PS2 x-mas present help
 

I plan on buying the 2 boys in my charge a PS2 for Christmas.
I am going with the PS2 because there is such a huge catalog of titles available and they have a PSOne that can go away.

Anyway, I want to get the base unit, the DVD remote kit, a second controller and a game each.

One of the games will be Tony Hawk 4, this was the easy decision.

For the other boy, I don't have a clue. He really likes Starcraft, Warcraft, Diablo II on the PC.

Can I please get a recommendation?

Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance

how old are they?

Please get them an extended warranty. Trust me.

Baldur's Gate DA sounds like a good choice.

The extreme sports kid is 10 - Mr. Extreme Sports has Tony Hawk 1, 2; Dave Mirra; Mat Hoffman and all the cheap rip-offs.

The RPG player is 13 and currently cheating his way through Age of Empires 2.

Side note: Am I going to need to get memory cards as well?

sportrs games were always the brisge b/n my brother and i when we were kids.

madden 2003 if they're into football. :thumbsup:

but if you'd like to keep with the rpg theme, final fantasy X, and kingdome hearts are currently the most popular games. kingdom hearts mixes disney characters, may be too kid-like for your now mature 13 yr-old. but ok for my 25 year old self :p

Yeah, you will need a memory card.

I'll second the recomendation for Baldur's Gate, it's a little older but it was a lot of fun (and the graphics still look good).

Dark Alliance... definately. If he likes Strategy, Kessen isn't a bad way to go either.

BG:DA is a good choice,not only is it old but thats a good thing,you can find this baby on sale alot at Target or you can even get it used for like 20-30 bucks,its not the longest game but ive beatin the game 4 times and still playing it,I recomend this game to a Diablo/Starcraft fan and of coarse Tony 4.

Here are some other games you can get cheep that are great for kids.

Devil May Cry
Tony 3
Tekken Tag Torny
NBA Street
Spy Hunter
Ominusha Warlords
Red Faction
Time Splitters

These are all under 30 bucks new

BG DA is a great game, my wife and I are currently playing it.

I am not sure why but I expected some people to disagree with my choice.

I guess the console disagreements just made me think that :o

You will need a couple memory cards- one for each of them.

Kingdom Hearts might not be bad either although some kids might be a bit turned off by the disney tie in.

Dark Cloud might not be a bad choice either. It is a Greatest hits game so $19.99 or less.

FF X might go over well if he has played and enjoyed the previous FF games.

Last suggestion ICO. This is a shorter game but you often can find it for around $20.

I'll second Kingdom Hearts. It's a very cool roll-playing/action game and I'm really loving it. It's totally appropriate for all ages, but as the previous poster mentioned, if he hates Disney characters, stay away.
Baldar's Gate is a great game, and maybe your kids are very mature about inequties, but I might be a little concerned if one kid gets a brand new, $50 game (THPS4) and the other gets a Greatest Hits $20 one (BG). Just a thought...

ps: I really think an extended warrenty is a waste of time. The PS2 is well made, has very few problems and has a limited warrenty anyway. In addition, remember the PS2 is only $200 so spending $50 to extend your warranty would be like spending $5000 for an extended warranty on your new Accord. If anything, buy it from a store with a liberal return policy like Sears or Wal-Mart.

At Best Buy it's 24.99 and its a product replacement plan, not a warranty. If it breaks 23 months from now, you get a $199 voucher to buy a new one (or towards a PS3 if they are out then :))

We do this with our phones. They always seem to break about 20 months in and presto! - new phone.

I have had my PS2 for 2 years - and it hasn't broken

I agree about the price difference. This is why I mentioned two other greatest hits games. buy the one getting Baldur's gate another Greatest Hits game to even things up a bit :)

My ICO and Dark Cloud suggestions were for that option.

And let's not forget to mention the PS2 has had serious problems with defective lasers that they don't replace for free. Lasers that poop out after 6 months of play aren't cool at all. For the PS2 (and Xbox) get the replacement plan. Eh, for GCN, don't even bother... That thing is a black box, both literally and figuratively. :)

Sly Coopers.

No one is saying they break like clockwork every 2 years. Sometimes you're just better off getting a warranty though. Take my printer. It broke after 7 months, but since I took the warranty I got a new printer that was actually better than my old one, and I still got 2 years and 5 months left on the extended warranty. To me it's worth it for piece of mind especially since I drop things. I know it's not covered, but it never seems to show any physical damage.