Wii vs Kinect

MattDP wrote:

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.

Yeah, make sure you have the proper space for Kinect (check the specs) before buying it. It's the only regret people seem to have buying Kinect is when it doesn't work cuz their room is too small or too dark.

Ok, onto your awesome question regarding strategy games or board games:

Here's the skinny:

360 strategy games that are great:
Plants v Zombies
Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (fun for a few weeks)
a bunch of tower defence games if you like that, a don't but people love Defense Grid
some RTS games like Halo Wars, C&C3, LOTR
Toy Soliders (ask Barnes)
AND the INDIE library which has very small downloadable games and some are fantastic such as Tank Strike, Ancient Trader, etc.

360 board games that are great:
Battle vs Chess
Catan (awesome)
Uno
Hasbro Family Game Night
Carcassonne
Scrabble
Uno Rush
Chessmaster Live
Yahtzee
Sorry
Ticket to Ride
(I hear Talisman is coming)

Wii strategy games that are great:
Airport Manis: First Flight (SO AWESOME)
Little King's Story
New Play Control Pikmin 2
Swords and Soliders
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles My Life as a King


Wii board games that are good:
Solitaire
Wii Chess
Cranium Kabookii
Monopoly
Monopoly Streets
Trivial Pursuit
Hasbro Family Game Night


I'm not listing all of them cuz it'll take too long but I figure I'd shout out on the good ones...

now tell everybody Matt that I was the most helpful and wins the thread

Black Barney wrote:

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

Man, I wouldn't even give Galaxy to a 5yo girl, but a side scroller like NSMB is great. Also, you're forgetting the girly stuff like Cooking Mama, Littlest Pet Shop... what does 360/Kinect offer in that department?

FWIW, I agree that if this was just for Matt, he'd enjoy the 360 more.

Black Barney wrote:

now tell everybody Matt that I was the most helpful and wins the thread

That was brilliantly helpful, but there's no way I'm handing out a win to someone with such terrible grammar.

my 25-yr old buddy who is on the welfare is a Cooking Mama nut!

Kinect offers more girly software than they do Boyish titles or adult titles.

What's NSMB again? ah new super mario, yes.

I just find wiimote and controllers in general to be highly advanced for young young kids whereas Kinect lets them pretend to be petting their pet tiger or jumping to pretend to get over a waterfall and all of that is very similar to actual healthy playtime. They can do it with their friend, or their mommy or daddy or sibling. I just find Kinect good healthy interactive and ACTIVE entertainment. I like that more than plopping them down in front of, say, 4 hours of Pixar films or something.

I think 360 offers next to nothing for a 5-yr old girl and that's one reason they launched Kinect cuz those games (most of them) are really geared towards kids.

Other than that, 360 has stuff like Viva Pinata which is great but maybe too advanced? But it's a really strong game. I wonder if the Rock Band stuff eventually becomes ok for kids. I dunno.

And I'm probably discounting Dance Central's appeal to kids too.

MattDP wrote:

Black Barney wrote:

now tell everybody Matt that I was the most helpful and wins the thread

That was brilliantly helpful, but there's no way I'm handing out a win to someone with such terrible grammar.

lol, if only my mom had bought me scrabble for the 360 when I was a kid!

And don't discount how much fun you'll have playing trivia games like Trivial Pursuit and You Don't Know Jack against your little kid and DESTROYING them and trash-talking them the entire time a-la-Call-of-Duty.

HAHA, no, the capital of Indonesia isn't Breakfast, YOU IDIOT

Black Barney wrote:

HAHA, no, the capital of Indonesia isn't Breakfast, YOU IDIOT

OK. For this, you win.

I have both as well, and I like them both. I also have kids: 7 year old girl, 5.5 year old boy, 2.5 year old girl... and one on the way.

I don't think my kids even know the Xbox turns on. That machine is for me. It is awesome, but it's not for kids. I don't have a Kinect, but it looks like an attempt to get more family interested in the Xbox and seems to be working. The whole interface for the Xbox is not for kids--the menu system is frenetic, there are often ads of HALO or BLACK OPS or whatever other violence is a la mode. I think you can get it to boot right into a game, Barney might know more. But it's a machine for grownups with some kids titles.

The Wii, by contrast, is for kids. The controllers, such as they are, are MUCH smaller. My daughter tries to waggle her way around in SUPER MARIO GALAXY 2, which is as complicated a control scheme as you can get and she does a passable job. She does a great job with WII SPORTS and MARIO KART WII though.

I would look at the TCO for a year on these systems. Assume you'll buy three games and the necessary peripherals. If you are going to use the Xbox as a media center, you'll want Gold membership. I think you get 3 mos free, and can find another year on the cheap by looking around. I have to do this in USD...

Xbox Slim 250GB with Kinect and KINECTANIMALS: $400
Xbox Live Gold (9 mos @ $40/year): $30
Three first run titles: $150
---Total: $580


Wii Bundle with WII SPORTS and WII SPORTS RESORT: $200
FLINGSMASH with extra WiiMote Plus: $30 (almost always cheaper to get with a game)
Extra nunchuk: $18
Three first run titles: $135
---Total: $383

Closer than I thought! But the Xbox only has one real controller--that'd be another ~$35 if you wanted to couch co-op at some point. You have 6 games with the Wii versus 4 with the Xbox, but the HUGE ease of getting demos on the Xbox makes this moot.

