Leapster

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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (May 2007)

Leapster is an educational handheld gaming device aimed at 3-10 year olds, made by LeapFrog Enterprises. Its games teach the alphabet, phonics, basic math (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division), and art and animal facts. It features a touchscreen with a stylus that enables young users to point directly.

[edit] History

Released in 2003, it has since undergone several revisions. The Leapster L-Max, which is a version that has one extra feature (the TV output, which allows the user to view and hear gameplay on their television) was released in 2004, and the product's size has decreased. Leapster TV, a screenless version with the same basic control layout in a console form, was released in 2005. It is presently the best-selling educational handheld, and has sold about 4 million units and 12 million software cartridges since its inception, as of May 2007. It is regularly sold in 9 countries directly, and in another 7 for teaching English as a second language in schools. The mascot of it is a frog.

[edit] Technical specifications:

CPU: Custom ASIC containing an ARCTangent 5.1 CPU, running at 96MHz.
Memory: 2MB onboard RAM, 256 bytes non-volatile.
Media type: Cartridges of 4-16MB with between 2 and 512kb non-volatile storage.
Graphics: No hardware acceleration.
Audio: Proprietary hardware audio acceleration.
Screen: 160x160 CSTN with touch sensing.

[edit] Content:

There are presently approximately 40 games available, and over 50 have been created. This is the largest library for any educational handheld. The two most successful Leapfrog games are: Leapfrog Leapster and Clickstart My First Computer. Their L-Max Leapster product game is their pillar product.

LeapFrog prides itself on creating superior educational content which auto-levels the curriculum based on the child's input. All games have a "Hint" function that will bring up audio or animated information on controls or curriculum.