Videogames for very young children

[Wrestlevania]

Didn't really have any luck on the GameCube side of things in the end; my console appears to be faulty, and getting hold of game discs is more trouble than it seems to be worth.

So I bought a Wii at the weekend! I got Sports, Sports Resort, Pikmin, Warioland: The Shake Dimension and Boom Blox in the bundle, and I also picked up Wii Play and two further controllers as well.

Haven't opened it yet - keeping it a surprise for this coming Sunday - but I'm really excited to see what the kids make of it.

[Armchair General]

Woot! We have a Wii. for. the. kids. (ahem). I can recommend Carnival which can be picked up really cheap now and Mariokart is a must

My 5 year old son loves Lego Star wars and Indiana jones, my 3 year old daughter enjoys big brain academy (bizarrely) and my 11 year old son likes Mariokart the best when he is not being too cool to play babyish things (Wii:tmeh: Xbox:tup: for him)

We have found the Wii fit to be a bit rubbish and basically use ours as an expensive pair of scales but that could just be us not really devoting enough time to mastering it.

If you get mariokart we will have to exchange licence numbers (or whatever it is) and play on the internets:tup:

Andy

[Wrestlevania]

We have found the Wii fit to be a bit rubbish and basically use ours as an expensive pair of scales

I've been close to buying a Wii just because of Wii Fit a couple times for Mrs V. But I keep hearing it's pretty naff and just not worth bothering with.

...unless you're the Consolevania boys, of course:

JdP9y057FMA

If you get mariokart we will have to exchange licence numbers (or whatever it is) and play on the internets:tup:

Mario Kart is on the shortlist, definitely, along with New Super Mario Bros. (I couldn't get either in the bundle deal, sadly). Just going to wait and see how they take to it first before getting any more games, however.

[miffy495]

I'm going to throw in some support for Wii fit here. Every few months I get on a bit of a fitness kick and use it daily for a month and a half or so, then fall out of it again. For that month and a half, it feels great and is really entertaining. The girl loves to join in when she's over as well, and I think I'd stay committed to it a lot better if I lived with someone else who did it with me. If I've been going to her place for a couple of weeks and she hasn't signed in, the board asks me to remind her to get back to it. If you're planning on getting it just for the wife, it may not be that great. If you participate with her (don't be ashamed. It's actually way more fun than I would have thought before I tried it) and try to keep each other into it, I'd think it would be fantastic.

Really, it's nothing more than an electronic device that will occasionally guilt you into doing some pushups or running in place for a while (the game parts ARE shit) but there are far worse ways to spend your time. The strength training bits will tire you out, specifically things like the higher levels of side plank, and the cardio will make you sweat. In addition, the Yoga is surprisingly relaxing. I never would have tried yoga if it hadn't been for the game, as I'm a 6'3" reasonably fit but definitely not that flexible dude and fear bending around in front of a class, but in the privacy of my living room it's very enjoyable. The one thing it certainly is not though, is a game. The balance games are shit. Just ignore that entire menu screen. As a yoga/cardio/mild strength training aid though, it's a lot of fun and is very good at gentle motivation.