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The Return of Toys
valdean writes "With videogames becoming so ubiquitous, it sometimes seems like kids have less and less time for toys these days. Toy makers, however, are pushing back with high tech toys designed to be more compelling than a game of Supreme Commander. The New York Times reports that remote controlled vehicles in particular seem to be up for some friendly competition. As one designer suggests, 'navigating well-designed vehicles in the physical world... is vastly more compelling than steering a virtual vehicle in a computer-generated universe.' Will toys ever be able to compete with videogames again?"
The reviews on that helicopter are hilarious. I own one, so does my brother. He's experienced with flying r/c models; I'm not. Even for me, it was a matter of a few minutes use to get the hang of it. It flies VERY easily, but isn't *quite* so easy to steer in a specific direction you want - once you get the hang of it, though, which doesn't take long for anybody with the slightest knowledge of physics, you can pretty much fly it right to the point in the room that you desire.
Given that it can be bought elsewhere brand new, with LiPo battery and remote (which doubles as a charger), for just $30 - and it can crash over and over without the slightest damage to the helicopter - it is an amazing value.
Far, far more fun (and easier to control) than the $150 beginner's R/C copter I bought a month or two before it.
This helicopter is made by a Hong Kong company called Silverlit, the same people behind the i-Cybie robot dog (a much cheaper equivalent to Sony's Aibo, with surprisingly sophisticated capabilities for the price), and behind a line of tiny $30 R/C planes which are even easier to fly than the helicopter is.
Silverlit quite obviously have some rather talented designers working for them...
Yeah, except that's one of the fakes. See here: http://www.silverlit-flyingclub.com/UrgentAnnounce .htm
Those guys make the real one that has been knocked off about 100 times. The worst part is that NYTimes who wrote the article referenced one of the fakes instead of the real one. Silverlit actually has sued Hobbytron (maker of the articles referenced copter) over making and distributing a knock-off.