An interesting column in web japan about the Tamagotchi connection series:

. What makes the new Tamagotchi special is communication. Tamagotchi pets can now interact with each other, making friends and even getting married. A new series of virtual pets called Tamagotchi Connection went on sale a year ago, and 6.5 million units have so far been sold in 34 countries and regions throughout the world. In Japan, the product has continued to sell out whenever new stock hits the shelves, making the new Tamagotchi very hard to get hold of. (...) By connecting their virtual pets free of charge to one of the 20-centimeter Deka-Tamagotchi consoles (deka means huge) found in toy stores and supermarkets in 3,000 locations throughout Japan, owners can let their pets play games, buy things, and have fun in lots of other ways. (...) Version two of the Tamagotchi Connection series allows owners to play by linking up their virtual pets to their cell phones. These phones can be turned into a virtual Tamagotchi Planet, the pets' homeland. Messages can even be read from a parent who has returned to this planet.

Why do I blog this? I am interested in how the tamagotchi phenomenon is reshuffled by new paradigms like wireless communication as in this second version. What would happen when tamagothi will take advantage of social software (I should check whether this exists) or location-based technologies. Then we would have a curious second layer in real space filled of tamagotchi living their life.