Handheld Game System

Since my son got an iPod touch, he hasn't touched his DS.
Have you considered going right to the iPod touch?

My inlaws got our son a DS for Christmas - and I hate it. He just turned 6 and since getting the DS we have major attitude problem. He has become whiney and unbearable to be around. We took his DS away from him all last week b/c of attitude problems regarding the DS. He earned it back on Friday and lost it again by Saturday. We still haven't given it back b/c all we hear is "when do I get my DS back.. I have no toys.. I am bored I need my DS" It really created a monster out of him (and I am huge on correcting behaviors and not rewarding for bad behavior - so I refuse to give it back to him).

Anyways, not trying to be negative, but if I could do it all over again I would have held off another year till giving it to him.

My 4yo had the leapfrog explorer and out grew it fairly quickly. She got a 3ds for Christmas this year. (She will be 5 the end of Feb) She plays Dora, Mario, she loves Mario Kart but mostly takes pictures with the camera. My son who is 9 got the ds lite back when he was 6. He plays Mario, racing games with dirt bikes and monster trucks. His still works great and he will be upgrading to the 3ds for his birthday.
With the 3ds I love the parental controls. You can set it up so they cant turn the 3d on with out a pin number, you can lock it so they dont go online and even set it so it cant play say a game that is rates M.
At that age I would go for the Ds as it is more app to survive a 5 yo. My daughter has dropped hers a few times and it still works! I myself have the Ipod touch more for music than I do games. I have games on it and my kids do sometimes play with that instead. But like I tell my 9 yo. I dont see spending the money on a Ipod touch since it can get ruined easier than the ds!

Ipod touch, check craigslist for a deal.

My 7 year old son has my old DS Lite since I got the DSi XL about a year ago. He plays a lot of Pokemon games, Club Penguin and How to Train Your Dragon. He borrows some of my games too like Kirby & Lego Indiana Jones, he loves Cooking Mama & Big Brain Academy.

We got a used DS last year. My daughter was almost 6. She loves Fossil Fighters, Fossil Fighters Champions, Zhu Zhu Pets, Pokemon games, pac man. A few of these require you to read but I dont mind helping her read what needs to be read. Lots of times on the Fossil Fighters games she just skips all the talking that the characters do then asks me what the quest log says to do next. She loves dinosaurs so she loves this game for the digging up of dino bones and cleaning them. We also got her a leapster and she plays it once in a while but not often. Leapster isn't too great if the kids have a tendency to drop them which most kids do. My daughter loves the DS and so does my husband and I. We play the games to help her learn how or to help her when she runs into problems while playing. She doesn't give too much attitude when it comes to it and always makes sure her homework and chores are done before picking it up to play. You can get used systems and games at places like game stop or those other stores that sell used movies and games and such. Hope this helps. If you have any questions please message me. Good luck.

My kids are 13 and 10. My older one got his DSlite when he turned 8. His younger sister got hers when she was 6 1/2. They both got ipod touches within the last year. For months they forgot all about the DSs. For Christmas all we heard was how they wanted the DS3D or DSiXL, etc. And the PSP and the PSPGo, etc.
But, they both just pulled their old trusty DSlites out a few days ago for a car trip (they play download games together) and have both been commenting about how much they love them, and can't believe that they considered trading them in.
They just went to Target last night and used Xmas $ to buy Kingdom Hearts (2, I think). They both both the game so they can download play together (it requires both units to have their own cartridge for this particular game). It's all they wanted to do last night.

When they were a bit younger, we did take son's away for a bit for poor school performance, when he needed to be studying more. But it wasn't b/c he was addicted to the game...he just needed to spend more time on school period. Neither of them have ever been whiney about them. And they have held up over time and they still love them!

My girls 5 and 7 got a ds for xmas they love them. You can pick up a used one for 79.99 at gamestop. My girls play the whole Mario series and love it. Like Super Mario Brothers 64, Mario brothers, Mario cart and etc. I would recommend it.

Both my boys have an iPod Touch. We can share games (most don't cost more than $2 or $3) among all of our Apple devices. They also love listening to music, making videos, taking pictures, messaging one another, etc.

I did the math and a DS plus games is more expensive...so I went with the iPod Touch. They love them.

J.:

How old is he? How much do you want to spend?

My boys love their DSs. they wanted the 3D one - but their friend had (notice had) it and it made all of them dizzy. They have the plain DS - nothing fancy.

An Ipod Touch is probably $50+ more expensive than a DS and also might need internet access - which could be an additional expense. I don't know - I don't own one.

The games my boys, who are 9 & 11, play are Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, LEGO and some others - my 11 year old is wanting "older" games. However, I'm not in a rush to go out and buy new games with his birthday coming up in March.

Hope that helps!

My 5 yo just got one for Christmas. He has Mario, Elmo A to Z and Diego. They are pretty easy, but to be honest, he only really uses the 3DS to take pictures with the camera. I figured this would be the case and eventually he will play it more. Just make sure the games don't require much reading ability. I was happy that my daughter's Phineus and Ferb game actually said on the cover that it required the ability to read.

My almost 7 yr old wanted a DS for Christmas. Instead I got him a used Gameboy Advanced Special for 25$ (Craigslist) and some games (3$) from Amazon. He is quite happy.

How old is he?

My daughter has a DS which she got when she was 7, from the in-laws.
She likes it... but hardly uses it.

Both my kids, use the iTouch a LOT more.
Which they got, when my Husband got himself an iPhone, and then my kids inherited the device.