Finding games for kids can be a bit of a challenge. A lot of "kid" games are low quality, quick and dirty movie and TV licensed games that just plain aren't very good, so sorting the games that are actually good from the flavor of the week can be tough. With Microsoft's Kinect motion controller, however, a lot of the games released for the device are kid and family-friendly, which makes finding kid games a lot easier. Of course, they do require a Kinect but we think it is worth it especially if you have kids. We present our picks for the Ten Best Xbox 360 and Kinect games for kids. Note - Games marked as (Kinect) require the Kinect sensor. Skylanders combines video games with a line of physical toys to form one of the most interesting gaming experiences available today. The toys are shockingly well made, and the games are actually really good and getting better with each new release. Skylanders: Swap Force is the newest entry in the series and is genuinely a solid game for both kids and adults.
Even better, all of your older Skylaners toys work with it. Kids will go absolutely bonkers for this game. Exploring the Disneyland theme park. Going on mini-game versions of all of the rides. Hanging out with Mickey Mouse. If there were ever a perfect kids game, this is pretty much it. All the fun of Disneyland - every kids dream - without actually going there - every parents dream. See our Kinect Disneyland Adventures review for more. Kinectimals in general is a fun game even for adults, but put a kid in front of the cute fluffy cats (and now bears) and let them interact with both motion controls as well as voice and Kinectimals suddenly becomes something truly special. The graphics are fantastic, and the Kinect controls for all of the minigames and taking care of your pet are really spot on. Dance Central 2 might be the technically better dance game for Kinect, but for kids the Just Dance series is the way to go. The dance moves are simpler and easier, the visual presentation is a little easier to follow than DC2, and the track list (especially if you go for the guaranteed to be kid-friendly Just Dance Kids) is a little better for kids.
The LEGO games are kind of confusing as kids games because they are simple to play and ESRB rated "E10", but not always based on content appropriate for kids and some of the puzzles can be a bit much for kids to figure out. You don't necessarily have to have seen the movies the games are based on to have fun, but they won't make much sense if you haven't. Of course, kids probably won't mind. Especially if you play along with them to help them through any tough spots. There are Harry Potter, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Batman, and Pirates of the Caribbean LEGO games available. Playing music is awesome, even if you're just using little fake plastic instruments, and teaching kids about music and experiencing it with them is one of the special joys of being a parent. Any of the Rock Band games will work here, but LEGO Rock Band gets a special nod because of the fun LEGO aesthetic and because the song list is kid-friendly (and any Rock Band DLC you might have is trimmed down to just kid-friendly songs), which make it good for kids.
It took a couple of years, but a competitor to Skylanders finally appeared, and it was a doozy. Disney Infinity mixes the addictive toy collecting of Skylanders with the huge number of great Disney characters to create an unstoppable force of consumerism. The game is actually pretty good, too, and focuses more on customization and building worlds rather than straight platforming. The toys are really cool, too, and more are coming out all the time. Maybe not for really young kids (10 and up seems to be best), PowerUp Heroes is a superhero simulator where you throw fireballs and use super powers and fight invading aliens. It is very simple and relatively short and pretty easy and good for kids. You might think a game focused on fighting is bad for kids but, really, they are going to do it anyway* (roughhousing, I mean) and PowerUp Heroes is so over the top and cartoony and unrealistic that it isn't any worse than most kid movies and TV shows. (*I was a kid once, I know) A somewhat ignored title from the Kinect launch, Adrenalin Misfits is a snowboarding game featuring bright colorful graphics, goofy / funny character designs, and surprisingly solid controls.
We liked it quite a bit, but kids will really dig it. Sometimes good games come in surprising packages. We had low expectations for Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, but it turned out to be a remarkably solid platformer. It isn't the deepest or most challenging game ever, but as a way to introduce kids to platforming games, we highly recommend it. Adults won't get much out of it, but this is a list of kids games, after all.You've been logged out of GDC Vault since the maximum users allowed for this account has been reached. To access Members Only content on GDC Vault, please log out of GDC Vault from the computer which last accessed this account. Click here to find out about GDC Vault Membership options for more users. Ben 10: Up to Speed Riding the Storm out (Mandarin)In ten years, Lego has recovered from the brink of bankruptcy to a blockbuster movie and strong sales. Lego Designer Mark Stafford recently took to Reddit to offer some insight on what went wrong in the first place and how the Danish toy company turned it around.
The troubles, he said, involved bad management and expensive and unpopular new products. The LEGO company at that stage had no idea how much it cost to manufacture the majority of their bricks, they had no idea how much certain sets made. The most shocking finding was about sets that included the LEGO micro-motor and fiber-optic kits — in both cases it cost LEGO more to source these parts then the whole set was being sold for — everyone of these sets was a massive loss leader and no one actually knew. This was combined with a decision to ‘retire’ a large number of the LEGO Designers who had created the sets from the late 70′s through the 80′s and into the 90′s and replace them with 30 ‘innovators’ who were the top graduates from the best design colleges around Europe. Unfortunately, though great designers they knew little specifically about toy design and less about LEGO building. The number of parts climbed rapidly from 6000 to over 12,000 causing a nightmare of logistics and storage and a huge amount of infrastructure expansion for no gain in sales.
Products like Znap, Primo, Scala and worst; Galidor all came out of this period. Let’s take a closer look at those new products that almost led to disaster. Lego Technic Fiber Optic Multi Set (1996) The “fiber optics” in this this Technic kit are actually clear plastic tubes that connect to a battery-operated LED-light pack. These specialized parts cost more to produce than the entire set was being sold for. The Znap line was an obvious reaction to K’Nex, an American construction toy company that was founded in 1993. Like those of K’Nex, Znap pieces were more elaborate than traditional Lego bricks, and could allow for more architectural creations, like bridges. Ultimately, Znap proved to be an inferior competitor and failed to catch on. To make matters worse, Lego even used those highly unprofitable Technic motors in some of the sets. Lego’s Duplo line is intended for children 1-5 years old and has been around since 1975 (barring a couple brief absences).
The Primo offshoot was intended for babies too young to even play with regular Duplo bricks. And unlike Duplo pieces, they were not compatible with regular Lego pieces. Primo was succeeded by Lego Baby, which was phased out in 2005. The niche market was simply not profitable for the company. For some reason, Lego decided to revive an obscure line from ’79 targeted at young girls. The one thing that kept the Scala doll line remotely attached to the Lego brand was the use of some bricks in the play sets, and from ’97-’98, the brick studs were in flower-shapes incompatible with other Lego sets. Stafford considers the Galidor line to be Lego’s most heinous offense. Based on a kid’s show of the same name, the line was basically an action figure series with awkward features like interchangeable arms for characters. Each set in the line featured specialized pieces, which were expensive to produce and in practically no way resembled a Lego product. Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, a former McKinsey consultant, came in as CEO in 2004 and rescued the company.