New Toy for Upcoming Movie Avatar

Kids will now have the chance to play with a different kind of toy. After the success of Mattel with BarbieGirls.com, having 18M registered users, they have now developed a new toy.

The toy line, developed in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising (Fox Licensing) will feature heroes, creatures and vehicles straight from James Cameron’s much-anticipated film, which is set for release in December 2009.

The augmented reality technology used for the project was developed by AR world leader Total Immersion. Each action figure, vehicle and creature in the product line will come with a 3-D web tag, called an i-TAG, which consumers can “scan” using a home computer’s webcam.

Scanning the i-TAG will reveal special content onscreen unique to the corresponding product. Exact content varies for each item, but could include biographical information, additional images and animated models of the figures. When the i-TAG for deluxe figures, vehicles or creatures are placed under a webcam, animated 3-D models will “come alive” through engaging, evading or defending moves. Place two i-TAGs from the “Battle Pack” together and the 3-D images will interact with each other.

“The development of our ‘Avatar’ toy line with the integration of the augmented reality technology marks an entirely new level of innovation in toys,” said Doug Wadleigh, Vice President for Boys Action Play Marketing, Mattel, Inc. “Boys will be able to play with the ‘Avatar’ figures and vehicles in ways that previously could only be imagined.”

James Cameron’s Avatar Toys Augmented Reality Demo

Here is a review of the movie Avatar which is due to air on Christmas 2009.