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Best Gaming Platform for a First-Grade Girl ?
zhen_rogue
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hi all,
My daughter is almost seven, and a first-grader.
After visiting with my wife about a possible xmas gift, we are considering a console gaming system.
The last console I bought was a sega genesis (c.1990), so obviously I have a LOT to catch up on in terms of what platform is appropriate for us.
Please be verbose in your answers, and give me as many plusses/minuses or specific game title recommendations as you can. I really have NO concept where to even begin with modern systems.
Considerations:
1. My daughter is an only child, and doesn't have schoolmates or friends that live nearby. As a result, it will mostly be her playing - with me a little every evening and once in a blue moon my wife might play.
2. My wife wants to make sure some games are "move around / dance" games that keep her active, not just sedentary staring in front of the TV.
3. My wife will never tolerate a shooter or war-themed game, and my daughter is still quite scared of "monsters". Game themes, subjects, and settings must be age-appropriate.
4. Ideally, games would include: a learning game or two, an active/dance game or two, a co-operative game we can both play with her, an adventure/problem solving/story-heavy game she and I can play together, a "party" themed game for when we have family or friends as company, and maybe a slow-paced sandbox/sim-city style game where she builds up a town, farm, or the like on her own?
5. I don't want to pay a monthly subscription fee to anything if I can avoid it, unless the subscription was somehow a substantial savings on game costs.
6. We have a widescreen 30" LCD TV that I believe should support a game console, and we have cable internet (via a wireless router).
Thank you in advance for any recommendations (for, or against) consoles and specific games!
Please let me know if I can answer any additional questions.
My daughter is almost seven, and a first-grader.
After visiting with my wife about a possible xmas gift, we are considering a console gaming system.
The last console I bought was a sega genesis (c.1990), so obviously I have a LOT to catch up on in terms of what platform is appropriate for us.
Please be verbose in your answers, and give me as many plusses/minuses or specific game title recommendations as you can. I really have NO concept where to even begin with modern systems.
Considerations:
1. My daughter is an only child, and doesn't have schoolmates or friends that live nearby. As a result, it will mostly be her playing - with me a little every evening and once in a blue moon my wife might play.
2. My wife wants to make sure some games are "move around / dance" games that keep her active, not just sedentary staring in front of the TV.
3. My wife will never tolerate a shooter or war-themed game, and my daughter is still quite scared of "monsters". Game themes, subjects, and settings must be age-appropriate.
4. Ideally, games would include: a learning game or two, an active/dance game or two, a co-operative game we can both play with her, an adventure/problem solving/story-heavy game she and I can play together, a "party" themed game for when we have family or friends as company, and maybe a slow-paced sandbox/sim-city style game where she builds up a town, farm, or the like on her own?
5. I don't want to pay a monthly subscription fee to anything if I can avoid it, unless the subscription was somehow a substantial savings on game costs.
6. We have a widescreen 30" LCD TV that I believe should support a game console, and we have cable internet (via a wireless router).
Thank you in advance for any recommendations (for, or against) consoles and specific games!
Please let me know if I can answer any additional questions.
zhen_rogue on
0
Posts
Anyway, here are some Wii games that might be appropriate: (sorry I don't know any of the Wii U games)
Dance/Active:
-- Just Dance series (there's a Disney-themed version if she's into that)
-- Wii Sports Resort
-- We Ski & Snowboard
Party game:
-- WarioWare: Smooth Moves
-- Rayman Raving Rabbids
Sim:
-- Animal Crossing City Folk
-- Little King Story
Multi-player (vs):
-- Dokapon Kingdom
-- Brawl (technically fighting but not violent. has a co-op story mode)
Problem Solving: (these games might be tough for her to play on her own, but would be fun to play with a kid as co-op)
-- Zach & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure (can use a second wiimote to highlight objects on the screen)
-- World of Goo (up to 4-player co-op)
Co-op adventure: (category I'm not very familiar with...)
-- Super Mario Galaxy (though I think it's only more co-op ish?)
-- Lego Star Wars
1. Kids grow into games, so it's okay to focus on quality and content-appropriate games rather than gameplay-appropriate. I'm thinking about games like Skyward Sword, or Ookami, which are probably going to be way too hard for her now, but they offer pretty environments to sandbox it up for now, and then come back to it in a year or two.
2. On a related note, I don't think it's that terrible for kids to have that boss they just can't beat, that level that's too difficult, or whatever. It's like playing sports; you wouldn't let her play soccer against a team of middle schoolers, but she does need to learn how to lose gracefully.
3. While looking stuff up in a game guide book (yes they still make those) might be cheating for an adult, it's an educational experience for a kid, since she has to use the table of contents to find the info she wants, follow written instructions, use a map or read a graph, etc.
I would get an Xbox 360 with the Kinect or Xbox One with Kinect, if you're willing to buy the subscription.
The Just Dance games, Lego games, Raymond Rabbid games, sports games, they are all available for the Xbox, and they play much better with the Kinect than they do with the Wii motion controllers.
The just dance games are for sure better with a kinect, but you can pick up both the system and a kinect used for 120 bucks, probably less if you did craigslist. You can maybe do that later if she takes a particular interest to dance games.
I'll toss in my hat in the Nintendo camp.
Gotta introduce her to Mario and Zelda at some point anyways. But they're all really great games, and the Wii/Wii U seems to orient itself around activity because of their controller styles.
The range of "younger gamer games" on the Wii is better I think. And then there's Pokemans, so she might feel like branching into the 3DS area of portable gaming to get to them!
