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Leapfrog Launches GBA-Style Educational Handheld

Posted by simoniker on from the time-to-reverse-engineer? dept.

Thanks to Yahoo/Reuters for their story on the launch of Leapfrog's educational handheld, the Leapster. The article says the handheld is "aimed at giving parents an alternative to Nintendo's GameBoy system, [and] plays educational games and interactive videos." It retails for $79, with game cartridges costing around $25, and a Leapfrog spokesman commented on the reasoning behind today's launch: "A half a million GameBoys were sold last year for kids in the 3-1/2 to 6-1/2-year-old age group, but try to get parents to admit that in a focus group. This is a completely untapped market."

3 of 28 comments (clear)

  1. I know this is stupid... by Masami+Eiri · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But wouldn't it be easier just to make education GBA games? After all, you don't make profit on the hardware....

    1. Re:I know this is stupid... by NanoGator · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "And pay Nintendo how much in licensing fees per cart? And how much per dev station?"

      You think either of those is going to be more expensive than R&D + parts to build systems?

      I agree with you that the games will be a tough sell, but the other arguments are ridiculous.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
  2. You guys are missing the point... by SoCalChris · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Leapfrog doesn't make things for teenagers. The users that Leapfrog is aiming for would tear a GBA to shreds in a few hours.

    My 16 month old son LOVES Leapfrog toys. They keep his attention far longer than any of the other toys he has. They are also educational, brightly colored, and fun looking. GBA's are small, have tiny buttons, are boring to look at from a toddler's point of view, have many opening to stick crumbs and other things into, and the clamshell design on the new ones would almost immedeately get torn in half.

    Looking at it from the perspective of a parent, I think my son would love one of these. When he's a teenager, he'll want something more advanced, but for now this would be great for him. I think Leapfrog knows what they're doing here.