February 8th, 2011

Stardoll Inks Licensing Deal With Toy Giant Mattel – A Sign Of Things To Come?

Stardoll, the online fashion game aimed at teen and “tween” girls, is to enter a multi-year licensing agreement with toy giant Mattel to create toys based on the characters in the game.

The first products will ship this autumn according to Mattias Miksche CEO of Stardoll, at the International Toy Fair. Mattel already knows Stardoll well from having advertised its own brands on the site, like… → Read More

December 22nd, 2010

Fly Or Die: The Nexus S, Barbie Video Girl, And AR.Drone (TCTV)

It’s video time, folks. Here is the latest episode of one of our newest TCTV shows, Fly or Die. (For those of you paying attention, before it was called Death/Star for the pilot, but we changed it to make the name clearer). Fly or Die is a review show where Crunchgear editor John Biggs and I take on three new products and argue which ones will become huge hits or mark them for death. The twist… → Read More

November 28th, 2010

From The Video Vault: Barbie Video Girl

With holiday shopping season now in full swing, it is time to revisit one of the strangest toys to come out this year. Yes, I am talking about the Barbie Video Girl. Or, as I like to call it, Surveillance Barbie. It is a Barbie doll with a video camera embedded into her chest, a USB port in her back, and batteries in her legs. When Mattel released this $50 Barbie last July, it sparked all… → Read More

May 24th, 2009

Mattel Mindflex game available for pre-order

Hey, Mike. John here. Remember that weird telekinesis game you liked from CES this year? It’s available at Amazon for pre-order, so go ahead and pick it up. It’s going to cost $99 and I personally think it’s garbage but I know you and the TC team were into it so go ahead and buy it. When I’m in town for WWDC I’ll school you all in Jedi mind games. “This is not the blogger you’re looking for.”

Our… → Read More

March 30th, 2009

The history of handheld sports in 26 acts

Harry McCracken’s unfortunately titled article, Smallball, is a round-up of all of those great handheld video games we all played on the toilet back in the 1980s and 90s as well as a few classics from decades past. → Read More

January 8th, 2009

Hands on with Mattel's weird Mindflex Game

Now here’s something that will end up at the bottom of the toybox next Christmas. The Mindflex lets you control a floating ball around a little obstacle course. Air bumps and pops the ball through hoops and tubes and ends up frustrating you more than anything else. → Read More