Need advice on video game console

scotus

G.O.A.T.
Believe it or not, I have never owned or played games on a Play Station, X-Box, etc. I am simply not into video games.

But my wife wants to buy a game console for my kids (8 and 6 yr olds). A family friend told me that Wii was great, so I looked it up on the web and it seems there will be a new version coming out in the near future, so I figure I would not want to be stuck with an outdated machine.

At any rate, since I have never played any of these games, I would appreciate a recommendation (specifically for kids). The console will be hooked up to a 47-inch 1080p TV.

I don't mind paying more for quality, so the budget is not a problem.
 

LuckyR

Legend
Believe it or not, I have never owned or played games on a Play Station, X-Box, etc. I am simply not into video games.

But my wife wants to buy a game console for my kids (8 and 6 yr olds). A family friend told me that Wii was great, so I looked it up on the web and it seems there will be a new version coming out in the near future, so I figure I would not want to be stuck with an outdated machine.

At any rate, since I have never played any of these games, I would appreciate a recommendation (specifically for kids). The console will be hooked up to a 47-inch 1080p TV.

I don't mind paying more for quality, so the budget is not a problem.

Are they boys or girls? Or to put it another way, are they going to be playing FPS or not?
 

BaboFan

Rookie
Id have my kids play tennis but my kids have a wii (good tennis games on that and it excercises you). I dont want my kids playing games like grand theft auto or saints row.
 

USERNAME

Professional
FPS is First Person Shooter, yours are too young imo. mayb 10-12 they can start on FPS games. Still, Xbox 360!
 

scotus

G.O.A.T.
Id have my kids play tennis but my kids have a wii (good tennis games on that and it excercises you). I dont want my kids playing games like grand theft auto or saints row.

I don't know what "saints" is, but I have heard that Grand Theft Auto is full of violence and blood.

Yes, the kids will not be playing any inappropriate games.
 

*breaksracquet

Semi-Pro
Id have my kids play tennis but my kids have a wii (good tennis games on that and it excercises you). I dont want my kids playing games like grand theft auto or saints row.

agreed. I wouldn't let my child play an FPS at 6 YO, or even 8. Wii, IMO, is the way to go for children of that age. Mild cartoon violence and less adult themed games. XBOX with the XBOX Kinnect is a good choice as well (no tennis games that i am aware of, but the XBOX Kinnect has some neat and active games). PS3 has much the same type of stuff like the XBOX, but someone else must chime in on this system as i do not know much about the PS3.
 

USERNAME

Professional
If you wanna get a system thats gonna be just as fun for them in 10 years as it is now, stay away from the wii. It does not have the variety of games to make it fun for older kids and adults. 360 has games for everybody. The PS3 has a good selection as well but (IMO) not as good as the 360.
 

scotus

G.O.A.T.
If you wanna get a system thats gonna be just as fun for them in 10 years as it is now, stay away from the wii. It does not have the variety of games to make it fun for older kids and adults. 360 has games for everybody. The PS3 has a good selection as well but (IMO) not as good as the 360.

Is XBox 360 different from XBox with Kinnect?
 

Agent Orynge

Professional
Nintendo just released a new hardware version of the Wii, and the price dropped to $150 - plus it comes with one of the latest Super Mario Bros. games. Playstation and Xbox are both slated to have their next generation console come out some time next year, but I'm not aware of any plans for a new Nintendo system. Wii does get a lot of attention for being the family oriented console, and in that respect it excels. Nintendo has a lot of its own in-house franchises that you can't find on other consoles, like Mario, Zelda, Kirby, etc., and they're all great, not to mention age appropriate. The only problem with the Wii is that they also lack some of the titles that make the other systems great, but those games are geared towards an older crowd anyways. I guess console choice really comes down to game availability, brand loyalty, and controller shape. For what you need, I think the Wii is perfect. While the Xbox and PS3 are both solid platforms, they're definitely targeted towards the serious gamer crowd. Don't pass on the Wii just because it won't last your kids into their senior years. Sooner or later they'll be old enough to make decisions about what they like on their own.

The Kinect is just a motion sensor peripheral for the Xbox 360.
 
