Tamagotchi Is Unstoppable

The launch of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.0 is a scant two weeks away (Sept. 30), and the mighty minions of Bill are still making announcements heralding the latest partners they've lined up to provide content for the Web browser's Active Channels.

The latest such partners are Bandai Digital Entertainment and 7th Level, which are working together to bring the Japanese "virtual pet" phenomenon called Tamagotchi to your desktop - and your CD-ROM drive.

The palm-sized electronic distraction isn't making friends everywhere, however. The toy is disrupting classrooms the world over as teachers bemoan the fact that their students are paying more attention to nurturing, feeding, and playing with their virtual critters than they are to their schoolwork. A number of schools in Australia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Taiwan, the United States, and New Zealand have in fact instituted policies banning the critters in class.

Tamagotchi has also come under scrutiny at an international border or two. Vietnamese customs agents have reportedly confiscated close to 500 Tamagotchis from tourists entering the country. But that hasn't slowed its worldwide appeal.

The toy has already sold 14 million units worldwide, 4.5 of them in the US. Following its appearance on IE, 7th Level will release the Tamagotchi CD-ROM and the Tribble-like digital pets will start to migrate to hard drives.

Bandai and 7th Level will join such companies as Walt Disney, Rolling Stone, and Sony Music as an Active Channel partner. Gates has lined up more than 250 companies to provide content for IE 4.0's Active Channels, which allows Internet-delivered content to be transferred to users' desktops. 7th Level is set to provide "entertainment-oriented serial content for ongoing events in the lives of Tamagotchi characters," plus tips on how to keep the Tamagotchis healthy, happy, and thriving.

On the financial front, Bandai announced Tuesday that because of the continued brisk sales of Tamagotchi products worldwide, the company would raise its financial expectations for the business year ending March 1998.

The company expects that its parent profit would be around 10.5 billion yen (US$87.5 million), higher than the estimate it made in May of 7.6 billion yen ($63.3 million). Last year it reported profits of 8.6 billion yen ($71.6 million).

Since April, Bandai has been producing two million Tamagotchi units per month.