CS - researching is a toughie!

I am trying to do research into potential manipulation by games companies with the trans-media of games, but i'm struggling to find much information about any kind of manipulation in general!  So i'm thinking about  sticking to talking about the one game, Spyro: Skylanders.  I will talk about what people thought about this mechanic of having the physical figurines of character in order to play by looking at forums, blogs and by conducting my own interviews with people.  I will see what the creators had to say about it, do some maths, weigh up the pros and cons and put my own view forward on the potential future of this kind of "system" and why so far this "system" is working.  It is not an uncommon thing for people to buy games that have additional content or bonus features with it, but it is uncommon to have to purchase additional content or features in order to play the game.  i will not be looking at the game itself, just the mechanic/system of how you purchase characters and the fact you have to spend money in order to play the game at its fullest.

Here is a really good article that explains the point i'm making from the Escapist Magazine: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.339010-Skylanders-Competent-yet-Evil

This is a hilarious article about the game from BitMob:
http://bitmob.com/articles/why-skylanders-spyros-adventures-is-a-terrible-game

This great article from the Official Nintendo Magazine shows the potential cost of Skylanders: http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/31873/the-hidden-cost-of-skylanders/

Heres quite a balanced view of Skylanders by HubPages:
http://abizzy.hubpages.com/hub/Skylanders-review-for-parents-the-good-and-the-bad

The official Skylanders website:
http://www.skylanders.com/

Here IGN talk a little about Skylanders:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0yb2Kmqc_c

And here IGN talk about the new Skylanders Giants, saying old characters can be brought into the new game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCTWE7Hegh0


OK so here is my plan:

intro
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give examples of what people think about it = adults and children
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give the math
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weigh up pros and cons
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my own opinion of it = mentioning the fact its a form of collecting to the next level
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talk about pokemon and other card/figure related franchises?
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possible future for kind of related games?
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conclusion = is it manipulation/exploitation?