Have I ever told you about the time (many, many years ago) I had dinner at a Japanese Karaoke restaurant in Kings Cross with Kylie Minogue and members of INXS? (I probably haven’t because it’s what I consider a past life.) Yeah, I didn’t take the stage then (nor did anyone else at the table), and I remain grateful that evening is not memorable because of my hands around a microphone.

I’m making up for that now.

With Forest turning 15, and Nintendo inviting us to have some one-on-one time with some experts on the system, we decided to combine the two. Forest invited a chunk of his pals over on Sunday for an afternoon of Nintendo WiiU, and I prepared my voice because Sing Party was a game I’d been wanting to have a bash at. I’ve been singing along with plenty of 80s faves on the radio, and focusing heavily on my John (Cougar but he doesn’t call himself that now) Mellancamp reportoire because now we’re living in the mid-west of America, I really need to get that Jack and Diane thing down.

We’ve had the WiiU for a few weeks, and all the games are popular. Charlie particularly likes his new Scribblenauts Unlimited game that he got as a Christmas present – especially playing with a friend in two-player mode.  The larger game pad is nicely sturdy – in fact the kids don’t even need to look at the tv to play it, which can be disconcerting some of the time!

Sing Party

But on to the highlights of the afternoon. Sing Party had all the teenagers ready to play. Now, I know lots of systems have karaoke options, and there are quite a few games that are focused on music. But Sing Party has current songs, with original artists to sing along with. The words are clear along the bottom, and while the game is set up for challenges between teams, it turned out that everyone ended up singing and dancing along, even if they didn’t have a microphone. We spent three hours purely playing Sing Party. I ended up hoarse, which made everyone happy (especially the teenagers who then managed to get the microphone back), so the game’s a winner right there.

Basically, if you are reluctant to get the WiiU for teenagers because it doesn’t have lots of blood, gore and machine guns, then you’re missing the point. This system is a great one for all ages, kids, teens and adults – we all had a ball with the system and games. And then after dinner, we all sat down and watched a Netflix movie through the WiiU. Yep, it’s got it all.

Want to check out the cool moves some of the kids had singing? If you have an iPad or iPhone, download the Vine app, and search on #NintendoEnthused, or search for Mediamum. I put about five or six Vines up of all of us grooving out. It was a blast!

Disclosure: As a Nintendo Brand Ambassador I was provided a WiiU and some games, along with the supplies for a party. There was no requirement for any review or coverage, so all this is because I’m a great singer and we all had a ball. And I am a great singer. Oh, and I sing really well. Don’t listen to what anyone else says. Especially the kids.