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Family games console - what are you using??

Switch is a good shout. If you get an extra set of joy-cons you can play 4 player split screen on quite a few of the games like Mario Kart and Smash Bros.

The joy cons normally fit either side of the console for handheld mode, or into a holder that makes it like a regular console type controller, but you can separete them and use them standalone as mini controller.
 
We have a PS3 in the lounge which doubles as a DVD player, and also a Wii. My son has a PS5 upstairs.

My wife just plays games on her phone Homer face palm
 
🤣😂🤣 whats a PS3
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I got a T3P
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We use an old pc with a couple of PlayStation controllers and games from Steam and gog. Have a Wii as well but not used it in a bit. Play stick fight and cat quest etc
 
As a family we sometimes play Fortnite Blitz with six of us.
My wife and I on laptops, my son on PS5, grandaughter Xbox and Grandson on PC, number six is a random.

Werewolf is good, one is a Werewolf, one is a Marshal and the rest civvies.

The Marshal has to kill the WW and civvies avoid being killed for 3 mins.

If the Marshal shoots a civvy WW wins.
WW can change so hard to know who the WW is, great fun.
 
jesim1 said:
So what the modern equivalent, or is everyone still using a Wii ?
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Sadly, the gaming industry has changed since the Wii. Nintendo managed to bottle lightning with that console under their then president Satoru Iwata - the guy was actually a gamer, and a talented software developer (often credited with being the man that wrote the code allowing the Pokemon games to actually fit on the gameboy cartridges). Nintendo have this marketing strategy where they never attempt to compete with anyone else, and always focus their efforts on novel stuff that provides great experience, and in the 00s that meant family gaming.

The Switch launched with a title "1, 2, Switch" which offers some really genuinely fun party games, but it is little more than a tech demo, and I am still sore I paid full price for it. They did release an updated version of Wii Sports - but they replaced the Mii characters and it got a tepid response at best. Now the Switch two has been brought to market by a new President who's wikipedia suggests that maybe he owned a famicom as a child, and is a business/politics major, it's clear that we've just gotten a thoughtless iteration and a slew of first-party releases that are formulaic at best - no matter how much is pains me to say.

My sincerest recommendation for you is, depending on your idea of audience suitability, get something that can play lightweight PC games, get a steam account, and look into titles like the "Jackbox" games, Drawful, Ultimate Chicken Horse, Gangbeasts - these are all pretty silly games that support playing together, and I've had fun playing them with my nephews and with friends and colleagues. If you want something that operates like a "console" - then I wholeheartedly recommend the Steam Deck (plus a third party docking station like those from JSAUX, the OEM one is too expensive for no benefit), it's powerful enough to run it all, you don't need to know anything about PC gaming, and it has some extra horsepower if you decide that you want to see what PC gaming has to offer (I like story-rich experiences, and would love to get more people to play Disco Elysium - very challenging experience, but the gameplay is about at complex as reading a book)

tl;dr - RIP Wii, Long live PC gaming.
A cheap office refurb PC from eBay will probably do you well enough. I am literally still running a ThinkPad P50 with a gen6 i7, and it can play current indie games without too much bother.
 
We have some pretty decent multi-player party games for the PS3 that we break out on New Year's Eve etc.

Some use the Sony 'Move' motion controller which works with the 'Eye' camera on the console:

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We also have a set of four 'Buzz' controllers for multi-player quiz games:

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Bazzatron said:
Sadly, the gaming industry has changed since the Wii. Nintendo managed to bottle lightning with that console under their then president Satoru Iwata - the guy was actually a gamer, and a talented software developer (often credited with being the man that wrote the code allowing the Pokemon games to actually fit on the gameboy cartridges). Nintendo have this marketing strategy where they never attempt to compete with anyone else, and always focus their efforts on novel stuff that provides great experience, and in the 00s that meant family gaming.

