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Funko will combine its collectible figures with NFTs
Funko has claimed a stake in a company, TokenHead, that will let it offer digital NFTs alongside its vinyl figures.
People love Nintendo's plastic Amiibo figures: 'nearly' 2.6 million sold
Nintendo has announced that sales of its Amiibo figures are "nearly double" that of Super Smash Bros. game sales on the Wii U. (Nintendo sold 1.3 million copies of the title in the tail end of 2014, and so math tells us that figure sales float around the 2.6 million mark, which is pretty incredible.) Last month, Nintendo stated that figure sales were roughly equal to the game sales, meaning people apparently buying more figures now. Nintendo stated that some figures have already been discontinued, much to eBay profiteers' delight. Naturally, a little bit of rarity can help give sales a lift.
Majora's Mask 3D bundle sports a Skull Kid figurine
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D will receive a limited edition bundle at the game's launch that includes a Skull Kid figurine. The $50 bundle doesn't include any of the goodies packed in to Europe's special edition, as Nintendo noted that it only features a copy of the game and the figurine. The publisher has yet to offer a launch date for the remastered game. Nintendo announced plans to remake Majora's Mask for 3DS during a Nintendo Direct livestream in November. The original game launched in 2000 for Nintendo 64, putting series hero Link in the doomed land of Terminus, months after the events of the other cherished Zelda game for the system, Ocarina of Time. Word of a possible 3D remake of Majora's Mask began in November 2011, when series producer Eiji Aonuma said the publisher was "seriously considering" it following the success of Ocarina of Time's own 3DS remake. [Image: Nintendo]
Kingdom Hearts dev's Batman comes from a canceled project
Whether you love it or loathe it, the Batman Play Arts statue dreamed up by Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts designer Tetsuya Nomura is a curious beast. After revealing the very dark knight yesterday, Nomura told Siliconera the design goes far back in time to a "game-related" project that was eventually canceled. It goes so far back, Nomura said, that it began before Kingdom Hearts was even conceived. So if you're seeing a bit of keyblade armor in there, that's because the canceled project went on to influence the Disney series and its armor design, and not the other way round.
Final Fantasy's Tetsuya Nomura envisions a new Batman
Square Enix unveiled a new Play Arts Kai statue that provides a glimpse of what a Batman game might look like in the hands of Tetsuya Nomura. The figure is one of a new Batman line dreamed up by the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts designer, and it's on display at the San Diego Comic Con, which kicks off today. The word that springs to mind for us is sharp, literally. The cape looks sharp, the horn-like ears look sharp, the additional claw things look sharp - generally the caped crusader looks dangerous to even touch. The most surprising aspect? We can only see the one belt. Check out a larger shot of the very dark knight below the break. If you prefer your Batmen more 8-bit and purpley-blue (who doesn't?), take a gander here.
Nintendo plans new NFC figures and games in a bid to rescue the Wii U
We hope you liked Skylanders, because Nintendo is apparently setting up its own range of toys to accidentally tread under foot. At the company's financial briefing this morning, it outlined a Mario figure that could be used across multiple titles, somehow tying into game saves too. It's not the first for Nintendo's console: Pokemon Scramble connected NFC toys to the Wii U last year. Interestingly, Nintendo had apparently declined exclusivity on Activision's lucrative Skylanders series. These physical characters and games, grouped together as NFP (which apparently stands for both NFC Featured Platform and Nintendo Figurine Platform), will debut at this year's E3, alongside a new IR reader for 3DSes that will make the toys compatible across both the handheld and the Wii. With 3DS sales currently totaling 43 million, and the Wii U struggling to top six million, it's probably a wise business decision.
Cast your Animal Crossing character in resin, never feel lonely again
Animal Crossing enthusiasts who want to pluck their characters from the game world and transport them to our physical dimension can now do so for a small fee, as Etsy user RezArmy is now offering custom-made resin figures of Animal Crossing: New Leaf's human characters. The examples above are pre-built based on New Leaf's template options, and are priced starting at $40. RezArmy is also taking custom-painted orders, allowing you to fully recreate your character's roguish good looks and tousled hair at an added cost.
Figure for iOS updated to 1.4, adds social sharing and Audiobus support
Figure, Propellerhead's popular and inspiring music-making app for iOS, has been updated to 1.4. The update makes sharing your musical creations even easier, now with SoundCloud integration (and, by extension, sharing on Facebook and Twitter) and AudioCopy, which allows you to copy and paste your music into other compatible AudioCopy apps. The update also brings Audiobus support, making it possible to stream your music from Figure to other Audiobus-supported apps. Sharing your music from Figure has never been easier! Additional updates include background audio, so your music keeps playing when you leave the app, sorting of songs in the song list by name or date, and bug fixes and performance improvements. To celebrate the update, Propellerhead has announced a competition with some great prizes. To enter, simply create some music on Figure and share to SoundCloud. Each listen your track gets on SoundCloud equals a lottery ticket into the competition. Winners will be announced on March 15th, 2013, so get to it! Figure is available from the iOS App Store at US$0.99.
