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NickTB

NickTB

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Hi all.
I have 3 children, 8-5 and 5. The twins want a console for their birthday. They have the money from gifts. Being a non gamer I’m unsure what to get them. Will need two controllers and age appropriate games. Any bundles out there that I can look for? I know zero about consoles! I’m liking the idea of them to help with hand eye coordination etc.

Thanks in advance,
Nick
 
The title says XBox, but also consider the PS4. It will come down to what their friends have most of the time, which may be why you have said XBox.

As for games, is their anything they particularly want, again, maybe because of their friends, and then there may be offers on with particular games and console. Some games are only on specific consoles. The driving game Gran Turismo is only on Playstation, and the driving game Forza Motorsport is only on XBox. There are other examples for each console. Most of the bigger games are on both consoles, but maybe not be able to played with a friend (online) with the same game, on a different console.

You may already be aware, but you only get the most out of some games with an internet connection, and the internet will be needed for game and console updates too. I think the PS4 and XBox both have built in WiFi, so no need for wired connections. Unless you don't have WiFi of course. ;) Most games need to be updated the first time they play them, and will continue to recieve updates, either fixing bugs, or adding extra content. Some extra content may have to be paid for too. Depending on what games they get into, and if they want to play with their friends, there may also be a subscription with Microsoft (XBox) or Sony (PS4) needed to play online games.

Video games can be a bit more complicated and expensive than it used to be. That said, for the time being at least, lots of very cheap used games can be had to bulk up a library. I say for the time being, as there are a few physical games shops left trading in used games before the shift to game downloads. I have had every Playstation, but didn't get the PS4 until a few years in, and there were a lot of cheap games available S/H.

If you are aware of all of that, then I was just trying to help. ;)
 
redhed17 said:
The title says XBox, but also consider the PS4. It will come down to what their friends have most of the time, which may be why you have said XBox.

As for games, is their anything they particularly want, again, maybe because of their friends, and then there may be offers on with particular games and console. Some games are only on specific consoles. The driving game Gran Turismo is only on Playstation, and the driving game Forza Motorsport is only on XBox. There are other examples for each console. Most of the bigger games are on both consoles, but maybe not be able to played with a friend (online) with the same game, on a different console.

You may already be aware, but you only get the most out of some games with an internet connection, and the internet will be needed for game and console updates too. I think the PS4 and XBox both have built in WiFi, so no need for wired connections. Unless you don't have WiFi of course. ;) Most games need to be updated the first time they play them, and will continue to recieve updates, either fixing bugs, or adding extra content. Some extra content may have to be paid for too. Depending on what games they get into, and if they want to play with their friends, there may also be a subscription with Microsoft (XBox) or Sony (PS4) needed to play online games.

Video games can be a bit more complicated and expensive than it used to be. That said, for the time being at least, lots of very cheap used games can be had to bulk up a library. I say for the time being, as there are a few physical games shops left trading in used games before the shift to game downloads. I have had every Playstation, but didn't get the PS4 until a few years in, and there were a lot of cheap games available S/H.

If you are aware of all of that, then I was just trying to help. ;)
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Great and in depth answer-thank you.
I actually meant to put PS4 too, so thanks for the heads up. As I’m coming in from the ground up so to speak, I’m not tied to any particular platform. I just want them to be able to enjoy some age appropriate games and maybe something educational too (does that even exist in consoles?!) I’m looking at PS4s now and they’re pretty similar
 
Just out of interest, why not a Nintendo Switch? Games are more age appropriate, and they can take it on the go (back of the car etc). They also have games that are for the older ones too :)
My daughter has just got one and loves it. She`s 18 pmsl
 
Paulie-W said:
Just out of interest, why not a Nintendo Switch? Games are more age appropriate, and they can take it on the go (back of the car etc). They also have games that are for the older ones too :)
My daughter has just got one and loves it. She`s 18 pmsl
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I did consider the switch, but as it will be used by the three of them, we couldn’t take it out and use it on the go. Hence why we’re looking at the the other two. One console between three kids is a nightmare in the making!
 
I've got an xbox but it was a literal toss up between that and a PS4.

As said above finding out what their friends use is likely to be the big decider.

One tip is hard wire the box to your modem before starting installation downloads.
You are talking 30gig or bigger for modern games - slow wifi and it takes forever.
 
NickTB said:
I did consider the switch, but as it will be used by the three of them, we couldn’t take it out and use it on the go. Hence why we’re looking at the the other two. One console between three kids is a nightmare in the making!
Click to expand...

