Gaming (Newbie) - XBox1, a few questions please.

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scuwp

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Topic # 161771 19-Jan-2015 13:29

After refusing to purchase a gaming console for my son (he spends enough time staring at screens as it is) the little blighter has saved up enough money to buy one himself. After a pretty good rendition of ‘Sheldon’ for a couple of weeks, he has decided on an Xbox1…don’t ask me why, all I get is ‘because!’

Are the big-box retailers the best places to buy, just wait for the best package deal and go for it? Or is there somewhere better? I hear a lot of horror stories about reliability so I am reluctant to let him buy second-hand. Trying to get him to wait for Waitangi weekend sales just in case.

I can’t find a clear answer about ongoing costs. How much does it cost to join the online membership? Other than the ability to multiplay on-line what else do you get for your money? Do you have to go on-line to play games?

We are on VDSL unlimited at home upwards of 25Mb/s download speed most times. Surely that’s fast enough?

Other than a second controller (seriously that’s like buying a tandem bike with only 1 seat, how stupid!) what else will he need to get going? Anything else he needs to consider in the way of ongoing costs or accessories? I would assume they come with the necessary chargers/cables?

After selling an old PS2 about 5 years ago haven’t kept up with the gaming world. Son spends a bit of time multiplayer gaming on his laptop so seems to know the games. Store salespeople we have managed to speak to know less than I do (sigh). He’s saved hard, and I don’t want to put him crook, so any advice appreciated to get him going.

Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman, then always be the Batman

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Chief Trash Bandit
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Reply # 1217559 19-Jan-2015 13:49

Xbox Live is required for online games, about $60 a year I think.
Get occasional free games IIRC, as well as other online things.....

Stick with known suppliers (Mightyape, Harvey Norman etc) and watch for deals of free extra games etc..... generic pack prices seem to be fairly similar across the board.

Internet speed is same as anything else..... with those speeds, itll be fine.

Get either good rechargeable AA batteries, or the Xbox battery and cable they have.

Otherwise, should be good to go :)

We love our XB1, voice commands make watching Netflix etc so much nicer :-p

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scuwp

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Reply # 1217584 19-Jan-2015 14:13

xpd: Get either good rechargeable AA batteries, or the Xbox battery and cable they have.

They don't come with built in rechargeable batteries? So he has to buy extra batteries and a charger/cable of some sort?

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InnocentDingo

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Reply # 1217625 19-Jan-2015 14:42

They come with the charger cable but its worth buying the rechargable battery packs.

The Xbox Live subscription can be as high as $80 for 12 months but it usually has specials down to $60ish for 12 months so find one of those deals. The subscription has a games for gold deal attached where there is a free game every month. Depending on how much data cap you have this might need to be watched as the games are getting pretty large in size. A full sized game is 30-40 GBs and can be bigger.

Some games require online access but that is game by game. The Xbox does not require it to be online. In saying that it has cloud saving of profiles and saves and suchlike so better online than not.

I personally would recommend the EA Subscription service also. Costs around $40 per year and currently has 5-6 EA games available. Battlefield 4, Fifa 14, Madden 25, Need For Speed something, UFC 14 and Plants vs Zombies Modern Warfare. This plus games for gold should keep him pretty busy for a while! Obviously he is after specific games though.

Xbox One comes with a pretty basic headset so you might want to get something better....depends how much chatting online he will be doing.

richms

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Reply # 1217632 19-Jan-2015 14:56

Set the account up as United States and everything is much cheaper.

Easiest way I know of is to make new hotmail/live/outlook address as USA, then add that to the console and it will all be set USA from the start. Put an address in portland oregan for no sales tax on anything that you buy on there.

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chiefie

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Reply # 1217636 19-Jan-2015 15:04

Also, how old is your son? That could be an issue if he's not over 18 and would not techinically possible to make purchases on XboxLive etc.

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tdgeek

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Reply # 1217639 19-Jan-2015 15:10

chiefie: Also, how old is your son? That could be an issue if he's not over 18 and would not techinically possible to make purchases on XboxLive etc.

Thats should be fine, scuwp looks really really old... :-)

InnocentDingo

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Reply # 1217641 19-Jan-2015 15:11

Its worth considering this but not entirely necessary. You can set the account up as NZ region and therefore getting Xbox Live Subs is easy (can use retail cards or NZ credit card) and then possible to change regions (on the console....not shifting regions with the account) and still get the US prices. Google is your friend on figuring this stuff out but it is pretty straight forward. Amazon sells the Microsoft gift cards for US region. Of course I think it is pretty easy to get US Xbox Live subs online but never done it personally.

scuwp

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Reply # 1217642 19-Jan-2015 15:12

chiefie: Also, how old is your son? That could be an issue if he's not over 18 and would not techinically possible to make purchases on XboxLive etc.

