Kids Gaming Guide to Xbox 360

With Nintendo's Wii securing its role as an essential living room essential for American families, many Wii-less families are often left pondering what their kids can play if they have an Xbox 360. Thankfully, there are a bunch of options that are family friendly, graphically look better and they're less likely to produce bruises than the flailing limbs of Wii players.

Of course, there are always family-friendly games, based on popular movies like Up or Cars, but for the most part, those games lack little long-term value to any gaming household. Here are some tried and tested Xbox 360 favorites that will offer weeks of entertainment.

Viva Pinata

Microsoft's home grown family game, Viva Pinata, began its life as a Xbox 360 game where players tended to a virtual garden, hoping to attract colorful Pinatas, the game feels like a fun and simpler version of the gameplay from The Sims. The second major release in the series, Viva Pinata: Party Animals features the voices and mannerisms from the 4Kids TV show with a focus on party-style competition. Trouble In Paradise, returns to the single player experience and adds support for the Xbox Live Vision camera, which scans special cards that unlock new pinata in the game. The first two games can be found for under $19.99 and the newest game, Trouble for Paradise sells for $29.99.

Beautiful Katamari

If cleaning up was as fun as the Katamari gaming franchise, parents would never have to tell their kids to do it. As the Prince of All Cosmos, you're ask by your father to collect junk with ball-like objects known as Katamari that pick up everything from cars to people. Why? Once you fill up each Katamari, the King of All Cosmos uses each one to make new stars and planets. Of course, bigger objects make it harder to roll them around. With HD presentation, quirky humor that kids will love and the mere absurdity of picking up trash with a sticky ball - easily appeals to kids (that is, if you can find a copy). Will it get them to clean their room more often? Dream on.

Lego Star Wars / Indiana Jones / Batman

Recreating the classic Star Wars characters with Lego bricks, at first, sounded like a terrible idea. But with cute curb appeal, bloodless enemies who burst into collectable bricks, no speaking characters and opportunities to build contraptions and vehicles, the Lego video game series is now a family-friendly powerhouse with several Star Wars games, a Indiana Jones game and even Batman. Next up, Lego Rock Band and Lego Harry Potter. With the older Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga selling for only $20, you'll get Lego-fied adventures of all six movies in one.

Dance Dance Revolution

Ensuring that younger players don't turn into couch potatoes, the Dance Dance Revolution series pits single players or two head to head players against one another in dance offs to various beat of dance music. If you hate dance music, Dance Dance Revolution may drive you nuts but its school gym program endorsed vibe and hyperactive play style will keep them busy four hours (especially with friends). Just make sure to put a few water bottles out or they'll dry out fast. The latest, Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3 with one Dance Mat, sells for $49.99 and is great exercise when the air outside gets a bit chilly.

Table Tennis

Looking for no-thrills sports game that requires simple moves and not a lot of dialog? Table Tennis delivers a highly-competitive version of Forrest Gump's favorite game with sharp visuals and a level of addictive gameplay that makes that "I'll play just one game" statement a bold-faced lie. More interestingly, it's made by the same company that created the Grand Theft Auto series, yet lacks the violence, language that series is infamously reviled for (at least by some parents). We've seen it as low as $14.99, and it's lives up to its value with kids and parents who want a nice taste of head-to-head competition.

Sonic Unleashed

Kids just love Sonic, that's why Sega continues to create new adventures for the blue-haired hedgehog with a need for speed. The latest in the series, Sonic Unleashed, delivers speed in 3D and 2D, which makes it feel a little like the first games in the Sonic series. Also new to the game is a dark Sonic called "Werehog" who is a werewolf version of himself, complete with claws that help elevate the gameplay. While slightly scary, it stays true to the classic Sonic fun.

Pure

Pure combines high definition visuals, lots of mud, physics that allow players to do death-defying tricks into a quad racing masterpiece that's easy to play, for younger players, offers several levels of tricks (rewarded to player as they successfully complete tricks and perform less errors) and oddly, it's published by Disney (which isn't cited as delivering anything but movie games).