darkSpyro

Coming from an interview
Quote:

BT: Generally speaking, what’s next for Skylanders?

John Coyne, senior vice president of consumer marketing at Activision: Well that’s a tough question, because generally speaking I can’t say! We’re not revealing the new game just yet, because we’re still keeping the innovation under wraps. I can tell you that it’s pretty exciting – it’s a game-changer, it’s being developed by Toys for Bob again. But everyone’s going to have to wait a couple more months for more details.

What I can say about it is we really believe that the key to success both with the Skylanders franchise and in this category in general is innovation. When you look at franchises that endure over time, it’s because they continually innovate – and so it gives something for kids and gamers to keep them excited and keep them guessing and keep them coming back to the franchise. That’s the focus of the Skylanders franchise.

Link: http://home.bt.com/entertainme...-11363877139672

What do you think?

I support the waiting more thing. It'll give the release in October more hype, and if Disney reveals Infinity 2 before we do Skylanders 4 then everyone will shift from Infinity to Skylanders. What I hope for is that Skylanders doesn't go the way of Call of Duty, or Battlefield, or any other games. I hope it doesn't turn into the same game every year just painted over with some shiny new colors. But the way they said it's a game-changer, I'm not worried.

A couple of months huh, that's April.

If either the racing or interchangeable weapons speculations are true, I can't see how these are "game changing" ideas. Still, it's early days and both those ideas are speculation after all. I'm interested in hearing what this "game changing" innovation will be.

Quote: ninja9351

A couple of months huh, that's April.

When they say a couple of months, they don't necessarily literally mean 2 months.

racing would 'end it' for me. If they want to have some kind of XBLA game where you can use the existing accessories to put your own character in a racing game, that would be fine, but S4 should continue the format of the previous games.

I'd actually be all for them releasing a few 'arcade games' that use the figures and portals...
- Unreall

I really, really want more side-games that use the existing figures (like a Diddy Kong Racing-esque game)... This would give them far more value. Right now, I can use them with seven games (plus two more if I had something that could play them). That's great, but I've spend more on these figures than I have an entire video gaming system. If I bought a $1,000+ system and it only played seven games, I'd be irked.

Don't let the "game-changer" hype get to you. Virtually EVERY company says pretty much that same thing about the next installment in their popular franchise game. I mean, seriously, do you expect them to say "Well, this formula has worked so well, we just decided to reskin the last game, slap a 4 on it and be done. Oh, and here's 50 more figures to buy."

Quote: UncleBob

I really, really want more side-games that use the existing figures (like a Diddy Kong Racing-esque game)... This would give them far more value. Right now, I can use them with seven games (plus two more if I had something that could play them). That's great, but I've spend more on these figures than I have an entire video gaming system. If I bought a $1,000+ system and it only played seven games, I'd be irked.

Don't let the "game-changer" hype get to you. Virtually EVERY company says pretty much that same thing about the next installment in their popular franchise game. I mean, seriously, do you expect them to say "Well, this formula has worked so well, we just decided to reskin the last game, slap a 4 on it and be done. Oh, and here's 50 more figures to buy."

The word of reason. Let's skip the marketing crud and wait and see what they have.

I'd expect an announcement at E3. I think they might have said something at Toy Fair but when they realized that Infinity wasn't announcing anything it seemed prudent to wait. If some how they did hear that Infinity was waiting until E3 that's great. That means they are in full competition mode.

If this new game is a carting game, I'm out. If it has carting in it that's awesome. I still want my core adventure game but I don't mind some crazy minigames in my core game. I'm still going with the weapon swapping mechanic as the new gimmick.

They're pretty much waiting for Disney to announce their next game, in hopes that they didn't innovate new technology.

Quote: Tigorus

I'd expect an announcement at E3. I think they might have said something at Toy Fair but when they realized that Infinity wasn't announcing anything it seemed prudent to wait. If some how they did hear that Infinity was waiting until E3 that's great. That means they are in full competition mode.

If this new game is a carting game, I'm out. If it has carting in it that's awesome. I still want my core adventure game but I don't mind some crazy minigames in my core game. I'm still going with the weapon swapping mechanic as the new gimmick.

