A video game giveaway. What?!?

Please be sure to read to the end for details on the giveaway! And come back first thing tomorrow. Will I post a savory or a sweet recipe? I’m still undecided, but I have one of each in the works, so if you have a preference this is the time to tell me. Speak now, or forever hold your peace. Or something.

If you’ve been hanging out here for a while, that title probably threw you for a loop. It’s no secret that I’m not the world’s biggest lover of video games. In fact, I have a self-imposed set of rules that effectively eliminates nine out of every ten of the games on the market from our home.

1. No games that turn you into couch potatoes. Exercising your thumbs is not equivalent to exercising your body.
2. No games that turn your brain off. Exercising your hand-eye coordination from a sitting position does not improve your cognitive abilities overall.
3. No games without redeeming qualities. (And now you understand why we own a grand total of 3 video games.)

So when the Clever Girls Collective and Ubisoft got together and sent me a copy of the Wii game “Just Dance Kids” to review, I was pretty sure I was going to be donating it to the Salvation Army in short order.

The boys agreed to help me review the game. Here is the result of our collaboration.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHND_dZPRiQ&feature=youtube_gdata[/youtube]

Now some nitty-gritty details:

1. It is definitely a game skewed to the younger crowd. If you kids are in the Winnie the Pooh/Blue’s Clues demographic, then they’ll probably enjoy this game. Any older and you might face a mutiny.
2. The older boys had to be ordered convinced to keep still about some of the faces pulled by dancers in the video game. If you’re familiar with some of the “WOW! GEE! My legs are doing something that completely shocks me!” expressions used in ballroom dance then you have a good idea what I mean. And you probably have a good handle on why the older kids reacted that way.
3. This game provides some honest-to-goodness exercise. The choreographed moves look deceptively simple. I challenge you to give “A-B-C” a try and tell me otherwise.
4. My three youngest kids have clocked some serious time on this game and it hasn’t lost its charm. It’s a good value.
5. You can have more than one player dancing at a time. (My kids prefer to play solo, but the game doesn’t restrict them to that.)

Now the giveaway.

Ubisoft  provided me with a copy of the game to give to one reader. Interested in scratching one item off your gift list? Here are the rules:

1. Leave a comment about your plans for the upcoming holidays. What are you looking forward to the most?
2. That’s it. You know I’m not crazy about convoluted contest rules.
3. Happy Hannukah
4. Merry Christmas
5. Get out your dancing shoes and prepare to busta move.*

*Does saying ‘busta move’ date me?

I’ll pick and announce the winner this Sunday afternoon, November 5th. Good luck!