in fact for the younger son (9 1/2). He is really good with school. Older son (13 1/2) is a procrastinator and will NOT touch the console until homework is done. That is a definite hard rule. No if and buts. Not the topic to be discussed here.

So our kids play minecraft, roblox, and when they visit a friend they might see their friend play Fortnight. They are not allowed to play. I hope they don't know how to play Fornight.


So once again the same questions I asked years ago but I never bough a console back then. Which brand, which model?

I am aware of X-box, Nintendo, Playstation. I am aware there are many different models. I have no idea what is the latest model, how much they cost (I expect $300-400-maybe 500). We have a 42" Plasma TV (yes, I know, small by today's standards). A new TV may come into picture (pun intended) when we buy a house (actively looking).

I know some used to take games on DVD, I am not sure if they still do. I know all require internet connection, I know they can stream various things (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu). That part is not critical since we have Roku, Apple TV, Tivo. Yes, a lot a feature overlap.

Anyway, which console to get? Which has the lowest monthly fees (damn, I have monthly fees)

these are very nice

PlayStation 4 plays dvd too.

The Nintendo Switch has FUN games for all ages. There is no need to keep and eye on the language and violence on a Nintendo system.

Play Station games can make us all blush.
Daughter has Grand Theft Auto for PlayStation and some of the characters can't complete a phrase without a Bad word. Check out you tube for game play.

Kingdom Hearts is on PlayStation also. Just got the game today. Waiting for years. Lots of years for this New Kingdom Hearts game.

Start with Nintendo!
{edit}
I did not mention Xbox. Now I have.

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Staunton, Virginia



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2019 07:55PM by Bernie.

Nintendo has the most family-friendly games. These tend to make the adults happy but are not necessarily what the kid may want. It also does not utilize an internet connection.

PlayStation has been the leading platform for the last generation of consoles. X-Box 1 is the second choice but is no slouch. Both have a wide choice of games, new and used. Both can run from a DVD or online downloads. You can also go online and play against others around the world. Your best action is to identify the games you want and go with that platform.

A couple suggestions regardless of your platform choice -- get wireless controllers, at least two and consider three. A headphone with a mike is a nice addition if there is a lot of online play. Online play is going to cost ~$40/year (CDKeys is a safe bet for a good price).

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

.........you want someone to console them.......???

....when they are feeling' down......???

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

Six of Amozons top ten selling games in 2018 were for the Nintendo Switch

Anyway, you can find the top-10 best-selling video games sold via Amazon for 2018 below.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4)
Super Mario Party
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Super Mario Odyssey
Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (PS4)
God of War
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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Staunton, Virginia

I second the Nintendo Switch recommendation for that age range.

I'd also like to point out that the PS4 plays Blurays as well as DVDs.

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Skill without imagination is craftsmanship. Imagination without skill is Modern Art.

I’ll also second the Switch. Participation games are great. I’ve got a houseful of adult children playing Mario Party or Smash Brothers on weekends. It’s great !

Another good outlet for sampling actual gameplay, Twitch.

....what about son of a switch........??

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

As an Xbox One S owner, I can say there are no monthly fees unless you want to play multiplayer online games. If you want to play multiplayer online games or download 4 free games per month, you'll need to subscribe to Xbox Live Gold, which costs $60/year and is sometime discounted to $40/year. The Xbox One S has a 4K Bluray player.

On the XBox One, most games are geared to late teenager or adult.

why is Fortnight banned? If that's the big priority, then see if there is a console that doesn't support Fortnight.

Quote
hal
why is Fortnight banned? If that's the big priority, then see if there is a console that doesn't support Fortnight.

I read initially that it created problems in schools, teachers were complaining. When I looked into it I found out you have to kill others to survive. They can play these games later, now they are too young in our opinion.

My son just turned 11 in December... 2017 he saved up for a Nintendo Switch (most of it) and got it before his 10th birthday due to going in for surgery... I love the Switch... But, as of last week he earned an Xbox One because the Switch doesn't have some of the games his friends are all playing "online"... "if" not being portable is Ok... and if they are fine not playing the mario and zelda franchise games... Seriously consider an Xbox... Why? Because in the last week every game I purchase was $20 or less (Doom, Halo, State of Decay)... Most Nintendo Switch games have all been $50+.

I still love the switch!!! But, price of games on the Xbox has made it my favorite system...

Fort Nite can be played on any console, computer or handheld now.

