Archive for March, 2010

Friday, March 12th, 2010

The virtual world conference Engage Expo was held at the same time and same location as the annual NY Toy Fair

In mid-February, the annual New York Toy Fair held their conference at the same time as the virtual world conference called Engage Expo. Both industries compete for kids’ interest and at times, even collaborate in engaging them through both online and offline play. The two conferences offered a rare opportunity to hear how both industries are thinking about engaging kids through digital play.

At the end of both of these events, a number of industry experts gathered together to discuss key trends with kids, technology, virtual worlds, and play. What were some of the key findings for 2010? Less virtual world announcements. Deeper virtual world experiences. Less technology toy announcements. Lower price points across all products. Less “watch me” toys. More touch screens for tech products that were screen-based. The desire by kids to stop being “micro-paymented” to death.

These and other trends can be heard in the video recording of this group get-together offered below. Also included in the video are photos of new products announced at the show that you will see rolled out later in 2010.

For those who would like to simply cut to the chase, I’ve also included a look up table below to find the location within this video where the group talks about specific products you’re interested in. After you’re done viewing, share your thoughts about what key trends you see in the world of digital play. Enjoy!


Maker Product Time
Reference
New
for
2010?
Air Hogs Gravity Laser 21’14” N
Ami Entertainment
Solutions
My Ami 36’20” Y
Apisphere Geomate Jr. 11’29”, 35’45” Y
Apple iPhone/iTouch 12’15”, 33’29” Y
Beamz Interactive The Beamz 22’52”, 25’42” Y
Big W Productions FaceChipz 38’24” N
Disney World of Cars Online 3’55”, 14’34” Y
Disney Clickables 38’26” N
Disney Club Penguin 4’35”, 14’38”, 40’24” N
DreamWorks Kung Fu Panda World 3’48”, 4’56”, 14’36” Y
Facebook Facebook 33’39”, 39’10” N
Fat Brain Toys Erector sets 2’44” N
Fisher-Price Dance Star Mickey 22’22”, 45’12” Y
Fisher-Price Red Rover 32’20” Y
Fisher-Price Follow Me Thomas 21’23” Y
Fisher-Price Elmo Live! 45’22” N
Fisher-Price Tickle Me Elmo 45’31” N
Fisher-Price Frightening McMean
Talking Truck
44’17” Y
Fisher-Price iXL 18’13”, 20’59” Y
Flipoutz Flipoutz 8’23”, 37’48” Y
Gamewright Rory’s Story Cubes 30’04” Y
GeoPalz GeoPalz 9’28” Y
BigBoing Gnomads 38’35” N
TDC Games Green Pieces 42’19” Y
Gyrobike Gyrowheel 10’48”, 13’09” Y
Hairy Entertainment Elf Island 37’31” N
Hairy Entertainment Xeko 37’25” N
Hasbro Scrabble Flash 23’07” Y
Hasbro 75th Anniversary Monopoly 27’40” Y
iToys Me2 9’35” N
Jacabee Jacabee Code 15’21” N
Jakks Pacific Spy Watch 19″31″, 19’59” Y
Jakks Pacific EyeClops (Spy Net) 19’50 N
KidsGive Karito Kids 42’42 N
LeapFrog Leapster 2 18’22” N
Lego Creationary 24’57”, 25’20” Y
Lionel Lionel Trains 2’10”, 2’41” N
Mattel Avatar i-Tag
Augmented Reality cards
39’48” Y
Mattel Loopz 22’49”, 25’58”, 26’56” Y
Mattel Mind Flex 22’40” N
Nintendo Nintendo DS 18’24” N
Paricon Sleds Flexible Flyer Sled 1’57”, 2’39” N
Rio Grande Games Dominion 43’47” N
Rio Grande Games Settlers of Katan 43’45” N
Rixty Rixty 35’25” Y
Scribble mats Scribble mats 16’45” N
Shidonni Shidonni 29’47” Y
Smith & Tinker Nanover 33’24”, 39’59” N
Swinxs Swinxs 11’21”, 32’14”, 36’06”,
40’54”
N
Techno Source Rubik’s Slide 11’08”, 11’26”, 11’53”,
12’32”
Y
Techno Source Rubik’s Touchcube 45’45” N
ThinkGeek Guitar Tshirt 26’31” Y
TCKL Drip Drops 28’50” Y
Topps Augmented Reality
Baseball Cards
39’47” Y
TV Hat TV Hat 26’07”, 36’11” Y
Obvious Twitter 10’12”, 33’08” N
Uncle Milton Pet’s Eye View Camera 9’57” N
Uncle Milton Star Wars Force Trainer 22’42” N
University Games Brain Quest Smart 28’13” Y
VTech Flip 18’09”, 21’03” Y
VTech MobiGo 18’34” Y
VTech Submarine Learning Boat 44’23” Y
VTech Musical Bubbles Octopus 44’46 Y
Where’s George Where’s George 38’43” N
Wild Planet Hyper Dash Extreme 32’24” Y

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 289 user reviews.