LeapFrog® Didj Custom Learning Gaming System

by LeapFrog

Product Features

• First-ever gaming handheld that connects to the computer so kids can customize both gaming and learning
• Totally customized gaming: Kids customize their characters, backgrounds, animation, music and more
• Truly customized learning: sync the games to skills your child is studying in school
• Library of games featuring favorite characters from SpongeBob SquarePants, Star Wars and Indiana Jones
• Included and additional games teach skills in a range of subjects, such as language arts, spelling, math and math facts

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2.5 x 10.5 x 13 inches ; 1.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00134PLN8
• Item model number: 30672
• Manufacturer recommended age: 6 - 10 years
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,939 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (136 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

With games that reinforce skills like math and spelling, the LeapFrog DIDJ is a custom gaming system that parents won't mind seeing their children spending their afternoons with. Using your computer and the LEAPFROG Connect application, games can be customized to provide all kinds of learning opportunities for all kids between the ages of six to ten.

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What We Think Fun Factor: Durability: (what this means) The Good: Entertaining, interactive system with educational games. The Bad: The computer interface takes a little getting used to. In a Nutshell: Customizable digital characters and worlds make learning fun. At a Glance Ages: 6 to 10 Requires: Four AA batteries and a computer with an Internet connection for set up.

Making the DIDJ Your Own
Before kids start creating, an adult will want to install four AA batteries (not included) in the DIDJ and set up the system. A convenient product guide pamphlet walks you through the necessary set-up tasks. This process involves installing the LEAPFROG Connect application onto your computer and transferring the included game, JetPack Heroes, onto the handheld DIDJ with a USB cable (included).

Before you close the software down, kids will want to create their own custom avatars using the Didjerator. With a huge color palette to utilize, and the ability to make your avatar a robot with vampire fangs or dress it in a tuxedo with sneakers, it may take awhile to get each character perfect. Once this is done, the avatars can be downloaded to the handset and are available to play in any game that uses Didji characters.

Fun, Customizable Way to Learn
The included game, JetPack Heroes, stars your favorite character in a fight against the villain Gooracha. Players use math skills to free the energy buddies they have captured and provide light and life for the entire planet. Quick fingers control the hero's jet pack and gun that is used to navigate the erratic landscape and stop enemy goons in between answering addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems.

Additional games that develop skills like vocabulary and spelling are available. One enticing feature of the interactive software is that points that are earned while playing, called Bitz, can be uploaded to your computer and then traded in for micromods, game updates such as new spaceships, backgrounds, or music.

Interactive Education
Overall, we had a great time creating our own characters and immersing ourselves in DIDJ worlds. The computer interface was clearly designed with young computer users in mind, which makes it easy to navigate. Several point and click menus put a wide variety of tools at your fingertips.

One cool interactive feature is the learning path. After game information is uploaded from the handset, parents can follow a link in the connect software to see their children's progress, making it easy to track success.

Kids are sure to enjoy studying for tests when they can set the DIDJ to use their own math facts and spelling words, making this unique system a great investment.

What's in the Box
Didj, USB cable, and CD with LEAPFROG connect computer application, which includes one game.

PC Requirements:

Windows XP or Windows Vista operating system
Pentium III 500 MHz processor
Monitor resolution of at least 1024 X 768
Available USB port
256 MB of RAM (512 MB recommended)
300 MB free disk space
Internet connection
Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 or higher
CD reader

Mac Requirements:

Mac OS X 10.4+
PPC G4 or any Intel-based Apple computer
Monitor resolution of at least 1024 X 768
Available USB port
256 MB of RAM (512 MB recommended)
300 MB free disk space
Internet connection
Safari application
CD reader

Product Description

Introducing Didj, the all-new gaming system featuring totally thrilling gaming and truly customized learning. It's the first-ever gaming handheld that lets you customize both learning and gaming. Just connect it to your computer to play action-packed games and sharpen your skills as you study what you need for school. Earn points as you play; then trade them for cool downloads to make each game your own. Expand your learning experience with a software library full of your favorite characters and themes. Software sold separately. Requires 4 "AA" batteries, not included.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

240 of 245 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better than a gameboy - barely, September 15, 2008

By 

Working Mom "Working Mom" (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: LeapFrog® Didj Custom Learning Gaming System (Toy)

I was happy to discover my 8YO son enjoyed his Didj as much as his gameboy. However, I would like to see more "education" in the educational games. The games are similiar to gameboy, nintendo, etc games, but there is a little bit of educational material stuffed in there. It is in no way comparable to the Leapster (other reviewers - if my son was only 5 - he would still be on the leapster as it is a much better toy). However, since he had mastered all of the games leapster had to offer, we moved on.

Where the leapster is constant education, the didj is 95% games and 5% education (if you call it that). The leapster teaches, the didj just tests your knowledge. The games play for several minutes and then to get to the next level, the child has to "break a code" (or something similiar) by correctly answering 3 multiple choice questions. If the child guesses correctly then he is awarded points. Not much education.

