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Community Newsletter: Q&A: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question.
- 12/14/07 4:30 PM
Wii vs whatever
by sangsangpub - 12/8/07 11:41 AM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I'm not really certain technical info is the answer to your question Rhonda. There's very few of us that have forgotten what it's like to be a kid. The thing about it is, after we have our minds and hearts set on something, pleaded with our parents, hoped and wished, dreamed about it, even made attempts to be good and get better grades, it's all because we want that certain something. Yes our made will change later, yes there may be more even better games with another system, but it would'nt be what we wanted. By the way, kids still brag about what they will be getting and I assure you they have discussed the different systems themselves. You can be assured that age is no drawback to them knowing what the systems have. I'm a Playstation guy myself, but if he wants the Wii I get the Wii. Hope I help a little and Happy Holidays to the whole family.
We love it
by gunnerds - 12/8/07 11:51 AM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
My kids (17yr boy 16yr girl) myself and my wife love the Wii. The are plenty of games for all ages and in my house some days you have to almost wait in line to use it.
If your son wants the Wii get him the Wii check out Nintendo's web site and see all the games for the system.There are tons for everyone
Depends on how old he is now.
by kcrlshell - 12/8/07 12:19 PM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Rhonda,
My son is 15 and we've been doing the game consoles since he was six. I wish there had been a Wii when he was younger. (We've had SuperNintendo, Nintendo64, PlayStation 3, and now Xbox 360) Many of the games I bought him back then were just to hard for him to succeed at - even when they were themed for younger children. Either the game itself or the manipulation of the controller. The Wii solves both these issues by having a far more intuitive controller and many fun, familiar "sports" games that can be played again and again without a lot of arcane game specific knowledge. Things like golf and bowling are never "finished" like the story driven games that dominate the other consoles are. It's the best console for when they have friends over hands down (my son wants one specifically for parties). If your son is 11 or younger it's definitely the way to go. It also seems like most of the games are more "family friendly". If it matters to you, with either the Xbox or PS3, you'll likely be in a constant battle over how "mature" the majority of the popular games are.
If he's older, you might want to consider the Xbox360 with a subscription to Xbox Live. The XBox Live subscription has been a godsend because my son is now so good at video games that he can "finish" a $60 game in the blink of an eye, but with the subscription there are always add ons and interactive "group" play to extend the life of the purchased game. He has made friends all over the world through the Live interface - he's got a friend in Wales...they like to get together and play against a group of Frenchmen. It's a learning experience. The extra equipment is expensive though. And you will need to know a bit about home networking to get it all running. The final bonus with the Xbox is that it also "meshes" with his Zune mp3 player. He can play his music throught the TV while he's gaming, and the Microsoft Points he is given as gifts can be used either for music or gaming stuff as he chooses.
The problem currently with the PlayStation 3 (my opinion here only) is that there are relatively few games out and from what I understand, the "online" portion just doesn't compare favorably with the Xbox. My son spent considerable time evaluating which system to go with last year, and he's never regretted going XBox.
As a final thought, I wouldn't get too hung up on the longevity issue. The fact is, your son will likely get no more than 4 years out of the system MAX before it's malfunctioning and completely obsolete. If he turns out to be a born gamer, you're in the soup. Just make him work for it. Mine bought his entire system himself with babysitting money he saved up for a year!
Wii can get boring
by seto1994 - 12/8/07 12:20 PM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I completly understand your problem. Many of my friends have bought wii's and love them for a little while, and then get bored of it. I have one myself, and if you buy a new game often, then you should be fine. But the wii is really for fun, and not for hardcore gamers. So if your son plays it for a long, long time, and becomes a hardcore gamer, then the wii will get boring.
Latest generation game systems
by amdinside - 12/8/07 1:06 PM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Let me explain the differences in these three systems first. On the graphics side, the PS3 and XBox360 can both display in HD resolution, the Wii does not. For processing power, the PS3 wins again followed by the XBox360 and then the Wii. For price they are ranked Wii, XBox360, PS3 from low to high. Another benefit of the PS3 is that it will play BlueRay DVD's for you and the XBox360 has an HDDVD player that can be purchased for it. For control, the Wii shines with its hand held remote but some serious gamers still opt for the classic controllers with the PS3/XBox360.
