An audio game is an electronic game played on a device such as a personal computer . It is similar to a video game save that there is audible and tactile feedback but not visual.
128-428: Bop It , stylized as bop it! since 2008, is a line of audio game toys. By following a series of commands issued through voice recordings produced by a speaker by the toy, which has multiple inputs including pressable buttons, pull handles, twisting cranks, spinnable wheels, flickable switches, the player progresses and the pace of the game increases. Based on concepts originally patented by Dan Klitsner , Bop It
256-542: A German-speaking version with the name "Simon Challenge". As described in its instruction manual (copyright 2004), Hasbro's Bratz -themed Bop It game uses a layout like that of the earlier (three-input) Bop It format. The maximum score in Bratz Bop It had the same scoring as the original Bop It re-release with a victory song playing after the score cypher for scores of over 100 points. Bratz Bop It requires three AAA batteries to operate. In 2005, Hasbro copyrighted
384-520: A blind person. That's an inspiration behind this game as well. So Sega was asking for exclusive rights to the game, and I said, 'OK, if you'll donate a thousand Saturns to blind people, then I'll donate a thousand [copies of the Real Sound ] game along with the Saturns.' And my condition was that if Sega would go for this idea, I would make that game Sega exclusive. So, that's how this happened. Following
512-444: A central area called "The Zone". Players score by "smashing" two Bop-It! buttons together when a zone light is either green or blue. Bop-It! Smash has three various game modes: Solo, Pass It and Multi-player. In Solo mode, the player scores five points for smashing a blue light and one point for smashing the green. If the player smashes the amber light, the voice will say "Yow!" (followed by a negative comment such as: "Try harder!") and
640-469: A certain sequence of commands, the player will hear "Pass Torx". The maximum score in each game mode is 240. Groove It is an audio game made by Hasbro whose instructions have been copyrighted in 2003. With similar game play to the Bop It games, Groove It employs photodetection technology to determine the player's hand position. As with Bop It games, Groove It issues voice commands; however, in this case
768-440: A chance to visit people who are visually disabled, and I learned that there are blind people who play action games . Of course, they're not able to have the full experience, and they're kind of trying to force themselves to be able to play, but they're making the effort. So I thought that if you turn off the monitor , both of you are just hearing the game. So after you finish the game, you can have an equal conversation about it with
896-410: A clue to which Boyz doll it was, especially important in the quest for a rare Bryce doll, available in only one of every 24 boxes. The group complained that the dolls' marketing was encouraging young girls to sneak out of the house and go on blind dates with strangers. It also took issue with accessory champagne bottles and glasses, but these were later confirmed to be smoothie bottles. MGA later renamed
1024-656: A collection of audio games called Soundvoyager as the newest member of its spare Digiluxe series. The Digiluxe series for Game Boy Advance consists of 7 games (in 2 series) that are characterized by simple yet compelling gameplay, minimal graphics, and the emphasis, in such titles as Soundvoyager and Dotstream , on music. Soundvoyager contains 7 audio games ( Sound Slalom , Sound Picker , Sound Drive , Sound Cock , Sound Chase , Sound Catcher , and Sound Cannon ). The Digiluxe series has been available in Japan since July 2006. In 2008, MIT students collaborated with
1152-761: A complaint in a California state court, seeking in excess of $ 1 billion. There have been a number of animated Bratz direct-to-video films, all of which initially were distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and were later re-released through Lionsgate . Some of the films, including Bratz Go to Paris: The Movie is a re-released compilation of three Bratz episodes from the first season, consisting of " Go to Paris I / Bratz in Playland ", " Go to Paris II / Bratz in Franceland ", and " Go to Paris III / Bratz in Ragland ". Bratz Babyz Save Christmas , initially released in 2008,
1280-491: A dedicated franchise fansite, Bratz World, and another two days later to Playthings magazine stating that the information is false and the company is not familiar with the company named in the report and MGA uses "first-rate factories in the Orient" to make its goods, besides Mattel and Hasbro . Larian said that he never heard about the news or of "the organization who is behind this negative and false campaign immediately prior to
1408-461: A diverse array of software types beyond text-only media allowing other works of interactive fiction as well as various simulator games to be enjoyed in a strictly audio environment. Examples of such games include: Another example is The Last of Us Part II , which was released by Naughty Dog in the summer of 2020 for the PlayStation 4 . The game contains over 60 accessibility features, including
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#17330861639091536-503: A forest filled with relaxing environmental noises. With the rise in popularity of voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa came a new set of audio games. As of June 2021, 10,000 audio games were available as Alexa Skills for use with Amazon Alexa. Among them are games like Rain Labs' Animal Sounds , which asks users to correctly identify the noises made by various animals. The rise of text-to-speech ( TTS ) software and steady improvements in
1664-457: A game life will be deducted. After four rounds, the level is completed and a Bonus Round will begin. The player can get 5 or more bonus points. The highest number of bonus points a player can score in the bonus round is 105 and the player can break the programming and score over 1000 with the voice not being able to announce the score at the end of the game. After the level 5 bonus round, the bonus round becomes twice as fast from levels 6 to 10 making
1792-512: A gap that has by now grown substantially. Due to a strong market bias in favor of the seeing, electronic games were primarily developed for this demographic. While seeing gamers could venture into 3D gaming worlds in such video game titles as Myst , Final Fantasy and Doom , blind gamers were relegated to playing more mundane games such as Blackjack , or Battleship . As video games flourished and became increasingly common, however, amateur game designers began to adapt video games for
1920-610: A limited-time Mini Bratz x Kylie Jenner collection. The collection features a range of Kylie's famous looks with the promise of a "full line" of Kylie dolls released on October 1 as reported by MGA Entertainment manufacturer. To celebrate the Mean Girls film's 20th anniversary, Paramount collaborated with MGA Entertainment to feature Cady and the Plastics as limited-edition Bratz dolls. The collaboration collection will release each character on separate dates throughout October 2024, with Cady on