That`s gonna be a hard one to diplomatically control :) Good luck mate, with what ever one you choose (y)
 
We have an xbox one but our kids (7 and 4) actually get far more use out of the old Nintendo Wii we have. It must be 10 years old but the games are so simple and intuitive for kids. Perhaps not ideal as a present as they're all secondhand now but bundles can often be found with a few games and controllers for not much more than £50.

The xbox does get used by our eldest for minecraft and some of the lego games but the regular controller is a bit too big for her hands and the 4 year old has no chance. You can get smaller controllers but 3 of them would cost you the best part of £100 so it is something you might need to factor in. The kids did love a couple of the kinnect (spl?) games though where they get to jump around the room!

Something that does annoy me about the xbox one (though I admit this might be user error) is that you no longer just stick a disc in, turn it on and play. Because they do so much more now, you have the menu system where you can browse the internet, send messages, spend money on stuff that doesn't exist, control your tv and probably control the street lighting too. You have to log in your user name to play anything (it seems) and games are generally stored locally. All this is great for teenagers+ but it's a pain when your kids want to play something and you have to stop what you're doing for 10 minutes to try to figure out how to get them started. Maybe it's just me being an old fart, my wife seems to find it easy, I keep wanting to buy them a megadrive instead!
 
gad-westy said:
We have an xbox one but our kids (7 and 4) actually get far more use out of the old Nintendo Wii we have. It must be 10 years old but the games are so simple and intuitive for kids. Perhaps not ideal as a present as they're all secondhand now but bundles can often be found with a few games and controllers for not much more than £50.

The xbox does get used by our eldest for minecraft and some of the lego games but the regular controller is a bit too big for her hands and the 4 year old has no chance. You can get smaller controllers but 3 of them would cost you the best part of £100 so it is something you might need to factor in. The kids did love a couple of the kinnect (spl?) games though where they get to jump around the room!

Something that does annoy me about the xbox one (though I admit this might be user error) is that you no longer just stick a disc in, turn it on and play. Because they do so much more now, you have the menu system where you can browse the internet, send messages, spend money on stuff that doesn't exist, control your tv and probably control the street lighting too. You have to log in your user name to play anything (it seems) and games are generally stored locally. All this is great for teenagers+ but it's a pain when your kids want to play something and you have to stop what you're doing for 10 minutes to try to figure out how to get them started. Maybe it's just me being an old fart, my wife seems to find it easy, I keep wanting to buy them a megadrive instead!
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The above is what does worry me. As they are only 5, it would be me doing all the setting up each time they wanted to play a game. I thought you just whacked a CD in and away you went. Obviously I'm an old fart too!
 
We have 2 PS4s, one in my eldest's room and the other in our gaming room. My boys are 15 and 12. When they were younger, one console was ok but as soon as my youngest hit 10, he wanted to play on his own and against his friends.

So, as said above, some of the decision depends upon their peers - they want to play against each other, talk socially etc - don't think it's just gaming.

They can be bought fairly reasonably used and to upgrade the memory is pretty cheap too - I think we went to 2tb for around £130. Games consume a huge amount of memory so buy the biggest storage you can
 
I have both, xbox is by far the main one used, ps4 was free with phone pre order and I only use that for racing games.

Good point above though ref hand size, the default ps4 controller is easier to hold for smaller hands.
 
NickTB said:
I did consider the switch, but as it will be used by the three of them, we couldn’t take it out and use it on the go. Hence why we’re looking at the the other two. One console between three kids is a nightmare in the making!
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Ignore me if you know this already but you don't have to use the switch handheld, the dock plugs into your tv and you can play multiplayer games at home.

There are loads of great Nintendo games that kids that age will love. But on the down side switch is quite expensive.
 
Unicronatron said:
Ignore me if you know this already but you don't have to use the switch handheld, the dock plugs into your tv and you can play multiplayer games at home.

There are loads of great Nintendo games that kids that age will love. But on the down side switch is quite expensive.
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So I can use it on the TV with separate controllers? I’ve looked at the games and they’re definitely more age appropriate
 
I have an xbox one X and and a PS4 pro. I bought the pro first because I wanted to play 4k gaming although the Pro is not a proper 4k machine. I bought the X when it was released for pretty much the same reason, I had an xbox one previously. The pro hardly gets used now, and it probably wont in the near future unless I decide to play through the uncharted games again, or until LOUII is released. As others have said here there's little online compatibility between Sony and MS although that situation is slowly changing, for example I think fortnite allows PS and Xbox players on the same matchplay but that game is pretty much an exception. Sony are dragging their heels over this, but who can blame them, they are by far the largest platform at the moment.
 
