what is the general consensus with regards to kids (6yrs) and games consoles. They hold no interest to me and never have but Toppers Jnr has expressed an interest in having one for his birthday. I was just wondering what the pros and cons are for/against having one. For what it’s worth he’s very active and loves being outdoors as much as anything.
Ta

everything in moderation.

Xbox family timer is handy for limiting use as much as just taking the controllers away as management/punishment.

Mainly they play Minecraft, but Im also looking to get them Rugby15 this autumn.

Bump for the evening crowd.

Wii U is a good choice for kids.. Mario Kart, Mario world, various singing / dancing games and sports. All the family can get involved too. Maybe more of a winter thing in our house when its raining / dark / freezing outside

everything in moderation

+1
Set the rules early and clear. An hour a day for ours. That’s it, unless Sirling down wet Sunday in November….they are also, as with all screens in our house, in public room.

We have wii U and (old) xBox 360.

As young ones, the wii has just been great – simple, fun, engaging games. Mario Kart still rocks 8) , Zelda games are good.

As they now hit teen years, the xbox is becoming better – driving games are currently in vogue.

DONT get sucked into the games that need figures on a sensor, they cost stupid amounts of money, and they move on from games in a month or two. Anyone want a cheap basket of Skylanders?

And Minecraft is great, just be aware that you need to keep them away from YouTube videos ‘how to’, as they go from a tween chatting through how to do things, to swearing like a trooper…

We have a Wii.

The sports games are fun – Olympics, Sports Resort etc.

Boxing is a hoot – Thud and his neighbours stripped down to their shorts and sweating away as they box.

Don’t get an Xbox One. I’ve got one, and it’s an awesome gaming machine. But there’s bugger all in the way of suitable games for younger children. My 6yr old lad has exhausted the Lego games, likes Minecraft and Rayman, and is just getting into Forza Horizon, but there really isn’t much else. Alternatives are football (which he hates) or games certified for adults.

Thanks guys. Have been recommended a wii or a playstation. I know nowt about either so maybe some research is necessary.

We bought a family PS4 last christmas, which was a massive step up from a rarely used years old ps2. It’s been great, but mostly for my 9 yr old son and me – the lack of games for kids is a problem for ps4 too. My 13 yr old daughter doesn’t find much that interests her on it apart from BBC iPlayer . Fortunately my son loves football and is obsessed with FIFA15, and the driving games, and the various Lego superhero ones. Other than that there’s few games for the family!

We have to limit time too – it can quickly become a monster eater of time. Overall good though, espcially with winter on the way.

It’s in the lounge though, def not in anyone’s bedroom!

It would be in the lounge. We only have the one TV and I have no plans to change that. Certainly not for the foreseeable future.

I suspect you may find the same issue with a Playstation 4 as I’ve found with the Xbox One. I should have got a Wii U in hindsight.

I forgot to say that Lego games are great fun, with massive sense of humour, and many hours of seeking out secrets type gameplay.

Good timing. I have an xbox 360 – barely used if ever. After experiencing a “football game” at a friends house kjo1 also 6 has been nagging me to get a forty game for ages.

Today, we wandered into game where I spotted a pre owned FIFA 2012 for 49p. Yes really. As above, I set the rules, 1 HR at a time, and off before kj02 comes home and watches 1 episode of Doc McStuffins, and no feet stamping or tantrums when losing or it goes off. Had some good fun this evening

As above it also shares the TV in the lounge, so no shutting himself away on puter games.

PS3 or PS4
IME they grow out of the Wii pretty quickly

PS3 has more games for the younger child

XB360 here bought for oldest who is currently 8 – but he plays the lego games (we have a couple of them) a lot with 6yo younger brother. Minecraft is the big advantage of the XB for kids that age. We also have a Kinect – that doesn’t get rated highly, but I got one cheap on ebay, and they love the dance and sports games you can do with that.

Get the Wii U. You have the bonus of most games can be switched to play on the Pad when someone wants to watch TV. Mario Maker is due out next week which will get your creative juices going. Splatoon is great, Mario Kart, 3D Mario, Super Mario WiiU, Smash Bros, Zelda Wind waker HD.