The Switch launched with a title "1, 2, Switch" which offers some really genuinely fun party games, but it is little more than a tech demo, and I am still sore I paid full price for it. They did release an updated version of Wii Sports - but they replaced the Mii characters and it got a tepid response at best. Now the Switch two has been brought to market by a new President who's wikipedia suggests that maybe he owned a famicom as a child, and is a business/politics major, it's clear that we've just gotten a thoughtless iteration and a slew of first-party releases that are formulaic at best - no matter how much is pains me to say.

My sincerest recommendation for you is, depending on your idea of audience suitability, get something that can play lightweight PC games, get a steam account, and look into titles like the "Jackbox" games, Drawful, Ultimate Chicken Horse, Gangbeasts - these are all pretty silly games that support playing together, and I've had fun playing them with my nephews and with friends and colleagues. If you want something that operates like a "console" - then I wholeheartedly recommend the Steam Deck (plus a third party docking station like those from JSAUX, the OEM one is too expensive for no benefit), it's powerful enough to run it all, you don't need to know anything about PC gaming, and it has some extra horsepower if you decide that you want to see what PC gaming has to offer (I like story-rich experiences, and would love to get more people to play Disco Elysium - very challenging experience, but the gameplay is about at complex as reading a book)

tl;dr - RIP Wii, Long live PC gaming.
A cheap office refurb PC from eBay will probably do you well enough. I am literally still running a ThinkPad P50 with a gen6 i7, and it can play current indie games without too much bother.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the in depth response :)

It’s basically for the sitting room to play with friends and family on occasion, I have a gaming PC for other games, though admittedly they tent to be old favourites and not the latest shoot em up offerings.
 
jesim1 said:
Thanks for the in depth response :)

It’s basically for the sitting room to play with friends and family on occasion, I have a gaming PC for other games, though admittedly they tent to be old favourites and not the latest shoot em up offerings.
Click to expand...
No problem Jesim, I truly love the art form, and I find it to be a crying shame the way that the industry is going - game costs (development and retail) are ballooning, but no meaningful advances are being made in how we use the medium to create great experiences.

If you already have a PC, chances are you have a TV capable of installing "Steam Link" - which for games like the Jackbox games, you can stream to your TV without worrying about latency. Jackbox works by having all your friends connect to the game from their phones using a web browser, so you won't even need to buy a second controller or move the PC closer to the TV. Drawful is much the same. Both of these titles are more "social lubricants" than real "games" - they create a great, focused atmosphere, and it will be a matter of moments before people start submitting drawings that inadvertently look like the works of Georgia O'Keefe :ROFLMAO:

I used to enjoy shooters, but it seems like the current offerings are heavily focused on core mechanics that I'm just going to lump together as "unregulated gambling for children", which I find extremely distasteful and so generally abstain. What sort of games are on your "old favourites" list, perhaps I can think of a few lesser known games you might be able to enjoy, or that capture elements of those and bring it to the sitting room.

The only "old favourite" of mine that is really difficult to get going on PC is a Mario Kart equivalent - it seems that Nintendo has monopolised the genre!
 
We're not massive gamers, but we still use an old Wii occasionally in our house, mostly for playing stuff like Mario Kart or Wii Sports. Otherwise, it's the PS4 (for things like FC26, Rocket League, Civilization VI) or phones/tablets for Minecraft.
 
I’m kind of set in my ways game wise, I tent to play things like command and conquer, defence grid, and a bit of war thunder, I just can’t get into the more modern stuff, and even war thunder is so complex I don’t understand half the controls, I think they have lost the plot with the options TBH, it’s not even like there is a usable instruction manual as it must be an incomprehensible collection of thousands of pages of technical details and specs I just can remember :oops:

I have a steam account already, so I’ll look at that and find out more about Jackbox (y)
 
A classic family/ladsnbeer game for me is Super bomberman. 90s 00s versions best. 4 player Classic mode last man standing battles very addictive.

I borrowed a copy for 9 year nephew babysitting. 2017+ R version as He had a switch. It's OK in classic mode. He was bouncing off the walls after we played all night. Parents had buy it for him. We played every sitting session until he got into fortnight and locked himself in his room comping.
 
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