About Terry Pritchard Expertise Any question about any area of gaming. I have experience in the following areas: Retro console gaming, modern console gaming (specialist subjects: SEGA Dreamcast, Sony Playstation, Sony Pocketstation, Sony Playstation 2 and related software and peripherals), PC gaming, emulation, internet gaming using Kaillera, "hacking" using Action Replay Pro and Xploder/Xplorer cartridges and more. I been gaming a long time, so feel free to ask anything and I will do my best to help.
Experience Approx. 15 years in gaming.
Ex-Managing Director of aLstudios (independent PC game development group, formed as part of a college project but later abandoned for various reasons)
Publications WTFTerry.com
An adult-based (adult content, no porn but alot of swearing and adult orientated discussion) humour site reviewing games, movies and featuring articles on a whole variety of non-issues.
Question For Christmas I'm going to get my son a game consol and a few games. He is only 5 but can use some simple games an old nintendo system we have. Do you think he would be able to handle a gameboy or Play station - any suggested games he might enjoy?
Thanks
Pete
Answer Hey there!
For a young gamer I would recommend the Playstation (sometimes called the PSone). It really is ideal for younger gamers.
The games for the PSone are, in general, of extremley high quality, and are extremley cheap these days. A new game will cost (on average) between £10 and £20, and most pre-owned games can be bought for £5.
There is a vast, vast library of games available for the PSone and a huge variety of childrens games. Disney for instance have an impressive range of games based on all their major movie releases including Monsters Inc, Lilo And Stitch etc.
A new PSone will set you back around £79.99 and will probably include a game or two and a controller. The official Sony control pads are pretty sturdy and take alot of punishment before breaking or malfunctioning, but it might be worth buying a spare pad. An official Sony pad retails at around £19.99.
The Gameboy is a good console too, but to be honest I wouldn't recommend them. There are several versions of the Gameboy available. There is the original Gameboy and it's variations (Gameboy Pocket, Gameboy Colour, Gameboy Pocket Colour), but they are very dated now. No games are made for them anymore, the screens can be very hard to make out at times and they can be a little power hungry on the batteries. Since the original Gameboy isn't made anymore you would have to get a pre-owned one. I would estimate that a good games dealer would sell a pre-owned Gameboy unit for about £10-£15, if that, and the games will be about the same price.
The other type of Gameboy is the Gameboy Advance. This is the latest version of the Gameboy and games are being released all the time. It's an impressive console, I love mine, but it has it's faults. There are two types available, the Gameboy Advance (GBA) and the Gameboy Advance SP (GBASP).
They are, in essence, identical. They both play the same games, they just look different and the SP has some slightly different features.
The GBA is quite large, and it will eat batteries. You will be buying new batteries all the time for it. Nintendo say that using rechargable batteries can cause damage to the GBA, but I will be honest, I used a cheap set of rechargables in my GBA for ages and it has never done any damage, but still, it's worth noting Nintendos advice. The screen on the GBA is rather dark, and when playing indoors is too dark to play at times unless you sit directly under a light source. It's also a fragile console. A few knocks or drops can cause some irritating problems. Those faults aside, it is a very good console. The original GBA cannot be bought new anymore (Nintendo replaced it with the GBASP), but a pre-owned one will cost around £40.
The GBASP is just like the GBA, except it comes in a clam-shell design. That is, it folds in two. The top flap forming the screen and bottom flap forming the controls. This makes it extremley fragile. However, it comes with a built-in rechargable battery which is a very nice addition. It also has a built-in light to make playing indoors easier. A new GBASP will cost around £100 with a game or two.
Games for the GBA/GBASP retail at £40 new, with pre-owned games ranging in price from £5 to £35.
I am starting to ramble, so I will try to summarise.
The PSone is cheap, the games are cheap, and there many games ideal for the younger gamer.
The GBA is expensive, and the games are expensive. It does have a large range of games that would suit younger players though.
In my honest opinion I think the PSone would be the better choice.
I hope I have been helpful, but if there is anything you would like to know, anything you would like me to clarify or anything really, just drop me a line and I will be happy to assist!
