Which console for soon to be 8 year old

[RavenT]

Apologies if this is a much asked question,...

Ds will be 8 soon. He has loads of toys, and still plays with them. He has a tablet which he plays games on all the time, but I'm wondering if he's at age where he would enjoy a console now as well. I must stress he hasn't actually asked for one yet,...... it's just I can't think what else to get him and I'm aware he might be approaching the right age for one.

I read that a Switch has more age appropriate games on it?

Or would you wait a year or so and get an Xbox?

Out of his close group of friends one has an Xbox, one a Switch and the other doesn't have one, so non of that really helps!

Many thanks for any advice!

Get a Switch, it's fantastic. If you get Splatoon, you can play it when he's gone to bed.

All consoles Will play more or less the same games. If you want him to be able to play interactively with his friends then find out what they have and go with that. Find out what his friends have and go with that, even if they don't play online together now they will in a couple of years and it will save you buying a different console then

Hi RavenT

I'd say Nintendo has more choice of games for younger children.

@Chickenkatsu

Get a Switch, it's fantastic. If you get Splatoon, you can play it when he's gone to bed.

I used to play Splatoon with mine on the Wii U! It's fantastic!

Huge advocate of the Switch here... the games are much more family friendly and online safety wise it is much better than say the XBox.

Plus, Mario & Zelda are exclusively Nintendo and are the best game franchises of all time...

I'm not sure why you'd need to wait a year for an Xbox - it's not all GTA!

If he has not asked for one delay it as much as possible. Once addicted he will lose interest in other hobbies and sports. I have seen lovely children turn into little monsters under influence of gaming. Too many parents don't limit time strictly enough.

I have all 3. For myself. I don't have kids.

The Nintendo games are more suited for kids but there's loads of games that play on all formats that my nephews seemed to like at that age; minecraft in particular.

The Switch is the only one that's portable.

Xbox and PlayStation can be used for playing dvds, streaming TV etc so are more entertainment consoles than the switch.

Some games are exclusive to one console. Forza (racing game) is just on Xbox for example.

It's true that for some games to play with friends you'll all need to be on the same platform. But he could be the trendsetter if they're all a bit young yet. Fortnite can be played cross platform.

Thanks lots of interesting and useful things to think about here.