Air Hogs Connect: Mission Drone Flies Into US Retailers for Holiday 2016

First Time Players Can Pilot a Real Drone Inside an Interactive Augmented Reality World

TORONTO, Nov. 1, 2016 /CNW/ - Pilots get ready, the next mission is groundbreaking.  Spin Master Corp. (TSX: TOY), a leading global children's entertainment company, today announced its award-winning Air Hogs Connect: Mission Drone is now on sale at U.S. retailers, including Barnes & Noble and Amazon, for $149.99 MSRP.

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Air Hogs Connect: Mission Drone is the first to deliver an immersive augmented reality (AR) game experience where players fly a physical drone in an interactive 3D digital universe.  Using a BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) enabled smart device and the free Air Hogs Connect: Mission Drone app, now available for download at the App Store and Google Play, players fly the Mission Drone over the customized AR tracking mat, which uses visual and spatial tracking to create an advanced 3D augmented reality world.  

Air Hogs Connect: Mission Drone, based on Spin Master's award-winning Air Hogs Connect augmented reality gaming platform, pushes the boundaries on RC (remote control) vehicle play by creating an experience where the digital fun of augmented reality and gaming is combined with the physical fun of controlling an actual RC drone.  The result is a fully immersive, mixed reality, interactive gaming experience, where players enjoy flying the Air Hogs drone, while they are challenged to lead and pilot it and a team of heroes through endless search and rescue missions and challenges to save the world from attack by alien forces.

"With Air Hogs, Spin Master created the RC flight category. Our history of disruptive innovation continues with the new Air Hogs Connect platform. It pushes the boundaries of a remote control vehicle by combining it with one of the most talked about technologies today – augmented reality," said Nick Beliaeff, Vice President of Production at Spin Master, Inc.  "This is where innovation meets entertainment. As the first product to be introduced to this new AR gaming platform, Mission Drone players will be amazed as they fly the physical drone in their living room, and then watch the room transform into a science fiction universe while they work to command a team of heroes and complete tasks, rescue missions and more in a unique mixed reality experience."

Air Hogs Connect: Mission Drone is already being recognized for its innovation, design and fun gameplay within the toy and technology industries.  Honors include being named "Best Game or Toy" at the 7^th annual Auggie Awards at the Augmented World Expo 2016 and winner of a 2016 National Parent Product Award (NAPPA).

About Spin Master
Spin Master is a leading global children's entertainment company that creates, designs, manufactures and markets a diversified portfolio of innovative toys, games, products and entertainment properties. Spin Master is best known for award-winning brands including Zoomer™ Dino, Bakugan Battle Brawlers™, Air Hogs^®, and 2016 Toys of The Year, Bunchems and Meccanoid G15. Since 2005, Spin Master has received 64 TIA Toy of The Year (TOTY) nominations with 17 wins across a variety of product categories. Spin Master has been recognized with 12 TOTY nominations for Innovative Toy of the Year, more than any of its competitors. Spin Master is among a limited number of companies that not only develop and produce global entertainment properties, characters and content, but also monetize that content through the creation, sale and licensing of products. To date, Spin Master has produced six television series, including 2007 hit series Bakugan Battle Brawlers and its current hit PAW Patrol, which is broadcast in over 160 countries and territories globally. Spin Master employs over 1,000 people globally with offices in Canada, United States, Mexico, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Australia. 

SOURCE Spin Master

Image with caption: "AIR HOGS CONNECT: MISSION DRONE FLIES INTO US RETAILERS FOR HOLIDAY 2016 (CNW Group/Spin Master)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161101_C8730_PHOTO_EN_808253.jpg

Tara Tucker, Vice President, Global Marketing Communications, Spin Master Ltd., [email protected]