darkSpyro

I am getting new system for family for the Christmas. I have 7yr old boy and 4 yr old girl who love Skylanders more than me. LOL. We have the Wii right now. What do you think would be good for my family. Thanks.

Graphics in Skylanders SwapForce is similar on all PS3, XBox 360 and Wii U. Much better compared to Wii version. But IMHO it is way too blurred on PS3/Wii U (I do not have it for XBox 360 but it should be the same there).

So in your case I would choose Wii U. Will play all your current Wii games.
As an option - from TRU/Gamestop on Thanksgiving/Black Friday with Skylanders bundle for $270.
But better choice if your kids like Mario - Wii U Mario Bundle ($300) with 2 Mario games, you can buy it everywhere right now. On Black Friday TRU will have this Mario Bundle with 2 Mario-themed Wii-remotes for $320 ($60 savings) if you need extra remotes.
You can buy Skylanders SwapForce for $37 during this week at Walmart, BestBuy (my store price matched walmart.com) or from Target.com (they offer free shipping for $37 SwapForce starter kit right now).

PS3/XBox 360 - up to you, both are good. I and my 5 years old kid prefer PS3 (Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper, Little Big Planet). LEGO games are on all platforms except City Undercover (Wii U). Planes are on Wii/Wii U only at least right now.
Only Wii/Wii U has Pikmin 3, Donkey Kong and Mario.

So my vote would be for Wii U. Or PS3

P.S. I wouldn't buy PS4 or XBox One at least till Spring 2014. Honestly there is no games yet to play on next gen (almost everything available on PS3/XBox 360 with a few exceptions). And Ps4/XBOne sold out everywhere, good luck to find one
Add there already are many complains reported about hardware problems aka blue light of death on PS4 and I'm sure we will hear something similar about XBOne soon. Personally I most likely will wait till revision #2 of PS4.

Wii U is also the only console that you will be able to play all skylander games on in a few years, they will ofc stop making them for wii/ps3/360 and just make them for the new consoles, and ps4 and xbox one won't have the first 2 games.

so my vote goes to wii u aswell (if skylanders and familly friendly games is what you are looking for)

Agree on not making it for the Wii...disagree on PS3/Xbox. Remember Wii U has been out for a year already. We're at least two more games before they quit Xbox360 or PS3.

Wii should've been gone this time around but it was a tweener. Given that they've probably killed ANY enthusiasm due to the bad port on Wii, I suspect that platform is gone for them now. I'm curious to see how their sales number recovers since the Wii has been 40% of their sales.

Since you have young kids, I recommend getting the Wii U Like Rom713 said, it will play your current Wii games.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Agree on not making it for the Wii...disagree on PS3/Xbox. Remember Wii U has been out for a year already. We're at least two more games before they quit Xbox360 or PS3.

Wii should've been gone this time around but it was a tweener. Given that they've probably killed ANY enthusiasm due to the bad port on Wii, I suspect that platform is gone for them now. I'm curious to see how their sales number recovers since the Wii has been 40% of their sales.

sony didnt stop making the ps2 until 2013... that is what we call dedication of a company that believe in their products. with the ps3 and its online shop, all the games and indie games. you can expect the ps3 to live side by side the ps4 for another 10 years. also the ps3 are now the worlds most sold gaming system, so activision will be releasing skylanders games for many years to come on the ps3. wii-u is as powerful as the ps3 and the wii-u was released last year... the sales of the wii-u have not been great, and there are many of todays developers not releasing their games for it, but on the ps3 they do. so there more chance that nintendo will be dropping the wii-u, before sony drops the ps3. when it comes to the x360, microsoft is well known for dropping their older products fast, that we can see from the first xbox and other hardware products they have.

I'd recommend Wii U. There is a much better selection of good kids games for Nintendo systems and like everyone else stated it will play wii games as well. You can also still use the wii motes you already have.

WII U especially if you have kids.

Although PS4 is the most superior...

Quote: wombatandchips

I'd recommend Wii U. There is a much better selection of good kids games for Nintendo systems and like everyone else stated it will play wii games as well. You can also still use the wii motes you already have.

when it comes to the ps3 its good console for kids, if you start looking you will find more kids games out on the ps3, than there is on the wii-u that was released last year. the games are also cheaper, the little big planet 2 and little big planet karting, kills anything mario out there too. the online you can turn off if you dont want your kids to use it....

the only reason to buy a wii-u is if you have invested in hundreds of disc games on the old wii...

