Kids? I'm gonna use this on myself!

Where are these rumours?

Good idea, but I have one small little problem with this: Most parents won't even know about it, and those that do will most likely not know how to use the function, making it meaningless.

This is genius. Absolute genius. I can limit my Bioshock time now.
Fucking splicers.

Problem becomes how saving the game works. Some games do not allow for manual saves, so what happens on the timer kicks in and I have not yet made it to the next checkpoint/save point?

You are right its a great idea, I just hope the other two console follow.

@Spidermonkey:

Welcome to the V-Chip 2.0.

@Marasai: They are Kotaku sources. As was the Playstation 3 Home story, the Xbox 360 details story and the PSP Lite story. We do, do reporting you know.
;)

Getting kicked out at an inopportune time is going to be frustrating. Hopefully there is some kind of 30 minute, 15 minute, 10 minute, and 5-1 minute reminders so you can plan ahead for something like that.

Apart from that, I can't imagine enough parents knowing about this from Fall Update details alone. It's something that should be advertised to some degree. Obviously I don't expect commercials saying "Hey, timer!", but there should be some way of diverting focus to it.

If all I get out of this update is a parental timer, Im gonna be so pissed.

The only downside I see is that most children know more about the 360 than their parents. I'm sure the people reading are the exceptions, but after waiting in a launch line with completely clueless (but attractive) soccer moms, it was clear who wore the gaming pants in their household.

Pro Tip: Soccer moms drive mini-vans, have 2-3 children, and smell like catalog inserts.

I don't need a timer to tell me I don't have a life.

next you would have to bioscan before you can use the console.

Expect many comments from kids complaining about this feature very soon...

I'm glad I was born in 1980. Mom mother would have used these features against me! =P

@LostToys:

Then it is your fault. The feature will most likely give you periodic warnings that your time is almost up, which would give you ample time to save; whether or not you choose to do so is your own problem.

@crecente:

So do your sources say anything about clan support?

@Crecente: I like your system of earning TV time. Hopefully he can't play Man Hunt :P

Some child-psychologists say that "bribing" or "rewarding" your kids for things they should be doing, sets a bad example. I think that finding out what your kid loves to do, and using that as leverage to make them do the crappy things that will make him better off is smart parenting.

Beware, though. Soon enough your kid will be far more technically savvy than you, and he'll figure out a way to by pass this stuff.

Heck it's MS, so I'm sure there are all kinds of keyloggers you can install on the bloody thing.

Hopefully it makes the system go idle or amply warns because it would suck for the kid to be in the middle of some action or something and lose any progress because they aren't able to get to a save point.

That's a good idea, but what I'd really like is for some voice recognition, so the next time some snot-nosed brat calls his mom a bitch and a liar for not bringing him a drink immediately, the console self-destructs... violently.

Seriously though, very good idea. I can only imagine the tantrums that could occur if the thing auto-shutdowns in the middle of a multiplayer game.

Kids? Blah, I'm using this on myself, once the timer expires, I'm shipping my 360 back to Microsoft, I truly and honestly am not worthy of having such a console in my posesion.

Parental timer is pointless due to the facts parents have no idea there are parental controls on consoles

This would become very usefull for me, as I am lazy and would not bother going in and typing out an absurdly long password just so that I could play a few more hours.

My productivity level during the day would skyrocket. (In theory.)

I was actually hoping for an alarm function, so this is close I suppose. Too many times I end up playing uptil 2 AM - this would help me reduce my "just 5 mins more" attitude. Hopefully some auto-save function will be included.

@RPharazon: "This is genius. Absolute genius. I can limit my Bioshock time now. Fucking splicers."

spider splicer: "I was just getting started!!!" o_0

@SPIDERMONKEY: "Good idea, but I have one small little problem with this: Most parents won't even know about it, and those that do will most likely not know how to use the function, making it meaningless."

Then those parents are stupid idiots. Those are likely the same parents who spend too much time obsessing about getting the latest gadgets and SUVs to show off to their neighbours and then complaining that they must work 60-80 hour weeks just to buy their kids an Xbox360 and why the hell should they have to take several hours just to learn how to use a parental control on it. ¬_¬

@balls187: Yeah, i go back and forth on that. They say the same thing about paying for chores.

Good thing I'm 18 because my parents would use this feature against me like the plague. We better get some good features out of this update besides stopping little kids from playing their 360s too long.

Wait a minute, little kids don't know when too much is too much. This is to stop Junior from playing for 7 hours straight thus causing next boot up to give you the red eye of death due to the motherboard melting on you.

@Spidermonkey:

Without knowing how the system is put into motion, it is premature to say it is "my fault". I am just playing Devil's Advocate.

@JimmyHACK et all: Meh. I know it's fashionable to talk about the clueless parents out there, but I think you're exaggerating the point. There are plenty of parent-gamers out there who have been console gamers for decades and are fully aware of not only their kid's console habits, but of the capabilities of the systems themselves.

