Spyro the Dragon returns

As hinted at earlier this week, Activision has announced a major crossover between the toy and video games sectors with a brand new title featuring the iconic Spyro the Dragon.

Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, which is due out the autumn, will target the 6-12 year old market with a game that ties in a range of 31 action figures. When the game is being played these figures can be placed on a plastic perch and will then appear in the game as a fully animated character.

The toys themselves will keep track of the achievements earned by a player in-game, presumably so the same powered up character can be played on a friend’s machine.

Shrek character designer Tom Hester, composer Hans Zimmer (who most recently penned the Inception score) and screenwrites Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen have been recruited to work on the title.

"These are toys with brains," Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshbergsaid today in New York, as reported by USA Today. "The combination brings together the imagination that toys have always unleashed with kids, and the imaginary world of a video game.

"It’s got a whole universe of characters and an incredible backstory and a number of different ways to interact with it. Usually franchises take years to develop the kind of universe that we will have day one."

A ‘Starter Pack’ SKU will be available including the game, three figures, a plastic ‘portal’ and trading cards. It will be available on multiple formats including consoles, PC, mobile and handhelds.