Im not much of a gamer (ironically I make games for a living) but I made a bet with my kids that if the Detroit Lions make the playoffs this year I’ll buy them a system, and its looking like almost a lock to happen, so I want to get in on some Holiday deals.
This is their first non-Nintendo system so I’m a little lost on which way to go at this point in the generation cycle. For reference they’re 7 and 9 year old boys and are gonna be new to gaming that isnt based around crafting or Italian brothers. (i made them use my old NES, then SNES first, then got them a Switch a couple years back)
Did you promise them a current-gen system? I’d nominate PS3 as a better value than either. It’s old enough that you don’t give much up by “jailbreaking”, but recent enough to have internal storage (upgradeable to SSD) and native HDMI output. (If not for the latter point I’d suggest PS2, or possibly Xbox.)
Alternatively, PS Classic as a budget option. Just make sure to replace the default emulator, and prune any games that your kids might not be ready for.