Pets Rock and Mr Time launch new smartwatch faces for Samsung in Korean market move

The British pop art brand, Pets Rock has partnered with the global smartwatch app company, Mr Time to launch a series of licensed watch faces for Samsung watches. The deal extends the British brand’s presence in Korea where it is represented by BrandKind Workshop.

The deal sees Mr Time launch watch faces with two characters from Pets Rock through the Mr Time app on both iOS and Android for the global market, while at the same time release a case designed for Samsung Galaxy S21, Buds, and Samsung Galaxy Smart Watch straps to the online and brick and mortar stores in Korea.

As part of its first marketing activity, the Pets Rock digital accessories are spreading quickly in the crowdfunding platform Wadiz, and three more of Pets Rock watch faces will be additionally released through the Mr.Time app in July.

The deal has been managed by Brandkind Workshop, a brand management house based in Korea, a licensing representative for global brands including CoComelon, Pilot Instruments Collection, and Alchemy England with the remit of introducing them to the Korean and other Asian markets.

Pets Rock MD, Kate Polyblank, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Mr Time to bring animated Pets Rock characters to Samsung watches. It’s a fabulous showcase for the characters. This deal extends our presence in Korea where we have lots of exciting collaborations launching soon. Watch this space.”

Nickelodeon unveils its new family wearable device NickWatch at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

ViacomCBS and Nickelodeon have unveiled the firm’s first connected smart watch, a family-centric wearable device that promotes physical activity, helps kids explore the world around them, and features a cast of popular Nickelodeon characters.

First revealed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, NickWatch by Nickelodeon features new technology developed with VCNI’s specialised tech partner, offering kids independence as well as access to a ‘robust entertainment offering fueled by Nickelodeon characters’. The device will be available for purchase in 2022.

“ViacomCBS is known for its portfolio of iconic brands that have shaped current events and pop culture for decades. Now, as we look to the future, the NickWatch marks a milestone as the first connected smart watch to harness the power of our consumer brands,” said Raffaele Annecchino, president and chief executive officer of ViacomCBS Networks International.

“This strategic product launch will leverage our IP and content to further strengthen our position as a leading commercial partner with diverse consumer touchpoints creating a new immersive experience.”

The underlying technology platform will provide a ‘direct line of communication to family and friends, promote physical activity, and help kids explore the world with confidence’. Each device will come with the smart watch body, two watch bands (one playful Nickelodeon band and one more adult, premium band) and a fun, character-led charging base.

The NickWatch will promote physical and social play activities, encouraged along the way with stories to aid imaginative play. Wearers will be able to play alone or with friends who have a NickWatch to set off on the same quest together. Entertainment based on Nickelodeon IP will include photo filters, motion sound effects and musical instruments that play out according to hand movements.

Content will be updated regularly with new games, stickers, sound effects, and more.

 The platform will also allow two primary modes of communication through text and voice calls. A child’s parent can text the child from their phone, and kids can respond with pre-written messages, voice to text, or emojis and photos.

The child can also call their parents and contacts within their directory, and they can receive incoming calls from pre-selected contacts. Caregivers can create group threads and can also send sticker messages, timers, reminders, photos, voice messages, and create polls.

There’s even a map feature, allowing caregivers and family members to see the location of everyone in the family via GPS and WiFi, just by downloading the app on their device.

The NickWatch by Nickelodeon has been developed in partnership with Watchinu, an Israeli technology startup, which has built and will be operating the device via a licensee agreement with VCNI.

“Game changer” | Funko celebrates potential for NFT market with TokenHead acquisition

Funko is strengthening its position amid the global collectables scene by making a play for the NFT space through the acquisition of a majority ownership stake in TokenWave, the developer behind TokenHead.

TokenHead is recognised as a leading mobile app and website for showcasing and tracking Non-Fungible Token or NFT, a blockchain platform for digital collectables that has picked up steam among audiences and media over the course of the year.

The financial terms of the investment have not been disclosed, but the move has gone to highlight the potential the NFT space has for licensing, as Funko approaches the market with a ‘clear strategy for its pop culture content across TV, film, sports, music, anime, video games, and comic books.’

TokenHead is currently available on iOS and Android and displays over 10 million NFTs, with more than 100,000 visits per day.

The investment accelerates Funko’s initial entry into the NFT market and will extend the Company’s pop culture platform to include digital assets. Funko expects to launch its initial NFT offerings in June, featuring a unique property each week at a starting price point of $9.99.

Products will be sold on the WAX platform, the leading decentralized wallet on the blockchain, which provides verifiable authenticity for purchases of Funko NFTs.

“Funko is thrilled to advance another platform that our fans and collectors will love and find valuable,” said Brian Mariotti, chief executive officer of Funko. “Our strategy in this space is clear – bring the value-added NFT opportunity to our licensing partners to leverage our broad range of existing pop culture content across Television, Movies, Sports, Music, Anime, Video Games and Comic Books.

“Our amazing licensing partners are excited about our entry into this new digital space and we believe the diversity of our licensing portfolio sets us up for long-term success.”

