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x-box or wii? Which is better for a family gift at Christmas

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 2:21 pm
by chumba
Anyone got an opinion on which would be best for a family with 3 girls (aged 4-8)?

We were going to get a wii, until my husband started looking into it. I have a limited interest in such things and suspect he was getting carried away at the chance to get all sorts of F1 and boys games! :lol: The girls are more interested in dancing/singing, although they have enjoyed the odd motor racing and bowling games at friends houses. My brief look in the supermarket last night suggested a wii would be better.

Any opinions and thoughts would be gratefully received!

Re: x-box or wii? Which is better for a family gift at Chris

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 2:54 pm
by Reading Mum
no experience of xbox but the wii does seem easy to use, even for the little ones. DD mostly does some sort of dance party, the wii play games (bowling, tennis, etc) and mario kart.

we don't use it as much as I thought we might - and we had to buy a bigger telly after I won a mario kart race only to find that I had been looking at the wrong character as it was so small when the screen was split 4 ways :lol:

Re: x-box or wii? Which is better for a family gift at Chris

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 3:17 pm
by aliportico
Xbox with Kinect :-) You actually have to dance then, rather then just wave a wii remote around ;-) Plenty of fun games for younger kids - we have one that involves training some baby big cats :-)

Re: x-box or wii? Which is better for a family gift at Chris

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 4:06 pm
by Pumpkin Pie
I'd go with Aliportico, the XBox 360 with kinnect. Then the girls can dance and your hubby can play. The XBox 360 does lots more too, it can be your media centre, can get BBC iplayer etc., (check it out). We got the XBox last Xmas and since then our Wii has been pretty much redundant! Happy shopping and playing! :D

Re: x-box or wii? Which is better for a family gift at Chris

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 6:07 pm
by daveg
Why not "neither" and spend the money on something worthwhile?

Re: x-box or wii? Which is better for a family gift at Chris

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 6:08 pm
by SEP18
X-box with Kinect. There are some great games on Kinect that your girls will love and are easy to play.

The Wii technology has stood still for the past two years and has not moved forward with time. For their games, you still have to hold a controller in your hand. If you then shake the controller, the wii thinks that you are moving.

With Kinect, the sensor mirrors the body image in front of it so, no need to hold a controller. However, this does mean you cannot cheat with the fitness programmes :oops: but for the girls dancing etc it is just great.

Our Wii has not been played with for over a year, since we bought the X-box. With X-box live, the girls would also be able to chat and play with their friends which makes gaming very sociable.

Re: x-box or wii? Which is better for a family gift at Chris

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 6:11 pm
by Pumpkin Pie
What, like some 11+ papers? Lol :lol:

Re: x-box or wii? Which is better for a family gift at Chris

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 6:31 pm
by chumba
Just lost my reply of thanks for your opinions and not enough time to re-type it all, but the sentiment is still there, so thank you!
:D
Think I will trust my husband as most seem to agree with him! I will look a little harder on Amazon for some more suitable games!

Daveg, what would you suggest is more worthwhile? We haven't bought it yet, but with 3 girls our house is filled with arts and crafts, dolls, moshi monsters, zoobles and other clutter. Still thinking, so any suggestions? They will have books as well, but we live 5 minutes from a library, so we prefer to borrow. We also have foreign language students to stay throughout the year and thought this would be a good thing for the household and for them to bond with DC whilst playing :lol:

Re: x-box or wii? Which is better for a family gift at Chris

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 6:36 pm
by daveg
chumba wrote: Daveg, what would you suggest is more worthwhile?
Have a nice meal out. Go to the theatre. Give the money to charity. Buy a nice rug. Whatever. Video games are, without exception, aesthetically and morally ugly, and spending money to have things that are ugly seems worse than pointless.

Re: x-box or wii? Which is better for a family gift at Chris

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 7:25 pm
by Amber
daveg wrote:
chumba wrote: Daveg, what would you suggest is more worthwhile?
Have a nice meal out. Go to the theatre. Give the money to charity. Buy a nice rug. Whatever. Video games are, without exception, aesthetically and morally ugly, and spending money to have things that are ugly seems worse than pointless.
I had thought I was the only person on here to hold such views, but it is great to see someone who shares them. I have one girl and 2 boys and no one has ever shown the slightest interest in these things. In fact the children were bought a wii by fond relatives a few Christmases ago and it has only been out of the box about twice.

Agree with daveg's list - very important for children to see charity giving; also what about rescuing some ex-battery chickens, if you have a bit of space? A weekend away somewhere? I tend to think 'things' soon lose their appeal; but experiences lead to shared memories. And it is a myth that children judge the value of Christmas by how much 'stuff' they get. Be strong and help to stop the horrid materialism and sense of entitlement displayed by so many young people nowadays. I really hate lists which people issue, like a kind of shopping list...one thing if it's a few ideas for distant or elderly relatives, but when it becomes a way of demanding things - yuk.