Video Game Systems

[Scott P]

OK, the only computer or video game I've ever played was Oregon Trail and not until recently.

Anyway, I promised my son and daughter than when they climbed 200 and 100 mountains respectively, I would get them a video game system (to be used sparingly of course). They are getting close.

People at work think they (they are quite active) would be better off with a Wii rather than a DS (which is what we were originally thinking).

I admit that I'm really not familiar with either one. Does anyone have these?

Which is better?

[asdf]

The Wii is pretty fun but once Natal is released in late 2010 you are going to want an xbox360.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_UzcnTYqc4


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM

[DiscGo]

You have your pros and cons with both.

In the end, I would get them a Wii over the DS.


Wii:
Pros- Interact together, and requires more physical activity than the other consoles.

Cons- If your kids aren't careful, they are more likely to break something than with other consoles because of that extra involvement and the games are just okay (but very popular)

DS:
Pros- Best little handheld gaming device. It is awesome, and there are a lot of games. Many of which are a lot of fun.

Cons- The DS is so portable and easy to carry that your kids can and likely will start carrying them to school, camping, church, etc. and can actually miss out on a lot of cool stuff while looking down at those screens.

So from I know about your Scott, I would get your kids the Wii because you will be able to designate the location of where they play it instead of allowing them to play everywhere you take them.

[Iceaxe]

My kids are big namers... and it is not even close between those two system... get the Wii.

The DS is a small hand held, has poor graphics, weak games and limited programing. And maybe most important of all to kids is only one can play it at a time.

Wii is one of the latest and great gaming systems. It's extremely popular with kids and women. And what makes it so much better than a DS is 4 can play it at one time.

:blahblah:

[DaveOU812]

As I guy who doesn't like the cold/snow (I know, why am I still in Utah. Thinking about making a move to St. George) my only winter hobby is video games. Go with the Wii. It's great for a whole family to play together.

[Deathcricket]

PS3. Better games, wayyyyyyyyyy better graphics, play blue ray DVD's in HD, has a built in media server you can stream too and cancel your cable, save $60 a month. The list goes on and on. Plus Final Fantasy 13!! Do I even need to type another sentence to convince you?

That being said, the Wii fit yoga game is pretty much the coolest thing I have ever seen. So many of those Wii games are just crap though. I would say out of the 15 games I own, 10 are complete garbage. The Wii controls get very old after the novelty wears off too.

[DiscGo]

I have a PS3 and mostly play Call of Duty 6 or Little Big Planet.

If any of you want to add me, my PS3 name is Discgo :)

[asdf]

PS3. Better games, wayyyyyyyyyy better graphics, play blue ray DVD's in HD, has a built in media server you can stream too and cancel your cable, save $60 a month. The list goes on and on. Plus Final Fantasy 13!! Do I even need to type another sentence to convince you?


Xbox360 FTW
Sony blew it with the PS2 those things died left and right.
PS3 controllers are made for people with really small hands and ya know what they say about guys with small hands :haha:

[Don]

The Wii is pretty fun but once Natal is released in late 2010 you are going to want an xbox360.


Dude. Holy crap. I hadn't seen those videos before; that's pretty amazing.

[DiscGo]

Xbox360 FTW
Sony blew it with the PS2 those things died left and right.
PS3 controllers are made for people with really small hands and ya know what they say about guys with small hands :haha:

I had a 360 for over a year and I hardly ever played it. My wife used to get mad at me that we spent so much money on it and I never used it. I sold it and upgraded to a PS3 and have been much happier. I use my PS3 all the time (it streams video better than the 360, has a blue-ray player, etc.). And ultimately the PS3 is a lot cheaper than the 360 over time. Free online gaming (awesome!), the controllers have a built in chargeable battery instead of having to constantly replace the batteries in those dumb 360 battery packs.

The only thing I miss about the 360 is Halo, and Fable. Project Natal however does look awesome. I am skeptical though of it working as well as it shows here.

[Sombeech]

For me, I'm not really a gamer. I get together with people and play Halo and Rock Band, so it's not all about the graphics for me.

If you're looking for family fun, rather than just sheer performance, your end result would probably be different.

The Wii looks cool to play with the family, and Rock Band is a lot of fun to have friends over.

If you're an online gamer and it's all about performance and visuals, you may go with the 360 crowd.

[DaveOU812]

Ok. Let the PS3 vs XBOX battle begin. I own a PS3 and it is head and shoulder better than the box. Yea yea, the box has Halo but all I have to say is BLURAY!!! I stand by my previous suggestion to buy the Wii because its for the kids but for us big kids, go with the PS3. Xbox Live = $$$ PSN = Free! No red ring of death for me.

