Last year, Hasbro reinvented 1998's hottest stuffed holiday sensation for the early 21st century. Furby got a full-on reboot, bringing improved locomotion, wireless communication, a tablet app and some vaguely creepy glowing eyes to the robotic pet. The toy company opted not to wait another decade and a half for an update, offering up Furby Boom for the world to see today. On the surface, the update looks a fair amount like last year's model -- same moving beak, glowing eyes (with more emotional options) and twitching pointy ears. This time out, however, the company's offering "six fashion forward patterns" on its fur, including waves and zigzags, with more coming later in the year. Things have been souped up a bit inside, including more on-board storage.
The real upgrades, however, are mostly on the software side of things. The new Furby Boom app, which is coming to iOS and Android, ups the ante for Furby activities. Owners can use it to name their Furby -- a name the toy its Furby friends will learn. It also requires some standard pet maintenance, featuring meters for health, hunger, cleanliness and, yes, bathroom breaks. If your Furby gets low on any of the above, you'll have to help it out. We'll save the graphic description for the video after the break, because really, why read about a Furby taking a dump, when you can watch it in glorious 720p?
Filed under: Robots
Oh, the wondrous experience that is Toy Fair. And that particular experience, as you may know, includes anything from NERF hoop games and foam fusillades, to boxing robots and itty-bitty, tinkering novelties. To make things even better, though, Hasbro was kind enough to invite us over to its 2013 showcase in NYC, where the prodigious toy maker was exhibiting some Furby amigos known as Party Rockers, Iron Man's Sonic Blasting figurine and Arc Fx Mission life-sized mask, a Sesame Street play-and-learning system for toddlers, as well as a Transformers Rescue Bots Beam Box which enhances the experience by allowing the toys to mesh into a game that can be played on a TV set. There was also a little Star Wars and Star Trek action, of course -- and the good news is you, too, can see it all, just head past the break to take a look at the vast gallery and a quick video showing off a few of Hasbro's new toys.
Filed under: Misc
Source: Hasbro
