From the makers of the popular NERF blasters comes the revolutionary LAZER TAG system, combining the power, precision and excitement of live-action blaster battles with the high-action, strategic, augmented reality game play of traditional video games.

Players download the NERF Lazer Tag app and then slip their iPhone or iPod Touch into the slot on the NERF Lazer Tag blaster. The App uses augmented reality to give users virtual targets to shoot via lazer, as well has a heads up display for tracking remaining power/rounds, scores, and health. There’s single player and two player mode and the lazer has a virtual range of up to 250 feet. There’s also a world wide virtual leaderboard that ranks each player’s profile and, with every successful mission, players will gain in-game access to upgradeable attacks, missions and gear.

The blasters will run about $40 a piece or $70 for a two blaster set. The App is fee for download at the iTunes App Store. Available late summer/early fall. Ages 8 and up.

Hat Tip – Engadget

I know what you’re thinking … there goes James, showing his age talking about slot car racing again! Well, I can’t help it. Slot cars were HUGE when I was a kid. We gave my dad a slot car racing set for his last Christmas, and he just smiled because he knew it wasn’t really for him, it was for us. But he didn’t care as long as we did things together. So why am I waxing nostalgic about slot cars again? Because if you have a Delorean Slot car racing on the track to the right, there’s a good chance you can go back to time … they’re that fast.

The video below looks to be from Germany, perhaps, and gives us a look at the hyper competitive world serious slot car racing. The kind with standings and pit crews and leagues. Now when you watch the video, you’re going to want to fast forward to about 90-120 seconds in. The first part is a bunch of guys who live in their mom’s basement putting the final touches on their hyperslot cars. Note there’s no girls there that I can see. But once you get to race time, you can’t help but be blown away by how fast these guys are driving these slot cars!

What cracks me up is the peanut gallery actually trying to follow their favorite car by moving their heads as they sail around the track. Seriously, they’re going WAY too fast to keep track of any particular car, you’re better served just hanging on and hoping for a positive ending! Or a car that wipes out, which also happens.

The way it works is pretty slick. You attach the foam fighter glider toy to your smartphone right under the camera via a suction cup arm. Then, you start up the App Gear Foam Fighter App and the glider is overlaid onto a virtual flight sim where you can dogfight, strafe, bomb, and more. There’s also a multi player mode over WiFi where your friends can join into the furball and battle it out over the skies of World War II. There are multiple planes to collect (2 come in a pack) and each unlocks up to 12 specific World War II missions from the Battle of Britain, Battle over Europe or the Battle of the Pacific.

Features:

* Each plane style unlocks specific WWII fighter mission: Battle of Britain, Battle over Europe or the Battle of the Pacific
* Plane is mounted to the back of your mobile device and flies, fights and takes damage in real time
* Missions include free roam, fighter escort, dog fighting, bombing runs and flight training
* Each plane unlocks up to 12 missions per plane
* Each pack includes 2 planes, 2 folding stands and 1 arm attachment with suction cup
* Multiplayer mode over local Wi-Fi
* Free downloaded app, IOS and Android compatible

Cost is of the AppGear Toys is between $10-20 (I’m guessing Foam Fingers is $10) and will be available this Spring with a free download available at the iTunes App Store and Android Marketplace. OK, I promise, no more AppGear for awhile. But tell me that isn’t awesome!

The idea is pretty simple. Physical toys and game sets are set up with special QR codes affixed to them. Then you download the WoWee AppGear app from either iTunes (for iOS) or the Android marketplace (for Android) and then you let the play begin. The toys will come to life while you interact with the environment and start shooting up the joint.

Doesn’t that look like fun? And rather than kids just sitting like a lump on the couch playing, they actually end up moving around, which is always a good thing. WoWee is planning six different games and apps for 2012, including Alien Jailbreak, Zombie Burbs, and Elite Commander, with a price ranging from around $10-20 (probably for the actual toy sets).

