Ping Wii Owners

[heybrad]

I'm considering taking the plunge and getting my kids a Wii finally for Christmas. I know the standard Wii sells for $199 and comes with one controller. What do you Wii owners suggest I would need as a good 'Wii package' to get started?

I know my son enjoyed playing Wii Sports Resort (particularly Frisbee Golf), so doesn't that mean I have to get the additional Wii Motion Plus?

I'm basically trying to get the full price with all of the accessories that I really need to enjoy the Wii with the whole family. Feel free to list 'must have' games as well.

Thanks for any help.

[JPhillips]

Yes, you'll need another Motion Pus if you want to play two-player in Sports Resort. Depending on age, Mario Kart is a great family game.

[Subby]

We also got Wii Play, which came with an additional controller.

Definitely get Mario Kart and spend the extra for the Wii wheels - my kids have gotten more mileage out of that game than anything else.

They also really really love Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics. Not sure how old your kids are, but my youngest are 7 and my oldest is 11 - so that's the range we are talking about.

They aren't allowed to play T-rated games, but I have heard great things about Super Smash Bros.., too.

edit: I would also look at getting the rechargeable base for the controllers - much easier than constantly swapping out batteries.

[heybrad]

My daughter is 12 and my son is 10.

[Galaril]

My daughter is 12 and my son is 10.

Brad,

I got a Wii also this year for Xmas for my kids. I got two nunchuks, 2 motion plus contrls and the one standard one that comes with the console. I got Madden 10 and MLB Pros 2008 for me:) For my kids (3 and 7) and us I got Lego Star Wars Complete Saga, Boom Blox Party, De Blob, Sonic and the Secret Ring in a bundle with Super Monkey Ball and the original Wii sports game. Another set of games to check out is a boy and his blob and Mario Super Galaxy.

[Big Fo]

New Super Mario Bros. is also worth checking out, it's great as a traditional single-player 2D Mario game and you can also do co-op with up to four players which winds up being chaotic and hilarious.

[SnDvls]

an older game, but Mario Party 8 is lots of family fun

[Marc Vaughan]

I've got the new Mario Bros and 'Sims Agents' for my kids this christmas (boys aged 10 & 7 and a lass aged 15).

[stevew]

Wii-200
2x Wii Remote w/ Motion Plus controller bundle-50 each
Wii Sports resort-(includes motion plus)-50
2x extra nunchuck-20 each
Charger base-$20-30
wii component cables(if you have an HDTV)-$10 shipped on monoprice
New Super Mario Brothers Wii-50

I put you down for 2 extra controller setups, as you'll certainly want to play with the kids.

I dunno, like 500ish plus tax would get you pretty much everything you need plus 2 kickass games.

[Tasan]

I have two boys, ages 4 and 7. We only let them play E games, with the exception of Smash Brothers, which is actually really tame for a T game. The games they've gotten the most mileage out of are by far the Lego games. Lego Batman, Star Wars Complete, and Indiana Jones I are tops in this house. My oldest son went through a period of real intense play with Mario Galaxy as well, and it actually really helped his reading. After that, Smash Brothers. The family gets together and plays Mario Party8, Wii Play, Wii Sports, and after the kids are in bed Guitar Hero (we occasionally let them play it on selected songs).

Wii (with a controller)
+2 nunchucks (more than that are really unnesssary from what I've seen, almost nothing that requires them is more than 2 player)
+ Wii Play (with 1 controller)
+ Wii Sports Resort (with 1 Wii Plus)
+ 2 controllers with Wii Plus
+ 1 additional Wii Plus
Lego Star Wars (the longest of the lego games)
Mario Party 8

That would be a real good "starting" kit.

Oh yeah, don't forget a 4 port charger. Nothing sucks more than having to buy batteries all the time.

[NewIdentity]

Oh yeah, don't forget a 4 port charger. Nothing sucks more than having to buy batteries all the time.
I ended up going the rechargeable battery way myself. Tried the port charger, but didn't like having to "skin" my remotes every time. Besides with my Balance board I was going to need rechargeable batteries anyway. And, I already had the Battery chargers anyway; I just needed to pick up a couple packs of AA batteries.

For me rechargeable batteries proved to be the easier way to go.

[Galaril]

I ended up going the rechargeable battery way myself. Tried the port charger, but didn't like having to "skin" my remotes every time. Besides with my Balance board I was going to need rechargeable batteries anyway. And, I already had the Battery chargers anyway; I just needed to pick up a couple packs of AA batteries.

For me rechargeable batteries proved to be the easier way to go.

I believe they have some newer chargers that due not require skinning them to charge now.

[gstelmack]

What is this skinning you speak of? I have the Nyko set which has batteries and a 2-station charger. I just put the Wiimotes in there, they charge, I pull them out. Very easy.

[NewIdentity]

What is this skinning you speak of? I have the Nyko set which has batteries and a 2-station charger. I just put the Wiimotes in there, they charge, I pull them out. Very easy.
To me these wii remotes have all been skinned.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41GDXnz50UL._AA280_.jpg

And, how do you charge your Balance board?

[NewIdentity]

I believe they have some newer chargers that due not require skinning them to charge now.
Oooh, you are talking about those surface chargers; where all you do is lay your remote on the table and it will charge with the skin on, a motionplus hooked up, or even your nunchuks still plugged into the remote. That would be about as easy as it can get. I wonder how long they last?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31eYRoqlpRL._AA260_.jpg

They are pricey, but they would be kind of cool if they work good.

[MJ4H]

Yeah you don't have to skin your remotes to charge them. You just replace the battery cover with a battery pack and set it on the charger. There isn't any "skinning."

[MizzouRah]

Our Wii has run its course and I'm looking to sell it.

Is the best bang for my buck going to be to sell it on Craigslist?

Would really like to just head to Gamestop and trade in everything towards a ps3, but I would probably get way more from selling it somewhere. I figured I have enough stuff to get roughly the same cash that a refurbuished 40GB ps3 would cost.

Amazon would be great, but I'd have to box each game separately.

Just wondered what the best option would be?

[RomaGoth]

Yeah you don't have to skin your remotes to charge them. You just replace the battery cover with a battery pack and set it on the charger. There isn't any "skinning."

We just use rechargeable batteries, I haven't bothered buying a charger. Might be easier though, I suppose.

[Alf]

We just use rechargeable batteries, I haven't bothered buying a charger. Might be easier though, I suppose.

Same here.

[JPhillips]

The charger for the remotes is easily the best video game investment I've ever made.

[Butter]

Super Mario Galaxy is one of the best games I've ever played regardless of genre or system. It is a must-have.

[Kodos]

Are there many games a 3-year old can enjoy on the Wii? We are thinking about a joint gift for my 3-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son.

[Alan T]

Are there many games a 3-year old can enjoy on the Wii? We are thinking about a joint gift for my 3-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son.


For a 3-year old daughter you probably can be ok. My youngest daughter was 3 when we finally let her start playing a few wii games. There are games like Dora the explorer, disney princesses, ni-hao kai lan, etc that are geared specifically for younger kids. The games have less in the way of words on the screen and speak more of the instructions. Plus many of them are "two-player" in the sense that the younger kid can be the main player and an adult can be an assistant to help in some ways in the game if needed. I think many of the younger kid games for wii were published by 2K games.

Note, there still were times that she was too young to have the coordination to do some spots, so it likely can't be a "baby sitter" where you do work on your own and let her play that on her own at times or she might get frustrated. Usually either my wife or I helped her with those or our 11 year old did and it was fine though.