On Tuesday I attended the Activision Family Game Summit which was phenomenal and extremely informative. We learned about the 9 most popular video games kids crave this holiday season. You are going to want to pick them up for the kids.
But first I want to tell you about a few things. Video games are something we have all played for years. I have some fond memories playing Atari; Pac-Man, Pitfall and Donkey Kong were favorites. When Nintendo came out my brother, sister and I would play Mario forever trying to beat it. We saved the game uncountable times.
Now that I’m a parent we have enjoyable family game nights on the Wii
Benefits of Playing Video Games
-Game players perform higher in perceptual and cognitive tasks, and are often more creative!
-Games teach everyday skills including promoting teamwork
-Video games can promote cooperation; gamers spend 80% of their time failing, encouraging resilience
-Find video games that encourage interaction and learning
9 Most Popular Video Games Kids Want
1. Moshi Monsters Moshlings Theme Park
Your MONSTERIFIC adventure awaits! The Moshlings have lost their way around Amusement Isle and they need your help to round up their monster-mates and light up the magical Moshlings Theme Park.
-Find 60 Lost Moshlings: Play mini-games to unlock hints and tips to help you in your search!
-Experience Monsterific Rides: Hit splat-tastic high scores as you guide your Monster to glory aboard the wildest coasters, karts, slides and rides!
-Fun For All Ages: Play easy-to-learn games with Moshi “nurture” modes for the youngest gamer or exploration puzzles and arcade challenges for the more advanced!
Available for Nintendo DS & 3DS Buy Now
2. Lalaloopsy Carnival of Friends
Peanut Big Top™ is throwing the biggest Silly Funhouse carnival in Lalaloopsy Land for all to enjoy, including a special treat at the end! It’s up to you to find all of the Lalaloopsy friends at the carnival to reveal the BIG surprise!
-See 40 of your favorite Lalaloopsy characters like never before.
-For the first time ever play with the Lalaloopsy siblings, the Lalaloopsy Littles!
-Explore 16 different levels all with a Silly Funhouse carnival theme!
-Look for Harmony B. Sharp™ at all major retailers for an exclusive videogame unlock.
Available for Nintendo DS & 3DS Buy Now
3. Bratz: Fashion Boutique
Bratz® are everyone’s favorite gIrls with a passion for fashion®! Now you can join the girls and run the hottest fashion boutiques in Stylesville. Help create the latest trends and tap into your inner diva!
-Play as your favorite Bratz™; Cloe™, Yasmin™, Sasha™ and Jade™ and run their own fashion boutiques!
-Create your own trendy, custom outfits in the Workshop Mini-games and sell them to earn more money!
-Be the newest “It” thing in Stylesville with the latest trends!
-Put on the hottest Fashion Shows and raise your fame to attract more customers, maybe even some celebrity Bratz!
-Unlock exclusive content using QR-codes found on the Bratz Boutique™, Chic Mystique™ and Style Starz™ toylines!
Available for Nintendo DS & 3DS Buy Now
4. Skylanders Giants
Skylanders Giants™ builds upon the breakthrough fundamentals of Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure®—merging the physical and virtual realms with an innovative line of cross-platform toys with “brains,” which players everywhere can magically bring to life in the world of Skylands. Skylanders Giants introduces sixteen new characters to build on the magic of Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure, including super-sized Giant Skylanders with powers to match, as well as the new LightCore™ Skylanders that light-up in the game and in the real-world as players’ transport them to Skylands using the Portal of Power® that builds on the magic of the toys.
Skylanders Giants is rated E+10 by the ESRB and is currently available on Nintendo’s Wii™ system, Nintendo 3DS™, the Xbox 360™ game and entertainment system, and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system. Buy Now
5. Wipeout 3
Welcome back to Wipeout! Where things are wetter, wilder, and even wackier than ever!
-Tackle the craziest courses ever, like Deck the Balls and the Wild West!
-Run the Wipeout course like never before with all new, 3rd person camera angles!
-Battle your friends to reign supreme in Side-By-Side Multiplayer!
-Over 200 uniquely outrageous obstacles!!
Available for Nintend Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii U and Xbox 360 Buy Now
6. Transformers Prime: The Game
Help OPTIMUS PRIME and the AUTOBOTS join forces with human friends Jack, Miko and Raf to save the Earth from MEGATRON and his new secret weapon THUNDERWING. Play as one of your favorite AUTOBOT characters including BUMBLEBEE and BULKHEAD as you battle through unique vistas around the world to help defeat the DECEPTICONS.
-Battle Action Variety
-New and Favorite Characters
-Engaging Storyline
-Single and Multiplayer Mode
Available for Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and Nintend Wii U Buy Now
7. Wreck-It Ralph
Help Ralph earn the Wreck-ognition he deserves before it’s game over!
-On the Fly Swappable Characters: Use Wreck-It Ralph’s brawn to destroy obstacles or Fix-It-Felix’s magical hammer to repair them!
-Unique Environments: Venture through exciting worlds based on the featured film; from Sugar Rush to Hero’s Duty, every world is unique but equally action-packed and fun!
-Bragging Rights: Find and accumulate collectibles like Hero Medals and Easter Eggs that you can display in your trophy collection!
-Fun that Never Ends: Beat the game? No problem! Play it again and discover more challenging levels under a new set of rules!
Available for Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS & 3DS Buy Now
8. Angry Birds Trilogy
Angry Birds is taking flight for the first time ever and crashing on game consoles everywhere! Gather your flock and sling into action!
-3 Best-Selling Angry Birds games in 1
-19 exclusive levels
-Over 100 hours of addictive gameplay!
-New achievements and trophies!
Available for Playstation 3, Nintendo 3DS and Xbox 360 Buy Now
9. The Trash Pack
Taking out the trash has never been so much! Join your favorite Trashies in litter-loaded adventures of the grossest proportions!
-Collect over 160 of your favorite Trashies!
-Play as 30 of the most popular Trash Pack characters!
-Enjoy 4 unique games for a truly GROSS experience!
Available for Nintendo DS & 3DS Buy Now
For more about ESRB video game ratings visit www.esrb.org and for more family-friendly video games visit www.activision.com
Disclosure:I received a thank you gift for attending the live broadcast. Information provided by Activision and a panel. All opinions 100% my own
My kids have Skylanders Giants and they absolutely love it.
We just bought our boys their first video game systems for Christmas. They’ve never played anything like it before.
SKylanders Giants are definiltey on my kids Christmas list this year.
Mario Kart Wii. Best game ever. Actually met my husband and had our first date playing Mario Kart! Now we have a 3 and 5 year old and starting to re-live old times! Oh the good old days!