Who has a Wii and an xbox?

[brookmey]

DH and the kids (7, almost 5) have been after me ever since Kinect came out to buy an xbox. I always say no because we have a Wii and I don't think we need 2 gaming systems. We are a pretty big gaming family and often play the Wii together. We've had it for 3 years and have gotten our money's worth.

We do put limits on the amount of time the kids play, but there have been times when I'm so glad we have it. DH and I have played it at night after the kids go to bed when there's nothing on TV. Last fall DS broke his leg 2 weeks before his 4th birthday and was laid up for 4 weeks with a full leg cast. The Wii pretty much saved me during that time since DS literally couldn't do anything but lay on the couch. We also read books and played board games, but that only takes up so much time during the day!

But, now that I've seen the Disneyland game that xbox is coming out with, I'm starting to change my mind! The kids have played the Kinect at Best Buy and a friend's house and I do like the moving around and not just sitting there aspect of it. The only thing that has held me back is that we have a Wii.

Anyone have both and not regret it? How to you balance the use of both systems so one doesn't sit there collecting dust and so you get your money's worth? I would still put limits on video game time and make sure we play them as a family, but I don't want our family time to be all about video games. I like it when we play board games, too!

PS--I'm looking for responses from people who have both or who are considering both or who have 2 major gaming systems. My intention is not to turn this into a debate about kids playing video games, so please keep that in mind.

 

[golfgal]

We have both, the XBox gets used 10 times as much as the Wii. These days the Wii pretty much only gets used for Netflix. Our kids are 16, 16, 18 and there are just more games for them on the XBox.

 

[Big Cuddly Bear]

We have ALL the current systems.

The Kinnect was fun for about 3 weeks, even for my kids. Now it gathers dust, IMO, because there are no great games for it. My kids are 10, but we got the Kinnect when they were about 9 and 1/2. We can't even get them to use it, but they still play lots of Wii games. That said, they want to start using the 360 without the Kinnect. My kids are girls.

 

[dawson5]

we have both. My youngest saved his money from birthday, Christmas and odd jobs and bought the Wii himself. We bought the xbox for all the boys for Christmas one year and the Kinect last year for Christmas. The Wii would see more use, except the youngest will limit when his brother's play. It doesn't help that his oldest brother wants to "hack" the wii. We also have them in two different rooms. The xbox is in the office and the wii in the family room. I will play with the boys (they are 18, 15 and 13 boys), whereas my husband will not. So the Wii being in the family room, when dad comes home, it goes off. It's summer now, so I'm sure they will be see more use. They aren't allowed to play on the weekdays.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We have both. In general, DS = XBox; DD = Wii. They are 13. No regrets.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

We have all three of the major systems (Wii, XBox 360 and PS3). We use the Wii actually the least, but have them for the versatility of the different games each system has.

 

[Jeafl]

We have all three of the major systems (Wii, XBox 360 and PS3). We use the Wii actually the least, but have them for the versatility of the different games each system has.

Same with us. My son rarely uses the PlayStation, and never uses the wii, although my daughters do some workout videos with it. However the XBox gets used constantly, especially when he has friends over.

 

[Princess_Meghan <3]

My sister has both, and I would say that we all play both about evenly. Each system has different games, so which one we play largely depends on what type of game we want to play.
My sister told me she loves having both. She's currently saving her money to get a dance game for the Kinect.

 

[nikkistevej]

We have both, the Wii is in our main living room, the Xbox is in our attic which is pretty hot, DH and DD still go up there and play it. They use it much more!!!

 

[brookmey]

Thank you for the input and responses!

So would the xbox be more useful for older kids? Mine love the Lego games on the Wii and I know xbox also has them, but DH often complains that the Wii doesn't have enough games for him, but the xbox does.

I love the Wii because I mainly use it for the exercise games. And we do have the DDR Disney game, which DD and I both like.

Is the Kinect something that will keep their interest? Someone mentioned that there aren't enough games, so is it even worth it? Is there a plan to come out with more Kinect games? I'd really like the Disneyland game, but I don't want to buy the Kinect for just 1 game.

 

[rotlex]

We have all 3 big systems - xbox, wii and a PS3. The xbox gets used 90% of the time for gaming, the PS3 mostly for it's blu ray capabilities, and the wii? Well, it was cool when we got it, but it pretty much collects dust now.

For reference, oldest child is 8, almost 9, youngest is 2 1/2. However, uh, eh, dear old Dad, that would be me, spends as much, if not more, time on all of them than anyone, LOL.

 

[JanuaryF]

We have both Wii and Xbox - acutally, we have 2 Xboxes - one for the living room, one for the family room (basement). DH and I are gamers, and we love our Xbox(es). The Wii collects a lot of dust, but it is the one my kids use the most (4.5 and 7). There are more kids games for the Wii, it seems. We are already talking about getting a Kinect at Christmas, pretty much just for the new Disney game.

HTH,
January

 

[DaParkers]

We have both and use the 360 for Netflix, Hulu plus, and as a DVD player mostly. It is in a common area. My son uses the Wii often to play games. It's in his room. I periodically use it to play old school games like Tecmo Bowl, the original Zelda, an Super Mari Bros. We have both and use both.

 

[RachaelA]

We don't have children so my opinion might be a bit different than you are looking for. We have PS3, Xbox360, and Wii. I only ever play the Wii because I like little kids games (like what you children like- Lego, etc). DH never plays the Wii (he has 1 game for it that is exclusive to the Wii). We do not have the Kinect for Xbox even though I want it and now that I know there is a Disneyland game coming out I might have to push DH to buy the Kinect! DH absolutely loves his xbox and pretty much plays it daily. Even if the same games are available on Wii (which a lot are), they are completely different to play on xbox when you can play online and he can play with his friends. I do think you pretty much can get every game your children will want on Wii though and therefore they wouldn't really have anything to play on Xbox (other than any Kinect games you buy if you also get the Kinect).

