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[Saty]

October release.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RsVPm4Hby0&feature=youtu.be

PR Release: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160601005693/en/

Skylanders Imaginators gives players immense possibilities -- including appearance, powers, abilities, names, catchphrases, musical themes and much more -- to create the wildest Skylanders imaginable. The amazing depth of the creation system could allow for more than a googol distinctive characters.

With the evil Kaos on a new quest to take over Skylands, it’s up to Portal Masters everywhere to create their own Skylanders – known as Imaginators – using the new elementally-aligned toy type called the Creation Crystal. Creation Crystals allow players to transport their Imaginators to consoles at anytime, anywhere!

Starting today, fans can pre-order Skylanders Imaginators Starter Packs which include two new Skylanders characters, a Creation Crystal, Portal of Power® and the full AAA game. Skylanders Imaginators will be available on Xbox 360™ and Xbox One™ video game and entertainment systems from Microsoft, PlayStation® 3 and PlayStation® 4 computer entertainment systems and Nintendo’s Wii U™ system.

Developed by Toys For Bob, Skylanders Imaginators supports all 300+ Skylanders toys from previous games. The game will be available on October 16 in North America for the suggested retail price of $74.99.

Time interview with Eric Hirshberg where he says: http://time.com/4348392/skylanders-imaginators-hirshberg/

I certainly can’t comment on Disney’s business, so that’s a good question to ask them, and they’ve obviously got good reasons for making the decision they did. What I will say is, we’ve said publicly that some of our more recent games haven’t met our expectations, and yet we’re still here making games, so we obviously still believe in the potential. We created the category, and Skylanders is now the 11th most successful game franchise of all time after just five years.

Screens:

// Mod Edit:

There are 20 new hero and 11 new villain figurines since some people seem confused about whether there are new figurines or not.

 

[Hot Coldman]

I smell an episode of Monster Factory on the horizon...

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Weird. The main character you level up doesn't have a physical figure equivalent but still requires you to buy a generic crystal toy for each element.

Weird.

 

[Kinsei]

Not a fan of the gimmick but I bet kids will love it. That new penguin guy in the starter pack looks cool. I can't believe Golden Queen comes with it, I figured she would be sold separately due to how popular she is.

The gameplay certainly looks like Skylanders. Hopefully I have the disposable income to start collecting again by October.

 

[KingBroly]

No 3DS release?

 

[James Scott]

I love character creation game, but it looks a bit limited.
Seems like a weird gimmick even in comparison to the previous games

 

[Nirolak]

Not a fan of the gimmick but I bet kids will love it. That new penguin guy in the starter pack looks cool. I can't believe Golden Queen comes with it, I figured she would be sold separately due to how popular she is.

The gameplay certainly looks like Skylanders. Hopefully I have the disposable income to start collecting again by October.

They really want people to be interested in buying the base set.

The game even includes all of Supercharger's racing content.

I love character creation game, but it looks a bit limited.
Seems like a weird gimmick even in comparison to the previous games

They explained that most of the fan art for the game is of children's original creations, and they wanted to enable that more.

You unlock more creation options over time.

 

[bjork]

Skylanders is now the 11th most successful game franchise of all time after just five years

Is this true?

Anyway, the idea is kinda neat, but the crystal seems weird. You'd think they'd go deep into interchangeables like those Transformers that come with different arms and stuff. Must be cost-prohibitive at that size and detail level, I guess?

 

[spyroflame0487]

No 3DS release?

Or Wii either.

Last year's Superchargers 3DS game was just a pure racing game with little to no story. It seems to me they'd much rather focus their efforts on working on the other versions of the game.

I'd be interested to see if they make a NX version next year like they did with Giants for the Wii U

 

[Hero of Legend]

I would assume this gets an NX release. NX's launch is closer to this than when Skylanders 2017 would release. I would think.

Also I REALLY hope we see at least new versions of DK and Bowser and especially with proper care given to their figures. The Superchargers figures of them were absolutely awful, especially paint-wise.

Nintendo should've had the amiibo team manufacture them using Activision's figure designs (which did look great in the renders shown).

