Our family has always been a Nintendo family. The house is full of DS's, 3DS's, and we have a Wii and a Wii U. All consoles have had a good amount of usage, with the Wii U being played the most at the moment.
Trouble is, Wii U hasn't taken off so well in the UK, and so the kids don't have as many friends who own a Wii U as they did when they were playing the Wii. Many of their friends' parents have bought them PS3's over the past two years and a number of their friends have been saying they're getting PS4's for Christmas.
The main reason my kids are interested in a Playstation is because they want to be able to play FIFA 15 and Minecraft online with their friends - two games that are not available on the Wii U. They already have these games for the PC, but the laptop they use is on its last legs and makes the games pretty unplayable. Plus, replacing it with somethng decent will be more expensive than a PS4, and they're fairly good at wrecking PC's!
When asked what other games would they play if they had a Playstation, they have no idea. Yet they can't wait for the Nintendo games that are coming around the corner like Smash Brothers and Splatoon, which has made me hesitate about getting a Playstation until now.
Part of me wants to get them a PS4 - I'm aware there's a bundle coming out for £350 that includes both Minecraft and Fifa 15. (please correct me if I'm wrong) On the other hand, PS4 is not backwards compatible and there are still games coming out for the PS3 - which now retails at around £150.
We will not be getting any games that are rated PEGI 16 and above, and my kids are not interested in how powerful the console is or what's under the hood. I'm also wary that my kids will be exposed to chat and video chat with people across the internet that they don't know. I'm aware that there are parental controls, but from the research I've done so far they tend to be either too restrictive or too lenient - although many deride the friendcode system Nintendo has, I actually prefer it for my kids.
And this may be a silly or ignorant question, but if one kid is playing FIFA 15 on their PS3 and the other is playing it on their PS4, are they still able to play online against one another?
So, basically, with those factors in mind, I need your help in making my decision as to whether I should get a PS3 or PS4 for my kids this year.
Thanks!