Upcoming Skylanders game Trap Team will see a simultaneous release on both consoles and tablets, according to Activision. The full Skylanders Trap Team game will be available on the iPad when it is released in North America on October 5, marking the first time a complete Skylanders game has been made available on Apple's tablet.
Trap Team on the iPad will offer the same gameplay experience as the console version, with high-quality graphics and a dedicated Bluetooth controller that will be sold alongside the app in a Skylanders Trap Team Tablet Starter Pack. The Traptanium Portal controller will come with a built-in tablet stand, two Skylanders characters, two Traps, and a display tray that "lets Portal Masters keep track of the Traps they've collected and which villains they have trapped."
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While the game has been designed to take advantage of the included controller, players are also able to play Trap Team using on-screen touch controls. Third-party controllers will work with Trap Team as well.
As described by our sister site TouchArcade, the Skylanders line of action-adventure oriented games meld toys with virtual games, asking players to purchase little plastic figurines that sport NFC chips. These chips allow the physical characters to be imported into the video game through a plastic mat called the "Portal of Power."
Trap Team takes place after Skylanders: Swap Force, with players taking on the role of Portal Master to use Trap Masters and traps to re-capture all of the villains that escaped during the previous game.
The Skylanders Trap Team Tablet Starter Pack will be available beginning on October 5, and will retail for $74.99. It can also be pre-ordered from Amazon.com.
Update 3:10 PM PT: The controller included in the Skylanders Trap Team tablet bundle only works with the Trap Team app and is unable to work with other third party apps.
Top Rated Comments
This reminds me of the ubfunkeys my son begged me to buy him at great expense for a game that never really worked. After a few hours of trying to get the USB keys to jibe with the game, we gave up and never looked at it again. Cost=$100 ; entrtainment value = 25 cents.
I'd rather use the c-note to light the campfire than buy any more of these ripoff gimmicks.
-iamthinking
Honestly, the support is already out there for regular old Bluetooth controllers. My jailbroken iPhone can use them, plus Wiimotes too. There's no need for Apple's own standard. It just makes things way, way more expensive.
I'm pleased you've said this because that's always one thing that confused me, and it's answered my question (sort of!). I don't understand why a Bluetooth PS3 controller can work perfectly fine on a Mac/PC but somehow is completely incompatible when it comes to iOS devices.It's not even like Apple are manufacturing these MFI controllers. What on Earth do they have to lose for adding compatibility with 360/PS3 controllers? It would mean that people can use the hardware they already have, and in turn will encourage developers to create apps which utilises this pre-established, huge hardware business -- thus giving Apple more business/limelight in the process, and increasing the gaming platform on their iOS devices.
Is there something obvious in this argument that I've overlooked, or ...? :(
If the controller is a standard MFi controller, it'll be cheapest one yet. I wonder how quality it's construction is...
most game controllers aren't really super high quality. They aren't laser carved out of a block of Aluminum with diamond chamfered edges etc. They are plastic and probably cost about $10 to make. But sell for 5 times that. This is merely in line with it.
What is more important is that a console level game is going to be released on the iOS system. That's rather huge. Especially so quick for at least an announcement. This tells us that the companies are embracing the whole Metal thing. Hopefully we will see more of this. Like Disney Infinity, perhaps some early Nintendo, Steam etc. It would also be great to see Myst and Riven updated as they still rather lack what the computer games had. Perhaps even ports of some of the other classics like the Kings Quest series and those cheesy "Carmen SanDiego" games. Really no excuse at this point on the tech side.