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Build-a-bear's new store concept wants you to choose, love, stuff and fluff with high-tech (video)
If little Johnny thought Build-a-Bear had nothing for his tech-savvy toddler sensibilities, he'd better think again. The plush toy-seller has just launched a new high-tech store concept that it hopes will help re-engage children otherwise distracted with tablets, phones and game consoles. The new additions include a 55-inch interactive digital sign out front, with touchscreen and Kinect functionality, complete with unlockable content via barcodes. Once inside, four Samsung SUR40 smart tables loaded with custom software offer a range of different parts of the teddy-making process, as well as interact with the toys in real-time -- like a virtual bubble bath -- thanks to a purpose-built tagging system. The sound side of things also gets a lick of paint, with six audio "zones" created, using ultrasonic speakers that can target sound to specific parts of the store and stop all the collective noise from reverberating like something from a bad dream. The first such shop is already open in St Louis, with five more locations to follow: Pleasanton CA, Annapolis MD, Troy MI, Fairfax VA and Indianapolis IN between October and November.
Kinectimals, now with Build-a-Bear
Build-A-Bear Workshop is teaming up with Microsoft on a Kinectimals Now with Bears build-and-scan promotion. Beginning October 11, Build-A-Bear Workshops and buildabear.com will have four bears (pictured) that you can take home starting at $18.00 (and you don't even have to buy them drinks first). They all include "Microsoft Tag technology," which allows you to scan the cuddly cubs with Kinect and unlock a matching furball in the game. Beginning October 11, the two companies are also using their muscle on a sweepstakes promotion, in which 100 winners receive a prize pack that includes an Xbox 360 4GB console, a Kinect sensor, Kinectimals Now with Bears and a $100 gift card to Build-A-Bear Workshop. More details will be available on the Build-A-Bear site.
The most adorable healer ever
Ember on the Shattered Oath (US Emerald Dream-H) forums posted a photo documentary of how she hand-made a teddy bear Priest replica. The bear represents her Undead toon, complete with Staff of Immaculate Recovery. Now, I'm not so sure that I'd cast a teddy bear in the role of an undead anything, but in every other sense, Ember went out of her way to create a legitimate mini-me. She even went so far as to cut off the heads of some Barbie dolls and spray paint them silver to make the shoulder adornments suitably lifelike (undead-like?). The staff even glows in the dark. She brands her creation with the tag Build-a-Priest, no doubt a nod to others out there. But who knows, she just might be onto something. If she'd make me a teddy bear shaman, I'd pay for it![Thanks, Gary Doyle!]%Gallery-25107%
If you were planning to buy the Build-A-Bear game ...
We're not going to try to dissuade you from buying the Build-A-Bear Workshop game. Maybe you are five, or maybe you just want to relive the thrill of building a bear out of nothing but a bear-shaped shell over and over again without filling your house with castoffs of the bear-building process (bears).If you do want to purchase this game, today is a pretty good day to do so, since the game is today's Amazon Deal of the Day, marked down to $20 for the rest of the day or as long as supplies last (so for the rest of the day).
GDC08: Thinking outside the virtual world
Tuesday afternoon, Michael Acton Smith, CEO of Mind Candy, presented attendees at the GDC's Worlds in Motion summit with an interesting look at the confluence between real goods and virtual worlds. For some background on where Smith is coming from, Mind Candy "creates games and puzzles that span multiple media.... [they] use all forms of technology to tell stories and interact with... [their] audiences." They run Perplex City, an alternate reality game that uses clues puzzles in the real world combined with web-based resources to create a unique type of gameplay. Their upcoming game Moshi Monsters is an adoptable pet game geared towards kids. Smith says it's a "new type of virtual pet experience." The pets will be very alive with their own emotions (driven by a behavior engine which will cause your pet to act different ways depending on how you treat it) that will be reflected in the pet's animations. The game will also incorporate a number of social tools, so both you and your pet monster can hang out with friends. And, of course, there will be toys, oh glorious toys. (Some already available, though the game itself is still in beta and closed to the public.)%Gallery-16441%
