heres the bandai article:
Bandai Co., Ltd. (headquarters in Taito-ku, Tokyo; Kazunori Ueno, President & CEO) announces the release of “Yeah! Family Iroiro! Tamagotchi Plus” (three versions priced at 2,940 yen each, tax included), the latest addition to the “Tamagotchi Plus Series,” which has sold over 30 million units in 52 countries and regions worldwide. In addition, Bandai will be offering a package set with an additional tie-in DVD “Yeah! Family Iroiro! Tamagotchi Plus & Tama DVD” (three versions at 3,990 yen each, tax included). These new additions to the “Tamagotchi” line will be available in toy stores, and the toy sections of department stores and other general merchandise stores throughout Japan on November 23, 2007. The target audience for this product is grade school girls.
Family ties form the key theme in “Yeah! Family Iroiro! Tamagotchi Plus” (hereinafter referred to as “Fami Tama”), where players raise a “Tamagotchi family” numbering three to five members through actions such as assisting them in feeding and cleaning. Depending on how they are raised, the family will grow into various possible forms. Together with the infrared connection/communication feature which allows units to interact with one another, the new “Fami Tama” offers linked play through tie-in websites accessible by PC or cellular phone. What's more, the domestic release DVD included in the set features nine menus for even more enjoyment.
“Fami Tama” is slated for release across North America, Europe, and Asia, beginning in January 2008. For the first time, the international models will offer the same content as the domestic ones, allowing international marriages via communication between units in Japan and around the world. The product's tie-in website, “Tama EXPO” will be also offer the same content in Japanese as well as six languages, allowing children everywhere around the world to share the same online play experience.
Bandai projects sales of 1 million “Fami Tama” units worldwide by the end of March 2008.
Left: “Yeah! Family Iroiro! Tamagotchi Plus” (three versions at 2,940 yen each, tax included)
Right: “Yeah! Family Iroiro! Tamagotchi Plus & Tama DVD” (three versions at 3,990 yen each, tax included)
©BANDAI¥WiZ 2004
♦Major features of “Yeah! Family Iroiro! Tamagotchi Plus”
In “Fami Tama,” play begins with the birth of three Tamagotchis. Depending on how you take care of them through actions such as feeding, cleaning, and playing games, they'll grow into a variety of different characters. Players can use the unit's infrared transmitter to communicate with friends' “Fami Tama” units to gradually build up the relationships between each others' Tamagotchis. Mixed-gender pairs are then able to marry and give birth to a new generation of Tamagotchis. With every generation after the first, the number of Tamagotchis born is random, ranging from one to three, making for a three- to five-member family which will also evolve into any of a wide range of possible forms, depending on how the player cares for them.
In addition to featuring over 40 unique new characters (for a total of 70 characters in all), “Fami Tama” boasts over 120 different items including food and accessories which are available not only through transmission play with friends, but also through DVD gameplay and website access. In order to accommodate multiple Tamagotchis at the same time, the game makes use of a larger screen area of the LCD; 1.5 times more than that of the previously released versions.
Three New “Fami Tama” Features
1) Multiple Tamagotchis living within the same LCD screen.
Traditionally, the Tamagotchi series has entrusted a single character per player to raise within the game's LCD screen. In “Fami Tama,” a family of anywhere from three to five characters resides inside the screen. The Tamagotchis all eat and use the bathroom at the same time, so players need only execute a single command to interact with the entire family. Whether they're happy together or raising a ruckus, there's a variety of reactions and responses that are typical of family life.
2) A fun tie-in DVD *The DVD package set will be sold in Japan only.
The DVD package set (three versions at 3,990 yen each, tax included) includes a DVD with nine menus of games that players can enjoy on their TV using a DVD player's remote control unit. In addition to games like the penalty kick soccer competition, “Mamecchi no Neratte Goal!”, players can enjoy news and television shopping. Items players purchase by means of the television shopping menu or earn by winning games can be transferred to their “Fami Tama” unit via a 10-digit code shown on-screen.
* Menu Screen (upper left)
* Password input screen for o transferring items to the “Fami Tama” unit (lower right)
3) Game unit and website contents shared across the world ! International marriages are now a possibility !
Where previous releases in the “Tamagotchi Plus Series” have differed in content between the domestic and international units shipped across 52 different countries and regions around the globe, “Fami Tama” features the same content to users worldwide. This means that for the first time ever, international marriages can be arranged between domestic and international units, which can yield special second-generation Tamagotchi characters.
What's more, the product's website for PCs, “Tama EXPO” (scheduled to open within the Tamagotchi official site on November 23rd
https://tamagotch.channel.or.jp/) also features standardized content for a global audience, and will be presented in seven languages: Japanese, English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch. The site will contain games and shopping, as well as colorful local pavilions for each country where site-goers can play games and transfer items they've acquired to their “Fami Tama” unit. “Tama EXPO” is designed so that the content becomes richer with more visitors.
*Website for PCs “Tamagotchi EXPO” screen (currently in development)
♦The “Tamagotchi” line has captivated kids around the world
The handheld LCD toy “Tamagotchi,” first released in 1996, was a major hit that sold 40 million units worldwide in approximately two years' time. In March 2004, eight years after that first generation, the series returned as “Tamagotchi Plus”, winning popularity particularly among grade school girls. This was followed by the successive releases of “Shuku Keitai Kaitsu! Tamagotchi Plus”, “Cho Jinsei Enjoy! Tamagotchi Plus” and “Tamagotchi School: Seito Zen'in Shugotchi”. Total unit sales from the 2004 releases up until the end of September 2007 surpassed 30 million units. Combined with the sales of the first generation units (1996 through 2007), worldwide sales have totaled over 70 million units.
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