Nukotoy combines apps with physical toys, launching its NUKO Animal Planet and Monsterology card-enhanced games
Best of both worlds
Having operating in semi-stealth mode for some time, US digital-toy-meets-iOS-game company Nukotoys has formally shown its hand.
It's launched its first two NUKO games on the App Store.
These are a turn-based strategy game based on Monsterology series of children's books and a 3D adventure game based on Discovery Channel's Animal Planet Wildlands series.
Physical touchYou download the free-to-play apps from the App Store, but the clever thing about Nukotoys is that there's also a physical card collecting element.
These use a special capacitance touch technology, which means that placing the cards down on your touchscreen will trigger different events in-game.
For example, tapping a Cyclops Monsterology card creates a 3D Cyclops in the Monsterology game, while tapping a Bengal Tiger card creates a 3D Bengal Tiger in Animal Planet Wildlands.
Ways to payThe NUKO cards - which feature a characteristic notch - come in various sizes, including three and seven card packs ($1.99 and $3.99 respectively), plus a premium collector's box set containing 28 cards for $19.99 is available exclusively at Apple Stores
You can also buy virtual cards. These will work in similar ways in terms of the game interaction, although obviously not be so interesting in terms of sharing or swapping with your friends.
Use of the physical cards will also be required for some special features. In the case of Animal Planet Wildlands this includes creates herds of animals.
You can see how the games (and cards) work in the following videos.