LEGO might've been the last bastion of popular analog toys. Alas, even they couldn't fight off technology forever.

The company has announced their new Smart Bricks, which are no longer a monolithic piece of ABS. Instead they each contain a chip, an accelerometer, sensors for sound and light, LEDs, and even a miniature speaker. The user charges the bricks wirelessly, using a dedicated pad from LEGO, and they'll be rolled out within new Star Wars LEGO sets.

As for "Why," the bricks are part of LEGO's new Smart Play system. The other two components of the system are a Smart Tag (a small, flat 2x2 tile, but without the studs on top) and Smart Minifigures. These two things don't require power, but each contain a tiny passive chip with a unique digital ID that the Smart Bricks can read.

The applications for that arrangement are, for example, that Emperor Palpatine's Smart Brick throne could start playing the Imperial March when his minifigure is placed in it. Or an X-Wing fighter could start flashing and making laser noises when in proximity to a TIE Fighter. You get the idea.

The new hi-tech pieces will, of course be more expensive, but since they're bundled into kits, it's tricky to work out a per-piece price difference. In general, Star Wars LEGO sets run around 9 to 13 cents per piece. If we do the math on the new Smart sets, it breaks down as follows:

Darth Vader's TIE Fighter: 473 pieces at $70 ˜ 14.8 cents per piece.?

Luke's Red Five X-Wing: 584 pieces at $90 ˜ 15.4 cents per piece.?

Throne Room Duel & A-Wing: 962 pieces at $160 ˜ 16.6 cents per piece.

So overall, we're looking at a 20%-40% price bump.

LEGO will start taking pre-orders for the Smart sets this Friday, and they're due to ship in March.