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Video Game System for Toddlers

Techstination feature for Thursday, February 19, 2004

A video game system for toddlers. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. Maybe they see their older brothers or sisters playing games on the PlayStation or Xbox. Soon there will be a solution to that toddler envy. Vtech Electronics will be coming out this fall with a video game platform for children between the ages of three and seven, the V.Smile TV Learning System. Marketing VP Julia Fitzgerald…says the purple and orange console hooks up to a TV…and uses software on what the company calls Smartridges…

"We have this unusual looking joystick. And it's designed for small hands. Again it's bright orange and purple, big knobs, big enter buttons. And so it looks like it's a pre-school toy because it is designed for young, pre-school hands. It makes the games very easy to navigate."

The games…to the relief of parents no doubt…are designed to be educational…

"It comes with one Smartridge, and it's called Alphabet Park. And it also comes with a library that's sold separately of ten other Smartridges. There are three Vtech brands and then there's also seven licensed Smartridges. "

The system will sell for about sixty dollars…with the games costing about twenty dollars apiece. Moving on from there, Vtech is using handwriting recognition in another toy due out this fall…the Write and Learn Smartboard. It will cost about thirty dollars…and will help children learn to write letters and numbers. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.