The kids (ages 3-6) want a new game system for Christmas, and it seems the Wii would be the best bet since it has so many kid-friendly games and games that allow the whole family to play--plus they can still play their old ones (they love Mario Kart, Lego Star Wars and Winnie the Pooh on their GameCube).

BUT I have a 47" HDTV and I'm concerned the Wii will look like crud on it, even with a component cable and changing it to 480p. Obviously, the GameCube looks like crud now. The kids might not care, but I would!

How does it look?

Would there be a better choice?

Just get the Wii, if this system is mainly for them.

It is mainly for them, though we do like to play games with four controllers as a family. Games we enjoy most as a family are MarioKart, Super Monkey Ball, Rampage and Lego Star Wars (though only two at a time for that one).

So...it's decently playable and not completely distracting on a 47" HDTV?

...

Why would it matter if it's for the kids mainly?

Stealth troll topic, I guess.

I play Wii and many older systems (back to NES) on my 46" and never even thought about it.

Because he said, the kids might not care how it looks - but that he likely would. He's being honest - so let's not assume he's 'stealth trolling' just because he wants to know about how the thing looks.

Screw the Wii. I made the mistake of buying one when my son was 4 a couple of years ago and it turned into a waste of money. No matter what the game, if it was mult-platform he always had an easier time with the controller on the Xbox. I even hated playing games with him on the Wii because the controls just felt half-assed in their layout and response. We both despised playing games like Lego Batman on the Wii (well, he tolerated it because he didn't know any better) and when we dumped the Wii version and picked it up on the 360, we both could tell a major difference in how well he played the game which both added to our enjoyment. We have found this on several multi-platform games that we played.

He loves Bionicles and we found a massive difference in the controls on first person shooters like it. With Bionicle Heroes on the Wii you have to aim the motion controller to look around while moving with the attached controller. It was very awkard. I dumped it and got it on the 360 and he has almost completed the game 100%. All he did was complain when playing the Wii version because of the way they did the controls. Same thing with a Transformers game (can't remember which one) and a few others.

To sum it up, if you can find games that your family can enjoy on the 360 or the PS3 (I dislike their controllers but even they handle way better than the Wii's, since most game control layouts are similar to the Xbox's), get it. After having ours a full year before several of my friend's bought one last x-mas, I gave that same recommendation to all of them. All of them bought the Wii and now all of them tell me how they regret it and now it collects dust more than gets gameplay.

It always surprises me that I never hear more people complain about how Wii games control compared to the other platforms. I thought it was just me until my friends confirmed it in recent months.

And as far as picture difference, night and day on my 67" HD. Not as much when comparing it on the 42" but still a major difference when you compare the same games.

i am expecting a 'gathering' dust post soon

edit: nevermind, that post had a gathering dust reference.

strange that all of your friends are having issues with the Wii remotes..but myself and none of my friends and their children have had issues with the controllers.

LOL, trust me when I say I wasn't stealth trolling. I just had to look that up to even see what it meant. :P

I am being honest. I have a GameCube, and while this is 80% for the kids, it does matter to me how the Wii might look on an HDTV. We just got our first HDTV about a month ago and I was shocked when hooking the GameCube up to it how grainy and blocky it looked. I also had to upgrade my DVD player because the old one had no upconversion and looked awful!

That's when I first had reservations, realizing I could have similar problems with the Wii since I'd heard it wasn't "HD" like the XBox360 or PS3. But then a Google search put that a "little" at ease when I found out about changing it to 480p and using a component cable...but I preferred to ask here to get actual user experiences.

Anyway, as you can see, I hang onto my equipment for years, so I'm wanting to get something that not only entertains 3-6-year-olds now, but also still is enjoyable in 4 years from now if need be. Plus, I like jumping in and playing on my own, too, if there's a compelling game out there.

So, if I opened a can of worms, please feel free to close it. I'm just looking for some honest opinions from those in a similar situation. HD is important to me, but does come in second to the gameplay for young kids.

I appreciate your post, brianluvdvd, because control issues are something I never thought about.

Personally, the way the Wii looks has factored into me not using it for certain types of game. I have a 61" DLP so the shortcomings are magnified. Now that PS Move is out I can't see using the Wii much for things like Tiger Woods or general sports stuff anymore. I played the hell out of New Super Mario Bros. but the 2D throwback look made the game. The SMG games have looked nice. Zelda looked awful to the point I didn't want to play it and never finished it.

So yeah, mine does collect a lot of dust. Maybe I'll get off my ass and use the EA Sports exercise thing, but once there's a version released for PS Move, that'll be another reason to not use the Wii.

Note I am using 480p through component since day 1.

I am not saying that it made the games entirely unplayable. You can still play the games but I, personally, have done a comparison on several multi-platform games and between my son (who started at 4 years of age to now 6 during this experiment) and I, we found the games less easy to handle on the Wii than on the 360. Simple as that. Others may feel different and if many only have a Wii, they simply may not know any better or have been able to make a comparison.