2048-422: A minor success, the allure of a personal electronic game allowed Simon to capture a much greater share of the market. Simon became an immediate success eventually becoming a pop culture symbol of the 1980s. In the decades following the release of Simon , numerous clones and variations were produced including Merlin among others. Beginning in 1996, Milton Bradley and a number of other producers released
2176-471: A new Bop It Yoda (The Child) based on The Mandalorian TV show. It had a release date of October 2, 2020. It was a Wal-Mart exclusive. On October 1, 2021, the Marvel Spider-Man Bop It was released. On June 29, 2022, a video on YouTube by Lucky Penny Shop was released, along with an article from another sourced about a Bop It shaped like Darth Vader with the voice of Emperor Palpatine calling
2304-465: A new line of dolls titled "Bratz Collector" were designed by fashion illustrator Hayden Williams and released exclusively on Amazon online. The brand featured closely resemblance to the original 2001 doll line. In June 2021, for its 20th anniversary, Bratz released near-replicas of the debut dolls from its 2001 launch. Bratz turned 20 in 2021. In July 2023, Bratz announced a new partnership with celebrity Kylie Jenner . On August 1, 2023, Bratz released
2432-426: A new logo and slogan, and the dolls all got new bodies with articulated arms, with a height to match its competitor Monster High while keeping their unique faces, and sporting brand new fashions. Only the four principal Bratz characters, alongside minors: Meygan, Fianna, Shira, Roxxi and Phoebe, have been made in the new bodies. In January 2014, MGA revealed that Bratz would go on a country-based hiatus (only for/in
2560-407: A new main character, Raya (despite sharing the same name with a previous character) to the debut lineup from its 2001 launch as well as a new slogan and website design. The bodies were changed to be 10" (25 cm) tall again, but with new bodies and head molds. These dolls were met with negative reactions from fans, as the brand was more oriented towards younger kids rather than tweens and teens like
2688-738: A new version of Bop It called the Bop It Classic. The game was released in the US in July 2019 with a worldwide release expected in the Autumn of 2019. The game has four modes: Solo, Pass It, Beat Bop Solo and Beat Bop Pass It and has three actions: Bop It, Twist It and Pull It. The game's programming is based on the Bop It Micro but it game unit is bigger than the Micro and looks like a Bop It from 2009. The recording of "Beat Bop"
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#17330861639092816-564: A permanent injunction requested by Mattel against MGA. Subsequently, on December 10, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted MGA an immediate stay of the injunction, thereby halting the impending recall of all Bratz products, ensuring that retailers would be allowed to continue to sell the Bratz products through at least the Court's final ruling on the matter. In its initial statement,
2944-425: A personal computer platform, although there are a few audio games for handhelds and video game consoles . Audio games feature the same variety of genres as video games, such as adventure games , racing games , etc. The term "electronic game" is commonly understood as a synonym for the narrower concept of the "video game." This is understandable as both electronic games and video games have developed in parallel and
3072-434: A playable simulation. Chillingo made a Bop It Smash app for iOS. The popularity of the Bop It line encouraged Hasbro to release a number of sister products. Zing It is a yo-yo -style audio game that, like Bop It , issues commands with which the player must comply. Like the original Bop It , three commands may be issued: "Bop it!", requiring the player to press the depress-able purple button, "Zing it!", requiring
3200-409: A player must respond to with the appropriate action. Commands include "Top it!" (requiring the player to catch the ball in the red top cup), "Flop it!" (requiring the player to catch the ball in one of the purple side cups), and "Flip it!" (requiring the player to catch the ball in the purple side cup on the other side). The command structure has slightly fewer variations than any other Hasbro game, since
3328-412: A second time for 14 years with new doll lines and introducing a new main character, Raya, to the debut lineup from its 2001 launch as well as a new slogan and website design. The bodies were changed to be 10" (25 cm) tall again, but with new bodies and head molds. These dolls were met with negative reactions from fans, as the brand was more oriented towards younger kids rather than tweens and teens like
3456-703: A sequel to the earlier-released collection of Hasbro boardgames and toys, Hasbro Family Game Night . Hasbro Family Game Night 2 was released for the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS and both versions featured Bop It as a playable simulation. In 2011, EA Games released an app for the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. This app features several game modes, commands from the handheld games, X-Move bonuses and newer commands like "Brush It!", "Crank It!", "Squeeze It!", and "Poke It!". EA Games has also made Hasbro Family Game Night 4: The Game Show which features Bop It as
3584-403: A sound is played in the left, center, or right channel to indicate an object's position in a virtual gaming environment. Generally, this involves stereo panning of various sound effects, many of which are looped to serve as indicators of hazards or objects with which the user can interact. Volume also plays a major role in 3D audio games primarily to indicate an object's proximity with reference to
3712-405: A tennis match and features a multiplayer mode). Android devices also feature a myriad of audio games. For example, the studio Blind Faith Games has developed various games for Android with the goal of accessibility for the visually impaired community . Examples include Golf Accessible (a simulation of golfing) and Zarodnik (a strategy game where the user faces a monster in the depths of
3840-477: A text-to-speech feature. Other features that make the game completely playable without sight include the use of voice actors, haptic feedback, and audio cues that act as hints to the player. In addition, the game provides the common audio game feature of a sound glossary menu. On this menu, the user can scroll through a variety of audio cues and hear what they sound like and what they are used for during gameplay. For this game in particular, examples include signals to
3968-606: A toy-industry analyst indicated Bratz had captured about 40% of the fashion-doll market, compared with Barbie's 60%. The competition was high with Barbies, but became more and more popular with time. In August 2010, MGA released its first Bratz dolls in a year to celebrate the 10th anniversary/first decadal anniversary of the franchise. In addition to two "comeback" collections, MGA also released 10 new female Bratz characters on October 10, 2010. Bratz Party and Talking Bratz were in Target, Toys "R" Us and Walmart stores. In 2013, Bratz got
