LeapFrog Leapster2 and Didj: Handheld Edu-Gamers For the Pre-iPod/Cellphone/DS Fans

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Today, LeapFrog pulled the veil off of two handhelds aimed at edu-taining kids who are still too young for an iPod, a cellphone and maybe even a Nintendo DS. The Leapster2 is a $70 streamlined, net-connected version of the first Leapster, a chunky, ergonomic thing designed for kids ages 4-8, with new games from the Star Wars and soon-to-be-everywhere-I-can-feel-it Pixar WALL-E franchises. The cooler of the two, and an acknowledgment that LeapFrog knows its handheld competition, is the customizable ARM9-powered Didj, as in, "Did you do your homework, young man?"

The $90 Didj is aimed at "discerning" kids ages 6 to 10. It's probably the highest-resolution screen ever seen on the notoriously low-rez LeapFrog toys, a 3.2" full-color 320x240 LCD, backed by a 393MHz processor. This enables gaming opportunities from the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog—with GBAish graphics in our preview—as well as room for customization: not only can kids mod the look and feel of games, but they can, say, build spelling lists to fit their class assignments from a database of 10,000 words. (That ain't Shakespeare's compleat 24,000-word vocab, but it's a start.) Also new to Leapfrog: Mac compability, which should arrive in September.

I know, some of you think you're a bit old to be reading about LeapFrog, but many of you already have kids you're shopping for, and others have a hankering for weird stuff to crack open and play with. We're not saying go out and buy this; we are saying that if you do, to use, share with your kids or to mod the hell out of, be sure to share your experiences.

http://gizmodo.com/352886/leapfrog-l...ds-demographic