Mariotti has highlighted the ‘game changing potential’ that the deal now lends the pop culture specialist as the firm begins to draw clear plans to combine its new Funko Pop! digital NFTs with exclusive Funko Pop! Vinyl Figures.

“The marriage of digital and physical using WAX’s patented NFT technology known as vIRLs™ is powerful,” said Mariotti. “By backing the rarest of the Funko NFTs with exclusive redeemable Funko Pop!, we are poised to enter the NFT market in a very unique manner.

“Importantly, we plan to make Funko NFTs broadly accessible to our fans by providing affordable entry pricing. Utilizing WAX Blockchain technology, we have the opportunity to eventually bring Funko collectible NFTs to our millions of fans around the globe. The NFT world is all about content, and Funko has been connecting fans to the content they love for over 20 years.”

Smighties Universe launches its first digital collectables with Smighties Pods

Reality Gaming Group and Herotainment are moving in on the blockchain space with the launch of a new series of Smighties Universe digital collectables called Smighties Pods.

It is the latest move for the Smighties brand as it pushes forwards with building out a digitally-focused franchise. Already, the character-driven entertainment brand has landed digital and broadcast deals with over 40 channels across the globe, while its series of three successful mobile games has achieved a combined total of 2 million downloads.

In its most recent advance, Smighties is now taking on the blockchain digital collectables market. Fans can bow purchase their Smighties Pods via the Smighties Universe website. Each Pod contains a surprise variety of Smighties, as well as special Hotel Floors in which the Smighties characters will live.

There are 136 unique Smighties to collect, each with different personalities, powers, strengths and weaknesses, categorised by their elements of earth, water, light, air and magic, and by their rarity. There are Normal, Rare, Extraordinary, Legendary and Epic Smighties.

Users can also build up their own Smighty Hotel with more than thirty floors in which to house their collection of Smighties.

On top of this, Smighties Universe will continue to develop, with plans to launch a marketplace that will allow fans to buy and sell their collection of Smighties and Hotel floors, as well as games in which to use the Smighties.

Each Smighty character in the Smighties Universe is tokenised into a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), which means it is secured and protected on the blockchain, providing documented ownership indefinitely.

Moreover, Smighties Universe digital collectibles are one-of-a-kind and cannot be copied, which makes them scarce and potentially quite valuable.

The Smighties Universe experience will be localized into a number of languages in the coming weeks, including Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, German, and Russian.

Smighties Universe is developed and published by Reality Gaming Group in partnership with the New York-based entertainment company Herotainment.

Jake Scott, head of community at Reality Gaming Group, said: “Smighties Universe offers fans the chance to own a unique piece of Smighties history, quite literally. Digital collectables offer a new and exciting way for people to interact with their favourite Smighties characters and we can’t wait to see how the Smighties Universe evolves as players collect, trade and play.”

Wade Teman, co-founder of Herotainment, added: “What makes Smighties Universe different from other blockchain collectibles is that we are bringing a compelling backstory to the characters to engage and entertain our community. As our world becomes more digital, turning Smighties into one-of-a-kind NFTs puts direct ownership of the Smighties brand into the hands of collectors everywhere.”

Nintendo partners with Velan Studios to bring mixed reality gaming experience to Mario Kart

Nintendo has partnered with the tech specialist Velan Studios to launch a new Mario Kart mixed reality experience that will turn a player’s home into a Mario Kart racecourse to be traversed in both the physical and virtual worlds.

Called Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, the new mixed reality game is launching to the Nintendo Switch next month and combines a camera-enabled physical ,’remote controlled’ Mario Kart and course gate markers that together will turn any living space into a Mario Kart circuit. Players can design and construct courses in the real world, before racing the circuit in a mixed reality experience.

“We are thrilled to partner with Velan Studios for Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit,” said Tom Prata, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of strategic initiatives. “Through this collaboration, we are providing fans with a one of a kind, interactive experience that is only available on the Nintendo Switch family of systems.”

The system will allow Nintendo Switch users to set out a course in the real world, using the game’s physical Gate markers. They can then ‘remotely control’ their physical Mario Kart around the course. Each Kart features its own camera that will translate the course setting and physical surroundings onto the player’s screen – either their Switch screen or connected TV – where the Mario Kart experience will be made complete with the addition of the high-octane action and in-game brawling.

Velan Studios is building on the legacy of its founders Karthik and Guha Bala and their core team, renowned for their innovations in fusing toys with interactive game experiences.

“Our mission at Velan is to create breakthrough games that are magic,” said Karthik Bala, CEO, Velan Studios. “We invented the initial mixed reality hardware and game prototype to really nail the exhilaration of racing in the real world with the play and feel of a video game.

“We showed the experience to Nintendo and were thrilled they saw its potential. That started a wonderful multi-year creative collaboration, which became Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. We can’t wait to see the creative ways fans play when they race around their own creations as Mario and Luigi.”

To learn more about Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, visit https://www.nintendo.com/. The game will be released by Nintendo worldwide on October 16, 2020.