I’m telling you, this augmented reality thing really has no end to it. As an old school Dungeons and Dragons player, I’d love to see a bunch of friends gatehred around the old map, drawn out on plotting paper, and seeing battles actually come to life when you input a dice roll number on your iPhone. Or, as my son loves YuGiOh, seeing the monsters come to life and fight it out like it does in the TV show. That’s the future my friend!

Hat Tip – Our sister site, COOLEST GADGETS

For Girls:

1. Barbie – let’s face it, you can’t go wrong with Barbie. At 50 years old, she’s still hot and fashionable and with the new I Can Be a Computer Engineer Barbie, she’s putting forth a great message that girls can be anything they want.

2. Bizu Style Studio – With Bizu Studio, girls can make their own jewelry and accessories. Comes complete with beads, Beading Tool, 4 Character Templates and 2 Key-Chain/Backpack Attachments.

3. Fur Real Friends Electronic Pets - Nothing beats a puppy for Christmas. And with the realistic fur and interactive nature of the Fur Real Friends, kids can have that special friend without parents worrying over potty training! When you talk to her, she responds with a puppy babble. Give her a bone, she makes crunching sounds like she’s chewing it. And pet her back and she barks and wags her tail.

4. WowWee Paper Jamz Pro Mic Series – with Paper Jamz Pro Mic series, kids can live the rock star fantasy of their favorite stars. Features 2 built-in songs, auto mode that adjusts effects on the fly, Perfect pitch to keep you in tune, auto harmony sound, and a Chorus Multiply mode

5. Gift cards – When in doubt, the all purpose gift is a gift card. And if you give an iTunes gift card, you’re turning your coolness factor up to 11.

For Boys –

1. NERF – It’s NERF, or Nothin’. That’s the slogan and it’s true. Boys love the Nerf NStrike toys and the new disc shaped Vortex line is a must have for the holidays. Greater range, cooler designs, and disc shaped darts. But if you don’t want to risk getting something they already have, you can always just get accessories like more ammo or the cool bandoliers (you can’t have enough clips), or don’t worry about it, you can always use a second gun!

2. Hot Wheels Video Racers – With a video camera built into it, the Hot Wheels Video Racer gives a driver’s eye view of all the action. And every kid has the fantasy of racing on a Hot Wheels track. So this is a must. Just make sure you bring a track if your Nephew doesn’t have one. Or if he does, more track is always welcome.

3. LEGO – There’s no way you can go wrong with a LEGO building set. Because one, kids can always use more bricks and b) with sites like Rebrickable, the more sets you have, the more sets you can build you don’t have! And if you’re kid is into a certain line – like Ninjago, Star Wars, or especially the new DC Super Heroes line, they’ll certainly think you’re the coolest Uncle or Aunt on the planet with a new set under the tree!

4. Video games – What kid doesn’t like video games? And with new titles like SkyRim, Portal 2, and Little Big Planet 2, there’s a great game for all ages.

5. Gift Cards – Why a gift card? Well, kids love to choose their own toys and they’re likely to get more cards from other family members. Adding to the talley means they can get larger gifts or multiples. And if you’re the Uncle who gives the card that gets them over the top on a huge gift, he’ll remember you for it!

In 1920, nearly 50 years before I was born, the top toys for Christmas were the Teddy Bear, Erector Set, and Lionel Trains. Noteworthy facts about each, the Teddy Bear was named after former President Teddy Roosevelt – who refused to shoot a black bear while on a hunt. and Lionel Trains is now owned by musician Neil Young.

Then, in my era, the hot toys were Rock’em Sock’em Robots, Barbie, GI Joe, and the introduction of a little juggernaut known as Star Wars action figures. It also marked the beginning of what would soon come to dominate the toy world, as video games like PONG were the obsession of every kid willing to forsake outdoor play for watching a little white dot bounce back and forth across the screen.

By the 1990s and 00s, video games were well entrenched as kids have wanted Game Boys, Playstations, Nintendos and XBoxes. Yeah sure, kids have wanted action figures like Power Rangers and Buzz Lightyear, LEGOs and Transformer Dolls (and remember POGs?), but it’s clear that kids trends have gone from imaginative play and building things, to virtually blowing stuff up while networked with other kids all around the world. For a peak into the evolution, check out the timeline here.