These are all points to condsider when purchasing a system but another area to look at is the systems game content. The PS3 and XBox360 are designed for adults and have a huge array of rated M (mature) game titles with less E (everyone) rated ones. The Wii is opposite that with very little M rated content and none from Nintendo making the Wii geared toward children more then adults. This is why I found it strange that your brother in law is steering you away from the Wii. I believe that the Wii is a good fit for a 12 year old and the fact that this is the system he wants is another reason. If your son has had older Nintendo systems, he will enjoy the Wii because all the favorites are being made into Wii titles like Zelda, Metroid and Mario. For adults, the Wii sports included with the console is great and I can attest that interest in the Wii has not faded with my family which we have had for almost a year now.
One parent to another
by scotlee13 - 12/8/07 1:09 PM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
As a father of a 14-year old boy, and one who plays games myself, I'd recommend sticking with the Wii. Here's why: Xbox 360 and PS3 have game titles that are inducive to adolescent walking comas. My son, not to mention many other people we know, are completely addicted to Xbox 360 games. It is what they think about, dream about, and look forward to. It is the only incentive that will keep our son's grades up, and within a day or two of getting his gaming privelages back, he gets what we call "game brain" again and misses an assignment or forgets something is due at school.
Actually, at this point in the game, you are going to have a hard time finding a Wii as there are nation-wide shortages on stock and it's been the hot ticket this season.
Wii vs. other Consoles
by sgrmba - 12/8/07 1:16 PM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
First, I recommend that you do a little digging into the titles available for each system. You may find that the titles for the XBox and PS3 seem to contain an overabundance of games that focus on a violent theme. The graphics on the Wii are not at the high level that XBox and PS3 are at, but the games are infinitely more family-oriented. I do not like games that are violent or have inappropriate adult-content material (like Grand Theft Auto), that isn't 'fun' from my perspective. Also, since the military has used video games for decades to train soldiers, I do put at least some stock in what these things can train our brains to do. There are some very challenging games for the Wii such as Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy. There are sports games for it such as Madden and FIFA. The Rayman Raving Rabbids series is fun and full of challenging mini-games. My recommendation: The Wii because it offers more choices that a parent would most likely be comfortable with and not worry about what the youths of the household are playing. Once he is older, he can buy those other consoles and games on his own dime.
Get Your Son a Wii
by willstan267 - 12/8/07 1:24 PM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I would get him a Wii for a couple of reasons.
1. He is most likely very up to speed on what other game systems can do via his friends at school.
2. My wife bought one for me about 6 months ago and we have found that kids of all ages like to come over and play with the Wii when we have friends over for a visit.
While the games do have simpler graphics than xbox and playstation, the games are generally easier to learn and reguire you to interact with them on a more physical level depending on the game. I also think you will find that you and your husband will enjoy playing many of these games with your son. Good family fun and entertainment!
Stan
Go with the Wii
by unquenchablefire - 12/8/07 1:46 PM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Your brother-in-law may be right about the Wii's target audience being younger, but he's wrong about the rest of it. The titles are just as mainstream as any other - it is after all a Nintendo product. 12 years is actually a perfect age for a Wii - most of the games are aimed at his generation.
Another big factor is price. You promised to get him a Wii, not an Xbox or PS3. The Wii's cost is at least $150 cheaper than the Xbox, and $250 to $350 cheaper than the PS3. The games are cheaper too. Speaking of games, the PS3 really doesn't have any popular system-selling games for it.
I'd say that if your son wants a Wii, and you're willing to pay for it, I'd say get it for him.
Wii vs Playstation 3 and xbox 360
by r2rincinerator - 12/8/07 2:05 PM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The wii is a great choice for casual gamers. It is fun for all age groups including teens. Although, more HARDCORE gamers who like playing online advanced ultra realistic games would want to consider playstaioin or xbox. If your child is into casual gaming and not really into blasting very realistic characters to bits on a high def tv you might want wii. Another thing to consider is the amount of other things he wants to do with the system. The wii is very much GAMING ONLY. Yes, it does have the ability to play music and stuff but it is no comparison to what the ps3 and xbox can do.
