Kneebouncers is the brainchild of Jim Robinson, the father of three non-brain children who was frustrated that his slightly older children could play on the computer while his young daughter could not. His solution? Kneebouncers, a collection of web-based video game activities that only require that the baby or toddler playing be able to hit the keyboard.

Most of the activities are simple flash animations with colorful characters that animate when a button is pressed, almost like turning the page in a storybook. They are primitive, and barely even games as we define them, but it's less dangerous than crawling about on the floor eating plastic and licking electrical outlets, so I approve.

Bring your drooling offspring to http://www.kneebouncers.com to play. It's free, though a percentage of donations and proceeds from the sale of shirts and plushies goes to the Children's Aid Society.

The Turner-owned kids brand has commissioned SinoTech, a Beijing-based firm, to create online casual games based on its own characters as well as cartoon characters owned by SinoTech. The deal also gives SinoTech exclusive rights to sell ads around the games, with a focus on tapping new advertisers from China.

SinoTech will develop two games each month that can be deployed on Cartoon Network’s pan-regional site as well its localized site in Taiwan. The games they produce may find their way onto Cartoon Network’s other localized sites in Asia such as Japan and Korea, as well as on a mooted localized site for mainland China that's in the pipeline.

CN is looking for a piece of the casual Chinese pie, though it's doubtful they'll really be able to challenge QQ.com; still, CN execs are confident that their targeted kids market will give focus and direction to future marketing efforts.

Cartoon Network’s Chinese Dream [Asia Media Journal]

Absolutely, I'd be silly if I said I wasn't. We built this for our kids - I mean we built it scalable, and part of why we didn't have any VC money, no investors, was because we didn't build it as a business - we built it as a side project.

Lance, another of the partners - his oldest child and mine are about three months apart, and we were talking about how they were learning to use the mouse, starting to use the computer and the internet.

And it was that dialogue, and some technologies that Lance had been working on that really was the birth of Club Penguin. So a lot of this has come as a surprise.

I think there's a tendency to brush off these niche games since they're not 'serious' MMOs — even though they've done an incredible job of pulling in the subscribers with reasonably limited advertising and so on. Where will these types of games go from here — and their players? Club Penguin player today, WoW addict in a decade? I guess time will tell.

MMO Week: Club Penguin [GamesIndustry.biz via PlayNoEvil]

THQ's Nickelodeon Portfolio Surpasses Billion Dollar Mark as Company Announces Extensive New Lineup for 2008

First-Ever The Naked Brothers Band Video Game Puts Kids on Nationwide Concert Tour Where They Play Instruments, Control the Stage Shows and Create Music Videos

AGOURA HILLS, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—THQ Inc. (NASDAQ:THQI) today announced its upcoming portfolio of video games based on the company's long-standing relationship with Nickelodeon. THQ's longstanding partnership with Nickelodeon has resulted in sales of more than $1 billion and accounted for more than 50 million units worldwide.

This year's feature titles include the video game debut of The Naked Brothers Band. The Naked Brothers Band: The Video Game (working title) is based on the highly rated TV show that follows the lives of a kids' rock band fronted by real-life brothers Nat and Alex Wolff. In addition, SpongeBob SquarePants will take on a new creative form this year in Drawn to Life™: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition. Based on last year's top selling Drawn to Life™ video game for Nintendo DS™, the game will allow players to draw their own characters and populate the world of Bikini Bottom with their own creativity. The 2008 portfolio will also include new games based on leading Nickelodeon TV shows Tak and the Power of Juju, Avatar: The Last Airbender and Back At The Barnyard. Nickelodeon fans can also look forward to a new installment of the popular Nicktoons.

"With the enormous popularity of Wii™ and DS coupled with our exceptionally diverse portfolio of Nickelodeon-based games, THQ continues to lead in family entertainment," said Jim Huntley, director, global brand management, THQ. "Featuring new forms of gameplay such as the music-based The Naked Brothers Band and the drawing-based Drawn to Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition, we expect our upcoming titles to offer completely new ways for families to play together."

"Gaming is one of the primary activities of our audience, whether it's online or on the console," said Steve Youngwood, Executive Vice President, Digital Media for Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family. "THQ's interactive video games based on our hit shows have continued to help Nickelodeon maintain its position as a leader in gaming entertainment for the family, and we look forward to the addition of these new releases to our library."

The 2008 Nickelodeon portfolio is scheduled for release in Fall 2008 across multiple game systems, including the Wii™ video game console, the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and Nintendo DS. For more information on THQ's Nickelodeon titles and the rest of THQ's family product lineup, please visit www.playthq.com.

I call it the scribble factor. On the normal setting, the player can wildly scribble across the screen, mostly back and forth between enemies, and fair pretty well. Eventually, they must learn to make distinct and correct pen strokes to progress, but by that appointment they have a move-set so exciting and large it allows for plenty of creativity. The complexity's nice for advanced gamers. The scribble factor's great for a young player, creating a sense of wonder as the game translates his simple movements into elaborate, elegant attacks.

