There is a new niche forming in children's video games that tries to combine interactive play with peer play at the same time. Over the past several years, there have been negative public opinions regarding how playing video games affect a child's social life. Some claim that a child who spends a good deal of time playing video games by themselves are not as friendly or social with their peers. A new game; called the Nanover game may just bridge the gap between games and social interaction. The Nanover game involves monsters that are downloaded onto handheld devices. An online environment is also there for children that uses currency to download products and games onto the handheld devices. In order to transfer stuff from the Internet to the handheld, children need to use what's called a Nanoscope, which runs just under $30. Children play the Nanover game offline by connecting their handheld devices. The company that created the game, Smith & Tinker Inc., did a little something special to the handheld devices to ensure that children actually play the game together. If kids play on the handhelds offline, they actually need to be connected to other kid's devices in order to utilize the game. This guarantees that kids will have to socially interact with their peers if they want to play offline. This is something completely new to the interactive online and offline game industry. Still, some will argue that if a child wants to play by themselves then all they have to do is play online in order to do so. While this is true, the offline handhelds have special battle modes that take place once a handheld is connected with three other units. This creates another level of game play that is not available with playing the game online. The Nanover game is marketed towards boys that are between the ages of 7 and 12 is now available. It will be interesting to see if any other game companies follow this new market niche in children's toys.
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