darkSpyro

Activision have today shown off, at long last, images, videos and details on the Nintendo 3DS edition of Skylanders Trap Team. The portable game will again have a story completely unique to that of the consoles and will feature 14 exclusive escaped villains. This time you'll be fighting the evil Dream Sheep who is trying to put the whole of Skylands to sleep with his Sleep Dragon.


Instead of using Traps to capture the villains the 3DS makes use of its touch screen to capture them, meaning that the villains cannot be used in the console version and vice versa. You can use the villains in regular gameplay but also in some special "boot camp" training levels.


The game also features a multiplayer version of Skystones which you can play online over WiFi, interestingly it's the original form of Skystones seen in Skylanders Giants rather than the new Skystones from the console versions of Trap Team.

The 3DS Starter Pack will come with Gusto, Barkley and a Portal of Power. So no traps and no exclusive alt-deco.

Check out the gallery for some more screenshots of the game and this EvanTubeHD video for footage of the game in action (including a glimpse at a Moon icon and a Sun icon at the bottom of the other elements).

The official Skylanders website has been updated with all of the artwork, videos, back stories and a few screenshots of each of the new Skylanders SWAP Force characters like Punk Shock and Wind Up below.


Several new trailers for the game have also been posted on the official Youtube channel like this CGI trailer introducing us to a new villain.


A few new alternative decoration toys have been discovered recently including a new Enchanted Hoot Loop, the first visual of Nitro Magna Charge, and an odd looking Jolly Bumble Blast. The first two you can find on the official website but Jolly Bumble Blast remains elusive.


Frito-Lay have launched a new sweepstakes to win a special orange and black Fright Rider. You find a code inside the large packs and enter it online for a chance to win one of the Fright Riders. It runs until the middle of November but remember it's just a chance to win unlike with the Sidekicks.


A fairly large update has hit the Lost Islands this week, you'll need to go to the App Store to update the app this time.

• A brand new type of currency called Kudos that is earned from the social objectives and used to buy a few things.
  
• Admiral Thumpback is a new Alter Ego but not from the Wishin' Well, instead he'll cost you 2000 Kudos.
  
• A new companion, Capybara King, costs 150 Gems but then causes all of your chests to have a bonus gem inside.
  
• Gurglefin is another new companion, he costs 400 Kudos and adds the chance to get Wishstones from gifts.
  
• The penultimate Sidekick Thumpling also sneaks in, he'll cost you 300 Gems if you don't have the toy.
  
• You can get Thumpback's House for free until the 29th.
  
• It's also Water Week which means Water Skylanders get +25% gold just like the Dragon Skylanders did last week.
  
• And finally there's a new bunch of decorations as well as a house for you to spend Kudos on.
  

Super Tuesday is a free gem each hour that you have to collect from Orville and 33% off Shrines.

Later this week will apparently see the release of a special variant of the giant Eye-Brawl, it's already been spotted in a few places in Canada.


The "Special Halloween 2013 Edition" Eye-Brawl, more commonly referred to as Pumpkin Eye-Brawl thanks to his distinctive orange pumpkin-like eye-ball, is not an in-game variant and will appear exactly the same as a regular Eye-Brawl when playing just like the Glow-in-the-Dark editions of characters like Cynder and Sonic Boom that you might already own. It does however have the same "Special" tag that makes it distinct in the collection screen even if it doesn't look or behave any differently.

A quiet one for Skylanders: Lost Islands this week, Eye-Small is more widely available and the month's Alter-Ego gets his Hut.

• Eye-Small joins Lost Islands properly, you can now buy him for 300 Gems.
  
• Autumn Stump Smash gets his own Hut for 350 Gems.
  
• A new Wood Stack House for level 39 that can house 3200 Mabu.
  

And in news for a related game, the previously exclusive to iOS Skylanders: Battlegrounds has been announced for the LG Smart TV platform and is due out "this holiday season". Here's hoping they remember to finish it off this time.

Previously only seen in special Wii and PS3 console bundles, a single pack of Gnarly Tree Rex is about to hit the stores.


A few have already been found in stores but it is not expected to be properly released until a little later in the month.

The first of the new Giants sidekicks from the Frito-Lay promotion have been arriving so be on the lookout if you've ordered some of those.


And Skylanders: Lost Islands updated again this week. First with a new companion, Ruggles, who increases the number of Skylanders you can send in a Sanctuary, and today with the month's brand new Alter-Ego called "Grill Master Chop Chop" that you can win in the Wishin' Well (or just buy for 1500 gems).

As part of the "Heat Wave" event that lasts until the 4th of August you can also win previous alter-egos in the Wishin' Well as Top Prizes and hero points from all sources have been doubled for the duration.


Infinity Guru: Series 1 Power Discs and their abilities revealed in video form.

In much the same manner as last year's promotion, Frito-Lay have begun the process of giving away the new set of sidekicks in the US, this time based on four of the Giants from Skylanders Giants.


You can get one of Thumpling, Barkley, Eye-Small or Mini-Jini by purchasing a promotional multipack and then entering your code on their website (once it goes live on June the 30th at least). There's a $2.50 shipping and handling fee however so it's not entirely free.

