Who knows all the ins & outs of Nintendo DS ?

easy

My son has been given some money by various people for his 12th Birthday, and bless him he has collected just over £100.

Now I know he really wants a DS of some sort. I'm not really a fan - he already spends enough time on his Wii and his PC, and I'm quite strict about the types of games he plays (no Call of Duty or GTA here) - but on the other hand, I don't want to alienate him from his peers too much.

Now, assuming he wants to save up a little bit more, I might give him the chance to buy a DS. But what sort DS/DSi/lite/3d ?? Where is he likely to get the best deal?? How much are games - one of my objections is the money-pit effect, you always want another game at £30 or £40.

Soooo, convince me (or back me up if you think I'm right) ....

Please

Im_just_careful

My 12 year old has a DS but has really grown out of it.

The iPod Touch is the device he loves. There isn't much music on it but he has loads of cheap games (a few pounds at most often less than a pound) and that seems to be what his school friends all have as well.

Assuming a new iPod Touch comes out this month (the often seem to come out around this time of year) then for a short time the old one (which is perfectly OK)is sold cheaply.

He also likes PC games (particularly Blockland and Minecraft) but isn't so into his Wii. That seems to be mostly used for iPlayer.

If he hasn't got an iPod Touch that would be my suggestion.

Humphrey10

easy wrote: »

Now, assuming he wants to save up a little bit more, I might give him the chance to buy a DS. But what sort DS/DSi/lite/3d ?? Where is he likely to get the best deal?? How much are games - one of my objections is the money-pit effect, you always want another game at £30 or £40.

DSi, DSi XL, or 3DS - the others are discontinued I think.
The DSi XL is a larger version of the DSi, it's personal preference I guess whether someone prefers the larger screens of the XL or the lighter weight and smaller size of the standard DSi.
The 3DS is the 3d one, it's probably worth your son having a look at one in action in GAME or another shop to see if he likes the 3d effect or not.

Re: 'growing out of it' - I don't think you need to worry about this. There are games rated 16+ and 18+ for the Nintendo DS, and I've seen adults with Nintendo DSs quite a few times when commuting on the train.

An iPod Touch would be more expensive for the hardware, but like Im just careful says the games are so cheap (compared to up to £40 each for DS ones) that it would work out cheaper before long. Don't buy one now though - again like Im just careful says, a new version is expected very soon.

easy

Im_just_careful wrote: »

My 12 year old has a DS but has really grown out of it.

The iPod Touch is the device he loves. There isn't much music on it but he has loads of cheap games (a few pounds at most often less than a pound) and that seems to be what his school friends all have as well.

Assuming a new iPod Touch comes out this month (the often seem to come out around this time of year) then for a short time the old one (which is perfectly OK)is sold cheaply.

He also likes PC games (particularly Blockland and Minecraft) but isn't so into his Wii. That seems to be mostly used for iPlayer.

If he hasn't got an iPod Touch that would be my suggestion.

No, a DS of some sort is definately what he would like.

I have an iPod touch and he uses that occasionally for games (long car journeys & so forth) but it doesn't grab him in the same way. I also understand that DS's can communicate with each other ? As most of his friends have DS's - including a new friend at his new school - he seems to think this would mean that they could play games together?

I don't think he's bothered about the 3d version, he did tinker with one on display in Tesco a while back.

Is the XL much more expensive than the DSi ? I'll take a few mins to have a look, but any hints about good deals would be very welcome.

Abbafan1972

I am 39 and have a DSi XL.

You can get DS lites, but only as preowned ones now (look on Ebay). A DSi would be the one to go for I think. They have the camera and a slightly larger screen than the DS lite and you can download games from the Nintendo shop.

A lot of games aren't that expensive, look on Ebay. It depends what you're looking for.

You can get flashcarts too if you want to save money on games. (Pm me if you want details about this).

materialgirl

I'm 30 & i love my DS. I dont have a DSi but they're good for young & old (once you get hooked on Brain training etc).
I'd say go for the DSi. My nephew loves the DSi as he takes pictures of everyone and distorts the pictures (very childish but it makes me giggle too! ). Theyre great for long car journeys too and you can buy the stuff cheaper from ebay or go into Game or HMV for Pre-owned stuff. He might even be able to get stuff off his friends once they've played eache others DSi games. Speak to the other mothers in his class. Its better to get that stuff with his pocket money and it also helps family to think of what to buy him as gifts / birthday pressies etc.
:T

Im_just_careful

Just to put my "grown out of" comment in context we actually have two Nintendo DS's in our household.

While my son doesn't use his DS much now, Mrs IJC likes her DSi for card games and puzzles.

I see "grown up" ladies using their DS on the tube fairly often so there seems a reasonable user base in this demographic.

We have also had a number of second hand games from "Game" which reduces the cost of ownership a bit.

Finally, if you know someone else with a DS you can sometimes play multiplayer via WiFi.