What type game system

[Texas Proud]

OK... the kids are willing to pool their money together and want to buy a game system... one wants one kind and the other a different one...



SOOOO, due to the collective knowledge etc. of the crowd picking out something better... I am doing a poll....


If you want, give me some reasons... The older one wants to play online etc., so that is a consideration....

 

[Westernskies]

The last video game I played was "Pong"... once....in ~1975?
Never understood the fascination; too many other things I'd rather do.

 

[79protons]

I voted Xbox 360 mostly because I have some July 11 calls I would like to see double.

 

[haha]

I voted Xbox 360 mostly because I have some July 11 calls I would like to see double.

My son's nephew and niece were playing various Kinect games over Christmas. They sometimes played 4 hours non-stop. Pretty good game IMO.

Ha

 

[FIREd]

We have a wii, great fun for people of all ages. But not an option for serious gamers IMO.

 

[donheff]

PS3. It also serves as a Blue Ray player and an Internet streaming video player.

 

[brewer12345]

We have a wii, great fun for people of all ages. But not an option for serious gamers IMO.

Agree. I specifically bought a Wii because the system and games are more age appropriate for my kids (4 and 6), but it is a step down in hardcore gamer-nerdness vs the Xbox.

 

[FUEGO]

Curious about the responses of fellow wise gamers...

Texas, how old are your kids?

I have a 4 and a 5 y.o. I'm thinking Wii might be best option for them right now. Then get an xbox 720 or ps4 when they come out.

 

[REWahoo]

Curious about the responses of fellow wise gamers...

I'm far from a wise gamer but our 5 grandkids (ages 3 - 12) have a Wii and love it. They even talked grandma into getting her one to help exercise (Wii Fit). Of course that was just an excuse to give them something to play with when they visit...

 

[CoolChange]

I voted Xbox since I think it combined with the Kinect is probably the most versatile choice right now: Serious enough for real gamers to enjoy yet probably suitable for the much younger and older crowd as well.

We have a Wii since that is what the daughter wanted; and, it was the cheapest choice at the time. She still loves it as does her grandmother. But, I do not find it terribly appealing. This is a good thing all the way around since I lost many hours of sleep after first discovering Doom.

 

[oneils]

If one wants to play online, then the XBOX is the way to go. Pretty impressive online play system. One thing to note, however, is that xbox live (the online play system) is subscription based. I think it is 80 bucks a year or so. So, that is something to consider.

PS3 and XBOX are pretty similar, other than the online experience. XBOX is way ahead of the curve. If your oldest is over 12/13, then I'd suggest one of these systems over the Wii. More titles for your oldest to enjoy, and there still should be plenty of other titles for the young'uns to enjoy.

edit - donheff makes a good point too. The PS3 is one of the best video players out there. It can upscale your standard definition dvd's to look awesome on your HDTV. Most dvd players do not scale 480p well to 1080p. The PS3 does this for you and it looks fantastic (I have one). So....uh, it all depends on your priorities.

Xbox for online play, PS3 for dvd/blu-ray. I believe both can stream youtube and netflix videos.

 

[W2R]

We have a wii, great fun for people of all ages. But not an option for serious gamers IMO.

I agree completely. I have a Wii, and voted for the Wii because ALL the kids and the entire family can enjoy it. There is something for everybody. It isn't the choice of serious gamers, though, so you may wish to think about how many in your family fall into that category. If "Child A" is a serious gamer, and "Child B" is not, then giving them an X-Box might be more like a gift to "Child A" only. Giving them a Wii would be a gift to both.

 

[ikonomore]

The Xbox due to Kinect. My nephews have it and they love it. They are 5 and 8 years old and have no problem playing the kinect games. We got them a Wii game for Christmas, they played it for 2 minutes then went back to the Xbox.

I'd like an xbox but you need the 250gb console with kinect bundle which is $399 plus Xbox live fee for $40-$55 a year. I have a Wii which I don't use so if i got the xbox it'd gather dust to probably.

