February 5, 2008 2:11 PM PST

LeapFrog to release Nintendo DS competitor: The Didj

Posted by David Carnoy

LeapFrog's upcoming Didj gaming system.

(Credit: LeapFrog)

I stopped by a LeapFrog event today to at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. I was pleasantly surprised when the company representatives trotted out a new handheld learning/gaming system, the Didj ($89.99), which is due to arrive this summer. LeapFrog doesn't exactly bill the Didj as a Nintendo DS competitor, but the the new device is geared toward 6- to 10-year-olds, an age bracket where the DS currently rules.

LeapFrog also had its upcoming Leapster 2 ($69.99) at the event, which is targeted at even younger children. The idea behind the Didj is to up the gaming and graphics ante while continuing to integrate the learning stuff that the company's known for. Those educational elements are starting to show up in a handful of DS games, but LeapFrog's giving the whole educational-gaming slant a harder spin to appeal to parents who would prefer to have their grade-schoolers graduate to something other than the DS.

While the Didj doesn't have a Wi-Fi connection like the DS, there's a whole online angle that LeapFrog's working with its LeapFrog Connect Application. The application lets children customize game content (the device connects via USB to both PCs and Macs).

According to LeapFrog's news release, "Players first select and personalize an avatar. Then they design the game, choosing background scenery, color schemes or music. Most important, parents and kids can then customize content, connecting gameplay with schoolwork. Multiplication hard to master? Kids can choose to be quizzed on the 6s, 7s and 8s tables. Spelling a stumbling block? Kids can create a custom spelling list from the 10,000-word database and practice for next week's test."

The Leapster 2 will be available this July as well.

(Credit: LeapFrog)

I saw an early build of the game that ships with Didj and the graphics are indeed--excuse the pun--a nice leap forward for LeapFrog. The system is scheduled to be released in July with an MSRP of $90 and a total of 10 games will be available during the first year, including Star Wars and Indiana Jones branded titles.

Here's a rundown of the Didj's key specs:

Processor: 393 MHz Arm 9
Display: 320x240 resolution
One 24-bit 2D layer (no hardware acceleration)
One 16-bit 3D layer
One YUV video layer (no hardware acceleration)
Graphics: API OpenGL ES 1.1--A reduced instruction set version of OpenGL for embedded systems
Main RAM: 32 MB DDRI 131 MHz
NAND Flash: 256MB for data storage/download content
Media Cartridge: 64MB
System Software: Brio--Firmware is built on an abstraction layer called Brio to make OS and hardware transparent to developers. This means all software must be ported to Brio to run on this device.
Screen LCD: 3.2 inches, 16.7-Million Color TFT