Wii or DS?? - Arlington,TX

I personally like the Wii however my son is 8 as well and he loves the DS. He has a DS and I have to say that it is a great device to have when on car trips or in waiting rooms etc. around town. You can find games that include chess, checkers, word games, etc. The games don't just have to be Mario Cart and so forth. After attending a chess tournament yesterday and watching the children in attendance we found that those of us that had our children's DS had the best behaved children. The others were running around like crazy and the parents were not as involved with their children obviously as we were. This is just another example of why the DS is a great option.

Wii is definitely a great game/s but there are less expensive versions out there. We have a Sport Challenge. My son loves it. We will probably break down and get the Wii eventually but for now DS and our less expensive version of Wii works for our family.

by the way my son is 8 or almost next month

We have both and there are pros & cons to both. The Wii is great for everyone and is good about keeping the kids active while playing video games. But the DS is wonderful for taking on car trips, to the doctor/dentist, long shopping days, etc. The DS is also a big thing with kids to have right now. You can always put limits on how much time she spends in her room playing it. I think the idea about getting one for Christmas and the other for her B-day is a good one.

i hated our wii, and we sold it to buy a DSi.
nobody in my family liked the wii, although they have come out with new games now, the wii fit was boring also

Hi B., I'd say get the Wii. We have one and you'll get much more use out of it as a family. And you can get her fun girl games for it, not just the sports games that come with it. With the DS, she will be playing alone and after a while may lose interest. At least if one person in the family loses interest in the Wii, others may not. For Christmas, I'm buying my little girl her own games to play for the Wii. I've read about some fun ones. Good luck deciding.

We had a wii before I had my little girl and I loved it and it would be great for family time :)

Just an FYI, the Wii is on sale of Toys R Us for $99. Today is the last day of the sale.

My husband works in the game industry. He suggests at her age the Wii would be more appropriate although the DS is a lot of fun. With the Wii- you will be able to better keep an eye on what she is playing. Cost-wise- he said in the long run the Wii will be save you more. It comes with a game(Wii sports) and the DS does not plus there are a ton of downloadable games on-line that don't cost an arm and a leg and it also plays game cube games if you have any of those or can find them used at a game store.
The DS travels eaiser and is great for long car rides. We have both. My kids are constantly asking if they can take it to school on rainy days of "free fridays" when they can bring games from home. Apparently, quite a few children do this- but I'm not buying another if they lose it! so I won't let them.
The Wii is easier for more people to enjoy at the same time. My kids will watch who ever is playing or they have multi player games that they can all play. With the DS- the screen is so small, it's hard for anyone else to watch and the only way to play multi player is to have another one to sync up with it(which is a pretty cool feature but only if you have 2 of them!)
Plus- Wii fit is a great way for you to stay in shape too! My kids even enjoy playing that one! I would get the Wii- you will have more fun playing with your daughter and you will be able to moniter what kind of games she is playing.
Have fun!

Hello B.,

we have both (grandparents gifted the wii) we got the kids their DS last year. I got one of the 'see thru' containers and put it downstairs. every night their DS have to go in there (or charging in the living room, etc) they're not allowed to have it in their rooms (although I know sometimes the do). also, during the week, electronics go off at 6pm. for the most part... no DS or wii before homework is done.

Good luck and have fun with the wii! ~C.~

We still have a Playstation2, but it was a MAJOR purchase. Santa Clause brought it to the "Family" for Christmas one year. We did the "family" game system to get our son's head out of his gameboy. This year Santa is bringing our youngest a DSi, but she will ONLY be allowed to play with it when she earns time to play with it. LOL, we learned alot with our first two (Now 20 and 19).

D.
SAHM of three:20, 19, and 6. Custom Edibles Creator. Married to the same wonderful man for almost 13 years.

We have both & enjoy both. The games my girls play on their DSs aren't all fluff. You can check this site for some really great games for kids:
http://www.lifelearning.org/video-games-recommendations/

I am loving playing the Professor Layton games on the DS. And they're GREAT for when I have to take three kids to the the doctor, or when Madison has to wait for her little sister at gymnastics. Also, the girls can link their DSs & play games together. Super fun. And so far, no brain rot. :)

The Wii keeps them active & allows us all to play. We've had some really fun family times.

If you have the ability, I wouldn't hesitate to get both.

My daughter is 6 and loves her DS. I just ordered a wii (her big christmas gift) off Amazon on Thursday. I got it for $155. So they aren't to far apart in price if you shop around plust like you said all of you get to take advantage of it!

if you're buying both within weeks of each other, why the question?

If you buy more than one ds you can link them to play.
We had a ds and my son loved it until his younger brother put it in some water and it quit working. We have a Wii and it is fun but it is a lot harder to set up and he can't do it himself.

We have both. Our daughter is almost 15 now and no longer uses the DS. She did enjoy her DS a couple of years.

The Wii, however, is still used a LOT but the teens who visit and we also play as a family. It is good family time for us. We got the Wii when they first came out and have no regrets.

We've had a DS for some time now. Son likes it a lot and it comes in handy for car trips. We just bought the wii as a present for both boys this year. It will be there only Xmas gift from us but they have been begging for one forever.

Get the Wii....We love our Wii and even Aubrey would be able to play it. We have both here and the Wii is alot more fun and the whole family can play it together.

B.,

We have both as well and love them equally. My son loves the DS and plays it often, usually with friends where they can hook them together to play the same game. We all love the Wii and have had many hours of family fun playing it. When my house is filled with kiddo's, the Wii gets a pretty good workout then as well! Both are a lot of fun!