Apple sold over two million iPhone 5s in China in first weekend
Even though there were no insanely long lines to rave about this time, Apple's now showing some big numbers merely three days after its iPhone 5 launch in China. According to the short press release fresh out of the oven, Cupertino's Chinese division has so far managed to sell over two million iPhone 5s through various channels (notably with online reservation for Apple's in-store purchases, as already implemented in Hong Kong), thus "setting a new record with the best first weekend sales ever in China," said CEO Tim Cook. To put that into context, the iPhone 5's original opening weekend sales topped five million in nine countries, which is again solid proof that "China is a very important market" for Apple. Or maybe the Mayan calendar really made an impression among Chinese consumers.
Cubify lets you skin, 3D print your own personal Android
Sick of letting everyone else skin your Android for you? 3D printing service Cubify is helping you fight back with Bugdroids, a customizable version of Google's lovable green mascot. You can change its colors, add accessories like hats, horns glasses, mustaches and bling (that's "bling," not Bing, mind), and then the service will 3D print one out and ship it to you -- well, after you drop an admittedly pricey $30 to $40, figurine size depending.
Gallery: The Tokyo Game Show 2012 Square Enix/Play Arts Booth
So, I'm not a professional photographer or a professional action-figure critic or anything, but I am a professional Video Games Person, so I was duty bound by my strict code of VGP ethics to take a lot of pictures of some pretty awesome looking stuff at Square Enix's Play Arts booth during this year's Tokyo Game Show.Prototype figures from upcoming Halo, Batman and Mass Effect figure series can all be seen in the gallery below, as can my inadvertently-captured pasty reflection and a few bonus slimes that were thrown for good measure.%Gallery-166319%
Propellerhead updates Figure iOS app with new features
Last March, Propellerhead released Figure for iOS. Figure is a music creation app designed with much of the synth power of Propellerhead's flagship Reason software, like Kong Drum designer and Thor polyphonic synthesizer. The first iteration of Figure was very well received, especially at just US$1. Designed to be easy to use (even for those with no musical inclination) and loads of fun, Figure quickly became my go-to app for killing time on a commute (as well as filling my daily music making fix, too). However, Figure did have some gaps. Most notably, you couldn't save any of your creations. Secondly, you couldn't export anything out of the app to share with your friends. And finally, you couldn't adjust the length of the loop. Thankfully, Figure 1.1, addresses these three gaps. The app now allows you to save, browse and load your previous loops, export saved loops to iTunes File Sharing, and adjust the loop length from 1 - 8 bars (1,2,4 & 8). These new features are a welcome addition and make an already great app even better. The update was pushed out a few weeks ago, so If you've already purchased Figure you've likely already downloaded the updated version. However, if you haven't given Figure a go yet, and you fancy the idea of creating little musical ditties, head on over to the iOS App Store now to download it for just US$1. Or if you'd like to see a video of figure in action, click here. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
ThreeA Toys unveils prototype Portal 2 and Metal Gear Solid 2 statuettes
Chinese design house/ridiculously detailed toy company ThreeA Toys had many different prototype products on display during its ReVenture event in Hong Kong this weekend, but the ones we're most interested in are the astonishingly accurate reproductions of Portal 2's Altus and P-Body and Metal Gear Solid 2's Metal Gear RAY.All three statues are prototypes and as such there's no information regarding availability, pricing, how articulated they might be or what they'll even look like once they've been painted. It's also difficult to tell whether this RAY model is the manned version created by the Marines, or the unmanned mass-produced model designed by the Patriots. Either way, we desperately want these things adorning our various fireplace mantels as soon as humanly possible. Check out high-resolution shots of all three statues in the gallery below.%Gallery-154312%
Propellerhead announces Figure for iOS (Updated)
Propellerhead -- makers of the music DAW software, Reason -- had a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany yesterday where it announced some exciting new products and features. Most notably for iOS users, Propellerhead announced a brand new music making app, Figure. As indicated by Ernst Nathorst-Böös, CEO of Propellerhead, Figure is the soul of Reason, married to the mobile platform. It's designed for short bursts of creativity, like when you're on a bus ride or taking a break in the studio! The app is intuitively designed for touch from the ground up. Essentially, Figure is a mobile platform for mocking-up musical ideas, but with the same standard of quality sound that Reason has to offer. Figure comes with drums powered by the same Kong Drum designer found in Reason. Bass and lead / melody sounds are powered by the same Thor polyphonic synthesizer also found in Reason. But Propellerhead's developers didn't stop there. They also put the Reason mixer into Figure, with the same master bus compressor from Reason 6. So Figure's sound quality and potential for sound creation should be pretty high. We can't wait to get our hands on it. Figure is due to land on the iOS App Store at any moment now, priced at just US$1. You can watch the press conference announcing Figure at Propellerhead's YouTube site. Update: Figure is now live on the iOS App Store. Here's the link. We've also had word from Propellerhead that many exciting features are planned for upcoming updates. Sooner rather than later, we can expect saving, import and export of Figure files (with social media integration). Further down the line is support for export into Reason. Finally, there are plans for the implementation of a sequencer of some sort because it's a lot more fun (and useful) exporting an entire arranged track than it is just a two bar loop. We'll keep you posted as things develop. There's also a promo video of Figure you can check out here.
