darkSpyro

To help promote the release of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, Activision and Nickelodeon are teaming up to tour Europe with a set of special events.

The tour kicks off in Liverpool this weekend on the 10th and 11th of September before moving to London for the 17th and 18th. After that it's headed to France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and Spain.

For those who can't make it to the events, the tour's website still has an interesting addition; the poster depicting all 32 Skylanders is finally at a size where you can see all of the remaining characters, including one you might not have been expecting.


Cynder.

The folks over at Xbox360Achievements.org have posted the full list of the Xbox 360 achievements for Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. They all seem fairly straightforward and it looks like only one requires a specific Skylander; and that's one included in the box.

The trophies for the PlayStation 3 version are likely to be identical.

The recent gamescom in Germany brought with it a whole new selection of images, videos and biographies for many of the characters of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.



In the Skylanders gallery you can find ten new console screenshots, four new 3DS screenshots and fifteen new short videos including ones focusing on some of lesser seen characters such as Dark Spyro and Sonic Boom.

You can also read the short back-stories to many of the Skylanders in their Guidebook profiles.

The official Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure twitter account has posted a brand new trailer for the game.


A lot of the footage is from the previous E3 trailer but there are a few new bits in there including two previously unseen Skylanders; Dino-rang and Zook.

GameTrailers.com have two new videos showing a couple of chunks of gameplay from the Wii and 3DS versions of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.


The characters they use have some levelled up abilities so you can see the progress that you can make while playing each individual character.



And in another video, this time from One of Swords, you're shown the same Stealth Elf being used on the Wii and then on the 3DS.

This week has seen a few new articles on the Nintendo 3DS version of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. First up is a post on USA Today which has a couple of images, then there's a preview at Nintendojo with a couple more screenshots.


And finally COIN-OP.TV have a video featuring the Lead Designer of the 3DS version, Jonathan Mintz.

Kotaku brings us the first actual footage of the Nintendo 3DS version of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure from this year's San Diego Comic-Con.


The video focuses on the process involved with using the unique Portal of Power for the 3DS as it works a little differently than on the consoles.

GoNintendo have today posted a brand new set of screens that will probably seem eerily familiar... but they're new nonetheless. They've also got the finalised boxart for the North American release for the Nintendo systems as well as a poster that you can print out and colour in if you feel the need to.

And Joystiq has a few more that GoNintendo neglected to post.

Amazon.co.uk and CentreSoft have today revealed the names and pictures of the set of individual characters that will be available at release. So here's what you'll be able to get Day 1.

In the console and PC starter packs:



In the 3DS starter pack:



Individually or as a pack of three:



Individually or as a pack of three:



Individually or as a pack of three:



Individually:



There are also special Adventure Packs which contain a set of themed items and a character. In one called "Pirate Seas" you can get Terrafin along with some pirate themed items that will enhance your game.



And in another called "Darklight Crypt" you can get Ghost Roaster.



Thanks go to Okaps in the forum for spotting this.
Update: Added Darklight Crypt from Cdiscount, thanks go to Aura24 for that.

With E3 underway the hands-on articles are appearing.

Quote: Joystiq

"We spent about six months on a variety of different directions with Spyro," says Reiche, "and to Activision's credit, they just kept saying more innovative, do something new, more innovative, and they gave us the time and the budget to really seek out what was our dream."

Quote: ars technica

You can bring your toy to a friend's house to share loot and play with your powerful character, and there will also be arenas included in the game so you can pit your characters against each other in battle. The toys themselves are well sculpted, have bright paint jobs, and look great on display.

Quote: Co-optimus

There's environmental puzzles to solve and enemies to kill as well as plenty of items to collect. Little trinkets like a hat for your character can increase your strength or other abilities.

As well as new videos from ScrewAttack and GameTrailers.