skylanders-giants
Latest
Toys For Bob turns 25, giving away 25 rare Skylanders figures
Toys For Bob, the company behind the Skylanders series of video games, has marked its 25th anniversary, and to celebrate, the company announced via Twitter that it is giving away 25 rare Skylanders figures. To enter the sweepstakes, participants need to first follow the Skylanders Twitter account, which will tweet a call to action every day until May 24. Those seeking a chance to win have until 11:59 Pacific to retweet that day's call to action and include the hashtag #TFB25. It's not clear which Skylanders figures Toys For Bob is offering as part of the sweepstakes - the official rules don't name any particular figures, and it's unknown if the company would give away figures from Skylanders: Swap Force, since they didn't develop that particular Skylanders game. Still, some toys are better than no toys, and you don't even need to be named Bob to get them. Might not hurt your chances, though. [Image: Activision]
Activision: Skylanders Giants remains No. 1 in US and Europe [Update]
In dollars, Skylanders Giants is still the No. 1 selling console and handheld game in the US and Europe – including its toys and accessories, Activision reports. Activision notes that Giants sold more than 500,000 Starter Packs globally in its first two weeks last year, and the Skylanders franchise has generated more than $1.5 billion worldwide in its lifetime. Activision expects Skylanders figures to outsell the top action figures in the US and Europe during the first eight months of 2013. A new competitor to Skylanders, Disney Infinity, sold 294,000 units in its first two weeks in the US alone and was ranked No. 3 in overall sales for August, according to the NPD. Skylanders Swap Force, the third full Skylanders game, launches in October for Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3 and 3DS, and later this year for Xbox One and PS4. Update: Activision's two-week sales number of 500,000 refers to global sales, while Disney Infinty's numbers cover the US only. Activision notes Skylanders Giants "remains the biggest kids' videogame launch in the last 12 months in the US and Europe," based on revenue and according in part to Activision internal estimates. The above story has been edited for clarity.
gdgt's best deals for August 12: Epson Expression Inkjet, Panasonic 50-inch 120Hz Smart 1080p LED HDTV
Ready to save some cash on your tech buys? Then you've come to the right place. Our sister site gdgt tracks price drops on thousands of products every day, and twice a week they feature some of the best deals they've found right here. But act fast! Many of these are limited-time offers, and won't last long. Today's hottest deals include a remarkably cheap Epson Inkjet printer/scanner/copier, as well as an impressive 50-inch Panasonic Smart HDTV at a hefty discount. Join gdgt and add the gadgets you're shopping for to your "Want" list. Every time there's a price cut, you'll get an email alert!
Activision reports $1.05 billion net revenue in Q2, $4.6 billion in cash
Activision Blizzard reported net revenue of $1.05 billion for the second quarter of 2013, down from $1.08 billion in 2012's quarter. The company has no debt and $4.6 billion in cash and assets, and raised $466 million in cashflow so far this year, it said during its financial call. Activision attributes its revenue from sales of Skylanders: Giants, which was the No. 1 console game, in dollars, in the US and Europe during the first half of 2013, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. The Skylanders franchise passed $1.5 billion in retail sales worldwide since launch. Activision raised its outlook for the year, now expecting to earn $4.31 billion in net revenue, rather than $4.22 billion. The outlook doesn't include impact from its deal with Vivendi, where Activision bought back most of Vivendi's shares for $8 billion. The public holds the majority of shares in Activision.
Skylanders Giants starter kit stomps on Amazon Gold Box
If, like some of us, you've been peering over the windowsill, staring sadly at all the happy, smiling faces playing with their Skylanders Giants, wishing you had the excuse to say what-the-hey and jump in to some toy-portal-fun-stuffs, then today's Amazon Gold Box might be for you. The online retailer's daily deal squishes the game's starter kit, complete with game, Portal of Power, and three figures, to less than half-price at $29, which is pretty handy. Elsewhere, the lightning deals aren't quite as exciting as previous Gold Box fare, although unusually the first deal of the day, a $20 PlayStation Move controller, is already sold out. The next deal, starting 6AM PT/9AM ET is the Move navigation controller, so expect a similarly wallet-friendly price and speedy sales. Based on the not-so-cryptic blurbs, we're forecasting flashes of lightning deals in the Epic Mickey 2 and Hitman: Absolution regions among others.
