Earth Defense is the equivalent of a B scifi movie. Spaceships appear all over the earth carrying with them Robots, giant godzilla things, ants, spiders, and flying things. What ensues is 54 levels of untold chaos. Some of later levels the screen is completely filled with blood, acid, and flying dead bodies. It was always fun when you looked down at your radar and it was just a complete red blob. It's a TPS which is also a blast in co-op

Too Human is either a love it or hate it thing. The first couple levels are great, but the last one is kind of out of place. It's a blast to play, and definetily worth it if you can pick it up for the cheap!

Blue Dragon is by the creator of Final Fantasy. It's a tight little jrpg, it's kind of slow(especially if you play it after LO). The story is kind of focused more on younger people. It's especially great if you love grinding like I do 

Viva Pinata: TiP is hard to explain. But if you wife likes casual games she will love it! It's kind of a garden simulator... where each pinata has a certain preresiquite in order to appear, visit your garden, then stay. I easily put over a hundred hours into the first one. The second is much more refined o.o. Again, can't recommend it enough 

Kameo is hard to put into a specific category. It's a platformer/brawler that you have to find little creatures that give you there powers. Then you can transform into animals, and all that. Some of the combos are great, transform into a squid spray a group of enemies with oil then transform into a dragon and set that oil on fire. It also has co-op play. Trying to get the highest rank on levels is very addicting ^^. It's a launch title where the graphics didn't age too well though :3 

Earth Defense sounds a larf. I'll go check the reviews for that and see what I think.

Too Human I'll probably buy if I spot it cheap. Enough people have told me that it's worth a go, now.

Blue Dragon appeals less from your description, primarily as grinding for levels quickly bores me in JRPGs.

Viva Pinata has been added to the list. Sounds prefect.

Kameo I'm less convinced by. I'll check the reviews for that as well, I think.

Thanks, again.

The only Kinect title I'd recommend given your OP out of the current crop you don't have is Kinect Sports.  For you perhaps Alan Wake, Lost Odyessey and some of the other more interesting exclusives would also be of interest.  If you haven't already played Mass Effect on PC then that's worth a look for sure.

As for Live, I wouldn't get it unless you know for sure you are going to play online on the 360.  If you're going to be mainly offline - i.e. you're sure you're going to stick with PC/PS3 for online - then although it isn't much money you won't be getting much for it either.

Live is very good for online, and with Gold you do get some other stuff - Facebook, Sky, Last FM, etc. - although TBH I don't think you should need Gold just to access online apps but I guess that's a bit off topic.

I have all 3 consoles and do pay for Live, but only because I (or my elder son) are online enough to justify it.

Your kids might like Joy Ride for Kinect, too, come to think of it.  I hate it having tried it, as did my kids, but they sound older and were annoyed at the wacky controls, however some friends with young kids say they find it a blast trying to steer with their hands - in my experience "trying" is the right term but hey they're having fun I guess.

mrstickball said:

 Don't be dissuaded by EDF2017's reviews. In 2 player mode, it is a blast. I think you can pick it up on-demand for $20 USD or so, which is a great price.

Blue Dragon does NOT require grinding at all on normal mode. I never once had to grind to beat anyone in the game. Its a fantastic RPG and has a great kid-friendly atmosphere. The soundtrack by Uematsu is magnificent. Sakaguchi's followup in Lost Odyssey was also incredible. Essentially, BD is a hybrid of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series. The combat system is very intuitive and if played on hard, provides a ton of depth to play and beat major bosses.

Kameo was a lot of fun for an adventure game. Certainly a gem from the X360 launch.

*edit*

I didn't see it mentioned, but Tropico 3 is a stellar strategy game. Its kind of like Sim City for Hugo Chavez. You build and run your own island nation as you see fit. You control everything from resource acquisition to the military.

Your recommendations re. Live seems solid to me. As it stands, I'm thinking a single Live account (or maybe two -- one for my wife and one for me) may be best for the whole family, compared to the four PSN accounts that we have (each racking up their own trophies). Do you have any recommendations there?

Y'know, that's a pretty robust defence of the price. If I played lots of multi-player games, I'd almost certainly be sold. However, most of my gaming is single-player campaign games -- perhaps because of the communication limitations of PSN, I dunno (but I don't play multi-player on PC much, either). I shall ponder that, methinks. At the very least, you're absolutely spot on that I should try out that month of Live freeness to the max. I have a lot of 360 buddies already, so I'll be sure to check it out and send friend requests all over the shop. :D

I'm curious where in the UK did you pick that up for under £300. Looking to replace my existing 360 and i'm tempted by Kinect and at that price for all that it sounds pretty good.

If you are thinking of getting two then it would probably be a better option to pick up the family plan. 4, 1 year memberships, and some points(I believe) for $100