It’s my lad’s 9th bday soon and I’m biting the built and getting him an xbox.

I’ve searched the various thread on here, and elsewhere, and for about £180 I can get a pre-used Xbox one S 1TB from CEX with a 2 year guarantee. It will come with all the leads and a controller.

What else will he need please gents ?

Couple of games… Lego, fifa, Minecraft and a driving game (Forza 4 horizons ? )… Madden/tomb raider for me

We’ll need another controller, should I get one of these Docking station

Going to see what kind of monster it turns him into before letting him play online. But when he does go online, what else will we need?

And lastly and probably most importantly… Your general tips keeping my lovely lad just that, and not a wild eyed, agro , Xbox nutcase !!

thanks

An Xbox live subscription and a headset.

Set up the parental controls properly.

An adult account for you and a kids account that you control for him. This allows you to monitor and control his screen time / spending  etc.

They’re a pain in the hoop to understand and setup but it’s worth it.

I’ve got that venom charger and its been fine – approx 2 years old so far. saves a load of money on batteries. a charge easily lasts a full day of gaming.

Take the time to set up accounts properly on day one – most of my kids’ friends parents haven’t been arsed to do this and it will just cause problems.

Your kid can only speak to people he has marked as friends over a headset on his account – problem is that his friends list can start to include friends of friends of friends etc so you need to have a look occasionally.

He might surprise you, in any case – something wrong with my lad as he only likes playing the xbox for 30 mins a day. Got bored of fortnite a couple of seasons back.

Are second controllers worth having nowadays? Not sure any/many games have multiplayer split-screen modes anymore as it’s online.

Sports games need 2 controllers ie FIFA if you want to play at home with a mate.

£180 sounds very steep, new bundles are only just over £200.

WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING.

And if you set up tha accounts wrong you could be in for a nasty surprise to the tune of 3k!
(Apologies for the sun link)

Christmas cancelled

GFJ …. more than happy for you to show me where ?

Defo two controllers … hope to be playing him at some point 🙂

Thanks for the setting up tips, I had planned to do that in the week before his big day, so that its ready to go.

Don’t ever, ever, use a credit card to verify that you are an adult.

There is another way using email. Do that

Otherwise you are giving Microsoft access to your card; even when it is out of date.

We’ll need another controller, should I get one of these Docking station

Point of note, that’s not a controller, just a charging station.

You definitely don’t want to use disposable AAs. The charging station is a neat idea, personally I just use regular rechargeable AAs. I had poor experiences with the X360’s “play and charge” kits, but I might just have been unlucky.

As others have said, Put all the registration, online stuff etc on YOUR Microsoft account, then create a child account for your lad. It’s a bit convoluted but there’s guides on xbox.com.

Forza Horizon is ace. With FH4 being out you might be able to pick up FH3 for buttons.

As a rule of thumb, unless it’s on offer buying things through the console is usually the most expensive way of doing it (you pay for convenience).

As well as online play, a Gold sub will net you a free Xbox One game and a free Xbox 360 game every two weeks.

Otherwise you are giving Microsoft access to your card; even when it is out of date.

What on Earth is Microsoft going to do with an out-of-date credit card?

Because even if the card has expired, Microsoft can still take money from you. Until the end of time.

Due to a wheeze called ‘continuous payment authority’ they can keep billing you forever.

Which they have no reason to do since any subscription can be cancelled at any time.

Anyway, I use regular rechargeable Lidl special AAs, get a couple of days out them with a headset or longer without.

Gold actually gives you two free games a month plus a 360 game but not all are going to be age appropriate. Gold Ultimate tacks on the Game pass service which is a Netflix type arrangement, horizons 3 and 4 are both on there as well as a number of AAA titles. Beauty of setting the Xbox as a home account is you can take all the subs and keep them under control then give him access to what you want on a case by case basis. For example there is a world of difference between Borderlands and GTA V but they have the same rating (not suggesting he would be playing either mind).

Finally that deal is utter pants, Amazon are doing a brand new 1tb with controller, Sea of Thieves, Minecraft and Horizons 3 for £194.

https://www.console-deals.com/xboxone/

I don’t have any cards set up on my lads xbox after Microsoft tried to renew something automatically. If he gets money to spend online I purchase a gift card from cdkeys on my phone using paypal then text him the code to enter into his xbox. Its normally a few pence cheaper and you get an instant code download.

If they renewed something automatically you must have selected it as an option.

Sking… That there deal is for an All digital version…. Am l being behind the times to want a disc version so l can get cheap pre owned games out of CEX?

I purchase a gift card from cdkeys

I forgot to mention that. CDKeys or Electronic First for Gold subs (unless there’s an offer on). They’re both good and legit, I’ve used them for years.

Am l being behind the times to want a disc version so l can get cheap pre owned games out of CEX?

Probably. Have a look at the “we buy” prices, you’ll probably only get a couple of quid by the time you come to want to sell it on.

Huh I forgot that was a thing! Not only cheap second hand but physical copies as well. Still ones with drives out there, have a look through the site, I’m pretty sure you can filter by type.

Less than £40 more with a second controller and John Lewis legendary cover.

https://www.johnlewis.com/microsoft-xbox-one-s-console-1tb-with-x2-wireless-controllers-bundle/p3781291?s_afcid=af_88269&tmad=c&awc=1203_1568740704_37a932ee55ddecb4bda1c2d536cfd40a&tmcampid=48

Yeah cheers Drac…. I had seen that earlier, when l had another search, think l may well go for that one

Not so worried about selling games on, lve just found it good going in CEX on a wet Saturday morning and buying a new Wii game on occasion…. But l guess with the live/gold you have them all online anyway

Cheers all

I’ve had a look and there does seem to be a lack of any good deals at the moment. Refurb One Ss were £113 last week on eBay but nothing like that at the moment.

