Help me decide on a new play system for my kids

[CMW0021]

I have an 8 and a 6 year old, both boys. We currently have the Wii. I am considering either the xbox or ps3. I know they are both getting upgraded this year and I'm hoping to score a good deal on the older platforms this xmas. Unless the newer editions are that much better than I would consider getting the new ones. Which systems do you have and why? If you have both, is there one you like better? I know that you can play against friends but I don't think my kids are at that age quite yet. I am definitely not a gamer, unless you consider the Atari from the early 80's! Thanks in advance!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

We have Xbox 360 with Kinect. I don't see any reason you would need to buy the new version, Xbox One (will be released November 22). Kinect games make your kids move around, rather than sitting down holding a controller. I prefer Xbox over Playstation. You will probably be able to get a good deal on the current Xbox and could also consider picking up a used model (there should be many available when the new version is released) at GameStop or a similar store.

 

[mjkacmom]

Xbox - ds10 had been playing live with friends for a couple of years now. Ds15 wants the new one for is room.

 

[Southernmiss]

I have an 8 and a 6 year old, both boys. We currently have the Wii. I am considering either the xbox or ps3. I know they are both getting upgraded this year and I'm hoping to score a good deal on the older platforms this xmas. Unless the newer editions are that much better than I would consider getting the new ones. Which systems do you have and why? If you have both, is there one you like better? I know that you can play against friends but I don't think my kids are at that age quite yet. I am definitely not a gamer, unless you consider the Atari from the early 80's! Thanks in advance!

Yes Xbox. It's a system that has grown with our kids. I have teens and it's now played all the time.

There are kinect games we love to play as a family. Nothing like having a room full of boy and girl teens dancing to Just Dance on a saturday night.

 

[LJSquishy]

I would go with the Xbox One if you can justify the price, but if not, the Xbox 360 w/ Kinect would be a great choice.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

I may be biased having been in the industry, but I rarely think it's worth it buying older technology as software and accessories move ahead with new hardware.

That being said, for your kids at their ages, you can probably get a deal on an older system and be just fine. I would say get a kinect as those games are great at their age and active.

Publishers and developers phase out of old systems quickly. They will only produce games for the new system so it is likely that you won't be able to buy new games much past the beginning of the year.

If this isn't an issue and you plan on used games then by all means save money on an older system. Your best bet for a good price will likely be eBay as people are trying to get rid of the old when the new systems come out.

This has been the longest console cycle at 8 years. The usual cycle has been every 5-6 years. So it's something to think about as well in terms of being able to buy new games as your boys get older.

 

[Megkel]

My husband is a techy guy who likes to have all the new toys. I'm not a gamer at all. We have had both the Playstation 3 and the XBox. The Playstation was fried during a lighting storm however we never bothered to replace it. We mostly used it as a blue ray player and netflicks for the upstairs tv. The XBox we use daily. My husband's favorite games are on there, we have the knect for our 8 year old, and we stream netflicks all the time. We have the oldest model available (bought when they first came out about 5 years ago) and it is only now slowing down. My husband said he wants to get the new system once the first wave is out and glitches fixed. The games will not be backwards compatible so all the games out now will not work on the new system and the new games won't work on the old system. Just the biggest downer to keep in mind.

 

[luvmy3]

We have a Wii and an Xbox with Kinect. We really love the Kinect games. With your kids the ages they are I would not get the Xbox 1, by the time they are able to appreciate the tech in that there will be something better out, unless they are hardcore gamers already
I don't think you would be disappointed with an xbox 360 and kinect system.

 

[CMW0021]

This is incredibly helpful. Thank you so much. Looks like Xbox is a favorite. We are not a very tech savvy family and the kids are not big gamers at this point. I'm sure there's plenty of older games to keep them busy. What are some good games for this age group?

 

[sksjasams]

I was just going to add if you go with the xBox 360, don't get the one with only 4gb memory. They shouldn't even sell one with that little memory. Definitely go with the bigger one.

I have no doubt you will be able to score a great deal and maybe a nice bundle before Christmas. You can always sign yourself up for deal alerts on slick deals.

I think the Lego games would be great for your DSs' ages.

 

[HM]

We use our Xbox 360 (with Kinect) all the time, not for games, for watching Netflix and Amazon Prime movies. We like that platform for the apps better than on our BluRay player.

