Xbox & Zune Social Party Night
Last night in the chilly Queen West area of Toronto, Xbox and Zune community members gathered at The Oasi Lounge and Wine Bar. We were greeted by very friendly staff and superb finger foods. The overall vibe and feel to the Oasi was very modern and trendy; the perfect place for casual gamers to gather and try out some of this year’s casual holiday offerings from Microsoft. There were 3 games on for us to play as well as a Zune station.
The first game I played was Scene It Box Office Smash. I had a blast playing against fellow community members okaybuddy, DarthAlbert III and mstehflakes. I have to say I did very well until we had the final cut and I finished in 4th place. Check out our full review of Scene it BOS Here
[tehflakes would have done a lot worse if mstehflakes wasn’t sitting right beside him – ed.]
Next up was Lips. While I didn’t play, I did watch several fellow gamers take turns belting their favourite tunes in this karaoke game. Lips comes with motion control microphones as well as the game for $69.99. I personally think this price point is a little high for a casual game but others argue that with 2 microphones and the game it’s a good value. What separates Lips from other karaoke style video games is the ability to use select portable music players to play your own DRM free songs (without lyrics unfortunately).
Finally we were able to see In the Movies. This game utilizes the Xbox vision camera and places you in the game where you can compete against up to 3 of your friends. The Xbox Vision Camera captures your actions via green screen technology. You and your friends compete in fun mini-games, earning points based mostly on enthusiasm. Once all the filming is complete, the game takes your mini-game actions and constructs a film trailer using actual footage of you playing. It’s quite hysterical.
This holiday season promises to be one of the best holiday seasons in video game history. From the vast array of Triple A games, for the hardcore gamer, to a fantastic selection of casual games for the family like Scene It, Lips, and In the Movies, there’s sure to be a game for everyone’s stocking this year.
Photos courtesy of okaybuddy. More available here and special thanks to Justin Amirkhani for a photo.