WowWee, not content with creating singing Elvis heads, is branching out into AppGear Appcessories – apps that require AR-based accessories, allowing you to interact with real environments using an iPhone or iPod Touch. These games, arriving in stores in April, include a zombie game where you’re the zombies fighting off upset homeowners (What a twist!) and an air battle game that actually uses tiny foam planes attached to the front of your phone to simulate flying in three-dimensional space.

The games will cost $9.99 and include various collectable parts. For example, the zombie game, Zombie Burbz, includes four collectable figurines. Of of the figurines has a set of conductive pads on the bottom and, using the iPad’s multi-touch screen, you control the action by moving the figurine across the virtual board.

All of these concepts are quite cute. Mixing AR and gaming is a tough sell but I think WowWee has gotten it mostly right. One game, for, example, allows you to build a ray gun in real life and mix and match parts, resulting in odd weapons that do different things inside the game. It’s an interesting way to connect collectables with games.

Will it succeed? Meh. Kids are notoriously fickle and these sorts of things require an investment of time and effort that many casual gamers might now have. Why install a foam airplane when you can just fire up Angry Birds. That said, it’s a start and it can only get better. And the zombie game, in which the zombies eat garbage instead of brains, is pretty funny.
Click to view slideshow.

Remember Lazer Tag? Remember how great it was? What if you could play Lazer Tag with 100 of your closest friends? Sounds great, right? The new Light Strike gun game kit is for kids eight and up and includes a gun with customizable features including upgradable features, unique target vests, and a unique health and ammo system built-into the guns. You can create up to four teams of undetermined size and you can even switch teams during the game.

The guns have beam widths that allow you to blast multiple targets at once or aim and fire at a distant target. The guns look very similar to the Paper Jamz guitars and all have touch sensitive surfaces.

The guns will cost about $40 and the accessories are sold separately.

The new guitars have downloadable songs as well as downloadable guitar sounds including heavy metal and twanging country. They are still quite thin and this time they look nothing like anything Gibson has to offer, so they won’t get sued.

Also released is the new Pro microphone, demonstrated here by a man who can’t sing well.

The mic changes your voice and lets you download new songs with which to sing along. It adds auto-harmony, pitch shifting, and other beneficial audio effects so you don’t sound horrible. The kit will be compatible with Wowwee’s new PaperJamz music download service where you can buy and download music for the guitars and amps.

In all, this is a great showing for Wowwee in the music space and, given that kids are sick of Guitar Hero-type games, it could be a good lateral move for the company to trend kids towards “real” instruments.

The company, in a tragic misstep, also produced a Justin Bieber key-tar.

Product Page

Presented without comment. Look for this from WowWee later this year.

The keytar includes Bieber voice samples, Bieber songs, a drum kit, and an octave of notes and effects. Not included are the Bieber hairstyle or popularity.

Product Page

You can read/watch our original review right here.

via Techdirt

Man alive, there’s only a few topics I write about with any regularity here: e-books, World of Warcraft, sports, and robots. I’m not even a fan of robots, and yet I always get assigned the robot stories! Like today, I wake up and see this assigned to me: new WowWee robots. What? Oooh, WowWee, I know them.

Right, so there’s two new WowWee robots out there: the Roborover ($69) and the Joebot ($99). The names are fantastic, yes. (WowWee, incidentally, is my favorite name for a company. Much better than “Apple” or “Microsoft” or “Sony.”) The Roborover moves around on those treads you see, shaped as such so it can roll over dangerous household items with relative ease. Think action figures and the like.

Meanwhile, the Joebot actually walks around on his two legs, and you can issue commands either via voice or “tapping his arms,” whatever that means.

Look, they’re neat toys for kids. What do you want? I wish I had a robot as a young boy in the Bronx.

The WowWee Hoverpod is a completely self-contained foam hovercraft that is charged and controlled via a small IR unit. You can swoosh this little buddy all around your house without fear because the main fan is hidden under the body.

I will cost $19.99 when it’s released in July.

The Spyball™ spy-cam is a remote controlled, Wi-Fi enabled, transforming robotic ball that introduces an element of play to telepresence functionality. Affordable, easy-to-use, and rechargeable, the Spyball spy-cam captures video and still images and is equipped with sleek wheels for fast, smooth mobility and 360-degree turns. Transforming from ball to camera and back again, the Spyball spy-cam moves with stealth and in disguise – perfect for spying on siblings or peeking into the kitchen. There is no need to access the Internet to see what the Spyball spycam sees – users can make an Ad hoc connection via any Wi-Fi-enabled device including a PC, laptop, video game console or even a cell phone. The included USB cable allows users to configure a simple home network setup process that will allow the Spyball spycam to be controlled from any remote location via the Internet.

About WowWee
WowWee, an Optimal Group company, is a leading designer, developer, marketer and distributor of innovative hi-tech consumer robotic and entertainment products. The WowWee group of companies maintains operations in Hong Kong, Carlsbad, California; Brussels, Belgium; and Montreal, Quebec.

For more information, please visit the Company’s web site at www.wowwee.com.

From the makers of those superfluous robotic toys comes a handful of useful and rather interesting offerings for this year’s CES. A DLP pico projector that bends 90-degrees? Hell yes. That’s the Cinemin Swivel. The Cinemin Stick is a little smaller and takes SD cards, but doesn’t bend over backward. There’s also an iPod dock dubbed the Cinemin Station. Did I mention the 3-hour battery life on the Swivel?

