Xbox 360 parental timer coming in December?

Xbox 360 addicts, particularly ones under the age of 18 (or still camping out in your 'rents crib), take note: a "Family Timer" could be wrecking your habitual play as early as next month. The above image was reportedly spotted in the pamphlet of a Guitar Hero III keychain (we know...), and it touts the timer's ability to easily limit how much time kids spend on the console. If this proves legitimate, the new functionality will be available via Xbox Live next month, and there's even an option to "suspend or add time" depending on how those report cards turn out. Parents, we know how much flak you'll be getting should you activate this "feature" right around the holidays, but hey, just tell those immature youngsters of yours that you're simply following in the footsteps of Bill Gates himself.

[Via Joystiq]

[narkelo @ Nov 6th 2007 3:26AM]

another reason for your kids to hate you..thank god my parents were never the douche bags that parents are now...=D

[bi0hazard @ Nov 6th 2007 6:35AM]

those parents better be careful. their kids might try to hire a hitman to get them.

[Jeff P. @ Nov 6th 2007 9:39AM]

It's amazing how people that have never parented feel soooo qualified to comment on other parents.

[Jimiisama @ Nov 7th 2007 12:31AM]

Doesn't take much to see terrible parents, Jeff.

[Will @ Nov 7th 2007 10:16PM]

Yeah, I just want to know that some jack@$$ can't come into my house and ock me off of my own 360. I can already hear the collective increase in tech support calls something like this: "Yeah, umm.. My fiend was screwing around with me, and he locked my 360. Any chance you could get rid of that for me."

On the parenting issue: Yeah I think it's a good idea, but really, it should be on the parents to keep up on this. Besides, how long do you think it'll be before someone finds a hardware override for this? Remember when you though you couldn't EVER get past you parents' BIOS passwords? Well what about now?

[Pat O @ Nov 6th 2007 3:46AM]

So, the fall update is coming out in December. Very interesting...

[UniBrow @ Nov 6th 2007 11:06AM]

winter does not start until December 21st, on the solstice. I know, i'm a dork but whatever

[LennyMan @ Nov 6th 2007 3:48AM]

I so need this... even though my step-son has excellent grades and is in one of the top 10 grammar schools in the UK, I still think that spending up to 10 hours a day (of a weekend, obviously) playing Halo 3 cannot be healthy...

I'm not for draconian control of the kids, but being able to set realistic thresholds without have a 'whining argument' about it really appeals to me.

[Jimiisama @ Nov 7th 2007 12:33AM]

The problem with this device isn't the fact that it limits videogames; if you think your child plays too much, by all means you should cut them off. The problem is that it gives parents a way to avoid talking to children; when you use V-chips and timers like these, it seems to send the message that you have no real control over your kids and rely on technology to do your child-raising for you.

[michael @ Nov 6th 2007 3:55AM]

Or..., parents could just simply establish the rules themselves.


Mom : Timmy, do your homework and then you can play on your 360.
Timmy : (in a moan) Okay. Fine. *does homework*

Is it really that hard?

[RC @ Nov 6th 2007 4:47AM]

Unfortunately, this new parental timer makes that no longer possible. Parents will actually be prevented from doing so. Such is the nature of a software timer.

[GrossGreg @ Nov 6th 2007 5:13AM]

michael: way to miss the point here (fortunately, you get bonus points for egotistical self-righteousness).

Here's the scenario: Little Jimmy 10th grader gets home at 3:00 PM, but his parents don't come home until 4:00 PM. The ability to play unwarranted games doesn't kick on until after the parents get home, basically assuring the teen will find something even more illicit/illegal/dangerous to get into during that time.

[michael @ Nov 6th 2007 5:26AM]

@GrossGreg:

I'll be straight up about this. I myself, am a 10th grader. Believe it or not.

Parents should have a good parenting skills. Teenagers themselves should have a brain to know what priorities matter first. It's all about responsibility.

