SKYLANDERS SUPERCHARGERS race onto store shelves TODAY!

Skylanders® fans with a need for speed should look no further -- a brand new version of the popular video game franchise arrived at stored today that provides online multiplayer and racing gameplay for the first time. Available at major North American retailers nationwide beginning Sunday, September 20, 2015,  Skylanders SuperChargers takes kids on a wild ride as they drive the mountainous terrains, dive the deep sea environments and fly the big blue skies of Skylands like never before with amazingly detailed vehicles, many of which feature moving parts that will play in the real world and come to life in the game via the Portal of Power®. While this is a new addition the franchise that needs the purchase of a Starter Pack parents will be pleased to know that Skylanders SuperChargers is forward compatible with all 300+ unique toys from all previous games – Skylanders® SWAP Force^™, Skylanders® Giants, Skylanders® Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders® Trap Team. 

Developed by Vicarious Visions, Skylanders SuperChargers expands upon the franchise’s signature gameplay to introduce vehicles-to-life -- an entirely new way for fans to experience the magic of Skylands. The trailblazing innovation of Skylanders SuperChargers is realized when players take the helm of powerful, tricked-out land, sea and sky vehicles that are playable in both the physical and digital worlds in a high octane action-adventure videogame. Skylanders SuperChargers offers a rich story-driven gameplay experience filled with vehicle-based and on-foot adventures, combat, puzzles, mini games, activities and platforming, set within a variety of all-new compelling environments. The game features a brand-new class of heroes that is distinct with fresh moves, powerful attacks and all-new weapons.  SuperChargers also have special in-game abilities that help Portal Masters fight Kaos.  Twenty new SuperChargers character toys and 20 new vehicle toys will be available.  Right out of the box, the game also features an all-new Racing Mode that blends high-octane, supercharged racing with combat, accentuated by power-ups, boosts, hazards and more.

 

Players can also purchase Racing Action Packs that unlock additional content. A total of three Racing Action Packs, one for each terrain, will be available for $34.99 MSRP and each will include three special toys -- a SuperCharger, vehicle and villain trophy which unlocks two exclusive racing tracks for the game. The first of the three packs, the Skylanders SuperChargers Sea Racing Action Pack, will be available at launch.

 “Remember when you were a kid and pretended that your toy cars came to life, zooming around your living room on the most epic racetracks of your imagination?” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing in a press release provided to A Geek Daddy. “Well, we are about to bring that fantasy one step closer to life with Skylanders SuperChargers. We are reimagining toys-to-life by bringing race cars to life, along with helicopters, motorcycles, jet planes and submarines, as you race through Skylands and compete against other players for the first time. Our fans are going to love playing this game. I know I do.”

To celebrate the arrival of Skylanders SuperChargers and the addition of racing to the franchise, Skylanders became the official partner of racing champion Max Chilton for the season finale of Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires. Chilton, a 24-year-old former Formula 1 driver and fan of the Skylanders franchise, blazed the tracks of Laguna Seca in a Skylanders-themed race car on September 12-13. “SuperCharged” Chilton shattered Tony Kaanan's 1997 track record in the qualifying race, broke the race lap record set by Helio Castroneves in 1996 and ended the season on the Indy Lights podium for Carlin. Skylanders also “SuperCharged” Enea Bastianini from the Gresini Racing Team to take the win at the San Marino and Riviera di Rimini GP in Italy, his first career victory in the Moto 3 World Championship.  Bastianini will take to the track again in his Skylanders SuperChargers-branded race suit at the Aragon Grand Prix in Spain on September 25-27. 

Skylanders SuperChargers Starter Pack will include two new Skylanders characters, a first-of-its-kind Skylanders vehicle, a newly designed Portal of Power® and the full AAA game. Skylanders SuperChargers will be available for the PlayStation^® 3 and PlayStation^® 4 computer entertainment systems, Xbox 360^™ and Xbox One^™ video game and entertainment systems from Microsoft, and Nintendo’s Wii U^™ system for $74.99 MSRP.  As a bonus for Nintendo purchasers, that console's game packs some extra star power as it includes two of Nintendo’s iconic characters reimagined as Skylanders -- Turbo Charge Donkey Kong and Hammer Slam Bowser -- available exclusively in Skylanders SuperChargers Starter Packs for the Wii U system, and in
Skylanders® SuperChargers Racing Starter Packs for the Wii system and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.

Skylanders SuperChargers Dark Edition Starter Packs also will be available in North America on September 20 for $99.99 MSRP. All Dark Edition Starter Packs will include Dark Spitfire, Dark Hot Streak and the highly sought after Kaos Trophy which is the only way to unlock special gameplay content, plus a two-sided ultimate collector poster. The Dark versions of the Turbo Charge Donkey Kong and his vehicle, Barrel Blaster, will be available in the Wii U Dark Edition Starter Pack; Dark Hammer Slam Bowser and his vehicle, Dark Clown Cruiser, will be available in the Wii Dark Edition Starter Pack.

Skylanders SuperChargers Racing, a complementary racing experience, will be available on September 20 for Nintendo’s Wii™ system for $74.99 MSRP and the Nintendo 3DS™ hand-held system for $64.99 MSRP. The addition of Donkey Kong and Bowser as guest stars in the new game, along with their specially created vehicles, will be available exclusively in Skylanders SuperChargers and Skylanders SuperChargers Racing Starter Packs for the Nintendo platforms. The SuperCharged characters not only work in Skylanders SuperChargers, but will also work with select amiibo-compatible Nintendo games with a simple twist of the character’s base. 

