Activision has opened special Skylanders concessions in three HMV stores

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/hmv-opens-skylanders-concession-stores/0105629

Activision has opened special Skylanders concessions in three HMV stores.

Special areas can be found in HMV's Oxford Street, Manchester and Glasgow branches. Each area will feature a variety of Skylanders products (including licensed cards, puzzles, wallets, bags and badges), character art, artificial grass and dedicated games stations.

Moshi Monsters strike Happy Meal deal

http://m.qsrmagazine.com/news/moshi-monsters-crawl-mcds-happy-meals-lto?microsite=all
Moshi Monsters strike Happy Meal deal

Mind Candy has put pen to paper on a deal which will see Moshi Monsters toys placed in Happy Meals in McDonalds’ North American restaurants over Christmas.

Target audience for video games getting younger

SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (CNET) -- Video games have always been designed with kids in mind, but these days the target age group is getting younger and younger.
At this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo -- or E3, held annually in Los Angeles -- game and console manufacturers made no secret of designing games for young kids.
Experts say it's a trend that's been developing for years, but now the hardware technology has evolved for even easier game-play.
Jane Douglas, GameSpot section editor says, "It's extremely accessible because they've taken away the controller. Because you haven't got anything in your hands, there are no buttons to learn. The idea is there is no barrier to entry and that very young kids can be playing."

Gotta Catch Them All!

While thinking about the whole concept behind Skylanders and thinking about crazes and fads, I remembered this episode of South Park entitled "Chinpokomon" (Series 3 Episode 10 for legal downloaders...) that sums up the whole 'marketing directly to kids' idea and pester power. This episode aired way back in 1999, at the height of the Pokemon fad though they seem to have predicted pretty accurately how toys and videogames combine (through the special Chinpokomon gamepad!) in a very similar way to our Skylanders toys. Just found it interesting!

Mr H

Skylanders Giants: Innovator or money-spinner?

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/gaming/skylanders-giants-innovator-or-moneyspinner-8208303.html

Creative characters, ground-breaking design and 48 toys to collect, but does Skylanders Giants represent value for money this Christmas? Andy Robertson investigates.

‘But mum I need Stumpsmash.’ It’s a refrain heard in toy shops up and down the country. Replace Stumpsmash with your child’s (or inner child-like gamer’s) Skylander monster of choice and you have the making of a hunt that spans supermarkets, big shed retailers and local toy stores.

Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure was unique in its ability to store progress in the toy figures that came with the game via Near Field type technology much like that now included in the Wii U GamePad. Skylanders Giants looks set to follow up the success of the first game by extending the range of toy figures and introducing new gameplay elements.

Rumour: Activision to release Skylanders: Battlegrounds 'mobile starter pack' on iOS

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Skylanders%3A+Battlegrounds/news.asp?c=45676
If you're an iPhone- or iPad-toting Skylanders fan, prepare to get excited. An image has surfaced online for an all-new mobile title called Skylanders: Battlegrounds.
As you can see from the image below, the game is part of a "mobile starter pack" that features three Skylanders - Double Trouble, Jet-Vac, and Cynder - a Hidden Treasure item, and a portal.

Yes, it actually contains a portal, which we presume will work via Bluetooth.

This portal means that Skylanders: Battlegrounds should be compatible with all current Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure figurines, as well as the forthcoming Skylanders: Giants toys.

Naturally, the above image could be completely fake, but we've got our fingers crossed that it isn't.

'Skylanders': How the toy franchise became a success story

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a410226/skylanders-how-the-toy-franchise-became-a-success-story.html

Now one of the most profitable franchises in the game industry and with more than 30 million toys sold, Skylanders' success has been remarkable. In October 2011, Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure launched in stores but with a unique twist - the player can introduce characters into the game by putting toys onto a portal.

An initial 15 million toys were produced, which were all sold out not long after Christmas. Because the toys are hand-painted, it took six weeks before they could re-stock. Even though Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure can be played with just the three toys that come with the bundle, people went out in their droves to add to their collection.

The Skylanders Franchise Is Kiddie Crack

“Went to three stores yesterday—all sold out,” the desperate tweet read. “Had to go black market. Help.”

The frantic dad is talking about Skylanders (for his 5-year-old daughter of course, not for him, no, definitely not). Unless you’re a tween or the guardian of one, you probably don’t know about Skylanders, a new franchise from Activision that skillfully mixes the most addictive (and lucrative) features of Pokémon and Beanie Babies. It’s a videogame series and a line of collectible figurines—cute toy monsters unlock new pieces of in-game content.

Since its debut in October, this opiate of the schoolyard masses has scored more than $200 million in North American sales alone. Here’s how it gets its hooks into kids—and some grown-ups too.

The Stages of Skylanders Addiction

Try it, you’ll like it
Kids buy the game, which is available on PC and all consoles. It comes with a few action figures and a plastic “portal of power” that reads RFID tags in the toys. Plop any of the figures on the portal and poof—that character materializes onscreen in the game.
Cost of game: $60-75

One more can’t hurt
Once your kids have played through the game with the three characters that came with it, they’ll beg for an Adventure Pack. The additional figurines have new powers or can access new parts of the gameworld.
Cost of all four packs: $80

I can quit anytime
Each situation requires characters with different attributes. Players can trade figurines with one another, but a serious aficionado will want to own all 48 characters (including the forthcoming Giant and LightCore figures). They can be bought individually or in packs.
Cost of all additional figures: $381

It doesn’t control me! I control it!
Activision has also released some limited-edition toys, like a version of Cynder the Dragon made exclusively for people who attend Toy Fair in New York. The unrepentant Skylanders addict turns to eBay for these hard-to-find items.
Cost: Up to $1,000

Don’t look at me!
So that’s a total outlay of at least $1,521 to be an elite Skylanders player. The next iteration of the franchise, Skylanders Giants, comes out later this year, along with several new lines of alluring action figures.
Cost: Your immortal soul

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/09/st_skylander/

How children are transforming gaming: we chart the trends shaping the next generation

http://www.edge-online.com/features/young-bucks/

Their fingers may be stubby, but children seem preternaturally adept at grasping the true function of new technology: games. If you’ve seen parents taking their young children out for a meal lately, you’ll probably have witnessed the child’s inevitable request for a smartphone to play on. Maybe you’ve also heard them utter the cry of a generation: “It’s only 69p!” Or perhaps they’ve simply demanded an App Store password.

No longer restricted to a brief spell of pestering outside a local game shop, children’s access to games is now untrammelled, whether at home on browsers, or out and about via smartphone marketplaces. And this means that our kids are quietly reshaping the entire entertainment industry right under our noses.

Of course, given our medium’s history, it wouldn’t be remiss to expect the driving force behind industry shifts to be men aged 16-34. And yet, according to entertainment consulting company KZero, the single biggest group purchasing virtual goods is children under the age of 15. At the same time, the growth in virtual goods revenue is skyrocketing, rising from $0.9 billion in 2007 to $9 billon in 2011. This year alone, it’s estimated that kids could end up spending a staggering $7 billion on virtual items. At least they can’t leave them lying all over the floor.