I know that spending hours on an Xbox 360 isn't really effective. I know how to balance time, and when to decide if playing my 360 is appropriate or not. I know the consequences of not doing homework, staring at a TV screen for awhile, not doing housework, not having a life, not doing something more worthwhile, etc.

If a teenager decides to do the unwise choice, he'll pay the consequences, and realize sometime, that you shouldn't spend so much time playing games.

That's all there is. Putting on a parental control will just make kids more rebellious, or you get a ton of complaints.

So generally, I think most people can do without a parental control (on a game console). The parental control doesn't seem to do anything about content ratings though either.

[Garst @ Nov 6th 2007 6:13AM]

@GrossGreg

I think you missed read the article. It sounds that the new parental controls let you set a time length that your kids can play, not set a time period that they can play.

[Sakura3210 @ Nov 6th 2007 9:58AM]

@michael
While it's nice to hear that you're mature teenager, you do have to realize that not everyone's like you. I have a brother and cousins that could care less about their grades and would spend all their time playing if not for parental limitations. Even THEN they'll figure a way to sneak in some gaming, because as GrossGreg mentioned, the parents can't be on top of them all the time. This timer is an aid for those kinds of families.

[Jeff @ Nov 6th 2007 11:45AM]

@Garst: I think you misread michael's post. The timer allows an innanimate object to govern the child's activities so that the parent doesn't have to be bothered doing so themself. It's ridiculous, and little more than a sign of parents' ever-decreasing lack of interest in raising their children, and increasing expectation that technology should, and can, do it for them.

[DWells55 @ Nov 6th 2007 1:10PM]

There's no reason a parent can't have a say in what their child does. Parents should be able to limit the time their child spends playing video games without an automated machine to do it for them. I grew up with two working parents who still managed to do this. A parent should be able to set rules for their child and have them be followed. Now, I wasn't exactly perfect and sure there were times where I played when I knew I wasn't supposed to but I could get away with it. However, my parents helped me establish some control and organization and ensured that I got important things done.

It's also important to allow some freedom. I was given a margin of choice and figured out the consequences for my actions. I'm not suggesting people let their kids roam completely free, but I'm not saying that they should have full control over them either. There needs to be some degree of mutual understanding between the parent and the child.

I really don't understand whey there's so many problems with parenting. I wasn't perfect, my parents weren't super-parents, and yeah, there was normal arguing and fighting at times (such is part of growing up). But ultimately I think I turned out pretty well so far and I'm only 17 and a freshman in college. Having real interaction between parents and children is very important in my opinion, and by leaving a machine to do the parenting instead doesn't seem like a good solution to me. If your kid spends too much time playing video games, sit down, talk to him, and establish some rules. However, evaluate if it's harming him, if he understands what he's doing, and if he's still able to do what's necessary.

[DickHardknocks @ Nov 6th 2007 7:19AM]

considering how much electricity the 360 draws - we all should be using one of these.

it draws out 160 Watts compared to the 74 needed by the original XBox and the 50 by PS2. The console was found to need more power than most living room electronics including the JVC RX-D702 A/V receiver, the Denon DVD-3910 DVD player, and a DirecTV HD TiVo. The only living room device that needs more power is a big screen HD TV which you, most probably, would be using with the console.

[mike @ Nov 6th 2007 8:19AM]

My kids are reasonably well disciplined about "screen time" use, but the fact that this could help end arguments over how much time they've actually been playing is enough to make me ditch our wii and ps3 for an xbox.

[Chris.L @ Nov 6th 2007 3:42PM]

thankfully, my dad doesn't even know how to turn a 360 on, let alone figure out how to make good of this feature :P

[sitheris @ Nov 6th 2007 9:53AM]

I believe this will also be good for older players to set limits for themselves. I am 25, but I know that sometimes I can totally lose track of time while playing a game, and forget to do real life things.

