Bloom Blox didn’t do a whole lot for me, either, though it might be better on a sharper tv. And it requires more fine motor control than my nieces (3 and 5) could really manage.
One of the nieces does just fine with World of Goo, especially with help from Daddy–biggest problem is that she’d be content to sit back and watch Daddy play, and he’s not interested in doing it that way.
FWIW, I’m also Wii game shopping for my 10 and 12 year old kids, plus family. Lots of good ideas and suggestions so far.
Some questions:
Which would you recommend between the Rock Band and Guitar Hero band versions for Wii?
Is it better to get games online (download) or at a store? How does this affect pricing? If you do get them as an online download, is there a way to make this into a “christmas gift” sort of thing, in other words, is there anything to put under the tree, in a stocking, etc?
There’s a sale through today at Toys B Us for buy three, get fourth free. Okay, not a question, but just wondering if that’s the best deal or are there others?
I’m hoping to also add a Wii Fit board and possibly the Lightsabers… any opinion on these? What are the best games with these? I saw Shaun White snowboarding mentioned upstream… others?
Rock Band, no question. You won’t even need to buy additional instrument packs for the two of them (unless they want to do lead guitar and bass).
The download service does not offer the same games as the brick and mortar store. You can gift from the online store to a specific console though I haven’t used that functionality myself. Nothing physical is given when buying online so you’d have to provide a card or something like that.
I suppose it depends on what you buy but 25% on popular titles is not a crummy deal.
I’ve used the balance board and its cute but I wouldn’t call it essential.
Thanks for the quick responses! Since I’m totally clueless on this topic, do you mind elaborating a bit on what makes one better versus the other? Bear in mind we don’t have any of these types of games so far, so starting from ground zero.
I can’t answer all the questions but here I go:
1 - Guitar Hero: World Tour - it has several Wii exclusive offerings that cannot be found in other versions of Guitar Hero or Rock Band. See review Guitar Hero: World Tour for more details of MiiFreestyle and data management. It also has a higher score on Metacritic and Gamerankings. Rock Band 2 will not be released for another couple of weeks on the Wii so I can’t speak for that game. Otherwise, just compare the songs listed in each game to which songs the intended audience prefers. Both games are tons of fun.
2 - The games that can bought in a store are different than the games one can download. If a game listed as on “Virtual Console” or “Wiiware”, it can only be downloaded. You have to buy “Wii Points” to purchase anything online. They can be ordered online, but if you look around, they also offer cards with WiiPoints value that can be given as gifts. Downloaded games are cheaper and less advanced than games that you buy in a store.
3 - It sounds good to me.
4 - No experience
Thanks again.
Do either of you know whether the instruments for one of the music games can be used interchangeably with the other. So, for example, if I got the Guiter Hero: World Tour game now, could we later just get the software for Rock Band 2 and be able to use both?
It doesn’t look like it.
Rock Band does not support any Guitar Hero guitars. Rock Band 2 hasn’t been released yet. So it’s possible it does, but no one knows yet.
Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero: World Tour only work with Guitar Hero guitars.
Just to compare the two game packages Rock Band currently has three disk releases for the Wii with a fourth coming soon (Rock Band, two Track Packs that have half the songs at half the price, and Rock Band 2 which in theory should be out a few days before Christmas and I’m sure someone on the executive side is mad about that). In the large Rock Band box you get a wireless guitar, a drum kit, and a USB microphone; that’s three instruments for the game. Only the just released Guitar Hero World Tour allows more than two people to play and before that it was just guitars that were replicated.
The real advantage to Rock Band is that it’s friendly. The tracks are built around replicating the experience where Guitar Hero plays up the game aspect of it by making ones that are harder to play. The Wii version gets some knocks because it shipped without some of the features of the versions of it (and I’m certain there’s a story behind that; my guess is they wanted a six month gap between releases and pushed it out the door in June as fast as they could), but it’s superficial things that don’t matter to the game itself.
For most systems, Rock Band has had pretty wide compatibility, and RB2 and GH4 are completely interchangeable with their instruments. It seems that hasn’t extended to the Wii versions, however, so it’d be best to check out the song lists and see which of the games you’d rather invest in.
Based on those lists I’d definitely give an edge to Rock Band 2, especially based on what I know about my kids’ tastes.
I just want to mention that if you like puzzles and platforming, then you may be able to find Super Paper Mario used for a decent price. I can understand why not everyone would like it, but it may just be my favorite game on the Wii.
I’m really enjoying Shaun White Snowboarding… using the Wii Balance Board.
I was able to finally get out to the store last night. I picked up both Zack and Wiki and Okami. I’ve only played Zack so far, but it seems like something right up my alley. I haven’t tried Okami yet, but hopefully it’s fun. Thanks for the help guys.