to feel dumb about getting an Xbox working on Christmas day

[HubbaBubbaMum]

DH and me have never played (or seen others playing) on gaming machines (or whatever you call them!). Have finally conceded to peer pressure and Father Christmas has ordered an Xbox One S Console with FIFA 17 as a joint present for DC this year (age 10 & 7). So, how do we avoid spending half of Christmas day working out how to set it up as we are complete gaming virgins? Is it obvious? Can we buy games suitable for their age in advance to 'plug in' or do we have to open it up and get it all set up and download them in advance? (Didn't want to open the wrapping before Xmas morning ideally). Do we just play it on TV or is it better on the PC? Do we need to order control pad type things to go with it? Hope this post is giving younger MNetters a good laugh . Happy to be directed to an idiots guide to the 21st Century.

For the Love of God and your sanity Do not leave it until Christmas Day! It is most definitely not a Team Building exercise. It's very much like setting up that old Mousetrap Game x eleventy million . With small, frustrated, chocolate addled people asking 'Is It Done Yet?'

We bought DS an xbox 360 a few (maybe 3) years ago for his birthday. I actually wept a few tears and I wasn't even involved in the set up! DSD was doing it for DS along with phone support from her boyfriend. It took so long .

Definitely get batteries for the controllers or if you can these doodads work well. DS has them for his xbox 360 and xbox one. Worth every penny -www.argos.co.uk/product/6045870?cmpid=GS001&_$ja=tsid:59158|cid:200291570|agid:12525689450|tid:pla-271952964452|crid:66128557490|nw:g|rnd:3520605856343738493|dvc:m|adp:1o4&gclid=COGUmIyJz9ACFZUYGwod7KYJ7A

I find that if I'm stuck downloading or installing stuff that there is always some smart-ass 14 year old on YouTube who will take you through the whole process if you ask the question 'how do I'

Are the regular Xbox one games compatible with the one S?

Yes, the regular Xbox one and Xbox one S games are the same.

I'm actually glad these generations of consoles didn't come out til i was older. I had a ps1 from when i was about 8, ps2 for my early teens, didn't get a PS3 and do any online gaming til i was 19 and bought my own. Got my PS4 last year, yet i actually still mostly use my ps3. My ps4 not been turned on in months! Feels a total waste of the online membership, but all the people i played online with suddenly deflected to other games i didn't have, and either didn't want or cannot afford to buy, so i went back to my PS3. The cost of games these days though are ridiculous! £40 ish for the basic game, and then there's loads of add on download content that to get everything and finish the story etc you end up spending another £40. I certainly won't be buying any more call of duty games, not when half the online content is extra downloads and its hard to find a game if you dont have all the extra map packs and so on.

39% now after five hours!

I'm pissed off though because we're with Virgin Media, never had a problem until the last few months when our broadband is hideously slow or keeps dropping out. I suspect it doesn't like me using the Xbox and the iPad at the same time.

Zad, I'm confused by the gamer tag options. There is one person who has the 'live' account linked to their profile but then you can set up 'linked' profiles with different names can't you but the live profile is the one where the name can't be changed without a fee? It all gets very confusing (to me anyway).

Yes you only need one gamertag to have a subscription to xbox live gold and they can share it to all the other users of the xbox.

No gamertags can be changed (after one change from the suggested one) without a fee. Not having an xbox live gold subscription doesn't mean you can change your gamertag for free, though I guess so long as you are not worried about losing achievements you could just create a new one.

If your TV doesn't have an HDMI port, you might find that your computer monitor does.

Very unlikely not to have a HDMI port, they've been around since 2003...

Someone up thread asked/stated a HDMI must be bought. All new xboxes come with a standard HDMI cable in the box.

OK, crapping myself now. Just bought an Xbox One for DS (13) for Christmas. Why does downloading games take so long? Or is this just for games where you have a download code only? I've bought some games with actual discs (I assume) so surely these can just be put in the machine and played?
Also do you have to have xbox live membership? Can't you just play the games on the discs?
I realise I know nothing, despite having had a Wii in the house for several years now...

Yes you need an account, you can get the free one if you want. All games have to be installed on the xbox one whether its a disc or not.

It's only the initial setting up that takes a long time. Once it's up and running it's no problem. There will be updates from time to time but they don't take long at all.

IWant - you will need to install from the disc and still use the disc to play as well. It shouldn't take as long as a digital option, but there may be patches (basically corrections and additions to the base game if you're not down with the lingo!) that will require an Internet connection to get.

The games take a while to download because they can easily be 25gb.

