Console purchasing advice - for my 8 year old nephew.....

[Daniel1]

My nephew turns 8 on Sunday and his mum and i have agreed that i can buy him a console of some sort.

Hes not new to video games - he has a nintendo 3DS - but this will be his first console.

My first thought was to buy him a PS3. I have a PS3 and loads and loads of games so my thinking was he could use/borrow/have some of them till he builds his own collection. My only worry is that all of his friends will be either xbox 360 owners or will soon move on to xbox ones or PS4. Im not planning to buy him another console in 6 months time "cos all the cool kids have moved on".

Does anyone have any advice? Do any of you have 8 years olds and know what the current cool thing is regarding consoles?

I dont want to seem like the old fart uncle who doesnt know whats "cool".

Over to you.....

[Aphex]

PC or Xbox for Minecraft I would have thought

[paul99]

Neither the Xbone or the ps4 have many young kids titles at the moment unless they like sports games. Games are also mega pricey but you can pick up 360/ps3 games for next to nothing.

[MysteryLemon]

Xbox 360. Would be better if he can trade games with his mates, plus he'll want to play online with his mates and wont be able to if none of them have PS3s.

Plenty of life left in either the PS3 or 360 though... Don't be put off by the new consoles just yet. I would give it a year or two for people to really start switching when the prices become sensible.

[chris1roll]

My wife works in a primary school. Most of them still play the PS2!
So i wouldnt worry about a PS3 being old hat.

Of course there will always bé 1 who has the latest tech as soon as it comes out, leave em to it.
My daughter is 5, shes equally happy playing the DS, the PS3, or the N64, but her favourite is to watch me play super metroid.

[ClaphamGT3]

I must be living in some Victorian alternate reality - my elder daughter is six and a half and she wouldn't know what any of these things were, let alone how to use one and nor would any of her friends!

[NewNameNeeded]

ClaphamGT3 said:

I must be living in some Victorian alternate reality - my elder daughter is six and a half and she wouldn't know what any of these things were, let alone how to use one and nor would any of her friends!

There's your explanation

[MarvGTI]

Original Wii is superb for kids - loads.of easily playable and kid friendly games, motion playing etc. It's got Mario, fachrissakes.

Unsure about the WiiU, I don't know anyone who's got one and in general, it seems less... fun than the original.

Also keeps it in the Nintendo family.

[eybic]

MarvGTI said:

Original Wii is superb for kids - loads.of easily playable and kid friendly games, motion playing etc. It's got Mario, fachrissakes.

Unsure about the WiiU, I don't know anyone who's got one and in general, it seems less... fun than the original.

Also keeps it in the Nintendo family.

I don think the wii is being made any more.

[ZesPak]

eybic said:

I don think the wii is being made any more.

OP never said anything about buying new, did he?

The Wii, X360 and PS3 can all be had for little money with a collection of games from early adopters who went for the next gen. If budget was cramped, I'd do the same for a PS2 or Xbox. Watch out for PS2 controllers as they can easily be faulty though.

[djfaulkner]

We got a Wii U for our little boy's 7th birthday.
Some of games can be played on the gamepad only, so he doesn't have to hog the TV

We did think about a PS4, but as mentioned not many kid friendly games out for it.

[Birdster]

Depends how much you want to spend and if he's only sticking to suitable age related games. If he's going to stick to them then a second hand PS3 slim, or 360 slim would be a good bet from Game, or CEX if bought carefully. Phtm

Oty of suitable games at great used prices and even if he wants adult material GTA etc is available.

If you want to buy new and he wants to play the latest driving games and COD etc then it may be worthwhile investing in one of the next gen machines.

To summarise age related content and happy to buy used then PS3/360.

Any games and new then Xbox One/PS4

360 Titanfall bundle at £250

http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber...

Xbox One Titanfall bundle at £400

http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber...

For £150 more it seems an obvious choice.

Othwerise you can pick up a 360 250GB new with Halo and For a Horizons for £190

http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber...

Or a pre owned console.

http://www.game.co.uk/en/m/xbox-360-250gb-console-...

Edited by Birdster on Monday 12th May 21:37

[Negative Creep]

Birdster said:

Depends how much you want to spend and if he's only sticking to suitable age related games. If he's going to stick to them then a second hand PS3 slim, or 360 slim would be a good bet from Game, or CEX if bought carefully. Phtm

Oty of suitable games at great used prices and even if he wants adult material GTA etc is available.

If you want to buy new and he wants to play the latest driving games and COD etc then it may be worthwhile investing in one of the next gen machines.

To summarise age related content and happy to buy used then PS3/360.

Any games and new then Xbox One/PS4

360 Titanfall bundle at £250

http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber...

