Skylanders Giants

Released on the 19 of October 2012 in Europe, Skylanders Giants is the second game of the Skylanders series, following the first game ‘Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure’, which was named the number 1 children’s game of 2011. The game was developed by ‘Toys for Bob’, ‘n-Space’ (for 3DS development) and ‘Vicarious Visions’ (for development for the new Wii U) and published by ‘Activision’. It is available for the Nintendo Wii, the new Wii U (available from the 18 of November 2012), Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3.

The game is very unique in its game play; it can be played on line, at home on games consoles and there are even Skylanders Giants apps for both apple and android phones. Skylanders is a game aimed for a younger audience. To play the game, several things are needed before you can access all the game has to offer. On the Skylanders Giants website, it tells you all that you need before you can ‘Start your adventure’. A Starter pack includes a hard copy of the game, several toy figures; ‘Tree Rex’, ‘Jet-Vac’, and ‘Cynder’ (toy figures are necessary for game play) and the ‘portal of power’.  This portal is essential for ‘Bringing the toys to life’ – when you place the toys on the portal, it ‘teleports’ them into the game, where you can play as that character – 48 toy figures are available in total. This is a very unique concept which is exclusive to the Skylanders series. Also included in the starter pack are universal codes that can be used to unlock characters and play games on line (Skylanders: Universe). Trading cards are also included, as well as stickers and posters. This unique way of gaming has attracted many children since the series’ release in 2011, and has been given many positive reviews so far. The Telegraph rated the game 4/5 saying, ‘Despite some unnecessary convolutions with its action-figures, Skylanders Giants is a refinement of the hit video game and toy line hybrid’. Skylanders Giants is anticipated to be even more successful than its series predecessor, which gathered an enormous profit of £350 million in its year of release.  

The collecting aspect of this game is a clever marketing ploy, as each character posses different powers and encourages children to own them all and build up a collection of all the figures that you can buy seperately from the game. On Amazon, a single figure (in this example, Crusher) costs £18.48 - a steep price for one single toy, considering the price that the starter pack costs. However, many children today are prepared to pay this, as you have to buy certain figures to complete certain tasks, in order to complete the game. This is an example of symbiosis - the figurines and game combination mean that the toys can be used with the 'portal', and also out of the game as action figures. Skylanders Giants has been marketed

In the UK, the game is available across a wide variety of shops and websites, including; Amazon, Argos, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Game, HMV, Toys R Us, play.com, and Smyths. The prices across the major platforms are all very similar – a starter pack costing around £52.47 and a booster pack costing between £36.99 - £39.99 on the Wii, PS3 and Xbox, and a starter pack around £49.99 on the Nintendo 3DS and a battle pack costing £24.99 across all platforms.