xmas | Trying to Mom

South Park did a great trilogy of episodes last year where PlayStation and Xbox were in this console war. If you haven’t seen it, see if you can watch it on Hulu or YouTube, because it’s hilarious! However, my one qualm with those episodes is that they treated the topic as if one side could win, and the losing console would no longer be available. Hey, this isn’t Blu Ray versus HD DVD here! Gamers are diverse and complex enough to handle two opposing consoles.

Personally, I do not yet own an Xbox One or a PlayStation 4, but I own every other major console release back to the Atari 2600 (even a Sega CD and 32X). Unless I see some stellar deals this Xmas season, I do not plan on purchasing either system for a while yet, even though I will eventually own both, I’m sure. Here are some of the reasons and recommendations I would offer on purchasing gaming consoles this holiday season:

Nintendo 3DS XL – I put this first because it is probably my favorite machine right now. You have thousands of 3DS and regular DS titles to choose from, and, while most games are family/kid friendly, they are still ridiculously fun. Plus, you get free online play, and you can often use one cartridge to allow several local players to join in with you in person. Why does that matter? Because I have more than one kid, and we have 4 3DS systems in this household right now. I we want to play Mario Kart 7, that means only one of us needs to own the cartridge for all 4 of us to play simultaneously. Plus, you get games like Pokemon (the RPG games such as X, Y, Black, White, etc). If you have a 3DS and the current Pokemon RPG title, you can go to Leagues and tournaments to earn points and prizes for free! Fans of the card game who are 15 or older have to pay to participate, but video game players still get to enter everything for $0. Also, consider Street Pass, a mini-game where other 3DS users visit your console and bring you puzzle pieces and such. You can allow your kids to safely “meet” people all over the world, all while killing time waiting in line for a ride at Disney World. Sometimes, just driving to Walmart with my 3DS on in my purse I’ll meet a good dozen Miis in Street Pass.

WiiU/Wii U – WiiU still does not play DVDs or Blu Ray. However, it is still backwards compatible with Wii games. You also get this neat controller with a huge screen, and, in many games, you can play on the screen while someone else uses the television for something else. Much like the 3DS, the WiiU has a huge library, when counting the Wii titles as well, and most of them are kid friendly. The WiiU is an update from the original Wii system, but I’m not sure that it’s a total upgrade, as a new console should be. I also wish that I could buy a secondary “huge screen” controller, but, unfortunately, only one of those will work per system. Any other players must use the old Wii controllers.

2DS – A 2DS is the same as a 3DS, with the key difference being that it’s slightly cheaper, it does not fold shut, and it does not allow games to play in 3D mode. This system seems to be the response to complaints of the 3DS potentially hurting the vision of children under 7. However, even though I do not like the 3D feature, you are able to switch it off on a regular 3DS and still play all games in 2D. I do not like the fact that the 2DS does not close up, because it leaves the device more open/susceptible to damage. Personally, I would skip this and go straight for a 3DS, which usually offers a better holiday bundle set anyways.

XBox 360 – I love my 360, but I also hate it. It has great graphics, great titles, and it’s primarily geared towards adults. You can also play many of the original Xbox titles on a 360 (for no particular reason, I’m going to tell you that I’ve logged the most hours on Roller Coaster Tycoon, Futurama, Leisure Suit Larry, and the Playboy Mansion game, and, every so often, I feel the need to play them again – I am pro backwards compatibility!). Those Xbox gamer points are also my version of crack. Every time a trophy comes up, my brain does a little happy dance. On the downside, Xbox likes to nickel and dime you into poverty. Oh, you want to play online? Give us more money! Oh, you want ALL the content and features of a game that you just paid $60 for? Give us more money! Oh, Netflix? Sure we can get you that – FOR MORE MONEY! If you aren’t aware, you have to buy a membership to Xbox Live to be able to fully partake in many of your games and to use many features on the Internet. It would be like buying a ticket to Disney World, then having to pay again to get on each ride – it’s too greedy! I know someone will come along and justify that it’s around $60 a year to buy a membership, but that’s beyond the point in my mind. If they want to offer me half a game, then they should charge me half the price. I still get upset that Left 4 Dead 2 only allows you to access most game features via an Xbox membership, and that, if I want the “extra” levels, I have to put in a credit card and buy it. Why did I pay for content if I have to keep paying to play it too? Also keep in mind, while this is a solid system in many aspects, it is on the way out. If your kids are getting more serious into gaming, you will likely purchase a 360 just to turn around and buy a new console in another 1-2 years.

PlayStation 3 – The PS3 plays Blu Rays, which the 360 does not (Microsoft backed HD DVD, so they begrudgingly never switched the 360 to a Blue Ray player). The earlier releases of PS3 systems played PS2 games, alas, the vast majority of systems do not. There are also a number of titles for more mature gamers. Online play is free, for the most part (some games may require individual subscription fees), and you may use services like Hulu and Netflix without any additional charges. Honestly, for someone not addicted to Xbox exclusive titles like Halo, the PS3 is a much better value in terms of what the machine can do and what the extras cost. Much like the 360, the PS3’s days are numbered. If you are looking to work with a bunch of already released titles, this is a good machine, but if you plan to keep up with current trends at all, I would say skip the PS3 and upgrade to a next generation console.

Xbox One – Most of what I said before seems to be moving forward to the One. The One will play Blu Rays, but it will not play 360 or earlier titles. For me, the killer here will be the subscription fees again for online play/full content again.

