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This article was taken from the October 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
How to keep your dragon's fire burning?
After 13 years of adventures, Activision wanted to breathe new life into Spyro for his next game.
So it turned to action-figure- loving Paul Reiche III, creative director of Californian developer Toys For Bob. "Paul said, 'I remember playing with GI Joes as a kid, but they don't remember me,'" recalls Activision executive producer Jeff Poffenbarger, 37. "We said, 'Wouldn't it be great if the toys remembered?'"
So Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure was born.
Toys For Bob designed figurines for each of the 32 the characters in the Skylands universe, and a glowing plastic console peripheral called the Portal of Power. When a toy is placed on the portal, that character appears in-game and ready to play.
The figures use radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips to communicate with the portal -- though Toys For Bob prefers to call it "magic" so as not to spoil children's fun. "The Skylanders remember their level, nickname, places they've been and any way that you've customised them," says Poffenbarger. "Before, there was playing with toys and playing video games. Now we're merging the two."
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure for Xbox, PS3, Wii, Mac and PC is released on October 11.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
