Skylanders might have more insane competition in the near future. The upcoming Wii U Pokémon game coming out in Japan will have the same sort of toy accessories that Skylanders has been known for, only with mega-popular Pokémon characters.

Recently I’ve spent quite a bit of time comparing Skylanders Swap Force and Disney Infinity of late, but one area I’d not considered in detail was their co-operative features. What better place than Co-Optimus to get to grips with what these two toy-meets-game titles have to offer.

The upcoming Skylanders SWAP Force has a host of new improvements and additions to the previous two titles.  Players will be able to create 256 different character combinations from the 16 new bifurcated figures. There will also be 16 new Skylanders, eight LightCore Skylanders, and 16 returning Skylanders. There's also the ground breaking new gameplay function that allows characters to jump! Seriously. If you've played the game you know how big of a deal this is.

Yesterday evening I headed down to the NASDAQ building in Times Square for an exclusive first look at the newly announced Skylanders SWAP Force. I am sad to report that if Skylanders has its hooks in you (or your kids or your wallet), SWAP Force will likely just drive them deeper in. The new skylanders and brand new mechanic introduced with SWAP Force look just as addicting, if not more so.

Skylanders Giants is one of the co-op successes of last year selling more copies than the proverbial hot cakes.  However, 2012 already feels like a long time ago and we need fresh blood.  The fantastic news is that Giants is getting this blood in the form of killer whale Thumpback and "oh no, my eyeball" Eye-Brawl.

Skylanders Giants is the sequel to the insanely popular Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. Beneath all the new action figures, inter-connectivity, PC mini-games, and Portals of Power, there's an actual game to play. Find out if it's worth playing in our Co-Op Review.

A new Skylanders game has hit the store shelves. Here's everything you need to know to keep your co-op partners happy, be they children, siblings, friends, significant others, or spouses. Co-Op tip: Buy a second "Giant" character immediately. This will preempt a lot of fights.  

More Skylanders figures are heading our way. The new Skylanders Giants game will be out this October. It will launch on every conceivable system and require parents to buy even more of the lovely little action figures for their children. Okay, you can use your old figures in Giants, but trust me, your kids are going to require you to buy more.

Skylanders Giants will be invading our homes on October 21st. The insanely popular franchise is back with a vengeance this year, and it has been super-sized for our buying pleasure. The action figure-based video game will feature eight new Giant Skylanders, eight new regular sized Skylanders, eight Light Core figures, and an assortment of reposed favorites from the original Skylanders. I've heard (or read) anywhere between eight and all 32 original characters will be getting the "reposed" Series 2 treatment. All that adds up to a lot of broke parents this holiday season.  

Skylanders fans, get ready for more adventures, more figures, and less money in your wallet. Skylanders Giants will introduce over 40 new figures to your plastic powerhouse stable, and you need them all. I spoke at length with an Activision rep while playing the new Skylanders title. Here's what I found out: 

One of the phenomenons of 2011 was Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.  It sold like hot buns, if hot buns were made of plastic and found in toy shops.  Activision are on to another winner and this is one company that knows how to milk a cash cow, hence we have already been told about the upcoming Skylander Giants range, but we are also finding out about new characters being added to the original toys.   Please welcome; Lightening Rod, Zook and Sunburn.

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.  Surprise, surprise, Activision has just announced Skylanders Giants, the follow-up to the incredibly successful Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.  This new game is offering bigger and better toys, as well as a whole new digital quest.  Before you freak out:  yes, all of your original Skylanders figures will work with the new game, along with all of their upgrades and XP.  No, you don't need a new Portal of Power.  Got it?  Good.

Domain name registrations often give away the titles of upcoming games and other properties. To that end, the super sleuths at Fusible have dug up a spicy bit of news: Activision just registered a ton of Skylanders domains. From these we discover that the next Skylanders game will very likely be called Skylanders Giants.

As mentioned in our List of Black Friday Co-op Deals, Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure will be on sale at Kmart and Hastings for $49.99 this Friday. But the crowds will be thick on that Blackest of Fridays, and maybe you don’t have one of these stores nearby anyway. Thankfully Amazon has come to the rescue, offering Skylanders at the same price all week long. But that's not all...

Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure is one of the most unusual games I've ever played. It is much more than just a game; it is a media juggernaut including a toyline, an adventure game on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii, a platformer for the 3DS, and even a light MMO on the PC or Mac. The various components work together seamlessly due to the innovative design of the toys themselves. It is incredibly polished, and it's clear that careful thought was given to even the smallest details.