The only thing I don't understand about a weapon swapping mechanic is: what happens to the characters who already have weapons? what about characters who walk on all 4s? what about characters without hands (ie. prism break)?

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: UncleBob

I really, really want more side-games that use the existing figures (like a Diddy Kong Racing-esque game)... This would give them far more value. Right now, I can use them with seven games (plus two more if I had something that could play them). That's great, but I've spend more on these figures than I have an entire video gaming system. If I bought a $1,000+ system and it only played seven games, I'd be irked.

Don't let the "game-changer" hype get to you. Virtually EVERY company says pretty much that same thing about the next installment in their popular franchise game. I mean, seriously, do you expect them to say "Well, this formula has worked so well, we just decided to reskin the last game, slap a 4 on it and be done. Oh, and here's 50 more figures to buy."

The word of reason. Let's skip the marketing crud and wait and see what they have.

this, I expect a new gimmick but hence it Activi$ion don't expect much

Quote: Matteomax

They're pretty much waiting for Disney to announce their next game, in hopes that they didn't innovate new technology.

Which - I won't call 'silly', but realistically, its (1) too late to switch stream ANYWAY, and (2) Disney Infinity '2' is fairly obvious what direction they are going (general expansion). I doubt DI2 is going to be a 'gimmick' based affair - let's be honest here - Skylander's has a gimmick with each revision, because they 'need' it, while Disney is going to (and should) lean on the strength of their licenses. It would be INCREDIBLY weird for DI2 to not be 'here are more characters from more universes, with more toy boxes, and more diverse quest'.

I mean being honest...I think they are just behind on their schedule. They can say this or that, but it really just sounds like "we aren't ready yet". And it is actually pretty fair for them not to be - as I see it, I doubt TbB is going to reuse the same engine that VV used - just like how in the CoD series the two (now three) different companies all use their own engine, so that would mean TbB would be making a new next gen engine, redoing all their old models in Hi-Res - which I doubt is a huge issue, but then they have to do all the Swap characters as well, then on TOP of that, the new characters they are doing will need to be modeled - so I can EASILY be sympathetic to a delay...I just want a good product...I'll wait.
- Unreall

Quote: alegeobla

Quote: Tigorus

I'd expect an announcement at E3. I think they might have said something at Toy Fair but when they realized that Infinity wasn't announcing anything it seemed prudent to wait. If some how they did hear that Infinity was waiting until E3 that's great. That means they are in full competition mode.

If this new game is a carting game, I'm out. If it has carting in it that's awesome. I still want my core adventure game but I don't mind some crazy minigames in my core game. I'm still going with the weapon swapping mechanic as the new gimmick.

The only thing I don't understand about a weapon swapping mechanic is: what happens to the characters who already have weapons? what about characters who walk on all 4s? what about characters without hands (ie. prism break)?

It would work in the same way that Swappers worked in Swap Force. They were only able to swap with other Swappers from Swap Force. They would be limited to their launch set or future sets. Let's just say as a place holder, "Weapon Masters" could only swap weapons with other "Weapon Masters" so backwards compatibility isn't an issue. Now if they added carts that would just recognize any Skylander's R.F.I.D. chip that would be cool. But again I don't want carting to be the entire game.

I think they are still riding the Swap Force wave at Retail. Still lots of figures to sell that haven't been released. Once they start putting out info for the next one it reduces the value of Swap Force.

That's just a guess.

And everyone says there product is a 'Game Changer'. Because 'Eh, its just like the other one' doesn't create much hype.

Far as carting goes, my son will totally love that. The main reason I bought Disney Infinity was so we could build our own race tracks.

Quote: Tigorus

Quote: alegeobla

Quote: Tigorus

I'd expect an announcement at E3. I think they might have said something at Toy Fair but when they realized that Infinity wasn't announcing anything it seemed prudent to wait. If some how they did hear that Infinity was waiting until E3 that's great. That means they are in full competition mode.

If this new game is a carting game, I'm out. If it has carting in it that's awesome. I still want my core adventure game but I don't mind some crazy minigames in my core game. I'm still going with the weapon swapping mechanic as the new gimmick.

