New Barbie Dolls to Interact With Virtual World?
Unless I’m much mistaken, it looks like Mattel’s new Barbie Girls, to be launched later this month, will be a physical doll that can interact with a virtual world, and should be a very interesting new experiment in that kind of crossover entertainment. BarbieGirls.com is a multi-user isometric browser-based virtual world just launched by Mattel for fans of the company’s Barbie dolls. It’s pretty simple stuff (see screenshot at end of this post), but it looks like it could be tied to the company’s physical dolls in interesting ways. The Barbie Girls concept is due for a broader launch on March April 26. Mattel isn’t saying what that involves, except that “the toy blends fashion doll play, the Internet and music,” according to the L.A. Times. But clues can be found in the Barbie Girls world, where you can visit with friends, shop for clothes, earn B Bucks by playing games, and do many of the other things that are fast becoming standard in virtual worlds. If you’ve been to Habbo Hotel or CyWorld, you know what I’m talking about.
As usual, it’s the shopping that’s interesting. When I tried to buy the rather attractive pair of pedal-pushers pictured above for Walkerette, I was told to “Connect your Barbie Girl to buy this fabulous fashion!” (The “Tell me more” link, however, is blank at the moment.) That indicates to me that the physical Barbie Girls dolls will be interactive with the virtual world on the Web site. That’s a pretty interesting concept, especially if you can buy physical clothes for your Barbie Girl that match the ones she’s wearing in the virtual world. Maybe you get extra B Bucks if your physical Barbie Girl meets up in the real world with her virtual friends. Stuff like that, and more. Very cool. I’m looking forward to hearing more about this. I may even have to get myself a Barbie Girl. Uh-oh.
Walkerette at home
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[…] That’s right… I can only speculate that Barbie is getting USB! Mark Wallace at 3pointD had similar thoughts. […]
I want to go there.
Didn’t the Beanie Babies have something like this tho?
Actually, Tamagotchi has had this for a couple of years. Theirs isn’t via USB — you take your Tamagotchi’s name and code, plug it into a website, and then as you play certain activities, codes flash up on screen for you to put into your physical Tamagotchi. These codes are how it communicates back and forth.
Prokofy > Didn’t the Beanie Babies have something like this tho?
Heck yea, but it’s not the Beanie Babies, it’s called Webkinz, these little mixed-reality stuffed animals. I bought the last two in some store a little while back. Both the person on the phone and then a different person at the register mentioned they were all the rage with kids and flying like hot cakes. Webkinz come with a number you enter into the site to release them into the virtual wilds. Here’s a pic of Beowulf and Kwello enjoying a drink. If you must know, I bought them on the way to meet up with friends at Barcade, so that’s how they got there. :)
actually the beanie babies folks quietly launched something recently http://www.tygirlz.com
[…] 3pointD.com’s Mark Wallace has a nice report on the Barbie dolls and virtual world phenomenon. […]
It will be called the Matrix Barbie.
A socket in the back of her skull will be used to connect Barnie via common machines and public terminals cables to virtual worlds, allowing emails, IM messages and other info to be downloaded directly into the mind - ah, implemented hard drive ..
Content then is stored in the Barbie and can be accessed via USB or Bluetooth onto other devices.
But to be honest : why isnt there already a Barbie Theme World in Second Life ?
Or, to protect the younger, a standalone version of a 3D - Barbieworld ?
An btw:: when will Hot Wheels cars and tracks be accessable in 3D ?=)
[…] Remember those dreams you used to have when you were little? The ones where your Barbie dolls came alive with a maniacal Valley Girl giggle and proceeded to menace your cowering, sleep-fogged self with their sharp-edged plastic accessories? No? Well you should because it wasn’t just a dream, it was a premonition. Mattel’s new line of dolls, aiming to be a chic re-tooling of a classic brand, may just feature connectivity to your humble PC. BarbieGirls.com appears to be part community venue, allowing visitors to chat with friends (classified as friends, or best friends…ouch on the clique-y-ness), play games, building up a stash of the site’s virtual currency “B Bucks”, and part portal for further branding exercises. According to 3pointD.com, which poked around at the official website of the new “Barbie Girls”, proud doll owners may be able to buy virtual outfits for your doll’s virtual self, while perhaps also being able to grab a physical set of duds for their clutchable companion. I set about my own adventure in Barbie Girl World, creating an account and an avatar that looked…nothing like me. I didn’t get much further than that though, because my lack of a physical doll prevented me from unlocking the hairstyles that I wanted, and the ‘Tell Me More’ link, which was supposed to explain how a doll would allow me to access more content, didn’t respond to my frantic clicking. From what I could tell, it’s sort of like Second Life meets Habbo Hotel meets reality, in that there seems to be a suggestion of interactivity between the doll that you buy in the store, and the happenings on the computer, and vice versa. The system is currently in beta. […]
HOLA BARBIE
As a sister to a tween and a pre-schooler, and a mother to a young daughter myself, I felt I had to investigate the Barbie Girls site a little more before registration was allowed for any of the children. After I clicked the Tell Me More link, i loearned that there is an MP3 player shaped much like the virtual dolls with interchangeable accessory sets (plastic outfits that snap on and off) that will be on the market as of July. This is the barbie girl that you have to sync up to allow Private Messaging and to unlock the other outfits, furni (furniture), hairstyles, accessories, and pets for the Barbie Girls. The MP3 player is set to market @ around $60, with the accessory sets selling for $10 each. The specs on the MP3 player are a little sad, with only (approximately) 120 songs able to fit on the 512 MB internal memory. However, memory is expandable up to 2GB with an SD card slot. Also, there was little to no personal information to speak of taken during the registration (age range, screenname for account, password, and password reminder), making me feel alot less worried about the possibility of the girls’ names, addresses, or any other sensitive information.
So the only way to unlock furniture, clothes, and pets is to buy the $60 Mp3 player? Please contact me with any information on how to unlock items. Greenday7899@hotmail.com Thank you.
how do u connect yuor barbie girl?
hau abuy a exstra fasion
how do u unlock things?????????
how do you connect with the barbie girls?
Hi..
i wont to buy a barbie girl mp3 player
tell me where can i buy it from
in Saudi Arabea .. please and send it to my mail
iam waiting ..
Roony
ya, that’s my best problem, how could I unlock things???
pls. if you know how, pls. send an e-mail =)
pls. i really want to buy that fashion dresses and furnis!!!! pls! lol
eu quero a barbie girls
i want a barbie girls
barbie girls
why is all the talk a bunch of symbls no one is speaking
when my daughter plays the game now all there talking is a bunch of symbls and cant understand what any one is saying this just started happening to her
Please contact me with an answere to this problem at cgoldman1@cox.net we have been playing thi8si game great for some time and out of the blue no more words just letters or symbls that make no sense
please im beaging you to tell me the code please please please please
plz plz tell me code!!!!!!!!! plz plz plz
wat this code?
every time my daughter puts her doll in an error message comes up saying adobe flash player 9 will run slowly and effect something or another i click no and it wont download her doll to play i click yes and the computer goes nuts i paid 70.00 for a doll she cant play i see law suite on my hands since im a lawyer fix the problem please
hi i just wanted to know how to connect the barbie girl mp3 player i have it but the code is not correct.plz tell me how to do it. p.s i have had the barbie girls mp3 player for ages and i am getting annoyed plz help bye.
Hello. I wonder if you might tell me the code to link my car with the Barbie Girl website please, since you obviously built and maintain the entire system and know everything about it. I have tried driving the car into my living room but it still did not connect, and, what’s more, it flattened the cat.
where do i connnect my barbie girl pls answer me