Child Toys News

Every once in a while it can be nice to take a little break from gear and gadgets that scream cutting edge and spend a little time with something that’ll take you back to your happy childhood, the days when making a purchase wasn’t followed with the premonition that your new pride and joy was destined to be obsolete at birth.

We’ve got some fond memories of our old Lego sets, especially after we perfected a design for a Lego-nightstick capable of dispensing Lego-justice on our Lego-playmates.
We might not have resorted to injecting violence into the Lego experience to keep things exciting if we were kids today and had our hands on Lego’s update line.

Lego announced today two new Battle Packs of characters and basic conveyances. Episode III inspired Droids and Clone Troopers will be available, each for $9.99. They might not be Leia in Jabba’s palace regalia, but they sure beat generic bald men with vacant smiles and yellow skin.

‘Eragon” is a dragon fantasy aimed at adolescent audiences, adapted from a book written, remarkably, by an adolescent boy for adolescent readers. Other age groups need not apply.

Older, more experienced audiences will know they’ve seen most of it before, and with superior dialogue and more enriched characters. (I’m thinking primarily of “Dragonslayer,” but “Eragon” also echoes “Star Wars” and myriad other famous boy adventures.)

In terms of narrative, “Star Wars” is the most obvious model, since “Eragon” involves a young farm boy who becomes a great warrior, helping a rebel army battle an evil, corrupt empire. The boy, Eragon (Ed Speleers) even has an Obi-Wan Kenobi-type mentor, here named Brom (Jeremy Irons), to help him learn the ways of the Dragon Riders. These are gallant knights who ride their beloved dragons against injustice, represented here by a dictatorial king (John Malkovich) and his own Darth Vader, the villainous Durza (Robert Carlyle).

Praise must be given to the most effective dragon yet brought to celluloid. She’s more believable than most of the humans in the film. The director, Stefen Fangmeier, was the visual effects go-to guy for such films as “Master and Commander,” “The Bourne Identity” and “The Perfect Storm.”

A video game champion has been crowned as today “Gears of War” made history by becoming the fastest-selling next-gen game of 2006 and the fastest-selling exclusive Xbox game of all time.

Microsoft Game Studios and Epic Games Inc. today confirmed that “Gears of War,” the Xbox 360-exclusive title, has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide since its release six weeks ago.

““Gears of War” clearly has won the battle for the title of the must-have game of the year,” said Richard Teversham, Director of Platform & Marketing, Home and Entertainment Division EMEA. “Its phenomenal success is one of many reasons why Xbox 360 is the ultimate place to get together with friends to play this Christmas.”

“We’ve always held high hopes for ‘Gears of War,’ but we never expected such an overwhelmingly positive response from critics and gamers all over the world,” said Michael Capps, president, Epic Games. “I can’t describe how stoked our team is right now. Our fans can absolutely count on Epic to keep delivering new gameplay through Xbox Live.”

In addition to being the must-have video game of the holiday season, “Gears of War” continues to rage on the Xbox Live battlefield as well, with more than 1 million unique gamers engaging in 10 million online gameplay sessions and unlocking an impressive 7 million achievements. On top of being the No. 1 title on Xbox Live, “Gears of War” has driven new members to the network; paid registrations per day have skyrocketed more than 50 percent since the game’s launch.

“Gears of War”

More than 80 publications around the world have crowned “Gears of War” the best next-generation game of the year. At the recent Spike TV Video Game Awards that aired Wednesday evening, the next-gen-defining title garnered four awards, for Best Multiplayer Game, Best Shooter, Studio of the Year (for Epic Games) and Best Graphics.

New Games on PlayStation Portable

First-person-shooting game “Medal of Honor Heroes’’ and role-playing game “Tales of the World’’ will be released for PlayStation Portable on Dec. 20 and 21, respectively.

The two games feature all the characters from their previous series.

Developed by Electronic Arts, “Medal of Honor Heroes’’ involves a gamers playing a commander and completing a series of missions in the World War II. “Tales of the World’’ by Sony allows gamers to customize their characters, which they can download from the Internet.

