XBOX - I need a dummys guide!!

[MadameCastafiore]

DS wants one for birthday - he has saved up half the money from his picket money and we are giving hmi the rest - seen good deal in John Lewis but have no idea how these things work.

It says you can play against friends, watch skyTV, has WiFi, can downlaod films etc - now will these cost me money - we were going to have it in the games room rather than his bedroom and I don;t want him up there downloaded inappropriate stuff or racking up hundreds of pounds worth of debt (which I see some mns dcs have).

Thats it really - what do I do to make sure he using it appropriately - what can I switch off or not do so he not costing me a fortune and any other info a game console novice needs to know (we have only ever had a Wii and I can;t really use that very well - kids have to take over).

Many tas.

MC

ARe you all off playing on your Xboxes??

My DSs have never, to my knowledge, downloaded stuff like inappropriate films but I do have myself set up as the parent account so this may prevent such dastardly activities. I think mine can only buy stuff with Microsoft Points which you have to buy separately so they can't run up huge debts unless they have access to your cards/paypal etc.

I would imagine that downloading films/watching Sky would cost but I don't know.

You need, I believe, membership to XBox Live to play with friends.

It is irritating to have several teen boys in your house by virtual means as you can hear their incomprehensible conversations.

Thanks Zombie - we are just so dumb when it comes to stuff like this.

None of DS s friends have one fo these consoles so not sure if he will be able to play with other people - although with bloody facetime we have had our fair share of flair ups when DD is walking aorund the house with her friends seeing everything we are doing or have!

I think the box thing comes with points so I won't link it to any cards or anything like that. Ds is only 8 and not sure he would know how to figure out how to download things - mind you he has done it on my phone before so I suppose I will have to be extra vigilant.

I presume that fact that it has Wifi means he will be able to watch iplayer and sky and all that - I know I can log into sky on laptop and watch it on there - parental controls will have to be sorted too!

So much to think about - this is going to be one instruction manual I do read!

Do not be embarrassed - I have absolutely NO idea. Given the number of times they have to a) ask me for microsoft points and b) ask me to put in my parent account password I think everything is safe :o

The Wi Fi makes it work like any other wireless device - uses your home wireless broadband to access the internet.

DS1 had been begging for an XBox for aaaages and I informed him that he would not be getting one and that I couldn't afford it. His father bought DS1 one to use at his house so I caved in, cashed in 10 years worth of Nectar points and got one from Amazon. Whilst still telling DS1 there was no way on earth I would by him one. The look on his face when he opened it on his birthday was priceless :)

DSs are away til this afternoon so I can't ask them about Sky/iPlayer etc. My interaction with the console has been limited to entering my parent password so I know nothing!

thanks love, what are the points about and how expensive are they and what is the deal with the live membership - may as well be telling me we get a free goldfish!

I bet your DS was just so impressed when he was surprised!

Points mean you can buy games/add ons on line via the XBox. You can get them from Amazon, Game, Play... those sorts of places. I tend to use Game as they are cheap and you can buy them as an instant download rather than having a card posted to you. Looking at Game:
240 points are £1.99
400 points are £3.50
1200 points are £9.99

There are other amounts of points too and I have no idea what this buys you on the console!

Live membership I am less sure on. I know you need it to play online and DSs both have Gold membership but I really don't know what the differences are with gold/silver and what you can do without it. It seems that each player account needs separate membership.

I suspect that, with an 8 year old who has no friends with an XBox, you may be able to avoid both points and membership for a while.

DS has an xbox. I have no idea how it works, but he plays Fifa on it (and a couple of other games) and can use it to watch DVD's. No idea about points or live - he doesn't do this yet! He is 11 going on 12

for him to play online (friends at home, or with other people online) he will need a gold account which costs about £25 per year i think...
you can set up a parent account which will stop him from downloading stuff, but as mentioned you need points to download etc content, so may be worth just being in charge of what points are added - i.e. at birthdays / for good behaviour etc..(i only say this as i am not sure if you can recover the console if you lose the parental password, it would just stay locked down and have limited use).
To access sky you need the full package or a multiroom account ,but you can still get iplayer and catch up channels like 4 and 5.
be aware that there will be lots of vulger language banded around, especially if he is into the more popular games like call of duty / halo etc (shooting games) maybe not so much in football ones, i dont play them.
i would suggest a headset so nobody else has to hear the language from other online players..
the xbox is pitched as an entertainment device - as you have seen it includes sky, and can download films, watch sport etc, so its also handy if you have another tv but dont have multiroom, or anything to watch on it.