Skylanders: Giants Revealed
“Giants is the idea for the future.”
‐ Paul Reiche, CEO of Toys for Bob
With the outstanding success of the first Skylanders game, it was only logical that Activision publish its sequel, Skylanders: Giants which was recently revealed. Toys for Bob will be developing the sequel.
From what I’ve read, the current portal device will be compatible with the new game and giant toys. It will also be possible to fit 2 of the giants on a single portal. Some of them will even light up when placed on the portal without using batteries; this is done through a form of “induction”, similar to third-party chargers for cell phones that charge when placed on top of a powered platform.
Will Activision learn from Guitar Hero?
The Guitar Hero series comes to mind for anyone thinking of another peripheral-based game. Guitar Hero started off as a financially successful game with critically-acclaimed reviews. However, as the series progressed, the sequels started to receive lower reviews, resulting in lower sales. In addition, “video game politics” made more things complicated with Rock Band’s competition, Band Hero and DJ Hero. To make things more complicated, there were licensing issues and legal issues. Some artists featured in the game did not approve of their likenesses being used when playing songs they did not write. Song DLC purchased could not be played other than the one game it was intended for. There were even technical issues regarding which controllers were compatible with which games. After it was announced that Guitar Hero sequels would be postponed, there have been several layoffs. While Skylanders and Guitar Hero are very different from one another, I hope the series doesn’t fall victim to the same over-saturation that Guitar Hero suffered. Did you know that Toys for Bob helped out during the development of Guitar Hero 5 and Van Halen?
Conclusion
A Skylanders sequel was the most likely project TFB would be working on, considering Activision’s love for multi-platform sequels. It’s awesome that TFB prevailed in the game industry and maintained a strong relationship with Activision through hard work, meeting deadlines and experience in game design that enabled them to create games that are easy to understand for any age group. I just hope that Activision doesn’t go insane and publish rushed sequels.
What do you think about this Skylanders sequel?
Links
Joystiq - Skylanders creative lead eying Wii U’s NFC for the future
Star Controller - Guitar Hero: Van Halen
Skylanders: Giants - Activision Media Center