I wonder if we'll see any new Nintendo characters. I hope Diddy is given his own character and figure at least.

 

[Nirolak]

Is this true?

Anyway, the idea is kinda neat, but the crystal seems weird. You'd think they'd go deep into interchangeables like those Transformers that come with different arms and stuff. Must be cost-prohibitive at that size and detail level, I guess?

It was a $3 billion franchise as of last year: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/02/05/skylanders-is-now-a-3-billion-franchise.aspx

I would assume this gets an NX release. NX's launch is closer to this than when Skylanders 2017 would release. I would think.

Also I REALLY hope we see at least new versions of DK and Bowser and especially with proper care given to their figures. The Superchargers figures of them were absolutely awful, especially paint-wise.

Nintendo should've had the amiibo team manufacture them using Activision's figure designs (which did look great in the renders shown).

I wonder if we'll see any new Nintendo characters. I hope Diddy is given his own character and figure at least.

They said there's a new guest character coming for this year's game, though didn't specify if it was a Nintendo one.

 

[Hot Coldman]

They said there's a new guest character coming for this year's game, though didn't specify if it was a Nintendo one.

Licensing Crash Bandicoot from Sony, clearly.

 

[bjork]

It was a $3 billion franchise as of last year: Assuredly revenue. It was a $3 billion franchise last year: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/02/05/skylanders-is-now-a-3-billion-franchise.aspx

Holy smokes. I always thought it underperformed because I never see the stock levels depleted when I go to the stores around here. Maybe it's just this area.

 

[BodiesWithoutOrgans]

Wonder if Donkey Kong & Bowser will work on his game if so I'll buy it to play as them like I did last Christmas

Wonder if We'll see a Kirby or Yoshi skylander

 

[Calm Mind]

Licensing Crash Bandicoot from Sony, clearly.

Activison owns Crash Bandicoot.

 

[Nirolak]

Holy smokes. I always thought it underperformed because I never see the stock levels depleted when I go to the stores around here. Maybe it's just this area.

Also sorry for the insane text. I had a copy paste issue from the other thread haha.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Activison owns Crash Bandicoot.

...nothing gets past you does it

 

[Tobor]

Wait, you create your own character? And save it to a "creation crystal".

Are they pivoting away from the physical products and moving more towards traditional virtual content? The creation crystal sounds a lot like a memory card to me.

 

[JetSetRadio]

Skylanders Imaginators will be available on Xbox 360™ and Xbox One™ video game and entertainment systems from Microsoft, PlayStation® 3 and PlayStation® 4 computer entertainment systems and Nintendo’s Wii U™ system.

A video game and entertainment system.
A computer entertainment system.
A system.

 

[Ridley327]

Wait, you create your own character? And save it to a "creation crystal".

Are they pivoting away from the physical products and moving more towards traditional virtual content? The creation crystal sounds a lot like a memory card to me.

Seems like it. There's two games worth of figures clogging up shelves at retailers, and you can probably still find a few figures from Swap Force, too. This seems like an act of mercy.

 

[bumpkin]

Interesting twist on this year's edition. Although, given the inclusion of the Penguin guy and the Golden Queen, somehow I doubt retailers are out of the figure jungle. They're probably still going to release more new figures and reissues/reposes of old ones. I doubt it's just the crystals this go-around.

 

[DJ_Lae]

I'm in, it sounds like a much more interesting twist on the formula than the dumb-ass vehicles from last time.

My daughter will love the creation aspect too - hopefully it's not too limited without buying a ton of shit.

 

[melchior_]

Golden Queen is now a figure? Wow, sweet. Hoping to see some of my other favorite villains made into figures like Broccoli Guy, Wolfgang and Pepper Jack.

 

[SMG]

How about a cute purpel dragon?

 

[CaptainZombie]

Activison owns Crash Bandicoot.

It would be cool to see Crash in this and of course having Dr. Neo Cortex as the main surprise villian.

