2DS - What age?

onlyroz

bluenoseam wrote: »

Little hint for you, the single biggest video game selling today is a game called Minecraft, a game which not only encourages creativity but has spawned an entire social ecosystem of it's own. Sure you can play it on your own, but if you ask most kids who've played it they'll tell you they've spoken with friends about it, consulted friends on what they're building or shared their own "worlds" within the game. That's the power of arguably one of the most simple & basic video games of all time.

Agreed about Minecraft - it's an extremely educational game in its own right and the community that has developed around it is phenomenal. My son went to a birthday party recently where they all played Minecraft together, helping to build new worlds and explore each other's creations.

minimoneysaver

There's a range of games called 'Mummy I can do it.' My daughter had them at 3 and loved playing and showing me what she could do. She also had a Barbie game and a few others aimed at the very young child. Perfect for travelling and entertaining the child.

moomoomama27

bluenoseam wrote: »

I dispute the notion that video games encourage lack of social skills & further to that so do many educated people.

http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2013/11/video-games.aspx

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2013/01/29/new-research-emphasizes-gamings-positive-impact-on-psychological-development/

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/280567.php

There are two sides to every argument, the common problem is that as soon as some rocket goes off the rails & shoots someone it's all video games' fault. That doesn't mention the 99.9% of us who regularly play video games without exhibiting psychotic tendencies or indeed those of us who do so while living a bog standard "normal" life.

Little hint for you, the single biggest video game selling today is a game called Minecraft, a game which not only encourages creativity but has spawned an entire social ecosystem of it's own. Sure you can play it on your own, but if you ask most kids who've played it they'll tell you they've spoken with friends about it, consulted friends on what they're building or shared their own "worlds" within the game. That's the power of arguably one of the most simple & basic video games of all time.

Seriously I can't believe that people still subscribe to the scaremongering that video games are ALWAYS harmful when the reality is nothing could be further from the truth.

Totally agree.

I was in a year 4 class as a TA, and several boys did topic work on Minecraft! It proved how it can link into a wider curriculum, and can be beneficial iin maths, science and other subjects.

Indie_Kid

Carmina-Piranha wrote: »

Yes, you can turn the 3D off. My 9 year old has one but never uses the 3D.

I've never used the 3D on the 3DS either. I don't really like it; so just switch it off.

Carmina-Piranha_2

Indie_Kid wrote: »

I've never used the 3D on the 3DS either. I don't really like it; so just switch it off.

I don't like it. I don't play on the DS, but I don't like 3D films, etc. either. My husband is the only one out of the 5 of us who uses it, it's horrible.

I remember thinking about a DS when my son was going to be three and a half at christmas, and lots of people on here said their kids used them, but I thought he was too young and bought a vtech smile console instead, which was much harder to use and he preferred his big brother's DS.

This was a few years ago though, and people were more wary of kids using electronics and I thought I was doing the right thing by avoiding a DS. Also, I knew some kids who were totally glued to theirs, and obviously addiction will cause problems. Afterwards I met some kids who used theirs in moderation and weren't addicts. Now I think that as long as parents are keeping an eye on what they do and how long they are spending on it, it's possible to use one responsibly and even gain from it.

For a younger child the issue would be whether a 3DS is as robust as a DS. I don't actually know, we've never broken either one.

ska_lover

bluenoseam wrote: »

I dispute the notion that video games encourage lack of social skills & further to that so do many educated people.

http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2013/11/video-games.aspx

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2013/01/29/new-research-emphasizes-gamings-positive-impact-on-psychological-development/

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/280567.php

There are two sides to every argument, the common problem is that as soon as some rocket goes off the rails & shoots someone it's all video games' fault. That doesn't mention the 99.9% of us who regularly play video games without exhibiting psychotic tendencies or indeed those of us who do so while living a bog standard "normal" life.

Little hint for you, the single biggest video game selling today is a game called Minecraft, a game which not only encourages creativity but has spawned an entire social ecosystem of it's own. Sure you can play it on your own, but if you ask most kids who've played it they'll tell you they've spoken with friends about it, consulted friends on what they're building or shared their own "worlds" within the game. That's the power of arguably one of the most simple & basic video games of all time.

