Rumor: Xbox 360 parental timer coming in December

by Kyle Orland on Nov 5th 2007 10:22AM

The Xbox 360's parental controls could be getting a boost next month with a "parental timer" feature that would let parents limit the amount of time children can play. The information comes from a TeamXbox forum poster who says he found the feature listed on a pamphlet included with a Guitar Hero III keychain, of all things. Not exactly iron-clad sourcing, but given that Microsoft's Vista operating system already has a similar feature, it doesn't seem too far-fetched. Still, consider it a rumor until we can confirm this for ourselves.

[Via XboxToday]

Source

Tags: controls, microsoft, parental, rumor, timer, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (69)

I am so gonna limit all my friends to an hour a day.

LOL

Seems like a handy tool for a parent to me. Using that plus the ability to set limits on the rating of games being played is exactly what parents should be doing. If more parents did their "job" correctly maybe games wouldn't be getting blamed for all the violence these days.

Tell you what Vidikron,

Give the parents back their freakin rights, and you can bet your ass we'll be happy to keep the kids in line. This isn't "always" the parents fault, as the state takes our rights away yet on the other hand wants to hold us accountable for all the little cretins actions. You can't have it both ways.

As for video games getting blamed these days, that is because we are a society of "it's not my fault, it's somebody elses"...and that somebody else is usually somebody that has a better ability to pay a fine from litigation then the actual culprit.

Ummm, OK. Not sure where you said anything that contradicts me. I never said it was "always" the parents fault. I just think that something like this that can help take the heat off games is a good thing. The more stuff like this that is in place the less excuses parents and lawmakers have. As you mentioned, people are alwayslooking to blame someone else and this is yet another tool that prevents that.

I'm just curious Devil's Advocate, but what rights have been taken away exactly that are impeding parents' ability to discipline?

Good luck spanking your kid in california.

don't tell your kids about the laws. I was spanked a few times when i was being a little shit, and I never bothered telling anyone else. Jesus christ, it's not gonna kill you

Problem is if you have to hit a child for them to listen you are probably to far gone already. If we were to hit anybody and, everybody who did something that was rude or disrespect we would be arrested for assault.

If the only way you can discipline your child is with force, then look froward to when that power can't be enforced that child just not listening to you.

You don't spank your child to get them to listen to you, you spank them so that they realize there are consequences for their actions. Actions like deliberate disobedience. And the experience has to be unpleasant enough for it to stick in their minds. And after the spanking, a good parent will tell their children that they love them, give them a hug, and dry their tears. Because a good parent doesn't spank to inflict pain, they do it out of love.

Being spanked for not coming when you're called is alot better than being hit by a car because you didn't listen to mommy when she said "Come out of the street!"

Jonny~

Corporal punishment. I would have been a waste of flesh as a kid had I not been concerend about the consequences from my father for doing something I knew was wrong.

Cronos has it exactly correct, and Zsavior is a perfect example of the PC problems we parents have raising our children.

yea man, i'm freakin indian and i got hella bad spankings, but i'm way more disciplined than my white friends,

i believe in it, but i don't believe a parent should do it just to inflict pain

I might engage this to keep my own procrastinating self off the Call of Duties!

They'd better be adding some sort of save state functionality to that as well or we're gonna have a lot of lost progress.

I hope they do. Because when my mom finds out about it shes going to install it. And I'd be really pissed if I was in the middle of something then it just shuts down and I couldn't save. :(

It will likely warn you several times before shutting you down. That's what the parental controls do in Vista.

Like "You will be signed out in 20 minutes"... "10 minutes" ... "5 minutes"... "1 minute"... etc.

Won't help with games like LEGO Star Wars which don't save until the level ends. Some of those levels can take over an hour if you're looking for Minikits and all the studs.

Well then it's your own dumb fault for playing a game you know will take you longer than you're allowed to play.

Kids are supposed to be psychic and know exactly where the next save point is? Exactly how long this next level will take them? You wouldn't pick up a controller out of fucking terror.

Maybe that's the point.

If you're at the point where your parents feel the need to enforce limits on your gaming time like this, then maybe you DO need to be a little more wary of picking up that controller.

I think it's story time.

Many years ago I was playing Robowarrior on my NES as I'd been doing for weeks, I couldn't get past the 3rd level with the damn flashlight thing.

Right on my bedtime, I actually beat the wretched level, first time I'd done it. My mother knew how long that level had been taunting me and let me play on until I ran out of lives.

I didn't run out of lives, I beat the whole god damn game that night, it was about 11pm when I finally made it to bed. To this day it stands as one of the only memories of my childhood not filled with terror and/or tears.

See what happened there? God damn proper parenting, that's what, she knew what was going on with me.

Giving parents an endless stream of shitty crutches only serves to further dumb them down. God forbid they take interest in their own children.

Could it be that thats the point.

Hey, look, I'm with you on that. But you probably respected your bedtime most of the time, so your parents gave you the pass. That's good parenting.

But if you have kids who continually refuse to respect any gaming limits set on them (like that guy who punched his mom and the cop because she stopped him from playing Halo 3), then this parental timer will be a very useful tool.

Whether it's a crutch or not depends on how the parents use it.

parents that can't get their kid to respect bedtime should take away the console they gave. They giveth, they can taketh...

Bub, a timer isn't going to do shit with little psychopaths that beat up their parents, they'll beat their parents for setting a timer in the first place.

And yes, I'm sure MS is looking to annihilate civilization by continually dumbing down parenting, letting their children grow into the uncivilized, drug addicted rabble we have roaming the streets now.

