This review is from: uDraw Tablet including Instant Artist (Xbox 360) (Video Game)
Edit: After having this for about a year, I’d say it was a good buy overall. It hasn’t been used all that much, but the Pictionary game in particular still gets put on for family game nights. For the current selling price it’s an absolute steal though (even baring in mind that it obviously seems they’re not going to be supporting it anymore). I’m buying a spare one, and will probably buy the rest of the games that have been released for it.
—————
I’m writing this review with the disclaimer that we haven’t had it all that long, so will update if it fails to get much use or breaks easily.
However, my first impressions are very good. The bundled software seems pretty educational (if a bit boring for very young children to get too much from), and really helps improve your art skills. My 3 year old loves just scribbling on the whiteboard/chalkboard section and putting loads of animated stamps (which are very cool) everywhere for now. It also seems you can export and print your images, although I haven’t tried that yet.
The tablet itself is a nice size, very responsive and seems good quality.
We got the Pictionary game and had a great family night together with it. This is where I see us getting most use out of the udraw. I look forward to seeing what other games are released for it (hopefully the Princess game for the Wii udraw will make the switch to xbox).
That’s it for now, I’ll try and remember to update the review when we’ve had more experience of it.
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This review is from: uDraw Tablet including Instant Artist (Xbox 360) (Video Game)
I bought this as a family gift for xmas. The kids love it and it’s fun for adults to learn to use too. You can free draw with all sorts of brush’s and stamps which is popular with the younger ones (3,5 &6)I have played it and enjoyed learning how to draw. It does take a little getting used too but great fun. I also bought the pictionary game with it and we played as a family, great game 🙂
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This review is from: uDraw Tablet including Instant Artist (Xbox 360) (Video Game)
I bought this as a Christmas gift for my daughters (aged between 4 and 8). I wasn’t expecting a Wacom like tablet, but I also wasn’t expecting the very cheap tablet included in uDraw. But the hardware is sufficient for kids and it seems robust enough to handle any kid’s punishment. My main gripe is the software. THQ prominently advertises the touch capability of the tablet, but it’s badly implemented in software, so that when you’re drawing with the pen and you rest your hand in the touch area (which is really common), if you lift up the pen slightly but keep the hand resting in the touch area, the drawing area starts to pan and zoom randomly. An adult can deal with this, by not EVER lifting the pen or by not resting the hand in the touch area (hard to do, and it feels awkward), but try to teach that to a kid without him/her getting frustrated…
So, pros and cons:
Pros: – Nice art lessons for beginners. I actually learned a lot. – Pen is physically attached to tablet (if you’re a parent you’ll understand this is a pro 🙂 )
Cons:
– Cheap cheap tablet: – No pressure controls at all (when the pen is pushed down it draws, when it isn’t it doesn’t and the software tracks the point position) – Slippery surface. Drawing a circle with it is a real challenge – Laggy. You have to draw really slowly to get any decent results. Trying to avoid the laggyness by drawing short strokes is also difficult, since there’s no way to deactivate the touch area, and if you lift up the pen and your hand is in the touch area, there’s random panning and zooming
– Software doesn’t fully hide the hardware’s limitations: – There’s no option to deactivate the touch control – The tablet doesn’t have pressure control, but the software itself also doesn’t simulate this, since if you’re drawing in one continuous stroke and pass over the same line over and over again, the line doesn’t get any darker
If I could return it without much hassle I would. As it is, my guess is that my kids will use it for Christmas night and than forget about it. I was hoping to use it for Pictionary, but as it is it’s better to use a pencil and paper, even for doodles. I sent an email to Pipeworks (the game’s developers) pointing out these issues. If they deal with them I’ll update this review.
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A bargain for the current price,
Edit: After having this for about a year, I’d say it was a good buy overall. It hasn’t been used all that much, but the Pictionary game in particular still gets put on for family game nights. For the current selling price it’s an absolute steal though (even baring in mind that it obviously seems they’re not going to be supporting it anymore). I’m buying a spare one, and will probably buy the rest of the games that have been released for it.
—————
I’m writing this review with the disclaimer that we haven’t had it all that long, so will update if it fails to get much use or breaks easily.
However, my first impressions are very good. The bundled software seems pretty educational (if a bit boring for very young children to get too much from), and really helps improve your art skills. My 3 year old loves just scribbling on the whiteboard/chalkboard section and putting loads of animated stamps (which are very cool) everywhere for now. It also seems you can export and print your images, although I haven’t tried that yet.
The tablet itself is a nice size, very responsive and seems good quality.
We got the Pictionary game and had a great family night together with it. This is where I see us getting most use out of the udraw. I look forward to seeing what other games are released for it (hopefully the Princess game for the Wii udraw will make the switch to xbox).
That’s it for now, I’ll try and remember to update the review when we’ve had more experience of it.
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|Great hit with the whole family,
I bought this as a family gift for xmas. The kids love it and it’s fun for adults to learn to use too. You can free draw with all sorts of brush’s and stamps which is popular with the younger ones (3,5 &6)I have played it and enjoyed learning how to draw. It does take a little getting used too but great fun. I also bought the pictionary game with it and we played as a family, great game 🙂
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|Currently not even suitable for kids,
I bought this as a Christmas gift for my daughters (aged between 4 and 8). I wasn’t expecting a Wacom like tablet, but I also wasn’t expecting the very cheap tablet included in uDraw. But the hardware is sufficient for kids and it seems robust enough to handle any kid’s punishment. My main gripe is the software. THQ prominently advertises the touch capability of the tablet, but it’s badly implemented in software, so that when you’re drawing with the pen and you rest your hand in the touch area (which is really common), if you lift up the pen slightly but keep the hand resting in the touch area, the drawing area starts to pan and zoom randomly. An adult can deal with this, by not EVER lifting the pen or by not resting the hand in the touch area (hard to do, and it feels awkward), but try to teach that to a kid without him/her getting frustrated…
So, pros and cons:
Pros:
– Nice art lessons for beginners. I actually learned a lot.
– Pen is physically attached to tablet (if you’re a parent you’ll understand this is a pro 🙂 )
Cons:
– Cheap cheap tablet:
– No pressure controls at all (when the pen is pushed down it draws, when it isn’t it doesn’t and the software tracks the point position)
– Slippery surface. Drawing a circle with it is a real challenge
– Laggy. You have to draw really slowly to get any decent results. Trying to avoid the laggyness by drawing short strokes is also difficult, since there’s no way to deactivate the touch area, and if you lift up the pen and your hand is in the touch area, there’s random panning and zooming
– Software doesn’t fully hide the hardware’s limitations:
– There’s no option to deactivate the touch control
– The tablet doesn’t have pressure control, but the software itself also doesn’t simulate this, since if you’re drawing in one continuous stroke and pass over the same line over and over again, the line doesn’t get any darker
If I could return it without much hassle I would. As it is, my guess is that my kids will use it for Christmas night and than forget about it. I was hoping to use it for Pictionary, but as it is it’s better to use a pencil and paper, even for doodles. I sent an email to Pipeworks (the game’s developers) pointing out these issues. If they deal with them I’ll update this review.
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