Canadian parents seek alternative to traditional video game content

Reading, writing and - video games? With the new
school year now underway, parents and children are easing back into daily
routines and looking for ways to balance fun time with brain time - and that
can mean figuring out how to keep everyone happy when it comes to playing
video games. According to a recent VTech Electronics/COMPAS survey, 76 per
cent of parents with children aged 3 to 8 are concerned the content of many
video games is inappropriate for young children, and 81 per cent feel children
spend too much time playing video games. Still, 60 per cent of these parents
say their oldest child in this age group currently indulges in video games.
"Parents want their kids to have fun, but at the same they don't want to
always be 'giving in' to video games because traditional video game content
can often be violent or just simply inappropriate for young children," says
Robin Raskin, a leading authority on families and technology who has authored
several books on parenting in the digital age, including Parents, Kids and
Computers: An Activity Guide for Family Fun and Learning. "Elementary school
kids and even pre-schoolers are extremely media-savvy these days - they're
influenced by everything from older siblings to playmates to the world around
them. Parents need to reconcile this natural curiosity with an age-appropriate
solution."

Taking the guilt out of fun: VTech bring smiles to parents and kids
An age-appropriate solution to the video game dilemma is something that
most Canadian parents would welcome. In fact, even 76 per cent of parents
whose children currently do not play video games said they would buy video
games that motivate children to get involved in learning, and 86 per cent of
all parents surveyed felt that educational video games could be helpful for a
child's development.
VTech Electronics, the company that pioneered the electronic learning
category 28 years ago, has developed two new products that address parents'
concerns while still delivering interactive fun for kids: the V.Smile(TM)
Television Learning System and V.Smile(TM) Pocket - first of their kind,
primary learning products that use a video game format to deliver education in
a fresh and entertaining way.
"The V.Smile TV Learning System and V.Smile Pocket are products that
benefit children and help parents feel good about saying 'yes' to video
games," says Julia Fitzgerald, vice president of marketing, VTech Electronics
North America. "V.Smile meets kids' desires for cool, while addressing
parents' demands for engaging educational and age-appropriate content."

V.Smile TV Learning System
VTech's award-winning V.Smile TV Learning System offers learning and fun
for children ages 3 to 7 by combining educational content and popular
characters in a video game platform that connects directly to the television.
V.Smile teaches essential day-to-day skills and curricula such as language,
math, vocabulary and problem solving through entertaining gameplay with
exchangeable game Smartridges(TM) - cartridges that deliver brain-boosting
fun! Suggested retail price: $79.99.

V.Smile Pocket
V.Smile Pocket is a portable, state-of-the-art handheld educational video
game system for children ages 5 and up. It connects to the television so kids
can play on the big screen - and when it's time to go, can be disconnected to
take along without disrupting the game or the fun! V.Smile Pocket is a sibling
to the V.Smile TV Learning System, and is fully compatible with the V.Smile
Smartridge library. Suggested retail price: $114.99.

V.Smile Smartridges
Each Smartridge features a multi-curricular Learning Adventure game that
sets the child on an engaging mission with popular characters they know and
love. Each Smartridge also contains three-to-four age-appropriate Learning
Zone games for kids to enjoy specific activities and practice a particular
learning area, such as telling time or the alphabet. Suggested retail price:
$29.99 each.

Titles in the V.Smile Smartridge Library are broken out into the
following categories:

Early Learners (ages 3 to 5): Alphabet Park, Care Bears, The Lion King,
Winnie the Pooh, Barney, Bob the Builder, Elmo's World, The Wiggles, Blue's
Clues(*), Thomas and Friends(*)

Junior Thinkers (ages 4 to 6): Little Red Riding Hood, Scooby-Doo,
Spider-Man & Friends, The Little Mermaid, Dora the Explorer, Toy Story 2,
Zayzoo, Finding Nemo(*), Sesame Street(xx)

Master Minds (ages 6 to 8): Learnin' Wheels, Mickey Mouse, Aladdin,
Cinderella, SpongeBob Squarepants, Batman(xx), Spider-Man II(xx)

(*)Titles will be in-store in Oct/Nov 2005.
(xx)Titles will be in-store in 2006.

V.Smile TV Learning System and V.Smile Pocket are now available at
Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, Zellers, Sears, and other independent retailers where
fine toys are sold.

About the survey
Compas Inc. is a non-partisan, national public opinion and customer
research firm. The nationally representative survey among n=500
Canadian parents of children aged 3-8 was conducted by professional
interviewers using computer aided telephone interviewing (CATI) between
August 3-8. Samples of this size are customarily considered accurate to within
4.4 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

About VTech
VTech, the creator of the Electronic Learning Products (ELP) Category and
the award-winning V.Smile TV Learning System, is a world leader of
age-appropriate learning toys. Since 1976, VTech has been developing
high-quality, innovative educational products for children from birth to
preteen that deliver "smart play" through the combination of entertaining
electronic formats and engaging, age-appropriate content that help children
learn while having fun.
VTech Electronics North America, LLC is headquartered in Arlington
Heights, Ill. VTech Electronics, Ltd. is based in Hong Kong and is a pioneer
in the establishment of China-based manufacturing facilities, selling its
products via a strong brand platform supported by a well-established
distribution network in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information
on VTech's product lines for children from birth to pre-teen visit
www.vtechkids.com

For further information: to try out the products or to arrange an
interview with Robin Raskin or Julia Fitzgerald, please contact:
Catherine Smith or Jennifer Cartwright, Edelman, (416) 979-1120 Ext. 306, 247,
catherine.smith@edelman.com, jennifer.cartwright@edelman.com

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