Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure hits stores this Sunday — on Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac, and 3DS — and while some hardcore gamers might not realize it, Activision is making as big a noise about this to the younger market as it makes about Call of Duty to the older market. Eric Hirshberg is excited. Toys R Us is excited. Mommy bloggers are excited. One site that got a copy of the game already is excited. And yes, as a big goofy kid not just at heart but in my everyday life, I am excited.
But that does not match how excited the actual kids are. The launch party for Skylanders featured some special guests — New York Knick A’mare Stoudamire, members of the New York Rangers, and the game’s Hollywood screenwriters, Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen — but even more-special special guests in the form of several dozen kids from the Boys & Girls Clubs. They were invited to a swanky clup in uptown Manhattan, given Skylanders pajamas, and the nighttime party was on. Thankfully, Kat did her photo thing.
No doubting this is the place.
Alec Socolow and Joel Cohen wrote Skylanders -- and a movie called Toy Story -- and the were on hand to talk to the press.
A'mare Stoudamire is very involved in the Boys & Girls Clubs, so he was more than happy to help present the big event.
Gill Grunt waits at attention in the main lobby.
All the kids got Skylanders PJs. Alas, no adult sizes.
The venue had awesome arched ceilings with lovely mood lighting. Clouds!
These two kids got into it right away and played basically all night long.
Spyro's big entrance was dubbed "The Magic Moment" -- and it was fairly epic, with smoke, lights, and sound. The kids loved it.
See? I told you the kids loved it.
Eric Hirshberg gave props to all the teams -- Toys For Bob, Vicarious Visions, and Activision -- that worked hard to bring the little guys to life.
Every kid chose their favorite character, then lined up with the adult wearing that character on their shirt.
3DS was on hand, complete with its mini Portal and exclusive Dark Spyro figure.
Face painting and caricatures were also available if kids didn't want to play the game.
Eric Hirshberg and I politely declined having our faces painted.
See? Those kids are still at it.
Super cool Spyro hoodie, designed by one of the artists at Vicarous Visions. The did the 3DS version, get it?
Drop-in/drop-out co-op and toys that remember their stats make two-player surprisingly easy and engaging. It's a good parent/kid game.
Getting all the kids -- and Eric and A'mare, if you look toward the back -- together for one big photo proved challenging. For one, A'mare was really tall.
I got to pose with Kat's favorite character, Stealth Elf, along with massive branding.
Eric knows the first rule of success: Listen to your audience.
Skylanders arrives on store shelves Sunday, October 16. The starter pack includes the game, three toys, and the Portal of Power for $69.99 — and you can complete the story mode with those three characters, so any other toys ($7.99 each or $19.99 for 3-packs) are entirely optional. The 3DS version plays a bit differently and features the variant Dark Spyro figure exclusively. The remainder of the 32 total characters will be released in waves in the coming months.
I found out tonight that any of the USB Portals can also connect to a PC or Mac for use with he web world, which is like an online hangout for your toys, with mini-games and customization options. And the portal is optional; even if you don’t buy the game and you just buy the toy, you can access the web world with the text codes that come with the toys.
I’m really stoked for this.
