After my post yesterday, I received a message from a visitor to the site that included the following...

"Talked on the phone to a rep at Mattel Sat (26) and he assured me that they were actively working on an update for the Win 7 problem. I told him that some of the forums about Funkeys are mentioning that no updates are forthcoming and he told me those are false rumors. The projected release for the update is early Jan. (Which probably means Feb/Mar in programmer talk!)"

This is great news for those who have 64 bit Windows 7 machines!

Now to clarify, my last post in no way said that the drivers would NOT be made and my intent was not to start any rumors. I simply pointed to how long it took to get a Vista 64 bit driver. I'm glad to see that Mattel is still actively supporting U.B.Funkeys. If anything, this is encouraging to those of us who are still hoping for a resurgence of Funkeys in 2010! :)

Thanks to all those who have contacted up on this subject...

Labels: 64 bit, Vista 64, Windows 7

Since the gift-giving of yesterday, the contact us form has been inundated with questions about U.B.Funkeys compatibility with Windows 7 64 bit computers. It seems that a lot of parents have purchased Funkeys for their kids either for the first time, or maybe some have purchased new computers for their kids to play their Funkeys on. Either way, the case is unfortunate right now.

Bottom line is that when this issue first came up for Windows Vista 64 bit users, Funkeys were actively being released and were selling like hotcakes and it still took Mattel about a year to come out with a patch for Funkeys to work with 64 bit Vista machines.

Looking at the situation now, with no sign of new Funkeys on the shelf and the fan base a little worried that Mattel is letting the line die, it doesn't look good for any patches to be coming out soon (or possibly ever) for Windows 7 64 bit.

I wish I had better news for you all. If I hear anything, I'll certainly let you all know!

PS: Just curious, but why are so many people buying 64 bit machines? Are retailers pushing the 64 bit versions hard? It seems like they'd be more open with people regarding potential issues with their current hardware and software. Hmmm...

Labels: 64 bit, Software Patch, Vista 64, Windows 7

The lack of releases or news of any sort from Mattel on our beloved Funkeys has made it tough to motivate myself to work on updating the site for a while now. I applaud all of you who have stayed with it and continue to frequent the forum. Hopefully, we'll be getting some sort of news soon so we can either rejoice or mourn properly... :)

I did give the Mattel service number a call yesterday and talked to nice woman who assured me that the U.B.Funkeys toy line was still a strong seller for Mattel and their "system" did not have them marked as "discontinued".

My take is that they've all but canceled the line but just haven't taken the steps to properly do so, OR with all that happened with the Paradox Green mix-up and knowing that they couldn't get anything *new* released before the holiday shopping season, they've just placed the line in suspension to re-evaluate next year.

Of course I'm hoping for the latter... :)

With many having vacation time coming up, I hope you all have fun and enjoy spending time with your families!

Labels: Funkeys News, Future Release

There's very little evidence to point to a future for U.B.Funkeys right now, but I still hold a cautiously optimistic view that it will survive.

The official website hasn't been updated in quite a while and neither has the game itself. Pretty much every Walmart I've been to recently has stopped carrying them, and that's a blow for any toy line. The momentum of continued releases and updates is what spurs interest in a product/game/collectible like Funkeys and that has really dried up lately.

I also have not been able to get any news from Mattel. Trust me, I don't know anything more than the rest of you.

What we do know is that Mattel has in the past 6 months closed a large location in Texas and relocated some of those employees to California. At that point the news was that Funkeys *would* survive. But then there was the awful mix-up in the release of Paradox Green (which had looked to be a savior for the toy line) when ALL of the singles release were of the VR assortment. This obviously led to the decision not to release the other variations. I doubt they were ever manufactured in the mix-up or they would have been released by now.

It would be a huge blow for Funkeys to end this way. The response to the Wendy's kid's meal toys was great. People have been waiting anxiously for the Common and Rare versions of the Paradox Green figures. There have been some mis-steps in the marketing (can you say Dream State VR box sets?) but I do believe that the toy line could survive all of this if Mattel gave it another chance.

The DC series could be that savior. We all know that Entertainment Earth has been doing pre-sales for the DC series recently. I asked them about it and all they could say is that they still have pre-order release info from Mattel on the series and that they haven't seen anything to make them believe they won't be released. If they were far enough in production, I could see Mattel giving it "one last chance". While I wish it was a non-licensed series to turn things around, I'd be happy if it worked.

Labels: Funkeys News, Future Release, Paradox Green