GADGETS

This has been a banner year for kids’ video games with game developers competing to be the most innovative. Here are some of this year’s best, divided into age categories:

Ages 4 to 6

•“ItzaBitza” (Sabi Inc., www.itzabitza .com, $19.99, Windows): Incubated in the Microsoft Advanced Strategies unit, this reading and creativity title uses a new drawing recognition technology to incorporate children’s drawing into game play.

•“Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess” (2K Play, www. 2kgames.com/ 2kplay, $39.99, Nintendo Wii): Kids join Dora on a mission to rescue the locked-in-a-tower Snow Princess by using 20 different motions while holding the Nintendo Wii remote. Also available on the Nintendo DS ($29.99) and the Sony PlayStation 2 ($19.99).

Ages 7 to 12

•“Active Life: Outdoor Challenge” (Bandai Namco, www.playactive life.com, $59.99, Nintendo Wii): The “Wii Fit” for kids, this game is all about encouraging kids to get up and move. It has 16 active games, which kids play on the included Outdoor Challenge mat controller.

•“Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force” (Disney Interactive, www.disney interactive.com, $29.99, Nintendo DS): “Club Penguin” fans can now enjoy their penguins on the go. As Elite Penguin Force agents, kids go on missions, solve mysteries and help other penguins as they explore a world that mimics the “Club Penguin” Web site. •“Boom Blox” (Electronic Arts, www.ea.com/ boomblox/home.jsp, $39.99, Nintendo Wii): Build and destroy block structures by throwing, grabbing and blasting using the Nintendo Wii remote. This Wii game has more than 300 puzzles to explore and offers single and multiplayer modes, plus the ability to create puzzles.

’Tweens, teens

•“Spore” (Electronic Arts, www.spore.com, $49.99 Win/Mac): This is an evolution simulation game from revered game developer Will Wright, father of “The Sims” games. You start in a petri dish, where you design your species and nurture it through five stages of development until it has evolved enough to explore outer space.

•“Little Big Planet” (Sony, www.little bigplanet.com, $59.99, Sony PlayStation 3): The game starts out as a “Mario”-type platformer in a highly interactive world. You collect tools and objects that become the building blocks for designing your own game levels.

Gannett