[Update] Activision has since released a few new details and a huge batch of screenshots for Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, which you can see over here. [End of Update]

A report on USA Today has uncovered news of a new game currently in development based on the cult-classic character action-based franchise, Spyro the Dragon, with a line of toys and action figures also in the works with a dual-purpose use in mind – augmented reality!

Entitled Skylanders: Spyros’s Adventure, this new game from Activision will continue the adventures of Spyro and the world filled with its eclectic cast of characters, and will become available later this year on multiple platforms. No details have yet been revealed about what specifically we’ll be getting up to in the game, but we do know what we’ll be doing in concert with the virtual experience.

As mentioned, a line of Spyro action figures will be released alongside the launch of the videogame featuring over 30 characters from the world of Spyro, and while playing the game you’ll be able to place an action figure on a provided stand, or ‘portal,’ and that character will appear in-game, complete with the ability to control it.

As you make use of that character in the game, you’ll level it up and improve its abilities and statistics, but these improvements won’t be limited to your own game. The action figure will record your progress in memory, allowing you to take that toy to someone else’s game with all of the accumulated stats in tact.

Currently, Activision has provided a tentative $70 price-point for Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, which will include three toys, a ‘portal’ stand, and trading cards – all as a starter pack. You’ll then need to buy additional toys (and portals, presumably) to get more in-game characters.

“We definitely wanted to take Spyro to next level,” said Activision Blizzard’s CEO of Publishing, Eric Hirshberg. “But when you see the lineup of toys together, you will understand this has gone way beyond Spyro. This has become an ensemble cast.”

“It’s got a whole universe of characters and an incredible backstory and a number of different ways to interact with it,” Hirshberg continued. “Usually franchises take years to develop the kind of universe that we will have Day 1.”

According to the USA Today report, Activision has employed the help of Hollywood talent to bring Spyro’s world to this next level, including Tom Hester (Shrek character designer), Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen (Toy Story screenwriters) and Hans Zimmer (Inception composer, amongst others).

With this reveal, it’s clear now that Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure and the supporting line-up of toys is the cross-media entertainment property that both Hirshberg and Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick referred to earlier this week during the company’s investor call and financial report respectively.

Source: USA Today