Skylanders Giants toys in Happy Meals this month
Starting this Friday, when you feed your little giants at McDonalds (or find a friend's kid to help you have an excuse to buy a Happy Meal), they'll get some Skylanders Giants toys.Each of the nine Giants toys includes a "play feature" – think "shoots a missile" rather than "connects to the game" – and comes with a $10 coupon for Skylanders Giants, helping Activision clear out the warehouse before the new game hits.The toys will be available through May 2 in the US, with a rollout planned in other countries this year. McDonalds can just package up the meals and ship them around the world! They'll keep.%Gallery-185206%
Four new Skylanders domains: Kaos Alliance, Nano, Super, Swap Force
The Skylanders franchise has become a beast of its own, bringing Activision $500 million in US retail sales since its launch, and there's more still to come. At least, that's according to four domains registered by MarkMonitor's DNStination, all to do with the Skylanders brand. MarkMonitor handles Activision's other Skylanders domains.The new domain registrations, uncovered by Fusible, went live on January 30 and are SkylandersKaosAlliance.com, SkylandersNanoForce.com, SkylandersSuperForce.com and SkylandersSwapForce.com. We detect a hint of classic Power Rangers spin-off names within these domains, but no more information about them exists so far.Activision registered the Skylanders Giants domains at the beginning of 2012, and that timing seemed to work out pretty well.
Skylanders: Giants adds Thumpback, Eye-Brawl to its lineup
Enjoy the brief rush of giddy, childlike glee you feel upon hearing that Skylanders: Giants has two new characters to show off. The world is dark enough on its own, and that goes double for the internet, so cherish these moments of unadulterated joy. This is now a safe space for love and happiness, though we have no control over the comments section.Skylanders welcomes the giants Thumpback and Eye-Brawl to its ranks. Thumpback, whose video is shown above, is a water giant and former crew member of a vicious pirate ship called The Phantom Tide. However, after being pulled overboard by the Leviathan Cloud Crab, Thumpback put his pirating days behind him.Eye-Brawl, shown in the video below, is an undead giant and one of the most powerful Skylanders ever known. Eye-Brawl is a combination of two creatures, the flying eyeball and the headless giant, who joined forces after a staring contest resulted in a stalemate. The eyeball, aside from flying, shoots lasers, which is a cooler talent than blinking anyway.%Gallery-177058%
New Skylanders: Giants bundle demands your money a month early at GameStop
What is there to compare to the thrill of opening brand new Skylanders? Opening brand new Skylanders a month early, of course. The Skylanders: Giants Scorpion Striker Battle Pack is now available at GameStop, a month earlier than competing retailers. The pack includes a series 2 Zap, Hot Dog, an in-game catapult, trading cards and – wait for it – stickers! The pack can be had for $25.What's more, spend $29.99 or more on Skylanders figures or packs between January 16 and 31, and you can snag a free sidekick character. Your children will assure you that this is a really good deal.
n-Space co-founder: Heroes of Ruin sales disappoint
Developer n-Space was hoping to bring a dungeon-crawling audience to the 3DS with its ambitious Heroes of Ruin, released earlier this year on June 26. But that audience never showed up, according to co-founder Dan O'Leary. "We're not satisfied with the sales," he says in a recent interview. "The 3DS attach rate is... challenging at best and it seems that, for all its promise, Heroes of Ruin did not appeal to enough of the installed base."O'Leary says the team is proud of its work and wouldn't mind returning to the genre, but also that sales likely won't justify a sequel anytime soon. Meanwhile n-Space is still hard at work, putting together the portable version of Skylanders Giants for Activision, as well as the 3DS version of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D. And O'Leary says the company has had Wii U development kits for a while, so there may be something brewing along that front in the future.
