XBOX versions?

[boogiemom]

DS1, 13, has talked about wanting an XBOX because he has played one at a friends house. I know nothing about these things and DS1 does not know which one his friend owns. I know he likes that he can play some games that do not require the player to hold a remote. I guess it has a camera that picks up the movements of the players. ? Can anyone give me the lowdown on the differences in the available versions? Which one should I be interested in?

Thank you!

[brittone2]

We've had an xbox with kinect for several years. We've been happy with it. My kids play things like minecraft on the regular xbox, and then enjoy Kinect sports, etc. as well. We have the 4GB one and have never missed anything else, but I think some serious gamers would want the larger one. We don't use xbox live yet.

I just saw the 4 is listed as a black friday option at Target for a low price (see the BF ad for Target in the Bargains forum). I snagged a very low price 2 years ago on amazon. I think it was a LD and it sold out very, very fast at that time (was still fairly new), so it has been well worth it for us.

I'm not sure if that helps since my kids are younger and not serious gamers, iykwim. But we've been happy with what we have. Kinect has a bit of a learning curve with setup and use (can be a bit finicky), but with a teen that wouldn't be an issue.

[ahisma]

The two primary version out now are the xbox 360 and the xbox one. The games are not interchangeable, you can't play the games from the 360 on the one, or vice versa. Looking at the games out there, there are a ton of games for the 360 compared to very few for the one. And, the games for the one seem targeted to an older crowd - more first person shooters, more violence, etc. There are some kid-friendly options but the selection is very small compared to the 360.

We did get a larger hard drive, mainly because we got a good deal on it and DS1 plays the sports games (Madden, FIFA, etc.). I don't know that we needed it, but with the deal it made sense to get it. We haven't downloaded games.

What he is talking about with not holding the remote is the kinect. We don't have it, but it's available (pretty inexpensively) for the 360. I'm not sure about the one.

[boogiemom]

Thank you so much for the input! I am not, nor have I ever been, into video games so I am way out of my element. Good to know that the 360 has worked well for your families. I don't want to get something that is practically obsolete but sounds like the One is geared toward a more mature demographic. We do not allow shooting or violent games so that is definitely not for us. Hopefully we can score a good deal and make my boys happy campers this Christmas. :-)

[briarrose]

My DS is 10 and we have had the 360 for a few years. Most of his friends also have the 360 (only one friend has the Xbox one). This summer he started with the live account which has been great for him. He was able to "friend" his friends and they could all talk and play Minecraft or other games together even if I couldn't take him to a friends house physically. His grandfather is also on the 360 and they became friends and talk and play together all the time (he lives across the country). I have no plans to buy the Xbox one. I hate that the games are not backwards compatible and you can only talk and play live with other people who have Xbox one (which most of his friends don't). We have the Kinect. He likes it and we play with that mostly as a family. When he is on by himself he plays regular games live with friends. We have the large hard drive which I am glad for since he likes to download other games. It just depends what your son wants to do, but mine has definitely grown into it over the years.

[boogiemom]

Thank you, briarrose! That is exactly the info I needed. My boys are 13 & 9.5 and it definitely sounds like the 360 fits our needs much better than the One. Makes me very happy as it is less expensive. I appreciate the help!

[briarrose]

No problem. I would make sure with your ds that his friends do have the 360 so they can play together.

[alexsmommy]

Another with an 11 (almost 12) year old that has the xbox 360. He begged for an upgrade to his wii last year and I think he secretly hoped for the xbox one, but as others have said, for this age range, the games for the 360 are a better match IMHO. Only one friend has the One and his dad is a gamer, so they have all the latest and greatest systems. No one else has it, but many have the 360. We also have the Kinect, which gets used more by our younger two than the older one. I have to say, they all really like it and it's gotten more playtime than our wii did. No plans on getting the xbox one, and the kids never mention it. If they ever mention another gaming system it Wii U, but they are happy enough that I think we'll get at least a few more years out of the xbox 360. Start watching Amazon and gaming sites NOW. I got a killer deal on a bundle with the larger storage one, Kinect and games that were actually age appropriate for my home this time last year. I happened to be researching and a gaming sight had posted the deal when I googled. I never saw it go lower, even on bf.

[JMS]

Hi Alexsmommy - hopefully you will see this. I think I'm going with the 360, after so much back and forth. Do you mind posting which gaming site you got your bundle on last year?