Toys and Games

Last Christmas, the Zhu Zhu Pet Hamster was the blockbuster gift for kids. This year, I predict the box office hit for kids will be the video game Kinectimals, one of fifteen new Microsoft fully-interactive "sensoring" video games for its new Kinect Xbox 360.  Kinectimals
are 20 wild virtual video pets, like tigers, lions and cheetahs, that kids can
play with and even train. Parents will get a kick out of this game too!

This delightfully disgusting roadkill cat toy promises loads of faux feline-fatale fun for the whole family - if you're the Addams Family.

Supposedly the hottest toy for Christmas will be the Zhu Zhu Pet
Hamsters. Get them now if you want them, or you'll end up in the dog house
like my family did the year we couldn't find a Cabbage Patch Doll for
the kids' Christmas.   Zhu Zhu Pet Hamsters are cuter than the Cabbage
Patch Doll, but you're going to end up in the poor house if you buy them.

Rex is not your average, run-of-the-mill canine robot.  Rex the Dawg is a super-lovable pooch with some major attitude. 

Gloomy Bear meets Hello Kitty... or is that Gloomy Bear EATS Hello Kitty? If this violent and disturbing character combo is any indication, the backlash against Japan's culture of cuteness may have begun.

....The kids may need to learn a few words in Japanese, because the puppy only obeys Japanese commands, and his instruction manual is, of course, is written in Japanese.

Tamagotchi, the digital pet that became a Nineties icon, is making a colorful comeback! Hoping to repeat the phenomenal success of its digital pet, Bandai has added an LCD color screen and upped the digital content to match.