FreakyPets.com
© 2010 Abandon Interactive Entertainment
"Move over Webkinz" (hopes Hallmark and Abandon Entertainment). Here comes another line of plush toy/virtual world combinations, in the form of Freaky Pets (www.freakypets.com), plush toys with split personalities. See also Freaky Creatures (CTR, June 2009). According to press materials "the dual personality toy gives children and their parents a safe outlet to explore their feelings." Each $15 toy will have a code, good for one year of access, needed to get into the Freaky Pets Virtual 3D World, a Flash-based browser experience for PC and Mac computers. Sound familiar? Abandon Interactive hopes to make this world different with the quirky cute/creepy theme. Once logged in, children can teach their pets up to 60 tricks and trick combinations like acrobatics and dance moves, compete with other pets to win money by playing games and send "Pet Mail" other players. Money can be used to decorate your Pet Lair. The plush toys will be sold exclusively at Hallmark stores. The plush toys where created in partnership with Abandon Interactive Entertainment (see www.freakycreatures.com) and Hallmark Gold Crown Stores. They went on sale September 2010. See also Beanie Babies 2.0, Webkinz and Littlest Pet Shop VIP.
$15, Windows, Mac OSX
Teaches: pretending, language, logic