Surprisingly it’s been over 12 years since the original Tamagotchi was released, and following in the steps of television and then the Game Boy, the keychain-sized fad is hoping to gain some popularity once again by introducing a color screen! The concept is still the same, you’re in charge of taking care of a small digital creature, and by ‘take care’ I of course mean torture, starve and whatever other cruel and unusual punishments the game actually allows you to carry out. But this time around it looks like the 128×128 pixel TFT LCD screen is actually able to render custom backgrounds like a living room, bedroom, kitchen and even a bathroom. (I’m pretty creeped out that the toilet actually has a face, what heinous crime did that guy commit in a past life?)
The new Tamagotchi game also introduces other elements like different seasons and weather conditions, and more expressive emotions that should provide a bit more satisfaction as you make your character’s life a living nightmare. The Tamagotchi Plus Color will be released on November 22, but this time around they’ll set you back a rather steep $48.
I can honestly say that I’ve never managed to successfully solve a Rubik’s Cube. I remember having one as a kid, and getting very frustrated with it. Sometimes I wonder if I couldn’t solve one now that I’m older, but seeing how they’ve already updated the classic puzzle, I might as well move on to it.
Yes, that strange object with many mirrored sides is the updated Rubik’s Cube, now called a Rubiks Mirror Blocks puzzle. Each row of blocks is a slightly different size than the one next to it, making it even more challenging than the original. It looks like they will be going on sale in Japan sometime in the next couple of weeks for around $20. No word yet on a US release.
Have you ever watched a friend drive their dog or cat crazy with a laser pointer and wished you could do the same? But you know, without all the responsibility and other downsides of owning a real pet? Enter the Infrared Tracker Remote Control Car which should pretty much provide the same level of entertainment, but without ever soiling the living room carpet. The remote produces a visible infrared dot that you project on the floor, and once the vehicle ’senses’ this dot (from as far as 5 feet away) it will give chase until it runs out of battery life. A 7.2V rechargeable battery gives it about 20 minutes of runtime, which is probably about twice the amount of time it will take you to get bored of playing with it. You can pick one up from RichardSolo.com for $49.95.
There’s not a lot of info on these new flying toys from TOMY, but apparently the ‘QFO’ as they’re calling it was recently shown at the 2008 Tokyo Toy Show and is the next item in the company’s ‘Q-series’ of miniature remote control vehicles. They’re designed to be flown indoors using an infra-red remote control, and while you can’t actually steer them around a room in any capacity, they can fly to a height of about 26 feet. I’ve managed to dig up a video that DigInfo shot of the QFO in action, and I think the small form factor will be their biggest appeal.
The QFOs will probably be available come late September, and will come with a UFO body that can be attached for added effect.
Puzzle fans might be intrigued by this Cubed game now available at ThinkGeek. You don’t need a giant empty table to put it together since the puzzle is actually composed of just 4 pieces, which are represented on a set of electronic cubes that feature LCD displays and magnetic connectors. Of course a 4 piece puzzle probably isn’t much of a challenge, which is why the game actually includes 600 different puzzles to solve while you’re racing the clock.
Cubed (for short) is composed of four electronic cubes. Each one is surrounded on four sides by magnetic connectors, and each displays 1/4 of the puzzle on its LCD screen. Now, you just have to figure out how the pieces connect together as you connect the cubes via their magnets. There are even two separate games you can play: you can make pictures and icons by forming a square shape, or you can form words in a rectangular shape. All 600 puzzles are shown in the instruction manual, but when you hear the timer beeping down, there isn’t enough time to cheat. Get ten puzzles solved in a row and you win.
The puzzles include 300 picture puzzles which require the cubes to be assembled in a square, and 300 word puzzles which require them to be arranged in a straight line to spell out words. The cubes also feature an optional backlight for playing in the dark, and you’ll need 8 AAA batteries (2 for each cube) which are thankfully included. The Cubed Electronic Puzzle Game is available from ThinkGeek for $39.99.
While I’ve visited LEGOLAND in California, as a fan of the building blocks I still feel I must eventually make a pilgrimage to the real LEGOLAND in Denmark. And hopefully when I do, I’ll have a chance to see some of artist Kenn Munk’s LEGO graffiti before the park removes them. You see, while LEGOLAND represents a perfect copy of real cities, Kenn feels it’s actually too perfect, and has been ‘vandalizing’ the miniature metropolis over the past couple of years… but in a good way.
The thing is, the miniature city in Legoland form a perfect copy of our cities, with the exception of graffiti, it does not exist in the Lego universe, therefore I decided to tag the last untagged city in the world, but I wanted to do it Lego style and I wanted it be harmless and fun so I built impossible sculptural shapes out of Lego and visited the place with aforementioned journalist and tagged the place and a tradition was born. The objects are always just placed there or clicked on to existing parts, no glue is used, no alterations to existing buildings is made, no vandalism in other words.
In 2006 and 2007 he installed his ‘impossible shape’ LEGO sculptures, but for 2008 he wanted to add something that was inspired by pop-culture, and settled on the black sentinel monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
While I don’t necessarily endorse graffiti, particularly at a place like LEGOLAND which represents thousands and thousands of hours of hard work, I think Kenn’s pieces actually add to the park, and I look forward to seeing what he’ll create for 2009.
As ThinkGeek points out, you technically can’t refer to these flying discs as ‘UFOs’ because they’re not ‘unidentified.’ But since IFOs doesn’t have the same ring to it, I’m going to cut them some slack, particularly since the Summer is soon drawing to a close, and these look like an entertaining way to spend an evening while the weather’s still nice. The Glow And Throw kit comes with a 9.25 inch flying plastic disc that features a set of symmetrically drilled holes. It also comes with 14 green, red, blue, orange and yellow glow tubes that you can thread and connect through these holes so that when the disc is thrown, persistence of vision creates some unusual looking 3D shapes.
You can get the starter kit from ThinkGeek which includes the flying disc, the glow tubes and a set of connectors for $9.99, while a set of 14 additional glow tubes and connectors is $3.99.
Batman’s definitely known for his wonderful toys, and while the The Dark Knight didn’t disappoint when it came to crime-fighting electronics and gadgetry, I guess I must have dozed off at some point since I don’t remember seeing him use this particular weapon. The Dark Knight Attack Bat sits quietly on a bat-themed display stand until you push a button causing its eyes to glow while it begins to make chittering noises. Pushing another button will then cause it to spread its wings and take flight around your room until I assume its lack of radar will cause it to crash into a wall or a hilariously misplaced expensive Ming Vase. So if you’re a fan of Batman and have a penchant for collecting items that have never, or will never appear in any of the films, comics, TV shows or video games, you can pick one of these up from Entertainment Earth for $27.99.
While this electric toy car/windmill model kit is recommended as an educational toy for kids 15 years and older, it seems better suited for the younger set who go through batteries like they grow on trees. Once assembled, the electric car is actually recharged by connecting it to the turbine on the back of the windmill. The windmill itself features a loop-wing design that can be turned with even the slightest breeze, but also has a switchable gear system for better harnessing the power from a particularly strong wind. The electric car will run for about 1-2 minutes with about 5-10 minutes of charging, and since it attaches to the windmill your kid can spend the afternoon running around the backyard with it, creating their own breeze. The kit is available on the Tamiya America website for $67.
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