Highly acclaimed educational toy and game manufacturer Leapfrog has come out with a handheld gaming system aimed at youngsters aged 6-10 called the Leapfrog Didj. The Didj is an interactive handheld gaming system that incorporates math, spelling and foreign languages that can be customized to fit the school curriculum of children using the device.

The games will feature many established characters like Sonic The Hedgehog, SpongeBob SquarePants, Indiana Jones and various Star Wars characters. The device itself can be connected to a PC or Mac via U.S.B. to update and chart the progress of what your child is learning and for customizing their gaming characters.

A recent NY Times article discusses the Didj.

The Didj will soon be available at J&R.

If you have even a passing interest in football video games, then you’re probably already quite familiar with the Madden franchise. Madden is pretty much synonymous with video game football, and with good reason: it’s been the most popular football game for 20 years now. Yep, 20 years. Hard to believe that Madden has been around for so long, isn’t it? Well, if you want to celebrate, EA Sports is here to help.

They’re releasing the Madden NFL 2009 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition. The set comes with both Madden 2009 as well as NFL Head 2009, a separate game that puts you in the role of team owner, giving you control over all the strategic personnel changes and trades necessary to build a successful franchise as well as allowing you to create your own playbooks. Madden 2009, of course, delivers the best football gaming experience you could ask for, with top notch graphics, amazing controls, and more plays than you’ll be able to wrap your head around. There’s a reason Madden’s been on top for 20 years: it’s good. And this year is no different.

Nintendo just announced the Wii MotionPlus, a new peripheral for the Wii that snaps onto the current controller and delivers vastly improved motion sensing. What’s this mean for you, the Wii gamer? Well, it means that the Wii will be able to do a much better job of detecting just what you’re doing with your hands when you have the MotionPlus installed. It’ll allow for games to use your motions in a much more robust way, making aiming easier and making games using swords (or lightsabers!) possible.

The MotionPlus may be required for some future games, so a bundle of the MotionPlus with a game or with a regular controller would be unsurprising. The pricing and release info should be released tomorrow, but whenever it does come out you can be sure that we’ll have it for sale here at J&R.

In one of the biggest surprises in gaming news in as long as we can remember, Microsoft just announced at the E3 conference in LA that Square Enix’s upcoming blockbuster, Final Fantasy XIII, would be coming to the Xbox 360.

Since being announced over two years ago, Final Fantasy XIII has been listed as a Sony Playstation 3 exclusive. The past five Final Fantasy games have also been Sony exclusives, so it was no surprise that this would be as well. It was seen as a major victory for Sony, who would definitely sell a large number of consoles to hardcore RPG fans for this game alone.

Now that it’s cross-platform, however, many people will doubtlessly stick with their Xbox 360s. It has huge ramifications for the future business of Sony but, more importantly to us, it means that everyone who currently owns an Xbox 360 will be able to play Final Fantasy XIII. Which is pretty exciting stuff. There’s no release date as of yet, but we don’t expect to see it until the middle of 2009 at least.

Square Enix, the publisher behind the epic, insanely popular Final Fantasy series, has been putting out remakes of the first games from the series for the Nintendo DS. Initially released for the NES and Super NES well over a decade ago, the games have graphics that haven’t aged all that well. What Square Enix has been doing is completely overhauling the graphics while leaving the story and gameplay intact.

The latest remake from Square Enix is Final Fantasy IV. To many diehard Final Fantasy fans, this game is where they really started hitting their stride. It’s got incredibly memorable characters, a characteristically sweeping and huge storyline, and the type of gameplay that defined the genre in those early years. It’s still a blast to play, and with brand new 3D graphics, it’s prepped for a whole new generation of gamers to enjoy.

Too Human is one of the most highly anticipated games of the year, and for good reason. In development for over 10 years, it’s an epic game that’s gone through many changes through its creation but all with one goal in mind: creating an action RPG that’ll blow you away.

It looks like they’ve achieved their goal. The game features intense action elements, delivering both melee and firearms combat that’ll have you taking on some of the most heinous enemies in recent memory. It combines that with RPG elements such as collecting items, leveling up, and character building. That means you’ll always have action to look forward to, but when you’re done with fighting you’ll get to work towards creating the best, most powerful character possible. Combine this with an amazing storyline based on Norse mythology and bleeding edge graphics and you get a game that was well worth the wait.

So you never made it to med school. Your mother’s dreams of you being a doctor and saving lives were dashed early. It happens; not everyone is cut out for the medical profession. But that doesn’t mean you can’t dabble in surgery without harming any terrified patients.

Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 is the sequel to the wildly popular Nintendo DS game that puts you behind the surgeon’s mask and tasks you with picking up your scalpel and saving some lives. You’ll use the stylus and touchscreen to make precision cuts and perform increasingly difficult and elaborate surgeries, dealing with the patients whether you’re successful or not. It’s just like being a real doctor, just without the high salary, the years of schooling, and the responsibility for the lives of others. But hey, I’m sure your mom will be plenty proud of how good you are pretending to be a doctor in a video game. At this point, she doesn’t expect much more.

Rayman is one of those classic video game characters that never really reached the level of a Mario or a Sonic or a Zelda. Which is too bad, really, because the old Rayman games are just as fun as any Mario game, and Rayman is just as unique and colorful of a character. Which is why it’s great to see Rayman making the jump to next-gen systems, introducing him to a whole new generation of gamers.

One of the best games is Rayman Raving Rabbids for the Nintendo Wii. In classic Rayman style, it’s a zany, fast-paced platformer with a hilarious storyline and a cast of unforgettable characters. You’ll be taking on the insane Evil Rabbids, a band of merry troublemakers who will stop at nothing to create chaos. So if you’re looking for a new video game character to fall in love with, or if you have fond memories of Rayman from the past, jump into the Raving Rabbids.

We might still be a few months away from the college football season, but that doesn’t mean you have to be deprived of all the NCAA action that you so crave for the entire summer. You’ll just need to be a little proactive. Pick up a copy of NCAA Football 09 and you won’t have to deal with that terrible college football withdrawal.

NCAA Football 09 is the most realistic, action packed college football game to ever hit game consoles. It’s got all of your favorite schools and teams, and it was developed with a new breakaway mechanic that gives you amazingly realistic and quick-responding movement on the field. You’ve got hundreds of offensive, defensive, and special teams plays to choose from that are specific to the team you’re using, and the graphics are absolutely stunning. You’ll almost forget that you’re playing a videogame and not actually watching a game on TV.

Sid Meier’s Civilization series of strategy games has allowed PC gamers to create societies from scratch on the PC for years now, becoming one of the most successful and famous strategy game franchises in gaming history. It’s a set of games that’s always pushed the boundaries of gameplay, graphics and scope, but also a series that’s been exclusive to the PC. Until now, that is.

Civilization Revolution is the first game in the series to be released for next-gen consoles, the Xbox 360, specifically. Its interface has been completely redesigned for the Xbox 360, eschewing keyboard-based controls for the fewer buttons and thumbsticks of the Xbox. What results is a streamlined experience that doesn’t lose any of the complexity that you’ve come to expect from Civilization. You still get the epic task of building an empire from scratch, and you can now play multiplayer over Xbox Live. Finally, Civilization on a console!