Head to any Toys R Us and take a look at their video game section and look for the large space where the Skylanders figures should be and you will see a trail of utter decimation. In talking to a Toys R Us employee, we were told that the only day the Skylanders’ rack isn’t empty is the day deliveries come in. And by end of that day, it is already down to half of its stock. So, it’s no surprise that Activision will be officially unveiling the follow-up to Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure at Toy Fair in New York City next week with Skylanders Giants.

With promises of eight brand new regular Skylanders and eight completely new Giant Skylanders that also light up when close to the Portal of Power, it looks like the creators are going to have a ton of fun expanding on the Skylanders universe.

Skylanders Giants builds upon the breakthrough fundamentals of the first game-merging the physical and virtual realms with an innovative line of cross-platform toy figures that have “brains,” which players everywhere can magically bring to life in the world of Skylands. This next installment of the franchise features a variety of new characters, new challenges, a thrilling new story-driven adventure, and advanced integration across console, handheld, mobile and online:

Going Big: Skylanders Giants introduces eight new highly collectible figures that are more than twice the size of the main skylanders cast in both physical and virtual form. Their in-game powers and abilities reflect their colossal scale.

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Just when you thought Activision had filled your shelves with enough little plastic figures for Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure, they release a third wave of these collectible interactive toys. Now available are the Cynder and Double Trouble individual blister packs as well as the Empire of Ice Adventure Pack which features a new playable level to the game, the character Slam Bam and two new in game items (including a very familiar looking shield).

Check out the screens and videos for all three new characters below.

Cynder

Volts And Lightning!

Element: Undead

Primary Attack: Spectral Lightning

Secondary Attack: Shadow Dash

Upgrades include:

• Cynder Flight
• Black Lightning
• Shadow Reach

Bio: While just an egg, Cynder was stolen by the henchmen of an evil dragon named Malefor and raised to do his bidding. For years, she spread fear throughout the land until she was defeated by Spyro the dragon and freed from the grip of Malefor. But dark powers still flow through her, and despite her desire to make amends for her past, most Skylanders try to keep a safe distance… just in case.

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One thing we’ve learned is there are too many games and too little time to play them all. This also means there isn’t even enough time to give all of them awards, but we try our best. Today we take a look at both the most time consuming efforts of the past year as well as give some awards for games that deserve some notable mentions as well.

Game Most Likely to Consume Your Life: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Two Hundred and Fifty Hours. By most estimates, this is how long it’ll take an average player to explore MOST of the content of Skyrim. To give some perspective, if the average person works a 40 hour a week job, Skyrim would take six and a quarter full work weeks to complete. Now, we realize that most gamers work jobs outside of the gaming industry and cannot devote a full forty hours a week to a single game.

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Yesterday we took a look at Minecraft, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Capcom, Dark Souls and Portal 2. Today, we have a whole second set of awards to be given out for the best (and worst) of 2011.

Game That Shouldn’t Have Taken Nearly As Long to Come Out: Duke Nukem Forever

What happened in the time span since Duke Nukem Forever began development?

The entire Presidential run of George W. Bush.

This writer’s entire high school and college career.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and The Clone Wars were all released in theaters.

The XBox was released and ended its lifecycle.

Activision released 7 proper Call of Duty titles.

Lost.

A child born when development started would have grown to be a teenager.

The list goes on and on…

And the worst part is, after all that wait… Duke Nukem Forever wasn’t very good when it did finally come out. What was considered controversial when the game began production is pretty tame by comparison to what people are enjoying in gaming now and the humor comes off as sophomoric instead of clever.

While we can understand the desire to release a passion project to finally let it see the light of day, sometimes it is better to let it enjoy a quiet death with some dignity instead of coming out guns blazing as a failure.

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2011 was one heck of a year for gaming. Once again, the Call of Duty franchise set records for the largest entertainment launch in history. A game that was only in Beta was able to sell millions of copies and spawn an ungodly large community to the point they had a convention before the game was officially released. There were tons of critical darlings encouraging developers to rethink how they create games.
Take a look this week at the awards The Flickcast (along with The Bitcast team) are proud to present for gaming in 2011

Think Outside the Box Game: Portal 2

While many may argue that Minecraft may be the most deserving of this award, they need to remember one thing. In Minecraft, there are no rules. The expanses of the box are too extreme to find the outer boundaries of. Within Portal 2, players are asked to explore new viewpoints of physics, matter and… well, portals. The puzzles in Portal 2 completely overtake the complexity and creativity of the original, which in itself was groundbreaking. With additional toys at their disposal and the introduction of a cooperative mode, the team at Valve came up with a game that redefined both the puzzle solving and FPS genres all at once.

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Welcome back to another episode of The Bitcast, our very own video game only podcast hosted by JC and WallE. The boys hit lots of big news this week including the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sales records, Activision’s multimillion dollar charity donation, Limbo hitting its millionth sale and discuss the upcoming Dead Island DLC.

In the Topic of the Week, the two discuss the ever decreasing distance of video games and reality and when that line is crossed. In their Now Playing Section, JC talks more about his experience with Modern Warfare 3 as well as his $0.99 download of Scribblenauts Remixed for the iOS.

WallE takes an unexpected turn and talks about the Flash “game” from PETA that tries to target Mario for the reintroduction of the Tanooki suit in Mario Bros. 3D Land for the Nintendo 3Ds.