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4096-528: A web series titled "Talking Bratz" would air exclusively on its TikTok. In a similar CGI-style animation to the original TV series which aired between 2005 and 2008, the series consisted of several Bratz characters being interviewed in a talk-show like studio. The series saw the return of two of the TV series' cast in Olivia Hack (Cloe) and Ogie Banks (Dylan). On August 31, 2023, Bratz announced on its TikTok that it
4224-457: Is 1000 and this Bop It lets the player download a program on a Windows computer to download new content. The software was discontinued a few years later when Bop It Download was discontinued by Hasbro. The 'level up' sound was taken from this Bop It to be re-used in newer Bop It models such as the Bop It! and the Bop It! XT. In 2008, Hasbro secured the copyrights to the instructions for Bop It! . At
4352-573: Is a Latin American Spanish Bop It from 2016, the English voice will say "Latin America 3". Since 2008, the voice of Bop It has been Buddy Rubino. Rubino has voiced all the modern Bop It games which include: Bop It!, Bop It! XT, Bop It! Smash, Bop It! Tetris, Bop It! Micro (original recordings from Bop It!), Bop It! New Moves and Bop It! Maker. Rubino was unaware of Bop It when recording the voice, and
4480-413: Is a multi-player game that serves as the primary game mode for the Bop It toy. A voice recording in the game machine calls out the commands randomly with a musical beat that increases in speed as the game progresses. The player must match the series of commands exactly and then the voice will call out "Pass It!" and the Bop It is passed to the next player. As the player passes the game to the next player,
4608-440: Is going to weekly air a two-minute miniseries on there titled "Alwayz Bratz". It started on September 15 and ended on December 9 with 13 episodes. In a CGI-style animation different from Talking Bratz, the series focuses on the main characters, who are young adults in their 20s, pursuing a TV pitch to get their show Talking Bratz on streaming services. Meanwhile, Cloe is persuading her friends to start dating and set two of them up on
4736-465: Is never issued. Instead, when the player misses a command, the game ends and the score is reported. This mode is also known as "Vox Bop Solo" in Bop It Extreme and Bop It Extreme 2 , and simply "Solo" in "Bop It!" and Bop It XT!. "Beat Bop Solo" is only available for Bop It Extreme and Bop It Extreme 2 . This game is substantially similar to the "Beat Bop (with musical commands)" mode, except that
4864-412: Is predicated upon a player's efforts to match the commands issued by the Bop It in a timely manner by performing the task that is commanded. Thus if the Bop It is to call out "Bop it!", the player must quickly depress the "Bop It!" button. If the Bop It is to call out "Twist it!", the player must quickly turn the "Twist it!" crank. If the Bop It is to call out "Pull it!", the player must quickly pull
4992-453: Is similar to the one in Top It and Zing It and the player must start the sequence after Torx says "Ready, go!". In Find My Shape, the game unit will tell the player how close they are to the shape that Torx wants to be. It will give out directions like "Cooler", "Hotter" and when the player is near Torx will say "On fire!" and a sound effect will play if they find the shape. If the player is not near
5120-468: Is simply "One on One". In this multi-player game, two players each take hold of the Bop It with the yellow player holding the "Twist It!" crank and the "Pull It!" knob, and the green player holding the "Flick It!" lever and the "Spin It!" wheel. The unit calls out a series of commands and each player is responsible for only his or her assigned inputs. When the unit finally calls "Bop It!" both players must try to hit
5248-400: Is still growing with the freeware development by devoted enthusiasts of new interactive fiction titles each year. Accessibility for the visually impaired began to change, some time prior to the advent of graphical operating systems as computers became powerful enough to support more video-centric games. This created a gap between electronic games for the seeing and games for the blind —
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5376-401: The Bop It Extreme 2 also relied on the newly issued 2001 patent describing the layout changes that had been adopted for use in the Bop It Extreme . With its instructions copyrighted in 2002, the layout of Hasbro's Bop It Extreme 2 was shown to be altered from that of Bop It Extreme . The shapes of several inputs were also altered. Volume controls were added, and the method of score reporting
5504-486: The Bop It! Micro is 100 and as the player scores closer to 100 the pitch of the gameplay will speed up. As Hasbro released it as a series of games, several character-themed versions of the Micro Bop It followed which include Bop It R2D2 , Bop It BB8 , Bop It Groot and Bop It Minion . In addition to these characters, Hasbro have released a Bop It Olaf and a Bop It Chewbacca in 2019. On June 23, 2020, Hasbro announced
5632-508: The Sega Saturn which was later ported to Dreamcast in 1999 and renamed Real Sound: Kaze no Regret ("Real Sound: Regrets in the Wind"). This game featured no visuals at all and was entirely dependent upon sound. Discussing Real Sound' s production, Eno has stated that I got tired of [ CG graphics ]. I didn't want people to think that they could predict what Warp would do next. Also, I had
5760-564: The Tetris Company signed a deal with Hasbro to make Tetris -themed games with their brands. Later in 2013, Hasbro launched Jenga and Bop It-themed versions of Tetris. It features a "Marathon" mode and additional modes based around different gameplay styles (Blast, Double Drop and Shuffle). A special Silver edition was also released in late 2013 only in the United States. In the Marathon mode,
5888-403: The "Bop It!" button on the side bearing their color first. The unit will announce which player was faster by which colored side of the button was depressed first. The winning player earns a point. If either player misses a call she or he is "out" of the game. The final winner is the player who gets to five points first and does not miss any commands. The "Beat Bop" mode follows a similar format as
6016-402: The "Flip it!" command can only be issued if the "Flop it!" command directly precedes it. The Torx is an audio game developed by Big Monster Toys under Hasbro that was released in 2000. The game has two twistable circles and two bendable arms that can bend in different angles 90 degrees. The game has four modes: Follow My Command, Find My Shape, Torx Says and Pass Torx. In Follow my Command,
6144-580: The "Pass It!" command is never issued. Instead, when the player misses a command, the game ends and the score is reported. The "Light Bop" mode is featured in Bop It Blast and Bop It Download . The player must respond when the light and the command match together. In the Master level on Bop It! and Bop It! XT , color commands are issued. Color commands are also issued in the "Pro" mode on Bop It XT. In 2009, EA Games released Hasbro Family Game Night 2 ,
6272-400: The "Pull It!" handle. Players' scores are announced at the end of gameplay with a cypher in which different tones represent different point values and the maximum possible score is 100. In 2000, a second edition model was made which can score up to 200. In the 2000 release at the end sequence, each "Pull It!" whistle denotes 100 points, each ratchet denotes 10, and each drum denotes 1 point. If
