- This page contains a complete list
of the products reviewed in the Complete Sourcebook
on Children's Interactive Media, 2002 Edition
(available May 1).
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- Children's Interactive Media, Defined
- For the purposes of this Sourcebook, we define
"children's interactive media" as interactive
electronic activities intended for children up to 15
years of age, or up to 9th grade. These might be
delivered via CD-ROMs, ROM chips, the Internet, or as
a stand alone toy.
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- How May Products Are Available?
- A total of 6809 products were considered as as of
December 31, 2001, designed for children of all ages
(even babies) and covering nearly every subject. Of
these, over 5700 were considered for this year's
edition of the Sourcebook. The sourcebook contains
graphs by year that show that the significant increase
in the numbers of new releases that took place from
1992 to 1996 has stopped, however there is an overall
increase in the numbers of videogame and smart toy
products.. a migration of interactive media away from
complex operating systems and expensive hardware.
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- What Subjects are Covered?
- There is more software available related to
reading (or language arts) (1134 titles, or 29% of the
software) than any other school subject. Other
subjects for which it is easy to find software are
math (724 titles), science (674), creativity (626),
history (462) and geography (304). You can search for
these and 40 other subject areas using the Children's
Software Finder, found at www.childrenssoftware.com.
Just type the subject in the "Teaches" field.
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- Significant Trends
As time passes, children's interactive media is
available in more diverse formats. As with last year,
the most significant increase is in the game console
area (PlayStation 1 and 2, Xbox, Game Cube and Game
Boy Advance). Other areas of significant change are in
the number of children's smart toys (an increase) and
in subscription based web sites (a decrease). Also
significant is the general decrease in titles for
Windows and Macintosh desktop computers since the high
point reached in 1996. Our conclusion is that the
amount of time children spend with interactive
experiences has not decreased over the past four
years. Children are, however, more likely to encounter
these experiences on a hardware platform other than a
desktop computer. Here is a listing of the just the
newer products for each hardware platform:
2001 and 2002 Products, by Platform
Windows: 538
Macintosh: 297
PlayStation 1: 105
PlayStation 2: 63
Xbox: 29
Game Cube: 15
Game Boy Color: 43
Game Boy Advance: 75
Web Sites: 26
Smart Toys: 54
- Products Not Considered for Review
- The following products are not considered
for review in the Sourcebook.
- • Shareware, products that are not for sale
on the commercial market, unless noted.
- • Most overseas software (not marketed or
available in North America). We've made an effort,
however, to cover significant overseas products that
we find to be newsworthy or that is likely to be of
interest to the US market. We do, for example, include
the Bologna New Media Prize winners.
- • Videogames that are not appropriate for
children. CSR uses the general guidelines established
by the ESRB. Products that receive an E or T rating
are considered. If there is educational value in any
activity, it is reviewed.
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