Tamagotchi vs. Giga Pets: Virtual Battle Royale

If you haven't heard of Bandai's Tamagotchi or Tiger's Giga Pets, then prepare yourself. These "virtual pets" have the potential to reach Tickle Me Elmo proportions, with hype to match.

Bandai's Tamagotchi is a huge craze in Japan. Teens, kids, adults, businessmen, teachers - the craze has permeated the society. The small egg-shaped keychain with an LCD screen sells for hundreds of times the retail price, which is around US$20. After a period of ten or more days, without proper care, the pets die off - in the Japanese version at least. In the US, the pets fly back to their home planet. A simple reset of the Tamagotchi will get your critter back on its feet.

Competing against Bandai's pets are Tiger's Giga Pets. Giga Pets come in different varieties - six in total by the summer, including Digital Doggie, Compu Kitty, Virtual Alien, Mircochimp, Bit Critter, and a Baby T-Rex (licensed from the movie The Lost World). Tiger's version of the virtual pets retails for approximately $9.99, and has features that the Tamagotchi don't.

This week, both toys officially debut in selected US cities. Bandai is promoting the fact that its Tamagotchi are available only in three areas: New York, Toronto, and San Francisco. However, GS News reporters in the Midwest have found the Tamagotchi being sold at local Wal-Mart locations - with no fanfare surrounding the sales. Tiger's Giga Pets are to debut today in New York at Toys R Us locations, with the Digital Doggie being the first one out of the gate.

So will the Japanese craze kick into high gear in the US? Stories from Tamagotchi owners have already begun to appear on usenet newsgroups and web pages. When FAO Schwarz began selling Tamagotchi early, all 3,000 sold out in two days. Today's situation will be different though: Tamagotchi purchases will be limited to two per person.

GS News spoke with Jay Ashton, a fan of the virtual pet who just started up an English-language fan site dedicated to the Tamagotchi last Friday. "I don't think the hype will reach the heights that it has in Japan. I don't see American businessmen canceling meetings to play with their virtual pets," he says. He thinks that young kids and teens will find the games irresistible. "There has never been a product like this. A game that demands, and asks for, your attention is novel."

Chris Byrne, editor of industry newsletter Market Focus: Toys, said in an AP dispatch earlier this week, "I don't know if US consumers have the patience to play with these toys. It's not a fun, quick thing. It takes a long time to play and that's not a traditional American play pattern."

After having a chance to play with one for a just under 24 hours, this reporter can say that the toy is definitely engrossing. I have hatched my virtual pet and so far it's completely happy and full, although I did have to discipline it earlier today.