To DS or not to DS or Wii U?

[niccig]

DS is now saying he wants a Nitendo DS for Christmas. DH and I aren't so sure he needs it. He has an old iPhone of DH's that we've put games on. We have an iPad with games. We have a Wii. DS does use these items, but he doesn't play with any one of them a tonne. The Wii probably gets used the most, but it's used in spurts then not turned on for weeks.

So, we're thinking no on the DS.

[SnuggleBuggles]

As I said in a different thread, the DS is almost a social device for boys that age. They gather and play. There are games that you can't get on other platforms, like ds1's friends are all into Pokemon. We've gotten more than our money's worth out of the DS. I personally have no plans to upgrade to a Wii U from our Wii any time soon.

[KrisM]

My kids play on a tablet and a pc, but the games are different on the DS. Mario, Pokemon, etc are not reproduced as an app. You can play multi-player with kids on their own DS devices, and that's great fun for this age.

[niccig]

I went with all your advice and DH got a 3DS yesterday for DS for Christmas. I don't think it'll get anymore play than our other games, but it's what he says he wants.

Our other big gift was going to be something to help with baseball batting, but DS is now saying he wants to play basketball instead of baseball. So the 3DS will be better than that.

Thanks.