Live Interactive Virtual Electronics promises to forever change doll play

According to toy industry analysts, traditional doll sales have taken a recent dip, in large part due to the fact that young girls are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their play tastes and are craving the stimulation offered by interactive, digitally driven toy concepts. A new doll concept that was previewed for the first time yesterday at the Toy Wishes Holiday Preview looks set to answer this unmet need, blending computerized, state of the art toy designs with the joy of imaginary play to create the world's first ever fully interactive fashion doll.

Playhut's GoLive MystiKats Interactive Fashion System is a cutting-edge application of technology that promises to revolutionize the way children interact with their toys, creating a whole new category of play and entertainment.

GoLive, which incorporates an acronym for Live Interactive Virtual Electronics (LIVE), showcased its technology first with the MystiKats series of interactive fashion dolls but plans a host of other fully interactive GoLive products for 2007 and beyond.

"The GoLive Interactive System represents a new paradigm in the children's play category, as young children become more technology savvy at an earlier age," said Brian Zheng, president and chief executive officer of Playhut, Inc. "We are reinventing the way that girls interact with their fashion dolls. With the GoLive technology, girls can watch their dolls actually come alive on their handheld digital screen or TV. The GoLive technology signals a new hybrid in the toy industry and the wave of the future in interactive play that provides an unprecedented visual and emotional experience with toys."

Debuting this holiday season are the GoLive MystiKats: Kalani, Talin and Siva, three attractive and hip fashion dolls each with their own unique personality, power, mythology and voice. Designed for girls ages four and up, the GoLive MystiKats come to life in animated form for up to five hours of interactive game play.

How It Works: Each of the GoLive MystiKats fashion dolls (known as GoLive Curves) contain a computer chip which is designed to work in concert with the individual fashions (known as GoLive Wear), each also outfitted with a computer chip and themed cartridge. The MystiKats come alive when the GoLive Curve (doll) and the corresponding GoLive Wear (fashions) interact with the base stand (known as the Share). The GoLive Share sends a signal to the handheld unit (known as a GoLive View), which allows the dolls to come to life on screen through the cartridge (known as a GoLive Key), creating an entirely new category of doll play. In short, the combination of the doll, fashions and the key work in concert to allow for different game play and experiences that bring the doll to life through the hip animation on the handheld unit.

Additionally, for even more entertainment, girls can separately enjoy the fun of traditional (non-interactive) doll play or the excitement of the games and activities within the GoLive View (handheld) and GoLive Key (cartridge).

The GoLive MystiKats are hitting stores this week and will also be available online with a suggested retail at US$100.