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[Totobeni]

So what are the odds, over/under, some of the other industry big fish get involved

EA could pop one out within 6-12 months, have it be there Waterlanders?, Landlanders?, Elemanders, lol

Hell Ubisoft can add all it's titles into the mix, really get money
Buy ACIII get Connor Skylanderish figure for that game, some will be gold (gives you dlc/cool shit)


Let's get this Industry to burn down to the ground faster, Accelerant commence!, Catalyst activated

With EA strategy of copying other people successful products, there is a huge possibility for a Skylanders clone from them.

I don't see Ubi doing it with Assassin's Creed, maybe a complete new IP.

This post saddens me.

Skylanders is more than a "decent" game, especially for kids. I am happy that my son finally has a game (other than the Mario games) that he enjoys where the game is actually good and I can play with him. Even after having the game for months he still gets so excited when we find a new character... and he's going to go nuts when he finds out the Easter Bunny brought him Sunburn and the Dragon's Peak Adventure Pack. ;-)

The game is definitely not for me but from trying it ( my sister's kids have it) Skylanders was good as a stand alone video game and do many things right, I guess the hate is because it's from Activision or because it's not old school Spyro game or something.

 

[GraveRobberX]

I don't see Ubi doing it with Assassin's Creed, maybe a complete new IP.

I should have added more to my Ubisoft thing

Not saying use Assassin's Creed III or the IP, I was more like Ubi create new IP, but it will always find a way to shoehorn its characters into different universes
Like Ezio costume in FFXIII-2, Altair gear in MGS4, Ezio in SCV, that kind of stuff

 

[friz898]

This was my son's surprise hit for Christmas. To me and the Wife it was "just another game for his big present the Wii", for 7year old, and to this day in April, it's like his world. When he's not playing a Pokemon on his DS, he's playing Skylanders and asking/begging for one of the 24 (or however many) he does have. I think he has about half the collection. It got to the point where the Wife was going in the Gamestop every Tuesday to check their shipments, and to top that off, twice by the time she got there in the Afternoon, the shipment was sold out.

Yes, who ever was the sole person to create this idea and pitch it to the company is a genius. Yes we are guilty of buying 4 of them off Amazon and Ebay. And yes my son ask every week if if "Skylanders Giants" is out yet.

In other words, when I told my Wife about this news "OH TOO COOL!"


Spoiled Kid, Smart Marketing.

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

heh, this is pretty cool, but I wonder if it will have staying power. If they can keep the game fresh and popular for kids, then they have a winner.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Lol, is the game even good?

Or is it just preying on peoples needs to collect trinkets and "collectables"?

 

[web01]

Do the figurines have multiple colour options for each character?

If they do not they should make alternate colours and character variations that are reflected ingame then make them have different rarities and watch the cash start rolling in.

 

[friz898]

Lol, is the game even good?

Or is it just preying on peoples needs to collect trinkets and "collectables"?

Is it good? Not to a 32yo, lol.

But I watched my son, it appears to be a "pretty well made" top-down scrolling action type game, with maybe rpg elements? This is just from me watching my son at times, not from some online research or extensive youtube watching.

Watching him grab his character and put it on the portal and it flashes this grand little thing that he's changing his characters IS genius though.

 

[friz898]

Do the figurines have multiple colour options for each character?

If they do not they should make alternate colours and character variations that are reflected ingame then make them have different rarities and watch the cash start rolling in.

Web01, you trying to make us parents broke? COME ON man.

 

[BatDan]

Lol, is the game even good?

Or is it just preying on peoples needs to collect trinkets and "collectables"?

For what it is, it's pretty good. A simple Gauntlet-style game with RPG elements.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Lol, is the game even good?

Or is it just preying on peoples needs to collect trinkets and "collectables"?

My 5 and 9 year old boys love it.

 

[Concept17]

This post saddens me.

Skylanders is more than a "decent" game, especially for kids. I am happy that my son finally has a game (other than the Mario games) that he enjoys where the game is actually good and I can play with him. Even after having the game for months he still gets so excited when we find a new character... and he's going to go nuts when he finds out the Easter Bunny brought him Sunburn and the Dragon's Peak Adventure Pack. ;-)

My daughter is the same. A new skylander is the most exciting thing ever. Shes getting a 3-pack here soon.

Its a solid game, and I play it with her, which she enjoys even more. There just enough progression to keep it interesting without making it too complicated, and the figures are pretty well designed. She'll have 12 in total now.

