Wii for Christmas - what do I need?

[fatsatsuma]

Considering one for our 3 DC's, aged 13, 11 and 3. We are a fairly low-tech household, and having googled, I don't know where to start with extra components, games etc.

Please can someone suggest a basic package which would keep them happy. I know DD1 is keen on some kind of dance game, but what else?

And most importantly what should I expect to spend?

[GypsyMoth]

You will need mire controllers, the console inky comes with one!!

About £35 each!!! And rechargeable batteries/wii battery charger...... Batteries wear down quickly

[GypsyMoth]

*more
*only

[GypsyMoth]

Mario cart is very popular here, and we also have just dance juniors

We gave the wii udraw but none of us doing the wii product test, particularly liked it.

[fatsatsuma]

really?? This doesn't sound good.

Think I would get away with 2 consoles maybe - they dont all need to play at the same time do they?

Would you recommend an alternative to the wii?

[GypsyMoth]

I think the wii overall is best for kids. It's quite reasonably priced at the moment. Yes, just get one extra controller,there are more chances at 2 player games than 3 or 4 I've found

The console comes with a disc with games on. These games were really popular with us wii testers. And you can watch iplayer through the wii and access the Internet.

[going]

I would buy the mario kart package from Amazon. Also some extra controllers, think the old ones are about £20, the wii plus ones are about £35. But a Just Dance game too, I wouldn't get the juniors one as your older ones would probably prefer the other ones.

[going]

Quite a few places have it for less than Amazon including currys

[fatsatsuma]

Thank you both. What is the remote plus? And the wii wheel?

[going]

I think the remote plus is more sensitive, we have never had a problem with our standard ones.
The wheel is for playing racing games (you put your controller in it), you don't need one but it makes it easier - you can usually buy second hand ones for a £1 or so.

[GypsyMoth]

The wheel comes as part of the package. It's not essential. I bought an extra off eBay for a few pounds.

The remote plus contoller makes sounds, buzzes and beeps etc, just a but more interactive.

[fatsatsuma]

Ah ok, that's helpful to know.

Am v pleased to hear that you can watch iplayer through the wii, but is it affected by your broadband speed? Ours is chronically slow so we can't watch iplayer properly on our computer.

[KatharineClifton]

Make sure you check on the games how many players they are for. My kids aren't interested in one player games I had bought so they were a total waste of money.

When you set it up make sure you plug in the sensor thing that goes on the top of the tv. I completely missed that in the box and got quite stressed trying to make the bloody thing work one xmas day.

[KatharineClifton]

Also make sure the wrist things are on the children and that the TV isn't close enough to be whacked with a controller. That breaks TV's we discovered :(

[GypsyMoth]

I don't know about speed. Ours is dodgy but have no probes with the iplayer at all. Dont know why!

We have about 20 wii games and mario cart is the one played the most here. The 3 year old and 17 year old play it together.

[fatsatsuma]

Thanks Katherine - useful tips

[GypsyMoth]

Look on our wii product test thread for lots of info on setting up etc!

[fatsatsuma]

And thanks ILoveTIFFANY for all your advice too. Think I'm beginning to get the hang of it

[KatharineClifton]

You're welcome :) After that stressful xmas day I refused to ever get involved with the wii telling the kids to sort it out themselves. Which they always have done.

[fatsatsuma]

Sounds like a good plan

We don't have a huge living room and you mentioning your broken TV makes me wonder if we've got enough space.

[PorkChopSter]

I wanted to start a thread like this

For 4 kids, will I need 4 wheels and 4 remotes? How many nunchucks?

We wanted Mario kart and wii sports - is a bundle with Mario+wheel+Wii better value than a Wii+sports+sportsplus+remotes?

[fatsatsuma]

Welcome to the thread porkchops

What is a nunchuck???

[KatharineClifton]

It took a couple of years to break the TV so you should be ok. My kids waited until we got a nice new one!

Nunchuck is needed for most games - plugs into the controller and they aren't very expensive.

There aren't many games that are for 4 players apart from the sport ones. If you get the rechargable batteries then obvs you have to get the equivalent number of recharging points.

[fatsatsuma]

Do you get things like the nunchuck included when you buy the wii or the games?

This is why I started the thread. It just seems hard to work out what you actually need to buy.

[GypsyMoth]

One nunchuck will come with the controller

We don't use them much really. I bought an extra from eBay for £7

[PorkChopSter]

I just want someone to post me links to what I need