darkSpyro

I know that old Skylanders will be compatible with the newer SwapForce Portal.
I know that the old Portals will not be compatible with the SwapForce game.

My question is ... does anyone know if the new SwapForce Portal will be compatible with the older games?

It is.

The only new part about the Swap Force Portal is the technology that can handle the Swap characters.

Awesome.

I was slightly worried that we'd have to keep multiple Portals lying around. But it sounds like we can discard the old Portal once the newer one is released, since it can be used when playing SSA or Giants, too.

Why is having multiple portals a burden for so many people?

It isn't for me. I keep them around for display. Plus, there aren't many people who want a stand alone Portal.

Quote: JetVac96

Why is having multiple portals a burden for so many people?

Really don't know... me, I'm keeping them they're awesome in my room.

I have 8 portals.

Has it been confirmed that the new portal will work with the old games?

And has it been confirmed that the new portal is *required* to work with the new game if you plan to only play with regular characters?

I think they said they were making a new portal because it was needed to read the swap figures. Idk if its backward useable thou I figure it should be.

New portal should be backward compatible. They really should put this one to bed, as I'm sure doubt is a bad thing if they want consumers to buy.

Quote: GhostRoaster

New portal should be backward compatible. They really should put this one to bed, as I'm sure doubt is a bad thing if they want consumers to buy.

I fully agree.
It would make sense that the newer Portals should be backward-compatible to the older Skylanders games.
However, the question is not whether it should be backward-compatible ... the question is ... IS it backward-compatible?

While we're talking about the portal. Does anyone know if it's wired only or is their a wireless version? Having the wireless Portal is pretty handy.

I'm pretty sure the portal will be wired, except the 3DS version. The wireless one chomped batteries like crazy. Even the wireless ones for Giants were wired this time.

The new portal is because of the swappers. The magnetic field from the induction power source and the magnet holding the figures together caused interference issues, so they had to come up with a new way to do it. They said the new solution works great, even better than the old one but it does require a new portal.

Also, keep in mind you essentially have up to 5 items to read (instead of 3 like before). Previously it was two characters and a special item. Now it is potentially the upper and lower halves of two characters and a special item. I'm not certain of how it works, but from what I can tell the upper half isn't actually "read", it just connects to the lower half which reads and transmits both. The connector seems to have two connections (probably to complete a circuit to a chip in the upper half), but the RFID is in the lower. All of this is guessing though based on pictures.

In the end though, in order to make the parts stay together well without becoming worn out from constant pulling apart, I'm sure that's why they went with magnets, even though it does raise the interference issues. The magnets can also enforce the figures only going together one way by the polarity so the connectors will be lined up correctly.

Aye, new portals will not be wireless.
Wireless is a really cool idea, but the battery drain on the original Wii/Ps3 wireless models was truly ridiculous.
If Activision was really ambitious, they would have prepared, marketed, and sold special rechargeable battery packs for those wireless Portals.
In the end, it probably just made more financial sense to use wired Portals.

Thanks for the physics primer about the new Portal functionality, Defpally; good info, as always!

I still would really like to know if the new Portals are backward-compatible. I know all "signs" point to "yes" ... but some confirmation from Activision would be ideal.

Quote: JetVac96

Why is having multiple portals a burden for so many people?

It isn't for me. Infact, I consider the portals as part of my collection. I have to get every portal.

The thing about battery power for console portals is that portals have to remain on full time since placing or removing a figure causes the game to respond. The always on and communicating is why the battery consumption is so bad, not to mention the induction magnetic field used for powering writes and lightcore effects isn't exactly power consumption conscious. The only way wireless might be ok is if it included a rechargeable battery, which would increase the cost (and still require a USB cord for charging).

For the 3DS, you load the figure then it isn't needed until to reload another (or the same one to "save" the updates), so it turns off after a brief period. Also, the 3DS doesn't have a good port to plug it into, so it uses the infrared which takes much less power than a Wifi connection (and your portal will always be in line of sight), and the 3DS doesn't have Bluetooth.

If cost wasn't a factor, they should just make them wireless, powered via USB connection.

Then, you could plug it into any USB port to power it while still communicating with the console.

I wish the new portal was wireless...it looks cooler that way. I wouldn't even mind buying batteries..

I'm guessing you didn't play SSA with a wireless portal then,

Quote: niceguy1

I'm guessing you didn't play SSA with a wireless portal then,

Aye. You had to change the batteries for like every 3-4 hours of gameplay. It was rather expensive. I'm very glad that the wireless portals have gone the way of the dodo.

Quote: BahamutBreaker

Quote: niceguy1

I'm guessing you didn't play SSA with a wireless portal then,

Aye. You had to change the batteries for like every 3-4 hours of gameplay. It was rather expensive. I'm very glad that the wireless portals have gone the way of the dodo.

I never had a problem with it. The batteries that came with the game lasted over 20 hours and then I used rechargables and they would get me around the same before I had to charge them.

The reason why they went away from wireless was because the Light Core figures drain the battery to much. This was discussed way back when Giants came out. I personally like the idea of not having to buy batteries or in my case keep recharging my batteries and the hassle of finding batteries lying around the house when my rechargeables are charging.

Quote: UncleBob

If cost wasn't a factor, they should just make them wireless, powered via USB connection.

Then, you could plug it into any USB port to power it while still communicating with the console.

I like this idea, you could then plug the portal even in a wall across the room (as long as it's range of the bluetooth)

You would find a simple battery eliminator could do this for any wired portal!

Just get ANY OLD phone 5v charger and connect the wires to the 2 terminals in the battery compartment.

As the portal expects 4v to 6v, this is smack bang in the middle of it's acceptable range.

Just make sure you put the wires the right way round

A few days ago I saw someone post on another thread that some 3rd party company made a replacement battery cover for portals with built-in rechargeable batteries and a USB cable. They even posted a picture of the box, to know what to look for. Sounds like a great solution to me, and it seemed clearly made for Skylanders portals (or it seemed likely, anyway). If I find the thread I'll post a link to it.
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EDIT: Here's the thread: //forum.darkspyro.net/spyro/viewposts.php?topic=85954