Xbox 360 or a wii?

[TheLastSuperman]

I have all the systems out now except PS3 and it really depends on who is going to use it the most...

Your son wants it for one game and then it will sit or will he play Halo in multiplayer? Will you pay for the xbox live membership i.e. gold etc?

Wii though is just like you said more family oriented. The wife, myself and our daughter play it more than the 360 and the only thing we play on 360 now is Guitar Hero but for Wii it's MarioKart, Wii Sports and for christmas we are going to pickup the Wii Fit and the snowboarding game you can use the pad with!

So basically no matter what we say it's still going to be your call... I say go to a gamestop or EB games or whatever you have around you and spend 1/2 hour playing both.

S-MAN

Originally Posted by UncoderMom

Yeah, my sisters 360 failed too. A few weeks after she bought it. She had to send it in and pay for shipping. It was under warranty but she still had to pay the shipping.

Yeap, red rings of death!

I called 1-800-4MY-XBOX International (direct dial to U.S.): 425-635-7180. Hearing Impaired (TDD device): 1-866-740-9269 or 425-635-7102

And they sent a box prepaid which I sent it back in and two weeks later a new one

Funny thing is the box they send you is plain white but when I walked in the UPS store the guys said ohh you have a 360.. I paused and said yeah, how'd you know?? they said "We get in 2-3 per week" and I thought wtf????? Now that's just sad IMO and speaks for itself.

*Just remember your warranty was extended 3 yrs due to the disputes over this after a developer of the system spilled the beans on their problems that they were fully aware of before starting to sell the system :erm:.

More info on that here --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_36...nical_problems

[UncoderMom]

Originally Posted by TheLastSuperman

*Just remember your warranty was extended 3 yrs due to the disputes over this after a developer of the system spilled the beans on their problems that they were fully aware of before starting to sell the system :erm:.

More info on that here --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_36...nical_problems

OUCH! LOL

[Kart_13]

All the DirectXBoxs should now have the updated hardware to correct the RRoD.. So don't let that get in your way of buying one. But here's the thing, out of all my friends that own consols, the ones with the PS3's and the Wii's had more problems than my XBox friends. $50 a year for the live service is totally worth it, you really get a lot of stuff that you don't get with the Wii or PS3.

The biggest thing, your kids will grow into the XBox.. they will grow out of the Wii

Besides in a couple years I'm sure the next generation of consoles will be rolling on the assembly lines.

[Bilderback]

I cannot vouch for the Wii yet.
But we have owned an Xbox 360 and Halo3 since releases.

The Xbox 360 has a huge social networking capability that far surpasses other consoles
but children really have to be supervised due to its free-for-all nature.
(Halo 3 has alot of online potty mouths)
There are parental controls but the online voice communications are unfiltered.
(I hear that Microsoft is actually developing a filtered words voice software which is cool.)

The Xbox 360 has alot of nice features now with the latest NXE update.
You can watch streamed videos from Netflix.com (with a subscription),
share photos and files with friends and even connect directly to your PC.
Regarding content... it's Microsoft, which means there is alot of pay-per-content.
For instance, my daughter plays Phantasy Star which requires the game purchase itself,
the Xbox Live service and the Phantasy Star subscription($10 per month additional).
That does not include additional game related content like the expansion pack.
Same goes for Halo 3. You buy the Console, the game and the service just to be forced
to buy new map packs and additional downloads.
But you get my point.
You only need to buy the Xbox online service if you plan to play online multi-player.

[azn_romeo_4u]

I don't have either systems but for reason I think the wii would be the better choice. It's just so unique and revolutionary. Blew everyone away this year. I had my doubts because of the controller but, it's definately beyond anyone's expectation I think.

Both of them are very cool, but personaly I like the xbox 360 better.

[mholtum]

Both my older sons have XBOX360's. We purchased them at Best Buy with the two yr replacement plans. How they work is if the xbox fails (which it will) under the manufacturers warr, they will simply swap it out and you dont have to use the warrentee. If it fails after the manufacturers warrentee, they will swap it out once. My youngest has swapped his out 3 times in the last (first) year since he bought it. My other son has had his 4 months and is starting to have issues.

I have a wii, in the front room and it has never failed.

If you buy an XBOX360 buy it from Best Buy and pay the $69 for their 2 yr plan. Either that or expect to have to ship it off to Microsoft for repairs numerous times and be without it for months. The manufacturer warrentee is now 3 yrs, so with the extended coverage you can swap it out, in store, as many times as you need to for free. Then after 3 yrs you get a single swap out for the $69. Well worth in IMO.

Both my sons also watch Netflix movies via their xboxes.. Pretty cool. However it is limited to the "view instantly" collection which is only some mighty old movies. None of the new stuff can be watched this way.

They grew out of Halo3 very fast and are now playing Call of Duty 4 and 5.

COD 5 is also available for wii, which I am getting soon.. With the wii, you can play it with a "gun", which is better for me. I have a hard time remembering all the buttons on the xbox

[tlwwolfseye]

Originally Posted by mholtum

COD 5 is also available for wii, which I am getting soon.. With the wii, you can play it with a "gun", which is better for me. I have a hard time remembering all the buttons on the xbox

Well, considering how COD looks on WII with this funny little 700 Mhz CPU, tbh I think WII failes in almost every corner to make something really nice looking and stays where Nintendo usually was before, in the childrens corner.

No offense. In my oppinion from a hardware & visual kinda view you can?t compare to WII to anything like PS3 or Xbox.

[Wayne Luke]

Originally Posted by Bilderback

Regarding content... it's Microsoft, which means there is alot of pay-per-content.

Nintendo is actually the same way. It doesn't have a "Live Service" and its online games are free to use if you have an internet connection for the Wii. But it has channels that you buy including a Web Browser from Opera, legacy games from Sega, Nintendo, Konami and other companies, accessories galore and more.

Most of the games and channels are between 3 and 5 dollars but the accessories can add up. $60.00 for an additional controller and nunchuck. $30.00 for a basic dance mat. $90.00 for the WiiFit (which is just an accessory in reality). There are tennis rackets, baseball bats, steering wheels, etc... should you choose to buy them.

I don't know.. My kids are teens and enjoy the Wii. There is one at my house, their mother's house and their grandparent's house. Makes for great interaction even when all eight of the kids are together (I have 3 and there are 5 nieces and nephews). Ages range from 1 to 16.

That said, I am going to get a Playstation 3 next year. Thought about the XBOX 360 but as it still does not have Blu-ray capabilities, that is a turnoff.

The must right now is to have an antique Atari to play our first video games.. .remember pacman in real version, or even the BruceLee game on the Commodore 64...