Frugal WA Mommy

This review and giveaway is sponsored by Xbox and hosted by Lisa at Mommy and Me Giveaways. Several bloggers have joined in to host it on their blogs as well: Just Davey & Me, Save More Spend Less, Frugal Washington Mommy, Centsable Coupon Lady, Missi Rose’s Coupons & More, Ditta’s Gifts and Savings, Living Frugal with Erika, Mom Are We There Yet?, bonkers4coupons, Sister’s Saving Cents, bbproductreviews, and Night Time Helper. Please be sure to visit their blogs and follow them in the entry form below!

I was recently sent a 4GB Xbox 360 with Kinect, with the games “Kinect Adventures” and “Child of Eden” for review. I have to admit, I’m not a big gamer, only because I usually get frustrated with games. I had another popular game console that had a motion control feature, and was so frustrated with it I sold it after a few months. I just could not get used to the remotes on it when playing regular games on it! I heard the Xbox with Kinect is much better because the Kinect actually has a camera and can “see” your body, and you use the regular controller for regular games. I have tried it out and I really do like it better than other game consoles I have tried! The only downside for me with the Kinect is I have a very small living room. It is only 9×13 and I need to stand about 8 feet or so away from the Kinect for it to see me properly. Thankfully I have my TV on the shorter wall of the room so I have more space the length of the room to play my games.

Setting up the Xbox was pretty simple. The only issue I had was setting up the Kinect. It needs you to be very quiet during setup, and with a 3-year-old in the house that is next to impossible! It took about 10 tries for that part of the setup before Davey stayed quiet long enough to get it to work. After setting all that up and signing up for Xbox Live, I had a lot of fun setting up my Avatar and choosing styles and clothes for her. You can buy more clothes and accessories, but I haven’t wanted to put money into that yet. You can also win clothes and accessories by playing different games!

The first week or so we only used the Xbox for watching Netflix. As I said, I’m not a big gamer really, and I don’t think my 3-year-old is ready for the games it came with. First of all, let me tell you that the video quality on Netflix on the Xbox is much better than my other streaming device! I also found that I can install Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and Xfinity. There are lots of other apps you can install too, but those are the ones I use.

Now for the games:

Kinect Adventures! is a full-featured Kinect game where you and your friends will explore the world – and beyond – through 20 active adventures to achieve the ultimate reward: Expert Adventurer status! Jump, duck and dodge your way through roaring rapids and challenging obstacle courses. Use your skills to save a leaky underwater laboratory. Get creative by showing off and sharing your accomplishments online with Photo Moments and Living Statues. The spirit of adventure awaits!

I had a lot of fun playing Kinect Adventures! The Kinect is really easy to use, and I love that you don’t have to bother with the controller at all while using Kinect. It did take me a little while to get used to how I needed to move to control the game, but once I got the hang of it, it was a lot of fun and really easy to do! I noticed too that you can earn Awards in Kinect Adventures which gets you stuff for your Avatar too! I haven’t gotten any Awards yet, but hopefully I will soon! Did I mention I am terrible at video games? But I have fun with them anyway!

Child of Eden: Winner of 9 awards at E3 for innovative graphics, music, and gameplay. Child of Eden is the “multi-sensory shooter” that will send players diving into a visual matrix of synchronized music and mind-blowing visuals. It will usher forth yet another landmark game experience from the mind of renowned game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi.

I don’t usually like shooting games, but Child of Eden is unlike any game I have ever played! The graphics are just amazing and make this game a lot of fun! The Kinect we are giving away comes with a code to redeem to download Child of Eden, it is not an actual disk. I prefer that though, because that means less games to store and I don’t have to switch which game is in the Xbox when I want to play a different game.

There were also several demos already installed on my Xbox. I tried out some and had a lot of fun with them, but I deleted most of them just to clear up some space. The only downside to this Xbox is that a 4GB really isn’t all that much space. I cannot download any demos or games, at least not the ones I tried to download, because I don’t have enough space. This doesn’t affect actually buying a game from the store and playing it on the Xbox though. One solution to the lack of space is to get the Xbox Hard Drive which is 320GB and will give you more than enough space. I plan to get that next payday.

One lucky winner is going to win a 4GB Xbox 360 and Kinect with the games Kinect Adventures and Child of Eden! This giveaway is open to US only and it ends on December 14, 2012 at 11:59pm EST.
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I personally LOVE my Xbox and can’t wait to get the Kinect! (Its on my Christmas list!) And I plan on Entering every giveaway I can for it! So if you love your gaming system, know anyone who would LOVE it as well, Then enter above and make sure you get your entries in!
Disclosure: I received no compensation for this publication. My opinions are my own and may differ from yours. Frugal Washington Mommy is not responsible for sponsor prize shipment.