The only thing I don't understand about a weapon swapping mechanic is: what happens to the characters who already have weapons? what about characters who walk on all 4s? what about characters without hands (ie. prism break)?

It would work in the same way that Swappers worked in Swap Force. They were only able to swap with other Swappers from Swap Force. They would be limited to their launch set or future sets. Let's just say as a place holder, "Weapon Masters" could only swap weapons with other "Weapon Masters" so backwards compatibility isn't an issue. Now if they added carts that would just recognize any Skylander's R.F.I.D. chip that would be cool. But again I don't want carting to be the entire game.

Ya, its just that the megablocks show all characters with weapons. The preview megablocks didn't show all characters as giants did it? This leaves me to believe that the weapons are purely a megablocks gimic, making the toys more fun to play with instead of just building the set.

Quote: UncleBob

I mean, seriously, do you expect them to say "Well, this formula has worked so well, we just decided to reskin the last game, slap a 4 on it and be done. Oh, and here's 50 more figures to buy."

That sounds like the Madden game formula. The sad thing is, it's actually worked.

Are we sure there aren't some delays that are making them have to wait on an annoucement? Such as: possibly they were intending to make a Wii version, but with all the prolems, either scrapped that or had to make the game easier to work on it too. I'm leaning towards them scrapping it, since the innovations are now too much it seems for the Wii. It had a good run though.

I'm hoping so so much that they don't make the next Skylanders a racing game. Racing within the game? Fine. Racing as the be all, end all of the game? No, just no. They can make a spin-off Kart game if they want, but the main game should always be an adventure! They can even make a 3ds spin-off if they want, just don't make that THE game!

Quote: TheLurk

Quote: UncleBob

I mean, seriously, do you expect them to say "Well, this formula has worked so well, we just decided to reskin the last game, slap a 4 on it and be done. Oh, and here's 50 more figures to buy."

That sounds like the Madden game formula. The sad thing is, it's actually worked.

Are we sure there aren't some delays that are making them have to wait on an annoucement? Such as: possibly they were intending to make a Wii version, but with all the prolems, either scrapped that or had to make the game easier to work on it too. I'm leaning towards them scrapping it, since the innovations are now too much it seems for the Wii. It had a good run though.

I'm hoping so so much that they don't make the next Skylanders a racing game. Racing within the game? Fine. Racing as the be all, end all of the game? No, just no. They can make a spin-off Kart game if they want, but the main game should always be an adventure! They can even make a 3ds spin-off if they want, just don't make that THE game!

Agree, agree, agree that much! But hey, let's think about that: after all this game is made by the same company who created this wonderful franchise! I'm sure they won't ruin it in such a cheap way!

Quote: TheLurk

Quote: UncleBob

I mean, seriously, do you expect them to say "Well, this formula has worked so well, we just decided to reskin the last game, slap a 4 on it and be done. Oh, and here's 50 more figures to buy."

I'm hoping so so much that they don't make the next Skylanders a racing game. Racing within the game? Fine. Racing as the be all, end all of the game? No, just no. They can make a spin-off Kart game if they want, but the main game should always be an adventure! They can even make a 3ds spin-off if they want, just don't make that THE game!

I highly doubt that they plan to completely change the genre of the series from Action-Adventure to Racing.

The more I think about it, I think there's a better chance that there won't be racing, but the vehicles are more tank-like, used for fighting. It's more Skylander-esqe than making a racing oriented game.

The next game can't be a racing game, because what about the main story line? Do you really think Kaos will change Skylands into a race just so they all have to drive around? He may but its a little stupid and what good would it give Kaos on helping him to take over the world?

Quote: Unreallystic

Quote: Matteomax

They're pretty much waiting for Disney to announce their next game, in hopes that they didn't innovate new technology.

Which - I won't call 'silly', but realistically, its (1) too late to switch stream ANYWAY, and (2) Disney Infinity '2' is fairly obvious what direction they are going (general expansion). I doubt DI2 is going to be a 'gimmick' based affair - let's be honest here - Skylander's has a gimmick with each revision, because they 'need' it, while Disney is going to (and should) lean on the strength of their licenses. It would be INCREDIBLY weird for DI2 to not be 'here are more characters from more universes, with more toy boxes, and more diverse quest'.

