darkSpyro

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...0,7463446.story

Discuss.

then what will be there?

HUH?

I guess we'll see soon enough. My hypothesis is that we'll see some of the new characters because of the Fritolay contest, but that's it. If you read what Eric is saying they want to treat the toys like toys without reference to the game.

We'll know the toy innovation and an idea of how it's shaping, but the game is under tight lips.

Bummer, because I was so pumped for the announcement only to find out now that it's not going to happen yet. I can see why they chose to hold off though.

But Activision still has a big booth at the fair, so I wonder what they'll be showing off there if it's not the new game. :/

i guess we'll see a gimmick, and what the toys look like.

the 16th shall tell all.

"As a franchise, "Skylanders" was born through breakthrough creativity," said Hirshberg. "It's all about building on the must-play innovation and 'wow' factor that the original delivered. We've striven to deliver another innovation with each new game and toy line. We'll have a big new innovation this year, as well."

Can't wait. I hope they push the game forward as well.

DARKNESS

NO PARENTS

They have to show us something in the next 10 days, though, right? Doesn't the Frito Lay promotion that starts on the 24th give you pictures of 3 characters to name?

They could release some new core figures and resposes without giving anything about the game gimmick away.

That's a bummer...but eh well...

Definitely a couple things I'll be interested to see with the new game besides the obvious "what is the new game" question...

1. Will all prior figures still work with Skylanders 4?

2. Will they make any new swappers going forward? Or will they be set aside like Giants were...(Guessing they will be cuz the game likes to work in even numbers and according to elements...so if they were to release, say, new Swappers...They'd probably want at least 1 of each element....of course, if they introduce NEW elements, they could go that route by releasing swappers and a giant for those)

3. What platforms will it be on? Well, more specifically, which Nintendo platforsm? Man...So our household got a Wii U this past Holiday/Birthday season...but I've been reading that it is getting absolutely clobbered out there sales-wise and 3rd parties are running for the hills....On here I've read that it won't be released on Wii and only Wii U...Be interesting to see how that plays out. The Wii was their biggest selling platform version by a mile. Making the 4th edition for the Wii again would probably be a sign that Wii U is in deep doodoo. Heck, for all I know THAT may be the reason why they're holding off an announcement of the game...Your #1 platform seller is in a state of flux right now.

If they introduced 2 new elements, then I'd like to think they would catch them up.

So 10 new Element #9 and 10 new Element #10 (including a Giant, 2 swappers, and at least one dragon for each)

If they also gave two new figures for each element pushing the total up to 12, then we could end up with 40 new figures.


[Not in anyone saying this is what would happen] but would be a great way to get some new Giants, Swappers, plus whatever new tech they are designing.

Well there goes my excitement for Toy Fair.......

Unless they reveal new Sonic, Transformers merch and Disney Infinity 2

The whole keeping it secret for competitive reasons is just plain dumb in my opinion. With the new game probably launching in the usual October slot, it is only 8 months of time. If they are worried about DI2 "stealing" some of their ideas, it doesn't make sense either as DI2 will probably launch in September and there is no way they could make drastic code changes and get them into the game by then.

I think the lame excuse is for cover because they game isn't ready to demo. I'm sure the declined sales of SSF has put some extra pressure to hit this one out of the park.

This is the 4th iteration of the game and it needs to be something special. Disney Infinity hasn't even begun to tap into the full potential of the properties available to it. It needs to be less about a money-grab (ridiculous amounts of characters) versus making an inspiring game.

I would not be surprised if they are using one of the domain names they registered last year: SkylandersKaosAlliance.com,
SkylandersNanoForce.com, SkylandersSuperForce.com for the fourth game. TFB was already working on the fourth game when those names were registered. Than we would already know the name of the game (not which one) and there really is no need to announce the name at Toy Fair. Pure speculation on my part.