Get the WiiU and follow instructions on this link to transfer your Wii save files to the WiiU

http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu-t#/transfer

With those kids, and assuming you have a large assortment of Wii games already then I'd suggest the Wii U. I have a Wii U, and Xbox 360 and an XB1 now. If you're getting it 'for the family' then the Wii U is going to be more focused towards them. The 8GB bundle version is pretty cheap as well.

Edit: 1 caveat which really bothered me about the Wii U. NO DVD or Blu-Ray playback. Marketed as an entertainment system, with TV integration, but neither of those! So, I had to keep an old dvd player around just so my son could watch his videos. Other consoles don't have that issue. But if say, Blu-Ray, is something you'd like, consider that when purchasing your Wii replacement in terms of cost.

Thanks guys. I am leaning now toward the wii u Mario Bros. bundle. My Wife is really into Mario Brothers games. Is the playstion controllers hard for young kids to use.

Yes it is

I wouldn't say it is if it's something they can pick up, but probably with younger ones you'll find more games they'd like to play on a Wii U. There's a new Mario game just been released too which can have four players at once.

Quote: Sunny Castanets

I wouldn't say it is if it's something they can pick up, but probably with younger ones you'll find more games they'd like to play on a Wii U. There's a new Mario game just been released too which can have four players at once.

Is that the one where you can be a cat?

Quote: tobby

Quote: GhostRoaster

Agree on not making it for the Wii...disagree on PS3/Xbox. Remember Wii U has been out for a year already. We're at least two more games before they quit Xbox360 or PS3.

Wii should've been gone this time around but it was a tweener. Given that they've probably killed ANY enthusiasm due to the bad port on Wii, I suspect that platform is gone for them now. I'm curious to see how their sales number recovers since the Wii has been 40% of their sales.

sony didnt stop making the ps2 until 2013... that is what we call dedication of a company that believe in their products. with the ps3 and its online shop, all the games and indie games. you can expect the ps3 to live side by side the ps4 for another 10 years. also the ps3 are now the worlds most sold gaming system, so activision will be releasing skylanders games for many years to come on the ps3. wii-u is as powerful as the ps3 and the wii-u was released last year... the sales of the wii-u have not been great, and there are many of todays developers not releasing their games for it, but on the ps3 they do. so there more chance that nintendo will be dropping the wii-u, before sony drops the ps3. when it comes to the x360, microsoft is well known for dropping their older products fast, that we can see from the first xbox and other hardware products they have.

I definitely agree. But safely we can assume two more games...it really depends on adoption of the new system as to when Activision drops support...but definitely Sony is pretty good about supporting legacy hardware.

Well, I picked up the Xbox One and Swap Force yesterday. I thought the graphics on the Wii U were really good ... until yesterday. The new xbox is so much better. Wow. Obviously you're paying a lot more for it initially, but man, the details are amazing.

I recently upgraded Swap Force from the Wii to the PS4. The difference is beyond night and day. But considering you are seeking this for your entire family, I have to agree with the Wii U recommendation. It is just a more family oriented console. My little brother has Wii U (age 9), and enjoys it completely. The remote play feature is convenient when others want to use the TV, and the graphics are second only to PS4/XB1. Plus, the entire game library is focused much more on the ages of your children than any other console. Make no mistake I'm all about the PS4 for myself, but my situation is quite different from yours.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: Sunny Castanets

I wouldn't say it is if it's something they can pick up, but probably with younger ones you'll find more games they'd like to play on a Wii U. There's a new Mario game just been released too which can have four players at once.

Is that the one where you can be a cat?

That's the one!

Get a WII U, the new Mario 3D World is amazing and there's still New Super Mario Bros U, Luigi U, Pikmin 3, Wind Waker HD, and Backwards compatibility...If this was the system Nintendo released when the 360 and PS3 came out Nintendo would have ruled that generation of consoles. It doesn't have the Mature games other systems do but it's by far the most fun.

I would recommend that you get a Pro Controller if you plan on playing multi player it's easier for my kids to use than the Wii mote and Nunchuk

Wii U, skylanders is one thing but there are so many fun games to choose from. Sonic Lost World, the Scribblenauts series, Rayman Legands, Disney Infinity (if you can handle more figures that is...), Mario of course and when it comes out.. SMASH BROS Baby!