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Disney's Playmation toys let kids feel like an Avenger
The rise of smartphones and tablets has forced entertainment firms, such as Disney, to design themed toys that can come to life and build a story around them. That's the case for Playmation, a platform of smart toys that combines Disney's popular movie franchises with sensors and kids' imagination. The first set, scheduled to launch in October, will be based on none other than Marvel's Avengers, while Star Wars and Frozen are expected to arrive in 2016 and 2017, respectively. The Starter Pack we tried features an Iron Man glove, which lets young ones hear and feel what it's like to have the superhero's powers -- like his signature repulsor blast. There are also two figures included (Captain America, Iron Skull), as well as a pair of base stations that communicate with Tony Stark's wearable via IR, and can be used for interactive missions.
Disney's smart toys combine Avengers, sensors and imagination
Those giant, green Hulk hands in your closet might be cool but their utility doesn't extend much beyond freaking out your cat and making tired "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry" jokes. Disney has an idea to remedy that with internet-connected versions of those as well as a pair of Iron Man gauntlets. Wait, smart toys? Yep. As The Wall Street Journal tells it, these Playmation devices will work in concert, via radio frequency and infrared signals, with special action figures as well as other branded apparatus you strap on to your body. Based on what TechCrunch says, these sound an awful lot like a home laser-tag set. Different playthings offer different augmentations (action figures come with new, narrated, playable stories, and you can buy more of the latter via a connected app) but they won't all work together.
