The Yak Shack Forum

I'm thinking of getting my boys a refurbished Playstation 2 for Christmas. They are 2 and 7 - and yes, I realize the 2 year old won't be playing this year, but the 7 year old will be. So the questions I have are :

1) What should I look for when buying a used PS2?

2) What games are recommended for kids - specifically an already computer saavy 7 year old boy.

3) What games are recommended for the youngest kids?

Thanks for anything you can tell me!

Hi Sketch Queen

Can't help with what to look for - not that tech minded when it comes to PS2.

Games though - my daughter and her friends love Singstar and I know someone whose boys love it too.  My nephew likes playing Gran Turismo 3 when he's over and all the kids seem to like Shrek Super Party, whether they're good with the hand thing or not.  I've got Finding Nemo too, but my daughter (who's not so great with the hand thing) doesn't like it, but her friends do.  Age wise all the kids that come here are around 8.

Sorry about the technical terms - what is the hand thing called? ???

Kathy

My younger sisters (8 and 10) love either of the Spongebob games as well as the Shrek ones.

Tj who is four loves playing dora the explorer and anything that is disney animated and trust me she very quickly got used to the controls she now can load and play a game on her pc

Thanks guys!

I have a PS2 and 4 boys!  Don't be too sure that your 2 year old won't want to try playing. My 2 1/2 year old wants to try playing all the time.  He sees big brothers doing it so he wants to also.  As for games, I'll list a few that get played here quite a lot!!!

SpongeBob- Battle for Bikini Bottom
Crash Bandicoot- The Wrath of Cortex
Star Wars Lego (this one gets played A LOT!!!)
Star Wars Episode III (this has a "Teen" rating. But it really isn't bad. My 5 year old plays it. And there is no cursing. And I'm a picky person when it comes to the ratings!!!)
Downhill Domination (this also has a "Teen" rating.  There's noithing bad.)
Of course, all of the HP series.
 
I hope this helps!! 

Wallace and Gromit is a really cute game too.  Oh, and Kingdom Hearts!  One of the best games there is, and it involves all the Disney lands.  It was the game that got me addicted to playing, and I am 28!

I think probably any game using a licence that they like will go down well... so Spongebob, Disney, Harry Potter, that sort of thing. Did you also consider a Gamecube? They have some very fun games on, like Donkey Konga where you have to play electronic bongo controllers in time with the music - great fun for all ages, trust me! Plus of course they have the usual licences that you expect. I am thinking about gamecube over PS2 since it it just smaller and therefore probably easier for small hands to handle. The discs are less than half the size of regular discs and are therefore much more durable.

And cheaper too!

But there's the down side that it doesn't play DVD discs, but I'm guessing you already have a DVD player

there are tons of sesame street games and the like on playstation. most should be pretty cheap by now. if you can find them there were many different ones put out a few years ago when the ps2 came out.

I think we've decided to go with the PS2 for Chrismas - I spent some tme in the store today looking at different games for him and saw some I definately think he would enjoy playing! Thanks for all the GREAT advice :)