Heat

Last night I won an X-Box Halo edition (the green one, comes with a full edition of Halo) from a drawing at my local video store.

I have two sons, one is about to turn 7 and the other just turned 4. The older one has been to enough friends houses to realize that the Nintendo 64 isn’t the best machine currently out there and had coincidentally been asking for a new game system for Christmas.

I have a few thoughts on this: One is to sell this on ebay for ~ $250, and buy a Nintendo Gamecube (currently ~ $100), a couple extra controllers, and a few kids games with the extra $150. The other is to keep the green Xbox and just buy a couple of kids games and an extra controller.

But there don’t seem to be that many kids games for the Xbox. Is the gameplay, speed, etc that much better with the Xbox over the Gamecube that I should keep the Xbox and just come up with some cash to buy a few kids games? Or is what I really want for the kids a Nintendo Gamecube and their associated kids games?

Canis Firebrand

If you have no interest in playing games yourself, other then maybe with your kids, you could sell the xbox, get a gamecube and some games. Then when they get older, replace the cube with whatever system is new at that time.

If you want to play some of the games that are popular online, I'd say keep the xbox. There are decent enough kids games for xbox. XBox is made 10 times better by online. Granted that won't really appeal to your kids at the moment, but if its something that appeals to you, there is your answer.

Congrats on winning though. Thats cool.

PixyJunket

Gamecube has the most enjoyable single-machine multiplayer games on the market by a huge margin. If your kids are going to want to play games with each other and/or friends, get a Gamecube.

Get Me Coffee

I would suggest selling the XBOX. You don't need the Halo green xbox it looks like you can get some $$$ for it on Ebay...Sell it and get a Gamecube. The Gamecube is great for the kids.

Heat

Hmm… thanks for everybody's suggestions. I’ve been looking a little more and the Nintendo Gamecube Doubledash bundle for $100 looks really good, especially if I can find it with two controllers. Is that bundle a holiday-only special, or will it keep going after the holidays (thus stores that are currently sold out (like Wal-Mart and Circuit City) will have more to sell)?

The X-box is nice, but their selection in kids games is pretty limited and I have no desire to play online (especially considering that I only have a dialup modem).

The drawing was a case where you had to pay $3 for an entry (to go towards a fund that buys videos for oversees troops, it was a video store afterall), I entered twice because I figured that not that many people would want to pay $3 for an entry. I was lucky and won.

Edit: Here's a link to the Gamecube holiday bundle:
http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4016886

But some places (like Wal-Mart & Circuit City) had the same thing, but with two controllers, what I was wondering was (1) if the bundle itself (with 1 controller) was a holiday only promotion, and (2) if the bundle with 2 controllers might be making a comeback in the near future.

Do game systems see a price drop right after Christmas? My son's birthday is on January 4, so if prices do drop I could pick up something after Christmas, for his birthday.

Get Me Coffee

Do you have a target near you?

Heat

There's a target nearby (pass by it to and from work), but they are sold out of bundles, and online at the Target site I didn't see any doubledash bundles; only Spongebob bundles for $160, and some action bundle for $150 or $160.

Drexl

No, game systems tend to go down in price later in the year. There's no traditional time, but it seems like it's usually between May and September. I think it's because software sales are generally good in the first few months of the year, as people buy games for the systems they got for Christmas. Then, when things slow down, sometimes a price drop in hardware can stimulate sales of systems, which in turn stimulates sales of software (which the game companies live and die by).

In any case, I don't see the price of the Gamecube going down any time soon. I don't think the N64 ever got any lower than that officially, even if retailers sold them a lot lower to clear them out. There will be bundles, but I don't think you'll be able to get one for less than $99 (unless it's used, of course) until the next system approaches and the retailers start clearing them out. The Dreamcast did get officially lowered in price to about $49.99, but that was when Sega was in dire financial trouble. Also, the PSone was introduced at that price, but by then the PlayStation was 7 years old.

The graphics aren't much better on Xbox, and I doubt your kids would care about or even be able to use the technical goodies like Dolby Digital surround sound or progressive scan. (Actually many Gamecube games do support progressive scan, but with Xbox all but a few of them do, and a few even support higher resolutions such as 720p).

