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Xbox 360 Doesn't Want To Be Hardcore
An anonymous reader writes "CNET.com.au has just posted an interview with Microsoft Game Studio head Shane Kim. The head games exec for the Xbox 360 admits he wants the console to be more family friendly (read: more like Nintendo and Sony). From the article: 'The positioning of the platform is very different now. We were so paranoid that people knew the Xbox was a hardcore gaming machine in the first generation that we really alienated, or closed off, a lot of our opportunity.'"
Is the PS2 that much better for kids than an Xbox? I imagine they both have some kids games, but the games are generally of poor quality.
I'd say Nintendo is the way to go if you want games for kids. Mario games appeal to players of any age, and kids tend to love Mario games. Mario games also tend to be excellent games.
The Playstation series doesn't exactly have a great history of providing games for young kids either. If you want a game system to appeal to the whole family if you have young children, the best bet would probably be the Nintendo Revolution.
Why wait, how about the GameCube? Or the N64? Or a PacMan game-in-a-joystick?
Seriously, 6-year-olds don't really care that much about the latest thing. They like video games, but if left to themselves I think it's about as likely they'd go for the PacMan as the revolution.
All this is out the window if they have teenage siblings. If they have siblings, they immediatly like whatever the sibling plays.
What about something the whole family will enjoy? I'll ask you this, have you ever been part of a 4+ person family and tried to order pizza? Sounds easy, but it can be hell. Everyone has a different favorite pizza joint and wants different toppings. You will never make everyone completely satisfied with a single choice. The only options are to accept that some family members will not be fully satisfied, or order more than one.
TW
Katamari Damacy.
Not to mention, if you're looking to go old skool, your PS2 will still play spyro.
Plus... Jak and dexter. They may not be games for 6 year olds, but I don't remember anything in Jak II that a 3rd or 4th grader couldn't handle. Nothing that I hadn't seen in Battletoads or Ninja Gaiden or Bionic Commando. Well, except boobs, but they're clothed, and they're going to see worse than that on the 6 o'clock news.
Oh, and that brings me to things like Tony Hawk (which is admittedly also available on the gamecube). THPS is kid friendly.
So, yeah, there are good games for kids on playstation.
sig?
She actually suggested waiting for the PS3 release.
Why not get the Nintendo DS?
Pretty much all the games are rated Teen or less and are pretty simple for any kid (or adult) to pickup and learn to play in less than 5 minutes.
I'm having a blast with mine. Tetris DS is way too fun!
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
I major reason I got an Xbox 360 because I wanted to listen to MP3s and to look at photos on my television. A device to do this is about $200, or for $400 you get the same thing and a new console. The Xbox 360 interfaces seamlessly over the lan between my PC (once you configure it), and it was super easy. I can listen to music from my PC in my office, with a remote control on the stereo in the living room, which is convienient.
I enjoyed playing games on my 8088 PC back in the day, so no matter what the difference between the next gen consoles are, they are gonna all have fun games to play. The question will be who offers the best secondary features. Xbox 360 is offering integration with your PC, and has Xbox Live Arcade (I enjoy the classic arcade games)... Sony is offering Blue-Ray, so audio/video buffs will be excited for that... It will all depend on secondary features to see who really is the winner, though.
Several people have already pointed out that the Nintendo Revolution or the GameCube might be a better choice based on the games. I'm inclined to agree. Another reason that it's a better choice is based on the size of the controllers. The GameCube controllers are much smaller than the PS2 controllers and are a lot more intuitive to use. Also, the "A" button is the primary button for most games, so it's actually bigger than the rest of the buttons. This makes it a lot easier for younger kids to learn to use them.