 

[Big Cuddly Bear]

Thank you for the input and responses!

So would the xbox be more useful for older kids? Mine love the Lego games on the Wii and I know xbox also has them, but DH often complains that the Wii doesn't have enough games for him, but the xbox does.

I love the Wii because I mainly use it for the exercise games. And we do have the DDR Disney game, which DD and I both like.

Is the Kinect something that will keep their interest? Someone mentioned that there aren't enough games, so is it even worth it? Is there a plan to come out with more Kinect games? I'd really like the Disneyland game, but I don't want to buy the Kinect for just 1 game.

Absolutely.

IMO, Wii is really for kids and old folks. My mom is 70+ and want one to exercise.

The PS3 is the one for the middle of the road folks and those who use it for blu ray.

The 360 - again, IMO, - is more the hardcore gamer machine due to the titles that get released for it.

And, like I said, we have all 3 systems ( and more, actually ).

 

[golfgal]

Thank you for the input and responses!

So would the xbox be more useful for older kids? Mine love the Lego games on the Wii and I know xbox also has them, but DH often complains that the Wii doesn't have enough games for him, but the xbox does.

I love the Wii because I mainly use it for the exercise games. And we do have the DDR Disney game, which DD and I both like.

Is the Kinect something that will keep their interest? Someone mentioned that there aren't enough games, so is it even worth it? Is there a plan to come out with more Kinect games? I'd really like the Disneyland game, but I don't want to buy the Kinect for just 1 game.

I would say that this is an accurate recap--we also have the 360 and PS whatever number and the XBox 360 is the most used system for the boys-they play all those shoot um up war type games. When they were younger, had the Wii been around, those games would have appealed to them more (we had a Sega and an original PlayStation back then). The Kinect is just too new to have much to offer. Maybe in a year or two it will be better.

 

[luvmy3]

We have both, and they both get used often.

 

[goofy!]

We have both and the Kinnect.

Since we got the Kinnect, the wii has sat lonely and unused. DD (23 but with Down syndrome) used the Wii mostly to dance and bowl. She MUCH prefers doing her games without having to use controllers.

DS - only uses the xbox as but not the kinnect.

I am not a huge gamer at all but did use the Wii for exercise. I much, much prefer the exercise games (I have Biggest Loser and Zumba) on the kinnect over the wii as I don't have to deal with controllers, especially that one that goes on the thigh. I find that the feedback from the Kinnect exercise games is a bit more accurate than the Wii.

We play the kinnect when we have friends over as we often play the team sports thing on one of the games (can't remember which one).

Are we sad that the Wii is no longer used as much? Nope. We got our use out of it. In this technological world, I don't expect anything to last more than 2 years.

 

[design_mom]

We have had a Wii since it launched. We have had an Xbox 360 for 2 weeks. (DS saved his allowance/gift cards and did extra work for over a year. He bought the xBox himself because all of his friends have Xbox.)

We enjoy the Wii for family games (Wii Sports, Just Dance, Toy Story Midway Mania, Mario Kart, etc.) but the serious gamers in our household (DH and DS) have been all about the Xbox since we got it. We said "no" to Call of Duty -- which a surprising number of DS's 10-year-old friends are allowed to play -- but he has enjoyed the sports and racing games which are apparently "better" than their Wii counterparts. I really don't have much interest in playing the Xbox. Too many buttons.

DS said he's not interested in Kinect because at his friend's house, every time the friend's little brother walks behind them it screws up the game. Is this a common problem? I haven't seen it reported. (Or, DS could be saying he doesn't want it because he can't afford it till he saves up more money.)

 

[southern_redhead]

We have both. ODS uses the xbox almost exclusively. He is into Halo and the other games he can play with buddies on XBOX LIVE. We do also have the Kinect for it, that thing is AMAZING! The little ones occasionally play the XBOX with him (usually Kinect games) but he is the main user.

We all use the Wii - well, we "all" but me less than the kids - The Wii is in our den vs the XBOX in ODS's room. They all 3 enjoy the Wii and it has so many good 4 player games. I also like that they are less violent than many XBOX games, though fairly on par with the Kinect ones.

One word of warning about Kinect that I haven't seen anyone address (I may have just missed it as I scanned replies) you need a TON of space for it to work correctly. ODS's room is quite large and we have it smacked against the wall and then, to play, you have to be smacked agains the opposite wall. His room is far wider than our living room, especially with the couch and stuff taking up space (and who REALLY wants to move a couch to play a game?), so be sure you have the room. The Kinect recommends six feet between you and the unit. We have that in his room easily but six feet back means only a bit of room around you as you play. If you have one of those really large dens or a bonus room with hardly any furniture I can see it being even better. I really like ours, though, even though the space issue is annoying. I think it gives a much better work out than the Wii. I am actually sweating after playing Adventure games. We have several games: the Adventure one that comes with it, Animals (the one ODS really wanted), a workout one my mom bought him (?), and Joyride. They are all good. I would like the Michael Jackson one and the Disney one looks like it will be good.

ETAddress the poster above me: Yes, it can mess up the sensor for a minute if someone else moves into it's range while you are playing. It scans the bodies of those playing before beginning and a new body sort of freaks it out. Little brothers seem to love dashing across behind older sibs while they play (common occurance when our Kinect is on LOL)