In March, we attended an event sponsored by DreamWorks at the Mandarin Oriental hotel. While there, the boys and I learned about the new Kung Fu Panda World game website that launched yesterday (April 12th). Michael really enjoyed the sneak peak. He is still pretty young, so his favorite part was playing the games. Kung Fu Panda is already one of his favorite movies, so he enjoyed being able to play as the main characters – including Master Shifu, The Furious Five and Po. (Older kids will probably also enjoy chatting with their friends who are also playing online, trading items and such.)
From the mom viewpoint, I (Kimberly) especially liked that the KUNG FU PANDA WORLD (KFPW) site is browser – based (nothing to download – yes!). I also like that it is easy for kids to use (so that I don’t have to constantly stop what I am doing to help!).
Overall, we like the site. You can enjoy either the free version or upgrade to a subscription service in order to use more of the site options. If Michael is any indication, your kid will enjoy the wide variety of games.
Michael was especially impressed by Jeff Klein from dkcnews.com (the PR agency) and Rick Rekedal of dreamworks.com. After learning that Michael had his own little blog, they answered his questions as if he were an actual reporter. Rick even knelt down to his level to answer his “How do they make the kung fu moves?” question. Later, Rick sent him a personalized email after the event. It made Michael feel so special…he was smiling from ear to ear. I know that Dreamworks will hold a special place in his heart. (As his mom, it now has one in mines!) Here’s a little snippet of our experience at the preview below:
It turns out that we might end up being a 2 gaming system family by 2011... You can read why below:
I (Kimberly) recently attended a “Project Natal” preview event hosted by Xbox 360. Since I could bring a couple of people with me (along with my family), I had Mom in the City reviewer Lesley’s husband - Marc (a huge gamer fan) - and the son (“R”) of another mom in the city come with us.
Basically, we had an hour to test out a prototype of the new system (the real name has not been revealed yet) that will be available this holiday season. Before it was our chance to play, someone on the Xbox team told us about current Xbox features. I was already aware of the video (Netflix, etc.) and music streaming capabilities. The social aspect of Xbox play was interesting to hear about – not enough to make me switch gaming systems though. (Both Marc and “R” have Xboxes in their homes. Marc mentioned that the social features were great because it allowed his kids to play video games with other family members who live far away from NYC.)
I was there to see if the “you are the controller” claim was true. The main reason that I initially bought the Wii was the active aspect. I didn’t want couch potato gaming. One thing that Marc (who also has a Wii) mentioned is that after a while the kids learn to play most of the Wii games without using a lot of motion. (It’s true. Michael knocks grown men out in Wii Sport’s boxing without even breaking a sweat!) Let me just write, if the prototype is a true indicator of the final product, people will not be able to fake motion with “Project Natal”. All five of us who played that day broke a sweat.
Besides the activity level, the game was fun. With the real game, you have the option to play together (cooperatively). We could only play in competition mode – which made it even more fun. I won round 1 (yeah!). Marc and the kids (Michael and “R” combined to play one game) tied for round 2. It was so cute to see the kids doing so well. (We were a competitive bunch…no one let them win!) Everyone was moving their bodies to hit the balls that were on screen. Michael had me laughing the most though, because he was moving like James Brown – he even went down on one knee to get one of the balls. Hilarious. When we left, the crew said that it seemed like we had “the most fun” so far. (I think that was their code words for saying that we were the loudest. “Go Marc!” “Go Reggie!”) In any event, everyone in our group had a great time. You can watch Marc's video of the event here on YouTube and see a little bit of Michael's dancing below:
The result: “Project Natal” might very well be the Coleman family Christmas gift this year. Why? The controllers are easy to use…because you really are the controller. (Besides the couch potato aspect, the other thing that had turned me off to the original Xbox was that the controllers just look too complicated. I’m a simple woman who likes simple, easy to use things.) If ease of use and activity levels are important to you in your family gaming systems, you might want one too…
Thanks to Xbox 360 for the invitation to the preview event. At the event, I was given a Mino HD FlipCam to take video and such. I gave it to Marc for two reasons. One - he was there and doesn’t have a Flip (sometimes you just luck out by being present!). Two – his enthusiasm made a fun event turn into a hilarious (in a good way) one!
I actually reviewed Wii Sports Resort in August of last year on this post over at Mom in the City. So, for this vlog we're just showing some video of the kids playing some of the included games. Enjoy!
Thanks to Nintendo for sending us the review copy of the game. If you enjoy it and happen to order from the link on this post, the referral fee will go to Michael's favorite charity: The Salvation Army.
Below is Michael's first vlog. It's a short one. Bear with us as we figure out this whole video blogging thing. The videos will get (a bit) longer and (much) better. In this one, he talks about New Super Mario Bros. This is a great family game because players can actually play together. (Mario's ability to change into Penguin Mario and the ability to throw snowballs at the "bad guys to freeze them" are other highlights of the game that Michael and my husband enjoyed.)
Thanks to Nintendo for sending us the review copy of the game. If you enjoy it and happen to order from the link on this post, the referral fee will go to Michael's favorite charity: The Salvation Army.
ESRB, the non-profit that assigns ratings for video games, recently released a FREE iPhone App. It allows parents to search video game ratings while shopping. The recently added rating summaries (which details various aspects of each game) help to explain the reason each game was assigned a particular rating. This is a great way to decide whether or not a game is appropriate for your young child.
There are two ways to access the rating summaries. You can visit ESRB's mobile website at m.esrb.org or download the free iPhone/iPod Touch application at their mobile resources page at www.ESRB.org/mobile.
Earlier today my family was talking about our hopes for 2010. When we came to the "Careers" portion, Michael said that he wanted his own videogame blog for 2010. I am a blogger at Mom in the City so it tickled me that he wanted to start his own site. Since he does seem to have a knack for video games, I said that he could have a video blog since his spelling is not up to blogging standards. Once a week (games permitting), I will post a video of him (and occasionally some of his little friends) playing and sharing about rated "EC" or "E" Wii and DSi games. (Those are the only gaming systems that we have/want at the moment.) Sometimes we go to media events and I'll post those here too. Lastly, in the "For Parents" section, I'll post any news that is extremely relevant to parents of young kids who play video games. Enjoy!
in August of last year on 
. This is a great family game because players can actually play together. (Mario's ability to change into Penguin Mario and the ability to throw snowballs at the "bad guys to freeze them" are other highlights of the game that Michael and my husband enjoyed.) 
