Some ideas just catch on. Japan has run out of lovable eggs, an
electronic bird which should sell for Y 1,980 ($16) in the shops but
which now fetches 20 times that on the street. The creature grows up if
nurtured, and jumps up and down when its droppings are cleared up. But
neglect the virtual beast and it wastes away and dies.
VIRTUAL PET SWEEPING JAPAN
The newest high-tech consumer fad in Japan is tamagochii, an electronic
bird
creature which starts life as an endearing, bird-like image on the
screen of
an egg-shaped key ring device, and then changes from a chick to a fully
grown adult in around 10 days. However, the owner must push the right
buttons to feed, groom and soothe the digital creature or else see it
waste
away and die from neglect. (Vancouver Province 23 Jan 97 A27)