Nintendo Wii

[Christmasdiva]

I have finally decided that I will break down and get my family a Nintendo Wii for Christmas but I don't know what to get with it. I have 3 boys left at home; ages 9, 12, and 16 plus an 18 year old college student who is home fairly frequently and a husband. I know that I want them up and moving so I am assuming that I need the "Wii fit" and I know that I will get them the Mario Kart game with wheel but other than that can anyone help me with what games and/or accessories I should get?

:sleigh:

 

[MrsSoup]

You don't necessarily need to get the Wii Fit to get them up and moving. Our Wii came with a Wii Sports game that has boxing, bowling, golf, tennis and something else I think. You pretty much have to be up moving around to play all those games and they are super fun! I would just say get the Wii that comes with Wii Sports to begin with and buy some extra Wii remotes so they don't have to switch back and forth all the time. You can have family tournaments and make a night out of it.

 

[MissBrittany]

I believe most are sold with the Wii Sports game, which has tennis, golf, bowling, and baseball, which are active games. Since you will need an additional controller, I recommend buying the controller/Wii Play combo pack, which is mostly arcade-style games. I own a Wii Fit, and it does keep you up and moving- yoga, strength-training, and some balance and arcade games. The newest thing is Wii Sports Resort, which is also active and includes table tennis, surfing, basketball, and archery.

 

[Minta]

There is another game called the Great Outdoor Challenge that they may enjoy. My kids love to play it. There is a mat that connects to the wii system and they can play games like snowboarding, log jumping, etc. It's fun and very active.

 

[cipalla]

Minta, I got the Outdoor Challenge last year for my kids at Costco, it was under $50.

 

[Minta]

Minta, I got the Outdoor Challenge last year for my kids at Costco, it was under $50.

It's great isn't it. My kids loves the snowbaording and mole stomp!

 

[Cindylouwho]

Be sure to check out Costco. They had the best package that I could find. Wii Sports kept our kids occupied for months. Really it kept us all occupied! Star Wars Lego was my DS's hands-down favorite for months and months after that when the obsession with Wii Sports wore off. Dad loves to play it too. SuperMario anything is good.

We still only have a few games but those have lasted us the entire past year!

 

[MissBrittany]

I heard that the price of the Wii console was supposed to drop today. Can anyone confirm?

 

[Kim Loves Snow]

I heard that the price of the Wii console was supposed to drop today. Can anyone confirm?

MissBrittany I heard the same thing about the prices coming down.

My recommendation is to invest in enough "wheels" that everyone gets them. A lot of times you can be them used at a store like Gamestop. All of them will want their own wheel for mario kart!

 

[Cindylouwho]

The kids and I just bought Wii Sports Resort (looks like fun!) for DH since today is his birthday. I purposely chose that one because I didn't want that on the Christmas list. Too pricey! It comes in a $50 package that includes ONE extra-sensory thingamajig -- like a remote but different and newer and more sensitive and you need it to play the Resort games. Won't work with just the remotes and nunchucks. But here's the kicker, just like the remotes and nunchucks, you need at least TWO. Ugh! So by the time I got out of there it was more like $75 plus tax. !!!

For those new to Wii, you won't need this game yet. Stick with Wii Sports and Wii Play that comes in most packages. That'll be good for a long while. Wii Sports Resort is like a Wii Sports Chapter 2. And Costco was sold out, so I had to get mine at GameStop. Costco probably would have packaged that darn second remote and kept the price at $50.

Costco did have that Outdoor Challenge Extreme Sports game and THAT looked like lots of fun too!

Also, GameStop said the new game that is coming out is the new Mario Brothers which apparently lets mulitple players play at the same time. They are expecting it to be the hot seller for the holidays. Releases in November.

 

[teachermomof2]

My guys love the sports games. I just ordered DS NHL 2K10 for his birthday. He would like the NFL version too. I LOVE Mario Kart myself. That's going to be our family Christmas gift.

 

[luludou]

DH said he wanted to buy a Wii for Christmas. Don't know anything about the wii... guess I'll have to start surfing the net.

 

[iluv2scrap]

The price on the Wii has gone down! Last year the price everywhere was 249.99, this year the price everywhere is 199.99 and if you watch some places are throwing in a gift card to their store or an extra game.

My dd20 has the Wii and we all love it, but she took it with her to her college apartment this year so i'm asking hubby for it for my birthday and/or Christmas and i have found the Wii Fit on sale last week for 69.99 instead of the regular price of 89.99. My mom is getting me that for my birthday and/or Christmas, lol. Kmart was out but they gave us a raincheck.

New this year is Wii Fit Plus. I have seen it available two ways. One is with the board and the plus disc for 99.99. If you already have the Wii Fit with board you can buy the Wii Fit Plus add on disc for 19.99. It has additional exercises and balance games and some cool features. I'm buying dd this as one of her birthday presents.

 

[Colleen in PA]

Realistically, how old do you need to be to play with this? My oldest son is 4, but many of his friends (with older siblings) talk about Wii and the games at school. DH thinks he's too young for video games. Putting that general bias against all video games aside, would it be too difficult for him to play the basic games?

My mom suggested one of the Leap Frog-type game consoles instead, but they're also pricey (although much less so)...still, I don't want to invest in a system that he'll use for 6 months and get bored with too quickly.

TIA!

 

[luludou]

Thanks Iluv2scrap this answers my questions!

 

[MissBrittany]

Realistically, how old do you need to be to play with this? My oldest son is 4, but many of his friends (with older siblings) talk about Wii and the games at school. DH thinks he's too young for video games. Putting that general bias against all video games aside, would it be too difficult for him to play the basic games?

My mom suggested one of the Leap Frog-type game consoles instead, but they're also pricey (although much less so)...still, I don't want to invest in a system that he'll use for 6 months and get bored with too quickly.

TIA!

I would side with your mom on this one and am a fan of LeapFrog, but I suppose if you found a good Wii game for his age range, it may be worth the investment. The technology is so new that Wii won't become outdated for many years, but he will grow out of LeapFrog. I would doubt a 4 year-old's ability to keep up with any of the games I own for Wii, with the exception of maybe bowling or cow-racing.

 

[jinglemom]

Colleen in PA, another option would be video games for the computer. This is what we had when my kids were that age. We had games to help them with reading, counting, etc. I think this would probably be a better option than a Wii. My niece who is 5 does play some games on the Wii, but I have seen them help her quite a bit. You might also want to see if there is a plug in play type game that you think he would like and try that first.

 

[Colleen in PA]

Thank you, MissBrittany and jinglemom! The Wii will wait!

 

[Cathymac]

I am biting the bullet, too. I really really didn't want to get one, but now that I've seen how much fun they are-both of my brothers' families have one, and even DH is convinced that our three boys will share it and not fight-bahahahahhhhaaaaa. Couldn't even type that with straight face. Of course they'll fight, they fight over everything. But we're still going to get one. I am planning on getting everyone a game and whatever accessories it requires each, so that might help. I was pleased to see the price down. We don't have a Costco, but I'll check Sam's when I go up there with my brother to check on a tv for DH.

 

[thood]

The price has come down to 199.99. We just bought one less than 2 weeks ago at Target for 249.99 so we went back today and they gave us the difference back. We also went to Toys R Us to look at games and their consoles are down to 199.99. I'm pretty sure Nintendo dropped the price so it should be 199.99 everywhere.