I have 2 kids that will be turning 8 and 10 in August (their birthdays are 10 days apart). They usually get a sleep over party with their friends with pizza and cake and all that for the evening and breakfast in the morning.
My wife came up with the idea that we would forgo the usual sleepover and instead buy them a combined gift of either a PS3 or Xbox 360. As I stood there in disbelief that my wife would willingly agree to spend that much money, my kids jumped at the idea.
We already have a Wii. It is in the family room where we watch most of our TV. They also have a PS 2 in their playroom that they play all the time when Mom and Dad won’t let them play Wii.
I have no idea which console would be most appropriate for kids their age that will be fun for them to play into their teenage years. I don’t plan on letting them play any online games mainly because of all the hate that I’ve heard that goes on in there.
So, just as a standalone console, which one would stand up to young kids for the longest? The PS 2 they use is older than they are.
The two questions I think are important to ask when choosing between the two are “What controller do you like better?” “What system do most of your friends and family have?” Question 1 is subjective and the answer is different for everyone. Although, if the kids are used to the PS2 controller the PS3 controller is about the same thing. The second is important because it is always fun to be able to trade games with friends.
Since, you aren’t going to let the kids play games online it’s not a big deal that the PS3 has a free (albeit inferior) online experience. What does make the ps3 a possibly better pick in this area is the fact that stuff like Netflix and Hulu Plus is available for it without a charge above the price for the service. (With the XBox you have to pay for the xbox live service to access those features, of course you get plenty of other cool stuff for the money.)
Another consideration is game selection. The XBox360 has a bigger user base, therefore it is a lot easier to find used games for sale at pretty good prices. Overall, I find their selection of games to be pretty much equivalent, but I do have give a nod towards the xbox for the ability to find games cheap in the aftermarket. (Although, the Wii outperforms them both.)
I have a PS3 and love it. It’s worth every penny I spent on it. I would recommend it all over the place. Most people I know who have xboxes love their systems, as well. The only complaint I have heard is about the hardware failing and that has seemed to die down as the hardware has matured and MS has fixed the problems with new generations of hardware.
I came in to say exactly what pricciar said. Those two questions are about the most important ones that will lead to your answer, and we can’t answer them for you.
Well as with any two kids, you ask a question with 2 or more possible answers and they’ll never agree. The younger one wants a PS3 and the older one wants an Xbox.
of their friends that have video games, there seems to be an equal mix of both PS3 and Xbox 360s. Some friends have both.
Maybe I’ll take the kids over to GameStop and see what kind of selection they have for each system. We have one not 5 minutes away and we buy almost all of our games from them.
Do you already have a Blu-Ray player? If not, I would suggest the PS3 is a more attractive option.
Still, I have to wonder about buying either system when you already have a Wii. My brother has had multiple consoles in each generation, and it was a colossal waste of money. Instead of getting games, he had consoles. Whoopee. At least with a PS3, you would get some functionality (besides gaming) that you can’t get with your Wii.
I have both and like them both. I do think the 360 has a better game selection and a little bit better customer service. The PS3 has the huge, huge advantage of being a Blu-Ray player. I subscribe to 360 Live and like it quite a bit, considering it well worth the, IMO, small fee. I don’t really use the PS3’s online service (some system updates, a little downloadable content a few years back)- although I’m aware that it’s free, which is a good thing.
I’d wager that your kids will dig it either way. One simple thing you might consider is just taking a look at the last 10 or 20 games released on each console and see what’s a better fit for their interests and your paental approval. Of course, the issues of friends and controlles that others mentioned is good advice too.
With the kids divided, you might as well play tiebreaker. There’s a lot of entertainment to be had on either device. Neither console is “appropriate” or “inappropriate” for children, and both feature a solid set of parental controls to keep the little 'uns from doing what they’re not supposed to.
As mentioned already, the PS3 has Bluray. The Xbox is…probably cheaper right now, since the “old” model is being discounted as it is phased out. Most folks are also expecting a lower priced version of the new shiny black hardware in the not too far distant future, but that may not help you if you need it by August.
Pay no attention to MD12’s worries, and feel free to buy another current generation console. The Wii is pretty much off in a niche all by itself, and acquiring either a PS3 or a 360 will unlock large fields of games to which you otherwise would not have access.
Maybe you should ask your own friends, if you have any who are into this sort of thing.
I have both. Well, all three if you count the wii. The Ps3 I got as a graduation present, and I keep it at my grandparents so I have something to do there.
Blu-ray’s already been mentioned (I bought the 360 HD-DVD attatchment, too…:smack:). Beyond that, each system has its own exclusive titles. Halo is the big one for the 360, but I loved Uncharted and Uncharted 2 on the PS3.
