Cashing in on the enormous popularity of Tamagotchi, the handheld virtual pet that sold out in Japanese and American stores, Bandai Digital Entertainment and 7th Level are working on a CD-ROM version of the toy. This latest incarnation of Tamagotchi provides a new home for the game's fragile little creatures - your desktop.
The CD-ROM project, announced Thursday at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is based on Bandai's wildly popular Japanese and American versions of the toy, which have sold 12 million units worldwide, but will incorporate features that make it significantly different from the key-chain-sized toys.
"The CD-ROM stays very true to the nature of the original toy, but will be different in that with the original toy, you could take it with you during the day," said John McGanty, director of Bandai's software unit. "With the new product, many people may leave their computer in the morning and not come back until the evening, so there will be an option for letting it sit for 12 hours unattended and have it not be a problem."
The "problem" McGanty refers to is that if the Tamagotchi, a small egg that hatches into a tiny chick, is left alone for too long, it dies. The Japanese version of the original toy even incorporated a small pixel gravestone, but such an obvious marker of mortality was replaced in the American version by a little chick ascending with a smiling angel. McGanty noted that the CD-ROM would include the American version of the chick's demise.
The CD-ROM is still in a "definition phase," with much of the art for the games already completed, and other changes are planned. 7th Level CEO Bob Ezrin said the project will have greater complexity: A suite of games based on the care, feeding, and discipline of the baby chick will create "a depth of relationship" between the user and the Tamagotchi.
But the most significant change may not be in how the Tamagotchi game is played, but in who plays it. The American version of the toy was targeted at 8- to 16-year-olds, but the game-makers hope that the arrival of Tamagotchi on the desktop will mean a large new market among working adults. "One of the reasons we made this product for the PC is because this is something that people will play with at work while they are working on other projects," Ezrin said.
The Tamagotchi CD-ROM joins an increasingly crowded field of virtual pets from companies including PF Magic, Fujitsu, and CyberLife Technology Ltd., among others. But McGanty, for one, seems unconcerned and hints at an online version of Tamagotchi that could include chat areas, virtual day-care centers, and little Tamagotchi "agents." Ezrin says with a laugh that if all goes well, "we are all going to have all kinds of fun playing in Tamagotchiland."
More on E3:
Apocalypse Wow: Gaming Goes Hollywood
20.Jun.97
Attracts Gamers Like Magic
20.Jun.97
Before ... Click ... After
20.Jun.97
Pac-Man Leaves Flatland
19.Jun.97