Next up is the Spyball. It’s a RC, Wi-Fi enabled robotic ball that you’re going to use to spy on people. It rotates 360-degrees and conceals a tiny spy camera so you take video or take images. Pervert. You can control the Spyball remotely and hook it up Ad-hoc-style over Wi-Fi.

And last but not least are some robots. Meet Joebot and Roborover. OMG. Joebot can beatbox and dance. But he’s more than just a pretty face. He even battles your TV controller (over IR). Roborover is a bit shy and not as outgoing as Joebot. He wants to get to you know before he shows his true colors. Wussy.

Just in time for Christmas commercial bonanza, WowWee unveiled the latest robot in its Robosapien line: RS Tri-bot. The little guy seems to sport Rovio-ish ‘legs’ but also an interactive talking feature that is sure to amuse your little sister – or, for our ‘grown up’ peeps, your cat. The whole thing is controlled via a tilt-sensor equipped remote that gives users complete control over their underling. Instead of controlling the robot manually, the RS Tri-bot can be unleashed in a given room, and using built-in sensors, navigate and even comment about its surroundings. Head over to WowWee’s website for all that the RS Tri-bot can do or you can just pick one up at major retailers for $99 right now and find out for yourself. 

The production Rovio launched a few days ago and RobotsRule.com just uploaded a few videos that showcase the little guy’s key features. So, if you are still unclear what the Wifi remote control webcam robot thingie does, check out the one above and the two after the jump.

Still want more info? Alright.

Just think of what you could do with the Hammacher Schlemmer Anywhere Home Sentry, or as we know it by and are going to refer to it as, the WowWee Rovio. You have full control over the $299, three-wheeled bot via an internet-connected browser and can even interact with those in sight of the Rovio thanks to a 640 x 480 video cam and a microphone / speaker setup. The three-wheel alignment allows for nimble movement and the camera rides on a boom that can be extended up for better viewing. The battery should last about two hours and when it needs a charge, the Rovio can navigate back to its charger. 

The robot can be preprogrammed with 10 routes and can navigate around obstacles thanks to an infrared sensor, so just think of the horror, or fun, the Rovio can provoke. Personally, I’m thinking you could add a little trays on the side and devise some sort of beer can delivery system. Sure, popping a mini fridge next to the Lazy-boy would be easier, but not nearly as sweet.

Another idea: you could rig up a USB missile launchers controlled by a wireless USB dongle for some killer, cubical warfare…powering the USB might be a problem though. The ideas are endless with this bot. I love it! Expect for the name; the Hammacher Schlemmer name is lame.

Available now for $50 from retailers like Toys R Us, Amazon, Target, and WowWee. I wonder if I have one in the office.

I think something inside me died. If you think this is clever, however, feel free to read the full review over at robotsrule.com. Now I have to go change my shirt.

It flies like a real butterfly! I was actually quite surprised at the build quality on this thing. Usually these sorts of things blow into a million pieces on the first day but the Flytech butterfly withstood quite a few crash landings during our trials. The dog also bit it a few times, which is usually the kiss of death for toys like this.

Who is going to buy one now that $250 have been knocked off?

TOP 10 RANDOM (UNSUGGESTED) ALIVE ELVIS USES:

1. Ward of burglars with Elvis’ infrared sensors
2. Take the HOV lane to work with Elvis as your passenger
3. Forget beauty school, all you need is a comb and hairspray to practice
4. His leather coat makes a nice shrug or bolero jacket
5. No need to go stag at your next high school reunion
6. Save money and skip hiring a band for your wedding
7. Scare your husband/wife by slipping him into your side of the bed
8. Freak out Priscilla from the audience of Dancing with the Stars
9. Feeling down? You know who to turn to for a quick make-out session
10. Give the Weekly World News, the “World’s Only Reliable Newspaper,” a reason to begin printing again:

WowWee Store

So, out on Long Island some kid’s FlyTech Dragonfly was snatched out of the air by a hawk that mistook it for actual prey. Either the hawk is really stupid and/or blind or WowWee’s flying robot is the technological marvel they claim it to be. I’ve seen it in action multiple times and for anything to fly that isn’t meant to fly, it’s pretty impresive.

After investigating the story below from a local Long Island newspaper, WowWee’s Customer Service Department determined that it has received 45 different calls over the past 2 months about hawks and other bird of prey swooping down and snatching consumers’ FlyTech Dragonfly out of the air.

I’m told they’re trying to get video of this phenomenon. I hope they do.

High res copy .

Wowwee’s new robots — the Roomba-like Rovio and the Robio-Sapien-like Tribot — are built on the same 3-wheel model. The Rovio has built-in GPS and webcam while the Tribot runs around looking cute. The Tribot is $99.99 — amazingly cheap for such impressive tech — and the Rovio is unannounced. Presumably it will be great for upskirts.

[photopress:IMG_0325.JPG,full,center]
Rovio, oh Rovio!

Can you smell the brimstone, people? This is the end of days. It’s a flying bee. From WowWee. It’s supposed to be from Dreamworks’ Bee Movie but you and I both know that this is Old Scratch’s doing. He and his minions are taking the form of robotic flying bees and will soon open the first seal — The Sex and the City movie. Get thee to a nunnery, friends, because something bad is about to go down.

Product Page