# Help ''Santa'' get the right gaming system for my kid **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 13, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678 "2004-12-13T23:34:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678/41 "2004-12-16T08:23:05Z")
Wait, so how many screens does the DS have? Does it play Game Boy Advance games? How about Game Boy Color games? Only once each? In 1960? > [@](#): > > Virtua Boy, Lynx, and a few others I can’t quite rememeber have all gone the way of the dodo. It is notable that the Virtua Boy died out because, although it was an _awesome_ machine (I rented one from Blockbuster and loved it to pieces!), it posed health risks. (Post-preview: Haha, I made a punny! See? “Died out” and then health risks? Fah. You’re all laughing inside.) The Lynx (who made that?–Atari? Neo Geo? Can’t remember!) seemed to hardly get marketed at all–too much money spent on making it awesome and not enough on advertising. Not too surprising that it bombed. The Game Gear and the Nomad, although enjoying short success (Game Gear for significantly longer), also died out because of a lack of marketing. There was a handheld Neo-Geo I seem to remember, as well, which much like its nonhandheld cousin bombed due to (you guessed it) lack of decent marketing. Nintendo, much like its well-known American branch’s apps-and-games counterpart in Washington [State], has prospered on almost every system they’ve tossed on the market by putting out [slightly] inferior products that are better-marketed. The only systems I can think of that died premature deaths were the N64 and (yes, it counts, you don’t see it out there much) the Gamecube. The N64 bombed because it didn’t live up to the by-then-universally-accepted standard of games on CD as opposed to cartridges. The Gamecube is dying because Sony and Microsoft, both advertising giants, have pretty much equivalent systems out with better marketing. Sony’s handheld might defeat the DS, but if it does, it will be because Sony can spend more on advertising, not because people won’t shell out bucks for a better system. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678/42 "2004-12-16T12:46:33Z")
> [@fetus](#): > > Wait, so how many screens does the DS have? The DS has a touchscreen in the base and a views-only screen in the top. They displayed different views of the same game in the demo we saw (some sort of Doom clone?). So for example, the bottom view was a map and locator, while the top was the gamer’s view. Hope that makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![velveeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/13edae/32.png) [@velveeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velveeta)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678/43 "2004-12-16T13:44:23Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > The DS has a touchscreen in the base and a views-only screen in the top. They displayed different views of the same game in the demo we saw (some sort of Doom clone?). So for example, the bottom view was a map and locator, while the top was the gamer’s view. Hope that makes sense. I believe it’s got a demo of Metroid Prime on it. I would skip it for now. They are in short supply, and the only ones I have seen have been sold in bundles with games that your son may not even want. The price I saw was $250. There were 5 of them at my local Best Buy the other day and I had a chance to pick one up, but I didn’t want it bad enough to pay that price. That’s more then I paid for any of my consoles. ---
**Author:** ![oh\_s](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b38774/32.png) [@oh\_s](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oh_s)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678/44 "2004-12-16T13:54:47Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > The Boy is six, almost seven, and has asked for a “GameBoy” for Christmas. This is his only request. I am totally ignorant of videogames and videogame system. He plays lots of stuff on line, mostly little games at the Cartoon Network site. He also plays Warcraft III about as much as I’ll let him, which is pretty much the only “grown up” game we own (we also have some educational stuff like Reader Rabbit). > > What I’m looking for is a handheld unit (not a system that needs a TV as the monitor). I assume that there is more than one manufacturer of these things, Gameboy being one brand. Any and all advice welcome. > > Thanks, > > Shibb the Quasi-Luddite Why do you name yourself after an event that lead to the slaughter of 40+2 THOUSOUND people who were unable to pronounce one word? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678/45 "2004-12-16T14:36:05Z")
> [@oh&s](#): > > Why do you name yourself after an event that lead to the slaughter of 40+2 THOUSOUND people who were unable to pronounce one word? I don’t. I named myself after a word. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678/46 "2004-12-16T14:54:00Z")
