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The New York Toy Fair is well under way with a whole host of licensed movie and TV cash-ins making parents everywhere nervously anticipate the new wave of summer blockbuster fads, must-own action figures, gadgets and games set to empty wallets with a relentless fury. If, on the other hand, you have no kids and are like us a big kid yourself – the Toy Fair is a treasure trove! Between our “serious” news the Gadget Helpline will be dipping in and out of the comings and goings in NYC to bring you a few of the best gadget-based toys coming out of the event this week. In today’s feature we’ll tell you a bit about Mattel’s plans to launch a cool range of app and physical toy crossover games, which boasts a few of our favourite licenses – and it’s called Apptivity.

After becoming the talk of the Toy Fair by revealing it will in fact be making a working replica of the Back to the Future II Hoverboard, Mattel took to the trade show floor to show off this very innovative gadget gaming system which combines the fun of playing with action figures with playing a tablet-based app game. Apptivity requires an iPad and one or more physical figurines, based on a range of popular brands including Fruit Ninja, Angry Birds and WWE (Digital Brand of the Year 2011). Each Apptivity bundle will come with a figure, an attachable touch sensitive base and access to an app game for the Apple tablet. Once all three are united, kids (and grown-ups!) can enjoy a variety of games based on the character.

For example, the physical figure of the Sensei from Fruit Ninja, which was used to demonstrate the prototype Apptivity game at the show, can be pushed around a gaming surface which is displayed on the iPad’s touchscreen. With the touch base of the model interacting with the action on screen, the Sensei can push fruits and bombs into an opponent via the moving on-screen conveyor belt. Mattel also showed off a range of mini wrestlers based on the characters of WWE and also a green pig from popular app game Angry Birds.

Can we expect the Angry Birds figurines to maybe replace the on-screen birds and pigs in the game? These sets will be followed-up by a number of lucrative licenses which were teased at the Toy Fair, including The Dark Knight Rises, Hot Wheels and um.. Barbie. The Apptivity packs are set for a May release in the United States, costing $20 (However, we’re not sure if this price applies to single figurine packs or the multipacks as show below).

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Image Source: The Verge