Xbox One Titanfall bundle at £400

http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber...

For £150 more it seems an obvious choice.

Othwerise you can pick up a 360 250GB new with Halo and For a Horizons for £190

http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber...

Or a pre owned console.

http://www.game.co.uk/en/m/xbox-360-250gb-console-...

Edited by Birdster on Monday 12th May 21:37

You'd bet happy to let an 8 year old play GTA and COD?

[Birdster]

Negative Creep said:

Birdster said:

Depends how much you want to spend and if he's only sticking to suitable age related games. If he's going to stick to them then a second hand PS3 slim, or 360 slim would be a good bet from Game, or CEX if bought carefully. Phtm

Oty of suitable games at great used prices and even if he wants adult material GTA etc is available.

If you want to buy new and he wants to play the latest driving games and COD etc then it may be worthwhile investing in one of the next gen machines.

To summarise age related content and happy to buy used then PS3/360.

Any games and new then Xbox One/PS4

360 Titanfall bundle at £250

http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber...

Xbox One Titanfall bundle at £400

http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber...

For £150 more it seems an obvious choice.

Othwerise you can pick up a 360 250GB new with Halo and For a Horizons for £190

http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber...

Or a pre owned console.

http://www.game.co.uk/en/m/xbox-360-250gb-console-...

Edited by Birdster on Monday 12th May 21:37

You'd bet happy to let an 8 year old play GTA and COD?

Sigh....

I never said that in my origins post, but below I'll explain my thoughts. I gave advice covering both bases. Some parents are happy to let their children play these games. Some are not. It's not for me to decide for the OP and I don't have the information to hand regarding the content that the child in question will be playing.

To advise the OP to buy the last generation console for age related games when that might not be what he is doing is not great advice. If we are realistic about this most children will have exposure to these games either through school friends, or older brothers etc. So it is possible that the OP is happy for his nephew to play these games and supervised I see no harm in an 8 year old playing GTA if he just wants to drive cars and fly helicopters. Some of the missions perhaps not. I know of one child of a family friend who plays the game in this manner and all he does is fly around and drive around seeing where he can go and what he can do. Completely harmless. His mother prefers him to play it in front of her, rather than around a friend's house who parents just leave their child in front of the TV. We could have a long debate about 18 rated content. However I think sensible parenting and a bit of common sense will prevail.

OP sorry for going OT, I hope that my advice is of some help and I'll say no more on the matter unless its about consoles/games.

I feel that my advice stands and will help the OP make a decision based on the above.

Edited by Birdster on Monday 12th May 23:09

[MyNameIsNotBob]

Birdster said:

Sigh....

I never said that in my origins post, but below I'll explain my thoughts. I gave advice covering both bases. Some parents are happy to let their children play these games. Some are not. It's not for me to decide for the OP and I don't have the information to hand regarding the content that the child in question will be playing.

To advise the OP to buy the last generation console for age related games when that might not be what he is doing is not great advice. If we are realistic about this most children will have exposure to these games either through school friends, or older brothers etc. So it is possible that the OP is happy for his nephew to play these games and supervised I see no harm in an 8 year old playing GTA if he just wants to drive cars and fly helicopters. Some of the missions perhaps not. I know of one child of a family friend who plays the game in this manner and all he does is fly around and drive around seeing where he can go and what he can do. Completely harmless. His mother prefers him to play it in front of her, rather than around a friend's house who parents just leave their child in front of the TV. We could have a long debate about 18 rated content. However I think sensible parenting and a bit of common sense will prevail.

OP sorry for going OT, I hope that my advice is of some help and I'll say no more on the matter unless its about consoles/games.

I feel that my advice stands and will help the OP make a decision based on the above.

Edited by Birdster on Monday 12th May 23:09

Nicely done

[Daniel1]

Thanks to everyone who replied.

It's a bit out of date now for this thread but ended up with a PS3 bundle from game. Motorstorm pacific risk for general thrashing and crashing, ratchet and clank crack in time for plat forming, uncharted for adventure and Lego movie because it's great

Plus he's got access to most of my "parent" approved games, stuff like force unleashed 1 & 2 and ratchet and clank tools of destruction. He's pretty eager to get access to assassins creed 2 and onwards but his parents aren't keen, despite him telling me he secretly played the ps3 demo AC Liberations (as per your point of GTA) and loved it.

It amazing how quickly they pick it up but it's also funny how you take things for granted, such as shouting "press square!" Forgetting he doesn't instinctively know where it is.

Thanks for all your help, though.

[Birdster]

Sounds like a great choice. Some cracking games as well so he will be well occupied.

CEX can be a minefield, but you can pick up some bargain games. Just ask to see the disk before handing over the cash and it can be a great place to pick up games for a good price.