Set it up in the living room and buy yourself dark souls remastered 😀

I’d recommend the venom docking/charger station others have, it’s great…saves a fortune in batteries and is neater than using regular rechargables.

The free games from gold can be good but are mostly garbage imo but then I’m a fussy gamer, there’s usually a thread on HUKD about latest xbox store deals though so worth watching out for (also for deals on the console).

I’ll second and third the Forza Horizons 4 comments, great game

Other than that, avoid roblox without proper parental controls as apparently there’s an undesirable older element to that community

Are second controllers worth having nowadays? Not sure any/many games have multiplayer split-screen modes anymore as it’s online.

Splitscreen games are a dying breed but they are still about.

Borderlands 3 is the latest co op split screen beast and its great.

my boys have destroyed about 5 controllers so make sure you take out the no quibble insurance on them. The headset port breaks really easily.

The mistake you’re making there is replacing them when they break. The headset port doesn’t break “really easily” at all unless you’re a gibbon with no sense of the value of stuff and routinely wang the controller across the room.

I wouldn’t worry too much about him turning into a monster as it sounds like you’re the kind of dad who understands the appeal of video games and is putting some thought into it. It’s great listening to my 11 yo lad laughing along with his mates on-line, planning their next Apex Legends ambush, but as soon as his hour’s up he turns it off without quibble as he knows that’s the rule. I think a lot of parents’ worries about video games stems from lack of understanding and thinking their child will turn into a shut in or that cartoon violence will turn them into a psychopath.
Oh, and get yourself into Halo/Doom/Far Cry, if you haven’t played for a while, prepare to be amazed.

I think a lot of parents’ worries about video games stems from lack of understanding

“Your hour’s socialising with friends is up, back to sitting quietly on your own again.”

I think a lot of it stems from a belief that modern gaming is antisocial. It’s the opposite. For me as an adult it’s sometimes the only chance I get to catch up with mates who no longer live round the corner.

I appreciate that with kids it’s different and any hobby / interest that becomes all-encompassing is problematic, but demonising video games simply because they’re video games is short-sighted IMHO. Would we be exercising the same restrictions if they were football mad, dragging them back in the house after they’d been kicking a ball about for an hour? Or allocating strict “Lego time”?

I think a lot of parents’ worries about video games stems from lack of understanding

Or, perhaps a lot of parents worries stem from a wealth of experience that 9 year olds quite often lack the ability to self regulate and  also lack the self awareness to see that playing Fortnite for 10 hours straight has them  a little wired.

I’m all for video games and love the social aspect it  brings to my boys but, if I didn’t moderate it , police it and restrict it  to a degree it would be harming them.

I’ve seen it with my own eyes, in my own house, with my own children.

Would we be exercising the same restrictions if they were football mad, dragging them back in the house after they’d been kicking a ball about for an hour? Or allocating strict “Lego time”?

I stop him playing after an hour because he’s got homework to do, he has to lay the table for dinner then we like talking to him during and after eating.

Sure. As I said, “any hobby / interest that becomes all-encompassing is problematic”, if it’s all they do to the exclusion of anything else then of course that needs moderating, I wasn’t suggesting otherwise. A good friend of mine has had to put similar controls in place for his middle daughter – only that wasn’t for video games, it was for books.

The point I was getting at was video games aren’t inherently evil and gaming isn’t necessarily antisocial. Society has always liked having something to demonise. It can be a problem, sure, but so can almost anything.

Or, perhaps a lot of parents worries stem from a wealth of experience that 9 year olds quite often lack the ability to self regulate and also lack the self awareness to see that playing Fortnite for 10 hours straight has them a little wired.

Quite, but I suggest that if a parent’s concern stems from the effects they have witnessed after letting their child play for 10 hours then it isn’t the game content, as I attempted to imply, that is the problem.

I don’t like the new way of doing quotes.

I don’t like the new way of doing quotes.

Pilot error suspected.

Definitely set up the Adult then child accounts before doing anything. It gives log in time lenght reports, searches, blocked websites etc, it is very good and easy enough once you’ve put the info in.
You can also turn off the Xbox from the mobile app 🙂

Great discussion gents … I’d hoped for such.

He’s a really good lad, super sporty, does at least one kind of club a day, likes doing his homework (once we start it) and has really gone about asking for the Xbox in the right manner. He has made it known without going on about it, in fact he probably started asking for one about this time last year and hasn’t in anyway got upset that it hasn’t happened yet.

Anyway …. I pick up a new box with two controllers later on, while this morning I bought Rocket League and two Lego games, Starwars and Avengers, (FIFA 20 comes out couple of days after his Bday next week, so he can use bday money to buy that for himself)

Plan on setting it up tomorrow morning, I’ve got until midday before I need to leave for work. With a bit of luck, I’ll get a quick go on tomb raider, which I also bought this morning 🙂

Plan on setting it up tomorrow morning, I’ve got until midday before I need to leave for work.

Best get up early then.

It takes bloody hours (sometimes days in late December) for all the updates and installs before you can start playing.

Yeah – if you’ve got disc-based games I’d cycle through loading each one in turn. They’ll probably require updates and some can be large.

(Also – Tomb Raider is ace, good choice.)

(FIFA 20 comes out couple of days after his Bday next week, so he can use bday money to buy that for himself)

I don’t play Fifa but I have noticed that the new game will cost about £50, whilst FIFA 18 or suchlike can be bought for far far less. If he’s playing offline that might be worth considering.

If he wants to play FIFA just as a game get an old version e.g. FIFA18. If he’s obsessed with football and knows the players, kits etc you should get current/new. My lad said he wanted the EA basketball game but as he doesn’t know the difference between Steph Curry and a chicken korma he might as well get the 2015 version.