Parental controls on Xbox 360

By Ellie Gibson Published 22 July, 2005

Will check for age restrictions.

The Xbox 360 will feature a parental locking system that can be used to prevent children from accessing games unsuitable for their age range, according to Japanese website Mainichi.

Parents will be able to set-up the console so it will only play games with appropriate age ratings. When users attempt to load a game, the machine will read data from the disk to determine whether it falls into the correct category.

In addition, parents will be able to programme the 360 to restrict children's access to online chatrooms.

The Mainichi article states that the new features, which have never been included in a games console before, will be built-in to US and European machines as well as Japanese units. There has recently been a storm of controversy in Japan surrounding Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto, before even the Hot Coffee scandal emerged.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • jellyhead #1 7 years ago

    Here we go, you'll need an ID card to play games soon. :)
    Does anyone here have kids and and use Parental Locks or find Parental Locks any good?

  • bef #2 7 years ago

    Sounds good.
    Let the parents bear the responsibility of what their children can play, instead of game makers.
    If a parent with a 12 year old kids doesn't want him to play a 18 rated title, the console won't boot up the game. What's the problem with that?
    Edited by 1 at 22/07/05 @ 15:22

  • #3 7 years ago

    this was on my site yesterday, what the hell do you people do all day?

  • sephy #4 7 years ago

    I agree that its sensible, but most people will probably just automaticallt bump it up to the most leniant setting

    After all, its often parents who buy 18+ games for their kids....

    /remembers asking mum to buy him Carmagedon 7-8 years ago

  • Ginger #5 7 years ago

    haha "Parents will be able to set-up the console"

    yeah right. Lots of people cant even be bothered to check their kids use of the internet, and now, all of a sudden, they're going to care? This is just MS covering their asses.

  • Markusdragon #6 7 years ago

    I thought the US Xboxes already had this feature?

    Or was that for DVDs?

  • Blerk #7 7 years ago

    Excellent idea - all next gen consoles should feature this. Then we can finally throw something back in the Daily Mail's face when they run their next 'ban this sick filth now' tirade.

  • Teeth #8 7 years ago

    Yep this is eminently sensible.

    edit: screw my typing fingers today
    Edited by 1 at 22/07/05 @ 15:32

  • mcmonkeyplc #9 7 years ago

    Good. Might stop those fucking yank kids from sprouting shit on Live..as for the adults..there is no hope.

  • tomacwhite #10 7 years ago

    Yup, very good idea, IF parents a) can be assed and b) if they can set it up and keep the password from their kids.

  • kangarootoo #11 7 years ago

    I think this is a great idea. If not one single parent on the planet chooses to use it, the point is that the choice was theirs to make and they bare the responsibility for that decision.

  • martyngates #12 7 years ago

    " Good. Might stop those fucking yank kids from sprouting shit on Live..as for the adults..there is no hope."

    great point! if only they put an age selection on optimatch searches \o/

  • davesy #13 7 years ago

    i'm in favour of this too, all it will be is that you have to enter a password to setup the parental controls...

    Fine - if i had kids - i would use them.... Time for the parents to 'step-up' and take some responsibility...

    I don't see how it will stop me playing games, so i don't have a problem with it....

  • deaner #14 7 years ago

    This is an exercise in PR.

    And a huge waste of time.

  • effinwooly #15 7 years ago

    Fantastic idea !! If this means at least 10 annoying american children not playing Halo2, well i'm sold !! Well done !

  • Fixxxer #16 7 years ago

    Finally! Parents either have to take some responsibility for what their kids are playing or have no excuse if it goes wrong.

    Wiin/win.

  • w00t #17 7 years ago

    @deaner

    PR maybe, but don't you think it's a good idea to show that the games industry is doing something about stopping kids play 18-rated games since the Hot Coffee 'scandal' is going on?
    Edited by 1 at 22/07/05 @ 16:32

  • Feanor #18 7 years ago

    Mainichi means every day, I think.

    Doesn't the current Xbox have a feature like this already?

    /goes to check his Xbox

  • TimN #19 7 years ago

    They should do it the other way around. Out of the box it will only play games rated for all ages and to play other games you have to show some proof to the machine that you have the correct age. That'll really show those kids :p

  • Zero Beat #20 7 years ago

    The US Xbox has this feature with seperate sliders for DVD's and Games based on ESRB ratings. It's good that they're implementing the feature for all regions now though.

  • asphaltcowboy #21 7 years ago

    Maybe covering their asses, but a good diea nonetheless - now they just need to get the parents to bother.

  • smelly #22 7 years ago

    unfortunately in most cases its the parents which buy the game for little johnny.

    So if they're stupid enuf to let him play it, why would they bother getting around to turning on the parental lock?

  • kangarootoo #23 7 years ago

    "So if they're stupid enuf to let him play it, why would they bother getting around to turning on the parental lock? "

    That sort of isn't the point. The point is that it is a visible and easily publicised mechanism by which parents bare direct unavoidable responsibility for what games their children play.

