UKC

My 6 year old has asked Santa for a Nintendo DS. I'm totally ignorant on the subject of such things.

What are the pros and cons of different consuls: Nintendo DS, XBox, PS, Wii etc.

And seeing as he recently managed to get himself a free laptop is there any point in getting a games consul at all? Would it be more sensible to just stick an software emulator in that and get the games via bittorrent? How well do such emulators work?

cheers

In reply to stp:

Keep them busy on car journeys etc. You wont get the "but all my friends have one", because they probably all do.

The DS is great as it is so portable, which makes it a world away from a pc/laptop and the usual TV based consoles. The games you can get will entertain both you and your son. It is likely to get dropped a lot by a 6 year old and potentially break.

It's amazing, i felt really grown up when i got a Sega Megadrive at 12. I've seen kids these days as young as 4 playing contently on a DS.

In reply to stp:

My daughter recently bought a DSi and it’s been an absolute godsend. Long car journeys are so much less stressful because she’ll get stuck in to a game for a couple of hours. It’s also got a built in camera and can connect to a wireless network so they can play games online. If he has friends with a DS or DSi then they can play together using the WiFi. It also means birthday and Xmas gifts are easy to think of as there’s always a new game that they’re after!

In reply to stp: My son says so...all his mates have XBox 360s so he must have one...they play games together over the internet, I think via a dedicated website. I'll find out tomorrow on his birthday (he's 13)

In reply to stp:

Would involve quite a ramble to explain, but basically it's a different experience. Partly because the majority of games on each platform are geared towards slightly different audiences, partly just the difference between sitting down at a desk (laptops suck for gaming) or sitting on the couch with a duvey and brew playing on a big tv with a control pad

In reply to stp:

A DS is a hand held thingy. Superb for car journeys and camping holidays - make sure you get a car charger with it. Restrict use when driving through dramatic scenery though!

Get a pack of games that they can play together - the DS can communicate with other kid's DSs. Mario Cart is one such which one kid can have and the others can connect to and "download" to their DS. We went on holiday and it was a great ice breaker. 6 kids can play together, and as they sit in a circle they chat and communicate verbally about who is beating whom etc.

Worth every penny. The DS is the most popular, and thus the one most likely to have kids nearby to connect with.

In reply to stp:

In the old days when the games republic was alive and well the games consuls were the highest magistrates and served as the heads of gameland.

Unfortunately since the empire was established their importance has waned, and their role has become largely symbolic. My advice is to pass on the consuls entirely unless you feel willing and able to overthrow the imperial power structure and restore the republic to power, in which case you will need 2 of them.

HTH.

In reply to stp:
A computer is a multi purpose machine that does everything with various forms of success. a games machine does one thing, brilliantly!
The 360 is the benchmark IMO, the PS3 is great if you will use the bluray DVD player on it.
The PSP is a bit flash and costly for a 6 YO, the DSI is something you'll have to ask yourself 'is it worth the extra money for a crap built-in camera?' The bog standard Nintendo DS is superb value for money. There are some quite good educational games out there as well. My daughter is 5 and she's had one for 6 months, she loves the cooking mama and Dora/Diego games.
<if you are bittorrent savvy look at an R4 cartridge or similar. £20 for an R4 + 1 gig card, 25 games from the torrent sites and away you go. Not that i condone such things though>

In reply to davidbeynon:


A master and an apprentice? Your post elicited a virtual giggle.

In reply to quadmyre:

I was introduced to them last week while babysitting, never seen one before.

I was writing go to bed to the 9 year old on one and she was saying no, so, master and disobedient apprentice.