Look into using your cable modem/router to limit network connected game time. If it doesn't support that feature, the Disney Circle device will do that. Neat part of the Circle is that you can give internet reward time as you choose.

My two sons each have and love the Nintendo Switch. The younger one also bought himself a Playstation 4.
BTW, the younger one will be 29 years old in a couple of months!

I relented and bought an older Xbox 360 for the kids last year (500gb drive, so it is decently modern), and games are cheap. But we have a no shooter game policy in the house, so it's all sports and minecraft. And I never hooked it up to the WiFi, but I may relent on that in the coming year. Space, my kids are roughly the same ages.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2019 08:33AM by mrbigstuff.

New? Nintendo Switch. No comparison. Excellent console, standard hookups (HDMI for video & USBC for power), very expandable, and can be an on-the-go gaming tablet when desired.

[www.nintendo.com]

And then there's the Labo, which allows for some damn cool kit building.

Used? Xbox 360 (I still play ours) or Xbox One S (some decent backwards compatibility).

We got a PS4 some years ago and it usually just sits there, except when someone wants to play a blu-ray.

My 2¢. YMMV.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2019 09:29AM by Zoidberg.

The Nintendo Labo kits look like fun and there's no equivalent on Xbox

If I were buying today and had no prior investment (including no iPads in the house) I'd get a Nintendo Switch.

However, I bought an XBox One S a year ago for $180 primarily for Minecraft. A couple sports (football, basketball) games get played on it as well and one of the Lego games, but most of the prior gaming in this household was done via Steam on a PC originally built as a hackintosh with an upgraded Geforce 950 graphics card. Once the XBox showed up the PC stopped being used for quite some time, but now there's been an expressed desire to get Minecraft on the PC so that mods can be used.

The two things I want to avoid are:
1) Paying recurring charges such as those for XBox Live.
2) Buying the same game more than once on different platforms. I may make an exception for Minecraft.

So far I've really liked having the XBox One S around - minimal support required (aside from some weirdness due to my attempt to use a + in my email address as I always do) and it just works. The Steam PC had filled up its initial 100GB HDD so I cloned that to a larger SSD and it's been getting more frequent use since.

No iPads in this house, kids have occasionally asked about getting a Switch but they seem to spend the most (and most enjoyable) time on Minecraft or the old Lego games (and the $400 investments I've made to date over the past 2 years in a video card, XBox One S, and various games on various platforms) average out to less than a couple bucks per hour of use in that timeframe.

Most important thing is to set limits with their usage, use the system effectively as a reward and to ensure that fighting over games being played will not be tolerated. It's a shared system and everyone should be having fun!

my kids were drowning in the game thing..starting to not listen when family dinners were called out..sneaking around during homework time to get to the next LEVEL..

I gave them a warning..2 strikes.. and you're out on three..

couple of weeks later..strike three...

took them to the back room where the alley window is..took a hammer and smashed their 'console'..threw it out the window into the alley.done..donated the games and controllers

Good luck with this...these things are wickedly pervasive and addicting and i hate them..Many of my peer parents from school were basically afraid to say no to their kids on this..and a lot of stuff..most of them suffered through this gaming thing and the kids owned them on it..My kids found places to play these games, which is fine, but it stopped in our house and any discussion on this subject was shut down..do not even go there..

great students?..maybe they can manage this...most of the time? it's a powerful distraction and total time waster..couple that with a cell phone wired to the web -it horrifies me actually and the effects of this crap are right in our faces now..

.....as mentioned above if you get the 'latest' then games will be more expensive.......try getting slightly older systems [ 1 or 2 gens behind ] perhaps 'used' at places like Gamestop or craigslist/ebay.......


......then also buy 'used' games......will save you so much money....a lot of people buy then don't use them or stop using them......

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

FWIW, sale for Switch and 2 popular games: [9to5toys.com]

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We just went retro and bought a refurbished Nintendo 64 with an HDMI converter, Super Mario 64, and a new controller for like $130. FWIW, I spent the check the state was holding for with unclaimed finds from the TravelZoo stock promotion.

Its a trip back to 1996 with family friendly games and no internet access. I also ordered a few games from GameStop that were in the $4 to $7 range. My wife pointed out that we just took our old one to the thrift store like 10 years ago...although it had not been played in 15 years.

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“Live your life, love your life, don’t regret…live, learn and move forward positively.” – CR Johnson
Loving life in Lake Tahoe, CA