Although Toy Geek didn’t get to attend Toy Fair 2011 in New York this year (*sob*) I have been keeping a close eye on the coverage. And overall… well, it’s about what you would expect. The tech toys are making all of the geeks drool; movie tie-ins are dominating the scene (”Cars 2″, “The Smurfs” and the third “Transformers” all come out this year; and everyone wants to take pictures of the Lego statues.

A few bits of buzz I’ve been hearing: Hasbro’s new electronic version of Monopoly falls a little flat, having done away with the play money and adding a “Big Brother-ish infrared tower that acts very much like an airport control tower, telling all the players what to do when.” That doesn’t exactly scream fun to me.

And the superheros are out in full force. Promotions for “Green Lantern,” “Captain America: The First Avenger” and “Thor” included piles of merchandise, including action figures, boards games and movie collectibles. The stars themselves even came out to check out the goods.

And, like everything else in the world, Toy Fair 2011 has indeed fallen ill with “Bieber fever.” The Biebs’ merchandise includes the Justin Bieber Real Hairstyle doll and the Justin Bieber Rockin’ Tour Bus and stage Concert playset.

What will they think of next?

The Wii has now entered its fifth full year on the market. It first launched in America back in November of 2006, which means four years are behind it and the fifth is now beginning. You know what that means. A new system. Nintendo consoles have traditionally only lasted for about five years before the Big N has introduced a successor.

Citizen has launched a pair of new Bluetooth watches that are designed to communicate with your mobile phone

, the Citizen I:Virt M Series.

There are two models in the Citizen I:Virt M Series range, the TM84-0351V and TM84-0352V, the main differences between the two models is that each one has a slightly different design.

Both of the Citizen I:Virt M Series watches can connect to your mobile phone via Bluetooth, and they can be used to perform a range of functions on your mobile phone.

They can display email, and text messages up to 210 characters, and you can also store emails on the actual watch so you can read them at anytime.

The Citizen I:Virt M Series will also alert you when you have an incoming call, and you can answer or reject calls as well as increase and decrease volume on your mobile phone.

It looks like they are only available in Japan at the moment, there are no details on when we might see then in the US and Europe and no details on pricing.

Yesterday, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turned 25, which makes everyone over 30 feel really, really old. Here at TPS, rather than rue the march of time, we have decided to embrace it with this list of the 25 best NES sports games. While modern games have rendered many of these titles unplayable due to their simplistic nature, all the titles below still hold a soft spot in our hearts. Even if it’s because of that one time that we chucked the controller at our little brother for being a little bitch in “Tecmo Bowl.”

25. Golf

Golf never got much of a chance to shine on the NES, due to low processing power that couldn’t off much in the way of intricacies, and graphics that didn’t exactly allow for the majesties of the different courses. But the original offered the best game-play, perhaps because it was developed in house to suit the strengths of the NES.

24. RBI Baseball

Never underestimate the importance of REAL PLAYERS on the roster. This game didn’t have the best game play, but R.B.I. and it’s sequels were iconic cause they brought the baseball stars into the game. Ironically, that wasn’t even something “Baseball Stars” was able to do.

23. Dodgeball

One of the most fun games on the NES, Dodgeball was a departure from actual sport, pitting geographic stereotypes against each other. The highlight of the game was the strategy and arsenal of throws at your disposal. Simple, but more fun than virtually every game on the list.

22. Ice Hockey

Speaking of simple, this game found a way to suck the fun out of playing hockey. But was more than redeemed by presenting players the ability to customize their team with fat, skinny, and medium guys. It sounds stupid, but strategy in team assembly was everything.

21. Blades of Steel

A definite step up, this was perhaps the only relevant hockey game around until EA’s NHL series came out on the 16-bit systems. Still not perfect, but got a generation of kids interested in hockey before the expansion. Plus, you could control the fights, which was awesome.

20. Bases Loaded!

The best technical baseball game (and perhaps sports game) on NES. However, a complex baseball game is not always a good thing, as my fondest memories of this game involve chucking the controller at the TV because I couldn’t get a hit, so one man’s blessing is another man’s curse.

