best console for young kids..?

[honey86]

ds1 +2 want an xbox for xmas.. theyre good at sharing and playing together so i dont mind getting one as a main and combined present. but i looked at amazon, ebay, etc, and the games for xbox seem to be mostly adultey games, or violent ones such as COD and gears of war... (the kind id rather my 7 and 5 yo boys NOT be playing)

do these consoles even have games suitable for kids their age or is that just xbox? last time i used a console it was the wii, with things like mario kart and sports :/

im abit of a technophobe so things like kinect, xbox live etc baffle me x

[TwoStepsBeyond]

Agree that X-box is generally for older kids, although you can get sports/racing games etc. There is then the pressure when they get to about 10 and want the 18 15 rated games that all their friends play. If you don't have an X-box, no argument there!

I would be looking at a Wii/Wii U for DCs of 5 & 7 as they are more family orientated - maybe not such great graphics etc but much more choice for children's games.

[NoComet]

Wii even for 12&15 DDs Xbox games are awful.

[lockie1983]

It's not exactly a console but have you thought about an ipad mini? We got one for us dss last Christmas (he was 7) and he loves it. A big range of fun/educational/random games ... plus he uses it for homework research & the rest of us use it too.

Bit pricey maybe but it is probably in the top ten of things used most in our home (with the other things on the list being beds, the sofa and the kettle ...)

[noisytoys]

How about a Nintendo DS? They are fairly cheap now and games suitable for all ages.

[derektheladyhamster]

I'd vote for a wii. Many more age appropriate games for them.

[TheSporkforeatingkyriarchy]

You can get kids' games for the XBOX360, there are loads and as long as you have a parental lock it should be fine. Fancy pants adventures, minecraft, fantastic pets, lego games, Disney Universe and so on are great fun. If they know what games they want, that would be of help so you can see what consoles/devices they come on.

Having said that, a Wii/WiiU would be far easier for them to use, it's a bit more intuitive and has far broader range of advertised children's games (whereas XBOX kids' games tend to need more looking for). DSes work well and a tablet would give a wide range of games.

It really depends on what games you and they are after.