Consoles - I know nothing

[Dr_Rick]

So, family present for xmas has been raised in discussions and the conclusion is some form of games console. I know I can read specs and reviews but I rather hear experience talk. For a family with youno children is there a clear winner?

[Blib]

The PS4 had the upper hand last time I checked. Your question would be better answered here:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/forum.asp?h=0&a...

[Mr E]

What do their friends have?
Buy that one.

[croyde]

I had this 'dilemma' a couple of months ago. PS4 or xBox One?

In the end a mate who had rushed out to get the One reckoned it wasn't worth paying twice the price of the 360 so I got one of those instead. Games can be had for less than a tenner too.

Eg. SSX (Not a patch btw on the original for PS2) about £17 in the shops, £7.99 on-line.

[andrew_huxtable]

For a family with young children, I would have to say the WII, maybe not even the newest one, lots of fun for the kids and even the adults can get involved really easily

[ZesPak]

Mr E said:

What do their friends have?
Buy that one.

This. If you want power, you want a gaming computer, for a console, look at what their friends have.

[mikef]

I could let you have a Wii, Wii fit board and around 20 kiddie-friendly games for the cost of postage (£30 at a guess)

Great fun, sadly outgrown

[mike9009]

mikef said:

I could let you have a Wii, Wii fit board and around 20 kiddie-friendly games for the cost of postage (£30 at a guess)

Great fun, sadly outgrown

That's a great deal!

OP - I would also suggest a Wii. I am not up-to-date with the latest consoles but my daughter (five year old) loves the Wii - but will not touch my old PS3......

Mike

[mikef]

Actually it's less of a good deal; I exaggerated, there are only 12 Wii games (decent ones mind). The other 20 are Nintendo games, all waiting to go to the charity shop.

2 controllers and 2 nunchucks to compensate

[craste]

Ps4, as little big planet 3 is out next month for the kids and project cars is out for daddy.

Job done.
Next.

[THX]

I was torn between the two but opted for the PS4.

I already have a gaming PC so power between consoles wasn't an issue. The Xbox joypad is pretty cool, with the feedback triggers, but the PS4 will attract more development, I think. Whilst all the 'big' titles will be cross platform, experimental stuff (I.e the really good games) will happen on the PS. Well, more so on the PS.

Obviously I'll get laughed at / abuse for this. It's the internet, after all ; )

[Bullett]

How old are the kids? How many?
Under 7 - Wii
Under 11 - PS3/xbox
Older - PS4/One

In the two older categories I'd get what their mates have. More recent = more expensive and stuff is still coming out for the older systems plus stacks of 2nd hand games.

[TREMAiNE]

I bought an Xbox One and Playstation 4 back in September and heres what I think of each so far (just the consoles themselves, not the games):

Xbox One

The good:

• The controller is great, though not as great as the X360's
• The UI looks good and is easy to navigate and get used to
• The Snap function is great, I can watch a film on Netflix whilst racing on Forza at the same time rather than having to set a second TV up like I used to
• Controller battery life is 20-30 hours
• Broader multimedia compatibility
• Supports external hard drives
• Its much quieter than the X360

The Bad:

• Its massive and its ugly
• The UI slows down a lot
• The 500GB seems like a lot, but you only get 380GB to actually use and each game is 30-50GB so its actually pultry.
• The mandatory installs and patches take forever, for example, today a game arrived in the post, exicted to play I stuck the disc in, had to wait 10 minutes for it to install but was then stopped in my tracks as there was a 9.5GB update to download and install, which took an age to download (had to leave for work with it still hours away from finishing) this has happened to every XBO game I have bought and not happened at all on the PS4
• Controller still takes batteries and you have to buy a rechargable pack seperately
• XBL marketplace pricing structure is shameful

Playstation 4

The good:

• The UI is functionally brilliant
• The mandatory game installs take under a minute so you can actually play a game almost immediately after purchase/delivery
• HDD has more usable space than the XBO - about 40GB IIRC
• Its much smaller and more compact than the XBO
• Supports external hard drives
• Its silent when playing a game

The Bad:

• Its a little bit ugly
• You can't play films off of a USB (something I did regularly last gen)
• Like with the XBO, 500GB HDD seems like a lot but isn't, again 30GB-50GB per game eats through your space quick
• UI is boring
• The battery life of the controller depletes very quickly
• Current selection of apps is awful (9 in total, IIRC)
• PSN Store pricing structure is shameful

Overall both systems have some pretty big flaws, not being able to play games straight away is a nightmare on the XBO though - I had to wait 6 hours to play Forza from when I put the disc in, I know its down to my internet connection for the update but that is still bks.

I'd say looking at the XBO and PS4 as consoles and ignoring their technical capabilities, this new generation is pretty crap, I'd prefer it if they were both just games consoles but they're both guilty of trying to be media centres - the XBO in particular.
I won't rate them game wise - as yet I don't think either have any exclusives to warrant a console purchase but I'm sure the libary for each will be terrific in a year or 2.

I prefer my PS4 overall and will only use the XBO for exclusives or for when the XBO version of a title is significantly cheaper.

Edited by TREMAiNE on Wednesday 15th October 23:36

[dave_s13]

mikef said:

Actually it's less of a good deal; I exaggerated, there are only 12 Wii games (decent ones mind). The other 20 are Nintendo games, all waiting to go to the charity shop.

2 controllers and 2 nunchucks to compensate

Can I have second refusal please, my 5yo girl would be well happy with one of those to play with. Cheers.

[mikef]

Sure thing, if the OP doesn't fancy the idea, then I'll PM you

[dave_s13]

mikef said:

Sure thing, if the OP doesn't fancy the idea, then I'll PM you

Great stuff.. Cheers.

[croyde]

Reading the post about the Xbox One and PS4 makes me pretty glad I plumbed for the 360 at half the cost. The latest version is a smart looking little black box and the updates take little time but then my old telephone line internet is a pretty decent speed (about 10).

To be honest, my kids use it for games and are happy which makes me happy as I need something to lure them round as separated from their mum. I have bought a couple of games which I like but I didn't realise that these things are so internet dependent.

So taking advantage I just download the free demos and play them knowing that whatever game I would buy, I'd get bored of pretty quickly.

BTW can anyone recommend a good 2 player game. I bought SSX so I could play with the boys but unlike the old SSX Tricky PS2 it is one player only.

I have found that my main solo use is the Netflix App and I have even got used to the high pitched whine

[RemaL]

ZesPak said:

Mr E said:

What do their friends have?
Buy that one.

This. If you want power, you want a gaming computer, for a console, look at what their friends have.

+3

[Dr_Rick]

mikef said:

I could let you have a Wii, Wii fit board and around 20 kiddie-friendly games for the cost of postage (£30 at a guess)

Great fun, sadly outgrown

I'll take you up on that offer if I may. PM me with some details, or at least this evening I'll PM you as a fall back and we'll take it from there.

Thank you.

[GarryDK]

Mr E said:

What do their friends have?
Buy that one.

This

The rest is just waffle.