Girlz Connect Destiny is a new electronic game by Bandai. A little bigger than a USB key, the pink Destiny device is about the size of the average USB key based MP3 player. Two matching styluses are included and there is a slot on the back of the device to carry one of them. A pink lanyard is also included and instructions. Destiny’s main built-in activity is its interactive quizzes. But the device also features other games like Horoscope which tells you your daily horoscope according to your sign, Love Match which tells you whether or not your sign is compatible with another astrological sign, Color Power which tells you what your favorite color represents about you, Birthstones and “Will…?†which is kind of like a Magic 8-Ball – you’re supposed to ask a question and it gives you an answer about whether it is likely or unlikely to happen.
The display on the device is a single line monochrome LCD, which means that quizzes scroll past you in order for you to read them. You can customize the scroll speed in case it is too fast or to slow for your eyes. Though out of the box, the quizzes scroll past you at a reasonable pace, I found that reading them made me a bit dizzy. Of course it could be my old age. I remember that when I was a kid I could play Game Boy in a moving car with no problems, now I would probably vomit if I tried that.
The music that plays along with the games is the standard midi kind of beepy music that you would expect from this kind of toy. In other words, it’s the kind of music that parents will be screaming at kids to turn off because it’s giving them a headache. But little kids usually enjoy this music anyway, no matter what their parents think.
Overall, there is a nice amount of different activities to play with on the Destiny, and if you want more you can download them on to your device through the Girlz Connect Destiny web site .You can connect the Girlz Connect to your computer via USB. Our computer running Windows Vista picked it up right away but then nothing happened so we had to look to the instructions for directions. The instructions instructed us to head over to the DESTINY site to register. The registration page didn’t let me enter my own username, but rather I could pick from an assortment of generated ones. I have a feeling that this is probably set up that way for security reasons and it’s an extra precaution to keep kids safe. I settled on “UntouchablePlum464”. Once I was registered I was automatically given an avatar which I got to dress up and customize .
Registration also allowed me to create my own quizzes as well as browse through and download quizzes made by other members. After getting a bit distracted with customizing my avatar I clicked on the download link. The program’s installer came in a Zip file. Depending on how computer savvy your child is, she may or may not need your help with this unzipping and installing the software. I find that most kids are better at computers then their parents so this shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but that’s another post all together. Next you’re supposed to plug in your device in to the USB connector and click on the TEST icon, and then your newly downloaded quizzes are supposed to show up at the top of the list on the device.
Currently the Girlz Connect online community has over 800 members, many actively creating quizzes. The added interactivity of being able to create quizzes for other members to download and vice versa, adds an extended life to the device in case you grow old of the quizzes that come out of the box, which is pretty likely. Overall, we imagine that girls ages 7 through 11 will like the Girlz Connect Destiny and will find it fun and entertaining. The Girlz Connect Destiny retails for the fair price for $19.99 and is available in purple, pink, fuchsia, or green.
