UPDATED 16:27 EST / FEBRUARY 15 2016

NEWS

Dinosaurs come to Mattel’s View-Master DLX VR headset with 2.0 upgrade

Mattel, Inc. is bringing its View-Master toy series into the 21st century by upgrading the 3D photo viewer into a mobile VR headset based on Google Cardboard. This weekend at the New York Toy Fair. Last year, Mattel announced the upgraded VR-capable View-Master and just announced today the second generation of the upgrade alongside more games.

The View-Master 2.0 features enhanced optical lenses, a focal adjuster but also more importantly an internal audio jack that allows users to easily slip on a pair of headphones.

These upgrades, however come at a price and that price means that the View-Master DLX second gen is $39.99, which is about $10 higher than the original. The newly upgraded version is expected to launch in the fall.

This throwback to an earlier, simpler time is the second nostalgic upgraded toy line that Mattel is showing off at the New York Toy Fair 2016. The View-Master is an old Mattel standby first released in 1939 as a stereoscopic viewer capable of taking slide-show reels of negatives to produce a primitive 3D view. The View-Master is the perfect toy line to upgrade to virtual reality, which is the 21st century version of 3D imagery.

The other upgraded nostalgic toy is the ThingMaker, a toy which has gone from a plastic mold toy making system released in 1963 by Mattel and transformed into a modern day desktop 3D printer for only $300.

Additional VR entertainment and video game options

According to The Verge, the DLX will also launch with a few new VR experiences and additional video games.

One of the games is an interesting cooperative two-player puzzle game. One player wears the VR headset and is trapped in a labyrinth, who solves riddles and puzzles to find a way out of the maze. The other player uses a physical book of clues to help the first player to safety.

And, in a homage to the original View-Master, which acted as a carousel-style slideshow viewer, Mattel collaborated with National Geographic to add a dinosaur-themed “experience pack” of vivid VR entertainment. The dinosaur pack includes a “survival adventure game,” as well as interactive dinosaur skeletons. This pack will be added to the already existing trio of Space, Destinations, and Wildlife.

The two-player cooperative game has an expected retail price of $19.99 and the dinosaur experience pack will sell for $14.99. Both will be released along with the View-Master DLX 2.0 this fall.

Featured image credit: Mattel, Inc.

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