darkSpyro

You know how the Wii U Gamepad has a RFID reader for amiibos? Can it be a replacement for a Portal while playing Skylanders? If so, I just might get the game only for Giants and Swap Force (now I'm on vacation, and I have no access to my Wii U), so could any of you guys try that out? Thanks!

Nope. Portal required.

Quote: UncleBob

Nope. Portal required.

Crap. Well, no Giants or Swap Force for me then.

Even if you could, Are you sure you want to play Skylanders while holding the figure to the controller?

The RFID on the WiiU is more made to read/write on demand rather than a constant presence like Skylanders require - more like the 3DS version of Skylaaders.

Ya, you need a portal plugged up to the console. If you're on vacation, the mobile version of Trap Team i your best bet.

Quote: The Bone Chompy

You know how the Wii U Gamepad has a RFID reader for amiibos? Can it be a replacement for a Portal while playing Skylanders? If so, I just might get the game only for Giants and Swap Force (now I'm on vacation, and I have no access to my Wii U), so could any of you guys try that out? Thanks!

Nope, you're stuck using a portal. Also, there is no RFID reader in the Wii U. The main controller features NFC (Near Field Communication) technology which is similar, but not the same.

Quote: defpally

Even if you could, Are you sure you want to play Skylanders while holding the figure to the controller?

Amen.

Quote:

The RFID on the WiiU is more made to read/write on demand rather than a constant presence like Skylanders require - more like the 3DS version of Skylaaders.

It's NFC, not RFID.

-Doug

Technically, NFC is a type of RFID. :D

Quote: UncleBob

Technically, NFC is a type of RFID.

It is, but it's of such a high part of the RFID spectrum that it's not cross compatible unless you've got something specifically tailored to read it, which the Trap Team portal is not and why they're referenced by two different terms.

-Doug

Quote: TTD

If you have trap team, the traptanium portal is compatible with previous games.

YES. YESSS. I have the tablet version of Trap Team though, and the portal is wireless, would it work? Also my Wii U is a Japanese one sent from Japan by a relative for a gift. Do English Giants and Swap Force work on it? And do maybe the Wii versions work on it? Thanks!

Quote: The Bone Chompy

Quote: TTD

If you have trap team, the traptanium portal is compatible with previous games.

YES. YESSS. I have the tablet version of Trap Team though, and the portal is wireless, would it work? Also my Wii U is a Japanese one sent from Japan by a relative for a gift. Do English Giants and Swap Force work on it? And do maybe the Wii versions work on it? Thanks!

The tablet portal is only compatible with the tablet versions of the game. If you want to play Skylanders on a game console, you'll need a portal meant for use with them. If you can catch them on sale, I would recommend picking up a Trap Team starter for the console of your choice and then using that portal with disc copies of each previous game purchased. At present, all Skylanders are region free so they'll be compatible with whatever region's console you choose to play with them on. However, I'm fairly certain that the actual game discs are locked to whatever region they're meant for, meaning that if you have a Japanese Wii U (region 2), you're going to need either a Japanese-specific version of each game or at least one that matches the console's region. As I don't have any access to non-US consoles, you may want to research whether the Japanese system actually locks you into region specific discs or if you can purchase US versions for use with it.

Hope this helps and have fun!

-Doug

North American Wii or Wii U games won't work natively on a Japanese Wii U (not sure if you can even use a hack to make Wii U titles work, although there are hacks out there that allow you to use Wii titles from other regions). The portal from the tablet version will not work with the Wii U.

At darkchylde28: the wii U NFC reader could read skylanders if activision wanted to let it. (activision stated that Nintendo offerd to send activision a tool to help the NFC controller pad read there programing, but activision said no. They said they thay like how the portal is always reading the figures and did not want to use the scan/re-scan. Also for some real proof if you own the wii U game pokemon rumble U that game can read the skylanders and use them "my gnarly tree rex loads in to that game as a raquaza pokemon and his lightcore turns on when I scan him")

Quote: darkrai848

At darkchylde28: the wii U NFC reader could read skylanders if activision wanted to let it. (activision stated that Nintendo offerd to send activision a tool to help the NFC controller pad read there programing, but activision said no. They said they thay like how the portal is always reading the figures and did not want to use the scan/re-scan. Also for some real proof if you own the wii U game pokemon rumble U that game can read the skylanders and use them [b["my gnarly tree rex loads in to that game as a raquaza pokemon and his lightcore turns on when I scan him")[/ b]

lol wtf.

