Total novice Xbox Series S questions
Discussion
Evening,
Apologies if my numpty questions solicit rolled eyes. I’ve managed to hit middle age without computer games entering my world so don’t really know what I’m doing.
Santa has very kindly offered to take the credit for buying our eldest (a boy aged 8) a games console (his first). It was decided it would be an Xbox as his peers at school have them, as does a close family friend with whom we are told he can play “alongside” over the internet. He (Santa) decided on a Series S as it was half the price of the series X. Very sage. It has already been delivered and is being kept out of sight.
I understand the S operates solely by downloading games. Various family members have volunteered to pay for a select few games, Forza, FIFA, LEGO Harry Potter and some crane building game I haven’t yet satisfactorily discovered. In order to avoid Christmas morning disappointments and frustrations is it wise to unbox the console and “set it up” in advance? The boy doesn’t have an email account or Microsoft login. Is it a good idea, therefore, to unbox and plug in the console and set up accounts or whatever I will need to do in order to play anything?
Once the machine is “on” and “registered” (or whatever) do I then go to Xbox‘s website to download the games? Is this swift/instant? I would anticipate those servers being very very busy on Christmas morning. Amazon and Argos and the like seem to offer to sell a download game (presumably this is literally a passcode and nothing physical whatsoever is delivered?)
I note Xbox offer a subscription service but I’m minded to buy games individually for now.
Any help, tips, pointers appreciated as I try to navigate this brave new world.
Apologies if my numpty questions solicit rolled eyes. I’ve managed to hit middle age without computer games entering my world so don’t really know what I’m doing.
Santa has very kindly offered to take the credit for buying our eldest (a boy aged 8) a games console (his first). It was decided it would be an Xbox as his peers at school have them, as does a close family friend with whom we are told he can play “alongside” over the internet. He (Santa) decided on a Series S as it was half the price of the series X. Very sage. It has already been delivered and is being kept out of sight.
I understand the S operates solely by downloading games. Various family members have volunteered to pay for a select few games, Forza, FIFA, LEGO Harry Potter and some crane building game I haven’t yet satisfactorily discovered. In order to avoid Christmas morning disappointments and frustrations is it wise to unbox the console and “set it up” in advance? The boy doesn’t have an email account or Microsoft login. Is it a good idea, therefore, to unbox and plug in the console and set up accounts or whatever I will need to do in order to play anything?
Once the machine is “on” and “registered” (or whatever) do I then go to Xbox‘s website to download the games? Is this swift/instant? I would anticipate those servers being very very busy on Christmas morning. Amazon and Argos and the like seem to offer to sell a download game (presumably this is literally a passcode and nothing physical whatsoever is delivered?)
I note Xbox offer a subscription service but I’m minded to buy games individually for now.
Any help, tips, pointers appreciated as I try to navigate this brave new world.
Defcon5 said:
You can get the subscription for less than £100 for 3 years worth if you are reasonably savvy (involved using a VPN)
But otherwise yes, set up the console, pay for game, download game, play game.
Thanks for responding.But otherwise yes, set up the console, pay for game, download game, play game.
Do you happen to know quite what we need to set up the console? I’m guessing “an Xbox account”. Will that need an email or Microsoft account? Will we need to set those up in advance? Or do I set it up in my name so I can take ownership of parental controls for example?
SpeckledJim said:
Following thread with interest. Exactly the same situation in our house.
We’ll be getting the subscription instead of buying games outright I think.
Thanks also.We’ll be getting the subscription instead of buying games outright I think.
Did you fully understand the subscription options? I got quite confused by the “Game Pass” hierarchy - not helped by differing options being available for different platforms! I’m such a liability…
It looks like the subscription is £7.99 or £10.99 a month. Fine. But it also looks like some games are only available in part, others are withdrawn. I imagine the best or most popular games are unlikely to be withdrawn but it isn’t something I’m totally comfortable with. I’m just old fashioned in as far as we’ve never bought stuff on tick.
Also the Harry Potter game isn’t in the subscription packs. I appreciate we could subscribe for fifa, forza etc and then add on other games independently. Having access to a whole library of games for no additional charge is appealing.
In answer to the “do I unbox it and set it up in advance” question, unless you have astoundingly fast broadband, that’s a very good idea as some of those games will be massive downloads and I can picture the disappointment now.
Unwraps his present, sets it up, then has to wait 12 hours for a game to download.
Not an issue if you have super fast broadband but otherwise, setting it up in advance would be a great idea.
Unwraps his present, sets it up, then has to wait 12 hours for a game to download.
Not an issue if you have super fast broadband but otherwise, setting it up in advance would be a great idea.
scenario8 said:
SpeckledJim said:
Following thread with interest. Exactly the same situation in our house.
We’ll be getting the subscription instead of buying games outright I think.
Thanks also.We’ll be getting the subscription instead of buying games outright I think.
Did you fully understand the subscription options? I got quite confused by the “Game Pass” hierarchy - not helped by differing options being available for different platforms! I’m such a liability…
It looks like the subscription is £7.99 or £10.99 a month. Fine. But it also looks like some games are only available in part, others are withdrawn. I imagine the best or most popular games are unlikely to be withdrawn but it isn’t something I’m totally comfortable with. I’m just old fashioned in as far as we’ve never bought stuff on tick.
