I’m always on the lookout for a game we can play as a family. With two teens, a kid, a mom and dad, we practically have to schedule family time. I look back fondly to the days when we were all in on a Friday or Saturday night. Now one or other of my teens may want to go out with friends or one of the kids will have an activity or my husband will have to work on Friday, Saturday, or even Sunday. But when we can we catch up on family time through games.
While we all love a good board game, lately we have been playing Kinect games on the XBox. My middle received an XBox with Kinect for her birthday. My initial thought was that we did NOT need another game system. But with the passage of time I’ve come to see that the Kinect is a great game system for families.
Planning a Family Game Night with Kinect:
- You’ll need floor space, so move the tables and chairs out of the way before you play.
- You’ll want to play with at least one other person, so call the family down to where you are playing.
- Snacks and drinks are not necessary in the game playing area and in fact, if you are a little klutzy like me you’ll want to leave the snacks in another location. We don’t allow food in our playroom — where the Kinect is as there is not fridge or kitchen or bathroom in the basement, so we might as well go up stairs to snack rather than carrying trays downstairs. Can you say spills?!
- Choose a game that everyone likes.
Fun game for families: Just Dance 4
From the Just Dance 4 promo material:
The Just Dance phenomenon that has more than 30 million people dancing is back with its latest installment. Just Dance 4 features more than 40 new tracks, ranging from chart-topping Billboard hits from Rihanna and One Direction to classic dance party tracks from Stevie Wonder and The B-52s. The game still includes everyone’s favorite modes like Duet Mode and Dance Mash-up.
Exclusively for the WiiU, Just Dance 4 introduces all-new features, including Puppet Master Mode, which allows a player to change choreography in real time by selecting the next dance move on the Wii U GamePad Touch Screen, and MC mode, where players have the ability to choose the next song, sing the lyrics displayed on the GamePad, and write on-screen live dedications!
Other new features include Battle mode, where friends go head-to-head with each other in six rounds of dance battles, an updated Just Sweat Mode with new workouts and a real calorie counter, and Alternative Choreographies which allows for super-challenging dance moves to be unlocked so the dance party never ends!
What the Kids Liked:
- The game required a little more set up than previous Just Dance games, but once set up it was easy to play.
- They loved the song selection, including, Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe, Pink’s So What?, and more than 40 songs.
- I’m not sure of they had more fun playing the game or the kids watching Mom dance…hmmmm…
- Kids liked that they could choose songs with 4 concurrent dance routines.
What the Mom Liked:
- I’m not a gamer, but Just Dance 4 was the type of game I could do without much effort on my part.
- My moves may not be in sync with the music, but I have fun.
- Plus, I can sing along to the songs…which is a bonus.
- I’d like to try the Just Sweat mode…and should if I want to lose any of this weight any time soon. :-p
- You might be interested in this download I found for learning the Gangnam Style dance for Just Dance 4. See YouTube video for download information or go to justdancegame.com. Thanks to the Clever Girls Collective for this tip!
What You Need to Know:
- Just Dance 4 is priced at $39.99.
- Just Dance 4 is from Ubisoft.
- The game has a rating of E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) for Comic Mischief Lyrics.
- Just Dance 4 is now available on XBox Kinect, Nintendo Wii™ and Wii U, and PS3.
You can purchase the following titles from amazon using my affiliate links:
- Just Dance 4 XBox Kinect, $39.16
- Just Dance 4 Wii, $39.96
- Just Dance 4 for Playstation Move, $39.96
- And new for 2012…Just Dance 4 WiiU, $49.94
- And don’t forget Just Dance 3 for Kinect, Wii, and PS3 Playstation Move
My Holiday Gift Guide is in full swing. At some point I wil figure out how to get all the posts on the same page, but until then here are links to each item in the 2012 Musings from Me Holiday Gift Guide.
Gifts for Everyone on Your List
- Hickory Farms Gift Baskets [Review/Giveaway ended]
- KFC Chicken Checks for the KFC Festive Feast [Giveaway ends 12/14/2012]
Family Video Game Time
- Skylanders Giants video game [Review]
- Disney’s Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two [Review]
- Harry Potter for Kinect [Review]
- WiiU
Toys, Toys, and More Toys
- Little Boys and Fast Cars: Micro Chargers Launchers [Review]
- A roundup of Time To Play’s hottest toys for the 2012 holidays…Thomas & Friends, LeapPad 2, iTikes Canvas, Furby, and more.
- Farmville Kids’ Card Games with Farmville Farm Cash [Giveaway ends 12/7/2012]
- Melissa and Doug’s Suspend Game [Review/Giveaway ended]
Gifts for Her
I was sent Just Dance 4 to facilitate my review. The views expressed in the post are my own. Affiliate links are to my amazon account. I follow the tenets of Blog With Integrity.
