Do you own or are you considering buying an Xbox One this Christmas? Share your top tips for getting the most out of your Xbox One with Microsoft. £300 Love2Shop voucher to be won. NOW CLOSED!

[ZaneMumsnet]

Across the festive season, Microsoft Xbox would like to hear the top tips Mumsnetters have for getting the most out of Xbox One for all the family.

Here’s what they say: “Providing hours of endless family fun, the Xbox One is home to the greatest games – including family favourites ‘Minecraft Xbox One Edition’, ‘Forza Motorsport 6’ and ‘Ori and the Blind Forest’ – as well as popular entertainment apps such as BBC iPlayer and Netflix Kids.“

They’ve even included a tutorial video to help you set up your Xbox One. You can view it below.

                   <iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/SqS6pRmE_kk" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> 

So how do you and your family get the most out of your Xbox One? Do you gather round the sofa to build a virtual world together on Minecraft? Maybe you challenge each other to FIFA football competitions? Perhaps you use the apps on your console to watch Christmas movies as a family? Have you any advice for parents considering buying an Xbox One this Christmas? Whatever your tips are, Microsoft wants to know.

Everyone who posts on this thread with their tips will be entered into a prize draw where one Mumsnetter will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Our Xbox is a godsend, there are some great games for kids (I love the Tomb Raider Game) and in the evening when the kids are in bed me and the other half use if for watching TV through Netflix and Amazon Prime. It has saved us a small fortune as we don't need Sky for our viewing now.

Our kids love Xbox.
Top tips are like those already mentioned. If it's a present set it up before Xmas.
Make sure the games are right for the child's age group
Don't let the DH on it or they will soon be wanting their own!

we watch a lot of netflix through it. love its versatility

don't enter card details, as otherwise kids can wrack up bills without you knowing. Always use vouchers/cards from places like game

We are planning on getting our son an Xbox. But rather than have him hog the TV when we want to use it we are getting hold of an old spare one for him to use.

We have to make the children have certain times on it so they all get a fair share of playing on it otherwise there is mayhem in the household.

The voice command is a great feature

We bought our sons (7 and 10) one as a joint Christmas present this year. They were thrilled as it was a complete suprise and I'd successfully pooh-poohed the idea for about 6 months as out of the question. So far they have Minecraft (which they already loved) and Fifa which they'd played at friends' houses. We only have one TV, in the living room, so play is only when we ok it, and not hidden away in bedrooms.

I have to admit I have no interest in gaming and the technology is now way beyond me. I know enough to be sure they won't be allowed to play any games with randoms online.

I would like more games for younger kids x

theres free downloads one a month around 15th, check them out. Make a list of games your child wants and check back regularly as prices fluctuate.

We have an x box 360 and I'm not sure we can afford to upgrade to the x box one, and then re-buy all the games we have, into x box one games.
How did others upgrade?

Bought one for the kids, didn`t have a clue how to use it, got my brother around lol. Wish I had read the above post about setting it up before Christmas.

Dont buy a kinect! They are planning on retiring the technology, and they have big plans for Virtual Reality, better to save the pennies for when the Hololens is released.

i like to find a game I really enjoy and keep on playing it

Set the games up in advance they take so long to load and always check if the game requires Xbox live as many do

We don't have an Xbox and not thinking to buy one as my DC are tablet dependent. Maybe when my DS will get older...

love that you can watch youtube on it :D

My children love to play Skylanders so they all get involved in that together, one of them is also Minecraft mad so he will build up his little worlds and then get us all around to see what he's done.

We also like to watch films on it and we all squeeze onto one big sofa with some popcorn to have a good movie session!

And it's also brilliant for group games like Now Sing or Just Dance where we can all make total fools of ourselves not me of course
I originally bought the console for my partner but to be honest it's used by all of us, but I did manage to get one for the boys for Christmas so they have been using the headsets and playing multiplayer games from different rooms.

I only wish I had done the updates before wrapping the Xbox One on Christmas Eve as it took hours but I didn't and my eldest sorted that out upstairs so it wasn't too bad anyway.

kinect is a massive draw and the best thing about the xbox one

I didn't know until recently that the Xbox one doubles up as a Bluray player! So the kids have had some Blurays for Christmas instead of just DVDs - the picture quality is very different!
Other than that, another good tip is that Xbox Live often offers free or heavily discounted download games! Ours have had a few little freebies and also bought some games at anything up to 75% discount on the standard price - I think the list of available games changes each week??

To get the most from my Xbox One I have it linked to everything else, after all it's not just for games. I run the satellite and surround sound through there. I also love the Xbox record feature for when something is too good in a game not to show off just say "Xbox record that" and it will record the last 30 seconds of game play. Oh yeah and get a Kinect, they're the only way to get the most out of it.

We've just upgraded to Xbox one.

So far I am very impressed with all the functions.

My only gripe is that I find streaming films very laggy. Was surprised as I generally find all other devices in the house stream stuff seamlessly.

Still to play around with many functions but my son LOVES it all.

Just watching a Netflix movie through it....sound is much better than through the TV.

Watching Men in Black III and it's not laggy. Perfect.

We bought DS1 one for Christmas - it took over 24 hours to download a Minecraft game and speaking to other parents who also spent the squillions on a games console it seems to be a common complaint - why is it taking so long to download games??

I use mine to watch netflix