Kinect Sesame Street TV and Kinect Nat Geo TV

$30, Xbox Kinect

Teaches: reading, science

CTR Rating: 82%

CTR Review

We've all grown used to watching TV. Now it can watch you back, providing you have one of two new releases out this month for the Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect video game system. Kinect Sesame Street TV and Kinect Nat Geo TV ($30 each, from Microsoft Studios) each blend high definition episodes of 2011-2012 episodes, with games that exploit the abilities of Kinect's motion-sensing camera and microphone. The extra hardware is not included in the $30 price, and additional episodes can be downloaded for $5 each, providing you have 900 MB free on your Xbox's hard drive and are signed into Xbox Live. The Sesame Street title contains two disks, one on growing up, the second on science, each with four 30 minute episodes. After you move your coffee table and calibrate your Kinect, you raise your hand to start an episode. Things start getting interesting when you see yourself standing inside a mirror, as if you're one of the puppets. You can jump to knock coconuts or try stay frozen until time's up. In the National Geographic title, you take photos by shouting "snap" for the Kinect's microphone. Our testers favorite game was when you and a friend together see yourself onscreen wearing a rather corny looking bear mask, complete with large bear paws on your hand. You can earn points by scratching rocks to find moths, eating bugs or swatting at competitors. The HD graphics are clear, and the content is top notch; offering convincing evidence that gestures, voices, and body motion have a place in television programming. If you step out of the room? The Kinect waits about 45 seconds, and starts churning through the episode without you.