CompuServe Thread

#Best CD-ROM titles

5 messages in this thread
#52146From: Daniel G MintzJul 6, 1993 4:56 AM
Do you really like the Manhole?? My 7.5 year old daughter played with it for a few days and quickly lost interest. Running it under DOS is okay (not great). Running it under Windows (on a 486/33 with 8 MBytes of RAM) is extremely tedious. The animation is at best adequate, I'm not sure what is really being "taught". Would be interested in hearing what your experiences have been. – Dan
#52189From: Nill ToulmeJul 6, 1993 6:24 PM
On seeing a bit more of it, and watching my kids play with, I must say I'm inclined to agree. My almost-five year old likes it OK, but she gets a little frustrated with it. Certainly compared to something like Grandma or Arthur it's on the crude side, and not particularly educational. I was initially very struck by the music, but that wears off pretty quickly. On the whole, my initial enthusiasm has dimmed, although I don't have any performance problems running it under Windows. But then I have a '66 with 16 megs RAM and a fast Toshiba CDROM drive… I guess I'm looking forward to some new titles in the Broderbund Living Books series, although it really irritates me that they're so picky about video mode. Everything else I have will run in 65k color mode, but not those… Nill
#52197From: Daniel G MintzJul 6, 1993 9:08 PM
You know, it seems to me that it would be nice to have a section here that dealt with educational and other software related to children. I wonder if it would support enough traffic to make it worth considering?? Regardless, please continue to express your opinions about CD software for kids. I find it useful. My almost 9 year old daughter got a detective software game from Electronic Arts which she really loves. They also enjoy Outnumbered a lot. For a year or two, they played Treehouse on a pretty regular basis. – Dan
#52425From: JOHN J. ROBINSONJul 10, 1993 12:59 AM
I saw your message of a few days ago and would support the idea of a message/board fot KIDS cd-rom interactive. we've got a 3.5 and 2.0 year old and it is a bedtime ritual each night to do "the puder with dad " before bed. It is only through interaction of other users that I've been able to find out what's good and what's bunk. My motive in getting cd-rom was to use as a teaching tool for my kids… at their young age "Mammals and Grandma and Me " are their favorite. My 3.5 girl asks me to get it setup for her and she's good for 30 min.B ye for now.
#52193From: Lisa PediciniJul 6, 1993 8:50 PM
My son played with the Manhole once, maybe twice, when he was six. Could be that it holds more interest for younger kids, but he thought it was "dumb." Strangely, he really liked 'Amanda Stories," particularly the "Your Faithful Camel" chapters, and they operate in a similar click to expand mode. There is more of a story with Amanda though, and the effects of clicking are pretty dramatic. FWIW!