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rdis10093

Hall of Fame
playstation is good for its media, with the movies, music and everthing. It also has blue ray, while xbox has something that failed big time( can't think of the name, what dvds did they have? anyway there hd dvds are no longer in production.) playstation has alot more adult games than wii, but it has a decent amount of kid games. My little brothers love crash bandicoot. In conclusion though wii is only fun till a certain age. we got one and now that they are a little older it just sits there.
 

*breaksracquet

Semi-Pro
FPS is First Person Shooter, yours are too young imo. mayb 10-12 they can start on FPS games. Still, Xbox 360!

10-12 YO for a FPS? maybe when playing under adult supervision and a time limit. Children still need guidance at 10-12 YO, still need to know differences of right/wrong, real/fake, and moral values. I'm not sayin that I wasn't playing DOOM or Wolfenstein at that age, I was just told to go outside more at that age and develop social skills instead of staying inside, sitting in front of a TV for hours on end. Thank god for save menu....

Anyways, i digress, I am an XBOX 360 user and enjoy using it. However, I am also a frequent player of adventure and FPS games. i love the 360 and the variety of games that the console carries.
 
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USERNAME

Professional
10-12 YO for a FPS? maybe when playing under adult supervision and a time limit. Children still need guidance at 10-12 YO, still need to know differences of right/wrong, real/fake, and moral values. I'm not sayin that I wasn't playing DOOM or Wolfenstein at that age, I was just told to go outside more at that age and develop social skills instead of staying inside, sitting in front of a TV for hours on end. Thank god for save menu....

Dude... Im not saying this dad should let his kids sit and play games all day, he shouldnt, but c'mon some FPS games arent that bad. Im not gonna say let a 10-12 y/o play MW3 (although I know parents who do) but some shooters are fine, as you said, in moderation.
 

Agent Orynge

Professional
I guess Nintendo is releasing a new console next year.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/116/1163764p1.html

Of course, it won't be revealed until E3 in June, and who knows how long after that it will be on store shelves. My guess is this time next year, but what do I know. I'm not sure what your time frame looks like, but $150 is a tough price point to beat for any console. I assumed you were talking about buying it this holiday season, but if you're not then I guess you can afford to wait. One thing you should consider, though, is the library for each of the consoles. Any new console that isn't backwards compatible is going to have around ~10 games at launch, maybe 1-2 of which will actually be decent. You can't predict how those consoles will do, but you can take a look at the current generation and decide if you'd like your children to play those games instead. Also, there's always the possibility of hardware malfunctions at release. Xbox has sorted out all (or most) of the issues they've had with 360 system failures, but who knows what lurks in the future generation.
 
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*breaksracquet

Semi-Pro
Dude... Im not saying this dad should let his kids sit and play games all day, he shouldnt, but c'mon some FPS games arent that bad. Im not gonna say let a 10-12 y/o play MW3 (although I know parents who do) but some shooters are fine, as you said, in moderation.

Name 5 that aren't "that bad." And let me know when they make an FPS that isn't ESRB Mature. there's got to be one out there....
 

scotus

G.O.A.T.
I can wait until next year. In fact, I am all for not letting the kids play video games at all.

But my wife is open to the idea of letting them play, so if I tell her about the new version coming out, she will wait.

The kids always get plenty of presents at Christmas, so it won't make much difference to them, either.
 

Agent Orynge

Professional
I can wait until next year. In fact, I am all for not letting the kids play video games at all.

But my wife is open to the idea of letting them play, so if I tell her about the new version coming out, she will wait.

The kids always get plenty of presents at Christmas, so it won't make much difference to them, either.

Don't let them play violent games, they might run off and join the Army like I did!

Yeah... anyways. The only bad thing about video games is time consumption. If you let your kids play at all hours of the day, they're going to get fat and develop bad posture. That's on you. On the other hand, there's a lot to be said about what they might take away from video games. Cultural perspective, problem solving skills, competitive drive, hand-eye coordination, and if you let them play with other people (online), teamwork and communication. That's just off the top of my head, mind you.
 
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USERNAME

Professional
Name 5 that aren't "that bad." And let me know when they make an FPS that isn't ESRB Mature. there's got to be one out there....
Challenge accepted!
GoldenEye007
ANY Paintball game (3+)
Portal 1 & 2 (its under fps believe it or not)
Battlefield 1943 and 2
Thats at least 8 that really are not that bad although 007 and BF2 are pushing it a bit.
 

