch the LEGO-touch concept into software production. Be sure to head on over to their website to check out their high quality Flash-based demonstration.

[via PSFK)

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