Fans of the Skylanders franchise can also choose to purchase the Digital Portal Owner’s Pack, available on September 21 for $49.99 MSRP for connected consoles, and use the Portal of Power they already own to play Skylanders SuperChargers. The download of the Digital Portal Owner’s Pack provides a great way for returning players to enjoy Skylanders SuperChargers on the platform of their choice. On October 25, the full Skylanders SuperChargers game will also be available on select iOS devices including iPad®, and for the first time ever iPhone® and iPod touch®.  Skylanders SuperChargers will also be available on Apple TV® this fall.

Play DONKEY KONG for FREE on your Internet Browser

I'm dating myself but when I was a kid the new high-tech toy was going to the arcade in my hometown to play DONKEY KONG.  I spent a fortune in quarters jumping barrels trying to rescue the lovely Pauline. This game featured the first appearance of Mario who later rose to fame with the video game Super Marion Brothers, for its time had better gameplay than the other games out at that time and was the best selling arcade machine of the early 80s.  As we play Playstation 4 in our living room, my kids don't believe me that when I was a child we had to go to places to play video games rather than just sit on your own coach and turn on the tv.  I try to use Chuck E. Cheese to explain it to them but that pizza chain has really become more about mechanical rides and skee ball than video games so they didn't really get the connection. Oh how the times have changed, but I still have fond memories of warm summer evenings watching the neon lights flicker on the video screen as I took on the evil Donkey Kong trying to save the day.

Nintendo who produced the game and owns its rights to boost its home video game platform sales so far has been reluctant to allow its classic games like Donkey Kong and Super Mario Brothers to turned into apps that can be played on smart phones and tablets.  That is a bummer but probably helping me stay productive and not losing track of time while dodging barrels and grabbing coins on my phone's screen all the time.  You can though now play DONKEY KONG for FREE on your Internet Browser by visiting ArcadeYum.com.

Time warp back to the 1980s with this online game that provides the basic controls of left-right-up-down and jump as you try to make your way up the construction site to rescue your kidnapped girlfriend from the dreaded Donkey Kong.  Here's a screen capture of a game I recently played on my PC on the AracadeYum website.  Note you have to use Flash to be able to play the game but this may work on some tablets and phones that have compatibility.

CLICK HERE to play DONKEY KONG!

Be aware that ArcadeYum doesn't charge any money for you to play the games on their website but they do download some software that allows them to target you with advertisements when you are online. I've found that if you click this link the website doesn't download this software but if you visit this link it won't allow you to play without downloading the software.  For more information about ArcadeYum's software downloads, what they do and how to remove them, click here.  So far I haven't seen the ArcadeYum software listed on my computer or seen any advertisements generated by it so I think you're clean if you use the flash version of the game in the first link I posted. Just be alert to click cancel or no if you are prompted to download anything when you visit this website unless you are OK with receiving advertisements from them and having some of your Internet browsing habits tracked.

There really is a Fix It Felix Jr video game!

Growing up in the 80's one of my biggest thrills was a trip to the local arcade and playing the high-tech 8-bit games of the time, like Donkey Kong, Burger Time, Q-bert, and Pacman, with their neon blinking lights and chirping sound effects that left us kids in awe and amazement.  My favorite video game of the time was Popeye which I spent hours upon hours playing with dollars upon dollars of quarters.  You played the famous comic strip sailerman trying to grab the hearts thrown out by your love Olive Oyl as the bully Bluto chases after you trying to knock your block off.  But if you gained enough points and grabbed a can of spinach you could super punch Bluto off the screen and keep him from kidnapping your beloved Olive Oyl.  Compared to today's three dimensional high definition games that you can play online against dozens of people who can be located anywhere in the world at once Popeye is really "old school" but it is still one of my favorite games of all time and I have really fond memories of those arcade visits of my youth.  I really wish someone would make an adaption for my Ipad or Iphone of Popeye like they've done for Pacman and Frogger. Unfortunately, Popeye is a Nintendo creation which at the moment won't publish their games, like Donkey Kong & Super Mario Brothers, for smartphones and tablets because they see it as competition to their own game counsel business.

I rented the Disney movie Wreck It Ralph and watched it with my kids last night.  The movie brought back a lot of nostalgia for those arcade games of my youth.  In the movie Ralph is the bad guy in an arcade game called "Fix It Felix Jr" which is celebrating its 30th anniversary thus putting it's origination at around the time period games like Popeye and Donkey Kong were popular.  Ralph "wrecks" an apartment building in the game and throws bricks at Felix Jr, the "hero" of the game who fixes the damage caused by "Wreck it Ralph" with a magic hammer. "Wreck it Ralph" becomes tired of being overshadowed by Felix Jr. and being treated poorly by the other characters in the game so he sets out to turn himself from "villain" to "hero" in which the movie's adventures ensue.  For more about the movie visit the official Disney site  http://disney.go.com/wreck-it-ralph/  

 While watching Wreck it Ralph my kids were asking me if they could get the "Fix It Felix Jr." video game to play. I smiled and told them I didn't think it existed and was just a part of the movie but curiously typed "Wreck it Ralph" into the Apple app store search feature on my Ipad.  Low and behold what did appear? The "Fix it Felix Jr." video game did exist and it was available for FREE on the app store!  Disney has recreated the "Fix It Felix Jr." game from the movie in all its 8-bit graphics glory.  My kids and I have had a blast playing  it this weekend ... I guess you can go back to the arcade again! I really enjoyed sharing an experience with my children that was similar to my own childhood experiences where we all had fun playing together.  Whether or not you grew up in the Pacman/Donkey Kong generation I think anyone will have a good time trying out this fun retro themed video game.

CLICK HERE to download the "Fix it Felix Jr." video game from the Wreck it Ralph movie.

I'm an ios guy with iphone, ipad & itouch mobile devices so most of my posts about tech stuff will have Apple app store links ... that doesn't mean there aren't similar apps for androids, windows, etc just means I may not have looked for them.