Kinect

There's a book series, a film series, a Florida amusement park, a London studio tour, and, coming this Fall, there will also be the Harry Potter For Kinect video game! Based on the eight films, the game gives diehard fans a chance to experience the movies' most memorable moments for themselves, whether as a character or as their own avatar. Check out the top four reasons we're excited to play:

• Pretending we're wizards: Thanks to hands-free and voice-recognition technology, users can cast spells using physical maneuvers or by calling out spell names. We're already practicing our "Expelliarmus!" technique.
• Flying (sort of): It's a dream come (virtually) true. Gamers will have the opportunity to fly on a broomstick for their very own Quidditch match.
• Walking in Harry's shoes: With the game, users can experience some of Harry's classic moments, like choosing a house at Hogwarts, visiting Ollivanders, and confronting He Who Shall Not Be Named in a final, dramatic battle.
• Some friendly competition: Select co-op gameplay to connect with wizardly friends, and master lessons so you can challenge other opponents in competitive minigames.

Do you plan to buy Harry Potter For Kinect?

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

Our long wait for the Kinect Star Wars game is finally over! Landing on store shelves today, non-Jedis can now use the Force to battle Darth Vader himself, fly through pod races, and dance the Clone War battles away in groovin' competitions.

After months of waiting, we're excited for the motion-based Star Wars game, but it has us wondering what other movies would make thrilling Kinect games. We're adding these movies to our Kinect dream list; what movie would you like to play a part of in Kinect?

• Harry Potter — There's an amusement park in Florida and a studio tour in London, but for fans that can't travel to these destinations, casting spells and vanquishing Dementors the Kinect way would be just as wizardly.
• The Hunger Games — A story with the premise of adolescents killing other adolescents as part of a nationwide reality TV show is disturbing, and any video game would be just as gruesome to imagine. However, just the talents exhibited by Katniss, like archery and hunting, could make for interesting interactive role-play.
• Lord of the Rings — Enter Mordor? No problem in Kinect form! If you've read all the books and obsessively watched all the movies, a Kinect game of the hobbits' journey is the last step in a complete Middle Earth adventure.

See two more movies we'd like to play on Kinect after the break.

We first learned of Kinect Star Wars with a teaser trailer at E3 2011 and have been waiting eagerly since for the game to finally debut. April 3 marks the day we can begin to harness the interactive Jedi Force at home.

This new behind-the-scenes video from Xbox gives us a closer look at what we can expect in becoming part of the virtual Star Wars universe. Begin the game as a Padawan with Yoda serving as your Jedi Master. Move through the game by duking it out in podraces, as the pilot of a starfighter, intimidating enemies such as a Rancor monster, and partaking in the very essential Star Wars character dance-offs.

You can preorder Kinect Star Wars now for $50. In the meantime, make like those Stormtroopers and practice your best high-snap dance moves.

We've been waiting for Kinect to acquire some practical purpose in everyday life. Sure, we love the virtual sports, and the dancing games make for adorable celebrity home movies, but we've got to be able to do something more with the amazing motion sensor technology!

Mobile app developer Chaotic Moon harnessed the power of Kinect along with the unreleased Samsung Windows 8 tablet to create a skateboard powered by the user's movements. They call it the Board of Awesomeness.

The science of the mechanics and engineering aside, the board moves when the riders push their hands forward to speed up and pull their hands back to slow down. It's exciting to think of a future with more motion-controlled devices; which products do you think need motion sensors?

I don't think exergaming will ever replace running in the great outdoors, but it certainly gets people off the couch and moving — something we could all do a bit more of. My family of four has been perfecting our dance moves and working on our sports skills since last Christmas, when my hubby received a Kinect as a gift, turning his Xbox into family fun time. Updated versions of our fave games, Dance Central 2 ($50) and Kinect Sports Season 2 ($50), were just released. We've been tearing it up in the living room with these two games, and here's what we think.

Dance Central 2
The new soundtrack includes a mix of old-school tunes ("Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot and Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff") and recent hits (Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" and the Usher/Pitbull tune "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love") and is highly inspirational. The graphics are improved from last year's game; even though the game is now busier visually, the graphics are not distracting but certainly add to the entertainment value. The final photo of the game is now you, the player, in the ending position, which is always good to nail for extra points. The developers have managed to create a background so you don't see the walls of your living room in the low res photos of your moves, but disco-inspired horizontal neon lines. When you do a move correctly, a tracer appears around your hands giving you positive visual feedback. It's cool!

Keep reading to learn more about both games.

If you spend hours perfecting the moves of Dance Central for Xbox Kinect, know that you're not alone. The craze has spread to the world of high fashion. French label Lanvin took a cheeky turn to promote its upcoming Fall/Winter 2011 collection, by filming models dancing to Pitbull's "I Know You Want Me" from the perspective of the Kinect. Check out the fabulous fashion folk, including singer Karen Elson and designer Alber Elbaz up their Kinect cred. The important question is, what level of difficulty are they on?