[asdf]

Whats so great about BLURAY?
Why would you want to put extra miles on your console by playing movies... I rarely even play Dvds on my xbox (that's what DVD players are for). I already repurchased my entire VHS movie collection on DVD now I am supposed to do it a third time for bluray?

I think I would rather just flush my money down the toilet.


Please tell us how many years it took Sony to get "Home" even comparable to XboxLive? It was only in beta for a few years....


For the record - I dont hate Sony and would not mind owning a PS3 but two consoles would be a bit much for how little I play.

[DiscGo]

I stream video from my computer through my PS3 and seldom watch DVDs or Bluray, but when you do put a DVD in the PS3 it upconverts the video quality better than most Bluray players and a lot better than any DVD player can. The PS3 really is a pretty sweet system.


Ironically Microsoft copied Sony's success from the PS2 and rushed their console to the market. There is really nothing special about the 360. Game producers never really tapped the full potential of the Xbox and the 360 just picked up where the Xbox left off. Sony copied Microsoft's success with the xbox by developing a better and more expensive system. Once again it was the version console to the market which won out.

As far as Scott's family goes, I think we can all agree that the Wii is the way to go over the DS.

[Sombeech]

So with streaming from your PC to the PS3, can you also watch hulu.com from it, or are we talking about video files that are stored on your PC hard drive?

[Kent K25]

A year ago I had an Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii.

I have since sold the Wii - Great device for younger or less serious gamers. Also great to play with groups

The PS3 is now just a Blu Ray Movie player for me. I got sick of the games that were released on both systems having lower frame rates on the PS3. The only game on the PS3 that are worth playing (to me) are the exclusives. Killzone 2 was a pretty awesome game, as was Little Big Planet.

Xbox 360 gets all my gaming time. I don't mind paying for the online gaming since it is a better experience overall.

I think each system excels in its own ways, but the 360 excels in the ways that I enjoy the most.

[Deathcricket]

So with streaming from your PC to the PS3, can you also watch hulu.com from it, or are we talking about video files that are stored on your PC hard drive?

Right, just files on the PC. Boxee has built in Hulu and Pandora apps though that are amazing. Not sure if you have ever built a media center, but I highly recommend it.

[DiscGo]

I use Playon to stream Hulu and other programs to my TV through the PS3

[MY T PIMP]

I have a WII and a 360 and love them both. Though with the exception of a few,(like the new Super Mario Brothers) playing as a single player I get bored of the WII games much quicker than that of the 360. However playing as a group (not online) the WII is a riot. I have not been interested in a PS3 because they do not have the quality game markeshare XBOX does. I love my 360, Modern Warfare 2 online is unbelievable. There is nothing that compares. But if you get that, your kid's mountain climbing days could be over. :lol8:

I am stoked for Bio Shock 2 the first one was amazing. :2thumbs:

[jman]

So with streaming from your PC to the PS3, can you also watch hulu.com from it, or are we talking about video files that are stored on your PC hard drive?

Right, just files on the PC. Boxee has built in Hulu and Pandora apps though that are amazing. Not sure if you have ever built a media center, but I highly recommend it.


you mean a HTPC? I built one last year and love it! HTPCs have no out-of-box playability, but if you are a tweaker or a geek like a few of us - they are great!
You use Boxee? I would recommend Mediaportal - it has more options. You got any pics or specs of it? You can PM me if you don't want to derail this conversation too much LOLzzz.

[asdf]

I am stoked for Bio Shock 2 the first one was amazing. :2thumbs:

Cant wait for BioShock2..
I hope they can pull off the multiplayer aspect that was lacking for the first game.

[bbennett]

I having P3 video game that is very much interesting play and enjoy.


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_A-bXyPL07Ww/SLdHPB0oRoI/AAAAAAAABcY/k2dSdduiieA/s400/funny+picure.jpg

:roflol:

[Scott P]

Thanks for the advise everyone. :2thumbs:

I was expected a bunch of statements like "my kid likes............", but it appears that you're all a bunch of adult video game nerds. :naughty:

[asdf]

My boys love Lego Batman, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones on our Xbox 360

[Deathcricket]

you mean a HTPC? I built one last year and love it! HTPCs have no out-of-box playability, but if you are a tweaker or a geek like a few of us - they are great!
You use Boxee? I would recommend Mediaportal - it has more options. You got any pics or specs of it? You can PM me if you don't want to derail this conversation too much LOLzzz.

