March 29, 2008

Bandai Miraiscope

TOKYO (Mar. 29, 2008) - Bandai has introduced a portable toy gadget that can predict the future of the player. The Mirai Scope uses an egogram, which is a means of conceptualizing the personality of an individual, a biorhythm, which changes every day, and a psychological analysis technique to predict the future of the player.

The Mirai Scope development project was conceptualized by a male employee, and carried out by a team of five people. The gadget can register data for up to 20 people, such as friends. Players can enjoy future games by ranking each other in terms of “who will be most popular” or “who will be most successful.” Bandai has concluded that both men and women in their late 20s are most interested in predicting aspects of their future, such as “Will I succeed?” or “Can we get married?” So Bandai is targeting people in that age bracket. The Mirai Scope is available for 2,980 yen, or 30.00 US dollars, in Japan. It was launched on March 29th, and shipments have exceeded 100,000 units. Bandai isn’t thinking about marketing the product overseas.