I have had a Wii for ages now and use it mostly for Tiger Golf, but I'm a simmer at heart.I like adventure type games as well. I heard theres a western type game thats very good. Would be cool If I could get my kid interested as well.
I like car racing and war sims as well as flying (props)games.
Any ship type sims for the Xbox.
we decided to get it for the animalkinect game thats run in all the Build a bear stores, so I minds as well take advantage of the situation right?

Red Dead Redemption is great. Best Western game I've ever played. Really captures the feel of what's good in western movies. I cannot reccommend it for a youngster though. Has some content that I personally could do without and like a Rockstar game it has an incorrect and negative slant in some of its "historical" story telling. That's my belief on the matter but aside from that it is a superb game with a great story and lead character.

I enjoyed Call of Juarez as well but once again I can't reccommend it for a child.

For adventuring Bethesda's games are great.
Oblivion
Fallout3
Skyrim

People constantly knock it but I think Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising is one of the truest military tactical games for the consoles. Mind you it has some aggrevating moments and bugs sometimes but COOP is where it shines. And compared to its successor Red River, the voice acting and story are more serious. Red River is also fun for COOP but the dialouge and story sounded like it was written by and angry teenager.

I also really enjoy Alan Wake for a more creepy gameplay. Story driven action adventure with an atmoshperic setting in the North West.

The Batman games are very good as well. Arkham City has more freedom however.

Also Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway is very good.

Red Dead Redemption is the Western you'll want. Amazing game.

Racing: Race Pro, I'm sure you'll probably want Forza 4 also

Flight: Over G Fighters. Ignore the presentation, which is horrible, but the aircraft, weapons and missions are excellent. It's no Ace Combat---although AC6 is a lot of fun. Will not work with a flight stick, unfortunately.

The rest of my "never trade in games" are also on pc:
Apache Air Assault...Apache game, a lot of fun. Flight is sim-like, but weapons aren't. Great game though.
IL2 Birds of Prey....it's Wings of Prey on console. PC game is better due to not having to unlock planes in MP.

No ship sims, but Battlestations Pacific is an incredible game. Huge WWII battles with all kinds of ships, fighters, bombers, subs...tons of replay value in the Island Capture mode. Can play MP vs AI.

EndWar...small scale modern RTS. Much better on console than pc. The voice control is well done, although it doesn't like a Southern accent sometimes. LOL Plays very well with the controller, unlike most RTS games.

I've got Op Flashpoint Dragon Rising, and recently Red River. So far OFDR is far superior IMO. Can't say for sure until I finish Red River though, DR was slow to start too but ended up with some very good missions about halfway through to the end.


I've got more I'll never get rid of, but that's a pretty good start.

Fist off welcome to the world of Xbox!

I would recommend Red Dead Revolver to satisfy your "western needs". Excellent game and you'll probably find it pretty cheap. For your racing appetite I would recommend Forza 4. It is still pretty new so it might be harder to find it cheap but well worth the $60 IMO. In the adventure category I would suggest both Batman titles (Arkham Asylum or Arkham City). As far as shooters are concerened...well.....there are plenty to choose from.

If your interested in MP I would look at Battlefield 3 (great game!!) or Modern Warfare 3 however if your not interested in MP, the SP is not worth the full price tag IMO. There is also Gears of War which also is heavy on the MP side but I think has a little more to offer on the SP side. You'll be able to find the first 2 GOW games very cheap now. Another shooter I would highly suggest is Rage. Great SP campaign, one of the better looking games on XBox, silky smooth controls and pretty imaginative weapons. There is some MP but SP is where Rage shines.

Keep in mind that most of the games mentioned are rated mature. Just figured I'd warn you because you mentioned you had kids.

Hope that helps get you strated!

FPS: Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2 are solid games, but don't expect the original Rainbow with planing. Both games have co-op campaigns.

RPG:
Mass Effect, the third arrives in March next year. Great story and characters. One of my favourite games this generation. You should start with the first one and continue on with the others as you can import your Shepard and all your choices that effect the story.

Deus Ex Human Revolution, also a great RPG and a very good sequel to the original.

Red Dead Redemption.

That's all you'll need.....

I will echo the Red Dead Redemption recommendation, amazing game, I was late to jump into the console world (last Christmas) and this was one of the first games I got, and even as I was trying to get used to the lack of AntiAliasing on the console, the scenery, story and open RDR world was amazing to me coming from PC.

I expected it to be GTA Cowboy but it really is at another level, I still return to it sometimes just to wander the countryside on horseback.

FM4 is also another very solid game if you like racing games.

Yep single player all the way, man talk about lots of games to choose from ! After waiting for a good game on the Wii, there were here all the time. I like to free roam I think the best in RPG's. that Red Dead looks fantastic as well as BattleStation Pacific. Birds of Prey looks pretty good too.
How about WW2 sims? and Sports. Since its a Kinect, there must be some great sports games as well. I just hope theres a decent Pool game out soon. I waited for one for the Wii, and it never materialized.

Ace Combat 6.

EndWar:


Race Pro (covers a LOT of racing, get all dlc)


Battlestations Pacific, Island Capture mode




IL2: Birds of Prey


Over G Fighters



Red Dead Redemption