Rakuten.jp prices for Gear Up

Japanese shopping site Rakuten have listed some prices for a few of the Gear Up repaint line of N-Strike blasters- the Recon CS-6 and the Maverick REV-6. Translating the page of course is never the best way to get info so happy to put it to anyone who can read Japanese. The translation for the Recon:

Limited N-Strike Giaappukarabajon!


Six bullets and darts normal stream, in addition to a total of 12 bullets darts plus six bullets had painted up a gear as a bonus darts, darts has been sealed prior to use disk-shaped vortex!

Also on the page are some links to preordering the Vortex series- there're no images but they've got placeholders and product text:

The new line, "Vortex" series was born! !
N-Strike series Rongudisukushutingu beyond!
The disk-shaped darts, which significantly exceeds the distance achieved Rongudisukushutingu normal firing NERF!
The new line, "Vortex" is Ridoaitemurasuta series.
Disks can be loaded with five bullets. N-shooting can be enjoyed over the long strike.

Sorry, my Japanese sucks:P

Nerf via Rakuten

WIld Planet Spy Gear: Innovative in a dorky kinda way

I love the Wild Planet Spy Gear line. It's so cheesy, but their stuff at least is innovative and different to most toy blaster lines out there and combines electronics for some pretty cool designs. I'm not sure how practical any of this stuff would be in any real battles (why alert your enemies with an alarm to let them know you're ABOUT to shoot them when you've gone to the trouble of hiding and shooting remotely?!), but I like 'em anyway.

This one just cracks me up:) I still want one though:)

Max Force Shadowhawk spotted: Target Chadstone VIC

Max Force Shadowhawk: Image courtesy of CPT-Blackridge via deviantART

Kyle, One of our readers has picked himself up the new Jakks Pacific Max Force Shadowhawk today at Target, Chadstone in Victoria, Australia. It's looking pretty trick- and his initial opinions:

"Okay, overall build is pretty good, bipod a tad flimsy, Pump is the firing mechanism, pull back to prime, release to fire, MASSIVE spring, bolt action to load next shot. Overall a very impressive piece of kit, will get it out to do some firing tomorrow"


Update 1-6-11 Kyle tests the performance: "did a proper test fire of the Shadowhawk 100, range isn't an issue, the projectiles can definitely make the distance. The issue is that it's susceptible to misfires and accuracy varies on whether or not the wad actually stays together or whether to force of the oversized plunger shreds it in the barrel. Will run more tests and keep you posted"


Update 3-6-11 Kyle's indepth tests:  "Okay i finally did a more comprehensive shoot with the Max Force Shadowhawk 100, range is as they say, accuracy varies, don't try to use the sight but with a little practice hitting a man sized target is no problem, even at ranges far beyond the capacity of a nerf blaster. Jamming affects it if you don't fire correctly, or don't properly soak projectiles. But as for the boast that they're harmless... i shot my friend in the bare stomach with this thing and it left a welt the size of a five cent coin for a few hours WEAR THE PROTECTIVE EYE GEAR"

Interesting to see how it fares. Thanks for the intel Kyle!

Aliens: Colonial Marines: Sega's "official" mod.

This is the kind of marketing I LOVE. Reports on the Official Playstation Magazine -Australia's Facebook page have them receiving a very cool package from Sega, the distributors of the new Aliens: Colonial Marines due out later in the year. Given the last promo gift was Newt's doll (or what was left of it) 'Casey', this is much much cooler.

Nice touch. 'Explosive' Streamlines:)

Images courtesy of the Australian Official  Playstation Magazine

Max Force blasters spotted: Toyworld Fyshwick (AUS)

We've been getting word on the new Max Force range of blasters have made it to Australia early- original press releases said they'd be in the latter half of the year but it looks like they've made it to our shores much much sooner. First word was that they were spotted in Tasmania; now our boys from the Canberra and Southern NSW Dart Tag crew have spotted the Blow Gun at Toyworld, Fyshwick in Canberra (my town!).

They're going for around 18bucks AUS (which is almost double the US prices!!). More information about US releases after the jump.

Indigo Studios: Packaging Portfolio gives me a happy

As we featured in a below post, Indigo Studios are Hasbro/Nerf's choice for package design. I had a look at their design portfolio online and I think I nearly pee'd myself in excitement; check these out! 

That being said, chances are these ARE just design concepts, but HO-LY crap this would be some exciting stuff if these made it into production. The Spectre looks amazing in Whiteout colours..

 

Sonic series is cool and all, but I have to admit that any blaster that's released in the new Whiteout series is going to be on my Santa list this year..

Update: Unfortunately, the portfolio has been taken down. I'm not sure why this has occurred, but it reiterates that it's most likely these images in their portfolio are just demonstrative of what they can do, rather than it actually making official release. Please don't hound them for info- they're designers, not manufacturers.

Indigo Studios Case Study: Nerf

Now here's something interesting. Indigo Studios are a design studio in Atlanta Georgia (My favourite town!) who appear to be responsible for designing the current packaging for Nerf. They've got a case study on the process on how they design the images for the boxes on their site. 

It's an interesting read, but what I'm really liking in the case study is they actually make reference to 1)The Whiteout series, and 2) have a look at the last two images of their CAD designs.. one's a Vortex Proton.. the other.. yup big ballz Stampede 50 round drum.. :P 

Please don't hound them for more product information; they're designers, not manufacturers. 

Nerf Case Study via Indigo Studios