Rubik’s launches first official app to teach players to solve the Rubik’s Cube

The world famous puzzle brand, Rubik’s has produced the first official app that uses mobile technology and artificial intelligence to track a real 3D Rubik’s Cube and teach its user how to solve it in real-time. The app also features audio and visual clues to help solve the real-life puzzle.

The concept has been billed as an example of augmented reality giving real play value and user experience. The app comes with a choice of learning to solve the Cube in either the simplest way possible, which is called the Rubik’s method, or the fastest way, which typically takes just 20 moves.

The new Rubik’s Official App is initially available only on iOS and includes games with a virtual Cube, so users can learn and have fun simply by swiping a finger. They can select their choice of game from Rubik’s Mini (2×2) or the original Rubik’s Cube (3×3), to the more challenging Rubik’s Master (4×4) or the Rubik’s Professor (5×5).

The app will also allow users to keep track of their solving times and allow them to share the information digitally.

Christoph Bettin, the CEO for Rubik’s Brand, said: “The Cube has fascinated fans for four decades and I’m the first to admit that the puzzle can be challenging. Research supports the view that solving a Cube links brilliantly with the teaching of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), and this high-tech app captures this, while creating fun and excitement.”

WildBrain Spark is bringing Teletubbies and In the Night Garden to AR through ANIPEN partnership

WildBrain Spark, the digital media division of WildBrain, is making its first foray into augmented reality by teaming up with the South Korean AR specialist ANIPEN to bring characters from Teletubbies, In the Night Garden and Boy & Dragon to the medium.

Under the new partnership, the popular children’s characters, including a cast of those from the original WildBrain Spark  show Boy & Dragon, will be brought to life through ANIPEN’s AR technology made available within the company’s AnibeaR app.

Through the app, users will be able to create short videos which will incorporate the characters in real-world scenes shot on their phones. These videos can then be shared via social media. The project is currently in development and the characters are due to launch on AnibeaR in Korea, Japan, China, Southeast Asia, and Australia later this year.

Jon Gisby, managing director of WildBrain Spark, said: “This is a ground-breaking project for WildBrain Spark as we use immersive technology to allow kids and families to create their own stories with our globally recognised characters.

“We are excited about the possibilities of AR and look forward to bringing our favourite characters to life through ANIPEN’s unrivalled technology.”

Jaewoong Jeon, CEO of ANIPEN, added: “We are committed to bringing next-generation augmented reality content that provides bold new experiences for users, such as interactive AR technology that combines our technical expertise with the family characters audiences know and love.

“With a portfolio of popular and internationally successful brands such as Teletubbies, In the Night Garden and Boy & Dragon, we’re very excited to be teaming up with WildBrain Spark and to take their characters into the world of AR.”

Based in South Korea, ANIPEN Inc. is an augmented reality startup that was founded in 2013 and developed an interactive augmented reality content-authoring engine to help global companies at home and abroad in technology and content. The AnibeaR app was developed and serviced in-house at ANIPEN and was also selected as the Best of AR in Google Play in 2019.

Arsenal teams with Mudita Sports to launch GO And Learn with Arsenal app

Arsenal FC has teamed up with Mudita Sports to launch its free-to-access officially licensed English language learning app, GO And Learn with Arsenal.

The launch has been engineered to provide supporters around the world with a platform through which they can provide homeschooling for kids currently handling school closures amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Arsenal supporters were given the chance to sign up for a one month free subscription to the GO And Learn with Arsenal app, currently available in French, Spanish, and Arabic. The app is the first to connect English language learning with official player content and exclusively features players from Arsenal’s men’s and women’s teams with interactive content and player-challenge games.

While Arsenal in the Community is providing free educational resources domestically, access to GO And Learn with Arsenal will ensure that the club’s global fanbase is also supported through this time.

“For over 35 years, Arsenal in the Community has been using the power of the Arsenal name to positively impact the lives of young people,” commented Alan Sefton MBE, head of Arsenal in the Community.

“More than 5,000 individuals a week regularly access our sport, social and education programmes, including our award-winning Arsenal Double Club Languages programme, which combines football and the learning of French, German and Spanish.

“It is brilliant that during this challenging time our global fanbase will also be able to feel the positive impact of combining a love of Arsenal with learning English through GO And Learn with Arsenal.”

Grounded in educational theory, the app uses the ‘Accelerated Learning Cycle’ model developed by renowned educationalist Alistair Smith. Based on cognitive science, this has been successfully used by the English FA and other organisations over the past 20 years.

“Science shows us how to improve the chances of recall through structured practice, spaced rehearsals and short tests,” commented Alistair Smith, director of learning, Mudita Sports.

“The GO And Learn app is a winner because it starts from an understanding of the process of learning. It links learning, fun and football.”

GO And Learn with Arsenal is free to download on the App Store and will be available on Android soon, with additional languages added over the coming months.

Once fans have enjoyed their one-month free trial they will automatically enrol into the paid monthly subscription of £3.99 a month. The app will send notifications to alert users that they are approaching the end of the free period and they can unsubscribe at that point should they wish.