I'm completely out of touch with playground culture - which is a good thing as I'm a thirty-something adult. So I was a little surprised when I read in the Guardian yesterday that Tamagotchi has been the best-selling toy of the year - for the second year running. Retailers also expect it to be the biggest selling toy of Christmas. Now in its third iteration, the toy allows users to link separate Tamagotchis together to play games.
This, apparently, is going to be more attractive to children than wearing a cyberman mask. More attractive even than the cool Star Wars Transformers I saw in my local Sainsbury's Superstore at the weekend. I tried to get my ten-month-old son to show interest in a transforming version of Boba Fett's Slave 1 ship so I could buy it under pretense, but he wasn't having any of it. I put it back on the shelf sullenly.
Anyway, I thought Tamagotchi was long gone, a fad from the mid-nineties superceded by more advanced fare like Nintendogs. But the continuing success of Bandai's virtual pet makes sense. They're much cheaper than a DS of course - GBP12.99 to be exact. More importantly, everyone wants something to care for - and kids like to care for things that a smaller and even more defenseless than they. In a crowded urban society where real pets are an inconvenience, Tamagotchis are an economical, clean way of assuaging a child's nurturing instincts. And this way, you won't end up clearing a rodent cage out for two years after your son or daughter has tired of Buffy the hamster.
The Guardian report also mentioned recent predictions from electrical retailers Comet and PC World about the top ten gadgets for Xmas 2006. Wii topped both charts. Xbox 360 was in neither. It seems adults like small cute things to fawn over as well.