Re: WII
by Wylma - 12/8/07 2:05 PM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I can tell you, you wouldn't go wrong by getting a WII, if you can even get one. We tried everywhere and they are so popular that they sell out as quick as they get them in.
My 2 -12 year old twins(greatgreatsons) have had an x-box and every other kind of electronics that come on the market. This year they wanted a WII. My granddaughter looked everywhere in the city and they were all sold out and some places didn't know if they would get anymore in before Christmas. She phoned us in another province here to see if we could get one. We drove to so many places and everybody was sold out. Some would have some in on the week-end again but was told people were lining up at midnight to be sure they got one.
I finally found a games store (EB Games I believe it was)and he said they were getting some in around 3 o'clock that day. So I said I would be back. Went back around 2 and they weren't in yet so I said I will be sitting outside your door(in my scooter)and as soon as they come I want one. I sat out in front of the window where he could see me and I could inside. As soon as I saw the delivery man come I went in and got one.Thank goodness. They would have been SOOO disappointed if there wasn't one under the tree.They have a lot of games to play and can purchase more as well.
Superstore told me if I phoned in, the day they were expecting them when they first opened (I think it was 7am) they said they would save me one. Maybe you could be lucky enough to find someone that would do that for you too. They won't take names ahead of time,we found that out. I sincerely hope you can find one for your son's sake.
We went all out to find one for our greatgreatsons.
Wylma
I would love to know if you were able to get one.
Buy one before they're all gone
by Gsteele - 12/8/07 2:05 PM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Rhonda, My son has both an XBox 360 (he started with XBox, which he still has) and a Wii. We bought the Wii after he had the 360 because of the games that were available for the Wii, and he had enjoyed his Nintendo game console quite a bit over the years. While he is currently paving the road to rock-stardom by playing Guitar Hero 3 on his 360 until his fingers bleed (just kidding - a parent wisecrack), he LOVES the Wii. He's 15. The Wii games are very cool, have a lot of manual interaction based on the motion-sensitive controller (playing tennis, etc.), and get kids up off the couch. When his friends come over, they are as likely to be playing on the Wii as they are the 360. It is compact, unobtrusive, high quality, and less expensive (games included) than the 360 or Playstation. For example, I just bought him a shoot-em-up game/controller holder combo - the Wii Zapper with Links Crossbow trainer game disk - for $25 at Gamestop. Not many packages like that for the 360. Don't get me wrong - they're both great - but if I were starting a kid off on a game console, it would be the Wii because of the level of physical interactivity that it offers and the bargain price. The difference in system cost is driven by the extremely high-performance processor components in the 360 and Playstation, which are primarily used to generate ultra-high realism graphics. That's nice, but you don't have to have high realism graphics for a game to be fun. The Wii is definitely no slouch when it comes to graphic realism, and strikes, I think, a better balance with the focus on the game experience, rather than the console hardware. And he's not going to outgrow it before the console itself is obsolete(YEARS from now). Finally, they are selling scads of them - far more than XBox or Playstation; that means that the game designers, who target the largest installed base of systems to expand their market, will be writing Wii games for years to come. Hope this helps.
He wants a Wii, a different system will cause dissapointment
by im2nic2 - 12/8/07 2:20 PM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Get the Wii. It's more interactive and more fun. He way get bored with it eventually, but you don't want an addict anyway.
depends!!
by hema6000 - 12/8/07 3:46 PM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
it is your boys choice not yours my friend..but if you want to make it a suprise as i guess, your brothers opinion is more than wise and i agree with him absloutely..
It's about the games
by mkhecker - 12/8/07 4:13 PM In reply to: To Wii or not to Wii? That is the question. by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The important thing here is what games does your son want? Ask him. If he's asking for a Wii he might have specific games in mind such as Mario Galaxy or the upcoming Smash Bros. Brawl. In that case he's certaily be disappointed to receive another system instead.
It's true that the other consoles tend to aim at older audiences, but they're more interested in the 17-26 year olds. As such many of those games are not going to be appropriate for a 12 year old. I find your brother-in-law's concern to be a few years too early.
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