WowWee Toys, the guys who first brought you the Robosapien into your homes are now going to release an all new light gun/laser tag system called 'Light Strike'. Due for an August 2011 launch, these new innovative blasters will be bringing back all of the things we've
(we being me and a few mates of mine that are equally as old and nostalgic) grown to love with Laser Tag, while adding some pretty schmick updated features that Hasbro SHOULD have done with their Lazer Tag Phoenix LTX line. LOTS more after the jump.
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| Pistol style Striker. Images courtesy of WowWee |
The Light Strike 'Strikers' are quite slim lined (they're compared to the Paperjamz style because they're quite decorative on the sides, but on their rim they're quite plain but it doesn't look like they're actually MADE of cardboard). Each blaster has a "colour ID" that allows you to customise your colour, depending on what team you're on, and you can have up to four teams playing at the same time, with no limit on the amount of players per each team. The game system is heavily customisable; you can adjust and set the blaster to perform the way you like it (mainly for things like handicaps and all against lesser skilled players).It also uses "touch tech" which is WowWee's name for biometric finger print identification. If it's just to activate the blaster that's pretty useless, but if it automatically customises the blaster to the feature set for that player.. that admittedly WOULD BE COOL.
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| The Assault Striker. Images courtesy of Wow Wee |
Strikers come in two different varieties- the original Striker is a pistol style blaster, but where things get cool is the Assault Striker- which is the larger rifle style blaster that you can customise more with attachments. From what I've seen, there are also plans to release different shells for these blasters; I've seen up to three different designs which i HOPE was not just design sketches but for actual release.
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| Image of the blaster designs.. if they all came out.. SIIIIIK |
The very cool thing is the attachments are more than just for aesthetics.. they're actually useful attachments that can customise your blaster
(sorry, 'Striker') to your playing style. This IS what makes the Light Strike system so exciting and the thing Nerf N-Strike lovers would be drooling over; for instance a tracking device called the "Detector/Enemy Scanner" to locate your opposition:
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| Enemy Scanner attaches to your Assault Striker |
grenade launchers(
known as the "Refractor Launch System") for multiple simultaneous hits
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| Refractor Launch System attaches to your Assault Striker |
machine gun with bipod (
the "Rapid Fire System" with recoil) and
a sniper scope that ACTUALLY does increase your Striker's firing range and accuracy with a LED firing system
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| A scope that ACTUALLY gives you sniper abilities! |
For around 40 bucks a blaster, this is sounding pretty sweet indeed. For this level of customisation AND functionality, Light Strike is no doubt going to make Wow Wee a serious contender for the top Laser Tag system (
well admittedly there's not a whole lot of competition!)
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| Light Strike Targets. |
It's nice seeing other manufacturers embracing a possible Laser Tag revival. Laser Tag itself is nothing new; it's been around since the very late 70's, gained most of its popularity during the 80's, and sorta refused to stay dead even though most commercial game centres went bust and people became more excited about projectile toys. I've always been a fan since I was a kid (
where I could only watch on from a far because I could never afford it) till now
(when I can afford it but noone wants to play cos it's not very cool).
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| Told you it'd come back.. |
To date, I personally found the best blasters to be the discontinued Hasbro Lazer Tag line which is what I own the most of; I got pretty excited over the new
Ubi Soft Battle Tag until I saw A) the price and B) lack of Australian distribution and now, I'm VERY interested in these Light Strike blasters. August WILL be a very interesting month for me no doubt:)
Wow! I wonder what that will cost.
ReplyDeleteRRP for the Assault Striker is said to be around 40 bucks US.. which is reasonable?
ReplyDeleteI'll admit I haven't been interested in much laser tag outside of the various Lazer Force arena we have in Brisbane.
ReplyDeleteThe reason is compatibility. There are a few laser tag brands out there, from the official Lazer Tag to generics...but they all work differently. Some need vests, might use different wavelengths of light, some have time/score/ammo counters and others just deactivate for 20 seconds whenever an IR beam hits them.
