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I remember the dark days of the Barcode Battler, ruffians ripping barcodes off packaged goods to find the most uber monster they could. Bandai, it seems, have outdone themselves with a range of toys that detect natural magnetic fields which then unlock uber monsters to play with. Entitled, Treasure Gaust (I am assuming the latter is an Engrish attempt at spelling gaussed) these toys are pretty rudimentary.

However, there's a DS game now on the way that uses the same technology. Yes, that's right; the terrifying popularity of the DS Lite in Japan coupled with kids fervently searching the country for the ultimate magnetic field...I...I can't comprehend that level of merchandising carnage. Just...can't. Personally, I think it's a novel feature to use in a game mainly because you can't see magnetic fields and kids (predominantly) will be forced to search for them (unlike games such as Boktai that worked off, well, sunlight).

No release date is set but it's penciled in as Q1 2007, so that should give people in Japan enough warning to fortify their homes and don body armor (preferably de-magnetised body armor, obviously).