PC Games for my Grandchildren 10 years and under

[jmoran567]

I am preparing to take the A+ certification and would like to build my first PC as I progress through the certification process. The purpose of the PC will be a gaming system for my Grandchildren when they come to visit. I would like to find a PC game or two that would be appropriate for kids 10 and under, which also pushes the limits of current technology (Directx 11?). I'm waiting to see the system requirements of the new Microsoft Flight game.

I was hoping the community could steer me to some age appropriate games that would also allow me to build a cool gaming rig. Once I identify a few games, I am going to begin putting the hardware specs together. I would like to build with windows 7 64-bit OS.

Thanks for your expertise.

 

[jmoran567]

Great! Thanks for the reply. I know they will like a racing game. I will check it out.

 

[brandoncatz]

How about Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions? My kids love that game! Also, there is a great app called Kidzui that is very fun for children around that age. It is a browser portal to some of the best kid game/video/sites on the web. Not graphically intensive, but often times kids don't care.

Oh, also Star Wars: Force Unleashed 2.

 

[jmoran567]

Excellent! Thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

[brandoncatz]

Not a problem. I have younger kids and know how hard it can be to find appropriate kid games in this age of games like GTA, Dead Space, and Metro 2033. Another one you might want to check out is the Oddboxx which has all of the released Oddworld games:

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/6951/

Available only on Steam, I believe.

 

[Martin9630]

Maybe Portal?

 

[LePhuronn]

Yeah, +1 to Portal

Will build some great hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness, but give a massive boost to logic and puzzle-solving ability.

And even a rudimentary grasp of physics to boot

 

[accolite]

I let my 4 year old play online on only two sites sesamestreet.org and pbskids.org
those site have some nice age oriented games that she can play with.

 

[Hegon]

How about the Lego games? They're very popular, and Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars is out imminently....

Might also be worth checking out some of the hidden object adventure games. These are simple and fun for kids, and you can get some very cheap ones online.

 

[jgiron]

if you want to buy pc games wait for this summer when steam(www.steampowered.com) has there summer blow out sale.
There you can get a lot of good racing sims for cheap.
I picked up Burnout Paradise Ultima for $5 and you should be able to get Need for Speed games for cheap as well.
If the grandkids like RPGs there is Titan Quest and some others.

Right now my kids (under 10) play Wii Lego Star Wars and go on PBS Kids.

 

[dalta centauri]

Sanctum - The demo is dumbed down (And difficulty is around high) and the full version won't be out until later this year.

http://www.coffeestainstudios.com/products.php?id=Sanctum

Desc: A tower defense FPS, no blood and no swearing, although it does introduce weapons fighting hoards of rather whacky looking creatures that aren't gruesome.
Uses the Unreal Engine, so it's quite nice to look at compared to the generic tower defense games.

 

[jmoran567]

Thanks so much for all the recent responses. I feel I am now armed with some great game ideas for the kids. The interesting thing is that none of them seem to have cutting edge system requirements. It seems like most take 10-15 GB disk space, require a DVD to install, 4GB Ram or less, Directx 9c or higher. This gives me great information to go about putting my build together. Of course, I'll probably overbuild anyway with all this cool hardware available. Thanks again.

 

[aleisha20]

when i 10 years old i love to play the super maria. This game is very entertaing and i love to play this game
________________________
Rakeback

 

[jmoran567]

Thanks for your response Aleisha20. I looked on the Internet, but it appears Super Mario only runs on Nintendo and Wii. Is there a PC version of the game? Could you point me to the link. Thanks.

 

[accolite]

when i 10 years old i love to play the super maria. This game is very entertaing and i love to play this game

I never heard of a game called Super Maria?

Must be one of those Super Mario knock offs!

 

[dalta centauri]

An emulator called, "Dolphin" allows you to emulate the Wii and Gamecube. You won't find too many roms though online, but it's useful for someone like me who owns gamecubeand Wii games but doesn't have either console anymore.

Besides that, some DX11 titles suitable for 10+ are:
Shogun 2, Dirt 2, Just Cause 2, Civilization V, Wings of Prey, etc.

All titles are 'child friendly' with Just Cause 2 being the one with the most violence but being quite fun (although the enemies bleed out and die, they do a fading injured animation.) Performs extremely well while looking good, it's also an open world game with large landscapes and terrain with vehicles.

With Shogun 2 and Civilization V, you need to worry about the processor over graphics. Shogun 2's demo is out now, hopefully the game isn't as bugged when released (Mainly shadows flickering from a normal distance.)

Wings of Prey is a flight combat simulator, quite enjoyable. It uses DX11 and Ultra settings where dx10 cards are forced to high instead. Ultimately it looks good and plays well on most cards from mid to high end.

Dirt 2 being an early (Released alongside dx11 cards) dx11 titles and AMD sponsored. It looks well, even on lowered settings. It has a combination of different vehicles, and controls well even without a wheel-pad.

 

[accolite]

Just a FYI Emulators are frowned upon especially if you do not own the game that you have a rom of.

 

[jmoran567]

Thanks for the additional game ideas. I would like to try one of the new ones using Directx 11, maybe wings of prey and dirt2.

 

[brandoncatz]

Aw, man, how could I forget... Batman: Arkham Asylum! That should look pretty sweet and I think would be tame enough for kids. My 5 year old still plays it once in a while... huge Batman fan!

Dirt2 is a very fun game and looks gorgeous! I'd love to get one more monitor and play that across 3 (nVidia Surround).

 

[jmoran567]

Best answer selected by jmoran567.