What I mean is, I doubt any work 'across brands'. If I spend $25 on an LTX Phoenix, and Joe down the road buys a Light Striker, one of us has to fork out for another, compatible blaster, or not play. This really hinders being able to have larger battles without going to a Lazer Force arena or the laser skirmish places.
It's far easier to organise a Nerf war (or a water fight) - everyone just brings what they have, and as long as it's firing foam (or water), there are essentially no compatibility issues, even if someone has the latest Stampede while others rely on an Air Zone pistol.
AWESOME! I agree, this IS what Hasbro should've done with their lazer tag blasters. That Enemy Detector is CRAZY AWESOME! I can't wait for these things!
ReplyDeleteYes, they would have me totally sold... if the "Strikers" had weren't just a box decorated on both sides. The features are quite impressive, and this system might have gone beyond laser tag to challenge N-Strike itself and the other foam blasters... if the sides actually had depth. A huge disappointment for me.
ReplyDeleteI WANT I WANT I WANT I WANT I WANT I WANT!!!!!!
ReplyDeletewhat they really need with all the units from all different manufacturers is compatibility or standardization for instance if they implement the old irda standard and stick to it every single laser blaster unit of any brand would work with each other the downside is cross platform sales and also means minor revenue loss
ReplyDeleteApart from the stickered-type detail look, and the lack of detail on the other parts, AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteLike you said, this is what the LTX blaster should have been like. I used to have them and loved them as a kid, but these Laser Strike blasters really blow them away with the different blaster modes and attachments and whatnot.
ReplyDeleteIt is rather cool looking, but unfortunately, I don't care for at-home laser tag games anymore. If I want to play laser tag, I'll just go to UltraZone. They might have just one kind of blaster, but there's just something about playing in a dark foggy arena with music pumping than outside in a tiny backyard.
If you look in the background in the video at around 1:04, you can see the alien-style assault striker. So I don't think they are just a design sketch (I sure hope they aren't).
ReplyDeleteWHEN DO THEY COME OUT!!!!!
ReplyDeletei wonder how well the motion detector works? and if you could apply it to dart guns by modding it?
ReplyDeleteUh? pocket, did you realize that the accessories you have picture of are not the same ones the guy uses in the video? the only one that looks almost the same is the machine gun, the Grenade launcher looks completely different as well as the detector and the scope.
ReplyDeleteOK where are the sensors? On the tagger? Vest? Range of 30ft? Well I can increase the range no problem but little can be done about a bad sensor design
ReplyDeleteTrue, do you have to use a vest? that would be horrible. Some players need to move around without something strapped to their chest. Hopefully the hit zone is on the gun. And another thing, yes there are 4 teams, but can every one just go completely solo? If they get rid of the good old free for all I think ill just write a letter to hasbro and persuade them to come out with attachments. This is a tricky situation.
ReplyDeleteI think (or rather, hope) that there are both chest sensors and gun sensors. That way, no one can hide just their gun and poke their head out to see the other person and be invincible, and no one can hide their chest sensor or put their hand over it while firing. I think this new system has a LOT of potential and I cannot wait. I've always wanted customizable lazer tag guns.
ReplyDeleteanybody know how much the accesorries will cost??? Pocket Esq???
ReplyDeletewho knows as long as there a low price and cool that's fine with me i just want the mid-sized laser rifle.
ReplyDeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteDon't worry ... the final products look WAY better than those samples you see :-)
hi
ReplyDeletei wasn't actually a fan of laser tag until i saw this but are the guns really as good as they say or is it just a another gimmick. also when will they be available around here? cheers:)
yeah i know. since the light strike things are about to be released,i have tried saving my money for them(so far i've failed)and besides i think the price for them is perfect:)
ReplyDeleteNo they are not a gimmick they are AWESOME! but the enemy scanner doesnt work that well u have to hold the gun almost to where they are holding it but one thing i didnt know about them is that it increases the damage of EVERYTHING! Trust me i have one
ReplyDelete