X-Box 360 advice (Christmas present)

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The Ledge

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Mini Ledge (8) has put on X-Box 360 on his Santa list this year and it looks like I'll be biting the bullet and resigning myself to him sat in front of the telly playing games. He's never been much of a telly watcher or a gamer but I know he'll be looked on upon as wierd if he doesn't have a console soon.

I've had a quick look on 'tinternet but thought my fellow Bluemooners would be more helpful. What I need to know is what I (Santa) should be buying? I see there are 4Gb and 250Gb versions. I was against X-Box Live as I didn't want him interacting with strangers online - not sure if you can be selective with who you game with? I did see that to stream Sky Go to the X-Box you need X-Box Live so that may benefit me!

I intend on being quite strict with how much time he spends gaming - was thinking about 1 hour during the week and a couple of hours at weekends. Are there any parental controls where you can set time limits?

Any further suggestions would be much appreciated.
 
Don't think you can set limits on them but not sure. I would get the 250gb one and perhaps fifa13 and wwe13 to start him off. My lad is 17 so is pretty much glued to FIFA and has an online gamer thingy
 
I know they do have some parental controls on them but I think these just restrict the age limit of games being played not sure what else they can be used for.

To use sky go on the xbox you will need xbox live gold (£30 a year)
 
The Ledge said:
Mini Ledge (8) has put on X-Box 360 on his Santa list this year and it looks like I'll be biting the bullet and resigning myself to him sat in front of the telly playing games. He's never been much of a telly watcher or a gamer but I know he'll be looked on upon as wierd if he doesn't have a console soon.

I've had a quick look on 'tinternet but thought my fellow Bluemooners would be more helpful. What I need to know is what I (Santa) should be buying? I see there are 4Gb and 250Gb versions. I was against X-Box Live as I didn't want him interacting with strangers online - not sure if you can be selective with who you game with? I did see that to stream Sky Go to the X-Box you need X-Box Live so that may benefit me!

I intend on being quite strict with how much time he spends gaming - was thinking about 1 hour during the week and a couple of hours at weekends. Are there any parental controls where you can set time limits?

Any further suggestions would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Go for the 250gb, the new ones don't have hard drives that separate like the old ones, so you wont be able to "upgrade" if you need more memory, plus when the xbox is bound to use some of the 4GB to store system memory then it really is n't that much at all.
In answer to your second question yes you can set parental controls, it works pretty much like a TV lock, 4 digit pin system, that allows you to limit the number of hours the xbox can be used for each day, as well as age ratings for games and DVDS.
 
yes you can limit the hours played mate if you go on the xbox website they have alot of how-to guides on there, personally id go for the 250 gig mate as the apps you can get like youtube, internet explorer, sky are quite large memory so before you know it, itll be full
 
I'd give him more than 1hr per week. Not much you can do in 1hr on games these days, then he can't use it til weekend......bit overly harsh but I understand the principle.
 
I'd say 2 hours limit during the week bud and whatever suits you for the weekend, May be up it a little during a good behaviour week or base it on a reward system.

I'm no father, I'm only 20 but something similar was done with me a long time ago. Works a treat.
 
You can set limits on him being on the console for a certain amount of time, and to be honest if you feel the Online would beenefit you for Sky Go, then I'd get it.

You need to make your son a profile on the console and then one for yourself that has the Xbox Live, so you can use the benefits of that. But if you go into most retailers. they'll explain a lot of this to you, as will the Xbox website if you so desire. The 250 Gig Console is recommended as 4Gigs will disappear quick. You can use the extra space to download games diredtly from Xbox Live should you not fancy legging it to the shop.

For an 8 Year Old, I'd recommend FIFA as mentioned, Sonic the Hedgehog, Driving Games, stuff like that. Also if you're putting the console in a large space, Kinect Games are very child orientated, if the sensor itself isn't all that great.

As someone else said, an hour is rather harsh just because the way games are at the moment, you really won't get much done in an hour, but obviously that's your personal discretion.

Hope that's helped anyway.
 
