Gamers...I need help

[AntXD]

i have a 360 and will soon be buying a wii for my 5 yr old son because the wii is more geared toward kids. Not that an adult can't have fun with it its just they have so many kids games. Now if you are going to be an online gamer you can't beat xbox live. So i guess you have to figure out what all your going to do with it.

[Ruben705]

Im pretty sure wii plays dvds. blurays are great and are the future but for now a normal dvd works just as good unless you really need the extra picture. Then ps3 is the way to go.

[Tripledigitride]

The XBox360 can play HD DVD's (they aren't making them anymore, the HD DVD's that is). The PS3 can play regular DVD's and Blu-Ray. The PS3 upconverts your regular DVD's to a better quality picture. The Wii does not play any movies. Last I heard, Nintendo was gonna make a Wii system that would play DVD's, but not until later this year.

[PolsVoice]

As a game console, I'd get the XBox360. Granted, I think your girls may enjoy the Wii more with its more kid-friendly games -- and yes, it is fun for adults, too. But my 360 doubles as a media center for my movies (I store them on the harddrive) and I enjoy the 360 games a lot more.

The PS3 is too dang expensive and doesn't have many great games for it. However, it is a pretty cheap blu-ray player if you're into that... but I want a game console, not a media machine that happens to play a few games.

bottom line: They'll like the wii now, you'll like the 360 and they'll grow to like it.

oh... and I don't know if this matters, but the wii's online game system sucks. Microsoft's gamertag system rocks.

[MadBadger]

Wii does NOT plat DVDs.

It's really going to boil down to title selection. The Wii has more kid/family/non-hardcore gamer selections, than 360/PS3.

[jblakk]

you can probably satisfy them both by getting a Wii, and look for a used xbox (not 360). you can get one for 50 bucks.

For ages 11+13, I would say the wii is what you probably would want for the kids room. My 15 year old has one, and loves it.

[robinsre]

Get the Xbox if it's a choice between the two.

Someone will likely eventually release a Bluray player for it, and the system is more useful than the Wii (you can stream videos and music through a windows PC to your 360, and onto your entertainment system)

[amishclark]

a) ms is working on a blue-ray capable xbox as i write this

b) imho, solid state media is going the way of the dinosaur. in that respect, an xbox has far better "media center" capabilities. i haven't bought or rented a movie since i can't remember when...i'm not saying you should pirate all your movies, but netflix now does download rentals, as does itunes, and xbox live itself. furthermore, the interactive platform (web 2.0 concepts and community) of the xbox is lightyears ahead of ps or the wii.

c) as xbox has a significantly larger installed base, they get all the game development, with porting over for ps3...because of this, there is hardly a difference in graphics. the ps3 is admittedly a more powerful machine, but it doesn't do any good unless the games are made to take advantage of this. xbox also has a larger selection of games.

d) motion tracking is cool, but it's hard to believe that ms and sony aren't working on similar capabilities...

that said, i've been gaming since 1984, and ask for more from my system(s) than your kids might...just my thoughts.

[jcabin]

Wii is fun for entry level gamers, good for the young, middle aged, and elderly. Its entertaining, but for an experienced gamer like myself, its a novelty machine. Standing up swinging a piece of plastic around gets old fast. Also be careful, as these controllers have been known to go through TV screens as the child is swinging them around.
PS3 has no place in the hands of a 14 year old girl, its for the very experienced/hardcore gamer or for the child whos parents dont mind spoiling them with unnecessarily high priced technology. It doesnt have many child friendly games, im taking an uneducated guess and saying less than 15% of the games are child friendly, graphic language/visuals wise, or just not themed towards children all together.
XBOX 360 is the all around winner, its got games for people of all ages, its not outrageously priced, make sure you get the xbox pro version, because it comes with a hard drive so they can save their progress in games. DO NOT buy the xbox arcade model, it has no hard drive, nomatter how much the store rep tries to push this model do not buy it.
The 360 has alot of child friendly games, i know this because my friend has a 4 year old and has lots of fun on the system.
Now im tired and dont feel like giving more information, but if you ask around to anyone who games, 360 is your all around winner.

[cid_ayrbourne]

XBox 360 will be pretty (graphics-wise) than the Wii, but unless they want to play a lot of shoot-'em-ups, racing, and fighting games, they're likely better off with Wii.

XBox - while getting better about it - is largely geared for males, 14-30. Also, most games are one-off; once you finish you're done, you won't play them again. Nintendo has a history of making more family friendly (ie - enjoyable by all ages, genders, etc) games, many of which have excellent replay value (you're more likely to continue playing them, even after you've completed them).

Sony's Playstation falls somewhere in-between as far as family friendly titles and replay value. However, the graphics will be on par (or in some cases better) than Xbox, and it does have Blu-Ray capability, so it can double as you're main High-Def video player.

My recommendation (from someone who sells them for a living, and has close connections to the videogame industry) would be the Wii.