(Yeah, I know what you are thinking - how can we possibly discuss gift-giving holidays when it is still summertime? Well, I'm in denial that school starts in less than two weeks, so I might as well get a jump on December.)
When I was invited to the Big Toy Book's Sweet Suite Event (featuring KidzVuz) during the BlogHer Conference, of course I accepted. Who doesn't like toys?
There were certainly several products that caught my eye at the Suite, such as the new zombie and glow-in-the-dark Hexbugs. (I posted about Hexbug Nanos last year after seeing them in the Mom Select Swag Suite during BlogHer; they appeared at Mom Select this year, too, in addition to the Big Toy Book event.) The zombies will be out at Halloween, and I'm definitely eager to grab them up!
And then even though I have boys, my fairy-loving youngest son would adore Light Sprites. I watched a demo at the Suite of how the "lite wand" can pick up any color and transfer to the playsets. It is tons of fun, and will appeal to those who love sparkles, light, and sprites.
There were plenty of amazing products at the Suite, but by far the one that will likely end up in Santa's sack this year (shhhh!) is Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. My boys are both Wii fans, and definitely adventure fans. They love collecting little characters and moving through video game worlds.
This game is different, though. The characters aren't just on the screen; they are physical collectible figures. These figures enter the virtual game when the player puts the character on top of the portal. Poof! The character shows up on the screen!
The progress of the character is attached to the actual figure. For playdates, the child can just take their character(s) and enter the game over at his or her buddy's place. The characters work across platforms, so even if one child has a Wii and the other has an Xbox 360 or PS3, not to worry - both kids' characters will work wherever they are. And when it is time to go home, the child leaving can just stick the figure in his pocket; no need to wait for a "save point" in the game, since all items and abilities will be saved to the figure. (If the character is wearing a hat in the game when the playdate ends, then the character will still be wearing the hat in the game back at home.)
The technology of the game is fantastic, but the story itself looks fun, too. I'm guessing that my boys would be eager to play this game even if it were 100% virtual without the amazing sharing capacity. The characters are visually-appealing and caught my youngest son's eye immediately as I pulled up photos on the computer.
Hey, even I've got to admit they are cute. And while a character named "Trigger Happy" sounds a bit scary, he shoots coins and there is no gore involved. Besides, who can resist his waggling tongue and pointy ears? (The Skylander pictured at right is "Zap.")
Here's the preview that got my sons to run across the room to find out what the pure awesomeness is:
.Alas, the game doesn't come out until October, but of course it will make a perfect holiday gift. (The trick will be hoping they don't notice before Christmas.) Maybe Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure will end up in our house before then; we'll see...
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure ships for all platforms (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, 3DS, PC, Mac and mobile devices) on October 16, 2011.
And KidzVuz - expect some reviews from my boys surrounding the holiday season when they finally get to see some of the things I previewed at the party!
--
Disclaimer: I received one of the Skylanders as part of the Big Toy Book's Sweet Suite event at BlogHer. I got to play the game while at the Suite, and it was FABULOUS. I will not receive compensation (monetary or otherwise) for posting about this game or the other products I saw at the Suite.* When I link to Skylanders on Amazon, I am using my affiliate code, which means I get a few cents of commission if you happen to purchase anything.
I've written about Skyanders here:
- The Winning Holiday Gift: Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
- More about Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
- It's Hard to Wait: Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
- Just Another Week to Wait: Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
- Skylanders - Yes, We Play it All Day!
*Update: As a pleasant surprise, the Activision folks sent me the game and some additional characters as a thank-you for promoting the game and to facilitate a review once the game was actually released! This post was written before the release.
