Game Boy inducted into National Toy Hall of Fame

The Game Boy is finally getting recognition it deserves this week, alongside the Ball and Big Wheel in the National Toy Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Play. The three toy honorees were selected from among 12 toy finalists that included: The Ball, Big Wheel, Cabbage Patch Kids, Game of Life, Hot Wheels, Nintendo Game Boy, Paper Airplane, Playing Cards, Rubik’s Cube, Sidewalk Chalk, Toy Tea Set, and Transformers. I would have thought that sidewalk chalk was a shoe-in but it didn’t make this year’s cut.

To date, 44 toys have made it into the National Toy Hall of Fame including Alphabet Blocks, Atari 2600 Game System, Ball, Barbie, Baby Doll, Bicycle, Big Wheel, Candy Land, Cardboard Box, Checkers, Crayola Crayons, Duncan Yo-Yo, Easy-Bake Oven, Erector Set, Etch A Sketch, Frisbee, G.I. Joe, Hula Hoop, Jack-in-the-Box, Jacks, Jigsaw Puzzle, Jump Rope, Kite, LEGO, Lincoln Logs, Lionel Trains, Marbles, Monopoly, Mr. Potato Head, Nintendo Game Boy, Play-Doh, Radio Flyer Wagon, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Rocking Horse, Roller Skates, Scrabble, Silly Putty, Skateboard, Slinky, Stick, Teddy Bear, Tinkertoy, Tonka Trucks, and View-Master.

Congrats to all this year’s winners. A special shout-out to stick for finally being able to reunite with ball.

Fifth series of U.B. Funkeys hit retail

Mattel’s Radica and causal game developer Arkadium have launched the fifth series of U.B. Funkeys toys. These toys are action figures that are used in conjunction with a kid friendly MMO style world where the toys unlock special characters. It combines vinyl toy collecting with the world of gaming.
The newest version transports players into the cross-section of technology and nature with four new zones:

- Old Green: Nature at Its Core (Autumn)
- New Green: Conservation, Recycling, Paper vs. Plastic (Spring)
- Old Technology: Industrial Revolution (Winter)
- New Technology: Eco, Nano, Clean and Green (Summer)

The new series of toys also introduces six new characters, new multiplayer games and user-generated games.

Recent research from Nielsen shows that over the past five years the kids Web universe has grown by 18 percent, versus just a 10 percent growth rate seen in the relative mature general Web population. As of May this year, the kids 2-11 audience had reached 16 million, or 9.5 percent of the active online universe. And time spent online among kids has soared by 63 percent over the past five years.

And on a related note, youngsters will be able to collect U.B. Funkeys toys through a joint promotional program with Wendy’s. Beginning this month U.B. Funkeys starter CDs, a back pack clip, a U.B. Funkeys bobble head and 3D board game will be available in Wendy’s Kids’ Meals.

Playing with Transformers on iPhone

Glu Mobile has released TRANSFORMERS CyberToy for iPhone and iPod Touch on the iTunes App Store. the App Store. Based on characters from the TRANSFORMERS toy line and movie series, this application is available worldwide for an introductory price of $0.99 from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch.
TRANSFORMERS CyberToy isn’t really a game, but more like a virtual action figure. It allows players to transform characters from vehicle to robot by utilizing the touch screen to interact with their favorite TRANSFORMERS in a virtual environment.

In Action Figure Mode users choose different poses, play sounds and animations, and deploy their signature weapons. In Challenge Mode users must change from robot to vehicle and back as quickly as possible by a series of taps, touches, shakes and tilts. Finally, there’s a View Tech Specs section that will offer details of on various Transformers including OPTIMUS PRIME, BUMBLEBEE, MEGATRON and STARSCREAM. for now it only offers some data on BUMBLEBEE.

LEGO Universe Delayed

The first of its kind online multiplayer LEGO game, LEGO Universe, will not be launched in 2009 and no definitive alternate date has been revealed, according to Kotaku. Speaking to Mark Hansen, director of business development for the LEGO Group, the report reveals that the LEGO Group wants or needs to give developer NetDevil more time to develop the game.

“Within the company we have made a strategic decision within LEGO to make a delay of LEGO Universe. It will not be coming out in 2009,” Hansen told Kotaku’s Brian Crecente this morning. “The reason is, we have a luxury right now, the business is going good. We have products launching that are not digital, the physical products, with them going so well we don’t want to take focus away from them.”

Hansen goes on to say nothing about when the game will see the light of day, shying away from even giving a date in 2010. Still, he says that the company is committed to seeing this game launch and that NetDevil may take the extra time to create new content including stuff that tie-ins with what LEGO has on store shelves. This excludes properties like Batman LEGO and  LEGO Star Wars (for obvious reasons), but Hansen believes that getting that kind of content in the game isn’t “off the table.”

Halo Wars Action Figures Announced

McFarlane Toys has teamed up with Microsoft Game Studios to create action figures based on Halo Wars, the Ensemble Studios-developed strategy game based on Bungie’s ultra popular Halo game universe for the Xbox 360. These action figures (kung-fu grip not included) are expected to hit stores in spring 2009 and retail for around $10 each.

The figures are 2.5 inches tall and have mobility at the waist - which is important for when you are posing them in heroic moments on your shelf of real-world desktop. Yeah, if you need to pose your action figures then it might be time to get a life… Each three-pack features Halo Wars characters with different poses, colors and weapons. Series One features four unique three-packs, listed after the jump:

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Play With Guitar Hero ‘Action Figures’

Just in case you managed to rescue whatever shred of dignity you had with your friends and relatives after seeing you play with Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken, Todd McFarlane’s McFarlane Toys are determined to squash it by making you purchase their Guitar Hero action figures.

And that’s just it. You can call them action figures all you like, but remember that’s just a clever marketing spin. You, my friend, are, ipso facto, playing with dolls.

So about the four characters that will get their likeness modeled in the form of “action figures,” they are as follows:

Lars Umlaut, the makeup-wearing fattie

Axel Steel, the denim-clad thrasher

Johnny Napalm, the punker with a mohawk

The God of Rock, who looks like Zeus with a six-string

More info on the “action figures” can be found here.