Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Mattel is teaming up with Google to put a 21st century spin on a classic toy, unveiling a next-gen version of the View-Master during a presentation Friday at the World Toy Fair in New York.
The View-Master, for those who never had the pleasure of owning one as a child, was a plastic device that resembled binoculars. By placing a cardboard reel into the back of the device, you could be treated to several images of animals, landscapes, cartoon characters, and more. A lever located on the side allowed you to advance to the next picture, like a private slideshow.
According to Engadget, the new version is being suitably tricked out for the iPad generation. The orange level is still there, though it is somewhat smaller, and the front consists of a piece of black plastic. However, the upgraded View-Master connects to a smartphone and uses a special app to let the user experience “360-degree worlds, photosphere and educational ‘field trips.’”
Toys for the iPad generation
Instead of placing reels directly into the View-Master, you place them in front while you look through the device, and icons act as augmented reality navigational aids, helping kids find their way around the virtual world. Bonus content, including historical footage and photos, can be accessed by clicking on icons surrounding people, places, and things in the virtual world.
The reels themselves are completely optional, though, because kids can simply download content directly from the app if they prefer, the website added. Of course, today’s youngsters enjoy collecting things as much as their parents did when they were children, and as Mattel senior VP Doug Wadleigh told reporters, the physical reels will help satisfy those desires.
The device is infused with Google’s Cardboard, a simple and inexpensive VR platform that also relies upon an Android smartphone as its technological core, according to USA Today. The new viewer will launch this fall and will cost $29.99, and additional three-pack reels will be available sometime around October for $14.99. Furthermore, iOS support for the device is planned.
Currently, Mattel is not using video in the View-Master, but USA Today said that demos at the Toy Fair did show off some simple animations and some light sound effects that play through the attached phone. The company said that it also plans to repurpose content from some of the over 10,000 individual reels currently available in the toy company’s archives.
Wadleigh told the newspaper that the reels contained in that archive include images from popular TV shows and movies such as Star Wars and Star Trek, as well as unpublished concert images of Michael Jackson and other artists. He hints that they may release some of that content for use on the new device, but that the company was “creatively trying to figure out ways” to use them.
The executive also said that this was “just the beginning” of Mattel’s work with virtual reality, though he would not confirm if that meant that more projects were in the works with Google. He said that Mattel was “focused on the here and now,” adding that it was “a wonderful partnership” because the goals and capabilities of both companies “are perfectly in tune.”
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