I wonder if this will lose game state at some point when triggered. The Xbox 360 is so reliable I expect it will have ZERO problems. =/

eh....this is great i guess for all the knowledgeable 360 parents out there (few and far between) but for the majority i dont think this is such a great thing. as much as a the 360 is trying to be the console for the nintendo audience...its not. most parents buy the 360 for their kids and just leave it at that. they monitor their gaming by only buying certain games, but they could care less about a system update or even know about one to start with. this is in theory a good idea, but i dont think it will get much use from the majority.

me as a responsible parent: "So, little Ash, that new timer on OUR Xbox360 is there for your own good so that you can go to bed at a decent hour.....oh, and by the way, if I find out you've been screwing around with it to bypass the timer I'll slice your little hands off. Mommy agreed to do it herself should it come to that. Have fun playing Viva Pinata!"

little Ash: @_@

This could be good to use on myself. I freelance, and more than once I've had to stay up late working because I lost track of time while gaming. As long as it has a built in reminder, and some leeway for getting to save points.

I remember I somehow convinced my mom that you couldn't just turn the game system off, you had to kill of your character and get to the game over screen first. Maybe that's why she never let another game system in her house after the original NES.

This looks like an extension of what Nintendo did with the Wii.

The Wii has a listing of all the games played each day and for how long. Iwata specifically mentioned that he wanted to allow parents to know how much their children were playing. It's also part of why you can't erase the play-time records.

So Nintendo basically leaves it up to the parents to review and deal with the time spent playing issue, whereas Microsoft allows them to turn off the system. I'd imagine Nintendo's is easier to use though.

how would i go about getting microsoft to fix my account? it says i'm still a child account when i've just turned 18 a month ago, and i would like to use the Live Messenger function

I think the system just powering down when time expires _without_ the opportunity to save etc is the best idea.. It gets kids into saving often! And for those games where the save points are far between, it could even be more of an incentive to pack it in early.. Say for example you just saved your game, and looking at the clock you have 7 minutes left.. Is there enough time to make it to the next save point? Possibly, but maybe not. Why not just pack it in for tonight and come back tomorrow?

Brilliant!

@balls187:

Some child-psychologists say that "bribing" or "rewarding" your kids for things they should be doing, sets a bad example.

It sets them up for the real world, though. I have to do all of the crappy things I don't want to do to 'earn' game time, too.

Work, pay bills, clean (sorta), occasionally hold the baby and talk to her, my spousal obligations, etc., but at the end of all of that, I have 'earned' 15 or 20 minutes of uninterrupted pure gaming bliss.

Just don't be too generous with the rewards and make sure to under-deliver on any promises. Then they'll be prepared for a corporate job.

You might be loving it Crecente, but i'm sure your boy is steamed =P

The GBA Player for the Gamecube did something similar to this.

Its strange that a program like this is going to be made. What happened to good parenting? what happened to.... "10 more minutes Timmy." "Come on mom!" "That was the agreement Timmy....." and if he through a temper tantrum mommy took it away for a week. It's sad that parents don't take the responsibility for what their kids are doing and they wonder why they don't mind. Its called Discipline folks!

@crecente: I don't know how effective this will be, for the simple reason that it requires a parent to be motivated enough to set the timer in the first place. It's really not that complicated to stop your kid from gaming 40 hours a week, you just have to want that. For some parents, a little magic box that entertains their kids for 10 hours a day is a godsend, why the fuck would they want to put a timer on it.

It's like parenting classes, the ones who are willing to go out of their way to sign up for a parenting class usually don't need it. It's the motherfuckers that sit at home letting the 360 babysit for them that need it.

Ah the fun-killer 3000 is on its way

Oh, and child psychologists can kiss my ass. If you work with children and are forced to follow the trends of modern psychology, you'd know why. They pull 180's on their 'science' about once every year and a half.

My mom always limited my gameplaying time to 2 hours. When that 2 hours was up, I had to go do something else for at least 2 hours. We used the egg timer on the microwave. My how high tech things are these days!

But, fat lot of good that did for me. I play games 4-6 hours a day continuously now. o_0

Wait, is this Fall Update a way of suggesting that parents should be keeping an eye on what their children are doing and not wait for the government to step in and do their job for them?

Rational thinking like that could get you into trouble one day, Microsoft.

@doubtful: True-enuff.

However I ended up with a job I like (pretend to work while posting worthless-comments on kotaku), so I don't consider that as part of the "crappy stuff"

I did manage to play 45 minutes of BioShock during a 3 day holiday :)

won't it be nice to go to a friend's house right after he gets this update and doesn't know about it yet...get in there, set a 30 minute timer with your own password, and leave.

He'll be flustered for weeks wondering why his XBox cuts him off every half hour.

Nice!

@whitey9: "Oh, and child psychologists can kiss my ass. If you work with children and are forced to follow the trends of modern psychology, you'd know why. They pull 180's on their 'science' about once every year and a half."

:-) Yep, if you hadn't made that point my next post would have. Psychology, like most things conjured up by us humans, goes through changes all the time based on ever shifting research and findings. But the bottom line will always be to keep one eye on the cooking and the other eye on the child.