Also included is a coupon for $1 off a Skylanders Giants toy and a coupon which doubles up for either $5 off a Giants Starter Pack or $10 off a SWAP Force Starter Pack.

Another of those last few stragglers, Series 2 Drobot, has been spotted at several Walmarts across the US. With Polar Whirlwind about to be formally released on Saturday this means that only Lightcore Hex remains unreleased in the US - and you'll need to pre-order and then wait for SWAP Force to get her.


Further details about GameStop's event this Saturday, the "Ultimate Skylanders Festival", have been confirmed including free sidekicks with the purchase of any Skylanders Giants toy, a free SWAP Force poster for the first 25 customers, Giants Starter Packs for $39.99 and all Battle Packs for $9.99. Not to mention the release of Polar Whirlwind and the possibility of a few Scarlet Ninjinis turning up too.

Two stores will also apparently have a SWAP Force demo:

Quote: Swap Force Demo

Come to these Stores if you are in the area for a Skylanders Swap Force Demo!

Dallas Fort-Worth
Shops of Southlake
1251 E Southlake Blvd, SPC 351
Southlake TX 76092

New York City Broadway & 85th
2322 Broadway
New York, NY 10024

Remember the event only runs until 2PM so make sure to get there early!

This Saturday (the 22nd) folks in the US will be able to go down to their local GameStop and hopefully get their hands on the elusive Polar Whirlwind. In an event known as "Skylanders Day" Polar Whirlwind will see her US debut (although of course some places have accidentally put her out early) along with some other special items and discounts on things like the Giants Starter Pack.


To get Polar Whirlwind in Australia however you will need to pre-order Skylanders SWAP Force from EB Games, much in the same manner as the rest of the world is doing to get LightCore Hex.

Forum member Tigorus has spotted the first of the new Adventure Packs thanks to a flyer given out when pre-ordering SWAP Force. The round, spiky, winged, core Skylander named Pop Thorn will be part of an Adventure Pack called "Tower of Time". And it appears to come with two brand new magic items just like the original Adventure Packs did.

It looks like Skylanders fans in the UK will finally be able to have a chance to get a hold of some of the sidekicks from Skylanders Spyro's Adventure. On promotional packs of Chupa Chups and Fruittella you'll find a code that you can use on their website to see if you have won. Oddly though the article says that only two of the sidekicks are up for grabs: Gill Runt and Whisper Elf.


The promotion runs from the 15th of June until the end of August giving away ten each day.

Customarily late as usual but I have finally posted my complete walkthrough to the 3DS version of Skylanders Giants.


And hey, look at that, darkSpyro is nine years old today!

The last few of the new Skylanders are finally starting to appear. Polar Whirlwind has just hit Canada at EB Games, Lightcore Chill and Lightcore Pop Fizz are appearing across the US, and Lightcore Hex and Series 2 Drobot have turned up in Australia.


And in other news, a new mini-game has been added to the official website. Called Dreadyacht Defenders it is essentially Plants vs Zombies using Skylanders, instead of plants, to fight against various enemies from the games that slowly advance towards you.

In talking to MCV Activision's VP of consumer marketing John Coyne stated that there are no plans for a movie or a TV show based on the Skylanders franchise.

Quote: John Coyne

In terms of a TV show or a movie, no there are not any plans. We believe the game is the entertainment. You talk to kids who are real fans of the franchise, and they will be able to tell you Gill Grunt’s powers, backstory, what his friends are and generally what’s going on in the world of Skylanders. The same sort of things that they are able to articulate around a TV show or a movie.

Kind of an odd reason really, especially when you consider the ongoing series of books that already provides new stories about the Skylanders and their adventures in Skylands.

In the UK and Ireland Scarlet Ninjini will be exclusive to Smyths Toys, it's due to be released next Friday (the 3rd of May), so not very long to wait. Remember that stocks will be limited so try not to miss out!


And even if you can't manage to get your hands on the Scarlet edition, the regular version of Ninjini has begun appearing on UK shopping sites like GAME so you won't have to miss out on the character herself.

Thanks to NAYHA for the heads up on Scarlet Ninjini.

Earlier today it was announced on the Skylanders Universe Community Blog that the game will be closed down on the 29th of April. In the meantime they've boosted everyone's coins up to just shy of 10 million.

Quote: Community Blog

To commemorate the great times we've had, everyone has been given 9,999,999 coins to use between now and April 29th. Now you can customize your Skyland as you've always wanted! Or, unlock some new Skylanders in the Club House. Go check your account now!

They will however be leaving the mini-games up for people to play, and to kick off this new direction they've added a brand new mini-game called Block Fu.

According to MCV the exclusive destination for folk in the UK to get Molten Hot Dog will very soon be Asda.


It is set to go on sale there on Tuesday (the 2nd of April) but quantities will be limited so make sure not to miss out!

Not to be outdone, Target have started the release of their own brand new exclusive figure for Skylanders: Giants, Jade Flashwing.



Once again many members of the forum have reported finding her in a few Target stores across the US.

It is still unknown where the last two variants will be made available in the United States but elsewhere Polar Whirlwind has already been spotted in Norway and Scarlet Ninjini is available to pre-order in Germany (with a March 15th release date).