I think he got his answer, let's derail this puppy! Not really much to see hehe. But here is a couple pics anyways.... Always looking for tips and advice. I will check out mediaportal, but to be honest, I love Boxee so much I probably won't switch unless I see some huge difference. It totally meets my needs and then some. So anyways...

It's just an old Pentium 3 with 512 ram I had laying around. It sits in my closet on the other side of the wall. Ran s-video through the wall to tv, and then the normal speaker jack to the rca connections to the receiver on the left for 5.1. I have a wireless keyboard in case I ever need to do anything the remote control can't do. But once I got it set up for remote desktop, I've never used it. Just put boxee in the start menu, and when it starts it doesn't do anything else.

From the top you see a cat 5 cable I ran from my computer room. Wireless wouldn't be fast enough to transfer huge files. The other 2 are for the surround sound speakers. I have the drives all mapped to my 250g hd. Not huge since I tend to watch stuff once and discard it. And that's still probably twice the size of most people's DVR's. I'm sure I will probably buy a huge drive though in the near future. I tend to download entire seasons of shows at once, hehe.

The front is just a 55" Vizio LCD with 3 speakers, center, left and right. Not sure why the pic is so fisheye lens looking, even the ceiling doesnt look straight, hehe. And you see my PS3, the cables are usually tucked in and run behind the TV. But when this pic was taken I was changing stuff around so they are out temporarily. On the bottom of the center channel speaker you can see the remote control sensor for the media center. That was BlueEyes idea and genius. The place I had it was really bad. And the sensor for the receiver is on the right but you can't really see it at all.

The only thing that sucks is it doesn't play HD. But I found a way around this... I just move the HD movies from my media server to my PS3 and Viola.... But most of the TV shows I get aren't HD anyways so they just play in regular. If it becomes a pain I will probably just buy an HDMI compatitible video card later. I'm sure the longer I wait, the cheaper they will be.

[DiscGo]

Nice setup Jacob!

[nelsonccc]

I love my 360, Modern Warfare 2 online is unbelievable. There is nothing that compares. But if you get that, your kid's mountain climbing days could be over. :lol8:

I am stoked for Bio Shock 2 the first one was amazing. :2thumbs:

DIDDO. I love modern warfare 2 and I cant wait till the 9th for bioshock 2.

I have the xbox 360 and wii. I play the wii here and there with the kids but when I want to do some serious gaming I use the 360. To me the online community is so far ahead of the PS3 that i've never bothered with the PS3.

We need a Bogley get togther on Modern warfare. I used to play halo 3 regularly with a few of the bogley guys.

[Don]

We need a Bogley get togther on Modern warfare. I used to play halo 3 regularly with a few of the bogley guys.

I'm a novice but I would get that game if I got to shoot Bogleites online... James? You playing? :haha:

[jman]

Cricket,

looks good. Nice big tv too. What wall mount did you use?
I first used Boxee for a little while, then I tried XBMC (which I still use on my modded xbox1), then I tried Windows Media Center - but I like customization and versatility and thankfully I found Mediaportal. I posted my setup on the Mediaportal forum so check it out there - http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/completed-htpc-projects-61/semi-inexpensive-htpc-setup-66459/

Those pics are not current as I have upgraded to MUCH bigger speakers (7.1 even) and a new Onkyo 606 receiver. The room is different too. The only thing I have since upgraded on the HTPC is he video card to a ATI 5770 and I bought myself a bluray drive for $70. Much better! All I need now is a Harmony remote but soooooo expensive!

[jman]

whoops....

[Deathcricket]

Cricket,

looks good. Nice big tv too. What wall mount did you use?


I don't recall honestly, just that it was really easy to install and took about 30 mins total. It has a tilt too which is perfect to reduce glare, I mounted it pretty high on the wall as you can see. I got it from Costco (where I bought the TV) and they only had one choice. Well there where two types but one was for smaller and one for bigger tvs. So I didn't put a lot of thought into it. But I have zero complaints.. whatever brand it was. :haha:

I really like your setup too! Much better than mine, hehe. Very curious reading about the emulators. That's done on your 360 and not through the PC right? I assumed you were going through the PC and you even had a emulator folder going, but then you mentioned you were using a 360 controller via wireless. Which for console type stuff totally makes sense. So you got the 360 controller to work through the PC? I was thinking about modding my old Xbox, can that be turned into a media center too? Obviously it doesnt have a large enough hard drive but I could map through my network yeah? I have a 60 projection TV in the living room and this could come in very handy is why I'm asking. Eventually I'll put all my media on a central server and have all the machines in the house pull it from one location. But playing all the old school games like megaman and Metroid again looks like fun!

