It's been more than 1 month since we purchased the Nintendo Wii. These are my impresions of the game console. My wife and I were looking for a game console for our 4 years old daugther. Some people may belive that 4 years old is too young to learn to play or use a game console, however she has been playing games on the computer for more than a year. She knows how to use a mouse, open the browser and select a bookmark. Those are the website where she plays appropiate games:

Play House Disney : Where she can play flash games of her favourite shows. Make sure you got Flash installed

Noggin: More flash games with easier buttons for young children, easier to navigate for her.

I recommend those 2 websites to any parents with young kids, as they learn how to use the mouse and designers made the buttons with text and graphics, so children that do not read yet, can easiely select the game they want to play. The easiest way to let your kid play with the computer is to move the keyboard away, and let them just use the mouse. You'll be surprised how fast they learn how to use it.

Also I would suggest to create shortcuts of those 2 websites on the desktop or better yet the quick launch bar on Windows XP/Vista. This way, they can always start the games by themselve. Better yet, create a user profile for your children and add all the games in the desktop, so when logs in, they cannot screw up your profile.

Anyway, we decide to purchase the Wii a month ago, to make sure our kids get some excercise while they play, and the Wii allows us to do so. The console is very easy to use, even for a 4 years old. There aren't many games for very young children, and of course games are very expensive. We rent them from blockbuster before we purchase them, this way we get the AAF (Ashley Acceptance Factor)

Since then, we found 2 games that are great for a 4+ years-old

Wii Sports and fun for the whole family, as my wife loves playing boxing, the only game that my daugther doesn't like. However we all play tennis.

Wii Play. Maybe the easiest game for young children, boring for adults. Well, I kind of like table tennis.

Other games that we like for young kids are: Ant Bully, Banyard, Cars and Open Season. Still diffucult for them to enjoy fully, but they can still learn how to use it with your help.

Without a doubt a good purchased for a family with young children.

Cheers

Al