Spyro figurines bridge the console divide, bring flame-grilled peace to the world
Kids lacking the imagination to bring their own toys to life now have the option of letting a games console do it for them. Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure has teleported into stores, boxed with three toy figures and a 'portal device' that brings them to life in-game. The bundle totals up at $70, and Activision is billing it as the "first true cross-platform game", with the toys playing nice across Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, 3DS and iOS versions. The statuettes, which connect to the portal peripheral through embedded RFID tags, also store game data across platforms. The business plan presumably involves groups of kids investing in Spyro's latest yarn and swapping characters amongst themselves, while holding onto their own precious in-game achievements. If your little brother has trouble trading with friends who couldn't care less about the antics of lava-belching monsters, they can always can stump up an extra $8 for new figures. Click 'Read more' for some explanatory cartoon violence.
FigurePrints now offering goblin and worgen character options
FigurePrints, the service who takes your WoW characters and turns them into a 3D replica miniature, has updated their lineup to include goblin and worgen characters! Players can go to the FigurePrints site, import their character information from the Blizzard Armory, and start customizing their personal WoW character figure or bust. Also, FigurePrints is now offering armor customization all the way up to raid tier 11 sets and PvP season 9 for your character to wear. People have been asking when goblins and worgen would be available in the FigurePrints store ever since Cataclysm was released. I know a few people with FigurePrints of their characters and they are pleased with the results. One of the coolest aspects of FigurePrints and their 3D printers are watching how the figures are actually made. Thankfully, FigurePrints has a whole page dedicated to seeing how it works! There goes 10 minutes of my day...
Google's Androidify app lets you create your very own bot avatar (video)
While we're probably still years or decades away from getting our very own animatronic clones, Google's released the next best thing for the time being. Available on the Android Market is this Androidify app, which, as the name says for itself, lets us mere mortals craft our Android mascot lookalikes. Hell, you can even slap on some facial hair or a baby droid while you're at it. We'll say no more -- see the app in action after the break, if you're not already busy dishing out your new avatar across the web.
Beer cooler built in the shape of Google's Android... just because (video)
The bounds of Android fandom, will we ever know them? The latest exhibition of one man's love for his mobile OS is this here beverage (we know it's only going to house beer, let's be honest) cooler, which has been lovingly recreated in the form and proportions of the Android logo. Standing somewhere over four feet tall, it's really a fantastically well executed DIY project, and its maker has taken the time to document it on video for us as well. You'll probably find the unfinished droid a little disturbing to see, what with its unpolished skin and rough edges, but maybe that's a fitting metaphor for the constantly evolving operating system anyway. All we know is that the end result is at least as sweet as Gingerbread, if not more so. See it all just past the break. [Thanks, Tony]
Mac App Store hits one million downloads on day one
Apple's just announced that its freshly baked Mac App Store's already hit the one million download mark on its launch day, with more than 1,000 titles -- including both free and paid apps -- up for grabs. Can't say we're surprised, really, especially with popular apps like Angry Birds, Flight Control, and Twitter presumably taking a good chunk out of the bandwidth. In case you're still wondering what the deal is, feel free to take a look at our Mac App Store hands-on.
Steve Jobs shrinks down to action figure size, ego remains untouched
Whether he's playing hero or villain in your personal technology drama, Apple CEO and marketer extraordinaire Steve Jobs likely has a role -- and now the dramatis persona has his very own action figure to help you act it out. For $80, Jobs comes complete with his trademark black turtleneck and rimless glasses, nicely crinkled Levi's jeans, a pair of New Balance sneakers, a miniature iPhone 4 and a truly epic beard. He's even got an Apple logo to stand on and a set of speech bubble cards, which hopefully work with a dry erase marker considering how often the man comes up with juicy new quotes. See the astounding level of detail at our source link, or even grab one for yourself.