> [@fetus](#): > > The Gamecube is dying because Sony and Microsoft, both advertising giants, have pretty much equivalent systems out with better marketing. The GameCube is thriving. Not only did it see a rise in sales when it dropped to $99, it’s the only system that sold for a profit to begin with. Add that to most of their biggest titles being in-house (Mario, Zelda, Metroid), and you’ll see that Nintendo isn’t doing too shabby in this round. I might just buy one when the new Zelda comes out. It looks great. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678/47 "2004-12-16T16:48:57Z")
**Fetus** , the GB DS has two screens, one (or both?) of which is a touch screen. The DS stands for “Double screen”. As for Virtua Boy…well, I think it died out because it was horrible expensive, and while novel, I don’t think the system itself was very well built. It was flimsy and easily broken. My dad bought one for me a long while back when they were liquidating them at Target for $25-$50. I gotta say, it had some really good games. Mario Tennis, Wario World, and my favorite, Teleboxer, were all great games. Teleboxer should be ported to the GBA SP IMO. Best damn boxing game ever made as far as I’m concerned. The Lynx was made by Atari. Neo Geo was one I forgot about, and you’re right about it dying because of lack of marketing. I rememeber a great deal of games for that handheld getting 8s and 9s. Too bad about that one dying out. I was considering getting one for myself. Is the GC really dying? It’s success may not be as great as the PS2 or X-Box, but it has a pretty loyal following and some stellar games for it. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678/48 "2004-12-16T20:41:28Z")
My son, who is 7, got a Gameboy Advance SP last Christmas when he was six. It has held up. It’s a great thing for car trips. For him, anything with Crash Bandicoot or Sypro the Dragon in the title is an automatic winner and doesn’t have gore to warp his little mind. Crash Nitro Kart might be the absolute favorite. The Shrek 2 side-scroller was also well received. ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678/49 "2004-12-16T22:33:56Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > I guess you’d have to know my kid. Although seeing other kids play with this has been a consideration, he’s really not looking to play with other kids. He’s a bit unique (he can be very self-absorbed) and uses words that much older kids often don’t understand. Still he’s very friendly and most everyone just naturally looks out for him. Just wanted to point out that this kid sounds totally cool. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![zippyh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/839c29/32.png) [@zippyh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zippyh)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678/50 "2004-12-16T23:37:45Z")
> [@JoeSki](#): > > **Fetus** , the GB DS has two screens, one (or both?) of which is a touch screen. The DS stands for “Double screen”. > > The Lynx was made by Atari. Neo Geo was one I forgot about, and you’re right about it dying because of lack of marketing. I rememeber a great deal of games for that handheld getting 8s and 9s. Too bad about that one dying out. I was considering getting one for myself. The DS has two screens. The lower one is the touch screen. The DS can play GBA games, but NOT GB color or older games. The Neo Geo pocket was pretty cool. It has an awesome version of Metal Slug. As long as the subject is obscure handhelds, Bandai made (makes?) something called the Wonder Swan. I think it was only available in Asia. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678/51 "2004-12-17T01:08:55Z")
> [@Ross](#): > > Just wanted to point out that this kid sounds totally cool. > > That is all. Thanks. Last night we watched a couple of minutes of one of the _Highlander_ movies. I was explaining that they were immortals and the only way you could kill them was cutting off their heads. He responded, “Well, if you can kill them, then they’re not immortal, _are_ they?” Not bad logic for a six year old. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678/52 "2004-12-17T03:12:21Z")
I just bought a GameBoy Advance for my son for Christmas. I was wondering about any other game suggestions than have already been made. He’s nine, and enjoys a wide variety of games on the PS2. I grabbed the new Star Wars game, knowing nothing about it. Any thoughts on that one? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678/53 "2004-12-21T00:51:59Z")
> [@Hentor the Barbarian](#): > > I just bought a GameBoy Advance for my son for Christmas. I was wondering about any other game suggestions than have already been made. He’s nine, and enjoys a wide variety of games on the PS2. > > I grabbed the new Star Wars game, knowing nothing about it. Any thoughts on that one? Sheesh, can this guy kill a thread or what? 🙂 Okay, can anyone make some recos for **Hentor the B**? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678/54 "2004-12-21T00:55:34Z")
Oh sure, blame me! This thing was on life support before I put my heel into it. At this point, unless anyone tells me that the Star Wars game absolutely sucks, I’m going to go with that one. (Or if there is another one that a nine year old gamer would absolutely definitely certainly love). I did exchange a Jimmy Neutron game for the new Spongebob movie game because my three year old requested it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-santa-get-the-right-gaming-system-for-my-kid/279678.md?page=2)