MS like just about everyone else in a position of power only thinks 5 minutes ahead and fucks everything in the process. Actions have consequences, think!

I fail to see how this is a "crutch". Making use of a tool like this IS parenting. You can make use of something like this and still take an interest in your child. Do you really expect parents to sit around and watch the kids every minute they play?

No I expect them to have a rough idea what time it is and what time their children are meant to go to bed.

Heaven forbid they have to talk to their children without some form of automation.

This is a tool just like any other; a tool to help parents be better parents. Are you saying parents should refuse to use any of the tools available to them when they feel it's necessary?

Good parents will evaluate how best to use this tool to make their kids better people. Maybe they won't use it at all.

@Savok

But whose to say this has anything to do with bedtime? What if a parent wants to set a 1.5 hour daily limit on game time? A tool like this this would allow them to set the limit and then the kid(s) can use the time when they want, but once it's gone it's gone and they'll have to do something else. I have yet to see even a remotely good argument against this.

A "tool" to further disconnect a parent from their child is something we really don't need, UD.

If it's not bedtime and there's no chores or homework to do, nor is the TV or computer required, I say let the kid play however long he wants.

Why? Because if you start pissing your kid off for no reason they'll start plotting against you and you're fucked then, because as others have said in this thread you can't discipline your kids anymore without social services on your doorstep.

Then they grow up to vandalize telephone lines annoying everyone around them (yes that's specific, I've seen it happen is why).

I see this as a good thing. Kids today are fat, and should get off their butts and do something else for a while.

Like talk on internets!

haha, agreed my man.

You've obviously never seen a child before.

Sorry, kids aren't allowed outside because of the pedophiles, rapists, kidnappers and other assorted criminals we're told daily to be utterly terrified of.

Savok wins this one.

Don't forget the communists.

Hahaha Savok gets a + for that. Good game!

Maybe we could let them play outside if we give them guns so they can protect themselves.

Some kids are fat because they ARE working their ass off... but in an academic way.

Actually, intensive intellectual thinking (like doing your math homework) burns more calories in the same amount of time than working out on a treadmill.

They should take it one step further and give the console the ability to bring varying levels of pain down on the kid, from a mild shock to putting their head through a wall. Call it Terry Tate Mode.

*CRASH* "WOO! YOUR LANGUAGE IS ENTIRELY INAPPROPRIATE, BILLY! AND STOP SCREAMING INTO YOUR HEADSET, BITCH!"

Giving the state of parenting in America, I predict that this feature will be used by 1% of the population.

And for that 1%, the feature will probably be turned on accidentally when the dad/mom tries to connect the console to their kids 15-year-old, 13-inch TV in his/her room.

I fully expected this after that moron punched his parents and those cops.

This way the parents can brace themselves, doesn't hurt as much if you know it's coming and call the cops already. Or just run away.

I wish there was more information about the update.... I guess I shouldn't whine though, if this was Nintendo they'd put something far less useful in and that would be it.

These features are great as pranks on people who never set them up.

Most people, for instance, never turn on the Content Blocker for Internet Explorer. So when they're not there, set a password, choose the most restrictive setting, and laugh!

Xbox360 to Wii:

hahahah!!! We're more family friendly than yous!!!!

Iwata to engineers: I want parental controls to stop the Wii after hours.
E's: That's too hard! And we'd have to create a save state for all games to work with while the console is off!
Iwata: Well how about a log detailing the play hours?

Doesn't the Wii have parental controls? It's brought up every time an update downloads.

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 50 Comments

Sorry, you must be logged in to leave a comment.

Breaking News

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days

Vita 'UMD Passport' won't be offered in US 218 comments
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning review: A tempting fate 152 comments
David Jaffe leaves Eat Sleep Play, layoffs hit developer [Update] 107 comments
Don't call it a remake: Final Fantasy X is a 'remaster,' to be clear 95 comments
Battleship movie adapted into FPS by Double Helix 93 comments

Rumor: Xbox 360 parental timer coming in December

Reader Comments (69)

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:27AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:48AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:29AM Vidikron said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:38AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:46AM Vidikron said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:49AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:33AM Crono141 said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:52AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 12:58PM zsavior said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 1:04PM Crono141 said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 1:26PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 7:42PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:30AM hey buddy said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:36AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:40AM LAZoftheTamarinds said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:09AM UnnDunn said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:13AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:19AM UnnDunn said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:25AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:33AM UnnDunn said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:35AM UnnDunn said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:35AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:36AM Crono141 said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:41AM UnnDunn said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:57AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 12:21PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 12:34PM Vidikron said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 12:39PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 12:54PM UnnDunn said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 1:07PM Vidikron said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 9:12PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:38AM CountNoobula said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:45AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:54AM eJ24 said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:14AM Demon G Sides said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:16AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:38AM Crono141 said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 11:58AM Geist said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 12:01PM Zertoss said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 12:02PM ThornedVenom said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 1:08PM Crono141 said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:41AM Zertoss said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:41AM Funnydale said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:43AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:55AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:45AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:56AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 10:56AM Vegeta has a ps3 said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 12:03PM hvnlysoldr said

Posted: Nov 5th 2007 12:03PM Geist said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

Double Fine Kickstarter passes $1 million in under 24 hours, breaking yet another record

Featured Stories

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier brings information warfare to the front

Rhythm Heaven Fever review: Crazy into you

Remedy not done with Alan Wake

The most popular postsin the last 7 days

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days