Game system? Wii U? Xbox? Help!

[o_mom]

We got an old Wii for Christmas this year. It was $50 at Game Stop with a one-year protection plan and one remote/nunchuck. We added two more remotes and a few games and I think we spent around $150-$170 altogether vs. $400 for a Wii U with three remotes and no games. If we later want to move to the Wii U, the remotes will work with that, so we will basically not be out any money there. I was concerned that at the ages we have they would be outgrowing the Wii/Wii U in a few years wanting an XBox or PS, not to mention the struggling of the Wii U (was rumored at the time to be on the way out, but not sure now), so I didn't want to invest in the Wii U.

Anyway, they have enjoyed it plenty. There are tons of older games that are new to them. A few they wish they had (Lego Movie and Mario Kart 8), but not too many.

[JElaineB]

For a Wii U, you will probably want to have one wii remote plus nunchuck per kid, if they will all play together. Wii U supports 4 Wii remotes total, plus the game pad (so for some games up to 5 people can play if you have enough wiimotes). The nunchuks aren't needed for every game, but they can be useful.

[KrisM]

I thought about that too - the older Wii. It's good to hear it's working for you. I'll definitely keep that in mind, too. My only concern is they are asking for the newer games specifically.

[o_mom]

I thought about that too - the older Wii. It's good to hear it's working for you. I'll definitely keep that in mind, too. My only concern is they are asking for the newer games specifically.

We got lucky (in hindsight) that since the WiiU was new, there were not a whole lot of games at the time. Since we got it before those came out they were happy enough with it and haven't been too bothered. I can see, though, if we were getting it now it may be a harder sell.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Thanks. They have the Lego Movie game on Steam and it plays fine. I didn't know you get motion sensing with it on the other systems. That would mean I need a Kinect if we go with the Xbox?

Right now they mostly just play with each other and cousins when they do Minecraft on our server.

So, for all of them to play a Wii or Xbox, what additional things do you need?

No, you can swipe your wand in Harry Potter Lego with the Wii Remote.

We have 4 remotes, 2 numchucks and a few misc. other pieces.

We had a Wii but upgraded to the Wii U. I thought the Wii U pad was the dumbest idea but my ds2 just loves it. Something handy about is that dh can watch baseball on the tv and ds2 can play a Wii game on the pad- the Wii play doesn't have to monopolize the TV. Not that we are screen time addicts... We have the newest Mario game and the newest Mario Kart for Wii U. They are pretty fun!

[Simon]

We've tried out the motion sensors with Xbox kinect (they have them at some McD's). My oldest son can do it pretty well, but my younger two Ds really can't manage the system so I haven't been sold on that idea. Its also a good point about monopolizing (or not) the tv screen.

[KrisM]

We love our (old) Wii, but the Wii U is really struggling (market-wise) so I personally wouldn't buy one. We're finishing our basement and will get a PS4 or Xbox One because we "need" Minecraft.

Why does Wii U struggling make a difference? No new games coming potentially? It concerns me, but I'm not really sure why.

What games would you get on Xbox One? I find 20 games that are Everyone or Everyone 10+ rated and not much that I think my kid would play. It seems like the games are for teens and up maybe, but I don't know a lot of them, so I might be wrong.

[PZMommy]

My kids love he Disney Infinity (and Marvel infinity is coming out in Sept), Lego games, Avengers, Cars, etc. he is only 5, but is quite good at many of them.

[KrisM]

My kids love he Disney Infinity (and Marvel infinity is coming out in Sept), Lego games, Avengers, Cars, etc. he is only 5, but is quite good at many of them.

So you'd get the older Xbox 360? I could see DS2 liking most of those games, except he's past Cars.

[JElaineB]

Why does Wii U struggling make a difference? No new games coming potentially? It concerns me, but I'm not really sure why.

What games would you get on Xbox One? I find 20 games that are Everyone or Everyone 10+ rated and not much that I think my kid would play. It seems like the games are for teens and up maybe, but I don't know a lot of them, so I might be wrong.

Nintendo is not going anywhere. Wii U is their newest game system and they are not going to just pull the plug on it. There are tons of new games coming out for it. Nintendo is actively marketing the system, for example Mario Kart just came out, and we got a free download game (worth probably $40-$50 itself) just for buying Mario Kart (the game we got is Wii Party U with is actually very fun). I would not be concerned at all with this issue.

ETA: Also, I would not get a regular Wii at this time. It is 10 year old technology. We still have our old Wii hooked up and do use it for Wii and GameCube games (we have an older Wii which will play them). However the graphics on the Wii U are far superior, and there are many games coming out only for Wii U, including a lot of the Mario games which are very fun and good for multiplayer.