Nerf Vortex: Well and truly here down under

I was pretty impressed on my travels to manage to pick up some Nerf Vortex blasters from Nashville of all places; I mailed it to myself so that I'd not have to cart them around and have them waiting for me when I got home. Ironically, I didn't probably need to do that (and probably got shafted a lil with shipping) as sure enough, the full Vortex range has been popping up all over the shop all over Australia. I've been receiving emails and reports of them appearing in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Canberra- originally rather sporadically but then more and more sightings had me rather sheepish that I just went to such lengths to import 'em from the US!

A stroll today in my local Westfield in Belconnen, Canberra had me very impressed with the availability. Target, Toys R Us and KMart all stocked the full line up, with Target proving to be the cheapest, but either way all three stores had the Nitron for 79.95- cheaper than the RRP I've seen advertised elsewhere. Reports of them also appearing in Big W's and Toyworlds mean it's a clean sweep that we're not only getting the full line up, but we're getting them in bulk and getting them early! (Big W has the Nitron for 70 atm)

It's quite an amazing time for Nerf in Australia- Sure we missed out on Dart Tag blasters, but to get such a good haul so early in the piece- 9-10-11 or not, no doubt these Vortex blasters are going to be doing Nerf some serious $$$!

Nerf Vortex: new promo @ Walmart.com

More intel from our man Jason B, check out the new listings on walmart.com for the upcoming Nerf Vortex blasters; there's a mad lil' video if you scroll down that really puts the "Vortex vs N-Strike" question in your face:) As always, everyone in the vid's.. older and chiselled:) Not like the Nerf wars I've seen.. they must do something different in the US;P

Walmart.com: NERF Vortex Praxis: Outdoor Play

Nerf Whiteout Series: More spotted @ Walmart

I saw these while on my travels (whoo.. Walmart.. such a novelty for me!) but one of our readers has sent through an impressive couple of pics that shows the Nerf Whiteout series are well and truly States-side. We love the Whiteout series. Totally:)

 Thanks James for the pics!

Nerf Whiteout Series: Darts spotted @ Walmart

Unfortunately I haven't spotted these myself on my travels, but sent to us; spotted in a Walmart in the "middle of nowhere". Thanks for the intel Jason!

Nerf Dart Tag League: Draft day

Nerf have finally revealed draft picks for the much anticipated draft of the Nerf Dart Tag League Championships in Orlando, Florida. Several of our readers have received the call; a warm shout out to Mark Cruz who's one of the successful ones who're on their way to Orlando Florida to compete! Mark's also set up his own blog to cover is experiences- whatthenerf.blogspot.com.  Best of luck to you mate!

We are coincidentally going to be in Orlando at the same time as the Championships and would very much like to check it out for you all, but at this point in time we're not getting a whole lot of response from Nerf or their PR peeps so it may be an opportunity gone begging m'fraid! Either way, if you are a successful draftee, let us know how you fare, we'd love to hear from you!

Nerf Vortex: Officially.. ready:)

The Nerf Vortex site is now live on Hasbro.com; it continues with Nerf's marketing trend of using older models with these guys actually look the oldest we've seen to date (although they may merely suffer from "American TV show highschool teenager syndrome" where 16yo's are represented by 25yos). All the official information is there although if you're a fan of Nerf and not living under a rock for the past few months, chances are you already know everything there is to know:) 

What's interesting is they seem to have done away with the 9-10-11 countdown marketing spiel; while I never want to be presumptuous and think it's because of all of the product leaks, but it does seem to be a really odd thing to be hyping something up for months and then... dismiss it a month early? "Get ready! Get Ready! It's coming... Ge...PSYCH! here already!!":P

Speaking of which, an interesting post on the Nerf Nation Facebook page:

This is what we'd be calling "embracing the leak". Rather than going into denial and getting angry, it looks like Hasbro have opted to act like the whole early release was almost deliberate. Conspiracy theorists (wow, we even get them in Nerf land) have suggested to me that they're using the post to "flush out" where all of the leaks occurred, but I'm really not convinced that there is really a point to that; one would think a company that was so large and on the ball would know exactly where their distribution channels are pointing and when. 

