bandai on technabob...

Here’s an odd little gadget fresh from Japan. It’s a digital pedometer with a twist. Instead of just measuring how many steps you’ve walked, it has you play a little Samurai game as you amble along.

From what I can tell, Bandai’s YUU HO KEI pedometer game involves ordering your foot soldiers out to battle with you – by making…

This flying saucer-like apparatus from Bandai is a modern day take on a classic kids’ toy – the spinning top.

Just flip open the collapsing handle on the Bandai Luminodisc and give it a spin. As it goes round and round, a persistence-of-vision LED display tells you how many rotations your spin made. If you hit a certain threshold, you’ll…

Ahh, there’s nothing more refreshing than popping open an ice cold brewski on a hot Summer day. Of course, if you happen to not have a cold brewski on you, you could always go for the next best worst thing – an electronic beer can simulator.

Brought to you by the fine weird minds of Bandai Japan, the Mugen Beer…

This new interactive toy from Japan involves sticking your finger in a hole on the side of the box to interact with a virtual environment. Really. I’m not kidding.

Bandai’s new Tuttuki Bako handheld interactive plaything requires you to twiddle your finger around inside the orifice to play with a variety of virtual characters on an LCD screen on the…

Why is it that Japan gets all the coolest toys? I mean really, why can’t I walk into the neighborhood store and pick up one of these?

Coming this December from Bandai Japan, this remote-controlled Mechagodzilla robot is truly a sight to behold.

Towering at nearly 20-inches tall (1/100th scale), the mechanical creation is faithful to the version of the…

The Lite-Brite is one of my fondest childhood toy memories. Maybe it was the fact that it was THE original way to make pixel art. Or maybe it was the “living on the edge” thrill that any minute I could choke on one of the of hundreds of tiny candy-like pegs. Delicious. Of course, the biggest problem with the original…

You’ve got to hand it to the Japanese. I’m pretty sure that the ONLY objective of this new handheld game is to press the stopwatch button at exactly 5-seconds, but I’m so completely mesmerized by the marketing materials that I must go buy one now.

If those images pique your curiosity, then you must check out this Flash promo movie,…

Think of the latest contraption from Japan’s Bandai as a virtual soothsayer. The pocket-sized device uses a digital personality assessment, along with a dash hocus pocus and other less-than-scientific gibberish to predict your future.

The Mirai Scope starts out by asking its owner about fifty personal questions, which help to assign you one of 236 unique personality types (you can…

Stuff that features the likeness of Mario and his video game pals never seems to get old around here, so why not check out these new keychains based on Nintendo’s favorite gaming icons.

These Super Mario Light Mascot keychains from Bandai come in a set of five familiar faces from the classic Nintendo franchise. The set includes Mario himself, Power-up…

I was checking out Bandai Japan’s website earlier today when I came across this new micro robot that they’re coming out with later this year.

The Hex Bug series of miniature insect robots scurry along on six legs, just like real bugs. The tiny battery-operated robots automatically avoid obstacles and will change direction when you clap in their vicinity.

Hex…

Sometimes, you just can’t resist popping all that bubble wrap that your latest gadget purchase came shipped in. Well now you can feed that compulsion any time, thanks to this new gizmo from Bandai.

The PuchiPuchi (rough translation) is a pocket-sized electronic device that simulates the sound and feel of popping bubble wrap. Yep, you’ll never run out of those…

This goofy digital music player from Bandai isn’t really an MP3 player in the traditional sense.

Released for the 10-year anniversary of the popular electronic pet franchise, the $115 Tamagotchi Music Fever player doesn’t connect to your computer. Instead the quirky music player can only directly import music (up to 120 minutes) from a CD player or other audio source.…

From the company that brought you the original Tamagotchi “virtual pet,” comes a new gadget which takes that basic premise and injects your own personality into the equation. Bandai’s Human Player starts out by asking you fifty personal questions, then creates your own digital Mini-Me based on your personality traits.

The “Ego-gram” test assigns of 22 personalities to start your…