Coast 2 Coast Mom

Disney.com Create Adds Artistic Collaborative Features & Fun

Last week Disney.com added more features to its popular Create site, which offers kids, tweens and teens an online canvas to create and share their own imaginative Disney character artwork.

Now, a new "Group Wall" adds interactivity and collaboration to the site by allowing you to submit your own original Disney artwork in the form of an evolving online mosaic, in addition to its searchable online galleries of original art where people can search by artist, character and make comments. 

We played around with it yesterday, and Li'l Boo liked watching the Group Wall transform as more artwork was added each minute, hour and day, and of course, finding his OWN artwork in the mosaic. You can "fan" a favorite artist, or "favorite" a piece of artwork, which is a fun feature for older kids and teens.

Since launching in August 2009, nearly 1.5 million original pieces of content have been created on Disney.com Create, and you can count one of them as ours. The launch of the new Group Wall features a cute new portrat of Mickey Mouse, although future Group Walls will feature other Disney characters and stars. (I'm sure LI'l Boo is hoping for a Buzz Lightyear and Woody picture, or maybe a Camp Rock 2 portrait as we know the movie's coming out in September ;-) ). While I was playing around with the site with Li'l Boo, I should say that I thought it was really geared to older kids - I'd say perhaps 7+ whom are old enough to read and understand how to manipulate all of the artistic options.

My other favorite new features for creative Disney fans include:

• Comic Creator You can develop your own comic book using your favorite Disney characters -laying out your own page with graphics, text and images to create your own comic story.
• Music Slideshow Users can create your own music videos using photos of Disney stars and songs from Disney artists.
• Scrapbook Fans can build their own online art portfolio to share with friends utilizing elements from all of the Create activities including comic books, digital paintings, slideshows and more.

Hands-on Gaming Fun with Kinect for Xbox 360

Last week while we were in L.A. for the launch of Kinect for Xbox 360, we had time to play with some of the games that are in development to launch this fall. We tried our hands at all of the games available to us, and we enjoyed playing ALL of them! You can't help but smile and giggle watching others control the games with their bodies, and then doing it yourself. We had a blast.

I'd have to say our favorite games were Dance Central, Kinectimals, Your Shape, Kinect Adventures and Kinect Sports. These are some of our personal experiences with the games, so if you're looking for a more authoritative and technical look at the technology, check out my piece for Techlicious.

One of the overall crowd favorites was Dance Central, and while a great addition to any party, I can totally see tweens, dance teams and cheer teams and sorrorities having slumber parties playing this game all night long. (Or maybe, that's what I would have done. ;-)) Developed by Harmonix, the same company behind Rock Band, and you can see the similarities when you play it. I can see my sisters and me holding a dance-off next holiday season between us and the kiddos. It was fun watching others get their swag on, and I laughed watching Li'l Boo and c2cDad get funky.

Back from the World Premiere of Project Natal As Imagined By Cirque Du Soleil

We just returned from the best time in Los Angeles! I got in some blogging and writing time, c2cDad even ran into some business contacts during the launch weekend, we visited with family out there, took Li'l Boo to see some sites for the first time, and oh yeah . . . attended the world premire of "Project Natal" as imagined by Cirque Du Soleil, and the launch of Kinect for Xbox 360!!

I had read in the LA Times piece that they were attempting to plan a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I think they succeeded. Microsoft invited some lucky people to participate in a pre-show drum beat ceremony, counting down the time to the launch, and Li'l Boo represented c2cfamily well in a collaborative drumbeat with four other bloggers and celebs including NYC's own @mominthecity and @MakeupbyMel, as well as gold medal Olympian Steven Holcomb. (That's him hoisting Li'l Boo up to bang the drum. . . the drum platform could only fit four people up at a time and there were about dozen of us in our group. Yes, it takes a gold-medal Olympian to hoist Li'l Boo.)

Why we're in Los Angeles Today #XboxE3

We’ve been looking forward to this trip to L.A. for months now, so we were practically giddy when we boarded the flight yesterday. We were invited to attend the much-anticipated launch of the Xbox 360 “Project Natal” tonight, in advance of the annual E3 conference (where they first annouced development last year). We’ve been reading so much about the show in the media, this LA Times article gives some good background on what we’re doing here.