19. Tecmo Super Bowl

Not as groundbreaking as the original, but a definite improvement. Bigger playbooks, more teams, and slightly more dynamic game play made this sequel a solid upgrade on an iconic original.

18. Double Dribble

Basketball never thrived like football or baseball did, probably due to the fact that the game seems to hinge more on three dimensions than those other sports. However, “Double Dribble” made lemonade out of lemons by creating a fairly robust game with complex graphic cutaways during big plays.

17. Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out

Not so much a boxing game as a game of pattern recognition, but that fact was quickly obscured by the cartoonish contenders and Iron Mike himself. More than twenty years later, grown men can still sit down to this game and start cranking out punch patterns like Rain Man. That’s a pretty powerful testimonial.

16. 10 Yard Fight

A technically superior game, but without the real players, it was simply a stopgap until “Tecmo Bowl” stole the limelight. However, it was essential software for the first two years of the NES.

10. Excitebike

Fairly simple, until you realized that you could customize your own track, which was pretty revolutionary considering the year was 1986 and most people were too overwhelmed with the simple option to know what to do with it. Also, you could totally wipe your friends out when you raced, which ended up destroying budding friendships the nation over.

9. California Games

Hackey Sack!!! Trust me, it was more exciting than it sounded. Actually, this game had a knack for making the mundane fun. Even if the game leaned a little to far into hippiedom for its sports inspiration.

8. T&C Surf Design

During the 80’s, surf and skateboard games were pretty prevalent, many of which weren’t able to really pull their weight, but T&C differed in that it was one of those rare dual games (surf and skate) that was actually worth its salt in both.

7. Track and Field

This entry only qualifies if you had the power-pad, which made for a pretty novel and fun experience that departed a ways from anything the NES had done before. Doing triple jump? You actually had to JUMP on the pad. Maybe not a precursor to the Wii, but important nonetheless.

6. Duck Hunt

Hunting is a sport. For the purposes of this discussion anyway. Unless you held the damn gun up to the screen, which everyone did. The only gun game worth a damn on NES (Sorry, “Hogan’s Alley”).

5. Skate or Die

The “Tony Hawk” DNA was in here. But while there’s only so many combos you can do with two buttons and four directions, this game certainly did its best. Much like “Punch-Out,” this was more a game of patterns than creativity, but weren’t they all at this level?

4. Ring King

Whereas “Punch-Out” was more a game of pattern recognition, “Ring King” was actually a technical boxing game. With, you know, punching and stuff. It was the best of its kind up to that point, and actually enabled payers to move in the ring, something that “Punch-Out” hadn’t mastered.

3. Jordan vs. Bird

This game’s legacy is grounded more in the importance of the characters than it is in the actual quality of the game, but that doesn’t make it any less important looking back. The original computer game featured Dr. J and Bird, making it a huge deal when Jordan took over the reigns a few years later.

2. Baseball

Quickly eclipsed by R.B.I. because of the “real player” factor, this game actually did most of the heavy lifting for “R.B.I.” in the early years for modeling its gameplay. A game shouldn’t get hung out to dry because it didn’t get license rights, so check this one out to see where the hit came from.

1. Tecmo Bowl

The gold standard for sports games. Painfully simple game play buoyed by real players whose in game performance mirrored fairly closely their actual skills on the field. Though, I’m pretty sure that Bo Jackson had blackmail fodder on the developers, as his player in the game was the most dominant video athlete in history.