 

[wiigirl]

I would go with the Xbox One if you can justify the price, but if not, the Xbox 360 w/ Kinect would be a great choice.

 

[pryncess527]

I may be biased having been in the industry, but I rarely think it's worth it buying older technology as software and accessories move ahead with new hardware.

Publishers and developers phase out of old systems quickly. They will only produce games for the new system so it is likely that you won't be able to buy new games much past the beginning of the year.

I completely disagree with this. IME, most publishers recognize that the market is full of people who are not first adopters. Developers continued to out games for the XBox for years after the 360 came out, and Microsoft plans to keep producing the 360 until at least 2016, so I think that system still has a lot of legs on it and will have a great game catalog for years to come. On the other hand, it will take a few years for the catalog of new-gen games to be fleshed out. I'm always frustrated by the limited options the first year or two a console is out.

 

[SandrA9810]

Microsoft dropped the original system after it launched the 360 almost immediately. Sony still published games for several years for the PS2 after the PS3 launch.

If the kids are not into that many games yet, I would look into the PS Vita TV. It's like a cross between the PS4 and the Vita, plus all the streaming services. I would get that with a year subscription to Playstation Plus. More than half our game collection is free or greatly discounted with the Plus account. Each month they give about 6 free games for download.
The system itself is cheap enough, but you will need a memory card which you can only get a Sony card. They will be selling a 64gig card soon for a $100, so expect to find quite a few of the 32 gig cards on the used market for cheaper than $50.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/18/playstation-vita-tv-hands-on/

As for the Xbox One, it wasn't supposed to be out till 2014. Microsoft has been overclocking the system to get it up to speed, and expect a huge number of red rings like the 360 launch. The system has only been in production for a few months, Sony has been manufacturing the PS4 for about a year and will be ready for launch.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I was just going to add if you go with the xBox 360, don't get the one with only 4gb memory. They shouldn't even sell one with that little memory. Definitely go with the bigger one....

We got an Xbox with 4gb memory, then ordered an OEM 320GB Internal Slim Hard Disk Drive for XBOX 360 from Amazon (about $63.00). You literally open a door on your Xbox and drop it in. Very easy, works great, and is much cheaper than buying a 250 GB Xbox (more memory too).

As for games, my grandson (age 6 1/2), loves all the Skylanders games, Disney Xfinity, Lego Harry Potter, Kinect sports games, and Sonic games.

 

[mrodgers]

Here's my take with the kids....

Get them an xBox 360. Then here in a few months when the xBox One and the PS4 comes out and every other kid gets those systems and talks about the newest games, you can be constantly annoyed from your own kids complaining that they are the only ones with the old system.

The current systems are 8 years old. Would you buy an 8 year old computer if you wanted to do more than internet surf? Heck, an 8 year old computer can't even surf the internet as it can't run the latest browsers (I know, my computer I bought in 2005 and I'm typing this in Firefox 3.6. I can't install anything better than that, nor can I go to many websites because I can't access them with such an old browser. Makes paying my bills a little difficult because some of them I have to do at work because my computer is 8 years old.)

Do you ever see any PS1 or 2 games for sale in the stores? No, because the PS1 and 2 are obsolete. The xBox 360 and PS3 will be obsolete soon when the new systems come out. It is ancient technology. As your kids get older, they are going to want to play the same games their friends play, not the games their friends played 3 or 4 years ago.

Wait and get one of the new systems.

 

[CMW0021]

Here's my take with the kids....

Get them an xBox 360. Then here in a few months when the xBox One and the PS4 comes out and every other kid gets those systems and talks about the newest games, you can be constantly annoyed from your own kids complaining that they are the only ones with the old system.

The current systems are 8 years old. Would you buy an 8 year old computer if you wanted to do more than internet surf? Heck, an 8 year old computer can't even surf the internet as it can't run the latest browsers (I know, my computer I bought in 2005 and I'm typing this in Firefox 3.6. I can't install anything better than that, nor can I go to many websites because I can't access them with such an old browser. Makes paying my bills a little difficult because some of them I have to do at work because my computer is 8 years old.)