Seriously I can't believe that people still subscribe to the scaremongering that video games are ALWAYS harmful when the reality is nothing could be further from the truth.

I appreciate your point of view

Fair enough, I don't think they can be ALWAYS harmful - and didn't say that in my earlier post

I don't agree with video games being accused for all the wrong doings of the world, if it wasn't video games it would be films (remember the 80's so called video nasties) and it condescends to folks intelligence as in knowing right for wrong themselves. We could do away with any outside influences and there would still be nutters in the world

Minecraft seems an interesting game, I haven't played it myself but have seen it being played. But that is an altogether different topic from the OP of purchasing a DS for a child. I believe you cannot access minecraft from a DS? Although I could be wrong?

eezer

bluenoseam wrote: »

They are NOT legal, they ARE being highly clamped down on and by using them, sorry to sound like an old clich! they're the root cause of people losing their jobs. Nintendo are also one of the more nippy sweeties with piracy of their goods, they are known for taking offenders to task to the full extent of the law.

Not that you're suggesting piracy.

You're right. Nothing I said was advocating piracy, in fact I did say the DS was a bit outdated these days. I'd go further as to recommend not to buy one. However, as a wider issue, copying a DS game is no more or less illegal than someone bluetoothing a song to someone else on their phone for example and it would take a person of fine moral fibre to honestly say that they are totally squeaky clean about everything. If so then fair play.

As to the legality - have you a link to the actual law regarding purchase of the cards as the ebay guide indicates they can be bought from other EU countries where the sale is not restricted, whereas you are quite clear it is illegal.

To quote from it (not that Ebay is the font of all law knowledge)

"The sale of R4 cards in the uk has been made illegal but you can still purchase them from one of the other European countries where they are not banned."

The argument about losing jobs is not so clear cut. If prices were cheaper maybe they'd sell more. When I was a kid taping 'Top of the Pops', every record I did buy had a warning saying 'home taping is killing music'. No it didn't. Greedy records companies nearly did, but home taping fueled my interest and my pocket money was spent at the local record shop.

bluenoseam

Firstly I'll simply state that Nintendo consider them to be in breach of intellectual property laws & aggressively defend their licensed goods. They are illegal in this country & that is where I base my statement on, as explained wonderfully all over the place. (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r4-cart-ban-more-details-emerge for example)

Now onto the price argument. Now last time I dealt with suppliers was in the period immediately prior to 3DS' launch - so I'll have to use some logic. I know Nintendo tend to treat their own first party software as "triple-A" level - to put it into context, that puts it in the range of home console pricing. Using that mindset & understanding the price of say Pokemon X/Y I'll compare it with the triple-A structure I know of similar standing - that is PS3/360 pricing.

Your average triple-A title has a unit cost price of anywhere between £26-29 from the supplier, which then has to be subjected to VAT. So we'll take a £27 game, that adds £5.40 onto the price, you then have delivery charge to apply to that, possibly 10p or thereabouts. So we're now at £32.50, then there's all the unavoidable overheads of a store such as rent, electric, licenses etc - not to mention staffing. That all adds up & well, you can see from just adding in VAT & delivery you're looking at having £7.50 to pay for everything & make profit.

It's really that simple, believe it or not new games are not a cash cow - the profit involved in particularly triple A level stuff is slim as companies have to make up higher costs. If you're looking for where retail makes it's money in games I'll point you to third party accessories & preowned, the markups particularly on accessories are often where they'll make their money. Lack of sales will always lead to loss of jobs, after all in all those costs there's really only one which a retailer has any real control over - staffing.

That's all hijacking the thread though, but I'll add something here for the OP.

The DS range might look like it's being outdated by tablets, but don't discount it out of hand - the 2DS has a massive library of games available and a lot of it is cheap & easy to lay your hands on. For me a lot of people have said about the 3DS & being able to turn off the 3D, but ultimately that's going to be a temptation & while everyone's different, temptation often wins out in the end. Atleast with the 2DS while it has its flaws (no clamshell can't be described any other way but as a flaw) what it does do is open the newer range of games without the associated risks of the 3DS. Nintendo stuff as I said above is expensive & third party games aren't as prevelant on 3DS as they were on DS but it'll be enough to keep you going for a long time.