Don’t forget to subcribe to The Flickcast’s iTunes feed to get your weekly dose of The Bitcast!

Check out the latest episode of the Bitcast with JC and WallE as they explore the world of gaming. In the news, the two reflect on the Grand Theft Auto V launch trailer and recap their predictions from the last episode and see who did better. Also discussed are the November 8th PSN releases of Crono Cross, Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI.

In the Topic of the Week section, the Bitcast takes a look at the Free to Play gaming model which is becoming more and more prevelent in gaming today. The two discuss both the merits and concerns of the concept, look at how it has been implemented in existing titles and talk about what it can have in store for the future.

In their Now Playing, WallE has a throwback moment as he looks back at the original Uncharted for the PS3. JC expands further on his time with his review for Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure.

The world of video games and the world of toys have always had an interesting dynamic. Many people will remember the main outlet for purchasing their original NES games was from the cage at Toys R Us. Then, as gaming evolved and players matured along with the content of the titles, video games began getting their own stores and found their way into electronics superstores like Best Buy.

As that happened, many people began their arguments that video games were a form of art and not just simple boys. But… why can’t we have both? Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure works behind the concept of “Bring Your Toys To Life” where players blur the lines between their collectible figures and their gaming console experiences.

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The Flickcast and the world got their first look at Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure back at Toy Fair.  Activision has come up with a way to combine the collectible aspect of high detail model toys along with the addictive nature of a classic dungeon crawling action game. Don’t let the word “toy” or the game’s lighthearted graphics fool you. Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is going to be full of depth.

While the game won’t be as intense in terms of upgrades and item management like a title like Mass Effect, it won’t be a slouch either. Players will need to work through levels, upgrading powers to further both their exploration experience and combat prowess. Being able to save these stats to a fancy action figure that they can bring to their friend’s console to play is just an added bonus.

With PAX this weekend, Activision has released a bundle of new screen shots and character vignettes for the game. This batch focuses on Dark Spyro, Bash, Sonic Boom, Stealth Elf and Voodood. Make sure to take a look at all these characters have to offer below.

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Nintendo has sent out official word that in two weeks, their latest gaming platform, the Nintendo 3DS will be having its first price drop. Usually price drops happen once a system has been available for an extended period of time and the initial sales spike begins to falter. Unfortunately for Nintendo, their 3DS never had an initial spike.

A few years ago, the Nintendo DS was the chart topping selling system, even overtaking the next-gen XBox 360 and PlayStation 3, many times beating the Nintendo Wii and completely crushing the PlayStation Portable. Since its March release however, the 3DS hasn’t even hit the 1,000,000 seller mark and it has not been for lack of systems available to consumers.

Now in what looks to be a desperation move to entice consumers to purchase the new portable, Nintendo is dropping the MSRP a full $80 from $249.99 to $169.99. Never before has a Nintendo console had such a massive price drop, especially in such a short time since its release. The lack of software available to consumers is most likely the reason for the system’s subpar sales. Even with the price drop, it will be the software that ultimately will drive sales to the system.

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It was no secret that Sony would be bringing along their newest portable console to this year’s E3, and last night we finally got some details on the much-anticipated follow-up to the Playstation Portable. This new device, formerly known as the NGP, was revealed, newly dubbed as the PS Vita.

The PS Vita sports some impressive hardware features, including dual analog sticks and touch screens, one in front and one in the back. It also has an OLED screen, GPS, and six axis motion sensors. The device features the standard d-pad and familiar Playstation four button placement above the analog sticks.

If you’re in the US, the PS Vita will cost you $249 for the Wi-Fi and $299 for the 3G/Wi-Fi model, available on AT&T. These points price the PS Vita right alongside the Nintendo 3DS, and we can expect to see the device released by the end of the year.

While Sony gave audiences a lot of details on the PS Vita itself, not much was said in the way of games we can expect to see on the platform. The fact that the Uncharted franchise was to appear on the Vita was no surprise, but it was still a treat to see the way the game will mix traditional thumbpad gameplay with the PS Vita’s touch features.

As skeptical as we may be about the upcoming Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie from Michael Bay, we have seen what Activision can do when it gets its hands on the Transformers. While the last piece of Transformers that Activision published was based off G1 continuity and not off the movie franchise, it was a tremendous improvement from the previous Transformers movie game.

In anticipation of Transformers: Dark of the Moon: The Game, we have a whole new set of screen shots and a new trailer to show it off in addition to the list of pre-order bonuses.

Check out the full list below of all the preorder exclusives as well.

Channel wide – Original BUMBLEBEE toys with the Wii and NDS AUTOBOTS game and original LOCKDOWN toy with the NDS DECEPTICONS game

Best Buy – FREE movie ticket upgrade to 3D

Toys R’ Us – Exclusive Inverted BUMBLEBEE in-game character skin for 3DS game

Target – Exclusive BUMBLEBEE Deco in-game character for NDS AUTOBOTS game and Wii game and Exclusive LOCKDOWN Deco in-game character for NDS DECEPTICONS

K-Mart/Sears – Original, limited edition Transformers: Dark of the Moon comic book from IDW Publishing

Stick to the Flickcast for more on Transformers: Dark of the Moon: The Game and check out the trailer and screens after the jump.

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