skylander and other xbox 360 game questions

[mommylamb]

DS1 (6 years old) will be getting my BIL's old xbox360 with kinect as a Hanukkah present from them this year (BIL is upgrading to the new xbox). We currently don't have any video games consoles, and I know nothing about what games to get for him. He likes to play xbox with the kids across the street though, and I know that one of the games they play is skylanders. If I get him this Skylanders Giant Starter Kit http://www.amazon.com/Skylanders-Giants-Starter--Xbox-360-Xbox/dp/B0088MVQ96/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383440885&sr=8-1&keywords=skylanders+kit+xbox+360 is there anything else he needs? I'm assuming since it's a starter kit, that I should be fine. However, there are other skylanders things that are a fair amount more expensive, so I'm not sure if there's something else I need. Will this be ok on its own? Any other skylanders suggestions?

Any other xbox360 games that you would recommend for a 6 year old? I know he also likes some star wars game they have across the street, but I don't know which one it is, and there are a whole ton of star wars games for the xbox.

[Tondi G]

The newest Skylanders is the Swap Force. The started set is good to get started but you will want to buy a few more figures so they can change in and out during the game. Some parts need a Giant, some need a character that can fly etc. You need a little variety! http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=21655706&cp=2255956.3209580.21669956&parentPage=family

For star wars .. I would suggest the Lego Star Wars games ... all of the Lego games are great.... star wars, Indiana jones, batman, etc.

[mommylamb]

Thanks. So, is it better to get the swap force than to get the giants? Do they have a swap force starter kit?

[megs4413]

my 6yo is an xbox360 player. :) we do not own skylanders, though, because you have to just keep buying more and more add ons. it's expensive. do you have any local fb garage sale groups? skylanders stuff comes up often and I'd probably go that route since you're not yet sure if your DS will be a huge skylanders player at home. they are coming out with a bunch of new skylanders stuff this holiday season and so some of the older stuff is going out of use....I'd be careful with that part of it if I were you!

my son's favorite game is minecraft.

He also loves the Lego games. Personally, I think the Star Wars Lego games are a little on the violent side, but they don't really bother me. I prefer his Lego Harry Potter games (even I like to play them!) We also like the dance games for Kinect, but sometimes the Kinect struggles to see DS because he's still so small. It has no problem seeing DD. Epic Mickey 2 is another HUGE hit at our house.

My DS is asking for Disney Infinity this year for Christmas. I am on the fence about it, but will probably end up caving since the quality of the games is very high and they are not violent and promote storybuilding and other creative types of play (not so mission-driven.)

[Tondi G]

Thanks. So, is it better to get the swap force than to get the giants? Do they have a swap force starter kit? I just added a link to it on TRU to my post up above!

[mommylamb]

Thanks. So, the swap force starter kit is probably a better choice than the giant starter kit? Should have known that I needed to go with the more $$ one. Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

ETA: If I get the swap force starter kit, it includes the portal. So, does that mean, he wouldn't need a different portal if he wanted some of the giant figures too? Or do they require a separate portal?

This is a whole new world for me.

[PZMommy]

my 6yo is an xbox360 player. :) we do not own skylanders, though, because you have to just keep buying more and more add ons. it's expensive. do you have any local fb garage sale groups? skylanders stuff comes up often and I'd probably go that route since you're not yet sure if your DS will be a huge skylanders player at home. they are coming out with a bunch of new skylanders stuff this holiday season and so some of the older stuff is going out of use....I'd be careful with that part of it if I were you!

my son's favorite game is minecraft.

He also loves the Lego games. Personally, I think the Star Wars Lego games are a little on the violent side, but they don't really bother me. I prefer his Lego Harry Potter games (even I like to play them!) We also like the dance games for Kinect, but sometimes the Kinect struggles to see DS because he's still so small. It has no problem seeing DD. Epic Mickey 2 is another HUGE hit at our house.

My DS is asking for Disney Infinity this year for Christmas. I am on the fence about it, but will probably end up caving since the quality of the games is very high and they are not violent and promote storybuilding and other creative types of play (not so mission-driven.)

We have the Disney Infinity game. I like it. However, you have to complete missions in order to unlock the creative stuff. The Cars and Toy Story play sets are my son's favorites. The ones with the starter pack are kind of boring IMO, and my DS hardly plays those.

[Indianamom2]

We have the Disney Infinity set, but by far, the Lego games get the most play. Ds (4) is amazingly good at them and even Dh loves playing them. We have Harry Potter, Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Probably getting Pirates of the Carribean and the new Marvel one for Christmas.

On a personal note...the only game I really play on the Xbox is NCAA Football. I love it!

[kboyle]

my boys play with xbox360 also, they all play the same games, but ds3/6y prefers the lego games to any other. we have skylanders for ps3 and will be getting swap force from grandma for xmas. santa will bring disney infinity. but for that age set the lego games are always an easy hit!

[dhano923]

DS is a Skylanders player. The Swap Force characters have their own portal. Not all the characters work on all the portals. We just got him the Skyander Swap Force bundle kit from Costco for his birthday last week. It comes with 3 characters, the Swap Force portal, some trading cards, and a couple other things I can't remember right now. I had priced out the individual items and the Costco bundle was much cheaper.