OK, crapping myself now. Just bought an Xbox One for DS (13) for Christmas. Why does downloading games take so long?

It depends on the size of the game, and whether you've purchased a disc copy or digital copy.

If you've bought a disc copy, you may need (or want) to install it - it sometimes makes things run a little smoother. Many games also end up being 'patched', where bugs and issues are retrospectively fixed after launch. This can take ages, it completely depends on the nature of the fix. For example, the new Final Fantasy game had a day one patch was was pretty hefty. You can set up the consoles to background download updates.

Digital copies require you to download the entire game and any patches/updates.

You may want to set it up beforehand, because the console's firmware gets updated on a regular basis too. Leave it to Christmas day, and you could end up spending a few hours updating the console itself, followed by updating games.

(Also I've only skimmed the thread, so this has probably been mentioned, but make sure you have any parental controls for content and online purchasing set up - my brother failed to do this a few years back and my nephew blew £400 on Fifa and Call of Duty DLC !)

Or just don't attach a bank card at all. You can get prepaid points at any game shop.

Yeah do that.

I have two adults and three kids set up on ours - the kid accounts need an adult to approve any game at all, but once approved they can play again without approval. We did just use points cards but I have attached a card but only I have the password.

My email account was hacked through my ds's Xbox, this included nearly all info on the bank cards etc so now I only have that email account for the Xbox and changed everything else including passwords to a new email account. We no longer pay for things on the card, I just buy credits codes through Amazon. If you are going to link an email account to the Xbox I would seriously suggest you open a new account just for that purpose, do not under any circumstances use an existing one. When you think about how many companies have your details, PayPal, Amazon, eBay etc on and on you get an idea of how much you'd have to change if you were hacked, took me a whole day to change all mine.

You don't connect it to the PC you connect it to the TV using a HDMI lead but make sure you TV can take a HDMI lead. You will get controllers with the Xbox and I would speak to someone in game shop or CEX and ask them about child friendly games.

Another shout for Minecraft, Plants vs Zombies, and also Lego Indiana Jones - massive hit with my 8yr old son who has since got all the Indiana Jones DVDs, clothes/hat/whip/bag and written a massive 'big write' at school all about it!! (The DVDs are 12s but he wasn't fazed by any of the content, but I think the games are more child-friendly).

Actually - reading all the scary stuff above - can't you take it back and get a Wii instead? No need to set up accounts or link cards etc, just buy the games and they come as CD type discs that you insert? We got a reconditioned one for about £30 from Games exchange or Planet Games or somewhere, as they are cheap since the Wii U came out, and it's great! And they can play all the Mario games - though I don't know about Fifa.

OMG just read a lot more of the thread. I am as hopeless as you so not a good person to give advice, but it seems all this Xbox stuff is about online gaming? Maybe it's cheaper to download games rather than buy a disc? But if not - think about whether you need to be online? We don't connect the Wii or the PS2 to the internet, because we don't need to. We don't spend time downloading games (except Minecraft, Plants Vs Zombies etc to the ipad/kindle, which takes no time) because they're on disc. I got the Wii Lego game for about £2 second hand on ebay. I think older kids like to play against their friends in some sort of virtual world and it's a whole different thing, but for younger kids who just want to play at home, you shouldn't need any of that. Talk to your local game shop!!

You can still buy all of the games via eBay etc and get a 'hard' copy but there is the option of buying online and downloading.

wanderingstar The Wii provides very good value gaming. It is though 10 years old, very very few new games coming out for it, and you just can't compare it to an xbox one.

With regards to online gaming. 6 year old DS has had his xbox one for a year and absolutely loves playing online (Plant vs Zombies Garden Warfare 1 & 2, Roblox, Minecraft, etc).

Thank you so much for this thread - after reading all the advice I am setting up my twins' xbox one right now. Was totally planning to leave it until xmas day but have seen the light! Our tv does have an hdmi port - that was my main worry, having read this thread.

Particular thanks to aceybongos for that youtube link - VERY helpful!

I will just admit that I couldn't work out where the ON switch was - thought it was just a logo! Doh!

Can anyone tell me (in very simple terms) how to connect a second controller, wirelessly? It came with instructions but I must be doing something wrong - it just flashes on and off for a while and then teh light goes off.

Would people recommend paying for xbox gold? I just know the boys will want it but is it worth the extra money?

yep thanks to this thread dh did ours a few weeks ago.
Took a good few hours. I wouldn't have had a clue

sallydapp thanks for email hacking info, very good to know!

Thanks other posters for posting good games.

Am sooooooooooooooooooooooo excited for DD to see ours!