Xbox 360 assumes you've got at least 720p. It will obviously play on any TV, but you'll be punished when trying to read subtitles on some grown-up games.

If you are buying it for you, and you want your daughter to play sometimes, get an Xbox. It is amazing. If you are buying it for her, get a Wii. You'll still have fun, but you are not the target demographic.

jeb wrote:

If you are buying it for you, and you want your daughter to play sometimes, get an Xbox. It is amazing. If you are buying it for her, get a Wii. You'll still have fun, but you are not the target demographic.

Nice one. You've summed up my dilemma in a nutshell - this is actually what the decision is all about and that's a huge help to focus.

You also win.

Both consoles get a ton of licensed shovelware kid games. The Wii has a lot more of it, and there is often some kind of vague waggle the remote aspect to it.

If you can manage the space, I'm still thinking Kinect is the best option. Kinectimals seems to be pretty much designed exactly for a 5 year old girl.

Yes, Jeb wins.

I have two boys, 8 and 5. We have a Wii. The 8yr plays the hell out of it, the 5yr (newly 5) is just getting his feet wet. They played a lot of Kirby's Epic Yarn together. The older one has enjoyed SMG2, all the Lego games (not exclusives of course), the sports games, some Guitar Hero, etc, etc.

It's a great kids machine, hands-down. As far as adults, if you're an occasional player like me, the Wii is enough. If you're a heavy video-gamer like Barnes or Barney (which doesn't seem to be the case or you wouldn't be asking), the 360 is a much better gaming platform for big kids.

I don't think anybody really knows how the Kinect stuff is going to work out long term, and where developers will go with it. The same question was said about the Wii, and there was a serious lag of quality titles while developers worked out to how use the new features.

Buying a Wii now is a waste of money, the flat truth. Not because your kids won't have fun with it, but because they'll be wanting the new one within a year if my predictions are correct.

Nintendo has pretty much cleared the release schedule of Wii titles, there is literally _nothing_ coming out for it beyond shovelware from now until...E3, when they announce the next-gen Wii either for Holiday 2011 (not really likely) or Q1 2012 (very likely). Expect it to be backwards compatible, too.

If this isn't the scenario, then I would _completely_ expect to see an upgraded Wii platform shown at E3, something with full HD, better online capabilities, and some new features.

Mark my words- the new Wii Zelda game, Skyward Sword, will be re-announced as a launch title for the new console.

Kinect is a dicey proposition. They didn't have many developers on board with it, it had a big launch and it's by all accounts a success. But it released six months ago, and I think there's been like two or three new titles released for it in that period. Again, after E3 I think we'll see more for it.

I'll say this...in reality, the 360 is the more versatile console in every way. There's TONS of kids' stuff on it, but there's also TONS of adult stuff too and everything in between. Additionally, the Wii was dated hardware when it released in 2006...the 360 released in 2005 and it's _still_ industry standard.

I agree that the 360 doesn't have tons of kid stuff but KINECT does (you almost have to treat it like a console). Jeb made one error that I see lots of people make when they compare the systems. The knock the 360 for not enough controllers. Don't forget that KINECT IS the controller x4. 2-4 people can use it at once so you don't need controllers anymore. You turn on and off the xbox and go through menus all with Kinect.

Also Jeb is right that you can set your 360 to FAMILY appropriate. When you do that, it doesn't send you to the dashboard the rest of us are used to. You can either get it to go right to game, right to KINECT navigation menu or right to FAMILY dashboard. Family dashboard doesn't let you get to Zune or other adult-oriented stuff.

Tons of family settings for 360 including time allowances for each kid's profile on how much they can play per day, per week, etc. You can ban content for those profiles too.

Anyway, a 5-yr old girl will be able to turn on the new 360 by saying "XBOX ON"

awesome.

Claim Chowder!

Nintendo has pretty much cleared the release schedule of Wii titles, there is literally _nothing_ coming out for it beyond shovelware from now until...E3, when they announce the next-gen Wii either for Holiday 2011 (not really likely) or Q1 2012 (very likely). Expect it to be backwards compatible, too.

I am putting this on the calendar.

I'll lay down money on it. Nintendo just released their Q2 lineup, and other than The Conduit 2 (releasing today, as if anyone cares) there is literally NOTHING other than summer movie tie-ins (I'm pretty sure there's a "Hop" game in there) and some other no-count fare.

It fits a similar pattern that occurs at the end of all of their consoles' lifecycles. The lynchpin to me is Skyward Sword...they showed it last year, but it was clearly in pre-alpha stages and there hasn't been a peep about it since...because it's been redeveloped to be a Wii 2 title, with a Wii legacy version to follow. Just like Twilight Princess.

I would be really surprised if Wii 2 or whatever they call it ("Dolphin"?) hits this Christmas, but stranger things have happened...like when Sega announced and shipped the Saturn...on the same freaking day at E3.

Oh yeah? Says Who!