Littlest Pet Shop VIP Butterfly and Cat, 14.99$ each or
Amazon special: buy two Littlest Pet Shop VIP pets for $28.94

Market researcher NPD Group found in a recent study that about 39% of children's gaming time is spent connected to the internet. By age six, children are playing video and PC games average of three hours a week. Playing online peaks in the teen years at 10 hours a week, with girls surprisingly trailing off sooner than boys.

I blame Webkinz for my kids obsession with online games (or maybe it's Mommy showing an example of spending most of the day online?) . GANZ started the new trend - offering plush animals with a secret code to play on the virtual worlds. Webkinz with their virtual world and games made plush animals and teddy bears appealing even for tweens and teens, and us parents were forced to buy yet another plush toy just to get the secret code for the magical virtual world. The gaming at Webkinz was so appealing that even girls as old as 13 wanted to have a new collection of plush animals.




Hasbro makes toy-animals-invading-virtual-world even better.



Littlest Pet Shop Pets, from Hasbro's most popular girls' toy line, are now taking on the virtual gaming world. The new Littlest Pet Shop Virtual Interactive Pet (VIP) is part of already a very popular toy line girls have been collection for years. The line started with 17 VIP's, now available nationwide for 14.99$.

My girls haven't had the Littlest Pet Shop toys before, and they were happy to get free toys from Hasbro to test them out. Since we were already familiar with Webkinz, it was easy to compare these two and on the end of the day, my kids liked both of the virtual worlds as much, but in my book The Littlest Pet Shop pets won.




Why choose Littlest Pet Shop VIP instead of Webkinz

• Both of the virtual worlds seem very similar. You earn money by playing the games, you can purchase food and decorate your pet's house. Since Littlest Pet Shop Virtual World is newer than Webkinz, it doesn't have as many games and features - yet. In my book this is just good. I don't want my kids engage in discussion at Webkinz Chat anyway.
  
  
• Unlike Webkinz, you can actually test the games at LittlelestPetShop.com first. All you have to do is sign up and you can borrow a pet for a limited time and check out the virtual world before actually purchasing the toy. Be warned though - don't let your child to test it without being prepared to answr question can she have one. The games are a lot of fun. Not that I have played them, especially not the Candy Cannon one.
  
  
• If you are worried your child playing too long - don't be. My favorite feature at The Littlest Pet Shop Virtual World is the "It's time to take a break" notice when a certain amount of time has passed.
  
  
• Littlest Pet Shop virtual world is more graphically detailed, and when personalizing their pets and their environments, those personalizations are carried out through the virtual world, even when their pet is participating in the mini-games.
  
  
• Both Webkinz and The Littlest Pet Shop VIP's are valid for one year from registering. Webkinz need more taking care of (good for teaching responsibility, bad for added computer time) and can get sick. The Littlest Pet Shop pets do not get sick at all.
  
  
• The Littlest Pet Shop is already a brand girls like, the Virtual Interactive Pet will be part of her collection and makes collection Littlest Pet Shop toys even more fun. The toy itself is fresh, looks like Japanese animation and more modern version than Webkinz.
  
  
• While retailers around the country have been profiting with Webkinz, the rumor goes that GANZ also wants retailers to purchase other GANZ products in order to get Webkinz in their stores. I'm sure the release of Hasbro Virtual Pets made also retailers happy, hoping they are able to replace Webkinz with a product from another company.
  
  
• Last fall Webkinz had advertisements on their site - targeting the young gamers. The Webkinz site is also designed more like a shopping site and to promote the sales of additional pets and accessories. The Littlest Pet Shop site does not have ads, even though it has links where to purchase pets.
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  Virtual Pet To-GO
  
  Remember Tamagotchi..? Hasbro also sent us a Littlest Pet Shop Virtual Pen, which works like Tamagotchi. The pen has a little screen with a virtual pet, and you can play games, and take care of the pet.
  
  While the whole thing with it's sound on is pretty annoying, you can turn the sound off and it's a perfect little toy to carry on and take for long car rides, flights etc. The pet does not "die" if you forget to feed it for a week, and you can always reset it. This is a great feature, because I don't want my kid to carry a pen at school she needs to remember to feed every day.
  
  
  

  
  

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