PlayStation 4 – I’ve said to myself, “self, if they ever actually release Kingdom Hearts 3, this shall be our new console.” Honestly, I haven’t seen much to peak my interest in the titles department for this system yet. I’m sure it’s coming, but, with no backwards compatibility, and the PS+ nonsense (now Sony wants your money to be able to play online too!), this industry is getting too greedy. But, on the plus side, a PS+ account is supposed to work with PS4, PS3, and the Vita without having to buy a separate account for each one. Oh, and I’m not putting any input on the Vita, because I can’t remember the last time I actually saw one in stores.

I suppose, to summarize, Nintendo is still at the top of the leader boards, in my opinion, by a lot. Frankly, I don’t love online game play for titles such as Call of Duty, because other people are dicks. Microsoft and Sony are getting to the point where too much of their game content is dependent on online play, and, maybe, just maybe, I want to enjoy a game at my own pace and be able to master the controls/moves without getting cursed at or booted out. Yes, sometimes I’m a n00b – wasn’t everyone? And, that’s right, I don’t race through a zone as fast as I can because I would prefer to kill everything and collect all the items before moving on. Most games don’t have a time attack mode, so if you’re in such a damn hurry to finish a level, why even bother logging in? The players have gotten so aggressive and full of people who are intolerant of other gamers that Xbox and PlayStation are both starting to turn me off. I would rather play a game like Portal or Beyond Two Souls where I get an immerse and interactive experience over another open arena game where players hide with sniper riffles and kill all the people re-spawning. Unfortunately, I can’t get the games that I enjoy the most of a Nintendo system, even though, overall, I prefer Nintendo to the other consoles.

It’s almost like Sony and Nintendo are in this nuclear arms race, and, over in the corner, there’s Nintendo playing table tennis with itself.

So, there are my convoluted thoughts on the matter. Ultimately, it doesn’t feel like a good year to buy anything any PlayStation or Xbox console, as the old systems are bidding us ado, and the new ones aren’t that flipping impressive in the title department yet. Gee whiz, some backwards compatibility would really turn this situation around!

Good luck with your shopping this year, and, just remember, if you get the “wrong” thing you can always tell your kids that you’ll return the item and they can have nothing for being unappreciative brats. 🙂

A few months ago I joined a Facebook group page where moms help other moms get hard to find Disney items at cost. For the most part, the group page is great. Women go shopping, they find items that they know are hot and pick up some extras, then they post them for sale at retail listing, plus tax, shipping, and Paypal fees. It was a wonderful system that helped stopped the eBay sellers from buying up everything possible to resell for a high profit.

So, as anyone with a daughter who loves Frozen knows, Elsa and Anna items have been particularly hard to find. Now, it’s getting better and things like clothing, posters, and Anna/Olaf toys are pretty readily available. A lot of the Elsa items are still a pain to track down, but it’s becoming more and more doable.

Anyways, Frozen has had some of the most popular merchandise that Disney has ever created. I cannot remember a single other instance in my life where a Disney character was this hot of an item for this length of time. And, because I am a big planner and a religious checker (went to Disney Stores at opening many times, as well as constantly refreshed their website) I didn’t have a lot of difficulty finding the items I wanted for my daughter. Not everyone plans so far ahead, though.

Everyday on the above mentioned Facebook group, I see tons of parents posting sob stories about how their child has a birthday in four days and they are so desperate to get an item “or else the party will be ruined!” Or they’ll say “it’s all my daughter wants, she’ll be devastated if she doesn’t get it!” Wow, aren’t those some major first world problems?

Desperate, devastated, and ruined are some incredibly ridiculous words to use in regards to toys and costumes. Then, you come to find out (through photos posted later) that the children they were freaking out over are 1-4 years old. If a child that age gets a dozen presents and remembers the one item you couldn’t find, you are raising a thankless brat. Really, I know we want to give our kids everything because we can, but what ever happened to the days when we didn’t give our children everything that they wanted, and that was okay? In fact, it built some character and weeded out buying a toy because you could have it and buying a toy because you really, really thought it was special.

I have to admit I’m guilty of this to a degree. I don’t often go on big hunts for items, or freak out if I don’t get one specific item, but I am a clearance junkie, so there have been Xmases and birthdays where I went way overboard due to 75% off super sales. I tend to have black out shopping during Black Friday!

So my kids have a lot, and many times my son will go into the store and see something he likes. He’ll make a case for why he wants it and how awesome it is, and usually I say to put it back until there’s a sale. But, the grandparents are more generous than I am on impulse buys, so there are times when he’ll walk out of the store with the item he suddenly can’t live without, he gets it home, plays with it for a little while, then never touches it again. There was a stent of time where he kept begging for Legos and getting different sets here and there. Well, two years later some of those kits are still in the box, or were thrown into the Lego bin of random parts without ever being put together. Needless to say, I stopped letting him get Legos.

Now, I could be incredibly mistaken, but I don’t think there are many kids who want everything they see long term.

I suppose if there’s a moral or point to this blog, it’s that parents need to calm down about fulfilling their children’s wish lists. It is not the end of the world if they don’t get a Disney Store Elsa costume to wear for their birthday party. The sky won’t collapse if you don’t get the right toy, or all the toys they want. And, for goodness sakes, quit acting like it will, because those kids are watch you and how you act and how you bend over backwards to their every whim, and there’s an excellent chance that this kind of behavior will backfire in your face one day (think of the teen years!). Not getting everything that you want when you want it is good for kids, it teaches them to cope with minor loss and move on. It’s also good for the kids’ future teachers and employers, who don’t want to spend all day babysitting “I want it” tantrums. And many times, once you track down a hard to get toy, the kid has already forgotten that they ever wanted it in the first place. The sun will rise tomorrow no matter what, but the days will feel a lot longer if your kids become spoiled and ungrateful from being shown love with money. Just my ten cents on the matter…