We don’t have pictures yet, but this list of prototypes for upcoming Burger King kids meal toys should excite any die-hard toy geek:

1) Mighty Thor Figure - The God of Thunder articulated in full costume with helm; Pose-able

2) Mjolnir “Lightning” Shooter - Thor’s mystical hammer with the ability to shoot multiple “lightning” discs

3) Lady Sif Headdress - A miniature replica of the ceremonial helm worn by Sif in the film

4) “Rainbow” Ring - Unlock the secrets of the Bifrost Bridge, the gateway of the Gods of Asgard

5) Loki Figure - The God of Mischief casts a spell to “multiply” himself before your eyes

6) The Destroyer - Asgard’s most powerful weapon, which only Thor may be able to stop; Pose-able

I saw this “Girls Only” Cleaning Trolley floating around the internet last week and it was understandably the topic of many discussions. I think a lot of the backlash for this picture was associated with the societal belief that women are traditionally responsible for cleaning chores and that this toy “starts ‘em young”. That’s just ridiculous to me. Children love to mimic the activities of adults in their play, and pretend cleaning products are just as popular as pretend kitchens, doctor sets, and tools.

My only problem with this toy is the label “Girls Only”. I don’t think that there is such thing as a gender-exclusive toy. Girls pick up and play with action figures on occasion, and I’m sure more than one Barbie has been played with by a boy (if even for malicious purposes). In my opinion, children should be allowed to play with whatever toys they want (as long as they are safe, of course) without a gender-related stigma.

Now, here is the same toy (with a vacuum cleaner) in a traditional children’s color motif. The image also shows a little boy playing with the toy. The package for this one does not say “Boys Only!” nor does the color scheme seem to target either gender. While I understand some children have a color preference, the label on the pink version still seems unjustified to me. What are your thoughts?

Children start to have a deep interest in baby dolls around 18 month mark, give or take, of course. The simple toy has been around for generations and many adults experience a fond nonstalgia for their beloved childhood companions. Believe it or not, some parents are opposed to dolls, but they offer a variety of benefits to children of both genders. Here are a few benefits of dolls, as well as a few suggestions to find the right doll for your child.

Imaginative Play

Imaginative play helps children to learn and grow in countless ways, and dolls are one of the simplest toys to facilitate this type of play. By assuming roles and interacting with dolls, children practice language and social skills, including sharing, cooperation, helping, and problem solving. They learn the different roles people play and begin to see their own place in the world. Children love to copy the actions of adults, who attentively care for babies all the time. Having a baby doll around the house is also a great way to prepare an older child for the arrival of a new baby.

Boys and Dolls

The idea of little boys playing with baby dolls is still a controversial one in many families. Chances are, if a child attends day care, they are exposed to the toys traditionally associated with both genders. Boys play with baby and child-like dolls until about age 4 or 5 when they may switch to “boy dolls” like G.I. Joe. Dolls do not have to be pink or girly, explore male and gender-neutral dolls currently on the market. And boys don’t have to dote over a doll like a parent does a baby; they can make patients for a doctor, passengers in a taxi, students or a variety of other participants in imaginary play scenarios. For parents and teachers concerned about the stigma of a boy playing with a doll, books like William’s Doll and Oliver Button Is a Sissy can help children and adults understand the situation.

Other Benefits

Additionally, many dolls that have removable clothes help teach children fine motor skills. Sure, there are stuffed animals and activity boards that can teach buttons, snaps, zippers and putting on shoes, but it’s easier for children to identify with a human doll that looks like they do. It can also be a great way to teach about body parts. Doll play allows children to work through strong emotions and feel empathy.

Picking the Right Doll

Younger children (18 to 36 months) are probably best suited for a very basic doll that simply looks like a baby and has clothes and a bottle, but don’t really need dolls with eating, crying or bodily function capabilities. Corolle makes some great simple baby dolls that are perfect for younger children. Most Corolle dolls can be taken into the bath tub and include simple accessories.

Older children will probably appreciate a more detailed doll with fancy battery-powered actions. A plain old doll is still just fine, and children can really get creative with their doll’s behaviors and needs without the doll making a sound. Other children may see a doll simply as a companion, so you may want to seek out the most durable doll you can find so it can keep (and clean) up with your child.

Items featured in this post (top to bottom): Tidoo Strawberry Baby Doll by Corolle ($29.49); Babipouce Pink Striped Baby Doll by Corolle ($23.49); Emma Drink and Wet Bath Baby by Corolle ($43.99)