NickTB said:
So I can use it on the TV with separate controllers? I’ve looked at the games and they’re definitely more age appropriate
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Yes exactly this. When you're at home you slide the switch into its dock and it works just like a normal console. Then you just remove it from the dock if you want to use it hand held.

You can slide off the control pads on either side of the switch and then either use them as individual controllers for 2 player, or they can be combined into a single, larger control pad (which is a bit easier to use) and then you buy a second controller.
 
I ended up getting an Xbox One S for my son and there's lots of good controls to protect children from unwanted content etc (I'm sure the same can be done on PS).

Here's a couple of things that I discovered and I'm sure most of it will also apply to the PS4 etc:

1. You can simply attach an external hard drive (several in fact) via USB3 for increased storage. Very handy.
2. Create a main adult account under your own name and then you can setup up child family accounts within your account and allows you to fully control what they can access, who they can friend etc, games they can play, times and duration for play (handy to stop them getting up at 5am to sneak down and play) etc
3. You can also setup a child wallet and pre-fund it so they can buy their own stuff with no risk of emptying your own bank account
4. Most of the account stuff can also be controlled on your computer by logging into your Microsoft account via the browser.
5. Gamer headsets plug straight into the wireless controller.
6. You'll need to subscribe to Xbox Live Gold to be able to play multiplayer online. There's always special offers and deals going plus you get two free games a month. Normal price is usually £40 per year
7. I would seriously advice getting Xbox Game Pass as it allows free access to loads of games and will save you a fortune in the long run. It's usually £7.99 per month but again there are normally deals going. Technically the games will eventually drop off and replaced with new titles so you don't keep them forever but by then you are ready to change games anyway.
8. Games which are bought and downloaded (or downloaded via Game Pass will be added to your library and can be played direct. Games which are bought on disc (I'd recommend places like CEX and GAME and get used ones) will still need to be installed but once done they only need the disc inserted for authenticity purposes.
9. Xbox One S has a 4K Bluray player :D and also apps such as NetFlix, YouTube etc.
10. Hook up a sound bar or soundbase. I've got a Panasonic SC-HTE80 connected and it's far better than crappy TV speakers and also means the volume doesn't have to be so high as it's better quality at lower levels. Not relevant when he's using his headset.


My son wanted a Switch as well and whilst it would be handy being able to take it in the car, I'd rather he had a break from gaming when we go out so I'd rather keep his gaming restricted to the gaming room.


Hope this helps a little.
 
gman said:
My son wanted a Switch as well and whilst it would be handy being able to take it in the car, I'd rather he had a break from gaming when we go out so I'd rather keep his gaming restricted to the gaming room.
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'We haven't seen him for two day's, but I'm sure he's OK in his room'. ;) :LOL:

Seriously, I'm sure the OP will be thankful for such an overview of owning the XBox. :)
 
redhed17 said:
'We haven't seen him for two day's, but I'm sure he's OK in his room'. ;) :LOL:
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You know what's scary, he probably would stay in there for two days! lol Well, so long as food was provided. It's crazy how addicted they can get.
 
gman said:
You know what's scary, he probably would stay in there for two days! lol Well, so long as food was provided. It's crazy how addicted they can get.
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I think with this era of consoles it is not addiction as such, but more the social aspect as well. Instead of going out and playing football with friends when I got home from school when I was younger, a lot of kids are coming home and playing games with their friends online, and obviously also people they may only know online too. If they play FIFA as well then it's all gone virtual. :LOL: The health aspect has gone, but you know they are safe at home, and a lot less likely to break windows with balls at home. Swings and roundabouts. ;) :LOL:
 
To add to gman's list, you also get a weekly email reporting their usage down to how long they have played each game, watched YouTube etc.
The parental controls are quite extensive on Xbox, they were also quite robust on PS too when my son had a PS2 years ago, he moved to Xbox as most of his school friends had them.
 
Oh yeah I forgot about that and very handy as it's easy to forget until the email comes in!

Just to add another one as well, the support is pretty good as well as you can live chat straight from your Microsoft account on the pc and get pretty much anything sorted on the spot.
 
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Thank you all for your considered replies. I ended up getting the switch used for £280 plus 4 games and 10 months remaining warranty. It’s a learning curve I can tell you! I think I’ll need some more games for the boys. It came with carnival games and they loved the baseball, mario 8, dance 2019 and mario something or another. Mario 8 also being a hit.
 
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