>>Reuters Article on Elmo's Letter...
you left something out Director....
Programs: Fun and games for kids
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Reuters) - "...ELMO'S NOT LETTER PERFECT
The words ''PlayStation'' and ''educational'' do not usually appear in the same sentence because you'd be hard-pressed to find PlayStation games -- or products for Nintendo 64 or Game Boy, for that matter -- that have any type of educational value. NewKidCo is trying to change that.
The company has released two Sesame Street titles for the PlayStation, ''Elmo's Letter Adventure'' and ''Elmo's Number Journey,'' both for ages 3 to 6. ''Elmo's Adventures in Grouchland,'' involving colors and shapes, is scheduled for release in the fall, as are versions of these games for Game Boy and Nintendo.
NewKidCo is trying to take advantage of the tendency of children to favor game systems over PCs, and the fact that toddlers often want to mimic the game-playing tastes of their older brothers and sisters. ''Elmo's Letter Adventure'' lets them be like the older kids with a game that's at their level.
''Elmo's'' is exceptionally easy to play. For example, when you're flying through space, you can only go forward, backward and select a letter. Several buttons serve the same function. When it's time to move in and out of a game, flashing lights show the child which buttons they can push. There are three levels of difficulty, depending on whether you want the child to learn upper or lower-case letters.
One thing I did not like: certain letters were restricted to certain activities. As you're swimming underwater, for example, the only letters to appear are E, K, I, O, V and Z. I was surprised that the game does not randomly mix them up. And if you want to get to common letters like B, C, D, S or T, the youngster has to make it to a bonus world and select the letter that corresponds to the first letter of a word.
For the hefty $40 price tag, it's surprisingly limited..."
SOURCE: © 1999 REUTERS/VARIETY April 22
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