Learning With The Pooyoos: Episode 1 (Hands-On) (Wii) Preview

It was a little strange to witness Lexis Numerique's stand from afar. The company's representative Djamil was dancing his socks off along to the game for some TV cameras, and so there was a little trepidation when I finally approached. I need not have worried - he was merely demonstrating how kids might play along to the game as they do with TV shows, it seems.

This is the first of six planned WiiWare releases, each coming two months apart. Every episode will focus upon a different subject or subjects - colour, shapes, geography and maths were a few examples given - designed to appeal to children only just old enough to hold a remote properly. Children aged three years and over appear to be the target audience, as well as their parents. As such there are plenty of cartoon characters, primary colours and a lack of writing for the most part; everything is explained through voice or graphic, with only the occasional word on screen to punctuate something. A bubble might appear and be met with the word, for instance. You can also select between two control options: one uses the pointer; the other, simpler method asks children to shake the remote at the right moment.

There's also a lot of repetition, something that is intentional as it appeals to children of that age. You may recall watching the same videos over and over as a child yourself. The child's attention span is far greater than the adult's, so while popping bubbles with the cursor may bore you, a child can happily sit doing it for fifteen minutes. A dancing game, as demonstrated by Djamil earlier, does not require much motion at all; instead, it is designed with the knowledge that a child is going to imitate it anyway, as they would with a kid's TV show. It resembles a cartoon that broadcasts stupidly early on a Saturday morning. The final mode included allowed you to open a present and then interact with it by shaking the remote or pressing buttons - I sailed in a paper boat across the ocean and encouraged clouds and fish to swarm around me.