Wii or PS2
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- cid
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Wii or PS2
My son's birthday is coming up. What would you recommend buying for a 9 and 12 year old?
- noel
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Cid... YOU will LOVE the Wii.
The sports games that come with it, there's some other sporting type game, something called Warrio something or other I played. You'll love it. If you get it, let me know and I'll find out the game names for you. My brother in-law has one, and I got to play it twice. It's a whole new way to game, VERY fun, and you're actually doing stuff. The boxing game is fun. Tennis is fun. I was playing some 3D pool game the other night that was just a small part of a larger game, but nearly like playing 9-ball for real. It's a really impressive system!
The sports games that come with it, there's some other sporting type game, something called Warrio something or other I played. You'll love it. If you get it, let me know and I'll find out the game names for you. My brother in-law has one, and I got to play it twice. It's a whole new way to game, VERY fun, and you're actually doing stuff. The boxing game is fun. Tennis is fun. I was playing some 3D pool game the other night that was just a small part of a larger game, but nearly like playing 9-ball for real. It's a really impressive system!
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- Sylvus
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Are you/they interested in buying or renting lots of games? There are a ton more titles for the PS2 than there are for the Wii, but if they aren't going to have a large library that's less of a concern.
Are you concerned with the content of the games that they are going to be playing? When I think of what games for the PS2 would compel me to want to play it more than the Wii (the GTA franchise, God of War, etc), I'm not sure if I'd let my 9 year-old play them.
I have Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wario Ware Smooth Moves, Zelda... a couple others that I don't currently remember, and I think all of them would be great for kids of that age. Not to mention the Mario game that came out recently, the ability to get downloadable content from the older generations of Nintendo consoles, all of the major sports franchises (like Madden and Tiger Woods)...
I'd lean toward the Wii being perfect for kids that age, but perhaps that's just me.
Are you concerned with the content of the games that they are going to be playing? When I think of what games for the PS2 would compel me to want to play it more than the Wii (the GTA franchise, God of War, etc), I'm not sure if I'd let my 9 year-old play them.
I have Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wario Ware Smooth Moves, Zelda... a couple others that I don't currently remember, and I think all of them would be great for kids of that age. Not to mention the Mario game that came out recently, the ability to get downloadable content from the older generations of Nintendo consoles, all of the major sports franchises (like Madden and Tiger Woods)...
I'd lean toward the Wii being perfect for kids that age, but perhaps that's just me.
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- Dregor Thule
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As it is right now, I'm not impressed with the Wii at all. After playing it some, I think it was 80% hype, 20% innovation. But what developers may do with it in the future, well... there is potential. PS2 is very tried and tested, and the library of games out there is enormous, especially when you factor in PS1 games.
Should also consider either a DS or a Gamecube. Both are pretty friendly for a kid about that age.
Should also consider either a DS or a Gamecube. Both are pretty friendly for a kid about that age.
At this moment I'd say the top pros and cons are:
PS2 - Cheap ($129). Lots of games. Most games oriented towards young adult+. Plays PS1 games(?).
Wii - Not too cheap ($250 plus ~$70 for each extra controller set if you get the nunchuk with it). Not a lot of games. Most games suited for whole family regardless of age. Plays Gamecube games.
PS2 - Cheap ($129). Lots of games. Most games oriented towards young adult+. Plays PS1 games(?).
Wii - Not too cheap ($250 plus ~$70 for each extra controller set if you get the nunchuk with it). Not a lot of games. Most games suited for whole family regardless of age. Plays Gamecube games.
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At that age, I'd say Wii.
PS2 is cheaper but I think kids like to flail their arms around and be more active playing games than adults. Make sure nothing that can be damaged is close to the Wii activity zone!
Just be sure to not let your son enter into manhood without understanding the benefits of a 360 over a PS3. The debate is sure to come up in Junior High or High School! He will be ready to defend himself against the PS3 bullies and have you to thank for it!
PS2 is cheaper but I think kids like to flail their arms around and be more active playing games than adults. Make sure nothing that can be damaged is close to the Wii activity zone!
Just be sure to not let your son enter into manhood without understanding the benefits of a 360 over a PS3. The debate is sure to come up in Junior High or High School! He will be ready to defend himself against the PS3 bullies and have you to thank for it!
- Funkmasterr
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Winnow wrote:At that age, I'd say Wii.
PS2 is cheaper but I think kids like to flail their arms around and be more active playing games than adults. Make sure nothing that can be damaged is close to the Wii activity zone!
Just be sure to not let your son enter into manhood without understanding the benefits of a 360 over a PS3. The debate is sure to come up in Junior High or High School! He will be ready to defend himself against the PS3 bullies and have you to thank for it!


- Waran
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Definitely Wii. There are lots of activity games that the Wii has for kids of that age that you will be one happy parent. Plus all his friends will be jealous and want to come over to play with his Wii...wait a sec, that sounded wrong. 
Wii Play (Which comes with a second controller), Wii Sports (Which comes with the system), Zelda, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Mario Party 8 (When it comes out) are great games I'd recommend for him.
I definitely second Winnow's assessment of your son entering manhood with a 360. There is no option. Don't let him go off to high school without one!
Nintendo DS would be a strong second in portables if you're looking that route too.

Wii Play (Which comes with a second controller), Wii Sports (Which comes with the system), Zelda, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Mario Party 8 (When it comes out) are great games I'd recommend for him.
I definitely second Winnow's assessment of your son entering manhood with a 360. There is no option. Don't let him go off to high school without one!
Nintendo DS would be a strong second in portables if you're looking that route too.
- Jice Virago
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Tough call, but I would say a Wii, if your kids are the kind who like to cock wave their toys around other kids. The PS2 is probably the shrewder choice, but the Wii is more likely to ga ga your kids, in the short term at least.
War is an option whose time has passed. Peace is the only option for the future. At present we occupy a treacherous no-man's-land between peace and war, a time of growing fear that our military might has expanded beyond our capacity to control it and our political differences widened beyond our ability to bridge them. . . .
Short of changing human nature, therefore, the only way to achieve a practical, livable peace in a world of competing nations is to take the profit out of war.
--RICHARD M. NIXON, "REAL PEACE" (1983)
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, represents, in the final analysis, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children."
Dwight Eisenhower
Short of changing human nature, therefore, the only way to achieve a practical, livable peace in a world of competing nations is to take the profit out of war.
--RICHARD M. NIXON, "REAL PEACE" (1983)
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, represents, in the final analysis, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children."
Dwight Eisenhower