6400-462: The "Vox Bop (with voice commands)" mode (above) and the rules are roughly equivalent. The game mode is called "Lights Only" in Bop It Beats. The difference in "Beat Bop" mode is that the game uses sounds as commands instead of words. Thus: "Solo Bop" is the single-player mode for the original Bop It . This game is substantially similar to "Vox Bop (with voice commands)", except the "Pass It!" command
6528-544: The 2001 launch of Bratz, sales of the Mattel, Inc.-staple Barbie fashion dolls began to decline. In 2004, sales figures showed that Bratz dolls outsold Barbie dolls in the UK and Australia, although Mattel maintained that in terms of the number of dolls, clothes, and accessories sold, Barbie remained the leading brand. In 2005, figures showed that sales of Barbie dolls had fallen by 30% in the United States, and by 18% worldwide, with much of
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#17330861639096656-463: The 2009 New York Toy Fair and at the London Toy Fair, Hasbro allowed attendees to try out Bop It! . Bop It! has a new optional input "Shout It", which requires a player to shout into the microphone. The Bop It! has three difficulty levels: "Novice", using only voice commands, "Expert", using a random mix of voice and sound commands, and "Master", calling out voice, sound, and color commands. If
6784-471: The 3rd, Regina on the 17th and Karen and Gretchen on the 31st (Halloween) The parental group Dads and Daughters were upset at the marketing of the Bratz Secret Date collection. The dolls were packaged with a Bratz girl in the right half of the box — either Cloe, Yasmin, Jade, Meygan, or Nevra — and matched with a mystery Boyz doll behind the door on the left. A window showing the doll's feet would provide
6912-450: The Classic and Beat Bop mode has a maximum score of 100 points. The game is the first and only Bop It to have a motion detector that detects when to change the batteries. It will remind the player with a sad pitch-changing voice saying "my batteries are running low" when the batteries need changing. In 2017, Hasbro released the follow-up to the Bop It! New Moves called Bop It! Maker . The game
7040-576: The Classic mode, there are four rounds and each of the two has a different set of songs that the game switches between. In the second and fourth round, there are two songs that Hasbro chose to use in the game. The highest score in Classic is 263 and the highest score in the DJ mode is 147 if played in the Expert level in the DJ Party mode. The game also has a Remix mode on which you can play any action sound effect you want on
7168-413: The Court suggested Larson's previous ruling was "draconian" and had gone too far in awarding ownership of the entire Bratz franchise to Mattel. The Court of Appeals also ordered MGA and Mattel to resolve their dispute out of court. Isaac Larian and MGA Entertainment issued a statement that "the Court's stay is good news for all Bratz fans and for anyone who cares about fair competition." On July 22, 2010,
7296-778: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared that ownership of the Bratz franchise belonged to MGA Entertainment. The Court Of Appeals rejected the District Court's original ruling for Mattel, where MGA Entertainment was ordered to forfeit the entire Bratz brand — including all registered copyrights and trademarks of the Bratz name — to Mattel. The panel from the Court of Appeals said Judge Larson had abused his discretion with his ruling for Mattel, concluding that Bryant's employment agreement could have, but did not necessarily, cover ideas as it did designs, processes, computer programs, and formulae, which are all more concrete. In addition to
7424-524: The UK market for 23 consecutive months (i.e. between 2005 and 2007) focuses core values on friendship, hair play and a 'passion for fashion.' The spokesman quoted Dr. Brian Young of the University of Exeter, saying "parents may feel awkward but I don't think children see the dolls as sexy. They just think they're pretty." Isaac Larian, in comments given to the BBC, said that the report was a "bunch of garbage" and that
7552-403: The UK, a Bratz spokesman defended the toy line, saying that "it is consumed by 8+-year-olds" and "are aimed at the preteen and teen market", adding that the dolls were considered for "female consumers at ages 10 to 18", with the focus on the dolls while on looks was not on "sexualization" and that "friendship was also a key focus" of Bratz dolls. The Bratz brand, which has remained number one in
7680-548: The United States) for a year in an attempt to rebuild the brand after an admittedly first relaunch in September 2010 to celebrate the brand's first decadal anniversary, resulting from the lawsuit against Mattel, which was met with decreased popularity. MGA Entertainment felt that it wanted to give the brand "the comeback it truly deserved". In July 2015, Bratz relaunched a second time for 14 years with new doll lines and introducing
7808-424: The additional commands "Flick it!" (a green zigzag lever) and "Spin it!" (a red wheel) along with the original three from Bop It . The game featured four game modes (Vox Bop, Beat Bop, Vox Bop Solo and Beat Bop Solo), and the maximum score (reported via cypher) was increased to 250. As with the earlier Bop It model, special victory songs were unlocked upon completion. Thus, achieving a score of 100 or greater rewards
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#17330861639097936-464: The additional use of text-to-speech (TTS) software. For the same reason, following the development of TTS software, text-based games such as early text-only works of interactive fiction were also equally accessible to users with or without a visual impairment. Since the availability of such software was not commonly accessible until the inclusion of the MacInTalk program on Apple Computers in 1984,
8064-465: The announcement of the player's score at notable landmarks (each 100 points scored). In addition to the six modes from Bop It Extreme 2 , a "Light Bop" mode was added. The game also had an optional female voice. The game can allow the player to select a male, female, or both voices calling the commands. The same victory song from the original Bop It was used to report the 500 highest score. The sound effects and backing beats from this version were used for
8192-431: The blind via sound. In time audio game programmers began to develop audio-only games, based to a smaller and smaller degree on existing video game ideas and instead focusing on the possibilities of game immersion and feedback with sound. Specifically, three-dimensional positional audio ( binaural recording ) has been developed since 2000 and now figures prominently in, for example, such audio games as BBBeat . To effect this,
8320-561: The brand's creator, Carter Bryant, was working for Mattel when he developed its original idea/concept. On July 17, 2008, a federal jury ruled that Bryant had created the Bratz concept while he was working for Mattel, despite MGA's claim that Bryant had never been employed by Mattel at the time and Bryant's assertion that he had designed the Bratz concepts between two separate periods of employment at Mattel. The jury also ruled that MGA and its CEO Isaac Larian were liable for converting Mattel property for its own use and intentionally interfering with
