College football enthusiasts first laid eyes on Microsoft's Kinect float prior to kickoff at this year's Rose Bowl game today, but how else can those without an affinity for football sneak a glimpse? Microsoft's Facebook page, apparently.

The above video was posted today, a time lapse of the massive structure being built over the course of a week. A second video embedded past the break shows the finished float going through a few maneuverability tests -- sorry, we can confirm there's no Deathmobile hiding underneath.

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We don't mean these games will make you start taking hikes or playing bocce ball in the park or something. These are games Amazon has classified as active -- they require more input from the player than simply mashing a button or d-pad. Sometimes you have to, like, stand up to play these games.

Amazon's discounting Just Dance 3, the LittleBigPlanet 2 Move bundle, Zumba Fitness ... and Rocksmith? Rocking out counts as activity, we guess. There are also discounts on Kinect and the Wii Cyberbike. Oh, and PS3 accessories have been incongruously mixed into the list. You can pick up some 3D glasses, in case Santa dropped one of those 3D displays down your chimney this year.

The Gunstringer
As much as I enjoyed the actual game (and I did, make no mistake) it forever sold me with Wavy Tube Man Chronicles, a fully FMV campaign inspired by Mad Dog McCree. The Long Winters sing a song called "Honest," about a girl who loves a singer, that includes the lyric "for him to say so plainly / what your heart can vouch is true / means something is connecting you / something is connecting you."

If you can believe that a single mission in a video game gave me that exact feeling, you can easily see how it made my list. They made it just for me.

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This year's great platformer nobody bought, Rayman Origins, is just one of the alluring items on sale in GameStop's new year sale. Now you can fix that by totally buying Rayman: Origins for $30. Just a suggestion!

If you're looking to upgrade that crummy launch unit or finally see what this "next gen" is all about, GameStop is also offering a pretty sweet Xbox 360 package. A 250GB Xbox 360 S without Kinect will net shoppers a $75 gift card. If you want Kinect, GameStop has knocked off $20, bringing it down to $129.99.

This GameStop sale lasts until January 3, so you'll need to act relatively quickly. For the full weekly ad, hit up the source link below.

Fancy yourself an on-screen kung fu master? Now is the chance to prove your high-kicking abilities, thanks to a demo for the Kinect-powered Kung-Fu High Impact. Like its PlayStation 3 cousin Kung-Fu Live – which we rather enjoyed – Kung-Fu High Impact transports your image onto the screen, turning your own body into a video game pugilist.

In other words, it's basically Nick Arcade.

Another year, another 12 days of holiday giveaways! Between now and Christmas Day, we're doing the one thing that makes us feel truly alive: giving. Specifically, we're giving you fine folks some of the swag we've managed to collect in our cluttered home offices. And the good will and merriment doesn't stop here! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for even more chances to win!

It's Christmas morning and, while we long ago lost the ability to be surprised by a video game console under the tree, that doesn't mean you have to be. So we're plopping this bundle under all of your virtual trees. Alas, thanks to the laws of "physics" there can be only one winner who gets the 250GB Xbox 360 Kinect bundle, the Wireless Speed Wheel, and Turn 10's Forza Motorsport 4 to help you put all this gear to good use. Head past the break for details on how to enter.

Oh, and Happy Festivus!

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Amazon yearns to squeeze a little more blood from the empty, calcified stone that was your wallet with yet one more (barely) pre-holiday sale. The online retailer has placed deep discounts on numerous titles, including 50 percent off on the likes of Deus Ex, Killzone 3, Dance Central 2, LittleBigPlanet 2, and Mortal Kombat.

There's also a pair of lightning deals coming up soon, though we're having a little trouble deciphering the first clue: "The world's most hilarious team of heroes will need to restore peace to their world or watch as their beloved home vanishes like a bad dream." Any guesses? Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One, perhaps? Whatever it is, it's up at 4pm Eastern. We're fairly certain that the next deal, slated for 10pm Eastern, is the premium edition of Disgaea 4.

Speaking to Gamasutra, Project Draco lead Yukio Futatsugi and producer Toshiharu Tange laid out several details about the upcoming Kinect title. First and foremost, it won't actually be called Project Draco on release, though the final title has yet to be decided. The pair also expressed some of the difficulties in developing a title for Kinect.

One such issue is that different players will perform actions in different ways. "Previously you could just say 'Press the A button' and everyone got that, but trying to catch all the possible ranges of motion can be tough to implement," said Futatsugi.

The pair also discussed some of the processes behind how they create the worlds of their games, including the classic Panzer Dragoon series and Phantom Dust. According to Futatsugi, a good portion of the fantasy is reliant on "lies." Or, to put it more clearly, about 70 percent of his games are "created with a 'realistic' bent," while around 30 percent focuses on "stuff you would never see in real life, such as the supernatural abilities people have." And, you know, riding around on dragons. Check out Gamasutra for the full interview.

The holidays are here, and that means family, and that means you might have to engage in some actual conversation. It's Xbox Live to the rescue with 50 percent discounts on two family-friendly Kinect titles, Leedmees and Hole in the Wall. Today only, you can grab either one for just $5.

Remember, Aunt Bertha's going to have a tough time questioning your life choices while she's busy cramming herself into the shape of a camel-spinning figure skater.

A slew of new video apps have debuted through Microsoft's updated Xbox 360 dashboard, including the UFC app and VUDU. Here's the full list:

• 4 on Demand (C4) -- United Kingdom
• ABC iView (Australian Broadcasting Corp.) -- Australia
• Dailymotion -- Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, India, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland , Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States, South Africa
• Demand 5 (Five) -- United Kingdom
• M6 -- France
• MSN Video -- France
• UFC on Xbox LIVE (UFC) -- Canada, United States
• VUDU (Wal-Mart) -- United States

You can download each app through the video tab on your Xbox 360, assuming you're in a region that supports it.