Chip Tech Creates New Types of Fun

Aug. 6, 2004 -- In this week's Cybershake, we take a look at how technology is creating new types of games that may inspire kids to get up and do something — like, dance "The Funky Chicken."

Remember the good, old days when toys and playthings were mainly powered by a child's imagination and muscles? Computer chip technology seems to have killed off those simpler times. Almost.

Some toymakers are using digital technology in innovative playthings that may actually encourage kids to become something other than video game couch potatoes.

Since 1999, Japanese video game giant has produced an imaginative title called "Dance Dance Revolution" (DDR) for arcades and amusement centers. The game challenges players to mimic dance moves displayed on a screen while a pressure-sensitive floor pad score their accuracy.

"These kinds of games not only promote activity, but let you have a great time doing it [in] a video game," says Mark Franklin, a spokesman with Konami. In fact, home versions of DDR, even feature a "workout" mode which calculated and displayed how many calories a player burned off performing certain steps.

"For people that aren't sports minded per se but love video games this is a great way for them to get off the coach and [stay in shape]," says Franklin.

Watch a Dancing Fool

But Konami is about to take DDR a step up with a new version called "Dance Dance Revolution Extreme."

Designed for the Sony PlayStation 2 home game system and its Sony EyeToy digital camera, the game can now actually "watch" players as they dance. The company says the movement-sensing technology will challenge and amuse DDR fans in new ways.

In one mode, for example, players will have to match displayed hand movements as well as footwork in order to advance the game. Another mode will require players to move their arms in order to clear off obstructed parts of the TV screen as they dance.

"It's a full body workout game using your hands and your feet that's never been done before," says Franklin.

The game will even feature a "watch-me-dance" mode where the EyeToy camera will put the player in the game's background. That digital mirror-like effect should help players' workout. Or at the very least, provide amusement to spectators watching players attempt to dance in time to music from artists such as Junior Senior and The Village People.

"You can always have fun [with DDR] no matter how old you are," says Franklin.

Cooking Up Imagination?

But new chip technology isn't just for grooving, teenage video gamers.

The Step 2 Company in Streetsboro, Ohio, is using chip-based technology to put new sizzle — literally — in its imaginative play sets for pre-school aged children.

Its latest LifeStyle Dream Kitchen set comes with ersatz microwave, stove, sink, phone and other accoutrements to help toddlers imagine they're in mom and dad's kitchen. But to push the fantasy along, the play set is embedded with radio-based chips that "interact" with the young cooks' imagination.

In the stove, for example, is a chip that produces cooking sounds based on what the child does. When a pan is place on the burner, the child will hear frying bacon sounds. A sauce pan, on the other hand, will trigger a "boiling water" sound.

Dotti Foltz, director of marketing for Step 2, says the modern tech adds just enough pizzazz that inspires a child's imagination and old-fashioned play — something parents want their kids to have.

"I think there are a lot of savvy parents that are realizing that their children don't always need to push a button to make things go," says Foltz. And, "If [technology is] taking away that [creative] element — of them deciding what they're making for dinner — I think electronics are going too far."

The play set has been awarded by several toy organizations including the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio (www.toyportfolio.com), says Flotz. That independent agency — composed of child experts and ordinary families as toy testers — awarded the Dream Kitchen a Gold Award for toys designed for pre-schoolers.

Cybershake is produced for ABCNEWS Radio by Andrea J. Smith.