On the whole, they're a toy company and their job is to promote and sell the hell out of as many units as possible so.. whatever works really:)

On a final note, it's great to see that the Australian Nerf site has FINALLY updated their content; admittedly  they're still using the old Nerf N-Strike Raider graphics on the front page, BUT they've add the current line of blasters to the products,as well as included RRP and descriptors (no pics yet) of the Vortex line. 

Nerf Vortex via Hasbro.com

Nerf Nation via Facebook

Nerf (Australia) via Hasbro (Australia)

Nerf Scout IX-3: Now in N-Strike colours (Pic Spam)

An aesthetic fan favourite, the Scout IX-3 is a single shooter that looks fantastic due to its design but is difficult to obtain unless you're wanting to pick up a Titan + Hornet as well, as it generally only comes with the Unity Power System. I've heard rumours of them being sold individually but haven't been able to verify that; one thing I can now verify now is the existence of this Scout IX-3 dual pack, featuring all new N-Strike colours.

I admit I do like them in the red, but if you wanna coordinate your blasters, this is the way to do it. Pics after the jump.

YouTube: XBox Kinnect + Swarmfire = coolness

It was bound to happen:) What happens when you connect a Nerf Dart Tag Swarmfire with a Microsoft XBox 360 Kinnect.. Thanks to Jason B or the lead!

Nerf Vortex: Test fire and Range tests vids

So we did our best to do some range test vids for y'all in a very short period of time. Neil and I hit my apartment block's underground carpark and measured out 60 ft- The full length of the tape measure we used was just over 26 feet. Sooo.. to the last/furthest witches hat cone was 60 ft. Given it's an underground carpark, there's next to no wind making it down there, and from what I could tell, Neil was shooting pretty much straight on (he's a lot taller than I!)  

Basically, all of the four Vortex blasters made the 60ft range, some even exceeding. That being said, accuracy goes down pretty much after you pass the 40ft mark, so with the vids where I'm standing at the 60ft mark, I don't think Neil hit me once (and it's not because he's a bad shot or anything!)

Neil got so excited he dropped his load

We plan to do more in future, but I alas had some serious deadlines to hit for my day job that I had to get back to, and I am flying out of the country over the weekend, so we did do our best for now:) Videos after the jump.

Nerf Vortex: Let's do this.

10th of September 2011... while it sounds like any other date to us Australians, it does mark the official worldwide launch of the new Nerf Vortex line. In US date annotation, that's 9-10-11; the date where not just one, but FOUR new blasters are being released with a brand new firing mechanism and the new XLR disc ammunition that apparently shoots further with more accuracy. And more importantly.. they're predominantly green...

Tall calls, but one tends to put a lot of faith in dem smart peeps at Nerf releasing high grade kit. Anyway you've seen the previews and the pics, read the press releases, so really there's not much else left than to get stuck into the new Vortex line and see what all the fuss is about first hand... and so we did:) Nitron, Praxis, Vigilon + Proton? Damn Skippy!

No doubt over the following weeks you're going to be flooded with new Nerf Vortex posts on all the blogs.. it's Vortex-a-rama time peeps:)

Basic Nerf Unboxing Nerf Vortex Vigilon

Our pals at Basic Nerf was uber lucky enough to get his hands on a Vigilon from dem good peeps at Nerf (and their PR company!).. Vortex.. it's coming... :)

Foam from Above also have a comprehensive amount of info on the Vigilon and also were lucky receivers of the blaster. Ahh Litsky Public Relations, where's the love?!:P

Scout IX3s spotted in.. West Virginia...

Image courtesy of reader..but we enhanced it a lil:)

Whenever we get intel about blasters in the US, it generally comes from the big three- Target, Walmart and Toys R Us. Today we got some pretty sweet intel from a reader known as a 'Gray House'

"Wanted to send along word that several of the Scout 2-packs are suddenly available for $19.99 US at the Huntington, West Virginia Big K (or Big K-Mart, or whatever it is) in a dumpy, ramshackle back room devoted to toys. It was surreal to find them there, in this Island of Misfit Toys with no air conditioning."


