Wii vs Kinect

I'm pondering getting myself a new games console. If I were to do so, it'd have to be something that both I and my 5-year old daughter could play on. But at the moment I'm not sure whether I should be going for a Wii or XBox 360 with Kinect (as far as I understand in PS3 with Move isn't much good for little ones).

Some pertinent bits of information:

* I know nothing about the current games market or what's available. Personally I tend to go for FPS, RPG and strategy games. I've no idea what daughter might like but it would probably involve princesses, ballerinas or fairies. If any system had a game in which you could model swordplay by motion control it'd probably be an instant sell - I'd love that. On the other hand the next instalment of my favourite game series of all time - Brothers In Arms - is only on Xbox/PS3.

* I don't own an HD TV and have no particular plans to buy one. A little concerned this would impair my enjoyment of the graphics on a 360.

* On the other hand I would most certainly make use of the media center functions that the 360 offers.

* I don't know which would be easier for a 5-year old to use. Waving your arms around in front of the Kinect or the Wii-remote. This is about ease of play as well as ease of use - it's no good if the Kinect is easy to actually *activate* but is terribly difficult to master in terms of playing a game, due to the lag between action and on-screen effect for example.

* At first, the £150-odd saving is a big plus in favour of the Wii. However by the time you've bought an extra controller and maybe some peripherals like a dance mat for the little girl that's going to start eating into that saving. I kind of figure that the Kinect is going to save me ever having to buy another peripheral again - is that realistic?

Personally I'm weighing down in favour of the XBox. But that's *my* view and the child-friendliness is very important - probably the most important factor.

Thoughts?

not having a HD TV won't impair your enjoyment of graphics. Owning a Wii would impair your enjoyment of graphics.

A wiimote is much more complicated for a kid than waving your arms and being forced to use your imagination a ton (this is a great thing for kids). Wii is also fully developped so we've seen what they've been able to do and it isn't much. Kinect is just getting started and it's already amazing. Microsoft has been clear that Kinect is primarily geared for kids and will continue to support software towards that aim so you don't have to worry about running out of games.

YOU will also like the 360 much much better if that helps. Every Wii I know (about a dozen) is on the shelf gathering dust when it's in a house full of kids even. Kinects come alive at parties and you and your kid will want to play with friends.

The Kinect Adventures game alone that comes with the Kinect is a big hit with kids and there are many more. You (as an adult) would really like Dance Central, it's a great party game.

actually, not having a HD tv does affect 360 graphics, in certain games. I don't remember which ones specifically, but i have read in reviews here and there certain things(text especially) do not show up clearly unless you have an HDTV.

saying that, i played 360 for most of a year while I was in Iraq on a dinky little tv with very little problems.

as for the Wii. I don't care for the games, mine is sitting getting dust, but my kids aren't old enough yet to care. my friends have kids ranging from 10-3 and theirs gets played alot. they don't have another console.

I know nothing about the kinect.

Black Barney wrote:

A wiimote is much more complicated for a kid than waving your arms and being forced to use your imagination a ton (this is a great thing for kids). Wii is also fully developped so we've seen what they've been able to do and it isn't much. Kinect is just getting started and it's already amazing. Microsoft has been clear that Kinect is primarily geared for kids and will continue to support software towards that aim so you don't have to worry about running out of games.

YOU will also like the 360 much much better if that helps. Every Wii I know (about a dozen) is on the shelf gathering dust when it's in a house full of kids even. Kinects come alive at parties and you and your kid will want to play with friends.

Geez, Barney. Show on the doll where the Wii touched you.

Seriously though, I'm very happy with my Wii, and I'm the only one in the house who uses it for anything beyond Netflix viewing (which you can also do on XBox, but not for free).

The Xbox is a great system, but just thought I'd put in my two cents that the Wii isn't automatically a paperweight.

I have a Wii as well and I'm quite happy with it. I would describe myself as a casual gamer and I have two kids, one almost 4. If he could he would probably play all the time and many of the dexterity games are a lot of fun (for him and the grown-ups), although 4y is a bit early for most of the games. Wii Sports Ressort, Wii Fit Plus (need to invest in the Wii Board to play this one) and Wii Sports for example have a lot of nice games. I'm sure your kid would like it.

I have no idea about Kinect, but I would assume that you yourself would be able to play more games on the Xbox than the Wii. Maybe you can borrow yourself a Wii from a friend and see how you like it? That's probably the best way to decide.

My Wii gets exceptionally heavy use by my three boys, 10, 8, and 8. Between Pokemon and Mario there are killer titles on Wii for boys. My daughter (14) never gives it a second glance. Scratch that -- she and my wife play the dance titles. But those are available on Xbox as well.

I'd get the Kinect for a girl, but honestly, for the same money you could knock a 5yo girl's socks off with riding lessons on Saturday mornings. Each disk you drop in that pup is gonna cost you fifty. Just a thought.

S.

I'll throw another vote the Wii's way for kid friendliness. My 10 year old son plays the hell out of Mario and other games. He loves the Wii Fit board for dexterity stuff. I like Mario and also enjoy the cheap old school Nintendo downloads that are available. I've never been an emulator guy, so this is great for me.

I don't disagree that you would probably like the 360, but the Wii is cheaper and probably better for your daughter.