Grab a wiimote or two for multi player and to tap into the wii back catalogue.

I bought a PS4 and when my kids visit they are bored stiff. Not a lot of age appropriate games and Sony/MS seem to have abandoned local multiplayer.
I’ve ended up buying a WiiU so we can play together. I bought the basic model and added an external usb HD.

We’ve got a XB360 250GB preowned from Game for £90 IIRC. Games second hand for £15 or less generally. Perfect for 5+ by my reckoning. Kinnect is ok but only if you get it cheap (like £25ish)

As others have said, for a first family console you’re looking at the PS3 or Xbox 360. There’s little to choose between them, and “what your mates have” would be the deciding factor for me.

However. As it’s just for the anklebiter and no-one else has any interest, I don’t think that’s the best call. For a 6 year old I’d be going with a Wii U (or even an original Wii if budget is a factor), the focus is less “adult” than Sony / Microsoft’s offering.

I bought an old Xbox360 from CEX, it was £85 I think, and got a game thrown in.

There’s masses of games from football, the Lego, minecraft, F1. Some of the more popular games like Portal are suitable for kids.

Kit is solid, and as others have said, you can 2nd hand games for pence

PS2 has shedloads of kids titles. Better half bought me a used PS2 bundle because I’m sadly missing Downhill Domination! It came with a load of kids titles, i’ve just given a big box of them away to the the local Blue Cross.

It may be retro but the games are ten a penny and it’s a tiny and bombproof system. Either that or a PS3 if only for that Big Little Planet thingummy.

I too have a 360, bought last Christmas on the basis I can get games cheap secondhand. £17 for a 120Gb HDD, and I’ll treat them to a live account for chatting with their mates.

To be honest, at 6 you’ll only need Minecraft anyway 🙂

I’d be looking at a Wii, letterbomb it, install the Homebrew channel and you can download the entire back catalogue from N64 back and play Gamecube natively.That ought to keep them busy for a while.

squirrelking – Member
I’d be looking at a Wii, letterbomb it, install the Homebrew channel and you can download the entire back catalogue from N64 back and play Gamecube natively.That ought to keep them busy for a while.

I dont understand what any of that means, but thanks. 🙂

Gave my nephew a PS3 a while back (I bought one thinking I’d get into console gaming but didn’t). He mostly plays Minecraft, Terraria and Lego games and his parents use it for Netflix stuff. Wii’s are good to but they probably want a ‘real’ console once they’re 10+

Our 6yo is currently enjoying Lego Star Wars complete saga. It’s a first-person puzzle/shooter but really easy to play – far more so than other games. Lots of ‘kid’ orientated games, Ratchett and Clank for instance, are way too hard for little kids but not the Lego ones. Also enjoyable for grown-ups and there’s a two player option so you can play with them. And it’s even enjoyable 🙂

Little Big Planet was too hard for our kid, at least 6 months ago it was.

We just got minecraft and she’s terrified of the zombies – even in ‘peaceful’ mode it still has them. My wife otoh spent about 6 hours on it the first night without realising.

However our PS3 gets far more use playing Netflix/Amazon than gaming.

I gave up on game consoles a good few years back because they were getting too sophisticated and hectic gameplay which was all to realistic.

What ever happened to old skool gaming products that were entertaining and enjoyable rather than in depth and completely twisted fast paced without any traditional plot.

I use to get on well with the N64 donkey kong, golden eye, wave racer and xbox original with the punsiher great game and max payne.
Never to be seen again as decent old skool gaming play time I’m afraid.

As for the console for kids, it surely has to be Wii due to it’s family friendly take on gaming.

What ever happened to old skool gaming products that were entertaining and enjoyable rather than in depth and completely twisted fast paced without any traditional plot.

Anything Nintendo does tends to revolve around that. Mariocart has got pretty seriously competitive now that the girls are a bit older. And there’s few more life-afirmingly wonderful things than watching them properly going for it on Just Dance. And when they’re not playing on it, they can put Netflix through it.

