With an
Equipped with NFC, these handheld digital pets, created in Japan, can do
lots more things. Your Tamagotchi can communicate with your friend’s
Tamagotchi, to play games or exchange items or it can interact with your
smartphone, for extended play. Tap your Tamagotchi to a soft drink in a
grocery store or a menu item in a restaurant, and for a little extra fee, your
pet can drink and eat what it likes best.
Let’s say you’re playing a videogame that involves different
characters. You have a figurine for a character and want to use it with your
gaming console. The NFC reader in the gaming console recognizes the NFC tag in
the figurine, and the toy now comes to life in the video game.
Tap your NFC-enabled figurine to your smartphone, tablet, or gaming device and the toy appears in an app, where you can choose from a menu of
programmable features. Change your figurine’s voice, or give him new
capabilities. A browser window automatically links you to videos explaining
each feature, and discount vouchers, available online, make it easy to
activate more advanced options.
Building a collection of trading cards for your favorite sport? The new
cards come equipped with NFC, so you can tap the card to your smartphone to
access extra info or updated stats on the digital version. Create your team
and then link each card to a digital profile, so you can play online.
The basic concept’s the same – you roll the dice and move your
tokens around the board – but now the board has NFC readers embedded in
it and the tokens, cards, and dice use NTAGs to store, send and receive data.
The game can be programmed for random events, make sounds when certain things
happen or create virtual bank accounts and score cards. Your phone can get in
on the action, too, working as an input device or a display, showing
animations, helpful hints or secret messages for selected players.
Any toy that uses a remote control – racecar, motorcycle, 4×4,
helicopter – can do more when NFCs on board. Switch on lights,
make sounds, interact with LED accessories, or buy gasoline and change tires,
count rounds or measure speed. Set up your own parkour race, and configure
different events for each stage you complete.
Author
Laurent Dardé
Laurent Dardé is Marketing Director for Security and Connectivity at NXP Semiconductors. In his more than 18 years in the technology industry, he has managed engineering groups in the automotive and consumer segments, with a special emphasis on multimedia, communications, and lifestyle products. His present position, which involves developing new markets for NFC technology, lets him build on his passion for the customer experience, and leverages his certification as a LEAN Six Sigma Black Belt.
