Hello all,
It's been a while since I was active on the boards. Happily all the advice I received here a couple of years ago regarding my now DS11 worked out great. He thrived after transferring to the all-gifted school within a school. My DD started school there in 1st grade after being id'd as GT and took off like a shot.
Anyhoo, DS11 is now in 6th grade in middle school.
DD8 is in 3rd grade .
We never actively discouraged video games at home. We just never brought it up and they never did. They are both active in sports and extracurriculars like music and art so there just wasn't time. They get screen time only on the weekends so they preferred to use it to watch a little TV. So we made it this long without getting one although most of DS's friends have them at home.
Well now they have both asked for a video game system for Christmas. DH and I are weighing the pros and cons.

Problem is that we have no idea which is the best system to get. Wii? PS? DS? etc.? We have very little understanding of the differences among those or any other system.
Ideally, we'd like something that has educational options available. Realistic expectation?

I'd be grateful for any suggestions/input/warnings that the wise ones on this board have to offer as we don't really know what to look for when we head over to Best Buy.

Thank you!

My kids love XBOX Kinect. My DD likes Dance Now and my son likes Kinect Sports. I like Kinect as it gives kids opportunity to move as well vs sitting on the couch with a controller.

I've heard it said that Wii games are more kid/family friendly than the other systems but we only have Wii so I really can't make a statement from personal experience comparing various systems.

That being said, even though we have the Wii, the kids don't use it nearly as often as their PCs. If you are looking to play games as a group then the Wii is a better choice than a PC, but for individual games I think it's a lot cheaper to just download games for a PC. DD also has a DS which is good for taking on car trips or other places where she needs something to occupy herself. The DS is a handheld, portable system.

In terms of educational options there are some game choices but they can be hard to find. DD likes Professor Layton games like this one for the Nintendo DS, for example. They are basically puzzle games so involve some mental stimulation.
http://www.amazon.com/Professor-Lay...9685819&sr=1-4&keywords=professor+layton

DS spends a lot of time playing historical games on the PC (games similar to Civilization) and has learned a lot about geography/history. They are both also into Minecraft on the PC which involves some thinking and creativity.

I say ask your 11 year old he probably knows exactly what he wants. I know that ruins the surprise but better to do that than get the wrong thing. My son has always been very particular in what game platforms he has wanted. We have a Wii (old now) and an old Playstation that bought used at the time. But there were games that only ran on the Playstation. Plus he has a DS. As a H.S. student he is mostly playing games on his PC.

It really depends on what types of games your kids want to play.

I agree that asking your kids is a good idea. They very likely know what they would want and use at those ages.

Thanks so much everyone!

Well, my kids know very little about what kind of system they'd like. They just know that most of their friends have them. My DS11 is especially clueless about the differences between them. He's just really never played them at all, even at friends' houses. He was always a little scared of them. He went to a couple of parties that had a Gametruck and he didn't know how to play any of the games, nor did he want to, so he hung around outside chatting with the parents.

But projecting what I know, I think he'd like anything with driving type games since he loves cars and Star Wars games. DD8 would love dance and sports games but picks up other things well.

Thank you for the Minecraft suggestions. My DS is also "scared" of Minecraft because many of his friends have told him that they are "addicted" to it so he's worried about getting involved in something that might overly tempt him. That's my DS!

But I like the idea of the PC games. I've heard great things about Civilization. I may buy a few PC games as well.

Thank you all so very much. I truly appreciate the input.

Both my DS8 and DS6 started playing Minecraft 2 years ago on tablets and now playing on PC. They love it! The fact that your DS is worried about putting too much time on a game shows that he is very conscious about time management. If your DSs like Lego, they'll be very excited about this game too :-)

My DS plays Civilization on our old iPad 2 and enjoys it. We have a PS4 also, and he's good with time management and not addicted, plays a little Minecraft when friends come over, but that's about it. It really depends on the kid and the boundaries you set. If anything, he briefly got hooked on a Transformers game for the PS4, completed it, and hasn't played the PS4 for a week. The iPad is nice because they can play their school linked math games, do code.org, write and draw and also play some games. I think they get more out of that than the game console, but the multiplayer feature is nice on the PS4 for having a few friends join in.

Whatever system most of their friends have so they can play online with them.