Ask Slashdot: Best Console For the Kids This Holiday? 267
First time accepted submitter undulato writes "I've got an aging, fat PS3 with only a couple of games that I still play on it but three kids under 9 who love Skylanders, iPet, Lego whatever etc. We all watch movies on it and it has been pretty much the centre of our entertainment world for a few years now. I've already got a spare HDMI monitor we could use for a screen so my question is — should we go for a new console this Christmas? Just buy another controller or two and a new game or two for PS3 and be done? Or get the still pretty viable Xbox 360, or even plump for a cheap Wii or even a Wii U if we're feeling flush. What do you think?"
"three kids under 9" = Wii / Wii U (Score:5, Informative)
Easiest "Ask Slashdot" ever. More child friendly games are available for Nintendo's platforms than for the PS3 or Xbox 360.
Re:Buy them a soccer ball (Score:4, Informative)
yea cause skateboards are great when there's 2 foot of snow and its -8 outside
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Microsoft on multiple controllers in XInput (Score:4, Informative)
There's tons of great games for the PC but they're 99% one player/machine with mouse and keyboard.
I've been collecting a list of multiplayer-capable games [pineight.com], along with links to other people's lists.
At best you'll get a few console ports who kept the console controller scheme as an option
That or indie games whose developers heed Microsoft's advice that "Applications should support multiple controllers" [microsoft.com] better than the majors do. So does the whole one-machine-per-player mentality on the PC come from a belief that not enough potential customers own multiple USB game controllers and a 20" or bigger monitor? Or is it more a matter of publisher greed [cracked.com]?
Re:Just get some PS3 games imo (Score:5, Informative)
It sounds like they are into the whole casual thing, which if he doesn't wanna get more PS3 games I'd say put together one of those E350 AMD DVD player sized PCs together, slap on Steam, and let the kids go to town.
The AMD APUs use the system memory for video, so if you go that way, get the fastest memory the motherboard can handle (and make sure it's properly recognized in the BIOS). This really does make a difference in maximum frame rates, and the extra cost is peanuts.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)