“Sudden Attack” Female League to Begin

Ongamenet, cable channel for games, will hold a first-person-shooting game “Sudden Attack’’ league for female gamers from Dec. 22 for six weeks.

Titled “Sudden Attack Ladies League,’’ the tournament will begin with eight teams, consisting of five players each.

The winner team will receive 3 million won with the runner-up team winning 1.5 million won. A “First Lady’’ prize will be also given to a player who plays the best based on an Internet poll by game watchers.

While some kids were home watching SpongeBob on Saturday morning TV, about 300 youngsters ages 9 to 14 were using small robots to test their knowledge of nanotechnology at Canton Country Day School.

The eighth FIRST LEGO League Nano Quest Challenge, which involved 18 teams of kids from across northeastern Ohio, culminated an eight-week project involving research, design and programming to compete in the regional tournament. The winner will participate in the FLL World Festival in Atlanta in April. Children from 34 nations will eventually compete on an international level.

“Every FIRST LEGO League challenge helps students discover how imagination and creativity combined with science and technology can solve real-world problems. This year’s focus on nanotechnology introduces them to a new frontier of science and technology,” said Dean Kamen, founder of FIRST, which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

The students used custom-built robots in timed competitions aimed at showing teamwork, troubleshooting and problem solving, said Paul Monks of the school at 3000 Demington Ave. NW.

“It’s very complex, but it’s fun to program,” said Nicholas Greene of Beachwood, who attended the competition last year. Teammate Joshua Cheston, who also attended last year, said, “the tasks and obstacles are a little different, but we chose a different design. That design worked.”

The competition was the fourth for Cathi Friddle, a home-schooled 15-year-old from Canton.

“I love it,” she said. “You can impress (the crowd), and you learn a boatload. The big thing is teamwork. And this year, we learned a lot about nanotechnology. We went to (Ohio University) and met with some of the professors.”

Beside her, Bailey DuBois, 13, also a home-schooled Canton resident, was competing for another team. It was DuBois’ third year.

“I like the competition,” DeBois said. “The presentations are fun.”

Presenting their work to the judges and a crowd was only one aspect on which they were judged.

The “missions” this year included manipulating individual atoms, testing stain-resistant clothing and operating a space elevator on a small platform with small robotic toys.

Mattel  and Emerson Radio have started a new licensing partnership where Emerson will produce a line of Barbie Real Electronics, the companies said Wednesday.

The companies will launch the new line at the International Consumer Electronics show in January 2007, and they will be available in spring 2007. It will include the Tune Blossom personal CD player, the Hour Garden talking alarm clock with night light, the Bloombox portable CD player and a 13 inch television with digital tuner and a matching DVD player.

The line is designed for girls 4-8 years old and features a Barbie pink style. Items also include a “gemstone” fun button featuring Barbie-themed play experiences.

Parsippany designs, markets and licenses lines of televisions and other video products, microwaves, clocks, radios, audio and home theater products.

El Segundo-based Mattel is the world’s largest toy maker. Its brands include Barbie, Hot Wheels and Fisher-Price.

A UK dealership hopes some resident bimbette — or the Fleet Street banker who sweats her — will pay more than double the price of a Nissan Micra C+C just because it’s pink, and because it comes with a registration tag reading BARBIE.

It’s one of 275 Micra C+C models Nissan delivered in pink to support charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

But the dealership is working with license tag provider Newreg.com to offer a package deal — £14,750 for the car and £21,500 for the tag, for a total of £36,250. Seems a bit, well, high? Right, well unlike in the states, where vanity tags can be had by the DOT for a nominal fee, in the UK they’re big business.

The dealership, Chorley Nissan, vowed to make a £250 donation to the charity, and Newreg.com pledged an undisclosed sum. Now all they need is the overindulged wife of a footballer and a fat cheque. Good luck with that.

A new book has hit the stands that has been a “filler” topic for many talk radio programs this week. Called 101 most influential people who never lived, the book is penned by three authors who rate fictional characters of literature and film who they feel had the greatest influence on society.

The book is being treated as light, amusing reading, with USA Today quoting author Lazar as saying, “The point of the book is to entertain”. Most radio interviews I have heard have treated it as a “fun” topic.