Baby's First Sword [Hardcasual]

As nauseating as the whole bubblegum-fashion explosion for adolescent girls can be to us "mature" adults, you can't fault Barbie for keeping up with the times. These virtual worlds for kids — the things I've been looking at on Worlds in Motion like Habbo, Puzzle Pirates, Nicktropolis and Toontown — are absolutely huge, able to generate way more hits and user activity than even the most popular MMO targeted at our set. This is big biz to corporations and advertisers right now, but even if it weren't, I guess it's sorta cool to see the evolution of the way children play with dolls keeping pace with technology.

In order to get access to the full version, players have to purchase (or get their parents to purchase for them) the $59.99 Barbie Girls MP3 player that functions as a USB key. The Bratz game requires the same sort of scheme, just at a cheaper price point (you get a doll and some stuff that Sexy Videogameland describes as "some pink computer peripherals (a mouse and pad) that look like Japanese sex toys") of $29.99. I'm fascinated, yet horrified. Yet fascinated. I neither knew about this stuff, nor realized it was so damn popular. BarbieGirls will be going to full release on 13 August.

Do You Guys KNOW About This Stuff? [Sexy Videogameland]

Other than renaming the service "Disney's Club Penguin," Disney said it has no immediate plans to change Club Penguin's operations, which will continue to run from Kelowna, Canada.

"Club Penguin is going to continue to exist as is," Iger said during the company's conference call to report quarterly earnings. "The experience will not change at all. We don't intend to get in the way of that or do anything that would in any way have a negative impact on their business."

Over at Terra Nova, Mike Sellers weighed in on how this might positively impact the future of browser-based MMOs: "If you were betting on a new MMO, would you bet on a scrappy, quickly deployed no-download, no-choking-on-retail, low-cost world, or one that sucks up $50M and five years on a roulette-like bet? Maybe those are the extremes, but I have to think that the bar for what might be considered to be viable worlds has just been lowered, and in a very good way."

Disney Acquires Club Penguin for $350M [Forbes via Terra Nova]

Who are Wii owners? Old people? Kids? My boss? (He just got a Wii, he's soooo excited.) Capcom knows who they ain't: The "mature playerbase." In a post over at the Capcom Forums, Capcom's Senior Director of Strategic Planning & Research Christian Svensson types:

We have more titles coming to Wii than what's been announced HOWEVER, I must admit, many of them (outside of RE which has a long and successful history on Nintendo platforms) are not mature titles (edit: and by that I mean M rated titles) despite the fact that's an area Capcom is known for.

By and large, I don't see the Wii being home to a sizeable mature playerbase outside of some of the early adopters. I see it as being very, very broad with a family focus. If there is a "core player base" on Wii (and it's might be so broad, there might be no such thing as "core"), within two years, it will probably be largely a younger player (or at least younger than 360 or PS3).

Geez, I hope that doesn't mean Capcom will use the Wii as its Mega-Man dumping ground. So whaddaya think, Kotaku-land: Wii, for children? Brian Ashcraft

Wii For Knee-Biters Says Capcom Person [WiiDS.co.uk, Thanks limpit!]

Bandai's plug and plays are hot. No, really. The company is recalling 173,816 units from its "Let's TV Play" series. Apparently, the cords are faulty and even slightly burned a child. There have also been 17 reports of chords overheating and smoking. Last year, Bandai shipped 173, 816 units and sold 135, 816 of 'em. Unfortunate, because these plug and plays look pretty neat: Kids wear wrist straps (above) and their physical movements register in-game action. And after that, the cords heat up, fill living rooms with smoke and frighten kids. Brian Ashcraft

Bandai Recall [Forbes, Thanks Michael!]

Lock up your daughters! The plug n play Dance Dance Revolution: Strawberry Shortcake is out. And so is My First Dance Dance Revolution and Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Mix. Here's the skinny: My First DDR clocks in at 19 songs and has five character and four mini-games. DDR: Disney is a reworking of the rare PS1 title and includes Disney standards like "It's A Small World." And DDR: Strawberry Shortcake includes strawberry scented stickers! To keep those little sock moppets from stinking up their mats, we guess. Brian Ashcraft

Kiddie DDR [Siliconera]

The man in the afro is Papaya Suzuki, who is apparently an "official disco ambassador." He's a fairly popular TV personality, best know for dancing and being on an eating show. What exactly is going on here? Got me. The refrain is something like "Want to do something? How about dance the polka?" The connection between Pokemon and the polka is beyond me and the rest of humanity, I'm sure. I've already watched this clip five times. It's making my brain bleed. Brian Ashcraft