Quote: darkrai848

At darkchylde28: the wii U NFC reader could read skylanders if activision wanted to let it. (activision stated that Nintendo offerd to send activision a tool to help the NFC controller pad read there programing, but activision said no. They said they thay like how the portal is always reading the figures and did not want to use the scan/re-scan. Also for some real proof if you own the wii U game pokemon rumble U that game can read the skylanders and use them "my gnarly tree rex loads in to that game as a raquaza pokemon and his lightcore turns on when I scan him")

Cited source?

Quote: darkrai848

At darkchylde28: the wii U NFC reader could read skylanders if activision wanted to let it. (activision stated that Nintendo offerd to send activision a tool to help the NFC controller pad read there programing, but activision said no. They said they thay like how the portal is always reading the figures and did not want to use the scan/re-scan. Also for some real proof if you own the wii U game pokemon rumble U that game can read the skylanders and use them "my gnarly tree rex loads in to that game as a raquaza pokemon and his lightcore turns on when I scan him")

I'm going to need to see some documentation on this one, as the only thing I can find is Vicarious Visions (not Activision) stating that they thought about adding NFC compatibility but decided against it. That's not nearly the same thing as Nintendo going, "Please, please, add this, we'll send you a dev kit." (My source: http://www.polygon.com/gaming/...ders-and-rayman)

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Cited source?

Exactly.

-Doug

^Realy?...business's don't work that way darkrai848. Agreed Doug.

Quote: Phoenix_Lord

^Realy?...business's don't work that way darkrai848. Agreed Doug.

Couldn't have summed up my thoughts better. Plus, Swap Force was already being developed for the Wii U, so Vicarious Visions (and Toys for Bob and most certainly Activision) would have already had to have a dev kit to work from to ensure compatibility. If you've got a development kit you'll also be provided with the platform's internal APIs specifically so that you can make your software compatible on both a hardware and software level. Some developers do better than others--compare what Naughty Dog did with the PS3 with Uncharted 2 & 3 versus what Beenox did with Swap Force on the 3DS.

-Doug

It was an old article that was posted on here after giants came out. As for them begging that's not the case, they just asked if they wanted to use the NFC reader on Wii U as up until then the dev kit for 3rd partys did not have use of it.

Quote: darkrai848

It was an old article that was posted on here after giants came out. As for them begging that's not the case, they just asked if they wanted to use the NFC reader on Wii U as up until then the dev kit for 3rd partys did not have use of it.

I'm going to demand a link to this article. Why? Because Giants came out for the Wii U as well as the regular Wii at launch (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylanders:_Giants), meaning that at that time and probably for at least 6 months to a year beforehand (quick to standard game development time) Activision/Toys for Bob had access to a dev kit. And had to have in order to get the game done and out at launch with all of the other systems. Heck, looking at the dates, the Wii U version of Giants actually released nearly a full month before the Wii U itself did. I don't think this conversation actually happened. I believe that maybe someone posted their opinion at some point that some such conversation happened, but I honestly don't believe it has any basis in reality--and will continue to think that way until a published article is presented to show otherwise.

-Doug

WiiU Giants did not come out before the WiiU - It released on launch day with the WiiU itself.

I recall sometghing similar regarding Nintendo/Activision and the RFID on the WiiU gamepad... but don't much recall where/specifics.

http://www.polygon.com/gaming/...ders-and-rayman
Quote:

"We did entertain the idea," Nick Ruepp, producer at Vicarious Visions, said. "We didn’t want to cripple the GamePad the entire time just so you could put your Skylander on the GamePad."

http://www.digitalspy.com/gami...wii-us-nfc.html
Quote:

He [Toys For Bob's Paul Reiche] told Digital Spy: "The problem is, if you look at the NFC, it's in the GamePad, which is really convenient if you want to do the traditional 'swipe your card', but trying to set a toy on there, it slides off.

Not quite what was posted in this thread, but it gives a little insight into what was being discussed here earlier.

Keep in mind Nintendo thumbed their nose at Activision for Skylander exclusivity. The idea of Nintendo begging anyone is laughable. They'd rather a system die out because of lack of third party market than to engage and get their console alive and moving. That is seated in fact based on number of discontinued third party games and the actual third party games available for the platform.