Lazar also issued a few digs at how capitalism has made his characters able to influence these bad things in our society. The radio host noticed the pattern. “A lot of these are pretty negative on capitalism” he said. Dr. Lazar agreed, pointing out that the reason they put Barbie on the list is because “Barbie teaches every girl that, to be happy, you have to own everything.”

That greedy girl.

It’s only been a little more than a month since Pokemon Mystery Dungeon started shipping for the Nintendo DS, and yet in that short amount of time Nintendo thinks you’re ready for another Pocket Monster adventure on the dual-screen handheld.

Pokemon Ranger, like Mystery Dungeon, is another spin-off that has elements from the true Pokemon RPG design, but takes its design into a different direction so as not to step on the toes of the game everyone really wants: Game Freak’s own Pokemon RPG.

In the case of Pokemon Ranger, this is more action-based than RPG based, and unlike Mystery Dungeon it’s a game that uses the DS for its more unique design.

It’s not really mindblowing but it’s a neat diversion with its own charm, and it’s a cool branch out of the familiar Pokemon universe that sticks to the fun and familiar “gotta catch ‘em all” attitude.

Mystery Dungeon put players in the role of an actual Pokemon critter whose purpose in this new furry life is to join a rescue team and help other Pokemon in need.

Perhaps HAL Laboratory overheard what the designers at ChunSoft were working on for that game, as Pokemon Rangers has a similar theme: you’re not a Pokemon trainer, you’re a Pokemon Ranger whose talents lie in helping others by recruiting the talents and abilities of wild Pokemon critters.

See, you don’t use Poke-balls to grab or snag your animal teammates — you instead use what’s called a “Styler” to wrangle in these critters. Once you’ve wrangled your Pokemon, he’ll tag along with you until you either utilize his skills or simply release him in the wild.

Danish toymaker Lego said it might not be able to meet holiday demand for plastic building blocks.

The news out of Copenhagen hasn’t set off worldwide panic yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

Blaming corporate restructuring, a spokeswoman on Tuesday said Duplo bricks and Lego City, Star Wars and Lego Technik sets could all be in short supply.

“Many of our most popular products are sold out,” Charlotte Simonsen told the Associated Press.

Surprisingly enough, local residents appear calm.

There were plenty of the pricey kits on Wal-Mart’s shelves two days after the announcement. An employee at Toys R Us in Framingham was actually adding boxes of Batman Lego sets to well-stocked displays late Thursday morning.

And there wasn’t a single crazed hoarder in sight.

But, as I said, it’s only a matter of time.

Even if this is merely a marketing ploy to boost sales, shoppers will eventually take the bait.

Once word gets out, there’ll be gaping holes in the Lego landscape and eBay hucksters will command top dollar for last year’s Harry Potter sets. By the time Christmas rolls around, parents will be paying $56,000 for black market Bionicles.

There’s only one way to stop the inevitable.

We pull together like our parents and grandparents did during World War II.

If the Greatest Generation could defeat the German army by saving scraps of tin foil, surely we can save Christmas and Hanukkah for our children.

And if you’re in a house or apartment where a child has lived at any point since the mid-1960s, you have all the pieces you need to be part of the solution.

We don’t need Lego to make more interlocking bricks.

The world already has all the Legos it needs, and then some.

No matter how many times a home’s been thoroughly cleaned, Legos lurk everywhere.

It doesn’t matter if your youngest child left for college in 1978. You still probably step on a stray Lego each time you walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

We’d never be able to capture all the itty-bitty plastic pieces hiding and multiplying like bacteria.

Then again, we don’t have to.

All we need is 10 or 20 per family to save our future.

Cities and towns across the nation could set up Lego redemption centers for the stray pieces, which would then be packaged willy-nilly in batches of 100 to create the All-American Hodgepodge collection.

Patriotic, n’est-ce pas?

But will kids go for it, you ask? All it would take is a lone instant message to a lone random pre-teen to launch buzz and fuel frenzied demand.

“Do U have A-AH?”

Since there wouldn’t be much overhead, the sets could be sold for as little as $9.99. And since most of us would gladly pay to get rid of the nettlesome little bricks, we could put the profits to good use.