News

Children's charity Barnardo's has launched a virtual friend that squawks, vomits and crawls - and is to be used to make money for the organisation.

The charity's first foray into "virtual advertising" takes the form of "e-baby", a small, nappy-wearing, interactive computer icon. Once downloaded, e-baby crawls around the computer screen, cries, vomits, chuckles when tickled, and encounters various hazards such as hot irons.

By right-clicking on the mouse, the computer user can tend to the needs of e-baby. E-baby lasts for three hours, after which Barnardo's gives the user feedback on their parenting skills and invites the player to e-mail e-baby to their friends or donate money.

The game is being distributed by AOL and Netscape, and can also be downloaded from Barnardo's website: www.barnardos.org.uk/e-baby/howto.html