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Mattel Tips Game Developer Barbie for Aspiring Coders

Barbie is a game developer now, complete with "tech trendy" jeans.

 & Tom Brant Managing Editor

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Game developers who are also Barbie fans can now add the Barbie Careers Game Developer Doll to their shopping list.

Decked out in a T-shirt with a "hip" graphic, the $13 doll also wears "tech trendy" faded denim pants. Her accessories include a laptop, a tablet displaying a game (do game developers really play games on tablets?), and a headset.

Careers Game BarbieBarbie has been showing her geekiness since at least 2010, when Mattel's iconic doll added her 126th incarnation as a computer engineer. That offering drew praise from female engineers for its potential to inspire girls to code.

But the toy has also had some cringe-worthy moments over the years, from the "Math class is tough!" days to 2014's Barbie: I Can Be A Computer Engineer. The low-tech paper book provoked some controversy for its portrayal of Barbie as a software engineer who came up with ideas but relied on her male colleagues to implement them.

When Barbie tries to restore lost files by connecting her hard drive with another computer, for example, friends Steve and Brian suggest that "It will go faster" with their help and Barbie agrees wholeheartedly.

Mattel apologized and pulled the book from stores. Perhaps Game Developer Barbie is an olive branch for girls who dream of designing games.

In addition to bringing some tech flair to the dolls themselves, Mattel also introduced high-tech Barbie accessories. One is the "Hello Barbie doll, whose $75 suggested price is a bit steep until you realize it comes with built-in Wi-Fi and a voice-recognition system similar to digital assistants like Siri and Cortana.

There's also the updated Barbie Hello Dreamhouse, which this year got Wi-Fi-enabled plastic appliances and gadgets. Kids playing house can use voice commands to turn on mood lighting, preheat the oven, and operate the elevator. It arrives this fall with a $300 price tag.

About Our Expert

Tom Brant

Tom Brant

Managing Editor

I’m a managing editor at PCMag.com focused on PC hardware. Reading this during the day? Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of Wi-Fi routers, printers, laptops, and tons of other personal tech. (Reading this at night? Then I’m probably dreaming about all those cool products.) I’ve covered the consumer tech world as an editor, reporter, and analyst since 2015.

I've covered most major consumer tech events, including CES, Computex, Google I/O, and IFA. I've also appeared on CBS News, in USA Today, and at many other outlets to offer analysis on breaking technology news.

Before I joined the tech-journalism ranks, I wrote on topics as diverse as Borneo's rainforests, Middle Eastern airlines, and Big Data's role in presidential elections. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University.

The Technology I Use

While most people buy a phone or laptop and stick with it for years, I’m lucky enough to use devices based on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows daily as part of my job. As a result, I cycle through lots of tech in addition to my IT-issue work laptop. (Yes, that's a ThinkPad.) Personally, I’ve also owned a lot of tech products both cutting-edge and cringeworthy, from the Nintendo GameCube and the original MacBook to the Palm m105 and the CueCat.

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