8448-430: The brand's launch in 2001, franchise distributor MGA Entertainment got embroiled in a lengthy legal dispute with its rival Mattel over the rights to its design, which ended in 2011 with MGA as the victors. Related litigation is ongoing in a lawsuit by MGA alleging Mattel's theft of trade secrets. MGA has paused the Bratz brand since the onset of the litigation and rebranded it several times throughout its lifespan, with
8576-521: The collection to Bratz Blind Date. On December 21, 2006, the National Labor Committee (now The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights) announced that the factory workers behind Bratz dolls in China have labored for 94½ hours a week, while the factory paid only $ 0.515 an hour. The cost of labor per doll was $ 0.17. The retail price for a single doll ranges between $ 9.99 to $ 22.99, depending on
8704-805: The commands are: "the scratch", "the slide", and "the zoom". The game is more tolerant of errors than the Bop It games, allowing as many as three missed commands in some modes. The game requires a score of 250 to win, has a maximum score of 300, and employs a ranking system. As the game progresses, it issues eight new moves: "the chop", "the zip", "the flow", "the car wash", "the rock 'n' roll", "the kung fu", "the swirl" and "the hip hop". Audio game Audio games originally started out as 'blind accessible'-games and were developed mostly by amateurs and blind programmers . But more and more people are showing interest in audio games, ranging from sound artists, game accessibility researchers, mobile game developers and mainstream video gamers . Most audio games run on
8832-503: The commands. The game was released on September 23, 2022, as a Wal-Mart exclusive. In 2015, Hasbro copyrighted the instructions to a new model of Bop It to be released in 2016 called Bop It! New Moves (aka Bop It Refresh or the Bop It 2016). In January 2016, a YouTube channel called KidToyTesters released a video of a working prototype of the game. In February 2016 at the New York Toy Fair, Hasbro demonstrated Bop It New Moves. The game
8960-447: The contractual duties owed by Bryant to Mattel. On August 26, the jury decided that Mattel was to be paid just $ 100 million in damages, citing that only the first generation of Bratz had infringed on Mattel property and that MGA had innovated and evolved the product significantly enough that subsequent generations of Bratz could not be conclusively found to be infringing. On December 3, 2008, U.S. District Judge Stephen G. Larson granted
9088-453: The correct order. As with Bop It and Bop It Extreme , Zing It announces the score by musical cypher. Like the two Bop It Extreme games, Zing It has a maximum score of 250 and is announced by a horn, followed by a crowd clapping. With its instructions copyrighted in 1999, the Top It is a kendama -style audio game developed by Parker Bros. (under Hasbro ) that also issues commands which
9216-419: The correct shape, Torx will say "Ice cold!", "Warm" or "Warmer". In Torx Says, the game will produce 2 different tones. With a normal pitched Torx unit, if the player hears an F note, they must follow the command. If they hear a B flat note they must not follow the command. The game is over if the player beats the game or fails to respond or hesitate. In game four, the game will player like Game 1 but instead after
9344-437: The current release of Bop It's. This device requires three AA batteries to operate. In 2006, Hasbro copyrighted the instructions to Bop It Download , describing it as covered under the five-input Bop It patent and referencing other patents that are pending. Tiger Electronics also developed the game. This member of the Bop It line has three game modes: Solo, Pass It and One-on-One and has 15 levels of difficulty. The maximum score
9472-403: The dolls' racial diversity was a more salient variable during play than their sexualized outfits. The controversy over alleged oversexualization of Bratz dolls for young girls was alluded to in a 2007 episode of Boston Legal titled "Guise n' Dolls." Bratz were not the only dolls to be criticized in this report, which highlighted not only toys but also other products and the wider media. In
9600-514: The drop being attributed to the popularity of Bratz. In April 2005, MGA Entertainment filed a lawsuit against Mattel, claiming that the " My Scene " line of Barbie dolls had copied the doe-eyed look of Bratz dolls. It added the word "only" to the toy line's slogan "The only girls with a passion for fashion" by attempting to isolate their dolls from Mattel's as many casual consumers confused the difference of two brands. On December 10, 2006, Mattel sued MGA Entertainment for $ 500 million, alleging that
9728-557: The expansion to spin-offs, including Bratz Kidz , Bratz Boyz , Bratz Babyz and Bratzillaz ' and a media franchise consisting of discography and adaptations into a TV series , a web series , a live-action film and video games. Global sales of the entire franchise grossed $ 2 billion in 2005 and by the following year, the brand had about 40 percent of the fashion-doll market. The Bratz doll lines have provoked controversy in several areas from their stylized proportions to fashion-forward clothing, capitalizing closely on pop trends. Since
9856-470: The factory passes inspections intended to ensure the supplier meets labor standards. It said workers at the factory intended to go on strike in January 2007 to protest plans by factory managers to put all employees on temporary contracts, denying them legal protection required for long-term employees. After the announcement, MGA Entertainment CEO, Isaac Larian sent a statement on December 24, 2006, via email to
9984-577: The field have allowed full audio-conversion of traditionally video-based games. Such games were intended for use by and marketed to the seeing, however they do not actually rest primarily on the visual aspects of the game and so members of the audio game community have been able to convert them to audio games by using them in conjunction with TTS software. While this was originally only available for strictly text-based games like text adventures and MUDs , advances in TTS software have led to increased functionality with
10112-472: The field of console-gaming, there has been very little in the way of audio-games. One notable exception has been the innovative incorporation of strong audio elements in several of the games produced by the Japanese video game company, Warp . Warp was founded by musician Kenji Eno and consisted of a five-man team including first-time designer Fumito Ueda . In 1997, Warp developed a game called Real Sound for
10240-418: The first audio game, Touch Me , in 1974. Housed in an arcade cabinet , Touch Me featured a series of lights which would flash with an accompanying tone. The player would reproduce the sequence by pressing a corresponding sequence of buttons and then the game would add another light/sound to the end of the growing sequence to continually test the player's eidetic memory in a Pelmanism-style format. Although
10368-461: The first of those coming in 2010 after Mattel's first lawsuit, only to return later that year to commemorate the brand's 10th anniversary. In 2013, Bratz changed to have taller bodies, an all-new logo, and branding, and continued through 2014, in an effort to return the brand to its roots. As a result, none of the 2014 product line was made available in North America. In July 2015, Bratz relaunched
