Which one?

[Barony]

There are a lot of good opinions here, and I may be asking a question that is not answerable. With that said, the wife and I are looking at getting the kids a new system. We already have an Xbox, but our daughter commented that she would really like Guitar Hero, and thus the dilemma begins.

Xbox 360, PS2 or Wii?

We have about 15 games for the Xbox, so I'm leaning 360 and sell the original Xbox, but the wife sees the price difference between the 360 and the PS2 and thinks that the PS2 is the way to go. I guess then we'd keep the "antique" and have both.

[DTro]

They just released a new 360 version which is called the "arcade pak". $299 I believe. Basically a bare bones system with no hard drive. You should be able to play "most" of your old xbox games on the 360.

Then if you want to add items to the 360 you can later on.

[JP Z]

Go to Xbox's HSOforum and check the compatibilty this will tell you if your games work. Otherwise the Wii is a fun family system. But the 360 is my preferred, but I like shooters The PS2 is OLD technology in the grand scheme of gaming.

[Kylersk]

I do not believe you can play old xbox games without the hard drive. And not all of them are compatible. I could be wrong though..

If all you want is Guitar hero, then the PS2 would be the cheapest But you are also buying an old game console.

The Wii is more kid friendly, but I'd consider it a mid generation game console with a cool controller. Meaning, it my be slightly better than an xbox but not nearly as good (Graphic wise and performance) as a 360.

The 360 currently has the most games out for a 'next gen system'. But it seems alot of them are geared towards Teens and above.

I got my 360 a few months after it was released. I've been very happy with purchasing it and my kids love it.

[Bigbartguy]

Baron - how old are your kids?

if they are liking the Xbox you have now, I think they'd really like the 360.

WWII seems geared more towards the Nintendo age crowd, Ps2 is already outdated, and the Ps3 is pretty expensive.

I think that leaves the 360 as the best choice (ok I'm biased)

If I had young kids I'd look hard at WWii. If I had teens (or almost teens) I'd look hard at the 360. You should be able to play a good portion of your old games on it also.

hsolist will find some good deals on slightly used gear, probably with some games included

[Barony]

Thanks for the help. My kids are 11 and 13, so I think that the 360 will be the way to go. However, I see people in this forum saying they are having problems with their 360. If I buy one used off Craigs List, is it still covered by warranty?

[Bigbartguy]

I think buying used voids the remaining warranty that might be on the machine> but dont know for sure.

maybe new is the way to go for peace of mind. Anyway, good luck and I think your kids will be having a VERY good Christmas no matter which route you go!

[LwnmwnMan2]

You get a manufacturers warranty, sometimes they can tell by the serial number, since they don't sit on the shelf for very long to begin with.

However, I've seen where it's like a 12-16 week wait for turnaround.

If you buy new, say at the "GOOD BUY" store, and buy the warranty they have, you walk in, drop yours off, and pick up a new one.

I have a PS2 AND Wii. The 5 year old loves both and can play both. The 2 year old is starting to get the hang of the Wii, with games where you just sort of flail your arms around and it works.

However, the other day they were at a house where their friend has a new 360, and true to form, "DAD!!! we NEED a 360!!!"

Ummmm.... no.

[DTro]

Quote:

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Ummmm.... no.

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poo poo on u

Another thing to think about is that the 360 "marketplace/LIVE" is leaps and bounds ahead of anything else.

They have a huge selection of movies (quite a few in HD), tv shows, videos, and game demos. One could literally buy a 360 without any games and play the game demos.

To utilize this, you would need a 360 with a hard drive.

Not only that, but you can stream pictures, music and video from a networked computer.

Think of it as buying a little more than a gaming system.

[Bigbartguy]

dtro - good point. I just discovered that I can use my 360 as an 'entertainment console' and play songs stored on my computer.....and videos (as long as they are the correct format).....and all of my pics! VERY nice feature.

the ability to download and play demos is huge as well

[Jakesbuds]

Wii

I have all 3 systems and a PS3, but by far the Wii gets the most playtime. Best system to hit the market in ages IMO, especially if you have friends over. Kids can play it as well as your grandparents too. Cheapest next to the PS2 as well. On the Wii you can even go to the "Virtual Console" and buy the old school Nintendo/Gamecube/Sega Classics such as Mario Kart, Donkey Kong etc, for a lot less $ than actually buying the games outright if you can even find them.

[Barony]

Picked up the 360 yesterday w/ GH III, so my Christmas shopping is over. I ended up picking up the arcade system and will get a 20 gig memory off hsolist for a lot less than Microsoft wants.

Very interesting conversation w/ the sales lad at the big store that is blue and yellow. He made the comment that Microsoft intentionally wants the 360's to go bad so that sales numbers are inflated. His example was a system goes bad, gets sent back to Microsoft and the consumer is given a new system. The new system that is sent back is counted as a sale, so Microsoft gets 2 sales for the original sale. They then in turn refurbish the old system and re sell that. He said to look at sales numbers and it will show Microsoft is crushing the competition is total sales.

[SomethingFishy*]

The 360 premium pack comes with the 20 gig hardrive and two games for $349. May be a better deal then trying hsolist.