Water Cooler Games served as the web's primary forum for "videogames with an agenda" — coverage of the uses of video games in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment.
The site was maintained at watercoolergames.org from 2003-2009, where it was edited by myself and Gonzalo Frasca. It is now archived here in full.
Educational electronics manufacturer LeapFrog announced the availability of their new Leapster educational gaming handheld, calling it an alternative to Nintendo's GameBoy system, offering "educational alternative for portable game playing."
Slashdot also reports on a LeapFrog spokesperson's comments on the launch:
Nintendo would probably not admit catering to this demographic either. Last year when I was asking Nintendo for feedback on a GameBoy based educational product idea that appealed to exactly that age range, their reps told me that kids aren't even on their radar until they are 8 years old. Some of this may have to do with the fact that the ESRB doesn't typically issue ratings that cover kids under 6 (the EC rating) to video games.
I can't comment yet on the actual educational value of the Leapster. The LeapPad does provide actual educational value, although I'd characterize it as casual educational value. In any event, I think LeapFrog's market positioning for the device is quite smart.
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