We’re thrilled to be a part of this, and incredibly excited for the events tonight, which includes a world premiere performance from Cirque du Soleil. Li’l Boo is especially looking forward to the drum ceremony this afternoon.

A special thank you to the Microsoft Xbox 360 Project Natal PR team for taking such good care of us. They’ve really thought of everything, down to the pre-stamped touristy LA postcards. It will be fun for Li’l Boo to mail these off to the grandparents come Monday.

Having a Ball Playing Atari's New Sandlot Sluggers

Last week we were treated to an amazing baseball wonderland at Atari's headquarters in celebration of the upcoming launch of their Backyard Sports Sandlot Sluggers video game. They really outdid themselves bringing in Astroturf, a hot dog vendor, popcorn stand, t-ball equipment - thanks to Franklin for the backstop tents that saved me from spending my entire time chasing down baseballs to keep placing atop the t-ball stand for Li'l Boo to hit ;-) Oh yes, there were lots of video game systems set up for us and the kiddos to play Sandlot Sluggers.

Li'l Boo had a fantastic time (they had baseball pinatas! He got to play with @SelfishMom's kids!), and all of the kids appeared to pick up on the game quickly. The game feels like a diverse neighborhood gathering of kids playing baseball. Li'l Boo played it on the XBox and the Wii systems, and told me that he likes the mini games best. "Dingers" is his fave, and it's similar to playing a home-run derby with continuous power batting. Of course, this morning he awoke asking to play a "The Cube" mini game of pitching skills. ;-)

When Worlds Collide: the Launch Party for GetHatched.com

Last night was a rare instance when c2cDad's world and my world collided. Both of us attended the launch party for GetHatched.com, a Disneyfamily.com site featuring celeb mom Teri Hatcher. While we used to run into each other at related work events quite a bit before Lil Boo entered our lives, this was actually only the first or second time it's happened in the four and a half years since. These days when I attend events like last night with him, I attend merely as "the wife," so it was great for my psyche to have a reason for myself to be at the event rather than a "plus one," and I think I enjoyed myself more because of it. Though, how could I not with some other fabulous NYC area mom bloggers in the Rouge Tomate house last night?!

(Moi, MommasGoneCity, Teri, Nancy, Mominthecity and MacaroniKidNYC)

 
 

GIVEAWAY: H&R Block At Home Deluxe Software

In case you're postponing doing your taxes, you may be interested in checking out tax software solutions that may take the hassle out of organizing and submitting them. I recently reviewed TurboTax and H&R Block At Home (formerly called TaxCut) for a Techlicious piece on how new tax software can help you to get your maximum refund  "Get Your Slice of the Stimulus Pie With Software from H&R Block and TurboTax."

Don't feel badly about how long it usually takes you to complete your taxes - according to H&R Block, people doing their own taxes at home spend an average of one to three hours on it, and according to TurboTax, people tend to break that time up into two or more sessions.

Feed Your Spring Fever With 2 Baseball Video Games

We've come down with fevers this week. Spring fever. Baseball fever.

With the sun shining these past two days and gimpses of blue sky, we're finding reasons to get outside - walking to school or the train yesterday. Egging our fevers on is the b-roll shown during the sports segments of the local news featuring the Yankee and Mets spring training camps down south. Sunshine? Baseball? We're wishing spring would get here already!

Which brings me to today's launch of Major League Baseball 2K10 (and a giveaway: scroll below).

Microsoft Xbox 360 Sneak Peek: Project Natal

Okay, so I receive email invitations or demo opportunities every now and again that leave me giddy the rest of the day...and this was one of those opportunities. I met c2cDad, Li'l Boo and a couple of friends to catch an advanced look at Microsoft Xbox 360's "Project Natal" earlier this week. WOW. Playing video games without controllers - where WE are the controller...no cords, no wires, just free to move and hit and kick what we want - the game mirrors our moves. Again, without a controller. WOW.

Siftables: These Little Blocks Could Be A Big Deal

As I prepare to attend Toy Fair next month, I want to share a product - launching later this year - that may be a contender for one of the top spots on holiday gift lists next year: Siftables. These smart blocks interact with each other by wirelessly sensing and communicating with neighboring blocks, creating essentially a digital block-based gaming system. Imagine your child playing Leapster 2 games or their favorite iPhone apps with interactive blocks. Cool concept, and even cooler to see the video demos on their site.