On Friday I upped my cool status in my sons eye when I took him to the Skylander's Video Game headquarters here in Santa Monica. We were invited to a pizza party "board meeting" were we talked with the creators of the game, got a sneak peek at the new products and actually got to play the brand new Skylanders Giants games which hit stores Oct. 21.
We were part of a small, much more video game experienced group of kids and parents invited to learn more about the Skylanders Giants video game. We don't have a gaming system yet and only knew a little about Skylanders, so the evening before the event I called a few friends who I knew had kids that played to get some info, and they were so excited talking about the game and how much their kids loved to play and how really cool, interactive and creative the game and line of toys are. For those of you, like me, that are new to Skylanders - here is a quick overview- Skylanders is a video game where your toys come to life, you hook a "portal" up to your gaming system and then place your Skylander figures on the portal to play. The figures have special powers and abilities and they actually save and store your levels and information so you can take your Skylander figures over to your friends house and play just where you left off. The Skylanders game itself is also very friendly and positive and about saving the world from an evil sorcerer.
It was so interesting talking to the creators about the characters and what inspired them to make a game like this. They all grew up playing Mario and Zelda and loved the quest and fantasy aspect of those games, also all the hidden elements and "secrets to unlock". These elements are apparent in the Skylanders games and I think one of the many reasons that kids, teens and parents are so in love with the game.
The new game and Giants figures will be available on October 21 (but you can pre-order on their website Click HERE ). The new Giants are of course bigger and stronger than the original Skylander but play right along with your original Skylander figures to help win back the world. The Giants bring new adventures and levels that were not available before. All the figures have these great "backstories" which you can read here. They are silly and smart and the kids love them. Dylan and I spent a lot of time on the website reading the stories and talking about the characters and what makes a "good guy hero" . These games do an amazing job of bridging gaming, imagination, and active play together while creating a positive and (most important) fun story to follow and be a part of.
Dylan had such a great time getting to play the new Giants game too and learning how to play with the games creators was awesome. While he learned the basics I watched the other kids who had more experience play the new Giants and they were loving it. In less then 1/2 an hour they all had new favorite characters and couldn't stop talking about cool new features that the game had and how you could now do this and that.
It was a really fun day and I now I want a gaming system in the house so we can play Skylanders (and hello I just finished Holiday shopping for the boys)
To get more information about Skylanders Giants visit
ther website http://www.skylanders.com or on
Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SkylandersGame
Here are "headshots" of some of the new Giants- and Click Here to see our photos from the event
Full Disclosure- We were not compensated for this post but got to attend the event and received some fun Skylanders products. All the opinions are my own thoughts.
