Nintendo Wii? Seeking Advice from Parents Who've Been There/Done That

[clonazepam]

Argh, I'm a pc gamer. I have had the xbox 360 since release. I got it because at the time, it totally demolished my gaming rig in graphics quality, and some of the exclusives are worth it.

My 6 yr old daughter wants a Wii for Christmas. We've gamed together on the PC and xbox, with titles like Street Fighter IV, but those get old fast. The mother and I aren't together, and she spends about equal time between the two homes. Her mother bought her a DSi awhile ago, and she's totally addicted to the Mario games. That's at her mom's house. She doesn't bring the DSi here. When she's here, she rarely watches tv. She spends most of the time drawing pictures and doing arts & crafts type stuff. She also plays with her dolls, but her colored markers and pencils get the most attention.

She just wrote her letter to Santa, and she really wants a Wii. Do you all think this is a good idea? Do I want to go down this road with her possibly being absorbed by Mario, and falling behind in her artwork, and possibly becoming less social? The fact that I have a 46" Samsung would probably make it worse. On the other hand, there's a lot of extra activity involved in playing some Wii games, so the trade-off might be her gaming but not actually sitting on her butt like a vegetable. Obviously, I'll be in control of the situation and monitoring her time spent doing this or that. If she already has a tendency to favor the DSi over other activities at her mom's that she has available, again I ask, do I want to travel down this road or just stay away from it?

Honestly though, I do have fond memories of playing Mario games on my old NES / S-NES / and N64, so I might actually jump in once in awhile too. So there's also that fun bonding time there to look forward to as well.

What do all of you think? How about those out there with children, young and older... How is it, and/or how has it turned out for you?

 

[mcnumpty23]

get her the wii

as you said you control the amount of time she spends on it--make time on the wii a reward for doing her artwork and other stuff

make sure to get 2 controllers so you can join in

as another avid pc gamer i reluctantly have to admit she will get more excersise playing wii games than pc ones

 

[clonazepam]

I'm looking at newegg right now. The Nintendo branded controllers (black) are out of stock. What's a good 3rd party product brand?

I'm looking at the $150 package that has the horizontal console w/ no backward support for the cube, which doesn't bother me a bit. I have to have a black console and the horizontal orientation to work best with my stuff. Plus, with it black, people will have to look for it to see it, lol...

I'm also looking at getting her a pink wand / nunchuck. There's so many accessories, it's confusing. What are the better brands for accessories?

 

[nikolas hadjipanayi]

As a teenager ill advice you to do what my parents did for me when i asked santa the gameboy color they did buy me but they made it sort of reward like you have to do this so you can play x hours which really worked out i didnt become an addict and i became more responsible. And its even better with wii since theres a lot of exercices while playing wii (tennis etc.)
As for the brands I always like to buy the manufacturers defaults but thats just my opinion

 

[Hawkeye22]

I agree, get the wii. You're the parent. You decide when she can or can't play, not her. Also, the wii is more geared toward local coop so there are lots of titles you can play together.

 

[clonazepam]

I'm sold on the Wii at this point. I had a discussion with her without giving too much away. She agreed on a reward system as far as time with "toys"... yeah I was slick. It's cute because that's the system already in place, it just didn't have a name. I reminded her that asking 30x for something, in rapid succession will go nowhere. Again, its cute, because they know that at 6, but the remote possibility of a payoff at the end, gets to be too tempting. We don't have to get too deep into roles and who's in charge.

At this moment, I'm ready to get the Wii, and my focus is now on the accessories. None of the Nintendo brand stuff seems available right now, so I'm looking at 3rd party stuff as the only option.

Also, I'm seeing the mini versions of the remote and nunchuck. Are the regular ones so large its necessary to consider the mini versions?

 

[UCLAAA]

I know this is a little personal, but it would be cool if you taped the reaction of her opening the Wii, if you get her one.

 

[Hawkeye22]

Also, I'm seeing the mini versions of the remote and nunchuck. Are the regular ones so large its necessary to consider the mini versions?

When my nieces come over (ages 4 - 7), they don't have a problem holding the standard controllers. You will however want to make sure the wrist straps are tightened securely as kids tend to flail around wildly when playing. :lol:

 

[steimy]

My best friend has 3 kids, and i can tell you they all love the Wii. And there are so many kid friendly games for them for all age ranges. Once they get older and get more into the "hard core" games then it will probably get set aside.
But at her current age and for years to come i would say yes to the Wii for sure.

 

[danftran]

Yes, but what's also great about this is, this could one of the best bonding time with the family and become great memories for the kids when they grow up.

 

[Ninja_guy]

Yes, but what's also great about this is, this could one of the best bonding time with the family and become great memories for the kids when they grow up.

Ah yes, that is an excellent feature , the downside with a wii is that it chews up batterys faster than a....a...Lithium powered dog?

 

[clonazepam]

I bought it. Picked up Mario Galaxy 1/2, Just Dance 3, and Game Party 2. She loved it all and kept screaming "Wiiiiiiiiiiiiii... Wiiiiiiiiiiiiii... Wiiiiiiiiiii", jumped up and did some air guitar and screamed into my microphone lol... It went well. She's been sick though and can't hang very long on Just Dance. The free new Mario Bros. Wii is actually kinda hard so that frustrated her. Haven't loaded up either Galaxy or Game Party one yet.

 

[JDFan]

Glad to hear it went over well - I'm sure the 2 of you will get many years of enjoyment out of it ! We've had one for 4 years now and my 11YO neice still enjoys it as much or more than she did when we got it for her 4 years ago.

Also just found a good sale that you might be interested in on a rechargeable battery pack that is currently on sale at Newegg for $15 shipped since it will save you quite a bit on the batteries and with the included 4 battery packs you'll always have some charged and ready to go !

 

[6_5x47lapua]

good decision, i would try to dissuade you from it if she was a boy, however, for most boys prefer 1st person shooters to mario once they grow up a little. for a girl it is great, where wii specializes in games like dance and such, but action games are limited.