“Augmented reality” for kids by Mattel?

San Diego Comic-Con 2009 is kicking off and Mattel is introducing a new set of toys based on the movie “Avatar” that brings augmented reality to kids. Here’s how this works: each toy (vehicle, action figure, etc.) has a 3-D tag which can be scanned using a webcam. Then the computer will display info about the character, animated versions of the character, and more pictures.

Mattel also has bonus features for those who shell out extra money for the “deluxe figures.” Scanning a 3-D tag (also called a “i-TAG”) of one of these deluxe figures will lead to the “animated 3-D models [to] ‘come alive’ through engaging, evading or defending moves. Place two i-TAGs from the “Battle Pack” together and the 3-D images will interact with each other.”

Total Immersion is providing the technology that makes this possible. Mattel is calling this “augmented reality,” but this doesn’t seem to fit into the Wikipedia definition. We’ll see if the definition gets expanded to include Mattel’s point of view.

Read: [Press Release]