Sesame Street Wii Games- review plus giveaway

***Giveaway closed–winner notified by email.***

We have had a Wii since last Christmas.  And we have often wanted to get Wii games that Mister and Sister could play.  I mean, they enjoy trying to play our games, but don’t really “get” them.

So, when I learned that Sesame Street Video Games were bringing Elmo and Cookie Monster to Wii, I was ecstatic.  You all know how Mister and Sister feel about Elmo!

Sesame Street: Elmo’s A-to-Zoo Adventure and Sesame Street: Cookie’s Counting Carnival were released in October, and we were lucky enough to receive them for review.

The video games help preschoolers learn skills such as letter identification, counting, shapes, and letter sounds while having fun with Cookie Monster, Elmo and other “Sesame Street” favorites.  Available in October on the Wii, Nintendo DS and PC, the games offer kids and families educational entertainment at home and on the go.

The Wii and DS titles also come with specially designed “gameplay helpers” which simplify gameplay controls and make them more accessible for preschoolers with small hands and developing skills. For the Wii, the “gameplay helper” is a soft and fuzzy character cover with special grips that slip over the Wii Remote minimizing unnecessary buttons and making it easier and more fun to hold.  For Nintendo DS, there is a jumbo click stylus designed for smaller hands, simplifying interaction with the touch screen.  The games can be purchased at major video game retailers.

A to Zoo Adventure

Platform: Nintendo Wii
(also available on Nintendo DS and PC-Windows XP/Vista)

• Teachers letters through engaging mini-games
• Easy to follow audio-visual directions that preschoolers can master on their own
• Use the second Wii Remote to drop-in and assist your child when needed
• Game difficulty adapts to your child’s level
• Wii and Nintendo DS versions include Gameplay Helpers to simplify gameplay for your preschooler

Cookies Counting Carnival

Platform: Nintendo Wii
(also available on Nintendo DS and PC-Windows XP/Vista)

• Teachers numbers through engaging mini-games
• Easy to follow audio-visual directions that preschoolers can master on their own
• Use the second Wii Remote to drop-in and assist your child when needed
• Game difficulty adapts to your child’s level
• Wii and Nintendo DS versions include Gameplay Helpers to simplify gameplay for your preschooler

Mister and Sister were initially really excited about the fuzzy Wii-mote covers.  We soon realized, though, that the covers are best left off of the controllers, as they do cover the infrared aiming thing at the end of the wii-mote.  In order to use the parental assist, it is best to leave the cover off.

While Mister was immediately enthralled with the game, I was initially irritated by it.  It was difficult to get the hang of the necessary motions to make the game work. We literally spent the better part of a half hour trying to get the motions down pat, which provided much needed entertainment of my in-laws.   But once we got the hang of it, it was fun.

Mister has two favorite games, which are the dolphin’s cove and the funny frogs, both of which are on the A to Zoo Adventure game.  Sister would prefer to watch and occasionally tussle for the wii-mote, but she can’t really play the games without hand over hand assistance (btw, did you know that the wii-mote is age rated 3+?).  Mister wants to play the Wii everyday now, so I think the game is a hit with him!

I would like the games even more if there were a “back to menu” option, instead of having to reset, since Mister changes his mind about every five twenty minutes on which game he wants to play!

Buy it…

The Wii games retail for $39.99.  While the kids really do enjoy them, I would personally wait until they went on sale to purchase them, because $40 is a lot to spend on a video game for a 3 year old!  The DS and PC games are a little cheaper.

Win it… Warner Brothers would like to send one lucky Lady V dZine reader their own set of Sesame Street video games.

Mandatory Entry… Simply tell me who the little gamer is that these would be for if you win AND which platform you would need the games on (i.e. Wii, DS, or PC).

***Please note- this must be done before any bonus entries will count***

• +1-  Follow me on GFC—right side bar, comment with your user name.
• +1-  Like Lady V dZine on Facebook and comment back here with your screen name.
• +1-  Subscribe to Lady V dZine by RSS or email and comment back with the e-mail you signed up with (one each)
• +2-  Follow Lady V dZine on Twitter AND tweet this contest using @ladyvdzine and linking back to this post- comment with your tweet status (may be done up to 4x/day, at least 30 minutes apart)
  • May use “#win Sesame Street videogames @ladyvdzine http://goo.gl/rkzMU (12/09)  #Christmas #giveaway #2010HolidayGiftGuide #fb #preschool”
• +1-  Share this giveaway on your Facebook page and comment back with a link to the share (may be done 1x/day).
• +1-  For each current giveaway that you enter- comment with name of giveaway
• +1-  For each non-giveaway post that you submit to StumbleUpon *may use the button in the top/bottom of each post to submit- comment back with your Stumble Upon profile and name of the post you submitted.
• +1-  For each non-giveaway post that you leave a RELEVANT comment on- comment back with post title or link to post.
• +5-  Blog this contest linking to this post- leave 5 comments here with a link to your post

The fine print…

Contest open to US.  Winner must provide street address and phone number for shipping.  Contest ends at 11:59 a.m. CST on 12/09/2010.  Winner will be selected randomly.  Winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond with mailing address.  If no response is received from the winning entrant, a new winner will be selected.  Prize will be forfeited and donated to charity if not claimed by primary or alternate winners.

I received the aforementioned complimentary product(s) to facilitate this review.  No other compensation was received.  All opinions express are 100% my own and are based on my own experience.  Your experience may differ.