For those unable to buy the real Pokemon VW Beetle, here are Pokemon toy cars. While Hot Wheels largely makes fantasy mini cars, Japan's Tomy makes realistic toy automobiles. From Hato tour buses and Japan Post mail trucks to Nissan Skylines and Honda Fits, Tomy's toy cars (called "Tomica") depict vehicles Japanese children are most likely to come in contact with everyday. Guess that explains these Pokemon wheels that come in yellow, blue and pink. They are a few years old, but I know that these toys are based off real autos like Toyota's Vitz. For the life of me, I cannot place them. A gold star to anyone who can. Brian Ashcraft

At an astounding 98 train stations in the greater Tokyo area, Japanese children can collect seven Pokemon stamps in the "East Japan Railway Pokemon Stamp Rally 2006." Out for summer vacation, moppets have endless time and patient to travel around Tokyo and get special Pokemon railway books stamped. Goody bags and sunvisors are also handed out to kids. The busy JR Yamanote train has also been covered in Pocket Monster characters. The carriages will be decked out in Pokemon Ranger until August 15th, making the morning commute way cuter than it needs to be. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Famitsu]

Mattel, the folks behind Nintendo's Power Glove and the Intellivision game console of yore, is back in the gaming saddle. The company is releasing a new game console called the Hyper Scan, which aimed at the "tween" (between 8 and 12 years old) market. Apparently, this bracket isn't quite ready for real hardware and needs training consoles. Um, okay. Sure.

The 32-bit system is CD based and merges paper card games with scanning technology. The discs go in the left side, while the cards are scanned over the red light on the right side. Players scan cards during play to update characters or save data. The system combines rewritable intellicards tech with "the fast-paced, button-mashing action of video games." It's about time! Because what's button-mashing with out writable cards? Nothing!

The game machine is packaged with an X-Men fighter and six game cards. The console boasts two controller ports, but includes only one joypad. Cough up that lunch money for an extra game cards and controller, kiddos. (Come this October, the Hyper Scan ships for US $70.) Me, I love the Hyper Scan. It's so bad! Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Insert Credit]

The above clip is from the Sega sponsored kiddy show Yuyusei no Yukorin and stars company campaign girl Yuko "Ditzy Phony" Ogura. The young cheese cake pin-up claims to have come to Earth from outer-space and speaks in a beyond irritating childish voice. Ogura, of course, actually talks nothing like that in real life (hit the jump for the manly vox proof). Regardless, her Lolita act hams it up on children's television for men impressionable young girls. Love Sega for the Dreamcast. Hate them for this show. Brian Ashcraft

Say hello to the Mushi King Terry. This Lucha libre mask wearing, golden turd caped wrestler is Sega's answer to I-don't-know-what-the-fuck. At an Tokyo event for the popular card game Mushi King, the wrestler made an appearance, oversaw the kiddy competition and hung out with some dude in a green cowboy outfit. The fighter's real name is Kotaro Suzuki, has a "Mushi King" rivalry with his arch nemesis Mushi King Joker and is even getting his own figurine. Ah, the face of Mushi King. With a golden turd. Fitting. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Game Watch]

Japanese train company JR East has teamed up with Nintendo to offer the Pokemon Suica card. Standing for Super Urban Intelligent CArd, Suica is a RFID e-money train pass. Commuters press Suica cards on the ticket wicket reader, and the train fare is charged to their accounts. To encourage children to use the cards in lieu of traditional magnetic train passes, a special Pokemon Suica card will be offered. The card can be used at places like the Pokemon Center in Yokohama to charge all sorts of goodies and also to wisk children off to the JR Pokemon Stamp Rally. The original Pokemon design Suica card will be unveiled this July, and kids will go bonkers.

More Here [K-tai Impress]

The man must've been forty. Carding him was like asking if he Pope was Catholic. He fished through his wallet, found his license and showed it to the Capcom jacket. The man was then ushered into a small cubicle, behind a white curtain to play the new Biohazard (Resident Evil in the U.S.) game.

Japan's Computer Entertainment Rating Organization has labeled Biohazard 4 as "For Players Older than 18 Years Old." To give you an idea of how CERO rates stuff, Metal Gear Solid is for ages 15 and up, Kameo is for players over 12 and Mario Kart is for all ages. Retailers are asked to sell software in accordance with these ratings, but are not punished should they choose not to do so.

You'd think, though, at an industry sponsored event, companies would actually follow these ratings and set an example. You'd think.

After all that, they still let a kid in.

A Bloody Product from a Fine Osaka Company [Capcom]

Rejoice kiddos! Now y'all can use keitais to support yer Mushi King and Oshare Majo habit. Just swipe a cell phone on the reader, which automatically deducts e-money stored on the cellie. This is not a new service, but it is new for kiddy games. Sega will start testing to see how the customers respond in a trial run. Wait, wait, wait. What are eight year-old children doing with mobiles? Scratch that. What are eight year-old children doing with mobiles that have e-money?

Oh yeah, this is Japan. Momentary brain fart. Sorry.

Full Release Here [Sega]