Giga Pets are digital pet toys that were first released by Tiger Electronics in the United States in 1997 in the midst of a virtual-pet toy fad.[1] Available in a variety of different characters, each Giga Pet is a palm-sized unit with an LCD screen and attached key ring.[2] To ensure a happy, healthy pet, its owner has to take care of it similar to how one might care for a real animal, including feeding, cleaning, and playing with their Giga Pet.
Giga Pets are "born" on a tiny LCD screen after the owner pulls back a tab on the back. The pets come to life in different ways. For example, Baby T-Rex hatches from an egg. Compu Kitty is delivered by a stork. A beep sound and alert icon notify the owner that the pet requires attention.[2] To determine what the Giga Pet needs, owners must scroll through various activities and push a button to select one. Activities include but are not limited to bathing, exercising, and disciplining the pet. Sometimes a selected activity is refused and the owner has to try a different one. A running score determines the pet's overall well-being; neglect leads to the pet's demise. The average life of a Giga Pet is 2 weeks but very healthy pets can live longer. When a Giga Pet dies it grows angel wings.[3] When Giga Pets were initially tested, it was reported that the first thing most girls did was name their pets whereas most boys opted to discipline the digital creatures.[2]
History
Giga Pets were first created in 1995 (as "V-Pets") by Chicago Toy inventing firm REHCO LLC. Rehco quickly licensed the concept to Tiger Electronics and the product was later launched as Giga Pets. In 1996 Tamagotchi, egg-shaped virtual pets, were introduced in Japan by Bandai and were widely credited with initiating the virtual pet craze in the U.S., the UK, and other countries.[4] In May 1997, Giga Pets debuted in the U.S. They were reported to be more readily available than Tamagotchis and at a price of approximately US$10, roughly $5 less than the suggested retail price for their Japanese counterpart.[2][5] Three versions were initially available at the release, Digital Doggie, Compu Kitty, and Micro Chimp, and by the summer of 1997, three additional versions were released in order to appeal more to boys, Baby T-Rex (The Lost World: Jurassic Park), Virtual Alien, and Bit-Critter.
By September 1997, three new pets were introduced, Komputer Koala, Floppy Frog, and Salem the Cat (Sabrina the Teenage Witch). Shortly after, KFC hosted a special promotion in November 1997, which offered four new Giga Pets, DigiPooch, MicroPup, CyberKitty, and Bitty Kitty. These were identical to the Digital Doggie and Compu Kitty, but with new shell colors. Towards the end of 1997, a second edition of eight of the original Giga Pets was released with new clam designs and added animal sound effects. Additionally, two new Disney-themed pets, 101 Dalmatians and The Little Mermaid, were introduced. By the end of 1997, Tiger Electronics, a then privately held electronics toy and game-maker based in Vernon Hills, Illinois, was one of many manufacturers creating virtual pets. Others included Playmates Toys, Fujitsu, PF.Magic, Sega, Viacom New Media, Casio, and TechnoSphere.[4]
In 1998, Tiger introduced two new series of Giga Pets, Giga Pets Plus and Giga Fighters. The Giga Pets Plus series allowed for having multiple pets within one toy. It consisted of Giga Circus, Giga Farm, Giga Pound, Looney Tunes, Rugrats, A Bug's Life, and Small Soldiers, with each one having multiple characters. The Giga Fighters series was geared more towards boys and consisted of six units with characters from different TV shows and movies, including Men in Black, Mortal Kombat, WCW/nWo, Batman & Robin, The Lost World, and Tech Warriors. Users could train their characters and connect their unit to another Giga Fighters unit in order to battle with friends. In addition to these two new series, Tiger also released several new pets as part of the standard Giga Pets line. The majority of the new pets were based on popular cartoons and movies. They consisted of Reptar (Rugrats), Yoda (Star Wars), R2-D2 (Star Wars), Rancor (Star Wars), Babe and Friends (Babe), Tweety (Looney Tunes), Tazmanian Devil (Looney Tunes), and Oreo Mouse (Oreo Cookies). Additionally, they released Precious Puppy (Barbie) and Precious Kitty (Barbie), which were identical to the Digital Doggie and Compu Kitty, but with pink shells. By the end of 1998, the virtual pet craze had mostly died down, and sales of virtual pets plunged nearly 80 percent in the United States.[6]