So there you have it folks... cool stuff is everywhere..if you're willing to look for it!

eBay: Nerf Vortex 'Tech Kit' clip refills

 

As brought to our attention by Jared from Nerf Blaster Reviews, here's a seller on eBay who's listing the "Tech Kit" clip refill for the Praxis + Nitron. This one's a 10 round clip..seller asking for 20 bucks for it. Not sure if anyone'll bite.. but given the increase in premature availability.. maybe:)

NERF Vortex Praxis & Nitron dart gun Refill discs &clip | eBay

Nerf Vortex Photos at Comic Con 2011 (Photos) « Basic Nerfing

More Nerf Vortex pics- this time from Comic Con 201. More pics on Basic Nerf.

Nerf Vortex Photos at Comic Con 2011 (Photos) « Basic Nerfing

Nerf Vortex spotted @ US Toys R Us: Guess they didn't get the memo..

Me thinks Toys R Us didn't break into factories for their early releases... :P

In very interesting news brought to our attention from the blog Aidan Wolf Nerf, it would appear at least one Toys R Us store in the US have already started to stack their shelves with the upcoming Nerf Vortex line. Prices are apparently pretty exi by US standards although no doubt they'll be quite a bit more here in Australia when they eventually come out. 

If anyone else has spotted them at their stores prematurely, I'd be very interested to hear about it. :) You just gotta laugh.. 9-10-11 Vortex has to be the most botched up PR campaign ever for generating hype ever..

See more pics at AidanWolf Nerf.

Basic Nerf: Unboxing Gear Up Package from Nerf (Video)

Oooh goodies! Our friends at Basic Nerf were sent a sweet box-o-joy from Hasbro's PR team with the Nerf Gear Up N-Strike blasters to check out. Ours must have been lost in the mail. (or so we keep telling ourselves!!)

Unboxing Gear Up Package from Nerf (Video) « Basic Nerfing
Nerf Vortex Disk Test & Material Overview (Video) « Basic Nerfing

Note: Foam from Above also scored the a Gear Up Package- they've got some pretty solid coverage on their blog.

Nerf Vortex: Hasbro's PR guys have been busy

We're starting to get more Nerf Vortex news appearing in our newsfeeds; as the official launch date of September 10 2011 draws closer I guess it makes sense for Hasbro to want to hype up the new gear to lead up to the release, so they are obviously pumping out a lot of press releases to the mainstream media. 

Check out the links below for more, but admittedly it's mostly the same PR press release stuff that we sort of already know. 

Nerf Vortex ready to heat up your summer via Ubergizmo
NERF: N-Strike or Vortex? via Gunaxin
Nerf Gears Up For N-Strike Vs. Vertex - David M. Ewalt - Metagamer via Forbes

Nerf Vortex disc blasters hands-on - Pocket-lint

Oooh. Optimus prime cyber blaster in the background...

UK Gadget blog Pocket-Lint have posted some very schmick hands-on photos of the new upcoming Nerf Vortex range. Excited yet?

(thanks to Jason for the heads up)

Nerf Vortex disc blasters hands-on - Pocket-lint

Gear Up N-Strike Series: Pic Spam

Gear up for.. tidying my living room. What a mess!

Nerf's upcoming Vortex line of disc shooters have prompted a new.. 'Gear Up' paint scheme for existing N-Strike blasters. Not sure what orange, black and light grey ave to do with gearing up, but I admit in person they are kind of pretty. There's not much I can really say about repaints of old blasters, so I'll just let the pic spam do the talking. Images after the jump.

Nerf Scout IX-3- now in N-Strike colours

One of the most popular single shot blasters has to be the Nerf Scout IX-3. It comes with the Titan + the Hornet in the Unity Power System in the dark red and grey schemes, but it's been a rare thing to be able to get them on their own (at least in Australia I've never seen them sold seperately) Availability is still uncertain at this stage, but given this pic sent to me is it in a box, I'd say it should be available.. States side soon? (When it comes to THIS sorta thing, US always gets it first.)

This looks pretty good though.. what do you think folks.. does the N-Strike yellow do the Scout justice?