Hot Wheels have been around for a long, long time, but it’s one toy that hasn’t managed to get upgraded all that much over the years. But, for kids who want to still race their favorite cars on ridiculous tracks, it’s about time that Mattel adds a little extra to the small vehicles. That’s where the Video Racer comes in. Designed so that kids (and adults) can experience what it’s like going through that huge loop, or series of loops, right from the inside of the car.
Inside the Video Racer, there’s a small video camera that will be able to capture video at either 30fps, or 60fps. People will have the ability to watch the recorded video either on their TV or PC, thanks to a USB cable. Or, there’s a small LCD screen on the bottom of the vehicle, if you don’t want to have to worry about connecting your toy car to your PC.
Mattel is even including a Hot Wheels video editor, which will allow you to edit features of the videos you record, as well as string them together to make some epic Hot Wheels movies. Mattel plans on releasing the cars in the fall of 2011, and have marked them with a price tag of $60. That includes the USB cable.
3D is the next big thing, whether we like it or not. I’m still not sold on the technology, but maybe Nintendo’s 3DS will be the thing that changes my mind. We’ve still got a bit of time to wait for that, so in the meantime, why not check out this 3D Giant Chalk from Crayola?
Sure, it’s not quite as interactive as a portable gaming system, but it is portable. Apparently you can take this stuff, draw on the sidewalk, then see the images pop out of the ground when you put on the special glasses. This one again proves just how spoiled the kids today are. Back in my day, you just drew on the sidewalk, and it didn’t do anything special. You had to use your imagination. $16 gets you 4 giant dual-colored sticks of the stuff and two pair of glasses.
We’ve a big soft-spot for helicopters here at SlashGear, and while we’d prefer Igarashi Design’s single-person ‘copter concept to spawn a full-sized model (and allow us to whirr above rush-hour traffic), we’ll make do with Rotor Concept‘s scaled-down R/C version. On show at CES 2011 last week, the futuristic chopper has over 19-inch blade-span and beams back live video to the remote control.
Video demo after the cut
Flight time is around 15 minutes on a full charge of the 1,500 mAh battery, but this is no toy. Range is quoted at up to a mile, there’s 3-axis gyro control and the ‘chopper can reach up to 2,000ft high. Despite all that, Rotor Concept reckons it’ll take most users just 30 minutes to get the hang of flying it.
MAKE stopped by the stand at CES last week and found Rotor Concept were offering the ‘chopper for $299 as a promo. It’s available to order now via their site, priced at $499.
While it looks like one of those professional RC helicopters that should only be controlled by an experienced pilot lest someone loses a limb, the ID1-Swat from Rotor Concept’s actually looks as easy to fly as those palm-sized Air Hogs models. At least the demos at their small booth at CES were impressive since the electric chopper effortlessly hovered in the air, even when there was no one at the controls. Thanks to a “state-of-the-art high performance heading hold gyro” if things start to get out of control you just let go of the sticks and the ID1-Swat will level itself and remain hovering where you left it.
Its 11.1V, 1500mAh lithium-polymer battery, which powers two electric motors, is good for about 15 minutes of flight time, and the 4-channel, 2.4GHz remote gives it an impressive flight range of a 1 mile radius and up to 2,000 feet high. And to top it all off there’s even a wireless video camera in the front giving you a first-person view of the entire flight. $499, back-ordered until mid-February.
We first brought you news about Sphero around a month before CES 2011 was set to begin, and it immediately became one of the things I was most excited about seeing at the show. And given the amount of time I spent playing with their white plastic ball at their booth, suffice to say it didn’t disappoint.
The most common question raised by other attendees while I loitered around the Orbotix booth was “why?” and it’s exactly that question that has me most excited about Sphero. At the moment most people see it as nothing more than an RC toy, but it’s the endless possibilites of what it can also be that I think will be its ‘killer app’. Just like how every day a new app comes along that takes advantage of the iPhone’s capabilities in a unique and interesting way. More of my thoughts and hands-on impressions of Sphero after the jump.
Now since they’re still a while away from hitting the market, the Spheros that Orbotix had on display at CES basically just served as RC toys, not to imply that made them any less fun. Using either an iPhone, iPad or Android-based device and a Bluetooth connection, the Sphero is controlled just like any other wireless RC toy… well mostly. You see since it’s a perfect sphere the Sphero doesn’t really have a ‘front’ per se, and when it’s stopped you can’t really tell which way is forward.