He's only 13. Would prefer parental permission/oversight remains.

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michaelmurfy

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Reply # 1217644 19-Jan-2015 15:15

I would personally recommend going towards a PS4 - the paid subscription gives you a bunch of games every month and the controller etc is all rechargeable meaning there is not as much of an up-front cost for him. Also quite a few packs out there with bundled games (get Destiny, well worth it).

You can also set parental controls if needed.

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InnocentDingo

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Reply # 1217651 19-Jan-2015 15:28

All of those points apply for Xbox One....

Also PS Plus ($90 with hardly ever any discounts) gives one game for PS4 and a couple of other games for PS3 and PS Vita. If you don't have those other consoles then not nearly as much value. The main thing is get what his mates have as the multiplayer gaming together with friends is really the best feature of the modern consoles.

Also I think it is possible to have child accounts that need parent account to authorise various things (purchases) and can be upgraded to full accounts once they are old enough. Not sure if you need two Xbox Live subscriptions etc.

chiefie

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Reply # 1217654 19-Jan-2015 15:31

scuwp:
chiefie: Also, how old is your son? That could be an issue if he's not over 18 and would not techinically possible to make purchases on XboxLive etc.

He's only 13. Would prefer parental permission/oversight remains.

Ah ok, he may need an Microsoft Account that is sub-account of an adult's (Microsoft Account) for use with XboxLive. I'm not too sure about this area but definitely something to be aware of.

In retrospect, on PSN, if a sub-account is created for a child, that sub-account cannot be detached into a full account without losing its trophies etc. On PSN, once the email address used for account registration, it cannot be unregistered and reuse for a different (new) account.

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chiefie

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Reply # 1217655 19-Jan-2015 15:32

michaelmurfy: I would personally recommend going towards a PS4 - the paid subscription gives you a bunch of games every month and the controller etc is all rechargeable meaning there is not as much of an up-front cost for him. Also quite a few packs out there with bundled games (get Destiny, well worth it). You can also set parental controls if needed.

Destiny's rating is a bit high for a 13.

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InnocentDingo

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Reply # 1217671 19-Jan-2015 15:44

Your mileage with Destiny may also vary.....lots of people like it and lots of people don't like it....depends how you feel about doing the same thing over and over and over and over again.

scuwp

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Reply # 1217709 19-Jan-2015 16:45

He is keen on the Assassins Creed packs. Not sure the rating on those, will need to check that one out

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Dstarzero

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Reply # 1217729 19-Jan-2015 17:10

scuwp: After refusing to purchase a gaming console for my son (he spends enough time staring at screens as it is) the little blighter has saved up enough money to buy one himself. After a pretty good rendition of ‘Sheldon’ for a couple of weeks, he has decided on an Xbox1…don’t ask me why, all I get is ‘because!’

All his friends are probably on xbox, personally PS4 is better

Are the big-box retailers the best places to buy, just wait for the best package deal and go for it? Or is there somewhere better? I hear a lot of horror stories about reliability so I am reluctant to let him buy second-hand. Trying to get him to wait for Waitangi weekend sales just in case.

I did buy my ps4 second hand which is $150 cheaper and came with free games and haven't had a problem ever. But if you really prefer brand new JB hifi is very good as they have decent deals and packages, you can also try noel leeming and see if you can haggle a package with them. if you prefer online, you can go on mighty ape. at any rate, pricespy is your friend.

I can’t find a clear answer about ongoing costs. How much does it cost to join the online membership? Other than the ability to multiplay on-line what else do you get for your money? Do you have to go on-line to play games?

Xbox live gold is $90 a year I think. you don't have to go online to play games but most games have an online only multi player. electricity cost, not sure how much.

We are on VDSL unlimited at home upwards of 25Mb/s download speed most times. Surely that’s fast enough?

yup fast enough

Other than a second controller (seriously that’s like buying a tandem bike with only 1 seat, how stupid!) what else will he need to get going? Anything else he needs to consider in the way of ongoing costs or accessories? I would assume they come with the necessary chargers/cables?

Controller cost around $95 new games cost about the same price, but you can buy second hand on trade me.

After selling an old PS2 about 5 years ago haven’t kept up with the gaming world. Son spends a bit of time multiplayer gaming on his laptop so seems to know the games. Store salespeople we have managed to speak to know less than I do (sigh). He’s saved hard, and I don’t want to put him crook, so any advice appreciated to get him going

if he already has a PC, it would be better to go with PS4 since most xbox exclusives will also be on the PC.

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