POSTED 14/10/12


KINECT NAT GEO TV: AMERICA THE WILD

Microsoft
Xbox 360/Kinect

We could never be naturalists. Get up at 5am? That’s fucking bedtime!

We could never be fine upstanding bears, either. Whilst the thought of wreaking revenge for several holy wholly destroyed jamumpers (Batman) over the years appeals greatly, we couldn’t eat moths. Especially thousands per day – eww!

But we rock at pretendsies, which is what this Kinectamafied thingy is all about. Yankee nature bloke Casey Anderson, who has a pet grizzly bear named Brutus – yes, he has his own big mo-fo grizzly bear - guides us through eight episodes, each of around 40 minutes in length, and each featuring bears, wolves, bears, wolverines, bears, bears and more bears. You gotta problem wit dat? Take it up with Brutus...

It’s all presented in TV show format, but with added interactivity. You sit through video bits with occasional shoutable interaction to take happy snaps or go off on sidetracks to discover extra stuff and be quizzed on what you’ve learned so far, before getting to “Go wild!” (that exclamation mark is important) by being transmogrified into whatever animal you’re currently learning about. Seriously! Fuzzy arms, beary heads... It’s here that you get to chomp those stupid moths, swat hornets, snatch salmon and dig rocks (man!) – and that’s just when you’re doing grizzly. Sadly, however, you don’t turn into a Marvel superhero for the wolverine ep.

Is it a game? No. Is it a doco? No. Is it a game, we ask again? Yes! Is it a doco, we also reiterate. Yes! We’re not being indecisive, it’s just this – much like its Sesame Street relation - is an actual advancement in interactive TV. It totally beats the shit out of VHS clunker Nightmare and its ilk, much like Brutus might beat the shit out of you if you ever decide to cross Casey. Erm, heh, Mr Anderson...

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