XBox 360 or Wii or PlayStation 3?

If you are a parent with kids, then you are most likely familiar with the variety of gaming systems available today. But how do you know which one to buy? As a mother of four children ages 8 to 12, two being boys and two being girls, I have been there. With four kids, our family could only afford to buy one gaming system. This is how we decided on which one to buy.

The three most popular gaming systems are Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and the Sony PlayStations 3. Price wise, they are are all within the same range, so that was not a deciding factor. The next thing we looked at were the games that can be played with each system. Many games have different versions for each system, but there are a few that are unique to only one system. For example, Super Mario Bros is found only with Nintendo, so the Wii has more games relating to Mario and his friends. (Note that you can find Mario Bros games for the Nintendo DSi, as it is also a Nintendo product.) Or my son's favorite game Halo (and all the related Halo games) can only be played on the Xbox 360. The last thing that made an impact was what type of system others had. My kids wanted to be able to play with their friends online, so they wanted to have the same gaming system and games.

Before you make a final decision, it is a good idea to try out each system. Many stores have a in-store display that allows people to try out the controllers and games. We did that and also tried the various systems out at the homes of friends and family who had the different game systems.

We ended up purchasing the Xbox360 with the Kinect add-on. The Kinect lets the kids act as the controller in special Kinect games. I like the Kinect in that it allows the kids to be more physically active compared with other games, where they would be sitting and pushing buttons in a handheld controller.

Once we bought the system, then we had to buy accessories and games. Brand new games recently released can cost over $50 per game, so I ended up lookling online for good deals on older games. It is amazing how much the games go down in cost the older the release date. If you are purchasing a used copy, it is a good idea to buy from a reputable used game dealer that offers some sort of guarantee that the game will play. Game CDs can get easily scratched and damaged over time and use. Or if you are buying from an online auction, make sure that returns are accepted in case the game does not play when you get it. If you are buying older games, you want to make sure that it will play on the newer version of the game system. For instance, not all original Xbox games will play on the Xbox 360. Or some Playstation 2 games will not work on a Playstation 3 system, depending on what version you have.

I would also recommend buying wireless controllers if that is possible with whichever gaming system you choose. Also, I would definitely invest in rechargeable batteries. We went through so many batteries in the beginning until we made the change to rechargeable ones. Now when the kids are finished playing for the day, we take the batteries out of the controllers and charge them overnight. Then they are good to go in the morning!