The Halo 4 gameplay launch trailer is here! The Master Chief returns to battle an ancient evil bent on vengeance and annihilation. Shipwrecked on a mysterious world, Master Chief is faced with new enemies and a powerful new Forerunner menace.
What's new in Skylanders: Giants? Watch this new Developer Diary to find out!
Skylanders: Giants is the newest entry in the hotcake new sensation known as Skylanders, where players collect various physical toy figures that plug into any version of the videogame via an included "Portal of Power" Accessory. Stats that are built up in the games also save onto the toy itself via an RFID chip inside the toy (including gold, level and upgrades purchased and won through gameplay). The Portal of Power thus allows you to interchange your characters from say, the Xbox 360 version of Skylanders to the DS version. Allowing a kid to take it to his friends house and build up his character even if he owns a Wii and his friend only has the PC version. He can then take the toy with him and all that character progress will be translated back into his game on his home Wii system. This type of inter-console-platform connectivity is unheard of and has really never been done before to this extent. Add in the fact that kids love collecting, and that the game started with a whopping 32 collectable characters (not including various rare versions that are extremely limited) and you had a recipe for huge success that no one saw coming.
The game was a huge hit in late 2011 with toys selling out and becoming rare commodities, sold on ebay for big bucks by sellers who got their hands on limited-edition figures that have become impossible to find. Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (the name of the first game, released for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, 3DS, PC and Mac) became so successful that the game and figures have earned over $500 million for publisher Activision and developer Toys for Bob, with sales exceeding 30 million(!). The game has been the best-selling title of 2012 worldwide!
Skylanders: Giants is the first official sequel/expansion which greatly expands on the game with tons of new toys to collect, areas to explore, and characters to fall in love with. The game's main focus are on GIANT characters. These characters are extra large, and their toys are physically twice as large as the original line of Skylanders figures (it's worth noting that fans will NOT have to buy a new Portal of Power for use with the Giant toys, everything from the original game will work with Skylanders Giants). In addition to the new Giant characters who have extra special abilities in the game (such as being able to destroy certain objects, lift large boulders, or pull heavy objects to access new areas), two additional lines of new figures will also be on offer. In addition to the Giant characters, 8 new "Lightcore" figures will be available. These toys physically light up! Their in-game abilities include blast radius attacks that use light and radiate out to hit many enemies at once. On top of that, a new line called "Series 2" will re-introduce several of the old characters with all-new abilities (called "WOW Powers") and new figures to collect. All told, there will be a whopping 40 NEW TOYS to collect from Skylanders Giants among the "Giant, Lightcore and Series 2" figurines.
Other new features in Skylanders Giants include a level-cap raised from 10 to 15 and new difficulty modes that include Easy, Medium, Hard and "Nightmare" for those hardcore players. New "Toy Quests" have been added for each and every toy, giving them unique challenges to tackle. A new Arena mode has been added as well where you must fight off waves after wave of attackers, playable in either co-op or single-player.
Another huge addition is an all-new "Sky Stone" Collectable Card Game! This in-game card game (expect actual real versions of cards and the cardgame to hit at somepoint in the future if I had to wager a bet....) is playable throughout the adventure and will allow you to take new cards to add to your deck as you defeat opponents in the Card Game. Another new features is an in-game store where you can buy new cards, as well as other things like PVP Arenas, Lucky Charms and even new Challenges that you can only unlock by purchasing them in the store.
PHEW! That is a heck of a lot of new content!
Skylanders: Giants will hit stores everywhere on October 21, 2012, just ahead of the holiday rush! Be sure to buy those figures for your kids to put under the Christmas tree before its too late!
Skylanders Giants will also be the first game in the series to release for Wii U, with that version including online play on the Nintendo Network.
