Wii, PS3 or Xbox for 6yr Old?

Off Topic
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For those of you with kids: my wife and I are looking to get a game system for our 6 year old son this Christmas. While it looks like the Wii is better suited to younger kids, we’re still considering PS3 and Xbox.

We’d like to keep the costs to about $200 or less so we’re considering picking up a used system on Craigslist. So no Wii U for us here.

I’m looking for thoughts on the different systems and which might be the best route. I have zero exposure to these consoles. One question I have is if we were to get, say, a 4gb Xbox, can the memory be upgraded down the road? (Walmart has the Xbox 360 4gb console plus a Skylanders Starter kit for $159).

A couple of points: my son is very active in sports, so we’re not concerned about “getting him moving” and he will have strict timelines for when and how long he can play the thing. As much as I would like to play some of the more adult games, he will not be playing anything of the sort until he is quite a bit older.

Thanks for any input.

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None, get that kid outside playing.

j/k xbox360

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xbox360 hands down

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[quote]csulli wrote:
xbox360 hands down[/quote]

X2

Xbox is definitely the best choice.

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So Xbox so far. Thanks.

Is this a good deal: Robot or human?

Or is the 4GB make it shite?

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Wii for young kids. They are geared more towards family friendly games. PS2 for dad.

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Yes get a system you have to pay for online service and no blue ray player.

Great choice.

PS3

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[quote]Tyler23 wrote:
For those of you with kids: my wife and I are looking to get a game system for our 6 year old son this Christmas. While it looks like the Wii is better suited to younger kids, we’re still considering PS3 and Xbox.

We’d like to keep the costs to about $200 or less so we’re considering picking up a used system on Craigslist. So no Wii U for us here.

I’m looking for thoughts on the different systems and which might be the best route. I have zero exposure to these consoles. One question I have is if we were to get, say, a 4gb Xbox, can the memory be upgraded down the road? (Walmart has the Xbox 360 4gb console plus a Skylanders Starter kit for $159).

A couple of points: my son is very active in sports, so we’re not concerned about “getting him moving” and he will have strict timelines for when and how long he can play the thing. As much as I would like to play some of the more adult games, he will not be playing anything of the sort until he is quite a bit older.

Thanks for any input.[/quote]

Well, we have all 3. The Wii is better suited for kids, but it’s not a great system over all. XBox is probably the best gaming system, but you son is 6, I don’t see him ‘getting it’ though he probably will later. And I don’t know how much you want him playing on-line and the games tend to be oriented to the more ahem, mature audience. The good ones anyway.

I think the PS3 is the best over all system when it comes to having your gaming and multi media options. I am thinking for the family as a whole. You can get it for “him” but the whole family can use it, plus it’s a blu-ray player and a damn good one.
The only thing I really hate about the PS3, and I do hate it a lot, is if they post an update, they force you to install it before you can use it.

I think the PS3 is the over all best “family” choice, with the caveat noted.

If you are going to be gaming your ass off, get the XBox, if the system is just for the kid and nothing else, then the Wii is good.

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I wasn’t aware that’s how the Xbox works. I have to pay an ongoing subscription and can’t just buy games individually (hard copies or online)? He will have no need to play online with others (live).

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I’d get the Wii. By the time the kid is old enough to appreciate the Xbox, Xbox’s’ll be obsolete

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Thanks Pat. My last post was directed at Derek as yours wasn’t showing up at the time. I didn’t realize Xbox was online only.

Hmm…so I’ll take a looks at PS3 too. The Bluray player is a plus, but not critical really.

The players on this will mostly be my 6 year. Our toddler and my wife won’t be playing. I’ll probably play occasionally; though I need to be careful with these things (the last game I owned was “Half-Life”; I’d be engrossed in that then “come to” and realize it’s 2am…on a Tuesday).

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The X-Box is not online only, there may be games out there for it that demand online, but I haven’t played any. This includes Gears of War, Batman Arkham Asylum, Halo.

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[quote]Tyler23 wrote:
I wasn’t aware that’s how the Xbox works. I have to pay an ongoing subscription and can’t just buy games individually (hard copies or online)? He will have no need to play online with others (live).[/quote]

Completely wrong. You absolutely do not need any ongoing online subscription. I pretty much never use my Xbox online. You can buy regular games and play them like normal without ever being connected to the internet.

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It depends, what kind of games is your kid going to play? I would also check out games for each system and see which ones are better suited for your son.

Xbox and PS3 have similar offerings while the Wii is pretty different.

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We like our Wii for our 5 year old, they have some great kids games including LEGO Star Wars and Kirby’s Yarn Adventure. We don’t have a PS3 or Xbox so i can’t comment on those, other than his cousin has the XBox with the Kinect system and that thing is the bees knees.

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Xbox 360 + Kinnect, 2nd choice would be a Wii.

I have PS3 with the move, but I would say it has far fewer kid friendly offerings IMO. Yes 360 has mostly the same games as the PS3, but the kinnect offers something different. Also, the move stuff is more expensive than the kinnect if you want more than 1 person to be able to play.

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Damn this crap is confusing. Thanks, though, for the responses.

It looks like the popular games for any system cost about the same; PS3 & Xbox have similar game offerings; and Wii has many more kid-friendly games. While the latter is a consideration, it’s not like we will be buying a TON of them (considering the prices and the boy isn’t going to have that much disposable income on his hands).

While I am leaning towards the Wii currently, I’m a bit concerned he might get disinterested in it and we might be looking for one of the other two systems within a couple years. I suppose his little brother (15 mos old) could use it down the road though…

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Atari 2600. That way he’ll learn to appreciate what we have today.

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^Haha. How about a Super Nintendo, that was my first system when I was a kid.

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[quote]Tyler23 wrote:
Damn this crap is confusing. Thanks, though, for the responses.

It looks like the popular games for any system cost about the same; PS3 & Xbox have similar game offerings; and Wii has many more kid-friendly games. While the latter is a consideration, it’s not like we will be buying a TON of them (considering the prices and the boy isn’t going to have that much disposable income on his hands).

While I am leaning towards the Wii currently, I’m a bit concerned he might get disinterested in it and we might be looking for one of the other two systems within a couple years. I suppose his little brother (15 mos old) could use it down the road though…[/quote]

They are all obsolete fairly quickly so don’t let that hinder your choice. I don’t know that the new Wii U is worth it but the original Wii is a great economical choice. It is about half the price (or less)of the Xbox with kinnects. If this is mostly for a young kid I would definitely go with the original Wii.

As a side note for anyone who has a Wii and it won’t eject your disc, don’t destroy it getting the disc out. There is a hack online on how to get it working again. Ours locked up with the neighbor kids disk in it and I busted ours up before finding this out.

OP, don’t let this scare you, all the systems have issues and the Wii is the cheapest by far.