Family 360

Rather oddly, my Mum and Dad decided they wanted an Xbox 360 for their front room and not for the reason I'd expect them i.e. to take advantage of the cheap HD-DVD player!

My Mum wanted one after playing Viva Pinata on my 360 and really enjoying it, so she's been enjoying playing the game but hasn't quite grasped the fact it's not Settlers III on easy and that you have to pay attention.

My Dad wanted it to play Gears of War. Yep, my 55 year old father wants to play on Gears of War. It'll no doubt be hilarious at first, but what it shows is the importance of next-gen graphics.

My Dad says he wants to play Gears because "it's like watching a movie". Now, that's an interesting thing to say because he's not intimidated by the controller and drawn into the game because it looks real.

This is the opposite to what Nintendo are saying about the Wii. The WiiMote is meant to be familiar and easy to use and having a powerful graphics machine isn't the most important thing. But my Dad hasn't been out a bought a Wii...

I think it's a testament to Microsoft Game Studio's promise to produce less but higher quality titles that they've sold another Premium Pack to two very mainstream customers when Nintendo are directly targetting the Wii at that audience.

And a firmly slap on the back for Allards vision of getting families back in of the console!

This gives me an idea.