THQ today announced that its uDraw Gaming Tablet will be available in the US in time for this year’s holiday season. This wireless drawing system that will also be used by games from THQ is exciting news, unleashing the creative potential of gamers (and non-gamers alike) and once again thrusting the Wii into the forefront of “innovation”.

At last year's press conference EA shocked many by leading with titles aimed at kids (particularly young girls) and families. In one of the more uncomfortable E3 moment's ever, thousands of mostly male, testoserone driven journalists watched as a line of tween girls played party games.  Can you say creepy?  Well, that sojurn into pacifism and family harmony ended faster than Ahkenaten's brief experiment with monotheism at yesterday's EA press conference.  Blood, guts and dismemberment were center stage.

Nintendo is fond of saying, and I believe it will reiterate this morning's press conference, that the reason for its success is innovation and creativity realized in both hardware and software. There is no doubt that Microsoft's newest offering, Kinect, is also innovative. More powerful than the Wii, the new hardware device can see and hear us, permits us to control the console with voice and movement. But is that enough?

The generation that grew up on Xbox and Playstation has now grown-up and has kids. Microsoft is betting that those twenty-somethings that typified the the rock-and-roll pioneer of video gaming are now looking to play with their family. In a bold departure from the hard-core blood-and-guts b-roll that was the staple of E3 launches in the past, tonight's debut of Project Natal, now renamed Kinect, was a love fest that featured yoga and pet tigers.

Last spring the people behind Planet 51 took me on a press trip to Madrid, Spain with other game critics to see the studio where Planet 51 (the movie and the game) was being developed.  Planet 51 is an unusual project in many respects...the movie and game were both being produced simultaneously, in house, by the same company.

Like many of legendary game designer Will Wright's universes before Spore, this one is being churned-out into a variety of titles some of which bear only glancing similarity to the original beyond the name. Rather than enriching the series, giving new dimension to an idea found in the original product, Spore Hero Arena cheapens the franchise.

I was very touched by the movie Up, though it's tug at the heart message is probably more meaningful to adults than children. I was, therefore, very disappointed by THQ's lackluster video game. This is another sad example of a license being slapped on to all-too-familiar videogame forms. As with most of this ilk, the game lacks depth or precision, feeling rushed out the door as just another piece of merchandising.

Here is the link to my latest segment on the Today Show.

I'll be appearing on the Today Show on August 27 to talk about Back-to-School hi-tech for kids from preschool to high-school. Follow the link for some of the products I'll be demoing.

At a preview of what is to come at the 2009 Toy Fair, Mattel showed off a high tech toy that prints fashion designs right on little girls finger nails.  Featuring more hi-tech bells and whistles than many printers, the new toy is something of a technological marvel.  Here's how it works: