Game Consoles.... the Good, the bad...tell Me All About It

We have the Wii and Playstation 3 - For family fun I like the Wii better, but for Madden Football which my husband and I play, I like the Playstation better. It sounds like you will be buying for family fun, so I would go with the Wii.

We have all of them but for the most part it is the Wii they play the most. I just got them the Wii U but I know little about it because it is a Christmas gift so it hasn't been set up.

On the Xbox most of the games require nothing more. There are some that you can play against other people online, those you need a subscription for.

From what I have gathered the Playstation is more for older kids. My oldest took it with him when he moved out so I haven't looked for games for it in years.

If I were you I would go with the Wii or the Wii U.

We have the xbox with kinect. To play online, it's about $50 a year. You don't need to play online though. But if you want to stream pictures, watch youtube/netflix/hulu.. that kind of stuff, than you need to sign up for it.

We have played wii (kinect is better, but wii has more games, like Mario cart which is the MAIN reason families get the wii. My husband has also played Playstation. His a a HUGE gamer and prefers the xbox over the other consoles for various reasons.

We have a Wii, but it doesn't get used much anymore. The Wii seems to be the best for younger kids, and you can get them really cheap right now (the original, not the Wii U). The Playstation 3 is good. It also works as a Blue Ray player and for other muti-media applications. My kids also like the XBox when they play at friends houses. I think you only pay extra fees if you do the on-line gaming. Extra controllers are expensive.

At 8, my son traded the Wii for Xbox and has never regretted it for a second.
You don't "need" to do an Xbox live account (online) unless you want to play with others not in your house. Unnecessary.
At 5 my son loved the Wii, but now, it's Xbox all the way!

The Xbox Kinnect is currently wrapped and under the tree for my hubby for Christmas...the kids all got games too.

The Wii my hubby got for his bday about 4 years ago, but the kids play it more often. We also go to a resort that has a Wii room a few times a year and the kids LOVE it. I do mostly see younger kids in there, not 15 and 16 year olds...but still. I play with them and it's fun.

I think the Kinnect will be good and my husband wanted it to watch movies and all....so we'll see. I hear a lot of people say to use the Kinnect or PS3, and everyone has a favorite.

My 9 year old wanted the Wii U, but I've seen a lot of problems with it so far, so we're waiting for the bugs to get fixed before we purchase that.

We have a Wii and a PS3. My kids like them both but play the PS3 the most. My oldest wants an XBox but I told him there is no way since we already have the other 2. We have never had to have a subscription for any of it. We can order games and stuff online for it but it's not required.

I second what Dragonfly says. My kids are teens and have had every gaming system you can think of. The PS3 is their favorite, simply because of the Netflix and you can play online as well if you have a connection, and if you have the correct TV with wifi, you can play games on your tv too off of the internet. We sometimes hook up Youtube on our TV and watch silly stuff and laugh all night long. I think there is just more offerings from the PS3. Good luck!

We have had all of of them, and currently have 2Xbox'x and a Wii.
You do not need a subscription to use the Kinect part of the Xbox. You only need an Xbox Live account IF you want to play games against others online.

We prefer the Xbox. The playstation is cool too...but we have been a primarily Xbox family. The Wii is cool but my kids use their DS's more than they do the Wii.

Only 'hidden' cost with the Xbox is you will need to buy extra controllers. We prefer the wireless ones and we have a ton of extra batteries and a couple battery chargers, which are cool.

We currently have a Wii. My husband bought it used. It is not always on but I have used the Wii sports with boxing and bowling. I wish I had time to actually play something else. My girls like the just Dance games and it has acutally gotten my son off of the couch . He wants an Xbox but right now that is not happening. There are advantages to the Xbox since my 4 year old would be able to do a couple of the gmes, getting her moving without the remote since Kinect senses the movements. Playstation is still out there but per my son "it is lame".

Never played the Kinect.
We have had a Wii for years and we all love it! Kids are now 8 and 10. Tons of family fun games! Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort are awesome up and moving kind of games. Kids are getting Wii Vacation for Christmas and it looks really cool too. Wii Zoo has been a great one especially for younger kids - they get to make/design their own animals and then take care of them. Anything Mario is great! Mario Cart is really fun. My vote for a 5yr old and family is the Wii. Get the charging station for the remotes! It's $20-30 but means no buying batteries! Anymore ques, feel free to ask! And if the nunchucks don't come with the unit, you might need to buy them separtetly. They are used for many games.

Our family loves the Playstation 3 with the Move controller. Everyone has their favorites and we can watch Netflix with the Playstation console.

I dont use it much but if my son could he would play online every day.

My kids (age 2 and 6) and my husband (age unmentioned :) all love the Wii. There are a lot of games that they can play together and there are some that are more difficult that my husband plays after they go to bed.

The good - they all like it, and when I am home by myself with the kids, it keeps them occupied while I make dinner.
The bad - already I have to set limits or my 2 year old will play it nonstop.

I know that's not what you were asking, really :) I don't have any negatives to the Wii. Once you have the setup for the Wii - the console, 4 remotes plus nunchuks (or however many you need), and games, that's it for cost.

Favorite games at our house: MarioCart and Wii Sports.

Added - that's not totally true, there are a few specialized games that require their own equipment. WiiFit requires a balance board. Dance Revoluntion requires a dance mat. RockBand requires the guitar and drum set. But those are pretty specialized. 99% of the games are just the remote and nunchuk. No subscription or monthly charge of any kind.

We have a Wii, a playstation 2 and are getting an Xbox360 with kinnect for Christmas this year. The Wii is fabulous. There are a lot of fun games that we have played together as a family. Wii party and Wii sports resort are our favorites. I enjoy the Wii fit. The family played it at first, but not so much anymore. There are many different remote attachments you can buy. My experience is that they were a waste of money. I liked the wheel attachment, but don't use the others. We used the sports attachments for about a month and haven't used them since (at least 3 years). I would definitely get enought remotes and nun chucks for all 3 of you to have one.

My son plays the playstation 2 once or twice a month, but it doesn't get used much anymore. There is a playstation 3, but I know very little about it.

My kids have played kinnect games at various places and love them. We are excited about it, but don't have a lot of experience with the console yet. The Xbox 360 with kinnect comes in two sizes. From my research, the 250 is for gamers who are going to upload their games to the console and download a lot of content. The 4 GB is probably plenty for your casual gamer. The Xbox live membership is for people who want to play multiplayer games with other people online. I think it is also necessary if you want to use your console for streaming video from netflix or other similar services. We don't plan to pay for the service because we don't plan to use it for those things.