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Hi guys,

In the hopes that I might introduce my wife to gaming and do some interactive fun together, I consider getting my first console. I think this is a good time, as PS3, XBox 360 and Wii clasic take a dive in price (or even can find good refurbished ones) due to the launch of the WiiU and the highly expected PS4 and XBox One.

I am basically looking for a console and some games that can be played by two people at a time. Nothing too complicated, as the only "gaming" experience my wife has comes from Farmville and small puzzle games like Luxor, Zuma or Candy Crush clones. I'll still keep my PC as the main gaming environment, but I want to "spice up" things a bit.

Comments and suggestions are appreciated, as my knowledge of the console games is very limited.

My wife and I tried to play Super Mario Bros on the Wii. Didn't work out. We kept throwing each other into pits for fun.

Most co-op games are going to be more complex than those types of games, with most of your options being Diablo-em-ups or Shooters, or the music and rhythm genre. that said, there are plenty of split-screen coopers. I only have a 360, so that's what I'll list examples of. Furthermore, http://www.co-optimus.com/ is probably your resource of choice for finding more stuff. I'm sure there's co-op examples outside of my experience out there.

RPG/Diablo-style
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Diablo 3 (much better on consoles than it is on PC)

Shooters
Gears of War et. all
Halo 3, Reach, 4, etc
Borderlands 1&2 (These games are actually Diablo, but first person and with guns)

Muzak (Everything in this category requires extra peripherals.)
Rock Band
Guitar Hero

The Wii has an enormous number of party games, incidentally, and thus may be a bit better for co-op or competitive stuff in a more casual bent.

Modern FPS games are frankly intimidating for people not used to console controllers, 3D worlds and the twin-stick look/aim/move pattern in particular. I recommend the Skylanders games as an easy entry to console gaming. They're marketed to kids but actually quite rich and fun, my wife loves them.

Everyone loves killing zombies. Both my wife and my sister enjoy the Hell out of some Left 4 Dead 1 and 2. Even though they are FPSs, they are easy to pick-up and offer extremely easy difficultly modes for beginners. Resident Evil 5 is another my sister went bonkers for and she hates video games.

They both offer split-screen play, as does Gear of War. Be careful though, as my wife cannot play (or even watch) Halo due to the game making her nauseous for reasons I don't understand. She has the same problem watching me play HAWX, but I fully understand that considering the visuals WRT to OFF mode.

The problem with cut down MMOs like Diablo or Borderlands is the questing and inventory management. New players do not want to deal with having the action cut down to search lockers or loot piles, compare gear, or turn in quests. They do not care to grind. They find it troublesome. I would avoid them as starter games. Marvel Ult Alliance is a good game because even though there are upgrades, new players can set it to auto for leveling and equipment and sub-optimal builds/equips will not hinder your progress on anything but the higher difficulties.

I would, for the time being, stick with games that offer a linear progression so you can focus on the action, rather than explaining why +4 intellect or +5 fire rate is worth upgrading to.

D3 on the consoles has been extremely streamlined, and I believe it even has auto equip features (I could be wrong about this one). Trash drops are nearly non-existent, replaced with fewer drops that are more immediately relevant to players. Also, D3 has that whole "you automagically gain powers and talents, you just pick which ones you use" going for it. There is also no grinding at all.

You might still be right in that it's overly complex, but I wouldn't underestimate it. Several of my less-gamey friends are able to interface with it fine on the xbox without any real issues.

The Wii can be fairly fun for that kind of thing, especially with the Mario party games. It's like a board game, with lots of fairly simple mini games thrown in. The Wii can also be got for fairly cheap nowadays.

Personally me and the GF have played a lot of Dungeon Defenders and Castle Crashers, both of which are on Xbox Live Arcade, which means both games could be gotten for fairly cheap. Dungeon Defenders is like a tower defence game played in the third person, and Castle Crashers is an old school beat em up with a lot of personality.

I know nothing about the co-op options on the PS3 as my PS3 has spent most of it's life as a fancy blu-ray player.

I played a lot of De Blob 2 with my girlfriend. The second player only gets to control the sidekick (which is basically a color gun mounted on player 1) but it´s a whole lot of fun.
Portal 2 has a great split screen multiplayer as well.