PS2 or Wii games for a 4 year old?
By tklich
@tklich (391)
United States
November 30, 2008 2:18pm CST
My son is 4 years old and I can already tell he is going to be a gamer. My husband and I both like to play video games though too, so we have a PS2 console and a Wii console. We have lots of games for the PS2, but only a couple of them are easy enough for my son to enjoy. We like to play the guitar hero games, and I enjoy the shooter games like grand theft auto and what not, so my son doesn't have much to choose from. I haven't let him even try any of the Wii games because we only have a few games and I think they're a little to advanced for him yet. He seems to enjoy the games where you can roam around freely, either by foot or by driving, so I've been letting him play Simpons Hit & Run. Does anyone know of any other games I could get for him that he would enjoy? Do you have a young child that enjoys certain games? I'd like to hear what you let your children play and what they know how to play and enjoy. I do want to go get the midway arcade classics, he likes pac man and astroids and that kind of stuff. Any input you have is greatly appreciated -thanks!!
1 person likes this
4 responses
@carlingtop08 (209)
•
30 Nov 08
Have you considered any of the lego games e.g batman, starwars etc. They can be played with 2 players and would be good to play with your son as they are child friendly and fun for adults too.
1 person likes this
@tklich (391)
• United States
1 Dec 08
Thank you for the response! I have actually never played any of the lego games, although I know which ones you are talking about. I'm really glad you mentioned those because I would have never even thought of those! I've been searching through the used games at different game stores in search of anything that he might enjoy, that way if it ends up being to advanced for him or no one likes it, I know I didn't throw away too much money on it. So thank you very much for the suggestion and I will definitely give it a try.
@breezie (1246)
• Canada
30 Nov 08
My kids are older than your son (they are 7 and 10), but they love plaing the wii. Some of their favorite games Mario galaxy and rockband. Some other ones that they like are ones that have little mini games in them like Wario smooth moves and super monkey ball. They also really like wii sports and driving games. The favorite among my son's friends on Wii sports is boxing. I have a 5yr old neice and she is crazy for Super Monkey ball.
My kids don't mind if they are not great at the game to start off with, they just love playing the Wii.
@tklich (391)
• United States
1 Dec 08
Thank you so much for the response. My son has only been playing the PS2 for a couple days now, and he's actually picking up on it pretty quickly, and LOVES it! But I just wondered if the Wii would be a little tricky for him yet, I know it was even a little tricky for me when we first got it! But my son has a cousin 2 months older than him and he loves video games too, and I was told that he loves playing Smash Brothers on the Wii. I've never played Smash Brothers so I don't know what it is, but I have Mario Party 8 and wondered if my son would like that. I haven't even played it for quite a while, but I guess it would be worth a try. Thank you for the input!
@cassandralynn (1084)
• United States
5 Dec 08
Young kids like the old school games I noticed. Like Sonic,Mario,Pacman( check out "Pacman World" for playstaion),QBert,Frogger,Spiderman,Spyro The Dragon & other similar games like that. I know PS2 has a lot of those titles and you can find them pretty cheap used. That's what My son plays on also, a PS2 and he love's those older types of games ( he just turned 7) But when he was 3 years old he use to play with his V-tech V- Smile game system until he wore it out last year and it broke..LOL.. For my son's birthday me and my husband gave him a new Leapster Learning Game system and he really does enjoy playing with that also and I'm thrilled that he likes it because they have some cool educational games for it, like they made a educational version of Sonic the Hedgehog that teaches kids math and other things. I try to balance regular play games with his educational games and he loves playing both. He also has his own computer loaded with educational games he plays also.. Things are a bit game crazy in our family also and we are already talking about buying a Wii as well or another game system..
@tklich (391)
• United States
6 Dec 08
Thank you for all the great game title ideas! I will definitely go and look for some of these game ideas. My husband played golf on the wii with my son for the first time last night and he LOVED it! He even got a hole in one!! I can definitely tell he's going to be a huge gamer, but I am like you, I love to get him games that are also educational to him where he can have fun and learn at the same time. He has a kids computer, it's called Nitro Notebook or something like that, and it has all kinds of matching games and some that are ever a little too advanced for him yet, and he loves playing those games as well. I also have a super nintendo somewhere in my basement that I've thought about hooking up and seeing if those games are enjoyable for him, thinking maybe they'll be a little easier for him to play.
@RocklandMom (1)
• United States
29 Sep 09
My four year old son is addicted to the PS2. His favorite is Lego Star Wars. It took him a little while to learn the controls, and at first could only complete a board or two but it held his interest and he now beats the entire game on a regular basis. We ended up getting him the Nintendo DS Lite. Best idea ever. Great for car rides, long waits, grandma's house... They have the lego star wars series there too plus many games geared towards younger children. The Nintendo DS also has only the basic directional pad so no risk of games that are hard to control. The only thing to think about is finding games that require NO reading skills. If you're goin to buy him a system, I definately vote for the hand held variety. Toys R Us also has a protection plan for like $20 that covers all accidents. So if it goes in a toilet or gets tossed down the stairs... they replace it!!
@Optimize (201)
• Canada
30 Nov 08
As funny as this may seem, i think its a good idea for kids that age who are getting into video games, to play games like grand theft auto. I know that seems weird but its true. If you just teach him how to operate the vehicles in the game, and walk around and stuff. Then he can learn stuff from it. Just dont tell him how to kill people lmao.
And i agree wii games would be a bit advanced for a kid that age cuz wii is all about movement and it could be confusing i guess.
Im only 14, but when i was 4 years old i played stuff like rayman and tony hawks pro skater on my N64 :p
So no i dont have a child yet lol but it wasnt very long ago that i was that age and i know what young kids really wanna play :p So im not really getting any game titles coming to my head right now that would be good for a little kid, kinda tired right now lol. But when i was really young my dad tought me how to play complicated video games step by step. He'd just slowly explain the controls and then leave me alone for a bit and id figure it out on my own.
Good luck with your kid, happy mylotting :)
1 person likes this
@tklich (391)
• United States
1 Dec 08
Thank you so much for your response! I never even thought of getting a child's point of view of the situation, or what you can remember enjoying when you were a young child. I actually let my son play grand theft auto vice city for a little while (until the stupid disc froze on him, lol), but he knew how to get in and out of the car and how to control it from playing Simpsons Hit & Run. I'm not one to believe that kids do violence just because they see it on a video game. As long as parents are monitoring their children and teach them that it's only a game, I think they know that.
