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Tamagotchis In New Bandai Mobile PhonesSORRY GODZILLA, a new monster has hung its shingle in Japan -- a seemingly helpless but certainly sinister critter called Tamagotchi. Tamagotchi, readers may already be aware, is an egg-shaped, hand-held electronic game named for the creature that hatches on its tiny screen, then peeps for the digital food, affection and play that it needs to grow and thrive. Neglect a Tamagotchi and it will wither and die, though this apparently isn't the object of the game. Bandai, the company that sells Tamagotchi, has spawned about seven million of these hectoring toys since last November, and some have even shown up elsewhere around Asia. It's still not enough. Shortages have driven the price of a Tamagotchi in Tokyo to as high as 15,000 yen ($129). Now, the Tamagotchis are launching an aerial assault. Sometime this month, Bandai will begin selling mobile phones that have a Tamagotchi inside -- the Tamapichi. The phones will operate on Japan's personal handyphone system, the low-priced wireless service that has become the rage among the country's teenage girls. Users no longer will have to watch their Tamagotchi die, they'll be able to blast their tiny beast to another Tamapichi owner's phone, where the ailing creature can frolic with its own kind, feed and regain its pluck. The phones will sell for 45,000 yen. Will these monsters stop at nothing? Copyright © 1997 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Newsbytes News Network 03/03/97 |
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