Thanks for that folks. Pretty much as I suspected then. I did mean to say 1 hour per weekday, not per week although I see some of you think that may not be enough. I'll probably go down the reward route which means he'll end up having 2 minutes per day!

I'll go go the 250GB and get XBox Live Gold. One thing I forgot to mention is that he's currently semi-addicted to Minecraft which he plays on my old HTC Desire. One of his pals plays this on his XBox but I can't seem to see it available as a boxed game. Does anyone play Minecraft on the XBox - is it just available to download? Will certainly go for FIFA as well - I watch that thinking it's a real game on the telly!
 
I believe Minecraft is available through Marketplace on the Xbox, you will need to buy Microsoft points to purchase it. With regard to Xbox Gold don't buy direct from Microsoft unless they have some really cheap deal on, you shouldn't be paying more than £25-30 for the year.
Try this site or have a look on the web <a class="postlink" href="http://www.cheapxboxlivecodes.com/xbox-live-gold-subscription-codes/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.cheapxboxlivecodes.com/xbox- ... ion-codes/</a>
 
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.game.co.uk/en/minecraft-170976?awc=3742_1353944357_dffb9a68a483daa4c9c8f1b4502becae" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.game.co.uk/en/minecraft-1709 ... b4502becae</a>


Minecraft you can get from places like above or you can find some cheap MS points online and buy it through the store leaving extra points to buy other things too.

You definately want the 250gb though, not only for downloading apps/demo's etc but most games these days come out with day 1 patches which need installing and 4gb isn't going to last very long.
 
Just make sure you go on hotukdeals to get the best price and quidco for cashback
 
Thanks again. I'm a wiser person and at least have some idea of what I should be going buying now.

Now what the f*ck do I get the missus...<br /><br />-- Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:58 pm --<br /><br />
BoyBlue_1985 said:
1Hr a week you might as well buy him snakes and ladders!!
Click to expand...

...it's 1 hour per weekday! He has proper Snakes and Ladders but you've got me thinking, can you get it for the XBox?
 
The Ledge said:
Thanks again. I'm a wiser person and at least have some idea of what I should be going buying now.

Now what the f*ck do I get the missus...

-- Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:58 pm --

BoyBlue_1985 said:
1Hr a week you might as well buy him snakes and ladders!!
Click to expand...

...it's 1 hour per weekday! He has proper Snakes and Ladders but you've got me thinking, can you get it for the XBox?
Click to expand...

Get your Missus a kindle fire tablet . £99

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/kindle-fire-7-tablet-8-gb-18326923-pdt.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/kindle-fir ... 3-pdt.html</a>
 
I've just bought my lad a 4gb one with Kinect sensor and 4 game - Kinect adventures, Kinect Disneyland, Just Dance 3 and Fifa 13 in a bundle deal from Argos £220. http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9105384.htm#pdpPromotions (scroll down to option 3) I think that's a bargain but the offer is only on until tomorrow.

Also I think you can buy a 250gb hard drive from ebay for around £35 http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/2807...ixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&adtype=pla&crdt=0 or an official one from argos for around £70 that just slides into a slot on the side of the Xbox. You could get one of these at a later date if you find you need more storage. Theres a video that shows you how to here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14zCYhJQDAA&feature=player_detailpage
 
If you get Xbox live, you can set the settings as family which means he can only talk or hear from added friends.

On another side note, the online e experience is fantastic and even though you may doubt it, he'll learn a lot educationally from gaming and a bit of escape from reality to be creative. It helped me about 4-5 years ago during a rough time at school and when I had a medical problem. It helped me socially and gave a boost to my confidence.
 
Amazon have the 250gb on for £177. They have bundle offers too that include membership and cod black ops 2
 
bobmcfc said:
Amazon have the 250gb on for £177. They have bundle offers too that include membership and cod black ops 2
Click to expand...

Mini Ledge wants CoD but he's 8... he'll be getting FIFA and Minecraft for starters and Tellytubbies to piss him off!

Liking the idea of a Kindle for Mrs Ledge but I think we're planning on giving that to my step-daughter. Can you give the same gift to two people?
 
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