droolicious : holiday gift ideas

5 Kid-Friendly Music Games That Aren't Rock Band or Guitar Hero

Aaron Burgess — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:04:00 GMT

Kicking out the kid-friendly jams with Wii Music.

I'd probably heard the Donnas' "New Kid In School" 500 times before my kids decided it was their new favorite track in Rock Band 2. It wasn't until my 5-year-old started belting out the song's lyrics, though, that I realized there was a naughty word in the second verse. Now, I'm hardly a prude when it comes to T-rated games, but there's something about hearing a kindergartener sing, "Better start kissing some ass!" that makes you understand why ESRB ratings exist.

While such moments are rare, they prove why edgier music games like Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour aren't always appropriate for family game night. So, for any parent looking for a safe-but-fun alternative this holiday season, here's a round-up of some of the more kid-friendly music titles out there -- at least one of which may surprise you.

Wii Music (buy it at Amazon)
Rated: E
System: Wii
Unlike most music games, which force you to hit notes (or just hit, period) at precise moments in order to get ahead, Wii Music is almost totally free-form: Using the Wii Remote, Nunchuk and Balance Board, you can tweak tempos, add flourishes or otherwise alter the arrangements of up to 50 different songs using a veritable orchestra's worth of instruments. And unlike, well, every other game featured in this post, there's no such thing as a mistake in Wii Music -- in fact, the more you can improvise to create happy accidents, the more enjoyable the game becomes. It's easy enough that a 3-year-old could start jamming, but the possibilities (you can create and share your own improvs over Wi-Fi, for instance) are big enough that Mom and Dad will never get bored.

Rock University Presents: The Naked Brothers Band The Video Game (buy it at Amazon)
Rated: E
Systems: Wii, DS, PS2, PC
The Naked Brothers Band's first music-rhythm game was built on a good idea (join Nickelodeon's flagship kid rockers on a world tour) and a fan-enticing soundtrack, but for anyone used to Rock Band-style gameplay, the game can feel lacking: The Wii version has you gesturing in thin air to play the band's six different instruments, while the PS2 version requires various joystick combos. (Unlike the DS version, those two editions also include an external mic.) That said, my Naked Brothers-obsessed 5-year-old amazingly had less trouble adjusting to this game than he did figuring out Guitar Hero or any other title requiring "real" fake instruments. That may be because, given the target audience's age, the room for error on The Naked Brothers Band The Video Game is unusually wide.

Boogie SuperStar (buy it at Amazon)
Rated: E10+
System: Wii
What teen pop sensation worth his or her weight in gold albums can't dance and sing at the same time? In Boogie SuperStar -- the follow-up to last year's Boogie -- kids can release their inner Fergie, Maroon 5, Fall Out Boy or Natasha Bedingfield (just some of the stars who've lent tracks to the game), singing into the included microphone while using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to bust their best dance moves. Though it's a great game to play solo, the competition gets a lot more fun as you add up to four friends to compete for pop-star bragging rights in the American Idol-style "Boogie Star Show." Oh, and budget-minded parents, take note: If you have a mic, you can save $10 on the bundle pictured here and just get the core game.

Disney Sing It (buy it at Amazon)
Rated: E
Systems: Wii, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3
With a true karaoke-style experience that lets kids sing along to actual music videos from Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers, Aly and AJ, and other Disney stars, Disney Sing It offers kids eye candy to match its ear candy. The game packs 35 songs in all -- including tunes from Camp Rock and High School Musical -- and kids can compete solo as well as in duet, head-to-head, and team modes. The game also stresses hitting the right notes, with High School Musical star Olesya Rulin popping up as a personal vocal coach. As with Boogie SuperStar, you can buy the bundle (which includes a Logitech mic) or save a few bucks and use your existing microphone with the core game.

Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades (buy it at Amazon)
Rated: E10+
System: DS
OK, I lied about not including Guitar Hero in this roundup, but it makes sense that handheld gaming's most kid-friendly console would get the most kid-friendly entry in the Guitar Hero series. Decades follows up last year's Guitar Hero On Tour, which reduced the axe-slinging experience to a pick stylus and a fist-sized "fretboard" that plugs into your DS Lite's Game Boy Advance slot. Although there are some cool features (you blow into the DS' mic to extinguish pyro blasts, for instance) and a welcome sharing mode that lets you stream tunes across both versions of On Tour, the game's core mechanics haven't changed much. The experience, however, has: You can customize your character based on its era and shred along to 28 songs from the '70s to today (hence the "Decades"), with artists ranging from Queen to R.E.M. to Paramore. The E10+ rating is for lyrical content, but there are no truly naughty words to be found.

Muppet Whatnot Workshop Targets Our Inner Jim Henson

Aaron Burgess — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:33:00 GMT

Believe it or not, this is exactly what I looked like the moment I sat down to post about the Muppet Whatnot Workshop, FAO Schwarz' online tool that lets you customize your own real-life Muppet for home delivery.

Admittedly, there are some limitations to how accurately you can Muppet-ize yourself (I'm not actually this handsome, for instance), but the tool is easy enough to use that you could let kids customize whatever sort of Jim Henson-esque doppelganger they like and it'll always look great.

