Online games are very popular these days, with a lot of people understanding the benefits of titles such as World of Warcraft, which offer a great social tool in order to make friends who have the same hobbies as one does, besides a great gaming experience.

One of the latest companies to announce its entry into online gaming is famous toy maker Lego, which has revealed that in a partnership with NetDevil, a specialized game studio. It promises to bring all of the famous Lego toy lines, giving them life and delivering a great and, most importantly, a varied experience to its users.

Sadly, we have recently learned that Lego Universe, as the future online game is entitled, will be delayed and won't confrom to its scheduled 2009 release date. Currently slated for a 2010 launch, the title will benefit from the longest development cycle to improve the gameplay and bring even more IPs into the worlds that can be explored by players.

“Within the company, we have made a strategic decision within LEGO to make a delay of LEGO Universe. It will not be coming out in 2009,” Mark Hansen, director of business development for the LEGO Group, said. “The reason is, we have a luxury right now, the business is going good. We have products launching that are not digital, the physical products, with them going so well we don't want to take focus away from them. There will be additions, but we are holding exactly to the plan we had when we started game development. NetDevil might create more content and alignment with the products we have on the shelf.”

Hansen might be hinting to yesterday's deal between his company and Disney, which will generate a Prince of Persia-based toy line, tying it to the 2010 movie that the Hollywood company will launch. All we can hope is that Lego Universe will deliver a great experience and not spoil all of the fond memories we have with the famous brick toys.