I mean being honest...I think they are just behind on their schedule. They can say this or that, but it really just sounds like "we aren't ready yet". And it is actually pretty fair for them not to be - as I see it, I doubt TbB is going to reuse the same engine that VV used - just like how in the CoD series the two (now three) different companies all use their own engine, so that would mean TbB would be making a new next gen engine, redoing all their old models in Hi-Res - which I doubt is a huge issue, but then they have to do all the Swap characters as well, then on TOP of that, the new characters they are doing will need to be modeled - so I can EASILY be sympathetic to a delay...I just want a good product...I'll wait.
- Unreall

In my opinion, Skylanders doesn't need a gimmick--they are actually innovating and providing new technology--which is pretty darn cool. They need to do more on the game side of the equation.

It would be ILL ADVISED for both houses to not start to leverage the existing engine. How the heck can you innovate if you have 100+ character remodels and having to maintain that in their own engine. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. IMO, they are leveraging VV's engine.


From the article:

For someone to own everything in the Skylanders world, it’s not a small investment. Do you ever have parents getting in touch demanding you tone down the number of toys released?

Normally the letters that we receive from kids and parents – believe me we get a lot of letters – they usually request a lot more Skylanders, not less!

I think the guy is smoking something....he needs to retally the need for more versus complaints of what's out there now.

Actually, I wouldn't mind not getting a gimmick, for a future game. Just some new, well created characters, a solid game (and gameplay), and an original story, like the first game.

I can't say I know much about game engines, but you have a point GhostRoaster. They need to make sure whatever they use is capable of handling the innovations they seek to make now and in the future. If that means updating it constantly to meet or beat expectations then so be it.

What would help them make Slyalnders 4 a "game-changer" in the fan's books?:

1. Online Multiplayer? They have yet to make this for the franchise, but we know Activision can do it. They've done it before in other games. There would be unique challenges to making an online mulitplayer that's both fun and able to actually work between consoles and their portals. We've discussed the best way to do it on this forum too. COnsidering how some people have trouble getting people over to play at their homes, it would be a nice feature. And I'm sure they can make safe controls to protect kids while still giving them a buddy to play with.

2. New toys? We expect this. There's probably always going to be a new toy set for each Skylanders game. But how do you make them fresh and exciting? What makes them unique and brings people to the Portal, so to speak? And how do you ensure that they are accessable and safe?

3. Gameplay? Does there need to be more game structure? Less? A different style that makes things more fun? What are the expectations of the average Skylander fan? And what would be the End-Game for the fandom?

4. Letting multiple devices (consoles, mobile, ect) play together? Is that possible? Would it be good? Would that tie in with an Online Multiplayer function?

There's just so much to think about! I hope we get some more info soon. If we can't, I'll be disappointed, but...well, I'll live.

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

The more I think about it, I think there's a better chance that there won't be racing, but the vehicles are more tank-like, used for fighting. It's more Skylander-esqe than making a racing oriented game.

This is what I'm hoping for(assuming the gimmick is going to be vehicles).

I'd prefer technology innovation over gimmick. I think from a technology perspective these guys are leaders in innovating unique toy products for their game...that's not giving justice to the fine folks who've worked on this.

The gimmick is how to remove us from our money, but we knew that back in Spyro's Adventure.

Quote: Arc of Archives

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

The more I think about it, I think there's a better chance that there won't be racing, but the vehicles are more tank-like, used for fighting. It's more Skylander-esqe than making a racing oriented game.

This is what I'm hoping for(assuming the gimmick is going to be vehicles).

I'm pretty cold on the idea of kart racing in Skylanders, but someone on the reddit.com/r/skylanders suggested that maybe the vehicles would be less about racing and more about enabling an open world sandbox type gameplay for the series. (With a large map like that to go back and forth on justifying the addition of vehicles.) If vehicles are the innovation I hope it takes that form!