    I swear you deliberately avoid reading any of the previous posts, just so you can be a cynical nay-sayer.

  • allen #24 7 years ago

    great :). now parents can shut the hell up when they can't be arsed seeing what their children are playing.

  • admir #25 7 years ago

    makes no sens to have a Parental controls on consoles its just stupid its not like 10year old boy/girl will be abel to buy it their fucking parants are and games they buy them too not even looking at the fucking rating and then comes the drama he did it becouse he was playing games what the fuck what about the kids fuck them let them play it
    i think cartoons like bugs bunny and all the other kids movie should be rated M or 18+ they are so violent there is shootin ,jumping of buildings etc....
    and all they say its a cartoon its not real and games are people make no fucking sens
    give me a good fucking reson that iam wrong

  • Groggen #26 7 years ago

    Maybe it's a pointless feature for those parents who don't give a shit either way... But the kids don't get games _only_ from their parents. I actually believe it's more common that they get the games from less restrictive stores, second-hand market, friends/relatives etc... It's impossible to control everything your kid does so for those parents that actually do care this is a good thing..

  • abeit #27 7 years ago

    Some kids will lock the system with their own password before their parents know anything about it.
    Seriously kids are generally more technical their there mums and dad.

  • Freek #28 7 years ago

    Not really the fault of the manufacturer now is it? Besides, it's a games console, by definition easy to use. It's not like they are asking people to find a net nanny on the internet, instal and then properly configure it backed up by a decent firewall. It's just an Xbox, not rocket science.

  • Xerx3s #29 7 years ago

    I fail to see the point. It is them PARENTS who buy the 18+ games for their children. Do you really think that they will use that option?

    Irritated Parent: "Here is your copy of 'lameassgangstawannabeyankeescreamerwhowantstolookcoolbutact uallylookslike
    amoron' game, now go f*ck off and leave me alone!"

    /infant inserts disc. xb2 immediatly alerts thought police and frisbees the disc out, into the parents face.

    Child: "Daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. doesnt work. daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. help! daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy. daddy."

    /parent throws the old xbx at the child and kills him. Thought police arrive, only to find the entire familiy, school, church, etc. killed. Gov's speak of great tragedy. Pollictical oppertunists hold game company responsible and want an immediate ban on all Nintendo 64's.

  • Sid-Nice #30 7 years ago

    What a load of Bollocks, the Revolution is the console for kids.

    /Adult enables child lock.
    /has to ask kid to disable it. :)

  • Khanivor #31 7 years ago

    As long as it is set to the lowest setting out of the box this is a grand idea.

  • Freek #32 7 years ago

    Poor nobody. See this is how password protection works: putt in an M rated game and it asks you for the password, little kid doesn't have it so he can't play it, the adults do have it so they can play the game.

  • Genji #33 7 years ago

    Good idea in theory, although it would require parents to get off their lazy asses and take note of the feature.

  • Carpathian #34 7 years ago

    Ideal for at least three reasons:

    1) The industry would no longer have to carry the can for parents that only care about what their children see AFTER something has happened. If they have chosen not to use the device clearly there for the purpose then it's squarely on their shoulders.

    2) This kind of thing can only strengthen the industries legitimacy in the eyes of those still thinking of it as a blood'n'guts free for all. It'll actually be a step above DVD usage in terms of potential protection from minors.

    3) Adult rated games can have adult rated content. No more worry if Little Johnny (tm) can see such naughtiness (pending point 1). Violence can be violent, sex can be sexy (not silly) and subjects don;t have to dumbed down.

    All good.

  • tenma #35 7 years ago

    "1) The industry would no longer have to carry the can for parents that only care about what their children see AFTER something has happened. If they have chosen not to use the device clearly there for the purpose then it's squarely on their shoulders. "

    You under estimate the stupidity of some parents. Developers will always get blamed for asinine parents regardless of how much they try to child-proof their product.

  • Xerx3s #36 7 years ago

    "What about if two people share one XBox, one who's 13 and one who's 19? Poor 19 year old for not being able to play 16+ and 18+s, poor 13 year old for not being able to play 16+ and 18+s" - Perhaps thats where MS's plans for the xbl Silver account come into play. Every player has an account that he needs to log into and the parental rules are set on the account. Could be, though i doubt it. It would create a lot of problems. Such as: what to do when someone is offline? (Although, keep in mind that the xbl2 system is capable of storing data offline & such).

  • Midnight_Raven #37 7 years ago

    Generally a good idea, but what if a game has different age restrictions in different countries? Itīs entirely possible that a game is labeled 16+ in Germany and 12+ in Sweden, for instance. However, both countries will receive the same code and discs from the same production run... unless M$ decides to have all games produced for each country seperately, this might become a problem.

    And what if I import games from other European countries with a lower rating? Can I play that uncut version from Britain with my Italian Xbox? What kind of controls will be in place to assure that I donīt do this?

    Just some questions that Iīd like to get some details to...