The Combo Meal: Virtual Worlds & Toys

Playhut, maker of the Playland EZTwist tents and tunnels and Mystikat toys, launched an interactive toys division, GoLive2, with two virtual worlds back in October. The worlds targeted at kids from 6-13, Wowbotz for boys and Mystikats Kutties for girls, now have toys to go with them. The company will release four Kuttiez and four Wowbotz with matching accessory packs in the spring of 2008. Unlike most other meta-toys that just give kids access to the world, GoLive2 is making users work for them. Each toy comes with its own mini-games that in turn unlock passcodes that give users access to new areas in the virtual worlds. “I founded Playhut with the goal to bring a new way of play to the marketplace,” said Brian Zheng, CEO of Playhut. “With GoLive2 we are offering kids and their parents a very different and unique way of playing, based off the question, ‘How do you play?’ GoLive2 innovates play in a way that has not yet been introduced to the Toy Industry.”

Virtual Worlds News: Playhut’s GoLive2 Debuts Virtual World-Connected Toys

Forgive me, I’m not necessarily sold on the name “Mystikats Kuttiez”, and often find myself doing a double take when I see the name. I can’t quite put my finger on it… but that kuttiez part puts a wee glitch in my mental gears. Makes the brain hamster running the wheel of geniosity skip a step. Yadda.

Anyway… Wowbotz is kinda cool for the 6-9 boy demographic. It’s more kid/”twid” (hehe) oriented than the straight-on tweens demographic. It has a VERY young feel to it, although some of the games stump yours truly. Like how Bella Sera has that young 6-9 girl feel to it (which reminds me: one of those ponies must have been rescued from the Rainbow Brite compound… ’cause I’ve seen good ole Starlight standing amongst those other ponies looking well fed and happy to have a career again).

It’ll be “unique” to see how the How do you play play pattern they’ve added to the toy/VW marriage will work. Will it be as successful as that darn rubics cube and it’s uber “will i/won’t i defeat this bad boy…ever?” or will it be frustration-ola and an ultimate ’set aside’ toy (like Bratz’ Muichiz Virtual Comanion toy?). Mr. Zhengy is right, it’s a concept not yet intro’d to the VW/toy industry and they could be on to something. Crafty people to exceptional things with the confusing.

So, here’s a few off-the-tip-o-me-head VW & Toy combo packs:
Barbie (barbiegirl + mp3 player), Bratz (be-bratz + doll/USB key), Littlest Pet Shop (VW + stuffed animal code), Webkinz (VW + stuffed animal code), Bella Sera (VW + trading cards), Zibbies (VW + stuffed animal code), Shining Stars (VW + stuffed animal code), Build-A-Bear (VW + stuffed animal code), myepet (bratz pets + stuffed animal code), Moshi Monster (VW + cell phone accessory), Ty Girls (Stuffed Doll + Code), etc…

Of that group, only Barbiegirl, Buildabearville, Bella Sera and Moshi Monsters (<as far as I can tell with MM, they’re still in Beta, so this could be a wrong assumption) allow you to roam as a free member w/o buying the product yet.

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Tags: VirtualWorlds, toys, tech products, technology, youth, children, tweens, licensing, branding

Barbie old skool tries 2.0

Following up on its Barbie Girls website, Mattel’s Barbie Tech group launches Barbie iDesign, an interactive fashion CD-ROM game that features a USB-connected scanner and design cards. The game allows kids to upload design elements from 200+ scannable fashion cards (each containing an element, e.g. hairstyle, shoes, models, locations) and then style the looks on models, as well as creating a fashion show.

Cynthia Turner’s Cynopsis - Cyn Kids 1/8/08

In other words, Barbie is bringing old school toyz to 2.0:

Oh, crayons and barbies… oh, how your crude fashion stylings fueled generations of confused kids like me. “What? You CAN’T put a t-shirt with a ball gown bottom? It looked neato on that Barbie I crayola-rubbed last night at the babysitter’s while watching Silver Spoons! WHAT? You CAN’T have a miniature train chugging through the living room? BOO! What has the world come to!”
Clearly pop culture made me who I am…….. silly.

I’m not bagging on this new Barbie-fashion-centric etc. Just reminicing on old school play patterns hitting the “future” (cue ‘ooooo’s’). At least now the tater tottesses won’t have shavings cluttered about, and will be able to properly color & shade, etc, their fashion creations without having it look like a preschool drawing, lol (not that there is anything wrong with that… it leaves much to the imagination after all, and I do love the imagination).

Back on point though: Barbie loves those USB ports and they *could* use this as a launch point for jumping into the “trading card” market. At Digital Media in New York this past September, one of the busiest areas of the convention was the fantasy trading card set moving into video game platforms, complete with card scanners and boards. It seemed far too complicated to learn at the time (especially since Littlest Pet Shop Virtual World was premiering across the hall and I wanted a chance to play that before flying home), so many apologies for not sharing more info regarding that new trend.

The trading card set is a big one, and they’re doing all they can do these days to bridge the gap (or combine the two play methods) of hand held cards and video/online gaming. Smart.

Bella Sera seems to be one of the only “primary girl” properties rolling into this space with head-on purpose. It’ll be interesting to see if it works.

I have to say though… when I was a wee lil girly, I collected TWO types of trading cards (aside from the Topps Baseball cards): Archie Comic Trading Cards and (my still treasured) Mork & Mindy trading cards (which I’m proud to say, I own all of).

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Tags: Barbie, idesign, fashion, girls, youth, technology, toys