New 'educational gaming console' from Hasbro!

[FlashStash]

Meet....the ION!


http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/09/news/midcaps/hasbro_ion/

FS

[Lady Jaye]

That's an interesting use of the Eyetoy technology, but those same educational games could've been released on the PS2 w/ Eyetoy instead...

[calthaer]

Dumbness. You'd think people would learn from bombs like the 3DO and other things that were overpriced and didn't have a lot of quality games. For the same price, they could get their kids a GameCube.

[Lady Jaye]

Exactly. The fact that it's a dedicated console (an overpriced one too) is not a good thing. They mentioned in the article LeapFrog. Frankly, if I were the parent of a young child, I'd rather go for the well-established product (in this case, LeapFrog) and later move on to gaming consoles than a new product that may or may not stay in the market long enough to be interesting. And at least the LeapPad is not only well supported, but it's also quite versatile (Steve's cousin has one, so that's how I know).

[WanganRunner]

Anyone seen this one? I noticed a poster for it while I was cleaning up at the TRU sales.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00023JJOS/qid=1108406571/br=1-3/ref=br_lf_t_img_3//103-5203376-9510260?v=glance&n=13822891&s=imaginarium

Replaceable carts, detachable controllers, etc...

I can't imagine ever actually wanting to play something on it, but it seems neat just from a collection standpoint.

[Gapporin]

Anyone seen this one? I noticed a poster for it while I was cleaning up at the TRU sales.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00023JJOS/qid=1108406571/br=1-3/ref=br_lf_t_img_3//103-5203376-9510260?v=glance&n=13822891&s=imaginarium

Replaceable carts, detachable controllers, etc...

I can't imagine ever actually wanting to play something on it, but it seems neat just from a collection standpoint.

Yep, my nephew has one. Think of it as educational games running on SNES hardware with speech capablities. The games are of pretty good quality, but, obviously, it's not something you would invite your buddies over for a multiplayer fest on.

[WanganRunner]

I think I'm going to try to pick up a NIB one when they inevitable blow them out at rock bottom prices someday.

I've been on a kick with oddball hardware recently. Gameking, Tiger R-Zone, Game.com, Supervision, blah blah blah.

[Vectorman0]

Anyone seen this one? I noticed a poster for it while I was cleaning up at the TRU sales.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00023JJOS/qid=1108406571/br=1-3/ref=br_lf_t_img_3//103-5203376-9510260?v=glance&n=13822891&s=imaginarium

Replaceable carts, detachable controllers, etc...

I can't imagine ever actually wanting to play something on it, but it seems neat just from a collection standpoint.

My godson has one of these. He actually prefers the pico I got him, which is cool. I prefer it too.

[Flack]

I can't imagine buying any of that stuff since I own a PC. What does the LeapFrog and/or Pico do that off the shelf PC software doesn't?

[Bratwurst]

This product -does- have a market, and they are called the weepy-parent-demographic. It doesn't matter that Manhunt, GTA San Andreas are on the Playstation 2 and not the Gamecube, they don't want to expose their children to uber-violence to any degree. Hyper hysteria through CNN (and especially Fox News) creates a blind bias towards all of the mainstream console platforms. When regarding the Hasbro Ion, the consumer is guaranteed electronic Sesame Street at point of purchase and in the foreseeable future.

There are also parents looking to get their kid something in addition to the Gamecube.

[Dahne]

Hey, games are already educational! For instance, I've learned that if the police come after me for stealing a car, I should go home and change into different clothes. Also, I've learned never to attack giant snails when their heads are retracted inside their shells.