 

[Seraphinianus]

are skylanders toys made from melted down plastic instruments?

 

[vg260]

So tell me something.
Do the figures just act as physical download keys to unlock game data that's actually on the disc, or do they allow you to download new data?

If the former, where are all the "Disc Locked Content" and I own the disc, so I own the content people? Why aren't they blowing up about this? Somehow getting a trinket as the key rather than downloading an 108kb file makes this easier to accept?

 

[ElNino]

So tell me something.
Do the figures just act as physical download keys to unlock game data that's actually on the disc, or do they allow you to download new data?

If the former, where are all the "Disc Locked Content" and I own the disc, so I own the content people? Why aren't they blowing up about this? Somehow getting a trinket as the key rather than downloading an 108kb file makes this easier to accept?

It's not as simple as just downloading the unlock token via the character. For the record though, DLC of any kind doesn't bother me in the slightest... I buy what I want and don't buy what I feel isn't worth my money.

For Skylanders, yes the data for the character as represented in the game is already on the disc and you can only play with characters in game via the physical figure. However, all of the character profile data (ie. level, money, purchased abilites, hats, etc) is stored in the phyisical figurine while it is on the portal. The figure can then be taken to another person's game, on any platform, and the character will retain all of their attributes when used there.

 

[MarshMellow96]

Now is the time, Jeff.

 

[vg260]

It's not as simple as just downloading the unlock token via the character. For the record though, DLC of any kind doesn't bother me in the slightest... I buy what I want and don't buy what I feel isn't worth my money.

For Skylanders, yes the data for the character as represented in the game is already on the disc and you can only play with characters in game via the physical figure. However, all of the character profile data (ie. level, money, purchased abilites, hats, etc) is stored in the phyisical figurine while it is on the portal. The figure can then be taken to another person's game, on any platform, and the character will retain all of their attributes when used there.

Hm, interesting. Thanks for the clarification.

Still, just saying it's surprising the DLC-haters aren't all raging over this based on their usual claims. I guess hating on Activision is not in fashion right now.

 

[Htown]

At least with this DLC you get a physical object to go with it.

Also you don't lose access to it if you lose your connection.

Quick Look for those who want to see what this thing is:

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-skylanders-spyros-adventure/17-5098/

Seems decent enough.

 

[ElNino]

Hm, interesting. Thanks for the clarification.

Still, just saying it's surprising the DLC-haters aren't all raging over this based on their usual claims. I guess hating on Activision is not in fashion right now.

Well, there was a thread before referring to Skylanders as child exploitation and there were plenty of people hating on it there.

There is no doubt that this game has become a major revenue stream for Activition, and some aspects of it have been frustrating (like not being able to find characters in store for weeks/months). It can also add up to be a very expensive game if you buy all the characters, but I've wasted more money on myself for things I got less enjoyment from than my son has with these so it really doesn't bother me.

 

[vg260]

At least with this DLC you get a physical object to go with it.

Also you don't lose access to it if you lose your connection.

Quick Look for those who want to see what this thing is:

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-skylanders-spyros-adventure/17-5098/

Seems decent enough.

How is this still not "nickel and diming" customers for access to content already on their disc? Especially when geared at kids. Doesn't that make it worse? Why not just make everything on the disc accessible and just sell the figures solely for transporting stats if they want. Isn't requiring customers to buy toys to unlock data on their disc exploiting customers? To me this doesn't seem any less "customer unfriendly" of less "reprehensible" than this awful Disc Locked Content that people are hating on companies for. At least anyone can buy digital unlock keys anytime rather than having to hunt around or pay scalpers for rare ones. Shouldn't this be called FLC (figure locked content)?

edit: these questions are really for those who are ok with this but rant about how disgusting DLC is.

 

[ElNino]

How is this still not "nickel and diming" customers for access to content already on their disc? Especially when geared at kids. Doesn't that make it worse? Why not just make everything on the disc accessible and just sell the figures solely for transporting stats if they want. Isn't requiring customers to buy toys to unlock data on their disc exploiting customers? To me this doesn't seem any less "customer unfriendly" of less "reprehensible" than this awful Disc Locked Content that people are hating on companies for. At least anyone can buy digital unlock keys anytime rather than having to hunt around or pay scalpers for rare ones. Shouldn't this be called FLC (figure locked content)?

You can call it whatever you want, the game has no "official" DLC as in it isn't advertised in any way other than the figures.