Also the Harry Potter game isn’t in the subscription packs. I appreciate we could subscribe for fifa, forza etc and then add on other games independently. Having access to a whole library of games for no additional charge is appealing.
With the subscription he can run it himself and change as often as he wants, but if it’s not ‘free’, then he can’t have it. Which is a rule he’s well used to! Poor little blighter.
If he wants to play online he will need Xbox live. This is a cost but is included in the game pass subscription.
Think of it like Netflix for games. My experience is that for £10.99 a month your highly unlikely to need to purchase any other games and he can chop and change between games as much as he pleases.
There will be exceptions like Lego games but they tend to be few and far between.
I’d recommend you setup a Microsoft account and set your son up a child account. You can then have some control over his activity, who he plays with, what age games he can access, video he can watch, how long he plays for, the hours of play, etc.
Think of it like Netflix for games. My experience is that for £10.99 a month your highly unlikely to need to purchase any other games and he can chop and change between games as much as he pleases.
There will be exceptions like Lego games but they tend to be few and far between.
I’d recommend you setup a Microsoft account and set your son up a child account. You can then have some control over his activity, who he plays with, what age games he can access, video he can watch, how long he plays for, the hours of play, etc.
You'll want to set it up with a Microsoft account in your name. I think Microsoft make you enter your credit card details for the Game Pass subscription straight away, so make sure that your son has his own account and that he can't buy things with your saved card details - you sometimes hear of kids spending huge amounts on games or in-game purchases on their parents' cards. It's normal for every user to sign into the Xbox with their own account - your account can purchase games and share them with your son's account so that he can play them without logging in to your account. I don't have kids so I don't know exactly how it works, but it's certainly possible.
The Xbox is likely to need to download a software update (probably several Gb), and games can be 10s of Gb - I think Forza Horizon 5 is nearly 100Gb. So definitely set it up and download the games you think he'll want in advance.
The Xbox is likely to need to download a software update (probably several Gb), and games can be 10s of Gb - I think Forza Horizon 5 is nearly 100Gb. So definitely set it up and download the games you think he'll want in advance.
SpeckledJim said:
That’s my plan. If he was to tell me he didn’t like a game I’d just spent £50 on I’d have no choice but to give him to the circus.
And I don’t care what you say about the sunk cost fallacy, I fed him for years!
This is why I never buy a digital only console. I buy one with media discs. You can buy the game at full price (if that is your wish), play it for 3 months and then trade it in on CEX, sell it on gumtree or whatever. It also means you can buy other peoples used games on gumtree or CEX at a reduced price, play them and pass them on for nearly the same you bought them for. And I don’t care what you say about the sunk cost fallacy, I fed him for years!
I hate digital only consoles for the issue that you are tied to buy the games from the source and own them forever with no ability to round up a few older games, trade them in and that covers 75% of the cost of a new game.
The gamepass option is the only thing that makes digital only consoles remotely acceptable in my eyes.
None of that maybe helps you as you seem set on that xbox s but the benefit of being able to buy games on gumtree, play them and pass them on for the same you paid for them is SUCH a cheaper way to play in my view.
Cheers and good luck (setting up your console ahead of the day and getting all the aacounts worked out is definitely the way fwd).
RW
Yeah I’ve used it for the past four months no difference at all.
Only annoyance is you can’t stack them, you can inly buy one per transaction but you can buy a years worth in 12 transactions one after the other, and you need to wait for the current one to run out before you add the next.
Only annoyance is you can’t stack them, you can inly buy one per transaction but you can buy a years worth in 12 transactions one after the other, and you need to wait for the current one to run out before you add the next.
Sheetmaself said:
Yeah I’ve used it for the past four months no difference at all.
Only annoyance is you can’t stack them, you can inly buy one per transaction but you can buy a years worth in 12 transactions one after the other, and you need to wait for the current one to run out before you add the next.
Do you have to create a new MS id every time you buy a months worth of subs? My eldest is asking me for the same (xbox s) and i have no clue, ask me about a Commode C64 and I'm your man lolOnly annoyance is you can’t stack them, you can inly buy one per transaction but you can buy a years worth in 12 transactions one after the other, and you need to wait for the current one to run out before you add the next.
Consigliere said:
Do you have to create a new MS id every time you buy a months worth of subs? My eldest is asking me for the same (xbox s) and i have no clue, ask me about a Commode C64 and I'm your man lol
Nope, the best deals are for new subscribers, so if you let your subscription laspe, then you can re-subscribe without changing your account. Otherwise look around for the best deals (I usually do 3 months at a time).For the OP, here's an explainer for the different types of subscription Live Gold < Game Pass < Ultimate.
https://www.pocket-lint.com/games/news/xbox/140423...
Be aware that the Series S only has 500Gb of storage, that will fill up very quickly.
Thanks all.
These cdkeys offerings, am I being an even bigger numpty for thinking they apply only to the Xbox one (and pc platforms)?
https://www.cdkeys.com/xbox-live/memberships
These cdkeys offerings, am I being an even bigger numpty for thinking they apply only to the Xbox one (and pc platforms)?
https://www.cdkeys.com/xbox-live/memberships
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