I actually have both.

The Xbox360 gets the bulk of use, mostly thanks to the great library of proper gamer games and the media streaming aspects. The downloadable game library is stunning, and there is an Indie game channel with some GREAT stuff for $1-$5. A lot of twin-stick shooters, the occasional rogue-like or old school JRPG.

The daughter is the tricky bit. There are tons and tons of kid-friendly Wii-mote games. Most are terrible to truly awful. In particular, the Wii's actual motion is very dodgy. It contains a limited accelerometer which can sort of sense orientation, and an infrared pointer system which works flawlessly.

The Kinect is...just amazing technically. There is a slight lag and it is occasionally twitchy, but the way in which you are mapped onto the screen even for the early launch titles is really engrossing. So far the best game is the pack-in Kinect Adventures, but Kinectimals with a faux pet tiger might do the trick. Dance Central and Dance Masters are quite good with the whole motion thing. Thing is there aren't a lot of Kinect games out so far. So many of the kid games are old school controllers for now.

The downside of the Kinect is that it needs a ton of space: A nice cone extending out to about 8 feet in front of the TV. We fit ours in by angling the sensor.

As to the sword hacking....The best is the Wii Sports Resort which add a 2 player fencing game. But you need the add-on accelerometer package and a second one. There is also an adorable early Wii game based on DragonQuest where you wave the Wiimote around randomly and sort of slash at things. I'm still not thinking that either REALLY feels like you are controlling a sword. I bet Kinect can pull off something better.

wdgrant wrote:

I'll throw another vote the Wii's way for kid friendliness. My 10 year old son plays the hell out of Mario and other games. He loves the Wii Fit board for dexterity stuff. I like Mario and also enjoy the cheap old school Nintendo downloads that are available. I've never been an emulator guy, so this is great for me.

I don't disagree that you would probably like the 360, but the Wii is cheaper and probably better for your daughter.

Heck, I probably play more Mario than anyone else I know in my area.

I totally forgot about the space limitations of the Kinect. If you don't have a room that is suitable for it, get the Wii (this is the problem I have, i have nowhere that I can use a Kinect properly in my house). You need to be standing 6-8 feet AWAY from the tv for it to work perfectly (this is SUPER important)

another fun thing about Kinect; your kid can get the pet they always wanted and you don't have to pick up the p00p of a Kinectimal, you can just turn the tv off.

Yeah, Wii is overwhelmingly better for kids. I honestly wouldn't know what to get a 5yo girl on the 360.

You mentioned swords - watch out for Zelda: Skyward Sword out later this year on Wii. For jRPGs, they're about tied - for wRPGs and FPSs, 360 wins. Honestly, it depends on if you're really okay with skipping a lot of grown-up content for the sake of having more quality games for your kid.

Stormcow wrote:

Yeah, Wii is overwhelmingly better for kids. I honestly wouldn't know what to get a 5yo girl on the 360.

exactly. You don't know what to get a 5-yr old girl on the 360. Which makes it weird that you're saying the Wii is better when you don't know what the 360, KINECT-specfically, offers.

Someone earlier had the best suggestion of all, try to see if you can try out both systems and see which your girl likes or something. You must know someone with a Wii and someone else with Kinect? Kinect is still new and they are showcasing Kinect everywhere.

Wii has more quality titles for kids? wot? The two super mario galaxy titles are the only great ones I think.

anyway, try out both if you can

Black Barney wrote:

Wii has more quality titles for kids? wot? The two super mario galaxy titles are the only great ones I think.

You got kids Barney?

yeah one, but she's too young to play. I have lots of kids in my family and they all have wiis and they all connect dust. My friends with kids all have kinects and they won't shut up about it.

360 has some cute non-kinect games for kids too like that thing that puts you in the movies is a big hit.

But I hate talking about this stuff in a micro-sense cuz what my cousins do with their wii shouldn't really speak to the population. I'm trying to give more big-picture advice for our friend and kinect will mean you kids will have friends who want to come over to play kinect with them.

if I had kinect in high school, for instance, i'd have had more dates. I hear Dance Central attracts girls to your house like nothing else

Black Barney wrote:

I totally forgot about the space limitations of the Kinect. If you don't have a room that is suitable for it, get the Wii (this is the problem I have, i have nowhere that I can use a Kinect properly in my house). You need to be standing 6-8 feet AWAY from the tv for it to work perfectly (this is SUPER important)

OK, that's a very useful piece of information. My living room is not tiny but that seems like a pretty big distance to have to accommodate - especially in old-fashioned, old-world houses which don't have open plan living areas. I'll measure up when I get home and see.

In terms of trying them I have a friend who has a Wii. I think his whole family is bored of it now, but they certainly got a lot of mileage out of it since they got it not long after release. He has two boys that I've seen playing on it - I'll have to ask him how his daughter liked it. I don't know anyone with a Xbox 360 let alone a Kinect, and I'm not going to be able to get into town to "demo" one either I shouldn't think.

But thanks for the opinions so far, it's all useful. Perhaps I should hang fire for now and see what else comes out for the Kinect.

Another small point - in terms of downloadable software, does either platform have an edge in strategy games or board games? That sort of thing is few and far between in big commercial titles, but I'd love to be able to play some.