Hi guys and gals, im a total n00b when it comes to the 360. i bought one and set it up for my lad with xbox live ages ago.

trouble is now he's nearly 13 and been bugging me for battlefield 3 for yonks so i went and bought it but the bloody multiplayer says hes too you? reading about pegi its not a must do more that it ' allows the parents to make an informed choice ' means to me that its upto the parents to let them play?

using google it seems impossible to change his account, you can alter some settings that says 18 games but this hasnt worked so im assuming that part doesnt have a workaround for this game.

so the next thing i tried was to make myself a game account, can i use the xbox gold live thingy too or is it tied to a user name rather than the actual 360 itself? its coming back as service status alarm so im no wiser as to whether i can or not, anyone use more than 1 account on the same box using same live?

Edited 18 September, 201213 yr by the mad monk

Sounds like there are parental controls enabled which is not letting them play 18+ games. I don't get the hoohar about violent games - I've been playing games since I was a wee nipper and I've turned out pretty well.

Anywho - you can create your own Live account, but it'll mean another £40 a year subscription. You can indeed have more than one account tied to an xbox.

Have a read through this link. Should explain the parental controls setup.

http://support.xbox.com/en-US/billing-and-subscriptions/parental-controls/xbox-live-parental-control

If the Xbox live account is set up using a hotmail address where the person is under 18 it can also cause issues like this.

You can change the settings to allow for 18+ content. Just have a browse through all the settings

cheers guys, yes ive looked through the settings following good old google and set things up to allow 18 games, thing is hes played black ops, mw2 both 18 games and this battlefield is 16 and it says not old enough?

so another question, is the xbox live gold tied to the xbox itself or the usename, surely if we have 2 kids and me we can all use the online games under our own use names?

ive made an account so he could use that at a push but you know what kids are like, i want MY name etc etc

Gold is tied to the account, not the console.

Look into the family packs come renewal, could be something to consider. (I got one with a group of friends as it works out cheaper for us to do it that way than to buy separately too.)

this has now been doing my nut in, honestly just to play a game :(

as said i now understand its the gamertag that has live, not the console, thats cheeky but hey ho thats what it is, playstation next time around and all that

seems the only way around is either spend more on a family pack or put the live account onto a adults gamertag. im not sure who i blame most for all this mess, xbox? EA? or me for trying to look after a kid playing online who's now 4 years older&wiser than when i first set it all up

Edited 19 September, 201213 yr by the mad monk

Give MS a call they are usually quite helpfull and may be able to sort it for you

If not used already, you should get a free month live when you create a new account on an Xbox, up to 3 or 4 accounts I think.

Doesn't help the parental control situation however.

ive knocked all the parent stuff off, its just because his account has a 2000 date of birth which cant be changed

think ill just switch the gold to mine

this has now been doing my nut in, honestly just to play a game :(

as said i now understand its the gamertag that has live, not the console, thats cheeky but hey ho thats what it is, playstation next time around and all that

seems the only way around is either spend more on a family pack or put the live account onto a adults gamertag. im not sure who i blame most for all this mess, xbox? EA? or me for trying to look after a kid playing online who's now 4 years older&wiser than when i first set it all up

XBOX live is better than playstation network hence why you pay £40. Its not a lot of money for a great service TBH. Never mind you will be shelling out next year probably for a new PS4 or XBOX 720 anyway. Bet they wont be cheap. Will need to get my 3 month old girl into XBOX as an excuse to change mine when the new ones out.

live might be better but when you have to buy either a family pack or live for each account then it certainly isnt cheap

for actual gaming i dont notice any diff between the 360 and the wii, playing a game is playing a game but i guess if you want to look at other stuff the xbox beats the wii, me i thought it was just about playing a game online im not really into stats and stuff. after this mess with bf3 i can see why people pirate stuff, what a ball-ache this has all been and ive certainly had my eyes opened to the world of xbox. anyhow i managed to get a full refund for the game so its ended well enough for me and ive learnt a lot so cheers guys/gals for the info

live might be better but when you have to buy either a family pack or live for each account then it certainly isnt cheap

for actual gaming i dont notice any diff between the 360 and the wii, playing a game is playing a game but i guess if you want to look at other stuff the xbox beats the wii, me i thought it was just about playing a game online im not really into stats and stuff. after this mess with bf3 i can see why people pirate stuff, what a ball-ache this has all been and ive certainly had my eyes opened to the world of xbox. anyhow i managed to get a full refund for the game so its ended well enough for me and ive learnt a lot so cheers guys/gals for the info

I could have sold you BF3 for peanuts as i dont play it at all now. Although you would probably have had to pay a wee bit extra for the online play seeing as i have registered it already. Bloody EA.

The wii is very poor online. Cannot be compared to xbox or ps3. Actually the wii is extremely poor in all areas. Mine just sits gathering dust. Saying that Tiger woods 12 is awesome on it. Tiger on the xbox is pants. Wii controlle ris superb. I wish you could get the wii controller for the xbox. And dont say kinect as that is tragic.

our wii is just gathering dust too, sad really. as for actual gameplay i think it plays cod etc just as good as the xbox plays it, graphically its pants but the gameplay is just as good. i know the xbox gives you other things but im just talking about playing the game and for that the wii is great, never tried ps3 but ill probably get the new one as and when it arrives

i can understand why you dont play bf3, its not as good as i thought it would be although im sure online would have helped but hey ho, live and learn. in future i think ill just rent games till i know he wants them instead of just coz his mates have it, bloody kids

our wii is just gathering dust too, sad really. as for actual gameplay i think it plays cod etc just as good as the xbox plays it, graphically its pants but the gameplay is just as good. i know the xbox gives you other things but im just talking about playing the game and for that the wii is great, never tried ps3 but ill probably get the new one as and when it arrives

i can understand why you dont play bf3, its not as good as i thought it would be although im sure online would have helped but hey ho, live and learn. in future i think ill just rent games till i know he wants them instead of just coz his mates have it, bloody kids

I really enjoyed COD on the wii. The wiimote makes aiming so much quicker. I would definately use that controller on my xbox if possible, perfect combo.

Just couldnt get into BF3. Maps felt smaller than BFBC2 and hence more like the frantic mess that COD has now become. Im probably just sick of online fast paced shooters as ive been playing them since counterstrike first came out on the PC many many many years ago. I actually think the BF3 graphics are quite poor, very jaggy.

BFBC2 seemed to have much bigger maps and therefore felt more tactical.