 

[flyfishnevada]

Wii is a lot of fun, but the other systems have similar motion systems now. The graphics are inferior (480p).

X-box lost some luster when the HD-DVD format died. Great system with some cool exclusive games. No controllers, true motion capture with the new Kinect.

PS3 is a great system and had the bonus of having the Bluray player. It new motion capture controls are more like the Wii.

We own a PS3 and a Wii. If you don't play, you should. Some of the games are more like movies. Great stories and characters.

 

[kombat]

We just bought a PS3, but we have no intention of playing any games. We just use it to play blu ray movies and downloaded video.

 

[Brat]

My daughter's family has a Wii and so do we. The children in her family are 3, 6 and 36 and they all have a great time. There are lots of programs to suit a variety of skills and interests.

I use Fit on our system, and should play it more.

 

[GregLee]

I have PS3, Wii, Xbox360, Gamecube, N64. No kids in our house, not counting me. I use PS3 frequently, because it's my only means of playing blu-rays, Xbox360 occasionally because it plays all the DVDs I've burned, the Wii rarely (though my wife and I played Wii tennis a lot at first). I should be using Wii Fit, but I just never got started with it. I don't have my Gamecube or N64 hooked up anymore. Years ago, I beat Zelda, but then pretty much lost interest in gaming. I plan to get back to it when I'm more bored with real life.

(I didn't see how to vote. I did have Pong, by the way, but I seem to have discarded it.)

 

[Retch The Grate]

Xbox 360 + Kinect seems to be the best choice at the moment if you don't have a strong familial interest in games that are exclusive to a single platform.

 

[REWahoo]

...pretty much lost interest in gaming. I plan to get back to it when I'm more bored with real life.

Here's something you can do with those old games: Air Force builds huge supercomputer by linking 1,760 PlayStation 3s -

 

[Rustic23]

I have an xbox and two grand kids 8 and 15. The 8 year old hits it within 10 min of getting here. They have a Wii. I think the plan is to trade our xbox for their Wii. They want the kinect. I am thinking of replacing it with the PS3 for the DVD player.

 

[Fireup2020]

Pong was 'da bomb! Anybody else remember the gorilla.bas "game"? Atari (Space Invaders) and Jewel (think it was old school PlayStation when kids were little) were my games of choice. However, for this poll, I voted for the Wii. E-SIL/niece have one and they seem to have fun with it. I was thrilled when we made little "Mi's" for "Auntie Jen & Scott"...we get to hang around in her Wii games!

 

[Texas Proud]

Curious about the responses of fellow wise gamers...

Texas, how old are your kids?

I have a 4 and a 5 y.o. I'm thinking Wii might be best option for them right now. Then get an xbox 720 or ps4 when they come out.

A 13 YO boy and 7 YO girl.... the boy thinks the PS3 is the ONLY way to go... Wii is for 'kids'... I will have to ask why not the XBox 360... (he has used my 'dislike' of Microsoft against me here.... smart boy )


But, I have a BIL that just bought the Xbox and people that I used to work using the same... so if I go this way I can play online with them...

 

[Alan]

The last video game I played was "Pong"... once....in ~1975?
Never understood the fascination; too many other things I'd rather do.

Same here, and the actual device we played was one that we built ourselves as part of our EE degree course that year - 1973.

However, DW and both kids are games enthusiasts.

 

[hankster]

We got a PS3 for Christmas and were especially excited about streaming Netflix movies. Alas, our DSL connection doesn't seem to be up to the task, unless you don't mind the move stopping every 2 minutes for data retrieval

Oh well. We do enjoy some of the games ourselves and it gives the grand kids something to do when they visit. Nice to have the Blu-ray player too.

 

[Midpack]

Voted Wii as we did have a Wii Fit. But after the novelty wore off, I sold it on eBay, got about half my money back (better than nothing).