wii-U or Xbox one, for my um 5 year old

[Guts]

So my 5 year old daughter is turning 6 in march and I think I have convinced my wife to get her a consul system. I have been a PC gamer since the mid 90's. The last one I owned was a Super Nintendo. So It would seem like the wii u should be the obvious choice for a kid, but apparently my wife and daughter were over her friends house and were playing some dance game on the 360. This led my wife to ask if a Xbox was a better choice. Now I of course said that I would look into it.

 

Of Course I would love to have a Xbox One in my living room. My PC is in our bedroom which means the only time I can use it is when my wife asleep or reading, which means I have to watch my noise lvl. It would be so nice to simply go into the living room and not worry about it. 

 

That being said, other than dance games and lego games, and minecraft. I don't see much in the way of great kids games. Also I think it would be awesome to play with her in things like mario cart/smash bros. It seems like most Xbox games are better played alone or online.

 

So what should I do? What is the best thing for me? for my 5 year old? who does like minecraft and Lego games on pc/tablet. Though Im pretty sure Mario cart would blow her away. Is there anything I would get out of the Wii? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks. 

[dium]

Is there anything I would get out of the Wii? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks. 

 

I feel like if you're asking this, the answer is probably no. The main draws for the Wii U are games you're almost certainly aware of: Mario Kart, Smash Bros, lots of high profile platformers (Mario (especially 3d world), Donkey Kong, Rayman, etc). Those are what you'd be "getting out of it", really, and while those games are excellent (no joke, surprisingly excellent) if that's not your thing the Wii is not going to be your thing. There's also the Bayonetta games (which would certainly be for you and not your daughter), but that's just two games.

[miffy495]

If you already have a decent PC, even if you can't use it that much, you can already play the best of what the XBONE has to offer. I'd go Wii U, both for your daughter and because the best games on there are NOT things you'd be able to play on your PC.

[N1njaSquirrel]

I think what might be the best choice is to ask your child. Whilst I would personally advise towards the Wii U as a die hard Nintendo fanboy, I feel that maybe this console isn't for you, but for your kid instead. It could be that he/she already has eyes on a gaming console, or that some other kids at school have console x so they want the same console too.

[BusbyBerkeley]

They have Just Dance on WiiU, Lego games as well. Also I'd imagine there are a lot more family friendly games on the WiiU, as well as local multiplayer options. What games does your daughter want to play? Why is a PS4 out of the question? 

 

Tho if you want minecraft you have to get the xbone, but if it's just for minecraft you might as well just get the PC version.

[N1njaSquirrel]

Tho if you want minecraft you have to get the xbone, but if it's just for minecraft you might as well just get the PC version.

 

I don't know about that, from my recollection, the crafting part is much easier on the Xbox than it is the PC, as you don't have to know the ordering of stuff on a work bench. But then again if the kid's playing it on an iPad, that might not be a big issue.

[tegan]

Have you considered a handheld? The 2DS is pretty kid-friendly and kids fucking looooove Pokémon.

[Synnah]

"Have you tried getting your kid into Pokémon" says the Queen of Bees.

 

EDIT: I should do an actual post. My 3-and-a-bit-year-old nephew recently got a Wii U, and he's really into Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8 and Captain Toad. These are basically perfect games for kids; colourful, imaginative and really well-made. I imagine you'd get plenty out of them yourself; most adults do! But I can't really speak for your general gaming tastes. Kid-friendly games are a little thinner on ground on Xbone, but it does at least have Rayman Legends (Although the Wii U probably has the definitive version of that), and

is also really nice, especially if you want something to play with your daughter.

[kaputt]

When it comes to gaming for kids, Nintendo definitely is the best answer, but Xbox One with Minecraft won't be a bad deal at all. Kids love Minecraft. I went to a Minecraft themed birthday a couple of months ago, a 7 year old boy, they had Creeper gums and all the stuff, I was amazed to see what Minecraft has become, the thing is huge among kids. My 8 year old cousin only owns Minecraft with his Xbox 360 (besides that he only plays demos), and it is pretty much everything he plays 80% of the time, he just loves it.

But the thing is that your daughter might not be into Minecraft that much, and then her options will be a bit narrower. You'll still have some games suited for children, like dancing and kinect games, but, besides that, it will be mostly Lego games and other licensed products, not really some original IP with the quality and effort that Nintendo usually dedicates, that's not the focus of the AAA market right now.

Your wife asked about the Xbox, maybe she prefers it because of kinect. That's the case with my girlfriend, she just can't play games with a controller, she never owned a console so it's a bit complicated for her.

Well, in the end I think you need to measure what your family interests are. I definitely think the Wii U is a better option for kids and the family as a whole, but maybe the Xbox One can better suit the preferences of your family.

[Griddlelol]

I'd say WiiU. You get far more child friendly games and there's a decent library for you also. The Xbone doesn't really cater towards a young crowd, focussing mostly on late teens. I might be wrong, but just like the PS4, the Xbone doesn't really have a library of games yet. Maybe a one or two good ones, but certainly nothing to make it stand out. The WiiU not only has a good library now, but you also have access to loads of great NES, SNES and GBA games too, plus you can play Wii games on it since it's the only console that's backwards compatible. It's technically possible to play GCN games, but a major pain in the ass to set it up.

