At the Digital Life preview in New York City, a rep for Mattel told Scientific American that Barbie Girls, its new online world for young and 'tween girls, has signed up 3 million users in its first 60 days, and is growing at a rate of 50,000 new users daily.

The Barbie Girls' world lets kids customize Barbie avatars, dress them in various fashions, design virtual homes, adopt pets and chat with other users. It works on the free-to-play, pay-for-goods (with "B Bucks") model.

Engadget also reported from the Digital Life preview that Mattel plans to launch a Barbie Girl MP3 player (shown above) as a companion to the world, which girls who have met in real life will be able to sync with each other's computers to participate in "Secret B Chat," a more private and more permissive variation on Barbie Girls' standard, heavily-moderated "B Chat." The Barbie Girl MP3 player will reportedly retail at $60 and include 512MB of memory and a miniSD expansion slot, which along with $10 accessory packs, will unlock additional content in the Barbie Girls virtual world.

Barbie Girls is still in open beta ("Hey Girl! We're in beta!" it proclaims).

[via ScientificAmerican.com]

On the heels of announcements that BarbieGirls, the online world based on Mattel's dolls, has signed up over three million users in three months, MGA has countered with an announcement of its own-- Be-Bratz, an online world with social networking elements based on its competing fashion dolls, will launch August 1st, around the same time as the Bratz movie hits theatres August 3rd.

Be-Bratz will require the purchase of a special doll (at $29.99) that comes with a USB key to access the world, while BarbieGirls doesn't require any purchase to join. BarbieGirls users will need the $60 BarbieGirls MP3 player in order to access the world's special features, though.

Users in Be-Bratz will earn virtual currency by playing minigames, which they can then spend on customizables for their Bratz avatar-- a virtual girl either made from scratch or based on existing Bratz characters, as the user prefers.

[Via PaidContent.org and ToyNews]

With what appears to be an accidental re-release of its announcement of the BarbieGirls online world launch, Mattel shed some more light on the tie-ins that will be available with the accessories to the virtual world. As previously announced, the world is accessed via the USB key inside of $59.99 doll-shaped MP3 player with a 512 MB memory -- now we know it comes with a belt clip, storage case, and adjustable ear buds.

More significantly, though, Mattel will also sell accessory packs, which will unlock new bonuses and content, like accessories, fashions and pets, in the BarbieGirls world, at a retail price of $9.99 each.

Mattel also says it plans to reach four continents and more than a dozen countries this fall on an unspecified date, launching in five additional languages around the world, including Spanish, French, Italian, German and Portuguese.

[UPDATE: The link to the release was removed from the above article, as the erroneous press release has been taken down. You can find the original July 7th BarbieGirls announcement here.]

Earlier, we noted that BarbieGirls, apparently by accident, re-ran their launch announcement press release previously dated July 7th. Likely it's this latest they meant to announce -- that they're up to 4 million users since its launch (they recently claimed 3 million users in 60 days in mid-July).

According to the release, BarbieGirls continues to grow at an average rate of 45,000 users per day. While that's certainly nothing to sneeze at, it does signify a bit of a slowdown in signups for the site -- the release itself quoted GigaOM's Wagner James Au:

"In the first 60 days of its existence, the new online virtual world Barbie Girls has signed up three million members, and they’re adding new ones at the rate of 50,000 a day,” said Wagner James Au, GigaOM. “This is staggering growth by any standard, but even more so because Mattel’s MMO is still in Beta.”

The go-live date is August 13th, and will be launched in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Portuguese, as previously reported in the initial announcement. Mattel also says it'll bolster safety features "later this summer" with the addition of parental controls that will require parental permission via e-mail for girls to register on BarbieGirls.com and access certain chat functionality. The beta already features the ability for users to lock their rooms to other characters, block and report offending users, and "robust" moderation.

In its first quarter 2008 earnings call yesterday, toy company Mattel CEO and chairman Robert Eckert discussed, among other details, Mattel's BarbieGirls.com and the MMO's transition to a subscription-based model.

Originally intended as a vehicle to sell Mattel's Barbie Girl MP3 Player and promote the Barbie brand through other cross-marketing opportunities, the 'tween-targeted virtual world ran on a free-to-play, pay-for-goods model.

Though he declined to state any specific pricing for the new subscription model, Eckert acknowledged that the announcement will have to come soon: "Its one of those things where people are moving very quickly. I can tell you we will be competitive with our pricing but we don’t want to get out in front of it so that others can see it too soon. We’ve been studying it and I don’t think there’s going to be any big surprise in there for anybody."

When asked if he believed the business model transition and the phasing out of the Barbie Girls MP3 player would have a significant effect on Mattel's first and second quarter numbers, Eckert responded, "No, I think any impact will be minor."

Following its promise to offer competitive subscription pricing to its BarbieGirls.com virtual world, toy company Mattel has launched Barbie Girls V.I.P., a subscription-based version of its 'tween-targeted MMO.

Originally intended as a vehicle to sell Mattel's Barbie Girl MP3 Player and promote the Barbie brand through other cross-marketing opportunities, BarbieGirls.com has been running on a free-to-play, pay-for-goods model. According to Mattel, its MMO has collected nearly 13 million registered users.

Barbie Girls V.I.P. boasts a world four times larger than its original size with new locations, games, and experiences. Users can access the service with a $5.99 monthly membership. Users who choose to not to pay the membership cost will still be able to play with the basic version of BarbieGirls.com.

Said Mattel Brands' Girls Division general manager and senior vice president Chuck Scothon: "The success of Barbie Girls – particularly among older girls, with 85 percent of our registered users over age eight – demonstrates that girls are looking for a new way to play with the brand they love and grew up with, just in a new format relevant to today’s tech-savvy girls. With the launch of Barbie Girls V.I.P. we’re giving girls more content than ever before, including the best fashion, beauty and social play, as well as many new games and an expanded Barbie Girls world. Online content is simply just a new toy, and we believe our quality content is well-valued with this new version of Barbie Girls V.I.P.”

Toy company Mattel has launched Parents Place, a BarbieGirls.com area educating parents about online play and safety, empowering them with settings and controls appropriate for their children's online play in the virtual world.

Parents Place includes several useful and interactive tools for parents, such as "B Smart Pact," a serious of questions and scenarios for parents and kids to complete together. The "B Smart Pact" activity guides families through a conversation about protecting one's privacy online, chatting safely, online etiquette/being nice, and length of time spent playing online. It also allows parents to input individual rewards and consequences for rules, as well as write their own personal family rules.

Since BarbieGirls.com introduced Parents Account, a feature allowing parents to control their child's chat settings, over 250,000 parents have created accounts. According to Mattel, the site has so far picked up over 14 million registered users worldwide.

Said Mattel Brands Girls Division's general manager and SVP Chuck Scothon: "Since its launch as the first-ever global virtual world introduced exclusively for girls, BarbieGirls.com leads in delivering safe and fun experiences for kids, and now leads in offering an unparalleled experience for parents. Online content is today's new toy, and we believe it is vital to inform and equip parents with the tools and information they need to become familiar with the new online playground. We want parents to be supportive of where and how their child plays, particularly as BarbieGirls.com has recently moved to a subscription model."