Skylanders Swap Force announced

It's a new year so you know what we need: a new game in each major franchise! Actually, Skylanders Swap Force does sound like an interesting upgrade to Activision's $500 million-grossing collectible toy-video game-thing, introducing characters whose parts can be switched and swapped to customise their powers.

Swap Force introduces 16 new characters and toys whose top and bottom halves can be mixed and matched, changing their powers and moves, in 256 combinations. It adds the ability to jump too, which seems handy. Characters from Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure and Skylanders Giants will work fine with Swap Force too, also learning how to jump.

Activision's light announcement today didn't mention platforms, but it's likely Swap Force will follow in the footsteps of Giants, which came in Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Wii U editions. Vicarious Visions is stepping up from handling Skylanders ports to being the main developer.

"The idea that kids can customize their own characters in the physical world, and have their unique combinations recognized in the virtual world, is an idea as big as the concept of bringing toys to life itself," Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said.

So we know what one of those four recent Skylanders domain registrations is, then.

Swappity swap-swap