Do you ever see any PS1 or 2 games for sale in the stores? No, because the PS1 and 2 are obsolete. The xBox 360 and PS3 will be obsolete soon when the new systems come out. It is ancient technology. As your kids get older, they are going to want to play the same games their friends play, not the games their friends played 3 or 4 years ago.

Wait and get one of the new systems.

This is a very valid point and one that I was slightly worried about. They both are old systems. I did want to get the disney infinity for them and I had read the wii version wasn't the greatest, another motivation to getting a 360 or ps3. maybe I should wait until next year and get them the new consoles once they have worked through some of the bugs. By then, hopefully disney has the upgraded versions for these games.

 

[mrodgers]

Something else to note, I didn't like xBox as you had to pay to play online vs. play online with just your internet connection with Play Station. That changes with the new systems where you will have to pay to play with the Playstation 4.

The other thing to note, xBox Live no longer has a family subscription. Family subscription was something like $99 (guestimate) and individual was cheaper but more expensive with multiple individual accounts. With the new xBox, they changed Live accounts to where all family accounts are now individual Gold accounts. A gold account is $60.

xBox One will be a single gold account for the single unit itself from what I've read. That means you, your spouse, your kids will all be able to be online with that single gold account. This won't be the case with the old tech xBox 360. I've read that each individual on an xBox 360 will need their own gold account. That would be 4 x $60 for everyone in a family of 4.

I only have an xBox 360 because it was given to me. Had I bought it myself, I would have definitely bought a PS3 for not having to pay to play online (I'm not online with the xBox.) With the new systems and Sony now charging for online, they are about equal and I think systemwise at least for the old systems, the xBox is a bit better than the PS3. Whether that carries over to the new ones or not I don't know, but I do like the xBox, just not the pay to play factor.

 

[luvmy3]

Something else to note, I didn't like xBox as you had to pay to play online vs. play online with just your internet connection with Play Station. That changes with the new systems where you will have to pay to play with the Playstation 4.

The other thing to note, xBox Live no longer has a family subscription. Family subscription was something like $99 (guestimate) and individual was cheaper but more expensive with multiple individual accounts. With the new xBox, they changed Live accounts to where all family accounts are now individual Gold accounts. A gold account is $60.

xBox One will be a single gold account for the single unit itself from what I've read. That means you, your spouse, your kids will all be able to be online with that single gold account. This won't be the case with the old tech xBox 360. I've read that each individual on an xBox 360 will need their own gold account. That would be 4 x $60 for everyone in a family of 4.

I only have an xBox 360 because it was given to me. Had I bought it myself, I would have definitely bought a PS3 for not having to pay to play online (I'm not online with the xBox.) With the new systems and Sony now charging for online, they are about equal and I think systemwise at least for the old systems, the xBox is a bit better than the PS3. Whether that carries over to the new ones or not I don't know, but I do like the xBox, just not the pay to play factor.

You can get a Gold membership for around $38, or at least you always could . I'm not sure if those deals will be out there with Xbox 1 coming out.

OP, you don't need Xbox Live to play games, only if you want to play the games online (not sure if you knew that ).

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Here's my take with the kids....

Get them an xBox 360. Then here in a few months when the xBox One and the PS4 comes out and every other kid gets those systems and talks about the newest games, you can be constantly annoyed from your own kids complaining that they are the only ones with the old system.

.......

Do you ever see any PS1 or 2 games for sale in the stores? No, because the PS1 and 2 are obsolete. The xBox 360 and PS3 will be obsolete soon when the new systems come out. It is ancient technology. As your kids get older, they are going to want to play the same games their friends play, not the games their friends played 3 or 4 years ago.

Wait and get one of the new systems.

I disagree. The current Xboxes will be fine for many years. They are not obsolete and are not ancient technology, especially if you buy one new now. And yes, it's easy to find games for the PS1 or 2 or any older system. Just visit a store such as Gamestop or look on eBay. As for paying for a Gold subscription, this really isn't that expensive, often goes on sale, and personally, I don't think younger kids should play online anyway.

As OP's kids get older, their Xbox can be replaced with the newer version. They definitely don't need an Xbox One at ages 6 and 8. Additionally, you may have a lot of difficulty getting one of the new Xboxes by Christmas.

Disney Xfinity works fine on the current Xbox.