So using the on-screen controls for the Sphero is a bit different than controlling an RC toy with a physical joystick. Moving the sphere is accomplished by pushing a circle sitting in the middle of a larger circle away from the center. The farther it goes to the edge, the faster Sphero rolls. And steering is accomplished by continuously sliding your finger around the inside of the larger circle. As long as you’re sliding, Sphero continuously makes an arcing turn in that direction. It does take a few minutes to get used to, and one of our writers who will go unnamed needed a few attempts at it to wrap his head around the concept. But once you get going you’ll be navigating obstacle courses like a pro!
Since they’re all controlled by Bluetooth you can easily have multiple Spheros running at the same time as well, as was the case at Orbotix’s booth. So battling it out Sumo-style on a table with a friend is no problem. And keeping track of which Sphero is yours isn’t an issue either since each one has a set of colored LEDs inside which can be customized from the app to make it glow in any color of your choosing.
At the moment Orbotix didn’t have many details about when the Sphero might be hitting the market, though they seemed optimistic about having them available later in the year if all goes well. Pricing was also completely up in the air, but if they manage to come up with some slick new ways to use it between now and Christmas, I don’t think a higher price tag would do much to harm their sales.
And while I’d like to say I was the biggest Sphero fan at CES this year, during one of my visits I was easily bested by this young ‘leader dog for the blind’ pup in training who desperately wanted to play too.
Brain-monitoring mental agility game Mindflex has spawned a new version, Mindflex Dual, and as the name suggests it allows two players to go head to head and see who has the most powerful brain. Expected to ship on August 15, Mindflex Duel uses the same “mind-eye” concentration headbands as the original Mattel game, but allows you to battle it out against an opponents mental skills.
Various types of challenge are on offer, including collaborative modes for those less interested in competing, but all involve using the brain to guide a foam ball along the game area. Various slot-in obstacles can be fitted to add some extra challenge, or you can just play at virtual sumo, trying to push the ball into your opponent’s end-zone.
Are you a fan of the Mini Cooper and moderate levels of flash memory? You’re not alone because a Chinese company has gone to a lot of trouble to license the Mini brand and create surprisingly detailed USB flash drives. The retracting USB port is hidden inside the Mini’s trunk and can extended via a sliding switch on the underside of the vehicle, but besides that these things were surprisingly detailed. And when plugged into your PC the headlights even light up. Available in 1, 2, 4 and 8GB capacities, though I’m not sure if they have a distributor in North America just yet. (There’s a reason they were at CES after all.)
Since the original iPhone version must not be selling so well, Mattel has come to the rescue with this real-life version of Angry Birds where players build and destroy structures just like in the digital version. Players take turns drawing cards which feature structures they have to build out of the included blocks, pieces and pigs. Then it’s the other players job to topple those creations by launching the disgruntled birds at the structures using a miniature working catapult. Available in May for just $14.99 it includes three angry birds, four pigs and 14 structure pieces.
Ever wondered what it would be like to ride inside a Hot Wheels car as it raced through loops of orange track? Sadly CES is still devoid of any shrink ray technology, so instead Mattel has gone and crammed a video camera inside their 1:64 scale Hot Wheels vehicles giving you a first-person perspective view of what it would be like to ride in one. Its limited on-board memory can only capture about 12 minutes of VGA-quality video which can be offloaded to your PC via a USB connection, or watched on a tiny LCD display located on the underside of each car. Available sometime in the Fall of this year for $59.99.
Playing hide and seek with your kids is a fun pastime, unless they’re not so great with the finding part, leaving you stuck in a closet or trapped behind a couch for hours on end. If that’s the case these plush Hide & Seek Safari Jr. animals should be a big help. They still let you play hide and seek with your kids, but it’s the elephant, lion or monkey who’ll be doing the hiding. You stash it somewhere secret, and then your kids use their electronic wands to hunt them down, so it’s particularly great for kids who are finding-challenged.
The animals communicate with the wand via high-frequency sounds (out of the range of human hearing) instead of RF, and the wand features a set of LEDs that will light up in sequence as they get closer to them. Both the wand and the animals will also make sounds when they’re particularly close to each other, making the finding part even easier. The plush ‘Jr.’ versions of Hide & Seek Safari pictured above are $34.95 and are designed for younger children, while versions with small plastic figurines for older kids run the same price.
