Christmas Gift Guide – Family Games

The rise of the Wii, aided and abetted by the recent launches of Kinect and PlayStation Move, means you finally have a chance to get all the family gaming together at Christmas. In short, that annual snore-inducing charades session has been replaced with everyone gathering round to batter plastic musical instruments or pretend to bowl. Here are the best family friendly games to liven up your Yuletide.  Dance Central (Xbox 360 Kinect)£40, www.dancecentral.com The dance mat is dead: Dance Central and its buddy Kinect have just nailed up the coffin and started shovelling the soil. Designed by Guitar Hero (and subsequently Rock Band) creators Harmonix, this game requires no peripherals – only a sense of rhythm and the balance of a cat, as you perform routines to accompany “popular urban music” under the cold evaluating gaze of the Kinect camera. Continues...  SingStar Guitar (PS3)£20, www.singstar.com Your girlfriend/mother/brother/cousin etc. croons into a plastic microphone while you strum along on a polycarbonate guitar – yes, at last, you and a friend or loved one can pretend to be Roxette. Aimed at a slightly less hardcore crowd than Rock Band or Guitar Hero.  Continues...  Wii Party (Wii)£50, wiiparty.nintendo.comThe Kinect and PS Move may have stolen the Wii’s thunder, but the daddy of family gaming can still bust a move or two. Wii Party is a collection of odd mini-games: in the guise of their Mii avatars, up to four players compete in the likes of balloon-popping or UFO photographing challenges. Simple but fun. Continues...  Monopoly Streets (PS3/Xbox 360/Wii)£20, www.ea.comSure, you could just break out that dusty old copy of the real board game, but this digital edition lets you lounge on the sofa, not to mention watch your property empire grow in glorious detail – and there’s no way anyone can cheat by surreptitiously grabbing extra money from the bank. Continues...  Buzz!: The Ultimate Music Quiz (PS3)£25, (with four buzzers), www.buzzthegame.comPerennial PS3 quizzer Buzz! is back, with a new look and support for the PlayStation Move motion controller. Up to four people can duke it out in the main quiz game with the buzzers, then engage in Move mini-games in which you hammer the correct on-screen answers, or drag them into a bin. Continues...  Kinect Sports (Xbox 360 Kinect)£40, www.xbox.comCasual gaming distilled, this is just perfect for Christmas – provided you have the space to pretend to play football or box in your living room. Just like Wii Sports when it arrived a few years back, Kinect Sports makes gaming easy for people who wouldn’t know a joypad from a jockstrap.  More from Stuff.tv- Equinux Tizi mobile TV hotspot- Karotz – it's Nabaztag reborn- PS3 gets on-demand ITV player and 4oD- Rumour Mill – Mac App Store to be delayed until January 2011- News Nugget – Tascam Portastudio for iPad- Rumour Mill – iPad to have dual cameras- Monsters Tron T1 Daft Punk headphones- Samsung Galaxy Tab buyers to get Christmas freebies- Google unveils test only Chrome OS-powered notebook- Hands on - Google Nexus S