Its perfect really

I dont understand what any of that means, but thanks.

In simple terms:

Buy an original Wii
Download “letterbomb” – this lets you ‘mod’ the Wii so as to install unofficial software. Once you have that you will have access to the Homebrew channel.
From there you can download emulators for a multitude of platforms including the SNES, Megadrive, N64, Atari Jaguar etc.etc.
Once you have an emulator you download game ROMs (the game file originally found on a cartridge) which you can then play.

Its actually incredibly simple and there are walkthroughs for the whole process and, Im guessing, Youtube vids if even that looks difficult. Should give you plenty of gaming time until they are deemed mature enough to venture onto a “bigger” console. Gamecube games, controllers and memory cards are compatible without any modification.

What ever happened to old skool gaming products that were entertaining and enjoyable rather than in depth and completely twisted fast paced without any traditional plot.

The Xbox Live Arcade is full of such things, if you so desire. Other platforms are also available.

I use to get on well with the N64 donkey kong, golden eye, wave racer and xbox original with the punsiher great game and max payne.

Plenty of that kind of thing out there still, and also loads more esoterica.

N64 😀

I’d suggest The Cave, but whilst controlling the characters is simple, the game itself is rock hard.

Seriously people are suggesting a Wii even though the games look pants and become utterly dull very quickly. I’d get an old xbox360 seems pretty popular with the kids round here still. Minecraft, Fifa, Lego etc all still up to date and relevant. Plants vs Zombies seems to be latest thing although probably fit slightly older kids than 6 year olds. Avoid Skylanders and the like, utter money pits for little game time.

Forgot to say what about just getting a tablet, plenty of decent games for them and portable.

I suggested an N64! It’s probably old enough to be cool again now.

Console gaming can be family fun with multiple people interacting and playing together. Tablet gaming isn’t so much.

Seriously people are suggesting a Wii even though the games look pants and become utterly dull very quickly.

For a SIX year old.

You also seem to be confusing opinion with fact. Obviously you’ve never played through a Zelda or Metroid game (not that I’d be letting a six year old loose on Metroid). FIFA and Lego titles are all available for the Wii plus all the other stuff kids of that age seem to love (besides Minecraft but such is life, I never had Mario for my Sega).

Tablet gaming also opens the whole pay-to-win can of worms with micro transactions that, if not controlled, quickly mount up.

Personally I was quite happy with a Master System (back when even the NES was better and the Mega Drive well established), not all kids are totally wrapped around the latest and greatest. 360 also comes with the RROD lottery plus all the other fun stuff that bricks them. Think my mate has gone through three of the things whilst my Wii is still hanging on 8 years later.

I’d recommend the Wii U – not only are the games more suitable thematically for kids, it has some of the best games on any of the consoles (Splatoon, Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros, etc), and has the figure based stuff like Skylanders, Disney Infinity as well as its own (Amiibos) that can be used to unlock extra content in various games. Plus, has already been mentioned, you don’t always need the TV (you can also play on the pad for a lot of the games).

The PS4 and XBone are great machines (with the PS4 arguably having the edge in terms of tech and exclusive content), but there’s not really much for a younger audience. However, they do both have Minecraft, unlike the Wii U. They’ve both got bluray drives though, so that might be a consideration, and also have a bit longer lifespan than the Wii U (Nintendo have already announced their next console). All three consoles have apps for Netflix/iPlayer/etc, so you can stream or purchase movies and TV episodes.

In terms of the previous generation, the Wii and the Xbox 360 may be worth considering. The Wii has a huge games library, especially for kids, and will be dirt cheap. The 360 has a few kids games, especially if you get the Kinect as well (which is a bit rubbish and was a nightmare to develop for, but kids seem to like it).

360 also comes with the RROD lottery

A massive problem at the time but, to be fair, I’d hazard that most if not all of the boxes likely to be affected have either been repaired or thrown away by now.

As above that’s for the older units.