There is definitely something therapeutic about owning a pet that you can call your own, but as with everything else in life, pets do need proper care and upkeep, and this requires time and effort that the busy executive might not be able to afford these days. While Sony did toy with the idea of the Aibo robot dog for some time before killing off the project, a far cheaper alternative that even little ones were able to dive right into was the Tamagotchi – a digital pet that you cared for in real time which became really popular worldwide when introduced by Bandai close to 20 years ago, having chalked up 76 million Tamagotchis sold by the time 2010 rolled around. After 18 years, Bandai must have felt that it is time for an update in order to keep up with the times, which is why we have the Tamagotchi 4U.
The Tamagotchi 4U is tipped to roll out later this coming September, and the main advantage that it has over its predecessors would be the inclusion of NFC support. Other than that, details are pretty much scant at the moment, so we will have to wait for a couple more months in order to find out more. At the moment, however, one can infer that NFC might just allow the Tamagotchi 4U to “talk” to similar Tamagotchis, or perhaps this feature might allow it react to its surroundings. What’s your take on it?
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