We Would like Advice About the Wii

The games my kids consistantly go back to are Mario Party 8 and all the Lego games (Star Wars and Indiana Jones). I liked Boom Blox but I think the concept is a little lost on them. The best way we found to find good games is to rent them. You spend $5 instead of $50 finding out if you like the game or if it has any staying power.

When we bought it, we got an extra nunchuck and got the Wii Play (it was $50 and had another controller, but an extra controller was $40). We only have 2 controllers and nunchucks, but we can play all 4 of us. You just have to share remotes which you can do for bowling and things. The only other thing we got was the charging station. We got one last year that was like $20. It just now seems to be going out, so my husband is getting another one for Christmas. That's all we got on the intial investment. As for other fun games, Mario Kart is lots of fun, and we also love the Game Party. There are 3 versions, and I think we have #2. It has skee ball, darts, arcade type games. Deal or No Deal is also lots of fun!

We bought ours a few years ago as well. I would definitely recommend the extra remote and nunchuk...there is a package that comes with another game, it isn't much more than buying the remote by itself. Not the greatest game ever, but it adds choice. We have a docking station for charging too. We just recently purchased it. I wish we bought it sooner, because we were charging the batteries in our charger like crazy (the wii charger is faster and better). I would get one that accepts the motion plus so that if you decide to upgrade your charger works without having to take off the motion plus sensor every time (my MIL got a GREAT deal at Kohl's). The motion plus is great for the new Tiger Wood's game and you cannot play Wii Resort without it (and as the other person mentioned it is a fun game). I would wait to buy these. Your kids will not get bored without it and you can add these later if you want. The balance board is fun, but the novelty for that wore off in this house and it doesn't get used terribly often. In our house it's us and a four year old playing. If you decide to rent games I HIGHLY recommend Family Video. For the first month of your membership there all of your rentals are half off. They also give you an option to rent for an evening or for a week. They are priced better than Blockbuster and have just as good of a selection. HTH. Merry Christmas!

I agree with all the other advice, need the extra remote and charging station is a must. For a 6 yr old, look into the Playground game, its a variety of easy to play games like handball, dodgeball, etc that is easy for younger players. My dgtr was 8 when we got our wii and that was by far her favorite. Many video stores rent the games, so you can always try one before you make the investment. Good luck and enjoy!

My son is 5 and our whole family throughly enjoy the game Mario Kart. But you really need to buy the wheels if you get that game because it helps make the steering much easier.

We bought a Wii for our family for this Christmas also. I just wanted to let you know that Ross Dress for Less sells the accessories. We purchased 2 sets of the sports equipment (tennis racket, bat and golf club), a gun, steering wheel, 2 light sabers all for around $50.

Mario Cart with the wheels are a must! This is almost the only game we play we bought the new mario brothers game Santa is bringing it on Christmas but all 4 players can help and play with each other and at the same time on one big screen it doesn't split the screen up. We are excited to play that one but haven't yet. For sure get Mario cart my boys are almost 2 and 4 and they play it.

We've had ours for 1 1/2 years. The charging station is a lifesaver - I highly recommend it or at lease rechargeable batteries and a charger. We also bought an extra wii-mote, but not another nunchuk and we've been okay with just the two wii-motes. Game Stop is awesome for games. Used games are much cheaper, and if you find you end up with a game you don't like too much you can trade it in for new games. Mario cart is tons of fun. We have a steering wheel (the wii-mote just snaps inside all accesories) but don't use it. The game system has never really gotten hot, so we never got a cooling system and all has been fine.

We have had our wii for about 2 years now and love it. I dont think you need the cooling set we dont have one and have had no problems with our system at all. I would suggest buying the charging station for the remotes or you are gonna be buying a lot of batteries. As far as games go I would stick with the Wii sports that comes with the system at least until you learn the controls and how it works then possible move on to one of the mario games or one of our favorites is the carnival mini golf and is kid friendly. I agree with the last post that the Wii fit is great I just got it and love it but with the cost being $99 for the board and game could wait a while. Enjoy the family fun.

I got the Wii Play with the extra wii-mote and purchased a second nunchuk. I don't think you need the cooling set. I got the charging set from an internet site for $12.99, but can't remember which one. It's a Gigaware brand, and I haven't had any problems with it. I've had it for two years.

I love the Mario Galaxy, Mario Party and new Super Mario Bros games. We have a lot of other games, but play these and the Wii Sports the most. We also have the Wii Fit and a bunch of games for it, but haven't gotten into them.

The Mario Party 8 and Super Mario Bros are the two my 5 year old can play with me without a lot of help. She enjoys the Diego and Disney princess games too.

Our older son just bought Wii resort for his and loves it. He recommended we get it for my parents for Christmas so I guess it is good for all ages.

I second the Wii Resort and Mario Kart. My 3 year old son has taught himself to play all the sports and racing games and is very good at it. He challenges all relatives and guests that come into our home not to mention it's a good family activity. My 18 month old daughter will insist on a wheel controller of her own so she can drive herself. She may not get anywhere but she still feels part of the game. It's very entertaining and addictive.

In terms of games, we started out with Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Block Pary, all of which have fun, active games.

The only "extras" we've REALLY used is remotes and nunchucks for everyone. We have a family of 4, so we have 4 of each and we can all play games together. It's a bit of an initial investment, but well worth it so people don't have to sit out every game.

Good luck!
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We love our wii - make sure you have enough controllers and at least 2 nun-chucks. (sp). The originial game is great, but the Wii Play is good and Wii Resort my kids say is Great. Mine are 6 & 8.

We purchased the WII for valentine's day. We got WII Fit and WII Play. We have purchased other games for family game night. We got a Disney Trivia game, Golf and Raging Rabbits. We've also got the remote recharging station with rechargable batteries. This has saved us a lot of batteries!! Anyway. It just depends on how much you want to spend and how much you think your family will use it. Is the purchase right for the money v. the amount of time it will be used? That's the question we always ask.

We have the Wii system with the balance board many games and the new Wii Resort. The Balance board is currently collecting dust. We loved it for the first month or 2 but now the novelty has worn off. We love the Wii Resort with the attachments that go on the controllers. Also for games, Big Brain Academy, Wii Sports (good to get because it comes with an extra controller), and the Wii Resort is our favorites. My 21 month old son even loves to play Wii Resort.

Check out Game Stop for used games or subscribe to Net Flix or Blockbuster for renting games that you can play and return. Then if you like them you can go buy them.

Have fun and enjoy!

We've had our Wii for about 2 years now and by far the best game (in my opinion) is the Wii Sports that comes with they system. Definitely buy extra controllers so you have four. They system is worth its weight in gold! Have fun...you will become addicted yourself. :-)

Hello, I think it depends on your child and what she/he likes. We bought the tennis rackets, baseball bat, additional sports to add onto the controllers and my kids never use them. I would recommend to buy them used since they really cannot be broken they just fit over the main controllers to look like the equipment. Also we bought a thing that is suppose to look liek a gun and they never use that as well. Ex: you put the bat on the controller to look like a bat when playing baseball. I will even sell you mine!.

My experience they complain about changing the equipment to look like the items since it takes to long compared to just playing the games. I like the add ons but my kids don't and they play it more then me.

We also bought the star wars lite sabors that light up but my kids complain they are to heavy to use to play the game (6/10 yr old).

They do use the wheel to play the racing game, they say it is easier to race with it, maybe because it is actually round. they use the exercise balance board to play raving rabbitts (Sp?)sometimes, the raving rabiits is touched very little in my house, they do use the dance pad ( i even have boys). I would recommend buying the wheel used but not the board or dance pad since they cannot be used if broken. So buy those two things new.

I am hoping to buy the nerf gun and tony hawk skateboard this year.

hope that helps.

Hi D.,
Mario Party is like a board game that has tons of mini-games during the board game. So they stay interested for a while. It is also good because several people can play together. Have fun!

I think you have gotten the best advice so far. Extra remotes and nunchucks, plus the charging station. The sports package with the bowling, golf, boxing, baseball, and tennis is our house fav. Our other favorite which your daughter might like, but you and your husband may not so much, is Boogie Super Star. It's kind of an American Idol/dance compitition game. If she likes to dance and sing, then you have to get it. I believe ours came with the mike. We bought it for Xmas last year at Target. My 5 year old looooves it! She was 4 at the time we got it and could figure it out. Just wanted to add that in there! Oh and they can compete against other Wii competitors, so you and your husband don't have to sing and dance if you don't want to! HA!

We got our Wii when they first came out. We still use it. It was a great idea.

We still use the sport package that came with it. Other games we have included are the Rock Star Band, Guitar Hero, Sims, Animal Crossing and Mario games.

As a family, we still play the sports a lot.

As for other items, I don't know about the cooler, we've never used that, we did purchase 3 new remotes so we have a total of 4, we got 2 numchuks, and boxing gloves.

When teens come over they love the band with drums, etc.

You'll enjoy it...as a family and they children will enjoy as well. We don't regreat getting a Wii at all.

im a huge fan of guitar hero and the wii fit is fun too.

We love our Wii! We have several of the Guitar Hero games so of course the guitar accessory is necessary. But maybe a 6 year old wouldn't be interested in or ready for that yet. My girls love the Wii Sports and Wii Play and are going to get Wii Sports Resort for Christmas. Mario Kart is also great, but you'll need the steering wheel. For the other games you don't really need accessories even though they are available. We never use the accessories (tennis racket, etc.) and can play just fine without them. Have fun!

We bought the Wii a couple of years ago and we are still playing the Wii sports(that came with it). We have since purchaced another Wii remote and a classic controler and two nunchucks(?)for different game play. If you want to keep your expenses down, the Wii has a ton of video games that you can download from online(requires wireless internet access) this is what you need the classic controler for. We do have a docking station for our remotes which helps keep down on the amount of batteries we go through!
Our family also really enjoys the Wii Fit- but I think it's around $80 for the board/game- so something you can purchase later. They also just came out with another Wii sports game that includes archery- my husband(he sells video games)says it's an awesome game. There is an attachment to purchase for the remote that makes the motion sensor more sensitive so it better tracks your movements.
I would check out some used games- my kids enjoy the mario galexy game, but I think the Wii sports and the downloads might be your best options for now until you figure out what kind of games are right for your family.
Have fun!
~C.