Skylanders, this generation's Pokemon?

Currently invading the shores of your children's imagination and wish lists everywhere. Skylanders, the new toy/video game from Activision, combines action figures with video-games for an exciting new experience. Skylanders is a toy brand and a video game, where the action figures that you buy, 'come to life' in the video game for you to play.



The whole system works like this, you buy the Starter Pack for your game system of choice, X360, PS3, Wii, or 3DS, which comes with the game, 3 figures, and a 'portal of power'. When you place one of the figures on the portal, it comes up on the video game for you to control. As you play through the game, the figure you use  levels up, gaining new abilities and treasure, which is saved unto the physical toy, which you can then take to play at say your friend's house and play with your exact customized creature. The game is multiplayer, and you and a friend can have your figures on the portal at the same time, and can play through all the levels together. There is a slew of different figures available for you to buy separately and collect, which makes the replay-ability of the game pretty huge.

Sklyanders was released in October of 2011 and went into 'sold-out' status for the Holiday season, and has maintained it even today. I've seen individual figures on Ebay and Amazon for upwards of $80-100, so the demand right now is at a high.

Due to high sales, Activision has already announced additional new figures due out later this year to expand the game even further, so expect your coffers to be emptied by your children's demands.