Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Game systems

When my kids were a little younger, we played the Wii A LOT. The thing I really like about it is the communal nature of basically ALL the games; you are playing against each other, often in real time (rather than taking turns). I think it is still an excellent system for little kids and their non-gamer parents.

We got my (now 14 YO) son a XBox 360 w/Kinect last year, and that's about all he plays now. BUT it has been very difficult for us to find many games we can all enjoy (they are either set up for one person, or the controls are sufficiently complicated that learning how to get proficient takes more time than I'm willing to spend). The XBox "Live" stuff and the Kinect are truly amazing technical achievements.

For a 6 and 9 year old, I'd get a Wii, and be prepared to get something else in 3-4 years.

I posted the same question on Facebook, and the majority there say Xbox. I have a Wii, and the boys always ask me to bring it when I visit, and they certainly have a lot of fun playing it. But, I'm leaning towards the Xbox with Kinect only because it can be played similar to the Wii, and as they get older, I think they'll appreciate it more in the long run.

We have both the Wii and Xbox 360 with Kinect. When we are looking for something quick to play or something for the whole family, the Wii is used. When my 12 year old daughter has friends over and they want to play something, it also is the Wii. I like the Wii for many games, but I LOVE the XBox for some of their racing games, first person shooters (although I play most of those on a PC), and just about anything that can benefit from great graphics. My 12 year old also does have a few things for the XBox, and as a Harry Potter fan, she wants Lego Harry Potter years 5-7 and asked for it on the XBox since the graphics are better. She has years 1-4 for the Wii.

There are many positives and negatives about all systems. For quick, anyone can pick it up and play (including adults) the Wii is great. It is also great for party games. For something more substantial, look at something like the XBox or PS3. You can look at getting an XBox 360 with Kinect bundle at WalMart on Black Friday (or might be Thursday night) for $200 but you also get a $50 WalMart gift card. These will sell out fast, and WalMarts are famous for people grabbing things "off of the piles" 30-45 minutes before they officially go on sale.

Tom,
Speaking of having time to learn the controls; isn't it great when you are playing a video game with your child and he say's "Dad you suck at this game!"

Shaun, I've tried to not put myself in that position too often. I usually try to beat him to that assessment.

But, yeah, totally.

Mary. What games do the boys like to play? If they are into first person shooters pick anything but the wii. My son really got into the Mario Bros and Zelda games. Also liked the Brawl series. He's really not into the shooters. I'll be getting him the latest Zelda game for Christmas.

Pikmin is also an unusual and amazing Wii game. Give it a go if you havn't already.

Xbox 360 and Wii in my house as well, my 11 yr old son plays the Xbox exclusively (FPS games) while my 8 year old son plays the Wii but also enjoys the kinect games on the Xbox.

I like the Kinect sport games more than the Wii games.

I would suspect that once a game console makes its way into a house a second won't be far behind.

Hey Cat, go grab Skyrim for your PC if you have a decent video card. You will be badly hooked on adventure games once again. I played wayyyy to late again last night on my PS3 version.

Unless of course you were referring to the old text based adventure games. In which case the best I can do is see if I still have my old copy of a book on creating them in QBasic. Actually, there are still some MUDs running online if you go looking. Tough to go back that far though with today's much more immersive options.

Not into text today, but that's were I developed a love for adventure games. I even reverse engineered Infocom's STARCROSS game into asembler language routines once, just for fun. The Myst games were my all time favorites. I loved the worlds that you were emersed into. One of them in particular I loved where you were on an island, it was summertime, you could almost feel the heat radiating off of the rocks. You could hear the buzz of insects as they flew by. It was great just imagining that you were actually there. (Not the first game, either the 2nd or 3rd in the series. The one with the Idol, that you eventully came up out of through a tunnel, I think.)

Cool. I remember the Myst games as well. If you enjoyed their wide open worlds and beautiful sights & sounds, you will absolutely enjoy Skyrim. The visuals in the outdoors and the super detailed audio is simply stunning. I even heard a crinkly, wispy noise as I walked through a spiderweb last night. I had to fight to not let go of the controller to check my hair for baby spiders.