help with choosing

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Please give me your opinion of the best game system for a 12 yo boy. His birthday is coming up and it's definitely time to move past the nintendo dsi, (although he still enjoys it).

i have no advice sorry!

but a fellow member was thinking you might get more responses in either Parenting or Games and Video Games. would you like me to move your thread to one of those two subforums?

EDIT: no responses so i am moving the thread to the Games and Video Games forum, were hopefully we can get the OP some advice.

Do you mean handheld or console? It really depends on what he wants to play and even more with that young age it matters more with what his friends have. For console I'd recommend the PS3 over the XBOX 360, but if all your friends have the XBOX 360 then you are kind of stuck getting that. The PS3 online is free and the XBOX 360 will cost you. I have heard XBOX 360 has more of a online community/user base and more people to microphone ratio so if your son is chatty he would like it better. I don't have any friends myself so I chose PS3 for the games. PSP is cheap now with Vita coming out if you meant handheld and the Nintendo 3ds got a price drop, but I'm a Sony fan boy so I don't know about anything unless its PS3/PSP. For a kid his age though probably XBOX 360 if he has friends or one of the Nintendo handhelds cause of Pokemon and all the more kiddie rpgs. Hopefully someone else his age can chime in I know some frequent this board. Sorry couldn't be of more help.

Thank You for moving it, and thanks, that is at least a start. I think he may be interested in the wii because of enjoying the nintendo games so much.

- mountain

Just an FYI and you'll have to research it as I don't know much about it, but the next Wii is coming out sometime soon. I think it is called Wii U?

The Wii is aimed toward more casual gamers. You have to find out what kind of gamer your son is. If he likes more complicated games or a wider library, get him an Xbox 360 (keep in mind that they are expensive). A PS3 pretty much works for everyone, but had fewer titles than the Xbox (although they have exclusive series like Little Big Planet, or my personal favorite Ratchet and Clank. ) If your son likes ping pong and tennis, or baseball, or movement inflicted games, then a Wii is an alright choice. Just keep in mind that the Wii isn't exactly up to par with the graphic standards like everyone else is.

That's my input.

What games do you want him to play?

I think this PS3 is an all around system, It has RPGS, FPS, MMO and others. The will gets old fast and the 360 is mostly shooters.

I would like him to be a little more active, hence the wii. But, he's one who likes a challenge, and I'm thinking might not get enough of a challenge from the wii games, especially in a couple years. So if the PS3 is more of an all around machine, it sounds like the best bet. The drawback is that it doesn't play nintendo games. Appreciate all the input - now I can make a better decision.
Thanks

All the systems incorporated the Wii 'active' thing later in its production cycle so that shouldn't be a deciding factor, but if that is the only reason you are buying it I would stay with Wii. XBOX 360 has Kinect and PS3 has Move I don't know about XBOX 360 Kinect, but from what I've heard the PS3 Move wasn't well received. You wouldn't know it though if you stay atop the playstation blog as they are always trying to advertise it.

the kinect xbox is definately the better movement system of the two (xbox vs. ps3 move)
i have a younger brother a couple of years younger than your kid and he is already playing more on the ps3 than the wii, but as many others said it depends on him.

both systems have lots of demos so he can try games before he buys them, saved my parents a lot of money as some games arent as interesting as they look.
there are plenty of good games for a boy that age for both systems so dont let that inflence you too much