One nice thing about didj is that children earn points that they can redeem online for games or mods for their didj. Yes, there is shooting in some of the games, and some are violent, but I have not seen any blood yet. I think leapfrog could've done better.

If your child is younger than 8 or 9, give them a leapster and hope leapfrog decides to make some educational games for Didj before they outgrow the leapster games. Didj is more like a gameboy than a learning tool.

Syncing: I was unable to sync with my Vista laptop even after downloading their updated software, but syncing with an older XP laptop worked fine. I am hoping to get in touch with Leapfrog tech support but they are only open during the hours I work.

Battery Life: I purchased the recharger with the Didj and I noticed the Didj has to be recharged more often than the Leapster. I would hate to put batteries in this thing.

Hardware: The unit is sturdy, just right for 6-10 YO hands. The graphics are great, superior to many small game systems I've seen and much better than the leapster, but it is not a touch screen. My son seems happy with the given controls.

If this was sold as a toy, I would rate it higher because it is fun. As an "educational toy", this is a big disappointment.

119 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great step up from the leapster, July 12, 2008

By 

R. Worne - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: LeapFrog® Didj Custom Learning Gaming System (Toy)

I purchased this as a replacement for the pink Leapster my daughter has been using for the last 3 or so years.

The didj is roughly the size of a closed Nintendo DS (a tad bulkier) and the screen is a considerable improvement over the Leapster. The screen is slightly smaller than the Leapster screen, but with higher resolution and better colors and contrast. I do worry a tad about the screen getting scratched up - the Leapster used a stylus and its screen could take a beating, but this one has a glossy screen that will show fingerprints and scratches easier.

One thing to note for those of us who use Apple computers: The didj supports Macs (and Windows too) right out of the box.

So, after unpacking it and loading the batteries, it's ready to connect to the computer - almost. First you need to create a profile on the handheld. Run the included CDROM and the didj software and one free game (Jetpack Heroes) are downloaded to the computer. My unit also required a firmware update. This took about 10-15 minutes altogether to complete.

One of the big features is being able to track your child's progress and creating your own content by periodically syncing the didj with the computer, but I cannot review this now since this feature will not be available until August.

Gameplay looks a lot like flash-based games and remind one of the Leapster's offerings - although with much, much, better graphics. Your child can also create a Mii-like character to send to the games. Part of the reward system is earning credits (Bitz) - by answering questions correctly - these are used to unlock features and add-ons for the games via the LeapFrogConnect application.

One word of warning: When the didj is hooked up to a computer, it will (on a Mac at least) show up as a removable drive. On that drive are various files stored on the didj. You will mess up the system if you mess with these files. Leapfrog needs to fix this issue in a future update.

In a nutshell - this is no Nintendo DS. It is cutting-edge and a considerable improvement over the Leapster. All this thing needs now is a bigger library of titles.

EDIT:

After letting the kid play with it for a while, here are some more insights:

1. The battery life is quite good, though not quite as long as the Leapster. I still plan on getting the rechargeable battery pack.
2. The screen does scratch. Sometime after getting the didj, my daughter picked up a Nintendo DS stylus to see if it would work on the screen. Now there are a couple of barely-noticeable small hairline scratches on the screen.
3. The didj one day said it needed to connect to the computer to fix something. What it turned out to be was the Foster's game cartridge messed up its savegame data on the didj. Deleting that game's data fixed the problem.
4. We still like the system, though aside from seeing the system for sale in one retail store, we still have yet to see anyplace selling cartridges. Online is the best bet for getting cartridges now.

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good...in theory, October 13, 2008

By 

B. Brown (DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: LeapFrog® Didj Custom Learning Gaming System (Toy)

This is a good toy in theory. As a homeschooling mom, I was looking forward to an educational game that can track my children's learning. Unfortunately, ever since I purchased it, I have had to deal with bugs from the Leapfrog system. From something as simple as the fact that the program needed, Leapfrog Connect, would not install on my brand new computer. All I kept getting was that my computer did not meet system requirements. Leapfrog was no help. I finally discovered it was because my screen resolution was wrong according to Leapfrog Connect. Really. It runs just fine on my normal resolution but I had to go back and reset it to install. Ridiculous.

Second, the Leapfrog site kept bouncing back my registration and when it finally accepted it, it bounced back my login.

When I finally got on, I linked everything. It was great. Then the next time I logged on, everything was gone. So I created another "footprint". The third time I logged on, it was all back...now I have duplicate footprints and no way to delete them. Today I logged on and the footprints are there, but the links to the games are gone.

Leapfrog answers my queries, normally there's no real solution though. I am just frustrated with all of these bugs for a children's product. I could put together an Ikea bedroom set faster than it has taken to deal with all these issues. Oh, and my son has earned learning points...and Leapfrog has yet to set up the reward system as advertised.

This has a potential to be a great product for keeping tabs on your child's learning while s/he has fun. It's the waiting for them to get the bugs fixed (which should have been done before the system went on the market) that brings this system down from great to ok. I feel like I have the children's version of Windows Vista in my hands.