Family game night goes to a whole new level with Kinect for Xbox 360, which comes out this November
My son and I received an invitation to check out Kinect for Xbox 360 last week at the Fat Tail Gallery here in Denver. Other mom bloggers, along with their families came over to participate in this new experience. I really didn't know what to expect, but when I got there, I was handed a Flipvideo recorder to capture any footage that I could potentially use for my blog post. Love those little gadgets. Unfortunately for me, the battery gave up after a minute or two of recording so I turned it in for a fully charged one. Well, the 2nd one didn't make it more than 30 seconds so I don't have footage to show you but there's plenty of it in much better quality than I could ever do on the Xbox 360 site. I got a few pic's on my digital camera so I could at least show you what it looks like.
Kinect is what I've been waiting for. It's the final barrier removed for me to buy an Xbox 360. I've been trying to figure out what to buy each holiday - XBox, Wii, etc. So instead of figuring it out, I thought I'd wait to see which one made it in the marketplace. Then along came the ultra hip folks at Kinect for Xbox 360 and showed me what I wouldn't want to miss out on this holiday season. No cords, no weird devices to wear on your hands, arms, legs or whatever. Just you and your family interacting in front of your TV screen (hopefully a nice big one like the one in this photo), and having the time of your life. You don't have to passively sit at the kitchen table playing board games, which I'm a fan of, if you can be jumping up and down, as well as dancing all around with your kids. It's so much fun!
My 3 year old son Sammy and I had a great time watching all the different games that are available. "Dance Central" is actually a personal favorite of mine. I can learn how to dance to Lady Gaga's Poker Face and have a blast doing it. Even the dads were experimenting. Tere was one dad going to town with one of the dances. I couldn't help but laugh outloud, which didn't deter him one bit. Then we watched a little girl interact with a baby cub on Kinect Adventures. She could pet it, make it run, jump, turn, roll, etc. Sammy thought that was cool.
Then I bumped into the fitness expert for Xbox 360, Laurel House, who showed me the super easy way to get in shape with the fitness program. The sensors capture your height and shape of your body and monitor how you move your arms, legs, etc. Laurel allowed Sam to do the kickboxing with her - smashing boxes into pieces on the screen. I suddenly saw the holy grail for my stress management! I could imagine uploading images of people that I'd love to punch out or kick (not literally but hey this would be so therapeutic figuratively!). I fell in love with Kinect at that point. It's exactly what I was looking for - fitness as well as stress management with a huge fun factor. The trifecta! After that we watched bowling, white water rafting, and a few more sports games downstairs, while we snacked on kid-friendly appetizers.
It was an honor to be one of the first few folks in Denver to check out Kinect for Xbox 360. I have to wait until November to get my hands on one. But hey - my birthday is November 10th. Do you think my husband will suprise me with one? We'll have to find out!
Kinect Adventures!
This is the console you use with Xbox 360 - it's not very big and sits right by your TV screen out of the way. I didn't even notice the sensors but they are there.