Heya, everyone`s favorite friendly neighborhood Cloudman here with another topic related to NFC figures, a sort of part 2 to my current avatar picture if you will. In case some users come at a later date and miss the reference, the picture in question is a mock-up picture of a Bomberman amiibo. A few people may know that Bomberman is one of my favorite video game characters, as Black Bomber was my first avatat picture before I dawned the tags and went completely traditional with my drawn pictures. I really like him and his games, and having a Bomberman amiibo would make me really happy, but seeing as Konami owns the rights to the franchise, it seems my dream will never become a reality... : ( But at this rate, I am rambling. So let`s get to the point of this topic!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEoYE2KAcbs

Topic music go!

So, it`s no secret that a current trend in the game industry is starting to pick up a lot of steam, as more and more companies are adapting the idea and making their own products with it. What am I talking about? (Why you gotta do this everytime Cloud..? Just spill it!) I`m talking about NFC figurines! For example, there is Activision`s Skylander game, which was one of the first games to adopt this technology. They released several sets of toys of it and all of them can be used in the Skylanders games as plyable characters. It seems to have been a success, as other companies are trying their hand at this slowly growing market...

Toys that do more than just sit on your desk and look pretty...!

Following suit, Disney tried than own hand in this new `Toy to Life` market, Disney Infinity. It is similar to the Skylanders series, using their own iconic DIsney characters, along with Marvel Super Heroes and soon Star Wars characters. They have their own unique feature along with being playable characters in their game. The toy box mode allows players to make their own worlds, using the playset figurines to unlock pieces to use in making their own ultimate cross over worlds of different Disney worlds. Disney was not the only one, as Nintendo too entered the NFC ring, first with the pokemon rumble toys, and currently, their Amiibo line of toys. While the pokemon toys share mostly a similar function as its predecessors, it`s the Amiibo line of toys that wishes to take the idea even further. Rather than focus them strickly to one game, they aim to make them function with several different games, acting as a sort of extra bonus among different games, 1st and 3rd party. Not only that, but they aim to expand the items as well, using cards as well as the Yoshi plush dolls to act as NFC items.

All Aboard the Toy Train! Choo choo......!

And this surprising thing about it, is it hasn`t ended here. Not long ago, Lego announced they too will enter the stage, with their own set of scannable lego figurine toys, called Lego Dimenions. It seems with more companies joining in, it`s possible that we will see even more of this coming from other companies. So this comes back to my main question in the title: Should Sony or Microsoft give the `Toy to Life` trend a shot? Would that sound cool to you to get figures of your favorite characters interacting on their own game, or different games, or would you rather they stay out of this and focus purely on games? (We don`t need baby things on our consoles anyways...) Share your thoughts below! : )

Also, this is mainly aimed and Sony and MS fans, so I would prefer it those user bases answer this question. However, if you have a Sony and/or MS console, or have your own thougths to share on the matter, feel free. : )

Thanks for reading... : )

And which characters does microsoft have besides masterchief, banjo, kazooie and marcus fenix? The viva piñata ones?

I wouldn't be surprised if Minecraft added NFC figurines in the future.

How about Banjo Kazooie? Or Battletoads too. And I think it`s fair for them to use Minecraft characters too, since they own that now.

EDIT: Dude, you ninja`d me ; )

Sony could do it, especially if they can pull in characters from movies to expend on this.

They could make one which has third party characters but idk if that will go to well

They could but I'd be inclined to say no, mostly since I feel there's already enough going around as is, too much of a good thing isn't always good, it would become oversaturated if anything.

Would definitely love a Masterchief/retro game character NFC's though.

I could see Sony and Microsoft trying to pick up on amiibo, and make their own figurines, kinda like how they tried to pick up on Wii's motion controls and made PlayStation Move, and Kinect, respectively.

I'm not sure if the reception would be as great, and it probably wouldn't be as successful.

Maybe, it could end up either way, with increased saturation of this market

They'll need to start a new franchise if they want success in the sector. None of their current mascots are enough to make big waves in the market.