Your kids got addicted to computer games? Buy them Xbox with Kinect!
First that I wanted to say is that this article not only for parents, but also for the childfree couples, and even brutal unshaved single men, who will eventually like the idea of playing some kids games between the shots of vodka. But for me it’s usually much easier to justify some purchases, if it's for children. This way I bought my daughter a big helicopter, other remote controlled games and such (This was a joke indeed!)
I'm also not any kind of psychologists /psychiatrists or parenting specialist, so this article may be totally wrong, but written by a loving father who wants to be the best friend of his child.
When I was a kid I loved gaming
When I was a richkid I haven’t had many toys or gadgets kids have these days, but I had almost all the generations of computers in the house. First one was IBM Personal System/2 with 8086 processor and it was really good. The second one was a beast–Packard Bell with 80286 CPU, then it was Sanyo 80386 SX, some noname PC with first overclocable AMD 40486 CPU, first Pentium CPU PC, AMD CPU again, Intel’s CPUs, etc. Well, you can imagine now I spent a lot of time dealing with the computers. Since I was doing good in school it was never a problem for my parents, generally they would allow me to do whatever I wanted to, so I was spending pretty much of my time playing games and learning computer systems.
I'm a parent now, but still love gaming
screenshot from Mortal Kombat gameAlong with Mortal Kombat I bought a ton of other games of different kinds for my box and was buying dozens of them later. Naturally, when I’ve noticed that some games required Kinect(motion sensing device, ~$150), I’ve purchased it the second day. Kinect gave Microsoft a big boost, so did it with my own gaming experience and upgraded my family leisure time.
Buy your kids Xbox with Kinect and Kinect designed games
Some might say that it sounds stupid: buying just another kind of computer, when a kid got addicted to regular PC. Well, it’s not! What I’m doing is regularly “forgetting” to buy fresh batteries and deal is done–you can’t use any of the joysticks to play with the box and have to use kinect only games, which is much of fun for the whole family. So, the idea is to propose your kids a computer game, but with Kinect and Xbox instead of regular PC games. What you do when it’s raining/snowing outside and you don’t even want to go outside? Watching the soap operas on TV? Drinking wine and eating some fancy food? Sleeping? Try Xbox plus Kinect!
Pros and Cons of buying a game console for your kid
While I personally think that Xbox with Kinect (or another gaming console with a similar add-on) is a good gift for a kid, there are always pros and cons. So, let's list them:
Pros:
- Having Xbox is cool and thus adds to kid's self-confidence;
- It improves hands and eyes coordination;
- Almost all Kinect games greatly stimulate muscle activity;
- Kids are more socialized when playing with friends;
- Many sport games, so kids naturally adapt to many sports.
- Couch is free for parents and other observers.
- Most parents will find games that suit them too (fitness, boxing, sport games, etc.);
- Xbox plus Kinect bundle is not over expensive (comparing to competitors).
(Add your pros in comments, please)
Cons:
- It's still a computer game, so playing football with friends outside is better;
- Kinect needs a lot of space in a room (at least 6 feet from the device);
- You really need a big screen tv for a better experience;
- While Xbox + Kinect bundle is not expensive, the games are costly (but we are tech specialists here, right?);
- Excessive usage may lead to health problems.
(Add your cons in comments, please)
If I convinced you that it's a good buy for your family, below are some Kinect games with short descriptions for each that I would recommend.
Kinect Adventures!
