Our #1 Holiday Pick: Xbox 360 Kinect Xbox Live Family Pack Membership

Get the whole family in on the fun with Family Game Night. It happens every Tuesday on Xbox 360 and on Xbox LIVE.

TFH Holiday Pick 2010

It's no secret, we love our Xbox (read our full review of Xbox 360 LIVE from last year, here) and, seeing as I am also a gamer mom (i.e., try to beat the pants off of my kids, but, you know, end up losing, every gosh-darned time) I was excited to learn about the Family Pack Membership now available for Xbox 360 Live.

Long story, short (you're welcome!) you get four 12-month Xbox LIVE Gold memberships for less than the price of 2 with up to 4 players per family!

Then we received the new Kinect for Xbox 360 (thank you, Microsoft!) and well, this year, control free playing and full body play got my kids (and me) off the couch and took OUR Family Game Nights to a whole different level!

 

Motion Sensor: tracks your entire body. So when you play, it’s not only about your hands and wrists. It’s about all of you. Arms, legs, knees, waist, hips and so on.  [TFH TAKEAWAY:  Seriously, after playing only 1 round of Kinect Adventures and I was sweating like a, well, never mind. We received ¹Kinect Sports (son's favorite) ¹Dance Central (the two oldest girls' favorite) ¹Kinectimals (my youngest girl and her bff loved playing this over the weekend) ¹Kinect Joy Ride (heh, seeing as I am STILL the lead driver at the moment, my favorite) and, having played each and every one of them at least once, I feel it safe to say that they are ALL a FULL BODY WORKOUT!!! Can't wait to try ¹Your Shape Fitness Evolved if ever I can get near the Kinect, sometime, soon, I hope!]

Skeletal Tracking:  As you play, Kinect creates a digital skeleton of you based on depth data. So when you move left or right or jump around, the sensor will capture it and put you in the game.  [TFH TAKEAWAY:  I was skeptical -- we bought a similar motion sensor-type game a few years ago; can't remember the name of it; could NOT get it to work right; ended up throwing it away -- but, Kinect's motion sensor works amazingly well and it's fun to watch your avatar keep up with each and every one of your moves, or the teens get all flustered when the dog's silhouette jumps into "their song" and wants to, you know dance...SNORT!]

Facial Recognition:  remembers who you are by collecting physical data that’s stored in your profile. So when you want to play again, Kinect will know it’s you, making it easy to jump in whenever you want.  [TFH TAKEAWAY:  According to my kids, this makes tracking your gamer progress easy...since, I can't seem to get near the darned thing without finding someoneELSE is playing it!]

Voice Recognition:  uses four strategically placed microphones within the sensor to recognize and separate your voice from the other noises in the room, so you can control movies and more with your voice.  [TFH TAKEAWAY:  Okay, so the option of "telling" Kinect where you want to go, or what you want to play is REAL cool -- especially, if you're 9 and the youngest of 4 kids!]

Put it ALL together, without having to worry about lost controllers or remembering where those darned extra batteries went and, well, the ¹ Xbox 360 Kinect is easily our family's #1 Holiday Pick for 2010!

Already have an Xbox 360?Not a problem, you don't have to buy a whole new Xbox 360 (YAY!) all you need is a ¹Kinect Sensor which utilizes their revolutionary full-body tracking which retails for about $150.00!

Which, we think makes this a GREAT holiday gift for the entire family.

Family Center is an easy-to-use destination on the Xbox Dashboard that is available to Xbox LIVE members with an Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack subscription. Family Center allows parents to customize Family Settings for each child in one place and purchase and give Microsoft Points allowances to your children.

Available for all Xbox LIVE members, Xbox 360 Family Settings have been updated to be more easily accessible on the dashboard and now come built-in with intelligent default settings for child, teen, and adult profiles. Parents are also able to restrict games on a per-title basis.

Be sure to check out the 10-step video and guide for parents on safer gaming with Xbox 360 and Kinect, as well as their updated parental control guides that walk you through the process from start to finish.

Aaaand, more importantly, remember to have fun and your kids will, most probably, too :)

Sadly, we don't have the opportunity to share (this time) but, these generous folks are running a contest, or giving away an Xbox 360 Kinect:

OK Magazine! - WIN IT! Xbox Kinect Prize Pack (enter by December 24, 2010)

Why?  Because, they like to share stuff, too.  Got a Xbox 360 Kinect contest or giveaway you'd like to share? AWESOME!!! Feel free to leave a comment and I'll be more than happy have my online friends visit with you, too :)

Thanks SO MUCH for sharing!!!

© 2003 - 2010 TFH Gone Shopping - This Full House Blog

The Small Gray-ish Print:  No payment or other consideration, besides a sample of the product, was received for this blog post.

¹This is an affiliate link:  buying stuff through it will allow us to make a little milk money, too, thanks!!!