Quote: Zylek

The whole keeping it secret for competitive reasons is just plain dumb in my opinion. I think the lame excuse is for cover because they game isn't ready to demo. I'm sure the declined sales of SSF has put some extra pressure to hit this one out of the park.

I agree on the first point. At the end of the day when sales are compared I don't think it will be THAT much of a drop off units wise on the starter pack; most of the drop I think is that they believe by introducing dozens more characters that it would be a linear purchase equation. They now know how much consumers are willing to throw into a given release. I expect next game to tone it down a bit character wise. Fewer reposes...in fact make a stand this time around and offer NO REPOSES. I dare ya Activision....do it! I am dreaming of a day with no Spyro, Stealth Elf, Whirlwind, Prism Break, Terrafin, Gil Grunt, Eruptor and Trigger Happy releases. If reposes must be used then use only characters that have yet to have a repose so we can at least get the benefit of path siwtching and wow pow. Also, only do lightcore figures on series 1...and don't offer us both a lightcore AND a regular core figure...because I think people are deciding one or the other at this point.


Quote: GamerDrone

This is the 4th iteration of the game and it needs to be something special. Disney Infinity hasn't even begun to tap into the full potential of the properties available to it. It needs to be less about a money-grab (ridiculous amounts of characters) versus making an inspiring game.

Totally agree...the game content should start taking risks. One of the major things that have not changed is the chapter story format. Introduce open world and task orientation with multi-pathing and/or story changes would be appreciated by this player. More tweaks needed with the quests/heroic model; still need compelling reasons for replay other than stars and portal master rank--they put too many eggs in that basket. That model would work if story mode OFFERED A REASON to replay it OTHER THAN STUPID STARS.

Bottom line is--focus JUST AS MUCH on NEW and DIFFERENT content as you do on the toy innovation. The environments can be made to be familiar to what we know and love but the mechanics / requirements needs to be sufficiently different to stand out. Swap Zone challenges was a safe way to do this on Swap Force but they need to extend it further into the core story mode itself.

I hope Infinity and Skylanders don't try to steal ideas from each other. They both have their own merits, I'd like to see those differences expanded on and not just try to eat each other's cake.

Infinity shines in it's open world, do anything, play any way you want, build stuff type thing. That won't work for Skylanders. Their strength lies in the figures and the fighting. I don't want to run around with my Skylander doing fetch quests - I want to fight stuff. I want a directed, enemy filled level - or at least a non-linear level with enemies around every corner, preferably in greater numbers (were talking Kameo/Dynasty Warriors/Gauntlets type few vs. many at some points).

My sons have really gotten into Infinity, and you can tell they play it very differently. There is room for both games, they don't like Skylanders any less because of it. My oldest builds Infinity worlds, my youngest runs around in it - it is a perfect match. And when they don't agree with what to do, the youngest can play Infinity while his brother plays the WiiU on the Gamepad screen. The WiiU solves soooo many fights between the two of them when they don't want to do the same thing.

Agreed on the direction, and I don't think they're doing that in my opinion. Nothing to date has suggested that as well. I still think people are going back to the video where the Infinity developer had a skylander on his desk. Whoptie do.

Considering how much stuff ends up being leaked from Toy Fair (product images, new characters, etc. If someone would have looked at the product image when they revealed Giants, we would have known EVERYTHING then) Its easy to see why they may want to have their own little revealing "event" at some other point.
This could be a double edged sword though; on the one hand, they'll have more control over when they show off the new characters/game, but on the other they won't be able to drive hype early like they have previously.

It'll be interesting to see what they do show off though at Toy Fair. Even though they wont show off the game, they could still use it as a platform to show off new products in general, like the plush, Megabloks, etc.

Maybe we will see...... TOYS. TOYS AT TOY FAIR! *confetti*

There's a very large amount of Mega Bloks sets planned to appear there, specifically more Spinners, $5 Hero Packs, a Cutthroat Carnival set, Fire Fortress set (?), and a Pirate's Cove set.