Sega's HomeStar Spa: Plane-arium edition
[Via Environmental Graffiti, thanks guest-editor Dr. Adams]
Posts with tag segatoys

Though we don't believe this to be one of those "mind-controlled tech toys" Sega Toys was working on, it's pretty evident that it will give your mind a workout. From what we can tell, the Brain Checker is a standalone gizmo designed to stretch your mental muscles with a myriad puzzles, but most everything beyond that is lost in translation. We do know, however, that it can be had in Japan for around ¥5,775 ($51), but who knows if it'll make it's way to any other corners of the globe.

Sega Toys has another in a long line of personal robotic pets: the MIO. This deer/dog (deg?) sells for ¥9,240 in October or about $75 whenever it escapes Japan. Like any good robopet, the MIO features big doleful eyes capable of expressing joy, anger, and grief in response to your tender grace or heel of your boot. No doubt, the latest entry in Sega Toys' dream pet series helps ease you into the grave by washing away the empty ennui of your existence.
Animated flowers in the home certainly aren't a new fad, as we've seen talkative ones, printing ones, networked ones, and even petals that douse fires. Sega Toys' latest gizmo takes the electrified flower to another level, as it looks to integrate the bouncy demeanor of the iSmile flower with your music to create a housemate that jumps and grooves to your tunes right alongside of you. The device accepts any musical source via a 3.5-millimeter input jack, and also features a built-in speaker, illuminated petals, moving leaves, and an expressive face to boot. The iSmile even reacts accordingly to the genre of music coming through, as it gracefully grooves to slow jams while shakin' it until the leaves fall off when listening to heavy metal. Sure, this thing desperately needs a speaker pass-through output so you're not stuck utilizing the presumably weak integrated driver, but nevertheless, you can pick up your own iSmile now for just about 40 bucks.
If you're tired of shuffling through the myriad of grown-up camcorders out there, or just want to get your up-and-coming kid schooled correctly in the realm of technology, Sega Toys' has your device. The 68 x 85 x 40-millimeter handheld Movie Carrier has all the markings of a clichéd holiday gift, but the one difference here is that this bad boy actually records full-motion video. Sporting a CMOS sensor, 4x zoom, 1.5-inch flipout monitor, SD slot, TV outputs, and a kid-friendly pink / blue enclosure, Sega's toyish camcorder records 320 x 240 resolution video and even still pictures in the form of AVI / JPEG onto the included 32MB SD card. While the image quality here is likely to be just marginally above pitiful, you're sure to acquire a few priceless (albeit pixelated) home videos letting this loose in the hands of a youngster, and hey, giving your favorite child the means to catch that oh-so-mischievous one red-handed will only run you ¥13,440 ($114). 










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