10496-495: The game featured both a visual and an auditory component, the disconnect between the two enabled both the seeing and the visually impaired to equally enjoy the game. Based on the popularity of Touch Me , in 1978 Milton Bradley Company released a handheld audio game entitled Simon at Studio 54 in New York City . Whereas Touch Me had been in competition with other visual-centric video games and consequently remained only
10624-521: The game harder to score points. During a level (except bonus rounds) the player can earn a life back if they smash another blue light after smashing an amber. In the Pass It mode, the player has three attempts to try and smash a green or a blue. If they smash an orange light three times, then the game is over. In the multi-player mode, up to six players can play. The winner is the last one surviving after all other players have lost all their lives. In early 2013,
10752-493: The game market at large is gradually taking more notice of audio games as well due to the issue of game accessibility . Commercial interest in audio games has steadily grown and as a result artists and students have created a number of experimental freeware PC audio games to explore the possibilities and limitations of this gaming form. Despite the increase in interest in audio games, however, many modern games still lack sufficient audio cues to be considered fully accessible for
10880-437: The game market has always had a strong bias toward the visual. The first electronic game, in fact, is often cited to be Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device (1947) a decidedly visual game. Despite the difficulties in creating a visual component to early electronic games imposed by crude graphics, small view-screens, and power consumption, video games remained the primary focus of the early electronic game market. Atari released
11008-545: The game plays like Solo but instead the "Pass It" command is issued. In the Basic mode, the voice says "Bop It to Start!" and plays a little faster than the Solo mode. Each mode can score up to 100 points. In July 2000, the first patent for Bop It was issued. This patent covers all subsequent Bop It models, and was cited in the instructions for the re-release of the original Bop It (instructions copyrighted in 2000). The newer version of
11136-426: The game plays like a Bop It but the commands can get more complex. First the voice will say "Twist me" but then it can command the player to "Twist me again" or to "Twist me back". If it says "Bend me" it can command the player to "Bend me back", "Bend the same side" or "Bend the other side". Every 15 points, the game will announce "Torx Challenge" and give the player a sequence of commands to memorize. The challenge mode
11264-515: The game turns off it will say "I'm going to sleep". All future Bop Its made by KID Group feature this sound. After securing the copyrights to the instructions in 2009, Hasbro made announcements regarding the newest member of the Bop It game line, entitled Bop-It! Bounce during the 2010 Hasbro Toy Fair. The toy was also developed by Big Monster Toys . This toy features a ball and a small hand-held trampoline. There are six games that may be played on Bop It! Bounce including three games that emphasize
11392-592: The game will play a short melody and then the intro beat will play again before the next command. A player is "out" of the game if the player performs the wrong action or if the player hesitates. This mode is also known as "Vox Bop Pass It" in Bop It Extreme 2 , and then simply "Pass It" in Bop It Download , Bop It XT , and Bop It! . "Vox Bop One on One" is available on Bop It Extreme 2 , Bop It Blast , Bop It Download , and Bop It! XT , though in Download and XT it
11520-540: The government of Singapore and a professor at the National University of Singapore to create AudiOdyssey , a game which allows both blind and sighted gamers to play together. Apple 's iPhone platform has become home to a number of audio games, including Papa Sangre . Other examples include Audiogame.it's Flarestar (a space-themed exploration game that features combat against training drones and other spacecraft) and Sonic Tennis (a game which simulates
11648-496: The handheld Bop It which featured a similar concept of a growing series of commands designed to test eidetic memory. Other related games soon followed including Bop It Extreme (1998), Bop It-Extreme 2 (2002–2003), Zing-It , Top-It , and Loopz (2010) Before graphical operating systems like Windows , most home computers used text-based operating systems such as DOS . Being text-based meant that they were relatively accessible to visually impaired users, requiring only
11776-523: The included items and specific retailer. The allegations in the report describe practices found at many Chinese factories producing name-brand products for export. They include required overtime exceeding the legal maximum of 36 hours a month, forcing workers to stay on the job to meet stringent production quotas and the denial of paid sick leave and other benefits. The report shows copies of what it says are "cheat sheets" distributed to workers before auditors from Walmart or other customers arrive to make sure
11904-471: The instructions to Bop It Blast , describing it as covered under the original (three-input) Bop It patent and referencing other patents that were pending. The game was also developed by Tiger Electronics . This member of the series again increased the maximum score to a total of 500, and for the first time allowed different high scores for different modes rather than having one high score for all modes collectively. Minor vocal additions were implemented such as
12032-548: The last holiday shopping weekend." In 2007, concerns over the body image and lifestyle the Bratz dolls allegedly promoted were raised by the American Psychological Association after it established its Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. In its published report, it cited concern over the adult-like sexuality the Bratz dolls allegedly portray. Another study found that for young African-American girls,
12160-411: The library of games which became accessible to the vision impaired spanned everything from the earliest text adventure, Colossal Cave Adventure (1976), to the comparatively advanced works of interactive fiction which had developed in the subsequent 8 years. Although the popularity of this genre has waned in the general market as video-centric games became the dominant form of electronic game, this library
12288-557: The listed games contain some primitive graphics as to make audio games not only accessible to blind and visually impaired people but also to gamers with vision, who may be unexperienced with TTS, auditory menus and typical keyboard mappings. Examples include Shades of Doom and the CURAT Sonification game . Most audio games are now developed by several small companies (consisting of only a team of one to four people). The main audience remains primarily visually impaired users, however
