Dora Links Doll
© 2009 Mattel, Inc.
Marriages between PCs and toys rarely end nicely. The hardest thing about making a toy work is usually prying them out of the packaging and handing it to your child. On the other hand, computers (aka “confusers”) have become synonymous with things that have no place in the playroom, like downloads, installations, USB cables and DirectX drivers. Case in point is Mattel’s new Dora Links Doll ($60, out last week, www.doralinks.com) which works both as a stand-alone doll and a computer peripheral. The debut of big-kid Dora (she's about 11), this toy is the star of a line of toys and accessories designed to catch the eyes of post-preschool, pre-Barbie 5-8 year old girls. The foot-tall doll can be dressed-up and posed, and her long hair can be brushed and braided. Electronic features include the ability to talk, and eyes that can alternate between three colors. Embedded LEDs make her cheeks, lips and earrings glow and her motorized hair has three length settings. Making these cool features work is where the headache can start, however. First, you need to download a 400 MB file, and then connect the doll to your Windows computer, via the included USB cable. Providing things sync correctly, you need to register with Mattel; a total of an hour long process. Assuming things do go well, you can steer a tiny Dora avatar around the town of Puerto Verde, in one of five one-player scavenger hunts that resemble a simplified Nancy Drew mystery. These five adventures are just a starter set -- Mattel plans on releasing 20 more, which will be delivered as updates when your child first launches the software. New adventure announcements will come from Dora's internal speaker, even when she's not tethered to the computer. In a typical 30-minute adventure, your job is to find items needed to clean up the environment, help the dolphins, or get ready for a big party. The mysteries are generally fun, and the narration provides informal exposure to some Spanish. Compared to other similar titles, however, there’s a lack of elegance to the design. For example, you can customize Dora's look in the beauty shop, but parts of her outfit disappear when she goes into the world. A juke box appears in Dora’s home, but it won’t work unless you’ve purchased a separate music play set, and type in the included code to unlock it. It turns out that 21 of the 27 games listed on the menu require some type of code, meaning that much of Puerto Verde is a gated community, accessible only by those with codes. You can see a complete set of the products available for purchase at http://www.doralinks.com/products.aspx. This type of toy, and others like it, raises an ethical question. Is it OK to tempt children with the hope of playing a fun game with a trusted character, when that access costs an additional fee? Or should your $60 buy you a "what you see is what you get" amount of content? Perhaps this is the type of play pattern for the 21st century. See the preview at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwDZemHPf-8
$60, Windows
Teaches: reading, Spanish, logic, problem solving
CTR Rating: 82%