I would say to get the 360. It’s an impulse decision, but I just overall like the system better, especially if you don’t care about online play.
Thank you all for the information so far. Right now the kids use the PS2 just about everyday. But the boys are getting bored with their current games and with the difficulty finding interesting games at GameStop they are getting a bit frustrated. It is on an old 53 inch TV without HD, so the BluRay is not that big of a selling point. We might bring it out to the living room to watch a BlueRay disk every once in a while, but we are happy with upconvert DVD player on that one.
I was looking around and I found an Xbox 360 Arcade. I’m guessing that it doesn’t have a hard drive, correct? It’s nice and cheap. Is the lack of a HD something I should worry about?
Normally I would’ve said to get an Xbox with a hard drive but I vaguely remember something about Xboxes now supporting USB drives in which case you wouldn’t need an expensive Xbox hard drive.
I have 2 Xboxes, one at my home home and one at my work home where I spend half my life. I also have a Wii, the Wii just gathers dust while the Xboxes get heavy use.
One thing I will point out is that both the 360 and PS3 are high-powered HD-graphics churning machines. HD gaming isn’t a necessity - but there WILL be games that will be difficult to play on a non HDTV (games with text boxes, written directions, etc. can be extremely difficult to read).
One other thing to consider - the PS3 already offers 3D gaming if you’re one of the 9 people in the world with a 3DTV.
Regarding hard drives - if the device is essentially never going to be online (Aside: I say “essentially” because you should, ideally, hook it up a few times a year for updates, at least.) then there’s really no point in having one - the point of a hard drive is to store downloadable content, demos, and XBLA (downloadable) games. If you’re not going to be downloading any content, then it’s sortof irrelevant. You can also easily split the difference by buying a cheap 16GB USB memory stick and plug that in for storage.
All that said, you’re losing a lot of fun from the device if it’s not online; Even if you don’t PLAY anything online, an Xbox Live Silver account gives you the option to download games (which do cost money, as translated through ‘microsoft points’), free demos, and random other stuff. It would be a terrible shame to miss out on the likes of Castle Crashers, Geometry Wars 2, Chime, and Puzzle Quest. That said, the older 360s (Such as the Arcade) don’t come with wireless on board, so you’re looking at a $90 adaptor or running a cable to the thing.
The earlier point about HDTVs is a good one to bear in mind too - as someone who played on a 360 for quite a while on an SDTV, text was often hard to read. I was actually completely unable to play Banjo Kazooie - Nuts & Bolts because I just couldn’t read the onscreen text. On the other hand, I made it all the way through Tales of Vesperia with only a little squinting, so the readability of the text varies wildly from title to title. And you know, if you’re just playing 'Splosion Man, text readability is a nonissue.
I wouldn’t say it’s irrelevent - you gotta put your game saves somewhere. Some of the newer Arcade units had 256mb built in, but that’s not a lot. A 16gb drive should be plenty, though.
And yeah - having demos and arcade games is reason enough to be plugged in (if it’s feasible). A 360 Silver LIVE account is pretty immune to any nefarious goings-on online. Online access on the PS3 does have an on-board internet browser, and I’m not sure what parental controls you can set to limit that.
In my experience, saved games occupy very little space, usually a couple of megs or less - the memory card or whatever that ships with the Arcade unit should be sufficient for that purpose even without the added boost from a USB stick.
YMMV though; Maybe there are some games out there that are very hungry for save data space.
I really think you should ultimately pick based on exclusives. Are your kids big into racing games ? Choose PS3 to get Gran Turismo. Big into FPS/Shooters ? Choose Xbox 360 to get Halo, which I personally think is probably the best FPS for kids in the age range you have. I’m personally a big Halo fan so I have 3 xbox 360s (and a Wii my wife plays). Oh and if you ever want to get Xbox live Gold (say for netflix, you decide you have to play Halo 3 online, etc), you can get a 12 month Live card from someplace like buy.com for $30-35 when it goes on sale, which happens more than a few times a year. Also worth noting is that at least on Xbox you can mute all players not on your kids friends list from talking (in parental controls), so you can let them play online without allowing the trash talking, etc.
For children aged 8-10, I don’t think exclusives even enter into the picture. If Dad wants in on the action, that’s another issue, but it doesn’t sound like it’s the case here. Anyway, the exclusives list for either 360 or PS3 is short, and IMHO, comprised mostly of pretty but not especially groundbreaking games. Unless you’ve really got a fixation on a particular genre, the exclusives list is unlikely to be much of a decider.
