Microsoft's new gaming interface, dubbed Project Natal, takes the concept of Nintendo's Wii (much loved in our household) a step further by eliminating the controller altogether and enabling the interface to track 11 different points on the player's body. It's pretty incredible, as you can see:



Not sure about a game designed simply to have you flailing, but the potential for this interface is pretty exciting. - Jeremiah

Toon Books - the series that redefines "comics" for young children and makes them an invaluable early reading tool - introduced us to some surprisingly versatile online comic panel creation software that your kids will enjoy playing with.

After fooling around with it, I wrote:

In fact, it works so well, they should take it further. Add the ability to sequence multiple panels on a page and to draw your own characters with a rudimentarly drawing tool, and they could either sell this software on a standalone basis or provide exclusive access to purchasers of their books through an access code.

Then I started browsing some more and realized that Comics Lab Extreme, a companion product to the Comics Lab that Toon Books had brought me to, does just that. Multipage comic books, artwork upload, and more. Great stuff for tech-savvy kids with an interest in comics. And it's all free.

Anyone out there have kids who love a particular comics software, online or off? - Jeremiah

Every time I see this show, I have to wonder... Isn't there a way this could be adapted for children's birthday parties?

At any rate, your child will love you for introducing it to them.



- Jeremiah

Warning: Despite the Disneyesque look to the beginning of Michael Gagne's short animated film "A Touch of Deceit," this is probably not something for your toddler. Any five-year-old with a taste for gothic action, however, will think it rocks.


The amusingly dark but ultimately harmless film is by Michel Gagne, a Canadian animator who resurfaced on our radar today when we discovered the most artistic and exciting take on the drive-a-spaceship-through-hazards genre in a long time. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is based largely on Gagne's animated shorts for Nickelodeon run under the series title Insanely Twisted Shadow Puppets, which I found disturbing enough not to embed here, lest your easily-frightened children come across it while reading Punnybop over your shoulder. (That's what this blog is designed for, by the way.) As for Shadow Planet, combination of the detailed silhouette outlines, the judicious use of color, and the imaginative world-making that is part organic, part machine, is an exciting thing to see in a side-scrolling, arcade-style game. Just look at it - it's beautiful.


Rumor has it Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet will be an XBox Live offering as well as a PC game, but the whole point of this "trailer" is for Gagne and his partners to get some investors to help bring this game to the marketplace. You can find out more, and see some of those Puppet videos, on Gagne's website. - Jeremiah

Kodu is a new "game" for the Xbox 360 that is actually a relatively rich game creator, but one that uses only an Xbox controller for programming input.


A demo is free, and a full version of the software costs 400 points. Maybe an Xbox user knows what that means?

According to the Kodu website, the software offers:

• High-level language incorporates real-world primitives: collision, color, vision


• Uses Xbox 360 Game Controller for input - no keyboard required


• Runs on XBox 360 and PC


• Interactive terrain editor


• Bridge and path builder


• Terrain editor - create worlds of arbitrary shape and size


• 20 different characters with different abilities

Chris Wilson has a great early review up on Slate. Here's an excerpt:

Kodu offers enough different commands and characters that can be used to make games within the game. UFOs can be programmed to shoot missiles and dodge enemy combatants at the press of a button, accumulating points toward a "win condition" that ends the game when you reach a certain total. If you want to make a side-scrolling game like Super Mario Bros., you can alter the camera perspective. Equally satisfying, I found, was to build peaceful worlds that change and evolve according to my rules—a digital terrarium in which trees launch glowing fruit and little creatures mingle peacefully and multiply. As you build your world, it becomes increasingly likely you will get strange and unexpected results when all of your rules interact. In my first game, I unwittingly created a never-ending cascade of exploding apples as two of my trees perpetually provoked one another—a fantastic demonstration of the dangers of coding an infinite loop.

I remember coding in Basic on my Texas Instruments Home Computer back in the early '80s, and there was nothing more thrilling than designing insulting Q&As for my little sister to gamely plod through. It's nice to see how far things have come. On the other hand, we've seen a lot of educational toys, board games, and the like all try to help teach the basics of programming, and know that with children of any age (and, increasingly, adults) learning experiences delay gratification at their peril. The question is, how complex is Kodu, and how easily can a child get some reward that will motivate them to really dig deep into this software? If you or your child has played with this, let us know. We'd love to hear your impressions. - Jeremiah

Jenni and I both got iPhone 3GSses a week ago and naturally we are letting Z use them a bit. We'll be sharing nice apps for young kids as we find them.

First up is Learning Touch's FirstWords series. Jenni downloaded the FirstWords Vehicles app and Z played happily through the less-entertaining stretches of a very nice meal we had in Houston before taking her to see Swan Lake.


(Hmm... If I turn my iPhone sideways will it shoot horizontal video?)

I just wish they offered (a) more words per app - at 26 vocabulary words repeats come up fast - and/or (b) levels of play - why not allow a child to progress to the point where they have to put the letters in order without the aid of shadow text?

To anyone who wouldn't let their child touch a new gadget with a ten-foot pole, I say to you: First, why are you letting them play with a ten-foot pole? And second, how else will we train the next generation of digerati? I find it endearing and heartening for her to have already mastered not only the screen swipe but the zoom in/zoom out movements used in the GPS/mapping program. We control the environment she uses them in quite closely, and also make sure she knows we are letting her play with our toys, i.e. ownership is not shared. That said, I can't wait to introduce her to the iPhone Oregon Trail... I've beaten it twice now solo, and don't have many more challenges to throw its way, but helping Z drive her way to Manifest Destiny? Any day now!

Any iPhone users out there with kid-friendly apps to recommend? - Jeremiah