(still one of my favorite, 5 games in one)
Kinect Adventures! uses full body motion to allow the player to engage in a variety of minigames, all of which feature jump-in, jump-out multiplayer play. Each minigame lasts about three minutes. While most of the minigames are co-operative in two player mode, Reflex Ridge is a competitive game. The game also supports Xbox Live multiplayer. At many points during the game, Kinect's RGB camera takes photos, which are shown to the player(s) and saved to a storage device. These can then be viewed within the game, with the option of uploading these to a private repository on Kinectshare.com and downloaded to a computer or uploaded to social networking sites. The object of all the minigames is to get the highest number of adventure pins, which are collected in different ways. Adventure pins earn the player(s) medals which, in story mode, affect progression. Medals can be bronze, silver, gold and platinum, in order from least to most pins needed to acquire each. As a pack-in game, Kinect Adventures! also contains features which aid users in proper set-up and use of the Kinect sensor. / from wiki – many more words here
Official Xbox video:
Kinectimals
(this game for small kids, was one of the first I bought)
Kinectimals is a video game for the Xbox 360 that use Kinect and also available for these platforms: Windows Phone, and Android. In Kinectimals players can interact with virtual animals in a manner akin to pets, gameplay includes activities such as teaching tricks to the animal, guiding the animal around an obstacle course, and free-form play. The video game is aimed at a young audience, particularly children, and includes eleven different virtual animals all based on wild cats. Kinectimals was developed by Frontier Developments and was a launch title for Kinect. Throughout the game players spend time using the Kinect System to feed, play with, care, and even raise the cub. Upon starting the game the player will visit Fur Town, where they will choose one of the 6 initial cubs. As they play the game, more cubs can be unlocked. Throughout the game there are 11 cubs. / from wiki
Official Xbox video:
Dance Central
(the best game for spending time together as a family)
Gameplay of Dance Central involves the player performing given dance moves which are tracked by Kinect and represented on the screen by one of eight in-game avatars. The game features over 650 different dance moves spanning over 90 dance routines. There are five modes available: - Perform It: The regular single-player gameplay mode, in which the objective is to complete these dance routines to earn a high score. - Workout Mode: An extension to regular mode in which the number of calories burned are also tracked, along with the workout time. - Dance Battle: Two players compete in a head-to head dance routine battle. The person with the highest score is the winner. In the rare event there is a tie in the score, the player who passed more moves wins. - Challenge Mode: Once all songs (four or five) in each difficulty category have at least four stars on each one, a challenge based on the difficulty is unlocked. This mode increases the difficulty of the game by having portions of four or five songs combined into one, thus mixing up the dance moves. All challenges must be completed with four stars on each difficulty setting. - Break it Down: A practice mode that allows beginners to learn more advanced dance moves in a step-by-step process. / from wiki
Official Xbox video:
I hope you enjoyed videos above and thank you for reading and watching, as I've already mentioned above there are a lot of sport games for Kinect, as well as fitness, and many others. Since this post wasn't planned as a review of Xbox games, please find more links below featuring Xbox and Kinect games.
Useful links:
Xbox official site:
http://www.xbox.com/
List of consoles from the xbox site:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/consoles
Free to play Xbox games:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/free-to-play
Youtube channel of Xbox:
https://www.youtube.com/user/xbox
Another good read on why Kinect is worth extra money:
http://pixelkin.org/2015/04/24/why-kinect-is-worth-the-extra-money-for-families/
Other options as to the game consoles:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/So-you-want-to-buy-your-child-a-games-console-/10000000006285697/g.html
Choosing a game console:
http://alphamom.com/family-fun/ps3-wii-or-xbox-video-gaming-systems-compared/
Disclaimer:
All and any trademarks, videos and images mentioned and used in this post belong to their owners.
I'm in no way associated neither with Microsoft, nor Xbox/Kinect. I'm not selling any of the Microsoft product. In this article I reviewed Xbox and Kinect and expressed my thoughts and observation coming from the fact that I have used it for many years and I don't own or owned any other similar product. You may strongly agree or disagree with my post–I urge you to express your thoughts on the matter in comments!
If you liked my post, please upvote it. Thank you!
Follow me @richman for more stories.
@richman upped 100%
because like you I like games that bust'a moves :D
No Xbox at home though and didn't grow up with that.
Played "you're it", tag of war, hide and seek with friends under the moon when I was young - missed playing with my folks, uncles and aunts .
In my late 20s I was introduced by some of my students to Disco Dance Revolution - wanted to buy here but found it not .
If I had kids would prefer playing with them actively than just making them sit in front of the comp - dota, warcraft and diablo was addictive - but it was fun and for the love of the mushroom - my sister and I grew up with that and attaris and actually did not just sit down playing - we were so in the games - we sometimes just find ourselves hoppin hahahha .
Thanks for your comment and your support @englishtchrivy!
We didn't have xbox when I was a kid. More of that I was spending every summer in the village with my grandparents almost without tv or anything alike--we had our bikes and our games out--nothing connected with the computers.
I loved warcraft though ;D
I lost interest in pc games a long time ago. Mostly because of the false sense of accomplishment I was getting. After spending hours trying to beat the next stage of Mario Bros.,I realized I had wasted hours of my life and accomplished nothing. That being said, I do agree that physically interactive games do encourage at least some degree of exercise, and can take the boredom out of a routine workout.
Cool comment! That's exactly what I meant. Thanks for reading.
We always have lots of fun running a contest in Dance Central ;D
I also like gaming. I remember the first game I played when I was a child, super mario!!! Im not fortunate enough to have the gadgets at that, I just rented at several gaming centers in town.
My kids love to play games but after the storm sendong that struck my town last 2011 and took everything we had including our house, they have not enjoyed it much then due to the absence of gadgets. Although we are starting yo recover but there are priorities that needs to be satisfy first than buying game consoles.
Thank you for your comment!
I feel for your family and you and wish you that all your dreams would come true.
I also wish that your children would never be in need.
God bless you!
Thanks for the encouragement @richman. Good for you because even in your name you are already rich :)