Agent Orynge

Professional
Challenge accepted!
GoldenEye007
ANY Paintball game (3+)
Portal 1 & 2 (its under fps believe it or not)
Battlefield 1943 and 2
Thats at least 8 that really are not that bad although 007 and BF2 are pushing it a bit.

Team Fortress 2 was the first thing that came to my mind.
 

USERNAME

Professional
The 2 Area51 games, Mirrors Edge, Hour of Victory, Frontlines, Blacklight and Brink are not rated M.
 

USERNAME

Professional
*breaksracquet, I havent even looked at the Xbox live arcade games. Im sure there are a ton of OK FPS games in there rated E10+-T.
 

*breaksracquet

Semi-Pro
Challenge accepted!
GoldenEye007
ANY Paintball game (3+)
Portal 1 & 2 (its under fps believe it or not)
Battlefield 1943 and 2
Thats at least 8 that really are not that bad although 007 and BF2 are pushing it a bit.

There ya go!!!

childclapping.jpg
 

*breaksracquet

Semi-Pro
Anyways, scotus, The Wii and 360 with Kinnect would be fine for your children. I'd be interested more with the Wii for younger children and the Mario titles, but if it interested you as far as getting on playing something yourself, the 360 may interest you more. Good luck and happy hunting!!






USERNAME, don't get all butt hurt over some little banter...... it's ok:) Enjoy your evening.
 

USERNAME

Professional
Anyways, scotus, The Wii and 360 with Kinnect would be fine for your children. I'd be interested more with the Wii for younger children and the Mario titles, but if it interested you as far as getting on playing something yourself, the 360 may interest you more. Good luck and happy hunting!!






USERNAME, don't get all butt hurt over some little banter...... it's ok:) Enjoy your evening.

Thank you kind sir, you as well :)
And yeah, OP you cant really go wrong with any of the big 3 with your kids at their age. Still... 360! 360! 360! lol
 

Andreas1965

Rookie
Sorry for hijacking...

Are games designed for PS2 running on a PS3?

I'm asking because my wife want's to have a certain game which is quite old and was designed for PS2. I'm considering to give it to her as some X-mas gift, but we only have a WII so I'll have to buy a console as well. And I don't want to buy a PS2 because it's old.
A PS3 would be more atrractive for me, because there seem to be some pretty games for it on the market. Germany is notorious for editing FPS because of "violence" (for me some kind of censorship, they do it with movies too), but you can order films and games from Austria, which is more liberal when it comes to gore ;)
 

scotus

G.O.A.T.
Ok, I was going to wait for the release of the all-new Wii or Xbox next year, but decided that it was better to buy a used bundled package and let the kids enjoy them for the next few years.

So, I bought a used Wii console that came with a host of accessories, such as 4 controllers, 3 nunchucks, 2 motion plus sensors, charger, balance board, yoga mat, various sports equipment gadgets/skins, and the best part ... 30 Wii game discs.
 

TopFH

Hall of Fame
Ok, I was going to wait for the release of the all-new Wii or Xbox next year, but decided that it was better to buy a used bundled package and let the kids enjoy them for the next few years.

So, I bought a used Wii console that came with a host of accessories, such as 4 controllers, 3 nunchucks, 2 motion plus sensors, charger, balance board, yoga mat, various sports equipment gadgets/skins, and the best part ... 30 Wii game discs.

Wow. How much?
 

Janne

Semi-Pro
I own a PS3.

I think the Wii or Wii U or whatever it's called is your best choice. It has games that anyone can play, young or old. I don't think you can go wrong with Nintendo. If it's just your kids that will be playing, I'd really stay away from Xbox.

Edit: just noticed the last couple of posts. Anyway, I do think you made the right choice. Merry Christmas and hope your kids enjoy their new games!
 
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scotus

G.O.A.T.
Edit: just noticed the last couple of posts. Anyway, I do think you made the right choice. Merry Christmas and hope your kids enjoy their new games!

Yes, the kids are having a blast with the Sports Resort game right now.
 
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