Fall Update: Parental Timer

Filed in archive News on November 8, 2007

Microsoft recently announced that a parental timer will be part of the Fall Dashboard update. Finally, parents will be able to avoid directly "parenting" their children and be able to limit their youngster's time "fragging bitches" in front of the TV with software:

Another all-new parental tool unveiled today is the Xbox 360 Family Timer, an addition to the console's existing set of industry-leading parental control features. Similar to its Windows Vista counterpart, the new Xbox 360 Family Timer can restrict children's activity time and can be set on a per-day or per-week basis. Helpful "notifications" will appear to warn the gamer that the session is nearing the end and the feature will automatically turn off the console when a pre-determined Time Limit has been exceeded. The Family Timer feature will be available for download via Xbox LIVE in early December.

While these features make for a nice press release I doubt that parents who can't just tell their kids to Stop Playing Games and Do Your Homework will understand how to even turn the Xbox on and activate the parental timer.