Just Dance 4, Skylanders Giants Wii bundles available in November
If you're buying a Wii this November, what are you doing? But if, for some reason, you do end up buying the last-generation console as the new one arrives, you could do worse than the two new bundles revealed today, which will be in North American stores on Nov. 4.A $129.99 bundle replaces the Wii Sports pack-ins with Just Dance 4. For $20 more, there's the blue Wii with a copy of Skylanders Giants, the Portal of Power peripheral, two figures and an exclusive Giant Skylander. Oh ... no. Someone's going to spend $150 on that Wii bundle just for the exclusive figure. That's going to happen.%Gallery-169194%
FIFA fo fum, we see sales of Skylanders to English mums
Welcome to the fourth consecutive week of FIFA 13 topping the UK Charts. No need to feign surprise. Also, don't expect FIFA's run to end by next week, unless Medal of Honor: Warfighter shocks and awes us all. Then again... there's always Forza: Horizon. Racing games can be a wild card on the UK charts. The big debut this week was Activision Blizzard's Skylanders Giants. The sequel outdid the premiere of its predecessor with a second place start, while the original Skylanders, Spyro's Adventure, debuted at number 16, but saw great success after. Bethesda's Dishonored slipped to third and -- there it is! -- the insidious Just Dance 4 keeps working its way up the charts. You can't turn your back on it for a second. Soon it'll be number one and working all that Gangnam Style. Now saddle dance past the break for the UK top ten.
Toys R Us exclusive: Legendary Skylanders Giants figures, alternate versions of others
Skylanders Giants launches October 21, and if you're in the market for some elite figures, you may want to hit up your local Toys R Us. The retailer has the exclusive rights to sell a limited edition 'Legendary' series of Skylanders Giants figurines with special in-game abilities. Toys R Us is also selling an exclusive three-pack featuring Jet Vac, Series 2 Slam Bam and Series 2 Ignitor – all of which have enhanced in-game powers.Though our own review says it's possible to get through Skylanders Giants without buying any additional figures, it's probably not the most realistic expectation – especially if you've you have kids interested in the franchise. Toys R Us will be open early at 8am on Sunday for your Skylanders Giants purchasing needs.
Skylanders Giants review: Big toys, small changes
Of all the good fortune I've been afforded in my life, little compares with the joy of becoming a parent. That probably goes without saying. However, being able to justify the ludicrous cash outlay that comes in the pursuit of a hobby was, for me at least, an unexpected side benefit of having a son. Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, Activision and developer Toys for Bob's experimental marriage of gaming and collectible toys, was just such a ridiculous expense. Fun, truly, but ridiculous just the same.A year on, Skylanders: Giants deviates little from this tradition, with new purchasable plastic figures to collect and gameplay that again feels a bit like experiencing Diablo or Gauntlet through the lens of a Saturday morning cartoon. It's simple, yet addictive, and like Spyro's Adventure before it, Giants has quickly become a household favorite. Countless late nights and early mornings have already been victimized by this game's ability to draw us in for "just one more level."%Gallery-162453%
Report: 'Skylanders Battlegrounds' somehow fits Giants on iOS
An image of the Skylanders Battlegrounds mobile starter pack points to the Skylanders series – as we know it, with a portal – coming to iOS devices. The pack includes three Skylanders characters and a treasure chest, along with a connection portal. It's not clear whether the portal uses Bluetooth, which is built-in use across Apple's iOS lineup. Battlegrounds works on iPod, iPhone and iPad, according to the image.With an iOS-connected portal it would be fitting for Battlegrounds to work with all current and coming Skylanders figurines. Giants toys are backward-compatible, after all.Battlegrounds appears to be entirely separate from the Skylanders Cloud Patrol tie-in arcade shooter that launched on iOS in April. Joystiq has contacted Activision for more information regarding the image.
