In honor of its 45th anniversary, the Hess Corporation will premiere a new addition to its collection of holiday toy trucks, the 2009 Hess Race Car and Racer. The upcoming release is the first Hess toy truck that is a car since the company’s 1993 Patrol Car, which became the fastest selling Hess toy truck in its history. It is also the company’s first race car that is featured as the main vehicle.
Catch up on last week’s news! Read The Toy Book Toy Report for 10/26/09.
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Amazon.com is launching a new online purchasing service, PayPhrase, which will allow customers a shortcut for making purchases on the web. Customers use PayPhrase by setting up a unique phrase and PIN that links to their Amazon.com account. When shoppers make a purchase on Amazon.com or participating websites, the can enter their phrase and PIN to check out, without the need to sign in or enter credit card information.
PayPhrase participating websites include DKNY.com, Jockey.com, Buy.com, and other websites that accept Amazon’s 1-Click checkout.
The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has extended a deadline for THQ and JAKKS Pacific to agree on if they want to renew their joint venture’s licensing deal for the wrestling company. THQ says that the two companies have until December 31, the date their current license expires, to decide if they want to renew the joint deal through December 31, 2014.
Warner Bros. Consumer Products has appointed Tomy Europe as the new regional master toy licensee for the upcoming Harry Potter two-part movie. As part of the three-year licensing deal, Tomy Europe will develop a range of action figures, games, electronic toys, and role-play items for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which will be released as a two-part series in November 2010 and July 2011. The agreement will cover the UK and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Nintendo will launch a new version of the portable Nintendo DS, dubbed Nintendo DSi LL, which will hit retail shelves in Japan on November 21. Nintendo DSi LL will feature a 4.2-inch screen, which is approximately 93 percent larger than the Nintendo DS Lite, and will carry a price tag of $222.
Playmates Toys will continue as the global master toy licensee for Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property. Playmates has been producing toys based on the property for more than 20 years.
Frogger comes back to the video game world in Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.’s upcoming release, Frogger Returns. In the latest addition of the video game series, players try to guide Frogger from the bustling city back to his home marsh. The soon-to-be-released game will feature enhanced 3-D graphics, a new camera angle, and new levels.
Hidden City Games, Inc., the publisher of Bella Sara, has signed a licensing agreement with The Canadian Group for the children’s entertainment property. The Canadian Group is a manufacturer and distributor of puzzles, games, activities, and novelty items. Bella Sara currently has a family of products including trading cards, DVDs, toys, books, video games, games, and puzzles through various licensing agreements.
A new online video game rental service for kids, SmartyRents.com, has launched. The service allows families to rent children’s educational video games, such as LeapFrog and VTech, in the same way as popular rental service Netflix. Parents can search for video games by a specific educational skill, such as learning addition, and have them delivered to their mailbox.
Rental packages start at $9.99 for one game a time. If a child becomes attached to a particular game, SmartyRents’ love it option allows renters to keep the game by purchasing it at a reduced price.