 

I think the WiiU is great for those getting into gaming too. There's a bunch of simple 2D platformers that range from easy to difficult within each game. As I said, there's that Wii library available, with all those games that non-gamers loved. Plus you get some real gems like Bayonetta (2) exclusive to the WiiU. Oh, and the Metroid Prime trilogy just relased today for $10 (soon to be $20), while trying to get a physical (not new, just physical) copy will set you back upwards of $80. 

[Bjorn]

I'd vote Wii U. Developmentally, a 5-year-old is going to be engaging with things more often as a toy to be played with than a game with goals and rules (that's not universally true, but true enough). And while almost any video game can be approached as a toy, I suspect the Wii U is going to be much, much more fitting. And there are still going to be plenty of dance/music games on the Wii U.

The X1, as a console, would be very hard for me to try and justify if you already do PC gaming. Outside of the Kinect games, there are very few games worth playing that won't also be available on PC.

[Guts]

I think my main goal is to be able to sit with my daughter and play with her. I always assumed that the Wii-u would be the best option, but I was hoping that the x box might have a cadre of kids games that would be able to cover the same ground. Then I could kill two birds. She does really like minecraft on our kindle fire, and she loves harry potter lego on PC (though I always end up figuring out the puzzles) She also loves flash games on pbs kids. I have been trying for years to work out a system where I can play PC games on my TV, and I can do it, but it means dragging three cords through the house while everyone is sleeping and pretending to be comfortable with a tv tray thats to small for a mouse and keyboard. I think the WII is going to win this. Also I would have to get the Xbox with the camera for the games we would need. which is a bit more expensive anyway. Do the older wii games work on wii u? I can probably get them cheap on ebay if they do.

[Inferno313]

I'd vote WiiU as well. The biggest kid friendly games on Xbox are, like you said, Lego, Minecraft, and Kinect games. Lego games are on everything ever, you can get them for her on your PC or on the WiiU (One of the few Third-Party series that regularly supports WiiU), Minecraft has a superior version you can get for her on PC, or if you have a tablet she can play the pocket edition. The WiiU probably has less dancing games than Xbox, but it does have Just Dance which is one of the most popular ones.

 

Meanwhile you're getting some of the best local multiplayer experiences around on WiiU. Not only does the WiiU have the most kid-friendly exclusives, but it also has the best local multi-player exclusives. Getting the whole family together for Mario Kart, Smash, Nintendoland, Super Mario 3D World, Mario Party 10, Kirby's Rainbow Curse, etc will be a lot of fun. Nintendo has, as of late, been VERY strong about getting local co-op into nearly everything on WiiU. The only major first-party WiiU games I can think of that don't have some kind of co-op or local multiplayer are Wind Waker HD and Bayonetta 2 (Which probably isn't something she's ready for anyways). Everything from Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze to Pikmin 3 to New Super Mario Bros U. has support for at least 2 players. With that in mind, it's very strong as a "family" console.

 

EDIT: Regarding your question about older Wii Games...

 

Yes, the WiiU is fully backwards compatible with original Wii games. You'll need to buy some Wii Remotes and Nunchuks though. In addition, you can buy downloadable copies of NES, SNES, and GBA games. So you can introduce her to some of the Super Nintendo games you played.

 

 

[Griddlelol]

If you want to sit and play with you daughter, then a WiiU is the best option. I doubt the Xbox has any split screen multiplayer games (bar Rayman Legends which is also on WiiU) while the WiiU is full of split screen coop awesomeness. 

 

Yes, you can play Wii games on the WiiU. It's fantastic, I skipped out on the Wii, and now I'm able to get so many cheap, great games to play. 

 

Microsoft has practically stopped supporting the Kinect now anyway. It's not bundled with the system any more, and I believe they cut loose a bunch of kinect games because it was a major reason people weren't buying the system. 

[kaputt]

If you want to sit and play with you daughter, then a WiiU is the best option. I doubt the Xbox has any split screen multiplayer games (bar Rayman Legends which is also on WiiU) while the WiiU is full of split screen coop awesomeness. 

 

Yeah, this is an important thing to consider. Splitscreen multiplayer is pratically dead on non-nintendo games.

 

I think the Wii U is a better option if you want to sit and play with your daughter, the games are appealing to all ages and there are better options for local multiplayer.

[Merus]

Of course, when she hits about 6 she'll want to play Minecraft basically all the time judging from what I keep hearing from parents

[Bjorn]

Yeah, this is an important thing to consider. Splitscreen multiplayer is pratically dead on non-nintendo games.

 

I think the Wii U is a better option if you want to sit and play with your daughter, the games are appealing to all ages and there are better options for local multiplayer.

 

Actually, in what has to be one of my least expected developments in gaming, the PC has really become the king of local multiplayer.  I wouldn't say it's a great fit for a young child (the Wii U is still likely the better choice there), but for general local co-op support, PC gaming has just been amazing the last few years.