We've been over this before in other threads so I'm not going to go into it all again here, but that fact is that the physical figures and the way you use them in the game (via the portal) is a significant part of how the game was designed and kids love how it works. Would it be better for adults to simply access all the characters (in-game) at any time? Sure, but kids love the figures and love moving them on/off the portal to change there character.

edit: these questions are really for those who are ok with this but rant about how disgusting DLC is.

Ok, fair enough. Personally, I'm fine with Skylanders and I don't rant about how disgusting DLC is.

 

[vg260]

You can call it whatever you want, the game has no "official" DLC as in it isn't advertised in any way other than the figures.

We've been over this before in other threads so I'm not going to go into it all again here, but that fact is that the physical figures and the way you use them in the game (via the portal) is a significant part of how the game was designed and kids love how it works. Would it be better for adults to simply access all the characters (in-game) at any time? Sure, but kids love the figures and love moving them on/off the portal to change there character.

My post is really just playing Devil's advocate because some of the DLC ranting to me is silly. The bottom line is companies are always trying to come up with clever ways to get you to spend more. This is a pretty darn clever way to do it. If you find value and it's worth it to you, buy it. If not, don't.

 

[faceless007]

Hm, interesting. Thanks for the clarification.

Still, just saying it's surprising the DLC-haters aren't all raging over this based on their usual claims. I guess hating on Activision is not in fashion right now.

Before making unsubstantiated accusations of hypocrisy, you might want to allow for the possibility that they just haven't heard of this particular new thing, as demonstrated by many posts in this thread, or don't care as it's not a franchise geared towards them. Being anti-ondisc-DLC doesn't mean you have to complain about every single instance of it in the universe.

 

[Shard]

These guys must be very happy with the results of this experiment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APV_caBjO60

 

[Katzii]

Actually, at the start of March I thought I'd see how feasible it was to get a complete collection without paying the extortionate prices some sellers charge, so I placed an order for all the currently-available triple packs and level packs on Amazon UK (there's one of each still to be released over here... and I've no idea what's going on with Wham Shell). Nothing was actually listed as in stock, but I thought it was worth placing an order for when some became available.

Over the month they've managed to source four of the triple packs and two of the level packs, meaning that - of those that are out - I only still need Double Trouble/Whirlwind/Drill Sergeant and Empire of Ice (with Lightning Rod/Zook/Cynder and Dragon's Peak on preorder because they've not actually been released yet)

In short: If you want something, it's definitely worth throwing an order onto Amazon and just waiting. I was amazed at how much of the hard to get stuff they actually managed to, well, get and sell at actual RRP, not the 75-100% markup their marketplace sellers throw in.

Lightning Rod/Zook/Cynder triple pack came out this week. It's just tough to come by. I already had the Cynder single, so I got the singles of the other two. I definitely agree with throwing orders on Amazon though; that's what helped me, although they seem to lack pre-orders for Camo, Warnado and Wham-Shell. Also, apparently Dragon's Peak is TRU-exclusive, and a lot of people are finding their orders being cancelled, but thankfully not the case for me yet.

Also, CEX (if you have one near you - my closest is an hour away by train, but still) is doing trade-ins for figures as well as the games.

Not that I'd want to trade mine in. It's not the BEST GAME IN THE WORLD, but it's probably one of the more enjoyable ones I've played in the last six months, and have completed multiple times. The 3DS version is decent fare, too. The only reason I would trade my figures would be if I get the re-pose versions for Skylanders Giants, since those go past Level 10, whereas the original version ones won't.

 

[IlliterateBookworm]

My kids just like playing with the figures.

We tend to have lots of little figures all over my house as it is- Gormiti, Battle Beasts, Kinnikuman, miniatures from games like D&D, Heroscape, Monsterpacolypse, and the like, so Skylanders get a lot of mileage in my household without even interacting with the game.

My daughter had them all spread out and lined up yesterday morning in fact, where they were on their way to a mega bloks house she had built to meet with her Lego Friends.

Funniest thing? Nobody's even touched the game in a few months, and I'd say in my case the figures were still well worth the price regardless of the fact that they aren't being used for their primary purpose.

 

[Katzii]

That sort of thing is always nice to read, Bookworm - mine are just in a display cabinet for when I do play the game, but it is good to read of children using them as actual toys.

 

[Rodney McKay]

LEGO should jump on this stuff for their games. They have sets for all the games they do, just put a chip in the mini-fig or a special block. A level-up/upgrade mechanic could fit very well in their games.