Heck for all we know they are making a racing game AND skylanders 4. You never know. Thou i could see carts coming out to be used in certain parts of the game that your figure can sit in. The gimic has sort of become the thing one expects with this game, thou I wouldn't mind seeing more swapable figures as they are fun.

As for DI-2, disney has alot to build on. They could toss up worlds for wreck it ralph, frozen and phinese & ferb right off the bat and say now use your existing toy box only figures in there worlds. Disney has barely touched all it has, thou i do feel they will use newer movie stuff/re-releases as kids are more aware of it, like i expect to see a jungle book world (as it was just re-released and a nemo world (i think nemo 2 is this year?).

Skylanders 4 will have it's own version of power discs.

Quote: mantez

Skylanders 4 will have it's own version of power discs.

NO. Is this speculation, or confirmed?

Quote: jet-vac6000

Quote: mantez

Skylanders 4 will have it's own version of power discs.

NO. Is this speculation, or confirmed?

Wouldn't be that shocked if it happens. Swap Force already technically has 1.

Quote: jet-vac6000

Quote: mantez

Skylanders 4 will have it's own version of power discs.

NO. Is this speculation, or confirmed?

It's just my prediction, but as they are doing well for Infinity I can see skylanders using the idea.

Quote: GhostRoaster

In my opinion, Skylanders doesn't need a gimmick--they are actually innovating and providing new technology--which is pretty darn cool. They need to do more on the game side of the equation.

It would be ILL ADVISED for both houses to not start to leverage the existing engine. How the heck can you innovate if you have 100+ character remodels and having to maintain that in their own engine. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. IMO, they are leveraging VV's engine.

Well I think we need to define 'gimmick' - to 'me'...'Giants' was a gimmick. Characters who were pretty much identical, but larger and thus carried a larger price tag and served as a raison d'etre for a new game. Then with Swapforce - it was the same thing (with a little more tech at least) - the 'gimmick' to me was being able to swap the tops/bottoms. On top of it all, part of me feels the entire game itself is a gimmick..."We aren't really making money on the Spyro IP, what can we do?", and thus the 'digital toys' were born. Nothing wrong with it and maybe saying gimmick attaches too much of a negative connotation, but my original point was...

The next Skylander game won't be called "Skylanders 4". There will be an add-on to describe the new 'feature', something to make it stand out from the past entry. Activision NEEDS that to move units. On the other hand, Disney doesn't have to do anything like that. Hell, being honest Disney could repackage DI1, add in expansions for Star Wars & X-Men, and walk away with wheel barrels of money. They don't "need" to do any 'real' innovation, because of the strength of their licenses. Sure as a gamer I want them to. But the requirements to attain success for the two companies is just different.


As for the game engines, I'm 50/50 on it. I started playing Call of Duty with Modern Warfare 2...it was a BLAST...still is truthfully. Then Black Ops came out...by Treyarch. I played with my same circle of overly skilled friends (I'm the free guy in the group admittedly), and it just wasn't as fun for me for multiple reasons. Then MW3 comes out and while it didn't duplicate MW2's "fun" factor, it was so much better than BO. Then BO2 came out, at that point it became "ignore the Treyarch offerings". I say that because my wife REALLY enjoyed Giants, but she will walk away and grade papers or something if I que up Swap Force. On this forum, there appeared to be a heavy following of people who prefer Giants to Swap Force for reasons that extend beyond "Heroics". So "50%" of me is glad there is a rotation, because my expectation is SL4 will play closer to Giants and will bring things from Giants like Heroics "back". The other 50% though knows how inefficient it is. Giants felt almost perfect because it was built of Spyros, but now we are going to have a 'delay'' in improvements & QoL features. Now it's going to be harder to predict the quality of the game.

so I can take it or leave it really. Reality is its SUPER doubtful that SL4 will use the same engine as SF...Treyarch and Infinity Ward don't pass maps back and forth or models, let alone actual engines...and their relationship is nearly identical, with the only difference being 'backwards compatible hardware'
- Unreall

I am actually surprised Skylanders doesn't already have their own "power disks" from Infinity. It would be quite easy to throw a chase card in with the packs of trading cards and have it do something in game, yet not over powering so as to make the game a walk for anyone with it or next to impossible with out the things.
I hate to say it but I do more than half expect that is one of the big changes coming down the line although I would be very surprised if it were the only one.

