A Publishing System for Young Kids: Tikatok

The cofounder of this site was sitting in a bookstore with her kids when she realized that every book on the shelves was written by an adult. The epiphany? Create a site where kids can publish. Tikatok brings out the storyteller in every kid, allowing them to see the fruits of their labor shared with others on the web. Posting a story is free. Creating a book and selling it has varying costs depending on the size of the book. Story Sparks, an idea generator, helps those with writer’s block and it’s relatively easy to add artwork, too. (Average price for printed copies is around $20.)

A Stay-cationer’s Dream: Wii Sports Resort

Players participate in a virtual vacation on an island with 12 different activities. Basketball, table tennis, canoeing, archery—the games are eclectic and tons of family fun. Sports Resort is one of the first Wii games to use Motion Plus—Nintendo’s new accessory. It allows the game to track the motion of your forearm and wrist which makes table tennis and archery more realistic. But the new accessory adds to the price and doesn’t add anything new to older Wii games. ($49.99)

Summer of Apollo:

This one won’t cost you a dime. The moonwalk (no, not the Michael Jackson kind) has captured and re-captured the imagination of kids and adults everywhere. Earth.google.com/moon is a joint project of NASA and Google. You can zoom in and actually see the 1969 footprints from the first spacewalk and take an guided tour narrated by Apollo astronauts.

A Quirky Game for Teens: Little King’s Story

For the teens in the house, this quirky masterpiece mixes adventure, strategy, and a heavy dose of whimsy. The plot begins with a young king that inherits a mess of a kingdom. Done in something similar but not as irritating as anime style graphics, the game includes cultural references and clever innuendo as the king (you) assembles his motley crew of subjects. Be warned: there are scenes with drunken and crude behavior. Normally I’m no fan of the anime style nor lengthy multicharacter games, but this one seems to be the pacesetter. And if you don’t believe me, see what the gamers have to say. ($49.99)

And what should you be avoiding this summer?

First Up: Nintendo Wii

Species: Gamer Familia—Wii has the widest appeal to families, but hardcore gamers turn their noses skyward.

Characteristics: If President Obama was reincarnated as a game machine he’d be a Nintendo Wii. The Wii message is all about inclusivity. The company’s mission is to get everybody playing a game and everybody moving their bodies while they play. The success of the Wii and the Wii Fit are right on target with the mission. They have a diverse offering of software from a variety of publishers.

2009 Maturation: New hardware announcements at E3 included the Wii MotionPlus.

Slip your Wii Remote into this special jacket and you'll get increased precision allowing you to play new games.

By adding a sensitive gyroscope to the Wii Remote the company adds a more precise feel to the games. An archery game, for example, is sensitive to the tension of the bow, a ping-pong match really lets you control your force, spin, and speed. The Wii Fit, the balance board that brought women into the fold by appealing to gaming as a weight loss activity, also got some spruce up. Wii Fit Plus offers more exercise (think about directional hip shifting and more personalized fitness routines with more feedback).

More personalization for your special workout.

Super Mario was superstar. The red-shirted plumber is now featured in a multiplayer game, a new Olympic game. Also previewed was the Wii Vitality Sensor, a finger clip that measures pulse and galvanic skin response. No games were demoed for the vitality sensor, but you can just imagine Nintendo doing some cool things with biofeedback, relaxation, and meditation, can’t you?

Adding a new dimension to game play this peripheral will monitor pulse and other body functions.

Genus: Gamers in the audience were noticeably unmoved by the Wii’s E3 announcements. The appeal of the Wii is in its simplicity. (I’ve yet to see a game that wasn’t pretty intuitive.) And its diversity. From cooking up a virtual dish, playing in a virtual playground, getting a yoga workout, or solving a mystery, there are a more titles for the Wii than any other gaming system. And the offerings are equally divided for kids of all ages.

Next Up: SONY PlayStation 3 and PlayStation To Go

I’ve been scanning the reviews of the new DSi and becoming convinced that the techie crowd doesn’t understand that “something’s happening here.” Most reviews are using words like “evolutionary” and missing the point that when you put a camera, good microphone, and some great software in a portable game machine, it changes the nature of the game. I spoke with Warren Buckleitner, founder of Children’s Technology Review and the director of our Kids@Play Summit program. Warren calls the new DSi a “Digital Sandbox.”

By adding two (yes, two) digital cameras and a sensitive microphone, the DSi heralds another level of creativity and exploration. The two cameras (one faces inward so you can capture photos of yourself and one faces the outside world) come with software that lets you pull, yank, meld, and manipulate images using software special effects lenses. The sound and music tools let you use the DSi as an MP3 player, but, more importantly, lets you sample the sound of voices, birds chirping, and teachers lecturing, and then edit and manipulate them. The DSi, if used well, will unleash fantastic amounts of creativity.
To read more on why Warren thinks the DSi is magic in a kid’s hands, read his DSi impressions.

For a great synopsis of what’s new and different with more emphasis on the technical specs, I’ll point you towards John Davison’s review on WhatTheyPlay.com.