It seems that Mattel is back in the video game console business with their HyperScan project. It's aimed at tweens (8 to 12 year-old audience) and consists of a console, a controller, a game CD and six collector cards featuring a character or special power. The cards have embedded RFID chips and having new characters (= new cards) allows to get upgrades in the game. According to TG Daily:

"The black and red HyperScan console is about the size of a hard cover book when opened and can be folded up for easy carrying. There are two ports in the front for game controllers and a port in the back connects to a television. Games are started by inserting a game CD and then swiping an RFID-enabled character card over the console. (...) HyperScan is also trying to cash in on the red-hot collectible card phenomenon. Card-based games like Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh have millions of players and sanction tournaments with millions of dollars in prize money."

Why do I blog this? So there's going to be a new "Touch" habit using this video game console: players will have to swip a card on the console, that's intriguing. Good stuff for Timo's project .