They're Back

Those cute Tamagotchi's are back.....!!!! I remembered my high school days when i first learned about this new craze game from one of my classmate. She bring with this little keychain in our school, and i was curious to know what it was. Soon after, there were various imitations popping up everywhere. But just like any other toy, it was soon forgotten by my friend and me.

Then a month ago, my 8 year-old daughter shows me her new toy. She received it from her "Tinang" (short for Tita and Ninang). It was a similar keychain, but this time a bit bigger. I still remembered the name of the toy even already a decade ago. And that is a new Tamagotchi.

What exactly is a Tamagotchi? It's a digital pet that you feed, play games with, clean up after, cure when sick, train, and other things you do with real pets. It is housed in an egg-shaped computer, with only 3 easy buttons to operate; select, enter and cancel, that comes in a variety of designs for girls and boys ages 4 and up.

It was so fascinating to see old toys taken out of the toy chest, then seeing how imagination, creativity and even technology give it something new. The old version of Tamagotchi could only you feed, play, clean and cure your pet. Once it died, you just started all over again. But this latest one, the Tamagotchi Connection Version 3 ever lets you find a match through the matchmaker. Once the matchmaker finds a suitable "spouse", a new baby may appear on the screen. Once this happens, the parent will still be on the screen with the baby. After a while, the parent will leave the screen and you can now name and take care of the new Tamagotchi. The more generations you are able to raise, the better.

Aside from keeping your pets happy, the game also gives you "gotchi" points. The more points you collect, the more you can spend to get special items like more variety of food or toys like baseball bats or fishing poles. You can also secret codes and passwords to visit Tamagotchi Town over at http://www.tamatown.com/. You can also travel around the world, visit the Tamagotchi King, and even see the parents at Tamagotchi Town. These are just some of the newer innovations of the game. With the integration of the internet, users are given more things to do with their Tamagotchis. I have to admit that the old Tamagotchi game became very boring.

What's even better in the new version? The use of infrared. Yes, two people with a Tamagotchi each can play together. Their pets can interact with each other---visit, play a game, or give presents. They can even become good friends and later turn out to be partners. You'll know this with their friendship level meter.

Ohhh.....and you don't have to worry about your Tamagotchi at night when you're sleeping. Since you set it to your real time, it sleeps throughout the whole night starting at around 7PM, and it wakes up at about 8AM the following day. And in case you go out of town and no one can take care of your Tamagotchi for you, or you just don't want to deal with it for a while, you can just pause your Tamagotchi. The clock will continue to run, but your pet's growth is put on hold until you un-pause it.

They have created a whole new Tamagotchi world. All in all, it's a fun game. And with all the innovations and integration of newer technology, there's more reason to pick up a Tamagotchi. And aside from that, it comes out with 3 refreshed games, 20 additional character and 24 new design styles. If nothing else, at least it teaches your child to be a little bit more responsible.