 

[Nirolak]

Interesting twist on this year's edition. Although, given the inclusion of the Penguin guy and the Golden Queen, somehow I doubt retailers are out of the figure jungle. They're probably still going to release more new figures and reissues/reposes of old ones. I doubt it's just the crystals this go-around.

They don't want to stop releasing new figures. Those make a large portion of the money.

Golden Queen is now a figure? Wow, sweet. Hoping to see some of my other favorite villains made into figures like Broccoli Guy, Wolfgang and Pepper Jack.

There are 11 villains on top of the 20 new heroes.

 

[Aostia]

They don't want to stop releasing new figures. Those make a large portion of the money.


There are 11 villains on top of the 20 new heroes.

11? I'v read 10. Could the "guest star" be an additional villain?

 

[Nirolak]

11? I'v read 10. Could the "guest star" be an additional villain?

Polygon said 11, but maybe they're wrong: http://www.polygon.com/2016/6/1/11827516/skylanders-imaginators-hands-hero-creation-over-to-players

 

[bjork]

I don't know a lot about skylanders, but I do know that I like Hex. Every Hex figure I've seen is super cool.

 

[Ridley327]

They don't want to stop releasing new figures. Those make a large portion of the money.

I bet that they're going to ease up on re-releasing old figures with new sculpts, if not stop outright. Those are the ones that eat up the most space.

A fair few of them are on their third iteration, which is a bit ridiculous considering the forwards compatibility aspect.

 

[Briarios]

I mention this every time a new Skylanders is released -- it's almost guaranteed that the starter set will be half price on Black Friday in the US. If you can wait a month and a half, you can save a lot of money. I've done this every year.

 

[PSqueak]

...

Disappointed the imaginators are not created by actually building a figure with special NFC parts you can buy to mix and match.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

I don't know a lot about skylanders, but I do know that I like Hex. Every Hex figure I've seen is super cool.

Incredibly cheap to get one.

Basically they over produced almost all her versions.

 

[bjork]

Ah man, at .99 I would buy one of each! Even $4 isn't bad.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

I thought Skylanders was a Spyro spinoff, but I don't see any Spyro characters.

 

[Ridley327]

I thought Skylanders was a Spyro spinoff, but I don't see any Spyro characters.

It started that way, but I don't think there's really been any kind of emphasis on the fact that Spyro is in it since the first game. Skylanders is very much its own thing these days.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

I thought Skylanders was a Spyro spinoff, but I don't see any Spyro characters.

The first game was used as a spyro offshoot to create a new brand, it was basically so big that they ended up not really needing the character for brand awareness or anything. Spyro is basically dead now lol

 

[Jinketsu]

Seems like it. There's two games worth of figures clogging up shelves at retailers, and you can probably still find a few figures from Swap Force, too. This seems like an act of mercy.

You mean besides the annouced 31 new figurines.

It sounds more like parts/abilities will be unlocked as you have the figurines to load into the game. Want a Gill Grunt head with Trigger Happy body, Bash legs, and Stealth Elf arms and want to use Terrafin's punches and abilities? Better have all those figures!

I can't imagine they would have gameplay-unlockable parts if they plan on having 20 new hero and 11 new villain figurines.

 

[Karak]

Dear lord I am on this.

 

[1337]

Really like that we get villain figures. Hope Kaos finally gets a real figure. The whole sensei part is not super clear to me. Can you play with the sensei characters as well or are they just there as assists to the 'create your own figures'?.

There are 99 creator statues according to Kotaku, so I guess it takes the Trap Team approach.

 

[KelpPlankton]

The character creation looks pretty fun and more varied than I expected, especially with the sliders and potentially unlocking new parts and weapons through the Sensei figures.

I also really like that they're making villain figures. That's been the most-wanted thing for my little sister since Trap Team died off, she loved playing as the bad guys. Golden Queen was her favorite so she's going to be excited about the starter pack.

The 'imagination crystals' or whatever won't be replacing figures like some people seem to think. There's something like 30 new figures coming out (11 of which are villains) and the crystals are more akin to the Trap Crystals from Trap Team or the vehicles from Superchargers. They're this game's gimmick. Which sadly means they probably won't be carried over into the next game at all.

