Gamertell

Retailing for $15 (US, $19.99 in Canada) and available now in stores is a plastic mini Hallmark Keepsake game controller ornament that produces three sets of videogame style noises.

It’s shaped like a GameCube controller but with Xbox mini-joystick placement. The mini josyticks move but don’t create any sounds. A back panel for the batteries (provided) looks just like a controller battery panel and the ornament’s string is really tougher rubber cord. Very nice touches, indeed.

You can press either control pad for one noise (each) that plays over a base soundtrack. The noises change to match for a space game sound effect with lasers, a fighting game with grunts and hiyahs and a racing game with screeching breaks and revving engine.

The ornament is titled “Player 1,” which is my favorite part since my CiN Weekly videogame column name is also “Player 1.”

The back of the ornament box reads:

Player 1
A cosmic clash with aliens,
your lasers set on “blast”!
A hot rod race around the track-
Whoo-ee! You’re movn’ fast!
Kung Fu fighting hand to hand,
your fists of fury flying…
If you can’t find a game you love, then you’re not really trying!

Whatever the heck that all means. Definitely not written by a gamer.

My 9-month-old is really enjoying the ornament so far. It’s perfectly sized for his hands and he can pretend he’s playing as I play with nornmal sized controllers. Those fakey red toys with lights and other crappy noises are apparently a little to, uh, infantile for him. He cried when I took the ornament out of his hands to take a picture of it. Note that the warning on the back states that it is, “For decorative use only. Not for children under 8.”

Last year’s Hallmark Keepsake ornament meant for gamers was a word ornament that read “Game On” with a mini controller includes in the design. Certainly not as cool as this year’s but it did sell out pretty early.

Product Page [Hallmark’s Player 1 Ornament] Read [Player1]