Young Xbox 360 players, your time is up
Just in time of the holidays, Microsoft is releasing a parental tool for its Xbox 360 console that allows parents to set time limits for their children’s Xbox use.
The Xbox 360 Family Timer, available for download next month, will allow parents to set daily or weekly limits on how much their children can play on the console. When the players approach the limit, they get a warning. When they hit the limit, the console shuts off.
It’s not that precise at this point. It affects anyone who plays the console that doesn’t log in with the parental control password. So it’s not so good at differentiating when your 12-year-old and your 17-year-old are playing. Microsoft reps say that’s to ensure that the young ones don’t set up new profiles to defeat the controls. The controls also don’t allow parents to set a window of time for their kids to play during. This is just a straight timer.
The new timer is the latest tool for parents of Xbox 360 users, joining other family setting tools through Xbox Live that limit what kind of games kids can play and who they can interact with online.
Microsoft also joined with the Parent Teacher Association to announce an initiative called PACT, a family contract that outlines appropriate video game usage in families. San Francisco 49er legend was on hand at the announcement in Washington D.C. to help tout the benefits of family controls.
“I’m a Super Bowl champion… but my most important accomplishment in life is being a father,” Rice said. “I try to teach my kids that no matter what they do, they have to find a balance between work and fun. That’s why it’s so rewarding to join Microsoft and the PTA today to promote a healthy balance for our kids in this exciting digital age.”
Pretty sure this won’t be cheered by the kid set. But maybe this will get them to limit their Halo 3 matches and get to that history paper they’ve been avoiding.
Comments(32)
This is something very advantageous to the geek with an annoying brother or sister that you would like to impose time restrictions upon.
yea true but that sucks if parents find out about this and like basically limit the use of kids with their 360’s
Why is it classified under movies?
Where are the movie releases??? it’s the weekend!!!! why are you giving us this old new that we have all read in a million other places days ago???
come on guys!
I hope to hear less squeaky teenage americans on xbox live in the future.
poor little bastards, the world is just against u XD
http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=22434
This is why Microsoft had to do something…ridiculous kids with no punishments or barriers if you will.
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You kids are really getting the shaft. Shame on microsoft for setting up a divide between young gamers and their (probably) most cherished possession.
stupid stupid stupid
or maybe parents can pay attention to their kids and make them stop playing themselves instead of a timer.
As a parent, I do closely monitor the time my kids spend on a console playing games. Admittedly it got to a point where they were coming home from school and the first thing they would do is turn on the ps2. Once I stepped in announced it would only be on during weekends, they were kinda lost at first, but now they are doing things like going outside and developing some form of social skills, at least.
When they do play it, it’s for 1-2 hours tops. When I say time to turn it off, it goes off and if it doesn’t then they know I’ll pull the plug out regardless of whether they have saved or not.
I have good kids.
I think that with all those things we’ve seen or heard about deaths from hunger in front of the screen to suicides and rampage 17 year olds entering their schools with shotguns because they were playing GTA ? shiiiiiit i have even read an article about a 13 year old dressed Scorpion who made a fatality to his 14 year old friend Sub zero by throwing him from a rooftop and to the police the little man said that it was the game ? I reeealy hate to say that but thumbs up Microsoft.:)
how will having a timer on a 360 stop some little dumbass from throwing his dumb little buddy off a roof? or stop some mentally disturbed individual from going on a rampage or stop someone from starving to death in front of his screen?(which was a PC BTW…so the 360 timer is moot at this point)
This is uncalled for and is more than likely for publicity.
Leave it up to ignorance and bad parenting and something like this is developed. If you can’t be bothered to set your own limits and your kids turn out to be psychotic little assho|es, you should be shot. End of story.
Now half of the commenters here at rlslog wont be able to play for long hours..hehe …Which means more stupid comments on rlslog..
bewbs: lol given the quality and grammar or many comments I’d believe it.
Damn, how come they can’t have some homebrew for the PSP, DS, or the computer with the same abilities, I waste so much time using each.
I agree with this move by MS. If they kid is in school and has class tomorrow and still playing playing some lame console game at 3am and has to catch the bus at 5am that could be a problem. I agree with this totally. Their will be some pissed off kids but its for there own good in the long run.
hey DEsi bhool bhulaiya DVDrip has arrived ……….post it will y a:)
Kids, XBOX sucks. Stick with PC games.
talk about improving pubilc relations to improve sales. lol
When parent-child relationships have to fall on third party tools such as this for any kind of agreement or solution you know the situation is pretty messed up.
Morrissey420 .14. dude it wont stop anything it might in some occasions but the thing is its a good way to start controling extreme incidents in video game industry especially because its from a major corporation and in a more commercial way of speaking the company is protecting itself from dumbass parents not kids who are going to sue the company because they let their kid roast in front of the screen for two days!!! .
Parents who need a public execution!!! not an Xbox sad but true:(
The parents that will bother with this (or have the expertise to touch their kid’s XboX) already managed to control the time their kids had with the console. Is as easy as pulling the power cable…
I thought the “ring of death” was part of the parental control
shane they did not bring this out b4 that kid punched his mum in the face an landed 1 on that coper
opps [Edite] shame ^^^^ not shane
Boooo Hooooo! perhaps microsoft could bring one out to stop Dad spending so much time on the P C
Heh, if Microsoft limits PC time, it’s time to go full on Linux.
Just don’t connect to the net & you will be alright ;D
gud work by MS hope PS3 does the same
buit they should make it more tighter, with more controll for the parents!
kids just dont know the limit, and when its enough!!!