Just an F.Y.I. here this observation comes from someone who just started with all these, my son will be 5 in a couple of months and I really didn't want him immersed in video games all that much yet (though skylanders seems a perfect starting point for it). I thought that the cards that were out had something to do with the game when I first looked at them, though because I am the way I am I researched it and found they had 0 interaction. (Many peoples problems with what their kids play with would be greatly reduced if only they put in a few minutes of time to do a bit of research)

Quote: gta1134

I am actually surprised Skylanders doesn't already have their own "power disks" from Infinity. It would be quite easy to throw a chase card in with the packs of trading cards and have it do something in game, yet not over powering so as to make the game a walk for anyone with it or next to impossible with out the things.
I hate to say it but I do more than half expect that is one of the big changes coming down the line although I would be very surprised if it were the only one.

If they really are doing this interchangeable weapons idea that has been floating around, then they could do blind bag weapons. Then they could have maybe... "Legendary" versions of weapons that are the special items.

I hope there isn't anything like power disks. The fact I know what I'm buying and not having to do blind packs was something very good and consistent they've maintained so far. Personally, I'll be hopeful, but won't say it's the best game ever, or anything like that. Trying to be cautiously optimistic.

Quote: bionicle2809

If they really are doing this interchangeable weapons idea that has been floating around, then they could do blind bag weapons. Then they could have maybe... "Legendary" versions of weapons that are the special items.

Now I like the blind bag idea from both a consumer point of view (one bag could hold a expensive legendary weapon) as well as from the marketers point (people will spend more trying to get legendary weapons) but to be honest I doubt this will work. The reasoning is if the bags only hold one item you can have people putting them on the portals to see what's inside. However if you have a pack of cards with RFID tags on them you would have too many items on the portals (admittedly I have no idea how expensive the tags are so I don't know how possible it is to do this) For instance you can have things like the IoS version of the games do (quick health regen card, falling anvil card) I know they have figures for those but they could be sub par versions that only restore like 100 hp or only drop 1 anvil, so that you could have varying levels of rarity. For instance a rare potion could restore 300 hp where as the uncommon does 200 and the common does 100 though that would have to be something balanced out far greater than what I would want to try right now.

@Unreallystic I disagree. Disney Infinity may lean heavily on their licences, but there's a problem. Disney has saturated the market with all their merchandise. Parents right now are less enchanted with that. While they have great sales with new items, they depend on people to keep buying Beauty and the Beast 5001, or any other of their eternal sequels. If they just repackage DI1 to make DI2, parents (and kids as well) will start to ask "why did I buy this again?". They might not think there's a need to innovate more than that, but ask yourself: why did you buy DI1? Did you buy it to play ___ character? Did you buy it because you love Disney? And what will keep you coming back? They can have every title around, but if it's the same old same old, those kids will get bored. And parents don't like to get the same thing over and over unless there's a good value.

I personally like all the Skylander (console) games. Maybe I'm in a minority? *shrugs* But yes, Activision needs innovation. It's what sets them apart. They've been making all the firsts, and any other toys to life game is riding behind that wave instead of upon it. They're the leader, so in order to maintain that lead, they need to show people what they can do. It's very hard to stay onthe top of the hill, but so far, they've done it.

Blops. Lol. COD is very much into gimmicks, which is fine as long as they're good ones. Mostly they've depended on the FPS Multiplayer crowd. Even if you hate the main story, you can still enjoy the multiplayer in an FPS. While Activision is involved with both series, comparing them is like comparing apples and oranges. They are for different audiences, different genres, and different developers. It's too soon to say if the developer trade-off will work, but we'll see.

Oh don't get me twisted - I want Disney to innovate, I'm just saying they can make money by leaning on licenses, while Activision can't do that to nearly the same extent. Again, if Disney just releases Xmen figures with Danger Room disc, and Star Wars characters with a Star Wars set...there wouldn't be real 'innovation' in it, but it would do GREAT numbers.