The basic premise of the IDA is to use foam constructed radio controlled airplanes and dogfight them, bascially trying to knock them out of the sky. Based in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, the IDA can be seen battling in the skies over Woodley Park, near the 405 Freeway in Van Nuys. Any 2 people can build and dogfight any kind of aircraft they wish, but IDA construction specifications allow anyone in the world to travel anywhere else in the world and dogfight with anyone else in the world and have an equal chance. Which makes a lot of sense. The rules of engagement are simple: Knock the other sky out of the sky without crashing. The winner is the last man flying.

The IDA sounds like a ton of fun! But let’s get back to the radio controlled paper airplane. It’s a 9 Scale (meaning it’s nine times the size of a regular paper airplane) with a radio controlled motor and propeller on it. Also a radio receiver which transmits flying commands to the control surfaces. As you can see by the video, it’s scary responsive.

Hat Tip – Roger Dodger Aviation (via Facebook)

Product Description: Whether it’s techie talk or instant messaging acronyms, geeks have their own special language. Fortunately, this magic ball is fluent in geek speak and features twenty answers that can be appreciated by geeks of all platforms and operating systems. All they have to do is ask the 3-3/4″ (9.5 cm), plastic ball any yes-or-no question and it will magically respond with an answer that any true geek can understand. Responses include such classics as “Fail,” “Can Has” and “Meh.” Illustrated window box.

I like the new responses including Fail, Meh and Can Has. It really brings it into the Twitter like I can haz cheeseburger vibe that is so popular with the lols on the internet. Course, to be truly wired, it would need to twitter responses, but since it only costs less than $8, you can’t expect digital connectivity. Still, it would be fun to have a at a tweet up, wouldn’t it?

Hat Tip – Craziest Gadgets

ICHIBAN Toys is a team LEGO Brickmasters who are so passionate about LEGOs they wanted to build them for a living. So they created a site which would enable them to design and sell unique custom kits using official LEGO® parts. They’ve been around since 2008, but their first custom kit was the Batpod V1.0 in 2009. They currently have dozens of designs covering Star Trek, Back to the Future (they’ve got a sweet DeLorean DMC-12 set), Batman, and numerous custom vehicles from a nice red biplane to a Bond-esque Astin Martin.

Each set comes with all parts in resealable plastic bags, just like the official LEGO sets, color printed step by step instructions in book form or a PDF eBook on CD, and collector’s packaging. Course, the sets made based on copyrighted properties, so we’d suggest you order while you can before the studios find out and shut them down.

I wonder if they’d do DOCTOR WHO?

Hat Tip – UnCrate

This slick, Anglo variant of the classic board game, gets fans to travel with the 11th Doctor and all his companions (Amy Pond, Rory Williams, and of course, the doctor’s wife and assassin – SPOILERS – Professor River Song). The board is classic monopoly with a Doctor Who overlay that includes stops at Torchwood, Gallifrey, and many more – as well as dealing with several of the doctor’s enemies including the Daleks, the Cybermen, and those dreaded Silence!

But if you’re ever possessed of a bunch of free time and want to play a game with The Doctor, we recommend Doctor Who Monopoly. Updated to reflect the beginning of Season 6, you’ll find lots of fun tidbits about the 11th Doctor and his enemies, including The Silence.

OK, that’s almost as cool as a Fez or Stetson, but here’s the problem … it comes with the TARDIS as a game piece, but the rest are your basic Monopoly pieces! What’s up with that?! You could’ve at least included a Dalek piece, a Cyberman piece, perhaps the 3rd doctor’s model A car? Instead, you’ll have kids (and adults, most likely) fighting every time you play over who gets to fly the TARDIS! That’s a huge fail. But still, the fact that they have it is SWEET!

Cost is about $50 over at Think Geek. Ages 8 and up.

Hat Tip – Nerd Approved