I hope to start my future heirs on the NES.
PSN: Robo_Wizard1
We just got a Wii U for our 3yr old, will see how it goes.
No?
PC master race it is then.
The games are cheaper.
She can use it for home work and the like.
No paying for online
Way more cool indie games.
Way more games in general than the Wii U
Daddy can blame some adult games after it's bed time-Which the Wii U basically has like 2 of.
DOTA 2
Also while the sentiment of 'move around games' is laudable, they really aren't a substitute for some kind of real sport/activity. Since you live out in the country, I'd running around in the woods shooting shit. It's really the most fun.
Kids get bored with stuff quickly, my experience has been that tablet apps both allow for the novelty of a new experience with the balancing of not being crazy expensive or expecting more than ~30 minutes of gameplay in a single session, making doing something active or family oriented easier to break away and do.
Wii is excellent at our family's parties and family gatherings. The young ones can all play games together (there are 4 in our family so it works out) and its very portable. Moving four PCs from place to place is a disaster, though tablets are always useful (such as in the car or on trips).
Most of my neices and nephews have 3DSs and get a ton of fun out of them. For kids, they are great (but still rather expensive for new games). Pokemon always holds attention for a while, but most games they get tend to have a day or two of play and then get forgotten for other things (usually the cheap, silly, terrible looking free tablet games). It's kind of like a cardboard box, you can get a super nice toy with a million moving parts, but the kid is more likely to play with the box.
See if computer technologies interest them, consider a PC if it does. If you're looking for straight entertainment without the intricacies and costs of PC, there are some awesome suggestions in this thread.
This sort of thinking is why there are so female programmers. With boys, people tend to say "He likes Minecraft. Let's buy him a PC so he can learn to mod." But with girls it's like "Oh, she loves dancing. Let's buy her a Wii so she can play dancing games."
This girl may or may not like code. She is a couple of years too young, I think. But it saddens me that no-one is even considering the possibility. You have to start young to be an excellent coder. And no-one buys girls PCs "in the hope" that they will become coders, which means that it is very much a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm certainly going to teach my daughter to code at that age.
Most likely she will *not* become a coder, but most boys whose hopeful parents assume that a laptop would be a surefire route to Silicon Valley *also* do not become coders. But somehow that does not dissuade people.
But, to get off my high horse for a moment, the Wii is what you are thinking of. The old Wii (secondhand as it is no longer available) or the new Wii U will do just fine, depending on your budget. Lots of dancing, fitness & party games. Educational value: nil. Fun value: lots.
Lay the option there and let them decide what they like. And seriously, you are being weirdly pushy about something that has nothing to do with the op.
To answer the op, get a wii on the cheap and let your kid help pick a couple games to try out. My 4 year old loves mario kart, smash and every lego game
Do I think OP's daughter needs to be introduced to a PC? Absolutely, every house should have at least one modern computer (at most 8 years old). Do I think she needs to be introduced to gaming? Sure. That's what OP wants, nothing wrong with it. It's gender and sex neutral, everyone can enjoy games. Do I think PC gaming is for OP's daughter? Eh... PC games don't really orient themselves to kids, not young ones anyways. They want more family and activity oriented games? Wii-U is the system for OP.
Shortly behind it would be PS4 and Xbox. This doesn't exclude or include the PC because you should already have it.
If you don't, OP, you should consider getting one and introducing it to your daughter soon at least. Because that's the future, console gaming is a good first step for that introduction. Maybe start with a small cheapo $200 PC and minecraft afterwords.
I didn't get into programming per se, but I got into making art for games! And having a PC at my disposal when I was young definitely helped fuel that interest.
Consoles are great - I grew up without one, but visited friends that had them. I think the console suggestions above are great options - and a Wii would be especially nice for more "active" and family-friendly games for sure.
I agree with Wii U. If you want active gaming it's either that, a Wii, or an Xbox w/ Kinect, and my experience with my own young child with the Kinect was basically tons of frustration mixed with moments of it working properly. It never seemed to recognize his body properly (it worked better for us adults). Also, if it does work properly - it's much less forgiving in games like Just Dance which can frustrate kids.
For move/dance games I'd go Just Dance or Wii Sports Club.
Learning games are tough on consoles, there are some on the Wii that would play on the Wii U (we had Dora and Diego for our kid) but the quality was pretty lousy.
Coop game I'd go Mario 3D World or anything Lego except City (it's single player)
Party game again Wii Sports Club fits, maybe Nintendoland, Mario Kart or older Wii games like Rayman Rabbids or Carnival Games.
Adventure game I'd go Zelda Wind Waker HD or Lego City.
Sandbox is probably going to be the Wii Animal Crossing game
If price is a factor though the Wii is still a great, great console for a kid and is super cheap now to get a great starting library.
But really my negative to a PC for a kid this age is the lack of durability, portability, and cost effectiveness more than security. A good parent is ensuring safe and responsible use anyhow. A gaming rig just costs bonkers of money comparative to the amount of interest any single game is going to get and is limited to one location in the house (even if you have a wireless card like I have, picking up and moving a PC setup is a hassle and takes time). Most windows tablets are a fraction of the entry buy in and the games are going to be crazy cheaper. Even a 3ds will likely pay for itself and a year or two of games before it reaches the same cost of a relevant gaming machine.
Probably the best answer here would be a combination of all of these! But it mostly depends on your kid, your resources, and how much you want to vicariously live through them and guide them towards career decisions at the age of 6.
The WiiU can play every Wii game as well