I also have ot be honest when it comes to DI, they have a GOOD STRONG base to build upon. What's missing is a gamer's polish which will come from experience. The Toy Box? It sounds awesome. In use, it lacks the simple ability to set 'goals', there is no 'win'. In story mode, characters never stay dead. In story mode you are limited to who you can use.. I would GLADLY buy a DI2 if it fixed those things and brought in Xmen or Avengers. As it stands it feels like Disney is selling 2 halves of 2 games, if they finish the games off, it will be worth it.

Building your own Danger Room? The groundwork is there, it just needs polish.

On the flip with Skylander's though, the polish is mostly there already. They took polish OFF actually. So what's going to make it enticing to spend another $500 on figures? That's what they HAVE to lean on, and simply saying "Spyro" won't be enough.
- Unreall

Quote: gta1134

Quote: bionicle2809

If they really are doing this interchangeable weapons idea that has been floating around, then they could do blind bag weapons. Then they could have maybe... "Legendary" versions of weapons that are the special items.

Now I like the blind bag idea from both a consumer point of view (one bag could hold a expensive legendary weapon) as well as from the marketers point (people will spend more trying to get legendary weapons) but to be honest I doubt this will work. The reasoning is if the bags only hold one item you can have people putting them on the portals to see what's inside. However if you have a pack of cards with RFID tags on them you would have too many items on the portals (admittedly I have no idea how expensive the tags are so I don't know how possible it is to do this) For instance you can have things like the IoS version of the games do (quick health regen card, falling anvil card) I know they have figures for those but they could be sub par versions that only restore like 100 hp or only drop 1 anvil, so that you could have varying levels of rarity. For instance a rare potion could restore 300 hp where as the uncommon does 200 and the common does 100 though that would have to be something balanced out far greater than what I would want to try right now.

Ah! But interchangeable weapons wouldn't have RFID chips in them - they'd only work when connected to a Skylander.

Well, it'll depend on alot of factors, some we know, and some behind the scenes. I get that DI has an advantage in choices of characters, but....the limits to their gameplay are a real turnoff. When I've mentioned to parents that they can use older figures in the new Skylanders games, their eyes light up and you can tell they're relieved. They can get older figs sometimes for less, and yet they still get great gameplay out of them! It's one of those things that's part of Skylander's appeal. And with people working hard to save money, that larger character base for Disney starts to look less helpful to them. If kids get less benefit from a game with so many figs, as well as blind pulls on discs, I think the parents will start to pull away. Sure it's got Woody, and Cars, and all those nostalgic figs. But they could just buy regular toys off the shelf instead for less if it's the toy part they want. With SKylanders, you don't get blind pulls on anything really. What you see is what you get. You can move figs around on the pegs to check for a rare for free, which is nice. You may not see it there, but you also don't actually need it to complete the game. With the DI discs you get blind pulls and so you need rares to trade or sell to make up for the cost just to get all the ones you need. Kids might find that exciting, but parents don't. They see money going down the drain. They say "No, you already bought one of those. You don't know that you'll get ____, and you've already used your xmas money. No. We're going home". I've seen it. With Skylanders, you can say "Look! It's an undead and I need that to unlock gates mom!" or "Oh! I need a Giant for the Giant Chests!". It's easier for kids to negotiate on this, and parents appreciate actually knowing what a fig is and what it can do. The other day I met a lady trying to decide on figures to help them get through Swap Force. She needed an undead, but she wasn't sure which to buy. I asked her what their playstyle was, and explained that the two she was looking at (chop chop and hex) had two different playstyles. She liked chop chop better for her son, because he liked melee more. When she mentioned she needed a Giant, I showed her which those were, and she got one. Then, when we were discussing the game, she mentioned dual gates and I pointed out she could use a swapper and mix the base and top. So she got a Rattle Shake. She really needed the help, because honestly, not everyone knows about it. But isn't it alot nicer to see what you get? And even if it's older, it can still be used. That's a great value! I can't help seeing Skylanders have a larger advantage than DI, despite licences and money to throw around. Clearly (to me), it's Activision's competition to lose.

