A Bug's Life

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B.I.O.-Bugs

Hasbro With so many toymakers this fall hot on the trail of Aibo, Sony's haute pet pup, you gotta wonder about the I in AI. How cool can a $40 bug be? As it turns out, tearing through the beautiful packaging, heart pumping like a 10-year-old's on Christmas morning, might be the best rush users get from their B.I.O.-Bugs (the B.I.O. stands for Biomechanical Integrated Organism). Hasbro offers four different, color-coded bugs -- Predator, Stomper, Destroyer, and Acceleraider -- and each comes with its own "skill," like the ability to move over rough terrain. The bugs supposedly move instinctually (that's due to their "nervous network" technology), but they also come with a manually operated "wrist transmitter." With the help of a precocious 8-year-old and some mindless pushing of the remote-control "Training" button every couple of minutes, Stomper, our test bug, achieved the highest-attainable Level 12. What exactly does that mean, you ask? We're asking, too, because it's not altogether obvious that the bug has become any more agile or skilled than when we first brought it to life (read: flipped the "on" switch). With the remote control, the loudly chirping thing can be directed over little obstacles, such as a shoe, but put it in even a shallow cardboard box and it will walk into the wall for a while before powering down. Bringing two of the bugs together does little to ratchet up the excitement level. Only my 2-year-old neighbor seems entranced with the bugs after 10 minutes, which means she'll soon be the proud new owner of Stomper. Perhaps this candy is better left in the wrapper.