The largest toy makers in the world, are Mattel, Hasbro, LEGO, and Bandai.
Bandai is a Japanese toy maker which manufactures Ultraman, Gundam, and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Their toys have brung joy to hundreds of millions. Some are also said to have brung death.
In 1996 Bandai introduced the Tamagotchi, a virtual pet.
On the LCD display of a plastic key fob, shaped like an egg, a digital egg appears.
After the owner sets the time, the egg hatches into a little animal, like a baby bird.
Now the owner is responsible for the care of the pet. By pushing one of three buttons,
the new animal must be fed, played with, disciplined, and cleaned up after.
At night the animal will sleep. But in the daytime, if the toy is left alone for more than six hours,
the cyberpet will die from lack of attention.
First, the Tamagotchi will start to beep like a heart rate monitor. Then you will hear
the steady tone of a flatline. Next on the display screen, appears a head marker
with a large cross on top of it.
If the animal dies of old age, it may randomly leave an egg behind, so the family line can continue.
The device can be reset. But it will hatch a different animal. The original pet is forever lost.
There was no way to pause the so-called gameplay, so to keep their digital pets alive,
children had to bring them to school.
According to the New York Times, third graders in Edgemont, NY, who were taking a "standardized test",
put down their pencils, so they could feed a virtual pet.
One teacher said the children in her class, were "checking them every five seconds."
Stories began to circulate of several children, as well as adults, whose relationship
with their digital pets had become so emotionally satisfying,
that when their animal's life came to an end, they decided also to take their own.
An impressionable young girl successfully cared for sixteen generations on a single unit.
The family line came to a natural end, that is, a new egg did not appear,
a random occurence which is not caused by the owner. She was so distraught that she ended it all.
A 15 year old boy with a psychiatric problem was given a Tamagotchi by his therapist, to increase his self-esteem.
One whole year passed. Great progress was made.
But the treatment ultimately backfired, when the toy got lost for one day. After he found the belly-up pet,
the boy used his father's target pistol on himself.
The day she was required to work late at theoffice, one lonely woman was said to have done herself in,
when she arrived at her apartment to find her Tamagotchi had expired for lack of care.
The previous week, her boss had told her she could no longer bring it to work.
This phenomena has given birth to a new psychiatric term.
The "Tamagotchi Effect" is the development of emotional attachment to machines, or robots, or software.
Anyone who is old enough to contemplate suicide will also be aware
that a digital pet is just a simple video game. But on some level they forget this... more so, as time goes by.
It's a basic human need to nurture, and we become increasingly attached to the object of that need.
Toy maker Bandai released a new generation of Tamagotchi's late in the year 2014.
Now is about the time their long-life lithium batteries should begin to run down.
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"I have seen some of the experiments shown in this film actually carried out."