I don't see the weapon swapping ability working with out RFID chips or some other way to tell which one is attached, if not it would be purely cosmetic. While that sounds cool it will lose it's appeal very quickly.

Yeah and weapon-swapping would scare parents away too. They'd be afraid that they're younger children would eat them.

Actually, pulling what I was saying from the other thread, weapons as Skylander's version of Power Discs could work really well. As I said, what they could do is have weapons the function like hats (where you can equip them to any Skylander) and like the in game bombs and keys and what not where the item floats around you.

Have "weapons" and the like could be easily sold on cards, and actually we've seen how easy this is with the preorder cards from Target. Now, they could sell them in packs (either in singles, maybe like $1 for one) or as multiples (maybe like 5-6 in a pack). Singles allows them to sell them as items that you know what they are, where multiples could be sold as blind packages or just "themes", like "Fire Weapons" etc.
Alternatively, they could be packaged in with all Skylanders and dare I say, placed randomly in packs? Then you could end up trading weapons cards with your friends and stuff.

In my example here, they'd be one time use items like that Target preorder card, so you could equip them to your Skylanders at any time during the game. (instead of requiring you to place it on the portal at the same time as the character.

In the alternate instance though where you'd place them on the portal at the same time, that'd also work for the karts idea that was tossed around. I feel like something they'd easily be able to do is phase out magic items...I mean, what's the point in them really? They help out your character for a brief amount of time and there's really no point in using it during normal gameplay. That'd allow them to sell Adventure Packs and Battle Packs as a package with 2 Skylanders and 1 "Magic" item.

I sort of like them having the magic items, my son in particular plays with them outside of the game.
I like the idea of the "karts" being on a card, it makes the real estate problem many people have with them a non issue and it also makes activisions investment in them minimal so it is more likely a small part of the game instead of a focus.
I'm not sure I care for the random ones being inserted in figure packs but I wouldn't mind all that much if they were. I see them as more of a random pack type of thing but that stems from my back ground in card games so I wouldn't care either way if they were in blind packs or in preconstructed packs.

Quote: gta1134

I don't see the weapon swapping ability working with out RFID chips or some other way to tell which one is attached, if not it would be purely cosmetic. While that sounds cool it will lose it's appeal very quickly.

The same way the swap force characters are connected to eachother - by a small, black dot on each of the halves.

Quote: TheLurk

Yeah and weapon-swapping would scare parents away too. They'd be afraid that they're younger children would eat them.

Well, these Mega Blocks characters exists - they're far smaller than any weapons for actual figures would be.

There are RFID chips in both halves of the swappers unless I'm mistaken

Quote: gta1134

There are RFID chips in both halves of the swappers unless I'm mistaken

Nope, only the bottom half. There's a data chip in both halves, bot not an RFID.

So I take it that's why there are two magnets right? to make sure it lines up a certain way for information to travel between the pieces.
Still even so if we are talking about weapons that small we have to worry about choking hazards and yes I know that the toys are marketed with the recommended age levels but the amount of people who are buying these toys that either don't have more than one child or at very least small pets to worry about might be large enough that Activision might not want to risk losing them over adding small weapons to figures, on top of the people that have that problem there's also the stigma weapons themselves would add to these. I know there's figures with weapons but some parents simply don't buy those figures with them, however if the new mechanic was centered around weapons that might not sit well. Again I'm simply playing devil's advocate here, my son would be able to play with them either way I just know how closed minded many people can be.

i am kinda interested to see when this will be announced but i was thinking it would be the 24th of this month because power A and frito lay two of activison biggest partners are having a promotion the same day which i kinda of find wierd

I don't get the concerns about choking hazards in relation to detachable weapons. The Skylander brand is already partnered with Mega Bloks and those consist of every size part/chocking hazard. I'm pretty sure the weapons would be larger than most of the smaller Mega Blok parts. That is if detachable weapons are even the gimmick. Parents need to accept some responsibility here. And yes I am a parent so I'm speaking from experience. I could see the gripe of losing the weapon and diminishing the toy over it being a chocking hazard as a valid concern.