What to get

[Pakrat]

Hey All, looking at getting kids something for xmas ..well i will prob use it ..sigh!! lolz

Xbox or PS3 and wherew are the good deals ?? live on the Gold Coast would appreciate thoughts and advise ta

Pak

[ozivillan]

What are you looking for stand alone consoles or a bundle, older or newer models, or give us your max price and we will point you in the right direction, plenty of deals coming up in the run up to xmax

[Bawheidbob]

Kids....does Wii not get a look in?

[Ebonytears]

Yep, don't discount the Wii.

They have the Red one at the moment

25th Anniversary New Super Mario Bros. Bundle (Red) - Nintendo Wii - EB Games Australia

It also depends on the age of these 'kids' and what type of games they are into.

[Pakrat]

thanx for the4 input so far - price is not a prob really 5-800 ?? whateva !! lol the kids already havea wii but the older boy wants to play some bigger games i suppose - i am leaning towards PS3 hmmm ....

[ozivillan]

for a bundle this one XBOX 360 250GB Kinect Bundle | Harvey Norman Australia is hard to beat at the moment latest hardware from MS including the Kinect and 2 games, dance central is probably the best kinect game out there out the moment so will keep the younger kids happy along with Kinect adventures, and you older guys get to enjoy a good range of other titles

[Ancient_One]

Originally Posted by Pakrat

I am leaning towards PS3 hmmm ....

What a great choice but I'm biased.

Grand Tourismo 5 coming out soon. I think they have a pack.

[okkervil]

I've got all three, and couldn't split either way.. Here's my pros and cons for all.

PS3
Pros: Free online gaming. Excellent media playback w/ software like Nero MediaHome. Works with Bravia tv remotes. Doubles as a PVR w/ PlayTV. Brilliant sound definition, works amazingly well with a surround sound system. Amazing list of compatible devices; mice, headsets, keyboards, wheels, joysticks.. the lot. It's very, very quiet. Little Big Planet.

Cons: Load times are very slow compared to xbox. Graphics aren't as good as the xbox. (can't work out why, considering it's theoretically got better hardware). The control is much lighter, and delicate that the xbox control. The triggers are just nasty. Very sloppy.

Xbox
Pros: Graphics & loads times vastly superior to PS3. Xbox Live is a much better service than Playstation Network/Store. More content, faster. Xbox control is much more versatile, better suited to racing & fps.

Cons: Microsoft official accessories are required; wireless networking, steering wheel, joysticks etc. All of which are horrendously overpriced, and particularly in the wheel department, poor quality. Xbox Live costs you money! Sound performance is not nearly as good as it should be. Media playback is a clunky, inconsistent mess. Sometimes it works really well, others not at all. It's bloody noisy! Gives my PC a run for it's money in the noise stakes!

Wii
Pros: It's cheap, and lots and lots of fun.
Cons: No 1080p support, so it looks crappy on a good telly.

[Cindax]

What console do your (kids) friends have?
Get the console that other people in your circle have and you greatly expand your game library and opportunity for sharing of both games and information.

A pro for the xbox is that it has parent control rating lockout features (maybe ps3 does too)
You can lock out certain game ratings.
You can lock out certain video ratings (it is a dvd player too)
You can lock out access to xbox live on your kids profile. (miltiplayer)
You can lockout the creation xbox live profiles. (online profile)
You can lock out the online marketplace. (game/video store)
You can set a time limit on playing time.

I cant remember how but you can set an age limit on the profile to prevent that account going online on a PC. eg: my daughters account cant login from a PC without me also entering my login details to authorise the log in.

[HanmaT]

I have all 3 , deffinately the xbox is my pick . Online play is far superior no lag or dropouts like PS3 . And like ozivillan said Harvey Norman have a great deal which BTW I am going to update and get my son one today .

Cheers

ESIT : Ok I ran out to get this deal from HN and decided to look at Domayne on the way and guess what . Just as I thought it couldnt get any cheaper , Domayne have the 250gig Bundle for $438 !!
Not long ago you couldnt even get an Elite for this !