Finding Age-Appropriate Xbox Games for a 2-Year-Old

Elle, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Nov 22, 2009 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

My oldest son is now 16 and has had every video game system known to man since he was 8. My youngest son is now 2 and is already entering the gaming sector. For good or bad I'm still not sure. After learning how to play pre-school games online, my toddler has now graduated to playing the original Xbox system that my older son no longer uses. Out of all the games my older son had, Monkey Ball was the only game without explicit content that I would allow my toddler to play. My toddler was interested in playing other games as well but I was hesitant until he scratched the Monkey Ball game and it wouldn't play anymore.

The Wi game system has gained the notoriety for being more toddler-appropriate while the Xbox system has typically been marketed to the more mature crowd. I wasn't really sure that Xbox offered any toddler oriented games and I knew the system was outdated. I thought I would make a trip to Ebgames anyway, and just see what they had to offer. If nothing else, I figured the previously owned games would be less expensive and more available since everyone seemed to trade up on the Xbox 360.

I went to the Ebgames store at Mexico Road and Mid Rivers Mall Drive in St. Peters, Missouri, and asked what they had for the Xbox that was geared toward preschool kids. The guy at the counter laughed and said they didn't sell Xbox games or systems anymore.

After making several calls, I located one of the few stores between St. Charles and St. Louis that still offered the Xbox games. The Gamestop (which has now merged with EBGames) located at 14011 New Halls Ferry Road in Florissant had a huge inventory of previously owned Xbox games priced from $1.99 to $15. I found several games which were age appropriate for my 2 year old to start his gaming hobby. We walked out of the store with 9 or 10 games for less than $60.

Some of the games we purchased were Shrek Super Slam and Ratatouille (both based on the Disney movies), Motogp3 (a motorcycle racing game), Namco Museum 50th Anniversary (which has all the old arcade games like Pac Man), and Spider-Man, based on the Toby Mcguire movie.

Unbelievably, my son was able to play most of these games a little on his own without any assistance at all. After sitting down and going through the tutorials with him, he was able to play several of them well enough to have fun. I was glad I checked into it a little further. The hand me down Xbox is a fun and inexpensive way for toddlers to start having fun with a gaming hobby. It also creates a wonderful opportunity for him to bond with his 16-year-old brother. An opportunity that before now, has not presented itself often.

Published by Elle

Full Time Freelance Writer & Owner of NewsByElle.com - An all inclusive portal to the St. Charles, MO area and the greater St. Louis, MO area. DIVERSE BACKGROUND: US ARMY Vetran Real Estate - with cred... View profile

Finding Age-Appropriate Xbox Games for a 2-Year-Old

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