Giga Pets and Furby
Roger Shiffman, a Chicago native and co-founder of Tiger Electronics, is credited as being the driving force behind Giga Pets and Furby,[7] a furry interactive pet with big eyes and pointed ears that could talk, shuffle and sneeze. Intended to be a follow-up to Giga Pets, Shiffman included Furby in the deal he made with Hasbro when Tiger Electronics was sold to the giant toy manufacturer in 1998 for US$335 million.[8] Approximately 20 million Furbies were sold in the first 6 months following its 1998 release.[9]
TV game system and new handhelds launched in 2006
In 2006, Hasbro launched the Giga Pets Explorer TV game system and new Giga Pets handheld devices. The TV game system included three pets within the unit itself along with a separate handheld Giga Pet (Hamster) and sold for approximately US$40. Handhelds were sold in a 12-package assortment of characters as well as individually. The characters Pixie, Tomcat, Puffball, Dragon Lizard, Scorpion, and Bunny were all available individually at a suggested retail price of approximately US$15.[10] The puppy character (Pup) was sold exclusively at Toys R Us. Gameplay on the handheld device consisted of feeding, playing with, bathing, and caring for your pet using various food items, toys, and medicines. These supplies could be replenished by having your pet visit the General Store are purchasing more supplies using in-game currency (Bucks). Bucks could be found by having your pet dig up hidden items from the ground. Much like a video game cartridge, the handheld Giga Pets unit could also be inserted into the TV game system, allowing users to see their pet on the TV.
Top Secret Toys LLC, formed by the owners of Rehco LLC, relaunched GigaPets on August 1, 2018. The new line of virtual pets are made by the same manufacturer, programmers, and game designers from the 1990s. Top Secret Toys aimed to renew customer engagement and nostalgia through design contests allowing the winners to have their pet designs manufactured and sold.
The first set of released pets were the Giga Pets AR (for "augmented reality"), which are available in three models: Puppy, T-Rex, and Unicorn. The Puppy and T-Rex are essentially the same as the original Digital Doggie and Baby T-Rex from the 90s, while the Unicorn is a brand new pet. They have nearly identical features as the original Giga Pets, but with newer animations and the addition of trophies that can be earned for completing certain tasks. The new augmented reality feature allows users to download a compatible cell phone app which can scan your trophies in order to view your pet perform actions in augmented reality and to unlock new games.
Following the initial set of pets, Top Secret Toys began releasing new GigaPets models that no longer contained the augmented reality feature. Some of these models were customer-designed and others were re-releases of the original pets from the 90s. This included the Giga Pets Trolls line, which came in three colors, followed by two customer-designed models, Pixie, which came in three colors, and Star Cat, which came in one color. The Star Cat toy had two pets in one, with the option of raising Star Cat or the original Compu Kitty from the 90s. The company then released upgraded versions of their original Giga Pets AR models: Pixel Puppy, Tech T-Rex, and Virtual Unicorn. These re-releases had enhanced animations, extended battery life, and no longer contained the augmented reality features. The newest model, and upgraded version of the 90's Floppy Frog was released in Spring 2023 and more pet are currently in production.
