Considering a Wii as a christmas gift for my Stepdaughetrs and I need Info.....

[ElderScroller27]

How reliable are Wii's do they have system failure like 360's?
Do they play DVD's?
What is the price range for new games on a Wii?

On the surface a Wii seems like a good gift for kids age 10-13 I just want to be sure it's not something thats going to break after 1 year like the PS2 Slim did.

[fortunzfavor]

Originally Posted by ElderScroller27

How reliable are Wii's do they have system failure like 360's?

I have yet to hear of one. The Wii actually uses less energy while running hot than the 360 does while idling. So, not a lot of heat to deal with.

Do they play DVD's?

No. They have the hardware, but it isn't licensed for the task. Supposedly there are players that are now working with Gamecube linux--but it's not really a user friendly solution, even if it does work. Nintendo also insists it will never release a player for current Wii's the will enable DVD playback.

Japan was going to get a DVD capable Wii revision, but it got pushed back recently.

What is the price range for new games on a Wii?

$50 is standard--games like Galaxy, Prime, Kart etc will all come in at that price point. However there are tons of games coming in from 20$ to $40. Not a whole lot of them are worth whatever they cost, but a few are.

On the surface a Wii seems like a good gift for kids age 10-13 I just want to be sure it's not something thats going to break after 1 year like the PS2 Slim did.

Nintendo is the king of tiny hardware revisions. The gameboy color, the micro, the DS lite, all in 35 colors or more. I wouldn't be surprised if they start doing colors for Wii once sales finally fall off. That's not breakage, but if the kids are into the Wii, they might start begging for the new color of the month.