This week in video games, July 4, 2016: Xbox Design Lab, SteelSeries, Lego news

This week, what to expect from Lego Dimensions in the next year, and the latest on Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Plus: win an ultimate gaming setup from SteelSeries. But first, my experience using the Xbox Design Lab to create my own wireless controller.

Create your own Xbox Wireless Controller at the Xbox Design Lab

If you've ever wanted a new controller for your console, you've been limited to what the hardware and periperhal manufacturers have been making. There are always basic controllers, produced for the masses, as well as franchise-branded versions that are often limited-time promotions.

But now you can personalize your wireless controller for your Xbox One with the Xbox Design Lab.

Really, all you're doing is choosing colour configurations, but Microsoft says there are more than eight million combinations possible.

There are seven steps to designing your own controller, and they involve selecting the colours of different panels on the controller.

There are 15 colours to choose from for the controller body, back, and the bumpers, triggers, and D-pad. The thumbsticks can be one of eight colours.

And the controller you're customizing is the redesigned Xbox Wireless Controller that will be shipping with the new Xbox One S this August. It has a built-in headset jack (so no add-on required for you to use any gaming headset with your Xbox One) and you can remap the button confgurations.

The mass-produced version of the new controller will cost Cdn$80. For an extra $20 you can design your own; a 16-character engraving is an additional $15. Current Xbox One wireless controllers range between $65 and $80. The fully configurable Xbox Elite wireless controller is $180.

I was given an opportunity to try out the Xbox Design Lab, and my first inclination was to create one with the blue and yellow colours of Fallout's Pip Boy.

I almost created one that was ghost white, with no colour and just a bit of grey.

But the opportunity to mix and match so many different vibrant colours was too much to pass up. The one I settled on, after spending far too much time playing around with combinations, was a mix of Photon Blue, Oxide Red, and Electric Green.

Orders made now will begin shipping in early September, when the Xbox One S and new Xbox Wireless Controller are released.

Lego Dimensions expansions for the next year detailed

Lego's toys-to-life franchise, Dimensions, was on full display at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles last month. Warner Bros. Interactive had just announced that 16 universes from the media company's portfolio would be introduced in the next year.

There are four different add-ons for Dimensions:

• Story packs include a character, a vehicle, a new gateway themed to the intellectual property, and six levels.

• Level packs include one level, one character, and two vehicles and/or props.

• Team packs include two characters and two vehicles and/or props.

• Fun packs include one character and one vehicle or prop.

The first new experience to arrive will be Ghostbusters, on September 27, in the form of a story pack.

Also being released on that date:

• Adventure Time and Mission: Impossible level packs

• Harry Potter and Adventure Time team packs

• A-Team fun pack

Between now and next summer, expansion packs will include:

• Beetlejuice

• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, based on the upcoming film set in the Harry Potter universe, which will be released as a story pack

• The Goonies

• Gremlins

• Knight Rider

• Lego Batman Movie

• Lego City Undercover

• The Powerpuff Girls

• Sonic the Hedgehog

• Teen Titans Go!

All of these expansions will work with the same toy pad and all other characters and levels previously released.

Also new to Lego Dimensions are Battle Arenas, which will be included with all Year 2 packs.

These are split-screen multiplayer games with modes such as "capture the flag", where up to four players can get in on the action. Each Battle Arena environment is themed around the corresponding universe, and you can configure two teams (two versus two or three versus one) or have all players for themselves.

Win an "ultimate" gaming setup from SteelSeries

SteelSeries is turning 15, and to celebrate, the game's peripheral manufacturer is staging a contest in which it is giving away more than 400 prizes, including a grand prize that includes a trip to Seattle for a private tour of Valve, an MSI GE62 Apache Pro gaming laptop, and four SteelSeries peripherals.

Other prizes include gaming bundles, gift cards, limited-edition games, and more.

You can enter the contest by selecting your four favourite SteelSeries peripherals, including headsets, controllers, keyboards, and mice.

You can earn additional contest entries by sharing the unique URL that you're given when you enter.

Prizes are being given out daily. The contest closes on July 15

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens on shelves now

Available now for nearly every game system is the Lego video-game adapation of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The game features a number of first, incuding multi-builds and cover-based combat. Another first is that the characters are fully voiced, and the main cast from the film, including Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford, are all included in the game.

The story being told here goes beyond the film, too, and includes the period of time between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, shedding some light on what happened after Luke Skywalker redeemed his father and put an end to the Emperor.