Let The Stuffy Old People Be Mocked! Just Dance 4

Evidence of my descent into crusty middle age: I prefer to brew tea in teapots.

So it comes down to this: If my daughter wants me to join her for a few rounds of Just Dance 4 - a recent Hanukah gift - who am I to say no? Why would I deprive anyone the spectacle of seeing me move like a spastic child on ice.

Our game console is an Xbox with Kinect sensor (two video cameras) which read body movements and translate them into game action. The game plays music and the screen shows figure(s) dancing, lyrics, and other information. Players strive to duplicate the moves on screen and when they do so to the satisfaction of the software points are awarded -- so the dancing becomes a point-based competition.

Part of the fun is that at the end of the song a video is created in speeded-up time showing your dancing. While I was dancing I thought to myself, "Hey, I might have a few moves left." The cold evidence of the video belies any such thinking.

The game is fun and new songs can be downloaded. Games designers knew that they needed some dated material to pull in parents like myself. I enjoyed dancing to Rock Lobster and a Blues Brothers song, complete with cartoon Jake and Elwoods of appropriate heights and builds.

This is a fun game that delivers on the promise of Kinect technology, which is that you will be tired and sweaty after a short amount of time. Freebird!