Kinectmals (Kinect)

What a cute game!
Very nice game for small children.

The intro is very long but it makes sense that it spends so much time in explaining every detail of the game for the little ones.

I first thought that it was just a pet that would interact with me while I petted and bathed it (like the Eye Pet for PS3 Move) but turns out it is an actual game with achievements and missions.

The graphics are pretty good and the reactions of the animals are impressive. If you have or ever had a cat you'll understand what I mean. The sounds that they do when playing or being petted and where the sounds comes from in their body (yes, that good) made my cats pay attention to the TV for the 1st time EVER.



About the game itself, as you do what you're asked to do you get more toys to play with your pet and you can always stop whatever you're doing to pet or play with it. You just hold your right hand to the side and choose a toy from the 'toy box'.
You can throw balls, rubber bears, choose the brush to clean your animal, etc.  It's really cool.

Pros: very good for small children, impressive interaction
Cons: long intro


Wife score: 8/10

Partying with Kinect (Kinect - Xbox)

Recipe for a fun party: grab some friends, a few drinks and turn your Kinect on.  That's it!

I had a blast a couple of weeks ago in a "Kinect Party".
It was hysterical to see how the guys were all over the place trying to figure out the moves and make more points than everybody else (and not failing in being goofy and funny at all!). The ladies were doing a better job as far as dancing, but the guys were soooooo much fun to watch that the ladies just gave up the dance for the laugh.

It was kind of hard to get people to start, but once each one had danced at least one time it became a challenge to be the next.  If we were in just a few more people I bet we'd have to start a list (queue)!

I wish I had recorded a few minutes of the party I went to but here is a random video from youtube... 



I was amazed by how many more videos of guys dancing than of women I found  when searching for a "party video" to add here!
Most men never liked to dance so much as now (or never had the courage to show it of!). hahaha

The Sports game wasn't so popular (each game takes a long time to end so people have to wait more to play again, lots of sports to choose from which takes time too, etc), but I think that if you set a "Sports Party" it would do it.  It's just that the dance game is unbeatable!

Pros: lots of fun and quite a workout between dancing and laughing.
Cons: if you have neighbors below you, you might want to hand some cupcakes the next morning (even more with Sports than with Dance Central)...


Wife's score: 10/10

Dance Central (Kinect - Xbox)

What a fun game!  =D

The game is very well structured to please from the most basic dancer to those who have been dancing since forever. If you are really basic they even brake the choreography down for you and show the movement a few times, until you get it. Then they put a few moves together so you get the idea of the sequence and get you ready to the full song.

Another nice thing is that they made the list of songs sorted by difficulty, but in each song you can choose the level of difficulty for that song as well. So even if you choose an easy song (and turns out it's too easy for you), you can choose a harder mode for that specific song.
I don't think it means that if you choose a song that is rated "hard" and choose the easiest level for that song, it would be actually easy... 



The songs selections is fair. I believe they will keep adding songs in their updates (or at least I hope so).

There are quite a few characters for you to chose from (the dancer) as well as venues. You can also select "random" for a party, so you don't have to change characters for each person or keep watching the same dancer (and lines...  they always say the same things at the end of the song).
That's one thing about games (all of them) that I don't get...  Why do they always have to keep repeating the same lines?!

Something interesting for those who like to add fun to workout: the game has a workout mode that counts the calories burned during each song danced. It counts calories per song, not per time. That's really cool!

Pros: lots of fun, good for all levels of dancers, workout mode.
Cons: nothing.


Wife's score: 10/10

Call of Duty: Black OPS (Xbox)

I don't really know the story behind this series, but I have to say I already don't like it...

The graphics are bad (comparing to other games like this - i.e. Halo 3), after over an hour of watching I couldn't get the story, it looks like there isn't much strategy involved (they are always telling you what to do), the shooting is non-stop and I couldn't figure out who were enemies and who were allies (not only me. Diego also took some time to figure that out!)...

 

Watching the game was definitely a duty for me. I was not enjoying it at all. At other times I'd have left the room in just a (very) few minutes.

The story goes back and forth all the time... There is a bit of story in between almost every mission! And sometimes the screen turns completely white for a while and it is very uncomfortable when your are in a dark room paying attention to a dark screen and out of nowhere it turns all white. That's a lot of light! I bet it's bad for the eyes...

One interesting thing though is that you have full control over the sounds. It means that you can lower the soundtrack to hear more of the shooting/explosions, you can lower the explosions to hear more of the soundtrack, you can lower everything but the voices to hear what the are talking, and so on.  The game even has a feature that makes everything more even (no up and down in the volume).

Pros: full sound control.

Cons: really annoying to watch.

Wife score: 4/10

Pinball FX2 (XBLA)

This game is FREE to download.

You can try all the tables for a limited time, then you buy only the ones you like best.

As far as watching, there is not so much to get you entertained (after all, it's Pinball...), but playing is a lot of fun.

