darkSpyro

Despite the wording of a press release for the event in New York that took place earlier this month, it seems that Ninjini is about to hit retail already. Lots of forum members have been reporting getting confirmation from Toys R Us stores in the US that she will start to be released there as early as tomorrow.

The yellow version of Hot Dog appears to have begun hitting the shelves of Walmart according to reports from forum members of sightings of the exclusive Molten Hot Dog in a few stores.



Molten Hot Dog is much like the regular Hot Dog that you can already find in the Scorpion Striker Battle Pack, except his colours are switched around being red where he was yellow and yellow where he was red. He is an in-game variant much like Granite Crusher, Punch Pop Fizz and Gnarly Tree Rex so he will appear that way in-game. In the United States he will be exclusive to Walmart, exclusivity arrangements in other countries are unknown at this time.

And recently the Legendary LightCore Chill toy has begun showing up in Canadian Toys R Us stores, if it follows the pattern of the previous post-launch Legendaries it shouldn't be too much longer before she is available in further countries. Being a Legendary she is of course an exclusive to Toys R Us.

Introducing the third entry to the Skylanders series: Skylanders: Swap Force. The main new feature that Swap Force brings to the table is the 16 brand new characters that have swappable features.



Each of the sixteen "Swap Force" toys has two parts - the legs and the upper body. The legs control the movement, the upper body decides the attacks. You can take them apart and then mix-and-match the two halves with any of the other Swap Force toys, the game will recognise what you've put together to give you up to 256 different combinations (once you have all 16 of the Swap Force characters).



In terms of new toys, as well as the 16 swappable "Swap Force" characters there are 16 brand new "core" figures, these are new regular Skylanders without the ability to swap parts. There will also be eight LightCore characters and 16 returning "Series 3" characters with new Wow Pows.



Also coming with the game is a brand new, completely redesigned Portal of Power that you will need to get, the old ones will no longer work with Swap Force. But never fear, all of the old characters, both the Orange and Green base varieties, will still be fully functional in Swap Force.



On the developer side of things unlike the last two games Toys for Bob will not be developing Swap Force, instead Vicarious Visions will be taking the mantle (they previously made the 3DS version of Spyro's Adventure, the Wii U version of Giants and all of the iOS games) for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii U versions. The previous developer for the 3DS version, n-Space, will be resuming their development role on the 3DS version. And not forgetting the Wii, that's not being abandoned just yet and will be getting a version developed by Beenox.

The Starter Pack will come with two Swap Force characters (it'd not be much fun having only one) as well as a returning character and the brand new Portal of Power. No specific release date has been announced other than "this fall".

For further, more in-depth reading there are plenty of articles popping up all over the web following the press showing of the game, such as Wired, Engadget, Joystiq, Polygon, Giant Bomb, One of Swords, Metro.co.uk.

The folks over at Fusible.com have spotted several newly registered Skylanders domain names. Just registered on Wednesday one of these could possibly be the name of the third game:

Skylanders Kaos Alliance
Skylanders Nano Force
Skylanders Super Force
Skylanders Swap Force

Whatever the name turns out to be we won't have to wait too long to find out as it should hopefully be officially announced during either the Toys R Us New York event mentioned in the news post below (Feb 5) or during Toy Fair 2013 itself (Feb 10-13). But of course that still leaves plenty of time for speculation...

To help heighten the visible interest in Skylanders just before Toy Fair 2013 (and the likely reveal of the next game), Activision and Toys R Us are set to hold an event in Toys R Us Times Square where they will give an "opportunity to receive" a Ninjini figure to the "first fans to line up".


This is all happening next week, on Tuesday the 5th of February at 4PM (make sure to get there earlier). There are also other exclusive savings on offer just in case you don't happen to be lucky enough for the Ninjini.

And, more importantly to those of us who won't be able to make it, the press release says that it'll be "months" before Ninjini will hit retail shelves, so it looks like it's time to get waiting all over again.

Full details of the event are in the press release below:

Quote:

CALLING YOUNG PORTAL MASTERS:
CELEBRATE NEW YORK TOY FAIR WITH SKYLANDERS GIANTS™

TOYS"R"US TIMES SQUARE INVITES KIDS TO BE AMONG THE FIRST IN THE WORLD TO RECEIVE A COMPLIMENTARY, HOTLY ANTICIPATED SKYLANDERS GIANTS CHARACTER, NINJINI

WHAT: Months before the Skylanders Giants character, Ninjini, hits retail shelves, kids and their families are invited to The World's Greatest Toy Store™ to be among the first in the world to get their hands on the must-have Skylanders Giants character, while supplies last. To celebrate the annual International Toy Fair taking place in New York City this month, Activision Publishing Inc. and Toys"R"Us are partnering to host a special event at Toys"R"Us Times Square, the company's international flagship store. The first fans to line up along Broadway for the event will have an opportunity to receive a complimentary Ninjini figure before it is officially available for purchase in North America.

Consumers can take advantage of one-day exclusive, Toys"R"Us Times Square store offers: $25 off Skylanders Giants Starter Pack; "buy 2, get 1 free" Giant Skylanders figures until store closing.
Also at the event, kids will have the unique opportunity to meet their favorite Skylanders characters, experience the year's most popular game at in-store game kiosks and receive other fun Skylanders Giants giveaways.
WHEN: Tuesday, February 5
Activities and giveaways begin promptly 4pm
Toys"R"Us Times Square will be open during normal business hours (10am - 10pm)
WHERE: 1514 Broadway at 44th Street
New York, NY
(Media must enter through the 44th Street Associate Entrance)

ACTIVITIES: Gaming kiosks, displays and stations
Fun activities, games, giveaways and more!

MEDIA OPPORUNITIES:
• Visuals/interviews with excited kids and fans in line
• Costumed characters, fun activities and live giveaways
• Calendar and event listings as a fun activity for families
• Attend with your kids