Xbox - advice please

fishhawks

My child (9) wants an xbox for christmas but I know nothing about them. We already have a wii, but he says an xbox is better for gaming.

Can someone help me - how good are they, what are the advantages of having an xbox rather than a wii. Which one should I choose, I see there are elite ones and 360's, what do I need to go with it, remote controllers etc. are they easy to set up

Sorry, I really know nothing about gaming!

thanks

da1seggy

They're OK, the reliability has improved somewhat & the graphics are far and away better than the Wii, but the games are of a different type - not so family oriented like the Wii

The biggest drawback is that you have to pay a subscription to play friends online (up to £35 a year)

If you get one, make sure you buy the one with a hard drive (so you can save games, download demos), and the wireless controllers are useful too.

I'm sure somebody else will add more to this

peteb23

Asda are selling the Elite (with the hard drive) some games and an extra controller for £189 - if you can still get it.

Don't be tempted to buy the cheaper "Arcade" version - it's a false economy.

Dead easy to set up - just like the Wii - just plug them in and play.

If you want to download games / demos online you'll need to connect the xbox to a router to share your internet. If you want to be able to play against other players then you will need to also pay for Xbox live.

Be warned though. there are a lot of idiots on xbox live and your child will be hearing some (OK, a lot) of bad language - if that's a concern I'd just use the console in offline mode.

markfj

The advantages of xbox over wii:

.Better online play (I think you can protect this) as mentioned above, alot o idiots on there

Different games, i.e exlusives - Halo 3 etc etc

Wireless controllers/headsets etc

They are easy to set up, you can also stream files i.e music dvds via computer to xbox which is handy, I would recommened buying a brand new one, because some of the older models are not very reliable, just google RROD...but a new consles has 3 year warranty on this anyway



Better Graphics

[Deleted User]

peteb23 wrote: »

Be warned though. there are a lot of idiots on xbox live and your child will be hearing some (OK, a lot) of bad language - if that's a concern I'd just use the console in offline mode.

I'm sure you can mute all chat over XBL..

trets77

fishhawks wrote: »

My child (9) wants an xbox for christmas but I know nothing about them. We already have a wii, but he says an xbox is better for gaming.

Can someone help me - how good are they, what are the advantages of having an xbox rather than a wii. Which one should I choose, I see there are elite ones and 360's, what do I need to go with it, remote controllers etc. are they easy to set up

Sorry, I really know nothing about gaming!

thanks

if your 9 year old is boy then getting a xbox ( or PS3) is logical . Wii are great fun , but they are family gaming . Xbox provides games aimed more at males ( i'm 37 and am so addicted to Call of Duty that i am going to the local Game shop at midnight next Mon/tues to get the game ) .

Xbox / PS 3 has better graphics and is now really geared up to multiplayer online play and playing your friends online . he probably wants a Xbox rather than a PS 3 as all his mates have a Xbox . the Wii will never be able to play the games he wants to play on the Xbox by the way .

agree with previous poster . don't skimp by buying the Arcade version , you will only need to add the other bits like a Hard drive and wireless adaptor later . also the Elite version comes with HDMI as standard ( big big plus )

hopefully the reliabilty is getting better . i got my 2nd dreaded "red ring of death " last thursday . i have had very little trouble sorting it out , as they collect it for free , mend it for free , and send it back for free . sent mine friday ( goes to Germany ) and have had an email today to say it is on he way back ( in truth my old one has been chucked on the " to be mended " pile and they have sent me one off the "repaired" pile )

Ivrytwr3

IMO XBox's are for older gamers, not 9 year olds. Go for a PS2 or PS3, there a lots more child friendly games for these systems.

markfj

Dont get a PS2, they will stop making games for those one day, plus he will still want a next gen console..PS3 and xbox have pretty much the same games anyway, but PS3 is more expensive due to bluray, which a kid probably wont appreciate anywya

Bowling_4_Gold

I hate to say it, but a PS3 is probably better for a nine year old. A lot of the games on the PS3 will be more suited to younger gamers (Little Big Planet, for example) while when he gets a bit older, it can still play the more mature games like COD. Imo, If you can afford it, getting a PS3 for your Son will be better than getting him a 360 at his age.

vyle

To add to what others said, the 360 has games, rather than a catalogue of awful waggleware.

Ivrytwr3 wrote: »

IMO XBox's are for older gamers, not 9 year olds. Go for a PS2 or PS3, there a lots more child friendly games for these systems.

Games don't need to be 'child friendly'...as I shall detail below:

Bowling_4_Gold wrote: »

I hate to say it, but a PS3 is probably better for a nine year old. A lot of the games on the PS3 will be more suited to younger gamers (Little Big Planet, for example) while when he gets a bit older, it can still play the more mature games like COD. Imo, If you can afford it, getting a PS3 for your Son will be better than getting him a 360 at his age.

Come on now, there's near enough no difference in game libraries, except the PS3 has some pretty shoddy ports and a couple of decent exclusives.

The games are more expensive and citing "child friendly" games is ridiculous because everybody knows that developers SUCK at making "games for kids". They're licensed shovelware with no challenge and are insultingly easy, even for kids.

Aside from LBP (which is great for ALL ages) the ps3 has are no more 'child specific' games than the 360.

When I was 4, I got a commodore 64. Loading games was a nightmare, but by 5 I was doing some very simple programming. The games were INSANELY DIFFICULT and had more complexity than a lot of games today (as well as more bugs). When I was 6 I got a megadrive and started playing some early RTS games, got Sim City when I was 7 and theme park when I was 8 and I knew what I was doing.

Games back then were HARD and had no age ratings, so you could play a lot of games with language that'd have trouble getting passed today.

Now, when people look at anyone under 15, they think 'gee, they need a KID'S GAME!' because they don't think a child would be able to handle the controls of anything more challenging than Peppa Pig's Mediocredrome 8.

I had a customer ask me the other day if there were any games for the DS their 7 year old would be able to play. I pointed out Mario Kart on the DS and she didn't think he'd be able to control it with buttons.

Please don't insult childrens' intelligence. They are able to work out how games work. Give a kid Megaman X on the Snes and he'll probably get very annoyed at first, but he'll soon be able to play it with his eyes closed (And that's saying something).

As long as you follow the age ratings, any console will be fine, but for overall quality, I'd choose the 360.

And before anybody asks, the age ratings work the same as on movies, they're not DIFFICULTY ratings. Christ, the amount of people who have turned their nose up at some games becuase they think 3+ will be too easy, not realising it means there's no blood/sex/sex with blood/swearing is insane.

miniemma

trets77 wrote: »

if your 9 year old is boy then getting a xbox ( or PS3) is logical . Wii are great fun , but they are family gaming . Xbox provides games aimed more at males

How very dare you !!!!! :rolleyes: