games systems for xmas
 

things are tight this year, so i thought of buying the kids a games system between them until i get some bills paid, so any ideas, kids are 11, 10 and 8,i was thinking of second hand, either xbox, xbox 360 or wii, what would be best for their age and are there any faults to look out for when buying them,i was told that the 360 breaks down ! cheers.

Id go for an xbox 360. but budget 30 quid for a years xbox live to go with it so that they can play online against others. Also the early xbox's had issues. I wouldnt go for a second hand one. the ones sold these days have a reduced power supply of 150w instead of the old 205w or 175w which both used to melt the xbox motherboard lol

Don't get a used 360. I did. It was a pain in the arse and ended up costing more or less the same as brand new. Plus I get no warranty. :rolleyes:

CallOfDutyWAW11 FTW!

ive got a wii, had it for 2 years, never had a problem with it, connects to the net via its own internal wifi, all you need is a wifi router.

its not got stunning graphics, but i find it very entertaining, my daughter also loves playing it and shes now 6, shes played it since she was 4, picked it up quite well.

lots of family orientated games on it.

Just from personal use, I'd go for the Wii too. I just prefer the games etc to the xbox. But my lad (who's 21 prefers the 360). Having said that the 360 broke after only 9 months and was a pain to get fixed :(.

That's just my opinions though ;).

Regards,
Ian.

Get the wii, xbox / 360 are obsolete and have an MTBF of 9 months. Wiis games are tamer than the 360s but the multiplayer is more friendly to groups clustered around a screen. Just make sure theres lots of room between them and the tv screen ;)

Oh and make sure there's nothing breakable close by - like a priceless ming vase...lol.... ;)
regards,
Ian.

woo hoo, im hip, i have the favourable wii!!!!!

wii's are for gays but i think quite a few peeps like the wii golf.

yeah shaun watch out you dont smash that ming vase


whats MTBF dr_Silvia?

Maximun Time Before Fail = my guess, lol

Okay, I have experience with all the systems that are out. Wii, 360 and PS3. It is correct that the 360 does fail. If you do choose to go that route, get an 'elite' edition. They are far better than anything else unless you get a new Arcade version. Problem with the Arcade is that it does not come with a hard drive. But it is what is known as a Jasper and because of this and all new editions of the Elite in stores are Jaspers too, they are built better and do not have the Red Ring issue. The PS3 is great and better in the long run at the moment since it is free online play, BluRay movies and all the such. But since you are thinking of your kids and on a tight budget, I would have to suggest the Wii. There are a heap of games out there fun for single player and for group/family. It is also the cheapest one of the lot.

I got a used Premium that appears to have a hard drive issue (not recognised by Forza3) which makes Forza3 fairly useless as the 2nd, content disk has to install to the console for all the car modifying, save games etc.
It does have memory slots on the front so I'm hoping one of those little memory sticks will do.

Peter, it could also be the disc reader/optical reader is not correctly able to read the disc to transfer the information. That is a common issue due to the system internally overheating and the sodering and such having issues.

It simply says "no device found" when I try and create a user profile. Forza 3 defaults to a simple arcade style with fixed choice of tracks, cars, no XP building, car mods etc.

Wii's are loads of fun, my daughter (7) and son (6) love it and we all have a good giggle playing it.

That Wii Fit is a bit intense though :D

MTBF = Mean time before failure, although in the case of the xbox i would say Umpkins interpretation is infact more accurate:D

The Jaspers are no better, same shoddy build quality which has been masked slightly by the shrinking of the fabrication process.

Cam in Head you will be waiting around for ever if you use a usb flash drive to store your forza 3 data on. write speed of cheap/mid grade usb drives is between 1-5 MB/s compared to 60-100MB/s of a regular hard drive. If the warranty has expired there are 3rd party spares available to replace / upgrade it.

seeing as its for the kids i think i'll go for the wii, i've had games systems over the years and still got a couple of old playstations, but i don't seem to be bothered playing them anymore, must be past it :p lol.

TBH I think I'm best accepting the inevitable and getting an Elite, only when they're < £150 new, though. Unless you know of any reasoable 3rd party specifically ?

i got the missus a wii last xmas.....never been used since :P

i've had a 360 the last few years, it's had a few trips for repair but the new arcade units have a much better chipset - as far as i know, the elites still have the dodgy chipset. Don't buy it based on the racing games though, Forza Motorsport 2 was awesome and I had a good group of mates online that used to cane it round the 'ring with me regularly. However, the developers fucked up Forza 3 and everyone is migrating to the PS3 ready for Gran Turismo 5. It's more expensive but think of it like a 2-in-1, you get a blu-ray player, kids get a games console ;)