For the kids, I would also suggest you sell it if you can get $250 for it. If your kids are still playing N64, it sounds to me like you could use the additional things you could get for the system like extra controllers and games. I would suggest that you get Wavebirds for the controllers though. Although they are more expensive ($30 each instead of $20), I think you and your kids will appreciate the wireless freedom.

Don't forget a memory card: the 251 should do fine as long as you don't have several sports games with franchises.

Don't spend more than $20 on a game for a while. There's just too much out there to catch up on that can be had for cheap to even consider dropping $50 on one (Mario Sunshine, both Rogue Squadron games, Zelda, even the current Madden, etc.).

rvd1083

Only get the gamecube if you have no interest in playing it and are looking for a cheap system for the kids. It is been a very lackluster generation for nintendo and other then the kiddie games, offers very little for teens/adults plus theres not much else coming out for it and the overall support for the gamecube is down tremendously compared to PS2 and Xbox.

Josh H

Definitely get a gamecube for the kids. Most of the games are fun for adults as well, some people just don't like nintendos games because there's no blood or hookers.

There should be a ton of great games with good multiplayer options for your kids, and there's several games you might end up liking yourself, so it's a win win situation.

rawer

Heat, there are lots of great games for the 'Cube that are fun for everyone:
Super Smash Bros. Melee, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, Pikmin 1&2, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Metroid Prime 1&2, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Super Monkey Ball 1&2. And those are just the exclusive games.

And do your boys have a Gameboy Advance? If so, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures is a great game (you use the GBA to play multiplayer), plus you can get the Gameboy Player (that attaches to the bottom of the 'Cube) and then you can play all your Gameboy games on your TV.

I can second the recommendation on the Wavebird controllers (the batteries last a LONG time), but as for a memory card, pick up the white 1019 version. That should cover ALL your saving needs.

And if you can't find the Doubledash bundle with the two controllers, keep in mind that the single controller version comes with a bonus $15 check that is good on any nintendo purchase at any retailer.

Good luck and have fun.

Heat

Update: I was in Best Buy looking at their games, see what they had on sale, and lo and behold they had several of the two controller Nintendo Gamecube bundles, so I picked up one for $100. Then I picked up seven "player's choice" at 2 for $30*: Mario Smash brothers, Zelda (Wind Waker), Finding Nemo, Harry Potter (skibish game?), some racing game, Sponge Bob Battle for Bikini Bottom, and, for myself, Medal of Honor (Pacific Theater). Plus a Black 256 version ($10 cheaper than the 1019 version), and an extra controller.

* Yes, you had to buy two to get the discount, but a neighbor of mine split the last one (he picked up the Simpsons one that is the cartoon version of Grand Theft Auto), which is why I picked up an odd number.

So...

$100 Gamecube, two controllers, and Doubledash
$105 Seven games ($15 each)
$20 Black memory card
$25 extra Nintendo controller (so I have three total)

$250 plus tax, I think I did alright.

One question: Do I really need the 1019 memory card or is my black 256 card good enough? For comparison, I have a memory card for my N64 and, even with 30 or 40 games, I've never filled it up (though of course for most N64 games I'm not saving my progress, only a few games). Even if I add up all of the memory slot numbers from the back of the games that I bought, I'm still under 50.

And thanks for all of your advice, I'm sure my kids will love it and the prices seem to have really dropped. And I've heard good things about the Wavebird, I just didn't see it when I was shopping today, I'll pick one up for myself (as the fourth controller) after the holidays.

jaeufraser

That memory card should be fine. Unless you have Beyond Good and Evil which I can't save cause it fills up my entire memory card. But other than that...you should be in good shape.

Josh H

Yeah, really only sports games and a few odd ball games take more than 3 or 4 of blocks of memory. So you should be fine.

sniper308

Yep, you did very well. Except I would definitely have waited on a 3rd controller until you found a wavebird. I love the wavebirds for my kids, as I can have the cube up high and not have to worry about them pulling it down with the cords, etc.