12416-875: The litigation for ownership and control of Bratz' on October 20, 2009, artist Bernard "Butch" Belair filed a new design infringement lawsuit against both Mattel and MGA in Manhattan federal court, seeking unspecified damages. Belair claimed that his copyright designs of young women with "large heads, oval eyes, small bodies and large feet," which he had created for shoe designer house Steve Madden , were "pilfered" when Carter Bryant, during his 2008 court testimony, testified that he had been inspired by Steve Madden shoe ads which he saw in Seventeen magazine. Belair says neither MGA nor Mattel "sought or obtained permission ... to copy, reproduce, create derivative works from or distribute" his "copyrighted" work. In 2011, MGA prevailed over Belair, with
12544-445: The natural interactions between player and toy, and the ability of players to use the toy to revert computer gaming processes back into those that resemble non-mediated object play . Other studies have shown that it is the Bop It 's ability to mimic engagement in social behavior that has led to its commercial successes. Bop It has been released in many foreign languages since its re-release in 2008. With all models by KID Group,
12672-417: The ocean), which utilize screen vibrations and audio cues for the gameplay experience. Another unique example of an audio game for Android is a game currently in development by researchers at Tsinghua University titled Wander , which is intended to be used as the player falls asleep to improve the quality of their rest. A guide provides the instructions to users verbally, and they use their breath to explore
12800-409: The original toy increased its maximum score to 200. In addition to the score-report cypher, the 2000 model made use of a special victory song that would play after the score if the player achieved a score of 100 points or greater. The use of victory songs associated with in-game point-plateaus would recur in later model Bop It games such as Bop It Extreme and Bratz Bop It . In 2019, Hasbro released
12928-591: The people who wrote it were "acting irresponsibly". In line with the launch of the new line of Kylie dolls, Bratz fans questioned the choice of Kylie as their first celebrity collaborator. Others did not like the skin tones on the Kylie dolls, implying they were too dark as compared to Kylie's skin tone. In 2024, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of International Women's Day , a number of celebrities had their likeness turned into Bratz dolls, including Chappell Roan , Normani , Miley Cyrus and Sinéad O'Connor . Since
13056-468: The player can take advantage of the bonus rounds to score over 800 points. In 2013, Hasbro released a game called Bop It! Beats which first appeared on Amazon in December 2013. Bop It! Beats has five game modes: Classic, Classic Party, DJ, DJ Party and Remix and has three difficulty levels: Rookie, Expert and Lights Only. It also has five actions: Bop It, Spin It, Scratch It, Reverse, Repeat and Flip It. In
13184-492: The player reaches 200 points, the game will just play the victory song. This style of score-reporting would later recur in later Bop It models, and the Zing It spin off ( see below ). The same cypher values were used for all subsequent Bop It cyphers. This device requires three AA batteries . In 1998, Hasbro copyrighted its instructions for the Bop It Extreme, describing the underlying patents as " pending ." This game included
13312-415: The player scores 100 points in either of the less difficult modes, the next most difficult mode is unlocked. Players that achieve a score of 100 points in "Master" mode are considered to have beaten the game. Hasbro also added a multi-player game called "Party" where all the Bop It commands are replaced with body parts like "foot", "hip", and "arm". Bop It! requires three AAA batteries to operate and when
13440-419: The player to throw the yo-yo downward and jerk it back up to the hand again, and "Loop it!", requiring the player to perform the "round the world" yo-yo trick . Zing It features three modes: "Vox Bop" (as with Bop It products), "Beat Bop" (as with Bop It products), and "Vox Bop Challenge", where the game will test mental pelmanism by issuing rapid strings of commands which must be subsequently performed in
13568-410: The player with an additional victory song after the announcement of the score. On reaching 150 inputs, a different special victory celebration plays, and achievement of the maximum score would trigger a yet different special victory ending. This device requires three AA batteries. In 2003, this model was one of the top games in the market. Partially reliant on the original Bop It 's 2000 patent,
13696-545: The previous dolls. Due to the poor reception and sales, the dolls were once again discontinued in 2016. On May 20, 2017, MGA Entertainment CEO, Isaac Larian , announced a third relaunch of the brand in Autumn/Fall 2018, in addition to announcing a collaboration with fashion designer Hayden Williams. Since Black Friday of 2018, the new set of Bratz Collector dolls designed by Hayden Williams were officially released and sold exclusively through Amazon online. In September 2018,
13824-523: The previous dolls. Due to the poor reception and sales, the dolls were once again discontinued in 2016. Though Bratz dolls fared poorly at their May 21, 2001 debut — mostly due to the long-held monopoly by the Mattel-staple Barbie — their popularity increased the following Christmas. In the first half-decade since debut, 125 million products were sold worldwide, and, in 2005, global sales of Bratz and Bratz products grossed over $ 2 billion. In 2006,
13952-575: The release of Real Sound , Warp again made use of a novel employment of audio elements in the Saturn game Enemy Zero (1997), in which the enemies are invisible and can only be detected through auditory clues. Audio-specific elements used in gameplay have been recognized in Warp's D2 (2000). Nintendo , as part of its shift to alternative gameplay forms, has shown recent interest in audio games through its own development teams. In July 2006, Nintendo released
14080-544: The same court to pay MGA $ 310 million for attorney fees, stealing trade secrets and false claims rather than the $ 88.5 million issued in April. In July 2012, MGA Entertainment sued pop singer Lady Gaga for $ 10 million for causing, according to the BBC, "deliberate delays to the release of a doll based on her image." The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated without prejudice the $ 170 million judgment from 2008 against Mattel on procedural grounds in January 2013. In 2014, MGA filed
14208-457: The series was announced as postponed, but the remaining episodes were not released. In August 2015, a stop-motion web series premiered on YouTube. MGA confirmed there would be 10 episodes for the first season, which would turn out to be the only season. All 10 episodes were compiled into a 25-minute video titled Bratz: Friends Forever on Netflix. The web series was seen on American TV on Kabillion . In May 2021, Bratz announced via Twitter that
14336-408: The speed or number of bounces and three games that emphasize the player's ability to control the height of the bounces. In 2010, the instructions for the Bop It! XT were copyrighted. The Bop It! XT is the fourth edition of Bop It Extreme with the same commands but adding a new command, "Shake It". Another change is that "Spin It" is now orange. The game was demonstrated at the London Toy Fair and
