Disney Releases Innovative Children’s Software

by jkdmedia

DISNEY INTERACTIVE RELEASES INNOVATIVE CHILDRENS SOFTWARE THAT MOTIVATE KIDS TO LEARN WITH REWARD-BASED GAME PLAY, ENGAGING TUTORIALS AND ENTERTAINING DISNEY AND PIXAR CHARACTERS

Learning Roster Features Robust Line-Up of Titles Including Disney Learning Adventure: Search for the Secret Keys, Disney/Pixars 2nd & 3rd Grade, and Disney/Pixars 1st Grade

BURBANK, Calif. ‹ (July 9, 2002) ‹ Disney Interactive once again raises the bar of excellence for childrens software with the release of Disney Learning Adventure: Search for the Secret Keys, Disney/Pixars 2nd & 3rd Grade and the refreshed Disney/Pixars 1st Grade CD-ROMs.  Available now and compatible with PCs and Macs, each title incorporates activities that truly motivate kids to learn through innovative features, including reward-based game play, encouraging tutorials and a cast of entertaining Disney and Pixar characters.  

Disney Learning Adventure: Search for the Secret Keys and Disney/Pixars 2nd & 3rd Grade are brand new titles specifically designed to keep kids engaged in the learning process.  Disney/Pixars 1st Grade provides fresh and updated activities not seen in the original title, which launched in 2000.

Produced with the assistance of leading educators, all three products are comprehensive multi-subject educational tools that incorporate games and activities that are just as much fun to play as they are to solve.  Each title provides various difficulty levels that automatically adjust via dynamic leveling and builds self confidence with positive reinforcement from beloved Disney and Pixar characters.

Disney Learning Adventure: Search for the Secret Keys

Disney Learning Adventure: Search for the Secret Keys provides a motivating learning experience for kids, ages five and up, that aids in the development of academic and social skills through goal and reward structured experiences, and innovative ghost tutorials that automatically activate if a youngster is struggling within an activity.  Utilized for the first time in any Disney Interactive product, the tutorials minimize frustration and encourage children to continue to learn by teaching big picture concepts in an entertaining way.  The tutorials also create knowledge bridges by providing examples that children can easily understand.

When Mickey Mouse and a cast of beloved Disney characters find themselves locked in a mysterious mansion filled with fun and friendly ghosts, kids must put on their thinking caps and help find six secret keys that will help the gang escape from the haunted house.  In this open-ended adventure, children can navigate freely through six different activities and meet up with the ghosts who serve as helpful guides and interstitial entertainment.  As players search for the keys, the ghosts continually create educational challenges in a multitude of subjects including math, reading, language arts and logic skills.  

Youngsters are continually encouraged to explore and find secrets hidden within the house, as well as utilize information taught in each area in subsequent activities.  Filled with entertaining activities and features, kids will have an awesome experience with Disney Learning Adventure: Search for the Secret Keys.

Disney/Pixars 2nd & 3rd Grade
Disney/Pixars  2nd & 3rd Grade is the first title to incorporate a strong motivational learning system into game play for kids, ages six and up.  Playing as Buzz Lightyear or Mira Nova, boys and girls are taught a variety of grade appropriate subjects through a cycle of "learn-to-play" activities that require participation in educational missions that generate fuel to play non-curriculum based games.  

As boys and girls strive to save a nearby planet from the powerful forces of the Evil Emperor Zurg, they traverse a galaxy filled with arcade-style games in a spaceship that requires four different color fuels to keep running.  The fuel supply will eventually run low as kids navigate the universe.  When it runs out, additional energy must be produced to continue game play.  Players refuel by competing in knowledge-building activities that develop math, reading, language and logic skills.  This uniquely different and endless learn-to-play loop ensures that children are exposed to all curriculum activities evenly and compels kids to play more frequently than other traditional learning software.

Providing extra entertainment value are the aliens who assign fun missions and supply information on the whereabouts of Zurg through mini-movies featuring Buzz Lightyear and Mira Nova.  Players can also discover game secrets online or in-game that enable ship upgrades or reveal fun audio clips.  In addition, themed events take place in the game on select holidays based on the players computer clock that, for example, will decorate the bridge with pumpkins for Halloween.

Disney/Pixars 1st Grade
Disney/Pixars 1st Grade is a comprehensive and entertaining reward-based 3D educational tool that incorporates new activities and features with classic game play found in the original title.  Starring Buzz Lightyear and his friends from the blockbuster Disney/Pixar films Toy Story and Toy Story 2, the two-disk set uses encouraging hints and delightful tutorial animations that continually motivate kids to explore, discover and learn.

As first graders navigate through four new and six updated activities that provide adjustable difficulty levels, they can view fresh graphics that are included in the title.  Boys and girls can also participate in 63 printable activities, up from the 21 included in the original.

The three new titles complement and round-out Disney Interactives award-winning learning line-up that includes Disney Learning Toddler, Preschool and Kindergarten, which was repackaged as a two-disk set in spring 2002, and Disneys Phonics Quest, which shipped in summer 2001.

Disney Learning Toddler, Preschool and Kindergarten

Disney Interactive is offering three titles that pair top-selling Disneys Mickey Mouse Learning and Disneys Winnie the Pooh Learning CD-ROMs in two disk sets: Disney Learning Toddler, Preschool and Kindergarten.  The repackaged titles motivate kids to experience the joy of learning with Disneys most endearing characters through fun-filled game play and engaging story lines that entertain as well as educate.

Based on Active Learning education principles, Disney Learning Toddler, Preschool and Kindergarten enable children, ages 18 months to six years, to participate in activities that develop and maintain important educational and imagination skills in immersive interactive settings.  Kids join Mickey, Pooh and an ensemble of famous Disney characters, including Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Tigger, on an exciting journey where they are taught essential math, language arts, logic, creative arts and computer skills.  Kids also receive an introduction to Spanish and French vocabulary in the Hundred Acre Wood with Pooh.

Disneys Phonics Quest

Featuring Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerers apprentice, Disney's Phonics Quest emphasizes exploration and discovery in a replayable environment that makes learning interesting and fun.   Children ages five to eight are provided with a unique experience each time they accompany Mickey to six locations in search of the sorcerers belongings.  Various activities aim to teach letter and sound recognition, vocabulary, spelling, word building, long and short vowels, and consonant blends.  Voice recognition technology is integrated into the product as well, allowing some questions to be answered through speech.

About Disney Interactive

Disney Interactive, Inc., a worldwide leader in the creation of innovative interactive entertainment, develops, markets and globally distributes a wide variety of interactive family-oriented entertainment, educational and sports CD-ROMs and video games. Disney Interactive is the multimedia arm of The Walt Disney Company's Consumer Products business unit.  For more information on Disney Interactive's products, visit www.disneyinteractive.com.

About Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar Animation Studios (Nasdaq: PIXR, www.pixar.com) combines creative and technical artistry to create original stories in the medium of computer animation. In partnership with Disney, Pixar has created four of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time: Academy Award®-winning Toy Story (1995); A Bug's Life (1998); Golden Globe-winner Toy Story 2 (1999); and the Academy Award®-winning Monsters, Inc. (2001). Pixar's four films have earned more than $1.7 billion at the worldwide box office to date. The Northern California studios' next three film releases are Finding Nemo (summer 2003), The Incredibles (holiday 2004) and Cars (holiday 2005).