Club Penguin (www.clubpenguin.com)

$658, Internet Site, iPad, Android, iPhone

Teaches: language (typing), socialization, sorting, classification, creativity, logic

CTR Rating: 92%

CTR Review

Recurring in-app purchases meet a seven year old's desire to collect things to decorate an igloo, in this new iPad version of Club Penguin ($free, http://appstore.com/clubpenguin). The free download lets you have "many of the same gameplay and social features" found in the virtual world, plus recurring in-app subscriptions. I downloaded the app, and logged in to find my five year old Club Penguin, still dressed like it was 2009, with 15,367 coins. But when I tried to buy a holiday wreath for the igloo, I got the message "unlimited access to Igloos & Furniture requires a paid membership." In other words, you can still can see cool stuff, but when you touch to get it, you are told that you must buy a membership. Prices are still $8/month, but you have to remember to cancel. New areas allow penguins to hang out and role play like they do online, and teleport directly to other rooms, their igloos or wherever their friends are playing in the app. Parents have the option of purchasing recurring monthly memberships within the app, which work across all versions of Club Penguin environments. The app version allows up to 40 penguins at once, inside locations that include the Town, the Dance Club, the Clothes Shop, and Coffee Shop. New games include Pizzatron 3000 and Smoothie Smash. As of this year, languages include English, German, Portuguese, French and Spanish.First launched Fall 2005, this is both a free- and paid-subscription app, and a flash-based MMO (massive multiplayer online game) designed for children 8-up. There is no advertising content, but the service is effective at promoting relentless nagging behaviors in a quest for a full membership ($6/month or $58/year). Consider yourself warned. After registering (which requires a valid Email) and logging in, children are asked to choose a penguin. At any time and child can use a map to jump in or out of a game, or visit their own igloo that serves as a home base for saved awards, games, and/or decorations. Over time, children can earn money to purchase more decorations. It is very easy to socialize. Just start typing, and your message appears over your head. You can also click on another penguin to invite him or her to your igloo, throw a snowball or make an addition to your Buddy List. There are two chat options. Ultimate Safe Chat uses a predefined list of greetings, questions and statements as well as emotes, actions and greeting cards. These users can only see other Ultimate Safe Chat messages. Standard Safe Chat allows players to type their own messages. Every message is filtered to automatically block inappropriate words. In addition, the program claims that moderators watch what�s going on. Club Penguin was originally created by New Horizon Interactive in Canada for Disney.