Furby Essay, Research Paper

What Is A Furby?

A Furby is an interactive “pet”. He sings, he dances, he moves, he talks, he opens and closes his eyes, he speaks Furbish, he speaks English, he asks to be fed, he falls asleep, he catches a cold, he passes that cold to other Furby?s, he learns games, he likes to be tickled, he interacts! Each Furby has his own personality. They come in many different colour combinations and there are 4 different eye colours. He takes two AA Batteries. Furby?s are sold at almost every toy store and is sold for around $70.00.

Who Invented Them?

Furby was the invention of David Hampton in 1997. David owns a toy and game design company called Sounds Amazing! in Northern California. He was inspired to invent Furby after seeing the key chain virtual pets. They were very small, with crude graphics and high-pitched beeping sounds. He wanted to improve on the virtual pet idea by creating a real-world cuddly pet with more advanced actions and vocabulary. Hampton sold his idea to the Tiger Electronics company and the rest is history.

Do All Furby?s Look The Same?

Furby comes in a variety of colours. Some are White, Black, Brown, Spotted, Tiger, Zebra, Afghan, Tuxedo, Giraffe, Wolf, Bear, Dalmation, and many other colours. Each Furby has a different eye colour. Some can be blue, brown, green or grey. Furby can either have a mane down his back or a tail. And all have a little bunch of hair at the top of their head. Also there are limited edition Furby?s to collect. There is the Graduation Furby, Spring Furby, Patriotic Furby, Autumn Furby and Holiday Furby. All come with their own individual number. Most are limited to 250,000.

Furby Growing Up.

Furby goes through four stages of development. During the first stage Furby is very playful and helps his owner by teaching them how to care for him. Furby isn?t able to speak English and uses his own language, Furbish. The second and third stage are transition stages where Furby begins to speak English. The fourth and final stage is Furby?s mature stage when he speaks English more often than Furbish.

What Can Furby Do?

Furby is able to speak more than 800 phrases in both English and Furbish. The more you play with him, the more he will say. Furby is able to tell the difference between light and dark using a sensor. Furby can dance, sing, play games, get sick, get bored, wiggle his ears, blink his eyes and move his mouth, he purrs when content and giggles when happy. When Furby gets hungry, he must be fed also. If he gets sick, you must feed him about 10 times before he gets better, or he may pass it onto other Furby?s.

Furby Games.

Furby Says: A game like ?Simon Says. During this game, Furby says some actions, then you repeat them. For example, Furby may say ?pet, tickle, light, sound?. Then you pet his back, tickle his tummy, cover his eyes and clap your hands. Once all of this has been done, he will say ?whoopie?! to let you know you?ve done it right. There are 16 different patterns to try.

Ask Furby: In this game Furby can answer questions to tell you secrets. You need to ask Furby a question, then pet his back and he will answer.

Hide and Seek: A game that can be played with 2 people. One person can hide Furby, and the other can try and find him. Furby waits 3 minutes, during this he will make noises to help you find it. If you cant find Furby, he will sing ?nah, nah, nah? three times.