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.

Continue Reading →

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.

Continue Reading →

Take square blocks and build whatever you can imagine, limited only by your own creativity. It’s a description that could fit perfectly with one classic toy franchise as well as one of the most groundbreaking PC games of 2011. For decades, children have put together the little pegged blocks in billions of combinations building castles, cities, vehicles and creatures in ways the creators never could have expected.

For the past year, gamers have dug squares out of a virtual landscape and created everything from replicas of famous landmarks to Godzilla-sized Pokemon recreations. And now, the two franchises which look to be a perfect fit for each other, LEGO and Minecraft, are coming together.

As reported on LEGO’s CUUSOO blog, the Minecraft project has been approved to move on to the product development stages:

Since the Minecraft™ project reached 10,000 supporters on LEGO® CUUSOO, many of you have been eagerly awaiting our update. Until now, the project has been in the LEGO Review—a stage before product development begins where a LEGO Jury evaluates the idea’s feasibility as a product and makes a decision.

Continue Reading →

2012 is a big year for Ringers, obviously the first part of The Hobbit hits screens, but now they have the arrival of Lord of the Rings LEGO sets and games to look forward to. LEGO has announced that starting the summer of 2012 they are going to be in the Lord of the Rings business.

“Only LEGO, with their expertise in the construction category, is capable of doing justice to the incredibly imaginative environments depicted in the world of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the two films based on THE HOBBIT… These films give life to amazing worlds and characters and we are thrilled to bring fans these products that deliver an imaginative play experience befitting of these beloved properties.”

LEGO has been working with Warner Bros. properties for the last few years with the successful LEGO Harry potter and LEGO DC Universe lines, now one of the most respected film franchises of all time will get their LEGO due. The most exciting aspect of this news is the confirmation of LEGO Lord of the Rings video games. The first game announced is based on the upcoming Hobbit film due out next year.

Check out more details about what to expect from new partnership after the jump.

Continue Reading →

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.

Continue Reading →

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.

Continue Reading →

At Toy Fair, Senario gave us a look at their latest line of the Zibits, a series of unique, collectible, miniature RC robots. Unlike most action figures from Toy Fair, the Zibits stood out to us at the Flickcast because they make a perfect little desktop toy.

They are cost effective ($10), small and geek friendly. What geek doesn’t want their own little robot servant?

Now while the Zibits are too tiny to do any real damage, they can definitely be a conversation piece or a time killer in any office. And that makes them perfect as a giveaway for the Flickcast.

How would you win such an awesome prize? Well, it’s simple! Just keep an eye on our Twitter account next week, and we’ll give you some classic robot trivia for you to answer. Get it right, and you can win!

In the meantime, take a look at another one of these cool RC Robots that you can win after the jump.

Continue Reading →

At Toy Fair, we were lucky enough to get the chance to see one of the newest undertakings by Activision called Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure. Under developer Toys For Bob, Activision is combining the much loved Spyro video game series with a brand new toy line.

But this isn’t just a tie in with action figures modeled off characters from the game. Instead, players will take these figures and place them on an attachment for their Nintendo Wii to load any of the 32 characters in to the game. Young players will be given the opportunity to do something they never have before, watch their toys come to life in front of them on a video game screen.

Seeing these toys in person, they look as if they were all beautifully hand sculpted. Spyro even has a little bit of a badass feel to him instead of the super fluffy dragon he started out as. What you don’t immediately see is the technology hidden underneath that gives these toys the read/write ability to load information in to the Wii using the Portal of Power and then take the experience and treasure that player has found with them to their next destination.

Continue Reading →

It gets tougher every year to surprise the Apple fanboy/fangirl on your holiday shopping list. They probably already own every gadget Apple manufactures, perhaps several times over, so how to surprise the Apple fan this year? It’s got to be this guy.

No, not me, but the face of Apple himself, Steve Jobs as an amazingly detailed glorious action figure. As described by the manufacturer, “The most phenomenal Steve Jobs figure ever. It looks insanely like Steve.” Indeed it does.

Chinese online store, M.I.C. (Get it? “Made in China?”) offers this unique action figure for $79 and the attention to detail is quite high. From Jobs’ receding hairline, right down to his trademark New Balance sneaks, nothing seems to have been missed. The figure even sports removable glasses and a scale iPhone in his left hand. Even the figure’s base is shaped like a white apple logo.

M.I.C. is also offering an “accessory kit” for their latest toy. Included are a number of “speech bubble” cards so that you can make Steve say some of his famous catch phrases, a brush and a permanent marker. I’m not sure what the brush is for precisely, and now that I’m thinking about it, I’d probably save the extra $2.99 and just make my own.

I’d also like to see other Apple products, such as the iPad or perhaps Macbook Air  included in an accessory pack. And finally, one thing that remains disturbingly unclear, is whether Steve is pose-able or not.

Update: It appears the company has gone “Out of Stocks” (sic) on this product, but if you’re interested in something like this, you may want to keep an eye on the company’s product page as I’m sure they’re making more.

Remember how lame the Nintendo PowerGlove was? Well, it looked cool, but it was pretty useless when it came to actual video game usage. If there were only a device that was equally cool as it was functional, the gaming would would be rocked pretty hard.

With that in mind, behold the new line of TRON controllers!

As a tie-in to the upcoming Disney film, the studio is releasing a series of gadgets that will make you feel like you’re Flynn himself, all while sitting on your couch in your living room. The controllers will be available for all Next-Gen systems, and each run for about $50.

Not a console gamer, but still want to enjoy the TRON awesomeness? For PC users, there will also be a TRON blue gaming keyboard and mouse from Razer. Topping it all off, Monster is releasing a pair of TRON headphones for $350, earbuds for $99, and a light-disc shaped iPod dock for $250.

Check out some of the cool new gadgets after the jump. All of the items are expect to have a fall release, so needless to say, the tail end of 2010 will be pretty heavy with all things TRON. Thanks to Gizmodo for the heads up.

Continue Reading →

Who doesn’t love toys? Whether they’re for kids or adults, most fans of film, TV, comics, or video games also become fans of toys. The cool part about being fans of film is that we have gotten some pretty cool toys inspired by films.

With this week’s major release of Toy Story 3 in both 3D, IMAX, and regular theaters, we felt it would be necessary to reminisce about some of our favorite toys from films, or even films inspired by toys.

Take a look at the staff’s picks after the jump, and be sure to look back at our other Flickcast Fives from the past few weeks.

Continue Reading →

Yesterday, we showed you some of the cool new movie toys from this year’s Toy Fair at New York City’s Jacob Javits Center. Diamond came in with lots of new and exciting movie properties, but some of their coolest new toys were for their existing DC and Marvel lines.

Among the new toys we got to see were some cool new Marvel MiniMates for the upcoming Iron Man 2 film, including a neat Whiplash, Justin Hammer, and Stark Drones. Marvel Selects announced a gigantic new Abomination figure, as well as The Thing and others, each heavy enough to be used as a murder weapon.

From DC and Diamond, we got to see some cool new statues from the DC Dynamics line, the first ever line of Vertigo busts, and some great statues form the upcoming Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths film. Also from DC, we got to see some great new “then and now” style figures, including the original Superman vs his current incarnation.

Check out the full gallery after the jump, and be sure to keep it here for more upcoming news and features from the wonderful world of toys!

Continue Reading →