These Skylanders Giants videos and screens are larger than life
These two new Skylanders: Giants videos give a glimpse of action while also bringing new characters to the mix. The first video (above) introduces Chill, an elf that seems to enjoy throwing sharp objects.Skylanders: Giants will hit retail shelves on October 21 for PS3, Wii, PC, Xbox 360, and 3DS. Check out another video and screens of the game after the break.
Skylanders Giants enters retail portals on Oct. 21
Your Skylanders are about to get a whole lot bigger. Activision has revealed that Skylanders Giants will launch on October 21 (October 19 in the UK, says CVG). Of course, that means that not only will the game launch in October, but so will a host of new Skylanders toys.That includes the likes of Swarm, the killer bee seen in the video above. You can also see him in inanimate toy form in the gallery below. Better start making some room on the shelf.%Gallery-161090%.
Activision talks Skylanders Giants and the future of the franchise
We had a quick chat with Mike Graham, a design producer at Activision, about Toys for Bob's extremely popular Skylanders franchise, and the second release in the series, Skylanders Giants. Graham kindly let us in on the reasoning behind the new game and bigger toys, and what other possibilities might be in store for Skylanders. We also hear a little bit about where Spyro now fits in the Skylanders universe (That purple dragon that the whole series is based on? Remember him?) Turns out he's still in there, even if his name has been taken off the title for now.
Skylanders creative lead eying Wii U's NFC for the future; mobile game explained
"Giants is the idea for the future," Toys for Bob CEO and development lead Paul Reiche III told me during an interview this morning, just ahead of this weekend's Toy Fair 2012. His company's latest project, Skylanders, is up for an award at the big show, not to mention an award or two at DICE 2012 (also this week), but he's already looking into the future. To an extent, at least."In terms of the Wii U, we're looking at it," he said in response to a question regarding the Wii U's recently announced NFC functionality -- functionality that's very similar to that found in the RFID-enabled Skylanders. "All of the details about the NFC technology haven't been released to the public yet, and it's really interesting," Reiche added, but he wouldn't budge on how much experience his company had with the Wii U's tech just yet ("I can't talk about that, I'm afraid.").As for that other Skylanders game that was announced today -- the mobile one -- Reiche was able to be a bit more verbose, though not much. "We will be having new mobile associated with Giants, but we are also still working on a very fun experience using your toys in the Skylanders world that's for mobile," he told me. So, two games then! "I played it, I like it, I don't know what its release schedule is. This one isn't being implemented within Toys for Bob," Reiche added.So, how does it work? Reiche couldn't get too specific, but he did say it'll use the web-based Skylanders experience to draw information to the mobile game. "No NFC phone necessary. We want anyone to be able to enjoy it. We want someone who just buys a toy to have a meaningful experience on someone else's mobile device."
Skylanders Giants will not require new Portal, mobile apps coming, Toys R Us to have exclusive figures [update]
More details about Skylanders Giants are coming in from the event currently taking place in New York. First and foremost, the new game will require a new Portal (i.e. "the thing you put Skylanders toys on") in order to recognize the new giant characters. Said Portal will accommodate up to two giant figures at a time. In addition to the giant figures, 12 more normal Skylanders figures are in the works, though it's unclear if they will work exclusively with Giants or if they will be compatible with Spyro's Adventure.Furthermore, dedicated Skylanders mobile apps are planned for the future, though no further details have were given. The press release announcing the title did, however, promise "advanced integration across console, handheld, mobile and online."Finally, Toys R Us CEO Jerry Storch revealed an exclusive partnership with Activision going forward. The retailer will sell exclusive figures this year, including "Legendary Trigger Happy" and "Iridescent Blue Bash," both of which are stronger than their normal versions and feature new abilities. In March, Toys R Us will also have a 30-day exclusive on the "Dragon's Peak" adventure pack. See pictures of the new figures in the gallery below.More details as we get them.Update: Skylanders Giants will not require a new portal, as it turns out. The new technology referred to at the event will be contained in the figures themselves. Specifically, new figures will light up when placed on the portal, as mentioned in our previous post. We apologize for the confusion.%Gallery-146693%
