Wii? X Box ? What it the most fun game system for family X-Mas

[HEChicken]

I always swore I wouldn't allow a game system in the house but in the end figured my son will find a way to play anyway, even if its at friend's houses, and at least if its in my own home, I can monitor what games he is actually playing. He got an X-Box for Christmas two years ago and its worked great - now he invites his friends to come over here and play instead of hanging out at their houses! Anyway, it turned out the whole family enjoyed it so much more than I expected. We found tons of fun games for the whole family. I found a CSI game where I was the CSI and had to solve 5 cases - I found myself downstairs playing even when the kids were in school LOL. We had so much fun that when I was offered a good deal on a WII, I decided to get that for DD for her birthday. Big mistake. The games are not nearly as fun, the controls aren't as good, and it has had hardly any use. Occasionally they will get it out and play for a little while, but it is still the X-Box that gets most of the workouts.

 

[HBuehler]

Thanks everyone..keep the suggestions coming. I still have no idea I had heard that about X-Box not being very good though
Well...I'm off to Girl Scouts BIG Cookie Pep Rally today It's almost Cookie time again

Yes winter time in TN can be long luckily it's only a few weeks but for me it's busy did I mention it's almost GS Cookie time plus Christmas parade float building,Christmas Parade's to be walked and froze(me frozen)
I'm hoping a fun game machine might make it easier on Dad to watch the boys without them getting HIM into trouble while I'm out doing all of my daughters running.
Will check back on all of these great suggestions when I get back later

 

[KinderKorner]

Thats why I'm on the edge with Wii.

They have the best games, most family friendly.

The controls can be blah. And the stuff is easily broken, and has lots of problems. So it just depends on how much you would be playing it.

My second choice would be the play station 2 or 3.

X-box is not as broken as easily. But the game choice for young kids and family is very slim.

 

[SunAngel]

My kids are anxiously awaiting us getting a Wii. My MIL has one and we all play it when we go over there.

I love the way its interactive, instead of the kids constantly just sitting on the couch playing. It makes them get up and move... they love the bowling and tennis games. I very seldom here any arguing when they play the Wii, but its constant battles here with the PS2 and all the fighting games (seems thats almost all Playstation knows how to make). We also have an XBox upstairs, my son plays it occasionally, but thats about it. Some of the games are way too advanced and others are just plain boring.

My personal opinion, the Wii is the best game system they have made yet. The PS3 graphics might be better, but its not worth the price tag, even if they have lowered the system price, the games, controllers etc, are still way overpriced.

 

[PotterWatch]

My sil has a wii that she has let us borrow for weeks at a time here and there. My kids love it and we have a great time playing some of the games as a family. We haven't had any issues with the controllers or with stuff breaking. She has had that system for a couple years. I think that it's a great system.

 

[NRacine]

Hubby and I have a Wii and we love it! We are 29 and grew up with Attari and NES, so we have always been video game nerds. Mario cart for Wii is awesome, you can get little steering wheels to play with. You can also hook it up to the internet, so we play against friends all over the state. There's a game called Wario Ware where you have to copy the action on the screen with the Wiimote and then pass it to the next person (pump up a tire, pin the tail on the donkey, etc) and it gets faster and faster. So much fun!

Also, video game time is a good bargaining chip for chores!

 

[Wifezilla]

I am a gaming Pioneer

Had every nintendo system ever made. Even had an Xbox at one time. I started with an Atari! LOL

Anyway, I have always been a big nintendo fan because they had more multi-player games. Before the days of playing online, nintendo had the most 4 player games. Now we have the Wii and still play mostly 4 player games. Mario Cart in any form is my favorite.

Tonight my book club is coming over and after I feed them enough wine, I am going to pull out Dance Dance Revolution! Bwaa haa haa!

Xbox is great for games like Halo, but I wouldn't consider that family-friendly. Well, MY family maybe...LOL

 

[arabookworm]

I personally am a fan of the wii, especially because if you get sports related games, you have to be active, standing up, etc., to play them, so you are less likely to enter a comatose state while playing. plus zelda and super mario are both nintendo games!

and about the gamecube, the wii can play gamecube games, but you need a gamecube controller and a memory card to play them. but those are relatively inexpensie now that they have a new product, so you can probably get used games, controllers, etc. at gamestop or some other similar store.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Quote:
That's why we never allowed one in the house until now.My 2 youngest I'm not worried about getting addicted..they have me on the road so much gymnastics-girl scouts-horse shows and now they are breathing Karate lessons

It would be one of those rainy day or family fun night type of things..possibly even get big brother to play with little siblings..oh that may be too much to ask for

It will also be in my living room so we keep control over it and it's on "neutral" turf.

Well, then the best advice I would give you is to take a little time and go to a gaming store and talk to the people there. Tell them the ages of your children and if they are boys or girls. It makes a difference because different systems tend toward different ages and sexes. They are quite helpful in what games are fun and which are duds and then get the system that seems to have the ones that you think your children would enjoy most.
I have found that the x-box tends to aim at sports or violent games. Not alot for little girls or kids, at least not as much. We have the WI and there are alot of games to play on them, but not the typical games that kids usually play.
I use to love Mario and Tetris and those kind of games. I don't know if systems now support those games, but they are fun for all ages.
For healthy exercise games that are fun it would be the Wii

 

[skeeter03]

I will say that Nintendo (wii) has always been the most family friendly game system out there
they have tons of games for all ages and stages. I have games that my 2 year could play.
if you are more into graphics and hard core gaming (which your family doesn't sound like they are lol) then a PS3 or Xbox would be better

we bought a wii last year for Christmas
if you get one set a few rules and you wont have children glued to it all day
ours is put away all summer. and we set time limits for each child to play a game. and no wii until homework is completed and chores done.
we as a family like the wii cause it does actually get you up and off the couch to play some games which is lots of fun. and all the choices of games to play
so far no problems with our wii cept freezing and shutting down a couple of times from over heating - we bought a fan/charger thing for it to sit on and
solved that issue.
this year we are buying the kids rockband/guitar hero/bandhero one of those to go with the wii
ok so its just as much for us as the kids lol

as for the controllers being difficult once you learn what your doing they are actually
quite easy to use at least i find

good luck with your decision