Last night we tried out Avatar Kinect for the Xbox 360 and have included the video from that session. Check it out and let us know what you think! We found that Avatar Kinect is not perfect by any means. Overall, it is definitely worth a look just for the initial fun aspect of it. Plus, you will get some easy achievements and that is never a bad thing. However, don’t wait too long because it is only free for the first 45 days and it would be very sad for you to miss out on those 50 easy achievement points.

Also, if you have made any videos with Avatar Kinect post them on our Facebook page wall. We would love to see them!

PROS

24 different stages

5 minutes of recording time

Ability to upload and download video at KinectShare.com

Emotes

Video quality is surprisingly good

Great eyebrow tracking and picks up smiles perfectly

CONS

Unable to move legs

Limited movement of head

Hands can glitch through body parts

Mouth movement is not very accurate

Tip:

Use a headset mic to avoid the Kinect distortion and feedback noise.

Brunswick Pro Bowling

Far Sight Studios/Crave Games

• Players 1-4
• Kinect Sensor Required
• Voice Enabled
• Activity Level: Active

I have been waiting a couple of months for the release of Brunswick Pro Bowling but I found it odd that the game had released last week and I had not heard anything about it.  I looked on my usual gaming sites and found no reviews and none of my friends were playing it on Xbox Live.  I started to become concerned that maybe the game was going to be a flop.  I hopped on Amazon.com to order the game and saw two people give it one star.

I thought to myself, “Oh, it can’t be as bad as they say…I am sure they are just being overly critical.”   So, this weekend I happened to see it at Costco for $42.00 and I decided to just pick it up because really how bad could it be, right?

The Low Down

Look I am just going to be direct and to the point on this one.  Brunswick Pro Bowling is by far the worst Kinect game that I have played and that tops the demo for Namco’s Body and Brain Connection.  I popped the game in and found it difficult to even get through the first game.  I caught myself loading the dishwasher in-between frames!  Honestly, I don’t know where to begin with the amount of problems with this title.

Pros:

• It’s a bowling game
• It came in the pretty purple box
• 5 Modes – Quick Play, League, Online Tourament, Rival Challenges, and Spares Challenge

Cons:

• Menu navigation is terrible
• Sensor accuracy is terrible
• What is the point of having a Kinect if you have to point where you are going to throw the ball, before you throw the ball?  You have to extend your non-bowling arm straight out at shoulder level to activate the aiming arrow.  Then move it left or right.  Do I even need to mention how incredibly difficult this is to do not to mention how much it slows the pace of an already slow-paced game?
• Music is completely flat and boring
• Characters show no excitement and they just look depressed
• Apparently it was too difficult to come up with more than 12 achievements
• Game constantly either won’t release the ball when thrown or it accidentally throws it when I am getting ready to swing back.

The Score  2/10  -  This is the generous score!

The Final Verdict

This is the first time I have ever bought a game and felt like I was totally ripped off.  Crave Games really dropped the ball (yeah weak joke) on this one.  I was literally pissed that I wasted my money on this.  I traded it in almost immediately but I feel responsible for the poor person that buys my copy.

If you are me and liked the bowling in Kinect Sports then just stick with that.  It is tons more fun and infinitely more responsive and accurate.

So if you are playing Fable III then you might be working on the “We Need Guns, Lots Of Guns” achievement.  This requires you to collect all 50 Legendary Weapons. The catch is that they won’t all appear in your world.  A few of the girls here at NyX have become a little obsessed with the game so we decided to start a page for everyone to trade weapons and help each other out.  If your interested just visit the Discussion Board on the Nyx Grrls Facebook page.  Feel free to use this area to buy, sell, trade, or just beg for weapons.  Good luck!

Here is a little information about the Legenday Weapons from Fable Wiki.

These weapons can be found entirely randomly inside the various chests and stores throughout Albion, so there is no one place to find a particular weapon. Note that while there are 50 total weapons in the game, every Hero has a set of 26 weapons that can be found; the rest must be traded for via Xbox Live.

Swords:

• Avo’s Lamentation
• Beadle’s Cutlass
• The Casanova
• The Love Sword
• The Merchant’s Bodyguard
• Mr. Stabby
• Really Sharp Pair of Scissors
• Slimquick
• Souldrinker
• The Splade
• The Swinging Sword
• Thunderblade

Hammers:

• Aurora’s Shield
• Dragonbone Hammer
• Faerie Hammer of the Moon King
• Hammer of Wilmageddon
• Jack’s Hammer
• Lunarium Pounder
• Mallett’s Mallet
• Scythe’s Warhammer
• Sorrow’s Fist
• Tannar’s Glory
• The Tenderiser
• Trollblight
• The TYPO

Rifles:

• Arkwright’s Flintlock
• Defender of the Faith
• The Equaliser
• Facemelter
• The Hero’s Companion
• Ol’ Malice
• The Sandgoose
• Scattershot
• The Shrieking Pilgrim
• Simmons’s Shotgun
• Skorm’s Justice
• Swift Irregular

Pistols:

• Gnomewrecker
• The Barnumificator
• Bloodcraver
• The Bonesmasher
• Briar’s Blaster
• Chickenbane
• Desert Fury
• The Ice Maiden
• Holy Vengeance
• Mirian’s Mutilator
• Reaver Industries Perforator
• Tee Killer Shooter
• Dragonstomper .48

So lately we have been obsessed (some more than others) with getting achievements in Gears of War 2.  Despite the constant torment and anger it is putting us through to get these achievements, we keep trying.  Here and there we have seen some questionable things and now our speculations have been confirmed. 

Major Nelson recently posted that, “As part of our regular safety monitoring we have pinpointed a group of players who have unlocked specific Gears of War 2 Achievements through an unauthorized hack… As I post this, we’ve begun taking steps to reset the Gamerscores of the offending players.”

See Full Story

I must say that I am quite happy about this.  This is what a cheaters gamercard will look like…I sure don’t want that on mine!