Controversy
Giga Pets, along with other virtual pets, were banned in some schools in different countries around the world including Iceland, Thailand, the U.S. and Canada primarily because they were deemed a distraction in the classroom. Common complaints included annoying beeping sounds and children's constant worry over their pets’ well-being. Some parents felt Giga Pets were an ideal learning toy that taught children responsibility. Others worried their kids were becoming too attached.[4]
Beyond the classroom, Giga Pets and their kind inspired debate over the implications of caring for virtual pets versus biological pets. Some people thought the on/off/reset switch implied to children that death wasn't final and many people, some animal rights activists among them, believed that virtual pets taught children that caring for an animal was a matter of convenience.[11]
In a Journal of American and Comparative Cultures article published in 2000, author, David W. Kritt, discussed the impact virtual pets had on young females in terms of gender stereotypes. Kritt claimed, “The implicit message to the predominantly female owners is that an emotional meaningful relationship is simply care and dependence. In contrast, flesh and blood pets provide mutuality, a relatively exclusive and enduring affection, and often some self-enhancing function.”[12] Kritt went on to address the impact of virtual pets on girls and technology. He wrote: “Despite McLuhan’s trenchant insight that the medium is the message, the virtual pet may not be so much a point of entry intro cyberspace for girls as it is a promoter of traditional values.” Kritt argued that this message is amplified when a child's parent, particularly her mother, focuses on helping the daughter keep the virtual pet alive.
Digimon, short for "Digital Monsters", is a Japanese media franchise, which encompasses virtual pet toys, anime, manga, video games, films, and a trading card game. The franchise focuses on the eponymous creatures that inhabit a "Digital World", which is a parallel universe that originated from Earth's various communication networks.
The Game.com is a fifth-generation handheld game console released by Tiger Electronics on September 12, 1997. A smaller version, the Game.com Pocket Pro, was released in mid-1999. The first version of the Game.com can be connected to a 14.4 kbit/s modem for Internet connectivity, hence its name referencing the top level domain .com. It was the first video game console to include a touchscreen and the first handheld console to include Internet connectivity.
Furby is an American electronic robotic toy that was originally released in 1998 by Tiger Electronics. It resembles a hamster or owllike creature and went through a period of being a "must-have" toy following its holiday season launch, with continual sales until 2000. Over 40 million Furbies were sold during the three years of its original production, with 1.8 million sold in 1998, and 14 million in 1999. Its speaking capabilities were translated into 14 languages.
A virtual pet is a type of artificial human companion. They are usually kept for companionship or enjoyment, as people may choose to keep a digital pet instead of a real one.
Tiger Electronics Ltd. was an independent American toy manufacturer best known for its handheld electronic games, the Furby, the Talkboy, Giga Pets, the 2-XL robot, and audio games such as Brain Warp and the Brain Shift. When it was an independent company, Tiger Electronics Inc., its headquarters were in Vernon Hills, Illinois. It has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1998.
The Tamagotchi is a handheld digital pet that was created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita of Bandai. It was released by Bandai on November 23, 1996 in Japan and in the United States on May 1, 1997, quickly becoming one of the biggest toy fads of the late 1990s and the early 2000s. As of March 2021, over 83 million units have been sold worldwide. Most Tamagotchi are housed in a small egg-shaped handheld video game with an interface consisting of three buttons, with the Tamagotchi Pix adding a shutter on the top to activate the camera.
Simon is an electronic game of short-term memory skill invented by Ralph H. Baer and Howard J. Morrison, working for toy design firm Marvin Glass and Associates, with software programming by Lenny Cope. The device creates a series of tones and lights and requires a user to repeat the sequence. If the user succeeds, the series becomes progressively longer and more complex. Once the user fails or the time limit runs out, the game is over. The original version was manufactured and distributed by Milton Bradley and later by Hasbro after it took over Milton Bradley. Much of the assembly language code was written by Charles Kapps, who taught computer science at Temple University and also wrote one of the first books on the theory of computer programming. Simon was launched in 1978 at Studio 54 in New York City and was an immediate success, becoming a pop culture symbol of the 1970s and 1980s.
An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other common forms of electronic game including handheld electronic games, standalone systems, and exclusively non-visual products.