The controllers are extremely basic: both triggers (the things that you rest your index fingers on when holding the controller).

And when you finish the turn (your 3 balls) you only need to press "A" to star again or "B" to change the table.  Very easy to do everything by yourself if you're not familiar with the Xbox.

Another cool thing is that you can split the screen to play against someone else at the same time.
One down side of this function though is that you can play with people online but you can't 'couch play' (play against someone in the same room, using the same Xbox)...

Check out the launch trailer:


Pros: very easy controllers, multiplayer with split screen.
Cons: some table are too polluted...


Wife score: 9/10

Update: Kinect (Accessory for Xbox)

After using it a bit more I can give you all a better insight (less excitement, more information) on the new Kinect.

As for what you can do with it:
- Control the Xbox using voice or gesture. No need to use a controller from the beginning (I tried turning it on by myself for the 1st time today, and it worked!);
- Access your Zune Pass (listen to music, watch tv and movies, watch music videos, etc);
- Chat with friends all over the world. A nice thing to point out is that the camera follows you as you walk around the room and zooms in/out to keep a good view of you;
- You have access and control of ESPN channel on your Xbox.

Is it easy to use the voice-control and the gesture-control?
Yes. You have to speak loud and clear, but it worked every time I gave a command. As for the gestures, the simple process of calibration and sing-in are enough for you to get a hand of it.

Is it weird and fun to use them?
It's darn cool! I felt so in the future being at my desk working on my computer and telling (literally) the tv to go to the next song on my play-list.

At the end of the day, I can say I had a great time. Turning the Xbox on by myself is something I never thought I would do.  I have Kinetc to thank (or blame) for it.

Kinect Adventures! (Kinect)

This is the game that comes with the Kinect.     It's a collection of activities, like the sports-medley games from Wii or PS3 Move.

We played the 5 basic activities for now:

- Rally Ball: the goal is to hit the ball to break blocks at the end of a tunnel. Very funny to watch! It's also a good coordination exercise.

- River Rush: ride a raft and move it around to pack in points on your way to the finish line. Even more exercise than the first.

- Reflex Ridge: this is the one from the picture. The idea is to avoid the obstacles. Very funny to watch and play. Makes great pictures.

- Space Pop: the silliest of the 4 games... More counter-intuitive than challenging and not as much fun to watch.

- 20,000 Leaks: pretty slow too, but very funny to see what people would do to plug the leaks.

Playing alone is fun and easy. Playing in two is even more fun, but you might want to make sure you're tuned with your partner to avoid hitting heads...

This is the promotional trailer for both the game and the Kinect:

Pros: lots of calories burnt between playing and laughing; very intuitive, for the most part.

Cons: you might be sore the next day from the exercise... But that's a good thing, right?!

Wife score: 9/10

Kinect (Accessory for Xbox)

The Kinect is finally here!!!

The "from box to use" process was really quick and easy. One cable (for the new console - two for the old one) and less than 5 minutes. 

The base of the Kinect was already pretty stable by itself on top of the tv, but we used double-sided tape, just to be safe.

Calibrating it was very easy as well as the "facial-recognition" sign in configuration for both users.

Changing between users is also very smooth and easy. When you leave the camera area and someone else enters, the Kinect automatically loads the other user.

One thing that was about to start bugging us when it finally stop were the updates (already, I know...). At least the were all quick.

Check out the promotional trailer:


The Kinect already comes with a game: "Kinect Adventures!".
The game will have its own post, to come later.

More Kinect features (voice command, video chat, Zune, ESPN, etc) to be added soon.

Pros: very easy to use from the start.
Cons: many updates already.

Wife score: 10/10

New Xbox Dashboard

So, what's new on the Xbox?

- Now you can access your Zune Pass (listen to all the music you want and get to keep 10 each month) from the Xbox;
- There is a better parental control (and it lets you set allowance to your kids);
- The avatar is more proportional;
- The looks are different (of course...);
- It's Kinect ready.

Anyways, nothing from the outer world, but some nice new features.

Check it out on this video from Inside Xbox:



Pros: Zune Pass access, Kinect ready.
Cons: nothing really.


Wife score: 9/10

Chime (XBLA)

This is a strategy game mixed with music. Really nice!

As you add blocks next to each other, you make bigger block that are exchanged for bonuses.

But that is not what this is all about... Yes, the idea is to cover the most you can of the given area, but for each time you cover a bit more of the area, it adds notes to the music playing.

Depending on where you add the blocks, you'll have different notes being added to the song playing!




Truth be told, I fell asleep while Diego played it, but only because I was really tired...  Now I wish I had seen him play more.
Who knows if he won't play again?!

Btw, a really cool thing is that part of the profits of this game goes to a charity.

Really interesting game.

Pros: very basic control needs to play; music, logic/strategy and charity related.
Cons: Not much, really.


Wife score: 9/10