14464-505: The summary judgment stating that, "Belair cannot monopolize the abstract concept of an absurdly large-headed, long limbed, attractive, fashionable woman." Mattel and MGA returned to court in January 2011 to renew its battle over who owns Bratz, which this time includes accusations from both companies that the other side stole trade secrets. In April 2011, a federal jury returned a verdict supporting MGA, with Mattel in August that year ordered by
14592-474: The team have managed to find voice actors to record the voice for the most popular languages in the world such as French , German , Italian , Latin American Spanish , European Spanish , Danish and Portuguese . There was also a Japanese version released. When the manufacturer accesses the hidden diagnostic test mode the English voice announces what version of Bop It the country is linked to. So if it
14720-696: The turntable of the game. This particular Bop It has a glitch on which if the player reaches a six-command pattern in the DJ Expert and Lights Only mode, the game will make the player fail. However, this glitch does not happen in a foreign-language version like the Spanish or the French versions. The Bop It! Micro Series is a version of Bop It released in 2014 by Hasbro. It uses the three basic commands Bop It, Twist It and Pull It and it has two game modes: Solo and Pass It. The game also has three volume levels. The highest score in
14848-527: The user that they can crouch, jump, or interact with the nearby environment. Bratz Bratz is an American fashion doll and media franchise created by former Mattel employee Carter Bryant for MGA Entertainment , which debuted in 2001. The four original 10-inch (25 cm) dolls were released on May 21, 2001 — Yasmin (Latina), Cloe (White), Jade (East Asian), and Sasha (Black). They featured almond-shaped eyes adorned with eyeshadow adding lush and big glossy lips. Bratz reached great success with
14976-450: The user. The pitch of a sound is often varied to convey other information about the object it symbolizes. Voice talent is used to indicate menu items rather than text. These parameters have allowed for the creation of, among other genres, side scrollers, 3D action adventures, shooters, and arcade style games. The website Audiogames.net provides a list of audio games and a forum for the community of audio game developers and gamers . Many of
15104-445: The visually impaired. Furthermore, the industry still lacks a clear set of accessibility guidelines for their development. Tools such as the once popular Blastbay Game Toolkit engine that aided in the development of audio games are now obsolete, but current game engines like Unity and Unreal that can support audio game development are not specifically designed for doing so, creating an additional hurdle for audio game developers. In
15232-409: The winner designing clothing for a British line of Bratz dolls. On October 10, 2010, MGA premiered the first episode of an 11-episode web series, titled Bratz Rock , revolving around the main characters as they enter a music competition held by fictional music star Whisper, and as they get closer to finishing their song for the contest, they also uncover Whisper's true identity. On October 14, 2010,
15360-528: Was advised to do it "really excited". Bop It has sold over 30 million units worldwide. In 1996, the instructions to a handheld voice game called Bop It were copyrighted. This game was the first of what was later to become a series of Bop It games relying on the same set of basic patents. The original game, called simply Bop It , features three inputs — "Bop it!" (a depressible button), "Twist it!" (a twistable lever) and "Pull it!" (a pullable handle) — and three game modes: Solo Bop, Vox Bop and Beat Bop. Gameplay
15488-497: Was changed to using plain English. In addition to the four modes featured in Bop It Extreme , a "One on One" mode was added. Bop It Extreme 2 was awarded "Electronic Game of the Year 2005" in the UK. This device requires three AA batteries. Bop It Extreme 2 was made in black, white, and pink variants. The Bop it Extreme 2 like the Bop it Extreme has a maximum score of 250. Hasbro also released
15616-454: Was first demonstrated at New York Toy Fair in 2017 and was released in July 2017. The Bop It! Maker has ten slots available on where the player can record their custom moves for the game. The game has four new actions: Bop It, Roll It, Shout It and Squeeze It. The game has three modes: Solo, Party and Basic. In the Solo mode, the game uses the four moves and all the recorded moves. In the Party mode,
15744-419: Was licensed to Hasbro and further developed there by a number of designers including Bob Welch. With newer versions, additional inputs have been added or altered such that units like the 2010 Bop-It! Bounce shares no inputs in common with the original 1996 Bop It . Bop It has been identified as some of the more popular children's games on the market, and toy and game development researchers have pointed to
15872-555: Was produced by Mike Young Productions (now Splash Entertainment) and premiered in the United States on 4Kids TV . Voices included Tia Mowry . In August 2007, an 88-minute, computer-animated, audiovisual production titled Bratz: BFF (Best Friends Forever) was released on the DVD rental website portal of Netflix. From October 2008, Nickelodeon aired a reality show titled Bratz Design Academy , in which young girls aged 9 to 14 compete in fashion challenges similar to Project Runway , with
16000-467: Was re-released by Lionsgate in 2013 as Bratz Babyz Save Christmas: The Movie . The live-action adaption of the franchise involving the four main characters exploring high school troubles and cliques was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics including at Rotten Tomatoes with emphasis "full of mixed messages and dubious role-models", adding that " Bratz is too shallow even for its intended audience." A computer-animated TV series adaptation
16128-438: Was released in 2011. The Bop It! XT is based on the gameplay of the Bop It! and returns the "One on One" mode and adds the new Pro level. In order to beat Bop-It! XT , the player is given a set of three commands to remember and must perform them in order with a mix of voice, sound and color commands 100 times. In 2012, Hasbro introduced Bop-It! Smash at the New York Toy Fair. Bop-It! Smash features color-changing lights in
16256-470: Was released worldwide in June 2016. The game has three main actions: Bop It, Twist It and Pull It, and ten actions that use a motion sensor. These actions include Whip It, Drink It, Selfie It, Comb It, Answer It, Saw It, Hammer It, Cradle It, Sing It and Golf It. The game has six modes: Action, Action Pass It, Classic, Classic Pass It, Beat Bop and Beat Bop Pass It. The Action mode has a maximum score of 200 points and
16384-439: Was taken from the 2016 Bop It whilst all the other voices were from the Bop It! Micro Series. Each game mode has a maximum score of 100 points. Mini versions of several Bop It models have also been released throughout the duration of the series to be used as keychain carabiners and pens. Mini versions have been released for Bop It 1996 and 2002 , Bop It Extreme , Bop It Extreme 2 , Bop It! , and Bop It! XT . "Vox Bop"
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