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After suffering its worst holiday season in years, Barbie manufacturer Mattel must be thanking its lucky stars for 50th birthdays. Toy icon Barbie marked her half-century in March, providing a spark of sales success that's been a rare sight for the famous doll. Even so, Mattel's revenue still shrank 23% in the first few months of this year.
Part of Barbie's troubles are undoubtedly tied to the ailing economy, but there's another culprit undermining her success. While she might have desirable teen essentials like a Twitter account, a Facebook page, and even a a real-life Malibu beach house, the latest threat to Barbie's empire comes from a place that her creator, Ruth Handler, could never have foreseen: computer gaming.
Dress-up games, which recreate some of the outfit-assembling fun of Barbie and her cohorts, regularly finish higher than online smashes like World of Warcraft and NeoPets in Yahoo!'s Buzz Log search rankings. Sites specializing in dress-up games are quickly climbing traffic rating sites like Alexa.com. Major video game publishers are on board, too, leading to the inevitable question: what, pray tell, is a dress-up game?
With their sassy characters, star-studded themes and glitzy animation, today's dress-up games are a far cry from traditional dolls. Many add modern wardrobes packed with flowing, colorful Bollywood saris or ultra-modern military garb. Others take the opportunity to throw in advice-column style nuggets of wisdom about your selections. Shorts with combat boots? A no-no, according to Jojo. No matter what unlikely outfits you dressed your Barbie in, she never talked back.
She's also had more than her share of careers. Ubisoft's Movie Star lets you take on a favorite Barbie theme by pick out outfits for sexy stars with names like "Angelina Juliet" or "Hayden Pannere" before tackling the paparazzi, autograph hunters, tricky TV interviews, and glamorous nightclub parties.
And although she's never tied the knot despite her on-again, off-again relationship with plastic pal Ken, Barbie's no doubt featured in many fans' wedding plans -- and yup, there's a game for that, too. Wedding Planner offers you the chance to plan, budget, and organize the nuptials of several idyllic couples.
Even up-and-coming gaming tech like the iPhone isn't left out of the dress-up party, as apps letting people try out different hairstyles or outfits are finding more than a few takers. Like-minded games for the Nintendo DS are also becoming increasingly prevalent, proving that even a dedicated gaming machine isn't too good for the new genre.
But there's at least one aspect of Barbie's appeal that dress-up games will never touch. Vintage and rare dolls fetch jaw-dropping prices on Ebay; good-quality examples from Barbie's early years can easily fetch five-figure sums. No matter how much her new competition might meet that fashion need, they're not still going to be in demand in half a century.
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Posted: 28 Apr 2009
