Best Gaming System for a 5 Yo--your Experiences Please!

I know you've already gotten good responses, but I'd like to expand on the Wii Fit. My 3 kids LOVE IT! They are 8, 6, 3 and even the 3 yo has fun with it. Mostly they do the balance games which are the "fun" ones, like they have to walk a tightrope, or they're "dressed" like a penguin and have to catch fish. My 3 yo thinks it's hilarious when he tries to do the ski jump and ends up tumbling down the hill in a snowball! And as you mentioned, they're are quite a few driving games that are great for kids (I'll admit I'm addicted to Mari Kart). We love it as a family, and it's something different to do on a yucky night than just popcorn and a DVD.

We have both, and the Wii is the best for small kids - there are more games that are appropriate. The wii is also cooler for us - we have a ton of friends that come over to play, and we are in our 30's.

I love our wii - probably the best investment for "Family Time" that we have ever made. We have a 10, 7, and 3 year old, and all 3 can play, be challenged, be entertained, and love it.

Wii is definitely more kid friendly. Nintendo overall is more kid friendly.
We have a Wii and a PS3. Hubby plays the PS3. Son plays the Wii. There are so many age appropriate games. And no violence. We just got a Wii Fit for our son for Christmas. That has a lot of cool games to go with it too. Plus I can exercise on it too!! LOL

I know you have a lot of responses, but I can't help adding my own 2 cents. Our girls are 17 and 14 and our boy is 6. I have to tell you that the wii is the best system in my opinion. It is a family game. We all play it and we have a blast. You can play up to 4 players on some games. My son, like yours loves car games.......we haven't even bought a car game for our wii yet. He loves playing the sports with the rest of us. It's extremely interactive, and actually very good exercise. Not everyone likes to exercise, but everyone should and this is definately a fun way to do it and the whole family can get involved. I even read an article that said that some doctors are using this system in physical therapy. I bought a new game for Christmas this year...I can't wait to play it with the kids....it's called Outdoor Life. You have to run and row a boat and skate board....it should be quite fun.
I hope you choose the wii and have as much fun with your family as I do. By the way......there is a Mario Kart for wii.

Wii is the way to go for sure! My son in 4 years old and he absolutely loves Wii. He can play all the games himself. He loves Nascar beyond belief. Wii has so many kid freindly games they acan actually understand. Mario Kart is great and its so easy for the kids. The sports games are easy as well, we recently bought Super Mario Sluggers and I can't beat my four year old he is so good at it. Wii Sports comes with a additional Wii remote and has I think 9 sports. On Wii you can also buy games from the Wii. We buy the points on the Wii and download the games. Great oldies! They also have some educational games Brain Academy great games for the whole family. They have fitness games too, Wii Fit! Good Luck!

i honestly didnt read anyone elses - but i wanted to share my opinin - the Wii IS your best bet - and the reason i say that is that there are "less violent" games for Wii and i do speak from experience - i have a son who will be 5 the end of March - so right now he is 4.5 and we got the Wii last year shortly after his 4th bday (tax refund) and he LOVES it - its taught him to "practice" at things, its taught him hand eye coordination, its taught him patience - and honestly if your son has interest in this type thing i would totally go with the Wii - its honestly the cheapest game system - and its not stationary - you move around with it!

some great "starter" games are: mario and sonic olymics; mario cart; wii sports; wii play; any of the "lego" games;

dont sell your kid short - they are smarter than we think and isnt better to challenge their minds a little than to "dumb" their minds?

If you want to talk more feel free to email me directly: ____@____.com

S. w

We have the Wii & my kids are 3 & 6 and both love it. My 3yo boy loves racing cars as well. We have the Disney Cars racing game which he enjoys. We also have MarioKart which they both like. We rented Speed Racer and loved that so I'll probably buy them that for Xmas. I love the Wii, they have different games that actually get the kids up & moving instead of zoning out. They like to play tennis, bowling, baseball, etc. We have O. game that has a bunch of carnival games like the ring toss & stuff like that is fun.

I have the same issue this holiday season and spoke to alot of people re: this. I went with the Wii. The reason is the controllers are easier to use with Wii. XBox 360 controllers are more complicated and there are too many steps involved in getting them to move how you want them to. Hope this helps!

My son is 6 1/2 and LOVES any race car video game. He's really into NASCAR too. He even has my two younger children involved too. He's played the Wii at friends house and it's all he talks about. In fact he's been asking for it since last Christmas. We would love to get it for him, but not sure if we can. There's so much your son can play with just the sports package that comes with it. Currently we have the Playstation 1 that a cousin gave our kids and they usually just play the race car games. But they love playing Bowling & Golf on the Wii. It's great interaction for the whole family, so I hope we do get it soon. As far as the other game systems, I don't know much about but the Wii is a huge hit with all the kids these days! I really don't think you can go wrong. And maybe have him help out around the house to save $ for Mario Kart for the Wii or another race car game. Hope this helps.

Denise,

Our son is 12 an we STILL haven't bought an X-box (though that's what he's asking for this Christmas). I would not buy an X-box for a young child. The games for the X-Box are much more violent than the Wii games. There are very few which are suitable for an elementary school child. The X-box games are mostly for teens and up. I'm not sure about the racing games, but the Mario games, Star Wars games and Lego games for the Wii are great. We also bought the Wii fit - which I use more than my kids. :)

we gpt wii but my 6yo prefers game cube..which games work also on wii if you upgrade when they are older you can still use games which are cheaper...

GET A WII THEY ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!
Jade

Anything Nintendo is more kid friendly. We have a game cube and we buy used games online at amazon or we go to game stop. Much cheaper than a wii!

My son is 5 will be 6 in January and we have the xbox 360 i found that there are more age appropriate games that you can't get with this gaming system. He loves it and it was easy for him to figure out the controller.
Hope this helps :-)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!

Hi,
My son loves racing games too and this year I found plug and play race game. It comes with a "car" and everything. It is only $50 through Lillian Vernon. It has 30 different games and he will sit and drive, it has steering and pedals and everything. I think he will love it. Just a thought in case you didn't want to spend the $250 plus $$ for all the accessories for the Wii.

Based on you post title only I would have to say for a "5 yearo Old" -- none.