Tomy Company, Ltd., trading as Takara Tomy in Asia and Tomy elsewhere, is a Japanese toy company. It was established in 1924 by Eiichirō Tomiyama as Tomiyama Toy Manufacturing Company (富山玩具製作所), became known for creating popular toys like the B-29 friction toy and luck-based game Pop-up Pirate. In 2006, Tomy merged with another toy manufacturer, Takara, and although the English company name remained the same, it became Takara Tomy in Asia. It has its headquarters in Katsushika, Tokyo.
Poo-Chi, one of the first generations of robopet toys, is a robot dog designed by Samuel James Lloyd and Matt Lucas, manufactured by Sega Toys, and distributed by Tiger Toys. Poo-Chi was released in 2000 and discontinued in 2002.
Littlest Pet Shop is a toy franchise and cartoon series owned by Hasbro. The original toy series was produced by Kenner in the early 1990s. An animated television series was made in 1995 by Sunbow Productions and Jean Chalopin Creativite et Developpement, based on the franchise.
Pixel Chix was a handheld life simulation game released in 2005 by Mattel that was aimed at young children. The game was set in a plastic dollhouse and was similar to Tamagotchi in that they have a LCD screen and control buttons, although they are larger. The game is centered around interacting with a digital girl and doing activities with her, which includes feeding her, playing games, dressing her up, going out, sending her to bed and more. As you played, you would unlock new items and activities.
The Digital Monster is a digital pet created by WiZ and Bandai that spawned the Digimon franchise. It was released by Bandai on June 26, 1997, in Japan and on December 5, 1997 in North America. This pet was a masculine counterpart to the Tamagotchi, which was deemed more appropriate for girls. It was similar to earlier virtual pets with the distinctions of being a fighting pet that could connect with others like it.
Diva Starz was a series of talking fashion dolls created and released by Mattel in October 2000. They are similar in design to MGA's Bratz and Tiger Electronics' Furby. Alexa, Nikki, Summer—later replaced by Miranda—and Tia were offered in the original debut. Originally produced as robotic dolls, Mattel would also release miniature and fashion doll versions in response to their initial success. The line was discontinued in 2004.
FurReal Friends is a toy brand division of Hasbro and formerly of Tiger Electronics and Dreamright Toys created in 2002 focusing on robotic pets. FurReal toys widely vary in style and size, depicting different domesticated animals, wild animals, and legendary creatures as robotic toys. They are usually small enough to be held, but have been manufactured large enough for children to sit on. Each furReal robotic toy moves to a degree.
The Tamagotchi effect is the development of emotional attachment with machines, robots or software agents. It has been noticed that humans tend to attach emotionally to things which otherwise do not have any emotions. For example, there are instances when people feel emotional about using their car keys, or with virtual pets. It is more prominent in applications which reflect some aspects of human behavior or characteristics, especially levels of artificial intelligence and automated knowledge processing.
The WonderBorg is a programmable consumer robot kit first released for the Bandai WonderSwan and Microsoft Windows PCs in 2000. It is intended to match both the external appearance and mode of transport of a beetle, with functioning antennae and a six-legged design.
Tekno the Robotic Puppy is a popular electronic robotic toy which originally launched in late 2000. Tekno sold more than 7 million units in its first season and went on to sell more than 40 million units in its original 4 years of production. The worldwide popularity for Tekno led to prominent awards and widespread media coverage which included newspaper articles, television and film appearances, and a stand-alone feature on the cover of Time magazine.
↑ D'Innocenzio, Anne (December 20, 2005). "New company looks for niche in world of toys; Zizzle gains praise, dollars for iZ". Columbian. Associated Press. p.E3. ProQuest253294793.
↑ Kritt, David W. (December 2000). "Loving a Virtual Pet: Steps Toward the Technological Erosion of Emotion". The Journal of American Culture. 23 (4): 81–87. doi:10.1111/j.1537-4726.2000.2304_81.x.
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