[paul.davis @ Nov 6th 2007 10:19AM]

Thank god.. all of you 8 year old babies go to bed at a decent hour now... this may prevent ya'll from turning stupid from pixels. BUT if the kids aren't playing xbox 360, I wonder what other crimes may start to go up since they are bored.

Hey parents..if you kid gets rebellious.. throw it into the dish washer for a rinse and then beat the F@#$ out of them with a switch. Rebellious kids are kids that need their @$$es tanned. Take their cellpnone away to while you are at it.

[chris @ Nov 6th 2007 10:55AM]

@Garst
Read the picture:
"Manage time in daily or weekly increments. Easy for parents to suspend or add time."
That seems to infer time/date-based time limits, as well as regular "give the kid an hour to play right now" time limit.

[Raf @ Nov 6th 2007 11:54AM]

This timer is merely a tool to help parents. It is not a substitute for good parenting. Sometimes parents need a little help.

//sarcasm
For example, when my parents spanked me they preferred to use belt, instead of their hands. Belts are tools.

[Brian @ Nov 6th 2007 12:11PM]

simple way for kids to escape this is to set the parental controls themselves so they decide the password before their p's get the chance

[Garst @ Nov 7th 2007 4:49AM]

@Jeff

The timer really doesn't govern anything. The timer would act more like an allowance, allowing a kid to play for so long. But once the time is up, the kid can't play anymore. The timer stated in the article does not have anything to do with when the kid uses that time. This timer, in fact, is probably meant exactly for the scenario that GrossGreg: "When I'm not home, you can play your game. But I'm only going to let you play your game for an hour and a half each day."

After all, there are many things worse that a kid could do when its parents aren't home. As far as parents' interest in there kid, it's not so much that it has decrease over time, there's just more a parent has to protect their kids from now. When most of us were kids, there was no internet to surf. Even if your actually young enough that cable has been around your entire life, there weren't too many show that really interested you, except for maybe on Saturdays.

[Mark @ Nov 6th 2007 1:56PM]

This is really only useful for the 'techie' type of parents.

But for the parents who rely on the kids to set the timer on the VCR, or to rely on them for anything involving technology, this will not be effective at all.

[LC @ Nov 6th 2007 2:56PM]

"simple way for kids to escape this is to set the parental controls themselves so they decide the password before their p's get the chance"

Simple way for the parents to counter the kids, once they find out kids set the controls themselves, is to drop the Xbox from a second story window on a concrete patio.

Seriously folks, I don't see anything wrong with parents having this feature on the Xbox. At least it is the parent making the decision on their own child and not some government bureaucrat putting a governor on everyones system.

Parents can't be around their kids all the time and those who say "tell the kid to stop playing and being a good parent will work" are naive at best. I have some friends who are excellent parents that have 3 kids. Two are model kids, while one never listens to a thing they say. Now their parenting skills were not any different for this one kid. Parents can't hover over their kids 24/7, so while they are making dinner or helping one of their other kids do their homework, they can't always trust the other kid to do his homework and hope he isn't on the Xbox. I'm sure if the kid had a choice of having no Xbox 360 or having one with a timer on it, he will choose the latter.

[AL @ Nov 6th 2007 4:39PM]

Guys - don't let your wife/girlfriend find out about this.

[Jimiisama @ Nov 7th 2007 12:36AM]

The problem with this device isn't the fact that it limits videogames; if you think your child plays too much, by all means you should cut them off. The problem is that it gives parents a way to avoid talking to children; when you use V-chips and timers like these, it seems to send the message that you have no real control over your kids and rely on technology to do your child-raising for you.

[Jetsley @ Dec 4th 2007 4:30PM]

heyyyyy gamers. don't get me wrong, i'm all about Halo3, Guitar Hero III, and Fifa '08, but i think this parental control feature is fucking great. my 2 little brothers have given eachother black eyes fighting over xbox live and they've lost all respect for our parents. the older of the two has actually yelled at my dad to "get the hell out of here." that's a little to gnarly. i say FUCK little tykes and all HAIL the parents who demand respect and discipline in their homes.