$90 -- customize your own at the Muppet Whatnot Designer, and stick around to use one of the awesome 20% off coupons Sunny just posted about.

From Our Archives: Video Games That Won't Turn Your Kids Into Couch Potatoes

Aaron Burgess — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:02:00 GMT

Sure, that Xbox 360 makes a great babysitter when you're nearing day seven of the holiday break and everyone's got cabin fever, but if you're looking for a way to sate your kids' game cravings that won't add girth to their bottoms, you've got quite a few choices this year. Here, then: a round-up of your Babble bloggers' favorite calorie-burning kid games from the past year.

How do we love Wii? Let us count the ways: Its motion-sensitive controller and huge list of kid-friendly titles literally put you into the game, and assuming you can still find one of these hot sellers on shelves before Christmas, you and the kiddoes can burn off those calories via the Wii Sports pack that comes bundled with the core system. As Babble's own Karen Murphy pointed out earlier this year, Nintendo has even started donating Wiis to select YMCAs as a way to get kids and parents playing (and feeling the burn!) together.

We drooled over this one several times this year, and not just because it hasn't been dinged by lead-paint recalls: Aimed at the littlest gamers, Fisher-Price's Smart Cycle is a combination video game/exercise bike that plugs directly into your TV (no game console required) and lets kids zip through various levels of fast-paced, vaguely educational racing action. It's not actually powered by kids' feet (now that would be innovative), but it'll definitely keep them moving. It's listed at $100, but both Amazon and Toys "R" Us have dropped the price for the holidays.

From our recent gift guide: Kids not yet old enough to get down with Dance Dance Revolution will dig Konami Kids Playground, a series of games that, along with teaching fundamentals for both brain (shapes, colors, numbers) and brawn (coordination and motor skills), utilizes a cool DDR-style mat controller that plugs into your PlayStation 2. You need to pick up the $40 Frogger: Hop, Skip & Jumpin' Fun game (pictured), which comes bundled with the controller, to get started, but from there, games average around $30 each.

Finally, of course, there's Dance Dance Revolution proper, which, as MetroDad noted earlier this year, has even started infiltrating the public school system. If you're looking for a way to bond and battle with your brood, it's still probably the healthiest gaming addiction to span multiple generations, with the new DDR Universe 2 (pictured) adding features like freestyle mode (where you can boogie down without those familiar flashing arrows to torment you) and a wider-than-ever selection of tunes from the '70s to today.

So, Babble readers, what do you think: Are these genuine fitness tools, or are we just dumb for smart marketing? The parental death match begins in the comments.

Video Game Review: LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Rules)

Aaron Burgess — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:02:00 GMT

Geeks the world over may be frothing over the upcoming be-all, end-all multimedia project Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, but in my house, the only Star Wars universe that matters is the one you make yourself out of plastic bricks and minifigures.

Needless to say, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, the new, third installment in LucasArts' awesomely, endlessly fun video-game series, has been at the top of my and my kids' Christmas lists this year. Luckily for me (but unbeknownst to them -- hey, they don't read Babble), I got it early. Sorry, little dudes.

LEGO Star Wars II marked the series' entry into next-generation consoles, but The Complete Saga maximizes the systems' technology -- which means, if you're playing on an Xbox 360 or PS3, you're going to notice some major improvements in graphics, as well as some cool new online capabilities. Wii users, unfortunately, don't get either, although the Wii version does make use of the system's motion-control capabilities. DS players, meanwhile, get a LEGO Star Wars experience completely redesigned from the ground up.

Playing like a combined version of its predecessors, The Complete Saga works in LEGO-fied versions of the characters, scenery and scenarios from all six Star Wars films, complete with LEGO Star Wars' trademark cheeky humor to take the edge off. Meaning: Star Wars Battlefront this ain't -- and you'll dive right into playing alongside your kids for just that reason.

Even if you beat the games the first go-round -- and despite the kiddie appeal, that's not as easy as you might think -- there's plenty here to keep you playing. Besides new characters like Watto, Zam Wessell and Boss Nass (with over 120 playable characters in all), you'll find 10 new bounty-hunter challenges, the ability to mix and match characters from all six episodes, and even a cameo by a certain archaeologist movie hero who's about to get his own LEGO video-game treatment.

It's not entirely "new," so calling LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga the season's best kid-friendly video game may be a stretch (and besides, Mario did come back fighting this fall). But for those of us who've enjoyed bonding with our kids over George Lucas' universe, boy, it'll sure feel that way.

Holiday Gift Idea: Create Photo Flipbooks from Your Digital Home Movies

Aaron Burgess — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:02:00 GMT

If you're looking for a novel holiday keepsake but don't want to send the same old pictures of the kiddoes decked out in front of a fake fireplace, here's a reverse-technological wonder you may dig. Starting at $8.99 per book, FlipClips are paper-flipbook versions of your digital home movies: Just upload your 10- to 30-second clip of the little ones in action, select your format and binding, and presto! You've got an archival-paper "video" friends and family won't need a high-speed connection to enjoy.

Prices vary depending on video size and flipbook style, and if you don't want to stray too far from holiday tradition, there are also options that look more like greeting cards, complete with envelopes for mailing.