[blueeyes]

your nerd is showing....





:2thumbs: seriously cool stuff you guys do with it! I want a TV that big.

[jman]

Cricket,

looks good. Nice big tv too. What wall mount did you use?


I don't recall honestly, just that it was really easy to install and took about 30 mins total. It has a tilt too which is perfect to reduce glare, I mounted it pretty high on the wall as you can see. I got it from Costco (where I bought the TV) and they only had one choice. Well there where two types but one was for smaller and one for bigger tvs. So I didn't put a lot of thought into it. But I have zero complaints.. whatever brand it was. :haha:

I really like your setup too! Much better than mine, hehe. Very curious reading about the emulators. That's done on your 360 and not through the PC right? I assumed you were going through the PC and you even had a emulator folder going, but then you mentioned you were using a 360 controller via wireless. Which for console type stuff totally makes sense. So you got the 360 controller to work through the PC? I was thinking about modding my old Xbox, can that be turned into a media center too? Obviously it doesnt have a large enough hard drive but I could map through my network yeah? I have a 60 projection TV in the living room and this could come in very handy is why I'm asking. Eventually I'll put all my media on a central server and have all the machines in the house pull it from one location. But playing all the old school games like megaman and Metroid again looks like fun!

Actually, I don't own a 360. I do have all the emulators (Nes, Genesis, Snes, N64, even Gamecube) on the PC. Obviously, I don't wanna use a keyboard and mouse to play cause as blueeyes says...GET OUR NERD ON!! hehe... So I got a 360 controller (used for $10) and and a PC-USB adapter (which supports up to 4 controllers on USB port, btw) and use that to play with. All my friends and girlfriend always come over now and wanna play with my machine...haha.

On top of that, some PC games I play or at least my brother when he comes to visit: Resident Evil 4 (modded to hi-def) & 5, Call of Duty 4, 5, and MW:2, Burnout Paradise (really fun), Halo 1 and 2, Far Cry, Crysis, Lego: Indiana Jones, Lost Planet, F.E.A.R, Gears of War1, Street Fighter 4. And I also have Diablo 2 and Starcraft setup for my cousins when they wanna play on a 40" screen. haha

(It's a good thing I enjoy the canyoneering and hiking more than video games and computers...hehe - otherwise I'd be obese.)

Another great part about HTPC and especially Mediaportal is that other plugins integrate nicely into as well - Hulu, Youtube, Apple Movie Trailers, etc.

I love my machine - when I buy new DVDs and now Blurays (I now head to pawnshops to get my collection), and it will copy the DVD/Blu onto my NAS and I can playback the movie (including special features, etc) without ever having to pop the disk back in.

Oh, plus the setup I have right now, all standard DVDs are upconverted to 720p or 1080p depending, and they look better (although a tad more grainy due to the upconversion).

Oh yes, the xbox1 can be modded two ways. Hardware (actual buying of a modchip) or Softmod (via software but need a certain game and memory card loader to do it, plus it's not permanent - unless you wanna solder some wires together). Check out XBMC.org and you can check out what the frontend that goes on the xbox1. It is a full featured Media Center and yes, you can stream files from it. But most people will buy a 320+ GB harddrive and load everything locally. But, if you want even more space - streaming is the way to go. (I'm sure you can get a tour of XMBC if you go to youtube and type in xbox and xbmc or something).

/geek mode off. LOLz

[jman]

cricket,

here is a good video showcase of XBMC for your xbox:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvynutoRmYs

[blueeyes]

oh no a nerd that karaoke's to Billy Ray Cyruss!
:ne_nau:
Only redeemed by all the gaming emulators.

:popcorn:

Waiting for more.

[jman]

oh no a nerd that karaoke's to Billy Ray Cyruss!
:ne_nau:
Only redeemed by all the gaming emulators.

:popcorn:

Waiting for more.

Yea, on my xbox I don't any karoke at all. That guy has BRC, haha.


Waiting for more what? Us nerds can only do so much, ya know...heh

[Jaxx]

I don't have the setup that deathcricket and jman have but I do play xbox360. My tag is Jaxxinator. Look me up bogley nerds! I used to play halo 3 but I am hooked on COD MW now.

[Scott P]

For those interested, it looks like we're not getting a gaming system.

The kids decided that they would rather have a guinea pig instead.

To be honest, we

[DiscGo]

For those interested, it looks like we're not getting a gaming system.

The kids decided that they would rather have a guinea pig instead.


From what I know of you that seems like a much better fit for your family.

[quote=Scott P]

To be honest, we