Console for a 10 year old

grizzly

A friend is thinking of picking up his 10 year old son a console for xmas. Does anyone have any thoughts on what's the best option given;

• He's really into playing Minecraft on his dad's iMac at the moment.

• He's played a friends xbox and was excited about Halo.

• He has owned a Wii and enjoyed Mario.

His dad is thinking about an xbox, but not sure if it may be too advanced. Also worried that most of the gamings would be 18's cert. He asked his if a PS3 would be better – but I suggested that in terms of suitability for kids they are more the same.

I had thought a cheap PC to play Minecraft may be the way to go, that would still be more expensive then an xbox. I know Minecraft is on xbox now – does it require a yearly sub to play?

super_furry

Xbox would my recommendation, just as long as you monitor his online play and communications. Minecraft is indeed on the Xbox and costs about €16 - you can't buy it in the shops but download it directly to the console from the online store. There is a yearly sub (of about €50) if you want to play any games on the console online but that may not be something you want to let him do.

In terms of content and age rating, the Xbox and PS3 would be the same with their games. With something like Halo (which has a 16 rating), I think I'd personally be OK with a 10-year playing it but you'd definately want to keep the likes of Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row and Call of Duty out of their hands.

Retr0gamer

Go with the Xbox. Minecraft is on it and it's better to get him the console his friends have so he can play with them online and swap games.

Logical_Bear

you use to be able to buy xbox live memberships nearly half price(well about a year and a half ago when i had mine,so could my info could be out of date).

another thing the xbox has that the ps3 doesnt is that you can block all communications(messages and voice) and only allow people in his friends list to contact him.

Go with the xbox:D

ShadowHearth

I am a pure PC fan boy so I presume you know what I will recommend:


Get him Xbox. few reasons:

His friends have Xbox, so if he will get Xbox he will be able to play with his friends. By buying ps3, you will put a barrier between him and friends.
Minecraft is on Xbox, yes it's not as good as on PC, but it will be more then enough for your young lad. Nobody stops him from raiding dads iMac too
At 10 PC gaming might not be the best option yet. See if he really gets in to gaming , before making such big step.

Duggy747

grizzly wrote: »

Also worried that most of the gamings would be 18's cert. He asked his if a PS3 would be better – but I suggested that in terms of suitability for kids they are more the same.

Well, as a parent he should be able to have full control of what games the kid owns considering he (or the mother) will be the ones funding him buying them.

Anyways, yeah he should go with an Xbox since that's what his pals have and it has Minecraft on it. The console can be picked up fairly cheapish too since it's near the tail-end of it's lifecycle.

discodowney

The Xbox has parental controls as well. Im not sure exactly what they entail but they are there

dereks

xbox all the way