You’ve probably heard about Project Natal by now. It’s Microsoft’s “secret” project that lets you use your body as the input device for the Xbox Live. No controllers, no wires, no headgear or gloves. If you liked using Nintendo Wii’s controller to play games you’ll love the freedom and increased capability of using your body.

She wears a shirtdress decorated with zeros and ones over a pair of tight, shiny black pants. She’s got a Bluetooth headset in her ear, those smart-girl looking glasses, and a pretty pink laptop.
She’s Computer Engineer Barbie and she sprang to life via the popular vote of consumers all over the world. They voted on what Barbie’s [...]

Before File-Open-Save and Lacoste were the standard for applications and their developers, there was Kai Krause. Kai’s Power Tools, or KPT, were a collection of psychedelic digital effects that extended the capabilities of PhotoShop. Goo and PowerGoo were consumerized versions of these effects. You could take a photo and apply a few creative stretches and [...]

Whoever designed the three-month summer vacation must have received kickbacks from the electronics industry. Even the most well intentioned moms and dads need a break from lemonade stands, swim parties, and cookouts. Here are a handful of great ideas followed by a handful of fair warnings.

Some families are OK about playing with toy guns; others believe the toy is the quickest route to the real thing. Now the toy gun dilemma finds its way to the virtual world with Water Warfare from Hudson Entertainment. Billed as a family-friendly first person shooter (sound a bit oxymoronic) this WiiWare (Nintendo’s world of [...]

It’s show time for the digital toy business. Time to trot out previews of the summer’s releases.  This season offerings has a few recurrent themes. First is low price. Almost all of the manufacturers are selling less expensive variations on their older toys.  The second trend is all about using the body and brain in combination. [...]

Let’s get the bias out in the open. I’m not a gamer, though I have a deep appreciation of the art of the game. If you think all gamers and their gaming machines are created equal, think again. At E3 Expo last week I got to evaluate the game milieus and the crowds they drew, [...]

This holiday season is shaping up to be a practical, penny-pinching one for digital toymakers. While digital toys continue to be a growing part of the toy market, this year’s advances will be incremental, not revolutionary. And toymakers seem to be focused on the “little grownup” strategy, giving kids a scaled down version of mommy [...]

The Hidden Park throws the whole techno-kitchen sink into creating an extraordinary scavenger/treasure hunt for kids. Clues about where to go for more clues are location-based and use GPS mapping. The game knows where you are and can serve up the right information. The phone’s built-in camera documents the landmarks (and you as the explorer) [...]

Watch kids play long enough and you learn that there’s nothing new under the sun. Only the packaging changes. The same play types—from pirates to mystery sleuths, from hula hoops to board game favorites—reappear.
This notion of favorite play patterns wasn’t lost on Ted Barnett, the CEO, co-founder, and dad behind the new virtual world, SuperSecret. [...]