As stated before, we made our run at Lego Batman and several other games and didn't care for the controls. We tried the same games on the 360 and found it much easier to play. If you never try it on a different platform, you likely just get used to how the Wii controls and never consider how it may play differently on a different console with a completely different controller.

As far as "gathering dust," I know the phrase gets overused on this forum with the Wii but the truth hurts. One of my friends kept having an issue with his power brick so I unplugged mine and took it over to his house to try it out. After fixing his brick (it just needed unplugging and resetting), I brought mine back home the same day but forgot to plug it back in. That was 6 months ago. Which reminds me...I really need to plug it back in and finish Dead Space Extraction.

The Wii doesnt look great on a hdtv. even with component cables. Thats how mine is hooked up and it doesnt look great. It looks much better on our standard tv.

I would say just get a 360. there are a ton of family games avaible, plus things like ESPN, Netflix, Radio FM etc

The motion controls of the Wii obviouslly takes some getting used to compared to the 'traditional' control style of the 360 and PS3

One thing you may want to consider: the Wii was designed primarily to be a system that caters to in-person, multi-player games with intuitive motion controls. That's why the name sounds like "we" with the two i's intended to represent two people next to each other. The Wii is the best system for "party games" which hardcore gamers love to scoff at, but which are perfect for families that like to play games together. Sure, there's a lot of shovelware in that arena, but there are also some gems that you won't find on other systems.

There's really no way to tell you what you'd think of the lack of hi-def graphics on your TV. On my 37" 720p TV, the Wii looks fine outputting 480p over component, though it obviously doesn't look as good as games on my PS3. And of course, the difference would be even more noticeable on a larger, 1080p set. Not everyone is the same, but personally I find that differences in graphics tend to fade into the background as long as the gameplay is good. I still have tons of fun with Indy 500 and Kaboom! on my Atari 2600, so take that for what it's worth.

The thing about the Wii is it's outputting a 640x480 image and your TV is stretching it across 1920x1080. The system doesn't scale the image, so if you didn't like the way DVDs without an upscaling player looked, you may not like the Wii either.

While the Wii may have more games for kids than other systems, I wouldn't sell the other systems short in this area. Especially since you're getting it 4-5 years later, IMHO plenty of games for kids have been released. The Lego games are on all 3 platforms. The most important things you'd miss out on is Nintendo's own games, and the old console games if you like those.

And as for good party games, the biggest of them all happens to be on multiple platforms - Rock Band. And if they like it, you'll have an easier time managing the songs on one of the HD consoles. If it's more casual, simpler games you're looking for, XBLA and PSN have plenty of them.

I'm familiar with the Wii's offerings for family games and games for 3-6-year-olds. Can anyone provide me with an idea of the same for the 360? The Lego games and Rock Band are good to know.

I see only one TRUE stealth troll post in this thread....

I would say get an xbox 360 with Kinect or a PS3 with move.. Both of those systems will look fantastic on your tv, there are an ok amount of games for kids right now, with a large amount of kids games coming out especially for the kinect. You have time to see if the kinect is a bomb or not before you get it....

To be honest, I never thought the Wii looked bad on my 46" 1080p LCD. But after I hooked up a PS3 via HDMI, the only time I turned on the Wii was to wipe the data and restore factory settings so I could sell it. Part of that was based on looks (ignorance was bliss), but the larger factor was that the novelty of the Wii had run its course over the year it was my primary game system.

With all that said, your kids will undoubtedly find plenty of enjoyment with the Wii, so it'll probably get you through until at least the next generation of consoles. And if you don't want complete strangers playing games with or talking to your kids online, the Wii has a pretty restrictive approach to online gaming. Also if money's an issue, consider that the PS3 and 360 have greater startup costs, especially if you plan on getting Move/Kinect.

Bottom line, if the system is "80% for the kids" then do what is right for them. They aren't going to care that the graphics aren't HD or that they can't watch Blu-rays or whatever. So if your 20% usage of the system outweighs their 80%, then consider one of the other systems. Otherwise, the Wii will probably get the job done.

Does the Wii support HDMI cables yet?

I introduced my son to the 360 a couple of years ago (he's 7 now) with the Cars racing games and Open Season. Open Season was a little difficult for him then, but had a blast with Cars. (And loves all of the Lego games.)

He loves Madden now and has had some success with the easier levels in COD 2.

I call BS. There was absolutely NO stealth involved.

Yes. There was a firmware update that modified the hardware to add the connector.

Only reason I still have a Wii is for those classic Nintendo franchises that are timeless to me. Everything else is PS3 for me. And yes, Wii is collecting dust. Still haven't finished Super Mario Galaxy 1 or Twilight Princess, with a bunch unopened in my backlog.

This.

My daughter (age 7) plays it from time to time but she prefers the Xbox or
PS3 games (graphics aside) because the controls for the Wii are mostly frustrating to her.

Besides, won't you do some gaming yourself?

I think having a backlog for a system you don't even play is as bad as it gets.

I'll do you one better.

I bought one when Zelda came out, and played it a few times. Then played it a few more times when Wii Fit came out.

My father-in-law bought one last Christmas and played it then, and hasn't played it since.