Each one of those crystals stores one character. They're basically the figures for your custom Skylanders, and work much like normal Skylanders do. They just don't look like the character because they're customizable.

 

[KelpPlankton]

Really like that we get villain figures. Hope Kaos finally gets a real figure. The whole sensei part is not super clear to me. Can you play with the sensei characters as well or are they just there as assists to the 'create your own figures'?.

There are 99 creator statues according to Kotaku, so I guess it takes the Trap Team approach.

Sensei figures are the new figures this time around. Like how the last game had Superchargers characters.

Apparently leveling up the Sensei figure unlocks new weapons and abilities for the associated element and/or fighting style (you pick a fighting style when you make your Skylanders). So they tie into the gimmick while still being more traditional Skylander characters functionally.

 

[jooey]

Penislanders

 

[Duane Cunningham]

Man. I'm not really super familiar with the finer points of Skylanders, but I remember when Disney Infinity came out thinking "good game, Skylanders, RIP". Now DI is gone, and Skylanders is still around and apparently going strong. I didn't see that coming.

 

[fernoca]

Man. I'm not really super familiar with the finer points of Skylanders, but I remember when Disney Infinity came out thinking "good game, Skylanders, RIP". Now DI is gone, and Skylanders is still around and apparently going strong. I didn't see that coming.

It's a 'problem" that both Infinity and Diensions had. They relied mostly on nostalgia and the established franchises to sell the games, but the actual games were not polished at all. Infinity finally got most things right in 3.0 and Dimensions suffers from the same bugs, glitchs and crashes from every Lego game.

Skylanders as a game was always more polished, with more attention to details and also more direct to the point. You just put a figure in the base, any figure and play. It plays like Diablo, Gauntlet, etc.

Infinity and Dimensions divided character use by modes and having to place other pieces, and only allowed to mix figures in some separate areas. Which was a bit problematic to explain to many parents and kids. "You can only use Elsa inthe Toybox, and in 3.0 also the Takeover and Speedway"...."what is the Toybox?"...

 

[Hawk269]

Wait, you create your own character? And save it to a "creation crystal".

Are they pivoting away from the physical products and moving more towards traditional virtual content? The creation crystal sounds a lot like a memory card to me.

It seems unclear on how it works. In the video you see parts of the bodies being changed around. But if you look at the creation crystal itself on the starter pack box cover it has a Fire emblem, meaning that for all 7 elements, there will be a different creation crystal. The issue with Trap Team is they released a shit load of different traps, which failed miserably because of the cost factor. If they only release 7 Creation Crystals, one for each element then that won't be as bad cost wise. Of course, the crystals will need to hold more than 1 character versus the Traps in Trap Team where each trap only held one bad guy character.

 

[fernoca]

From what I've read you can only store 1 character in 1 crystal. Seems like Trap Team, you could save creations in the game and choose which to store in the crystal. The fire logo is the same as the fire element in the series. Which was the same as Trap Team. The problem with Trap Team was that they released different shapes of each elements, which confused many. But it was technically the same, you placed a crystal from the element and saved the enemy on it.

Though as far as memory card goes, is the same as always. All Skylanders in priciple has been memory cards of sorts which you store data.

A pic I saw also used the Superchargers portal. So maybe there will be a digital version that allows to pay with the created charscter and allow to connect older portals for those interested. Like Superchargers digital edition.

 

[BlizzKrut]

It looks really nice, though I moved away from the franchise when I went PC-only, such a shame they don't make these for PC anymore.

 

[MisterCTwo]

I'm a sucker for character creation so I see myself getting this for PS4--especially in light of the demise of Disney Infinity. Something I can't help but notice though--and maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part--to me the creations look less like Skylanders and more like something from a MOBA or WoW. Could this ever cross-over with other games owned by Activision?

 

[kunonabi]

Man, I was hoping they finally found a way to make custom figures that would be reflected in game. Pulling that off would make for really awesome LEGO or Gundam toys-to-life games.