Mechatars launches to link off and online play
Following the trend to link toys and virtual worlds together, here’s a new example of exactly that called Mechatars.
Created by a company called ILoveRobots, spun out of Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, Mechatars is a toy line consisting of three different robots (Alpha, Wrexx and Kodar). The price point is $39.99. And, clearly the company is keen to promote the different ‘attitudes’ of each toy because they even have their own twitter accounts.
Accompanying the physical toy range is a virtual world called the Mechaverse. Progression through levelling within the virtual world opens up and enables additional features from the real world toy. CEO Martin Hitch states:
“We’re the first company that has successfully connected physical products with virtual environments,” he said. “We’re the first company that has been able to make our product evolve over time.”
The play mechanic is primarily ‘battling and fighting’, similar to UK property Fight My Monster. Here’s one of their launch videos and a link to the full press release.
Our latest report – The Golden Triangle, explains the opportunties available for toys and virtual worlds. Here’s an extract from the report highlighting the strategies.
Kids virtual worlds gatecrash the BAFTA awards
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) nominees have just been announced. Looking through the Children’s Awards Nominees highlights both the growing popularity of virtual worlds as well as the emerging trend to tie film and TV properties into them.
In the Animation category, Muddle Earth from CBBC is nominated. This property has an accompanying virtual world created by Dubit.
In the Comedy category, Horrible Histories is nominated, which also has a virtual world.
In the Feature Film category, Harry Potter and Kung Fu Panda are in the running, with the latter prepping Pottermore for launch and the former already with a virtual world in the market.
In the Interactive category Mindy Candy are short-listed for Moshi Monsters.
There’s also a special Kid’s Vote BAFTA award.
Within this award section Cars 2, Harry Potter, Kung Fu Panda and Transformers feature in the Film category. Cars has an accompanying world called World of Cars and there’s a Transformers Universe MMO in the works being developed by Jagex.
In the Web section we’re delighted to see two of our clients, Bin Weevils and Stardoll nominated alongside Club Penguin and Moshi Monsters.
The British Academy Children’s Awards will take place on Sunday 27 November. Let the voting battles commence!
Our latest report, The Golden Triangle, explains the strategies available to IP owners in the kids TV and Movie sectors. Order it here.
Golden Triangle Slideshare presentation
Our latest report, The Golden Triangle is now available on Slideshare.
This report explains and positions the opportunities available to IP owners in the toys/games and tv/movie sectors with respect to virtual world integration. The full high-res report can be ordered here
New KZero report: Toys, Media and Virtual Worlds – Creating the Golden Triangle
We’ve just released our latest report called ‘Toys, Media and Virtual Worlds – Creating the Golden Triangle’.
The report, in presentation format, aims to provide professionals in the toys, games, TV and movie sectors with guidance and insight into the key opportunities and strategies available in the virtual worlds sector.
Importantly, it also recommends how to align all three elements into a cohesive community building and revenue generating platform.
Areas covered include branded virtual goods inclusion, community and awareness building, research and development, character development and many others.
Also included in the report are examples of projects deployed to date. The free report can be requested here.
