Gaming for Parents 101: Got a Console. Now What?
You’ve got the perfect console picked out for your kid. It’s the one they’ve been begging for and now you think is the right time to grab it and set it up. Now what? You unbox that sucker and get it plugged into the TV. The power button dings as you hit and… you need to create an account. For the Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo systems you will need to enter an email to create a free account for each of their respective services to get into the systems themselves. I know that people hate making new accounts for something as trivial as a gaming console, but in the long run it is absolutely worth it. If your child ever upgrades to a newer console in the same ecosystem (Xbox, PlayStation or Nintendo), then their account can carry over and the hassle of set up is diminished greatly! This is really a one and done type issue when setting up a new system.
Alright. We’ve got an account for the system. You hit confirm and… an update is needed. The fact of the matter is consoles are not the same as they were in the 80’s and 90’s. There is a lot of techno wizardry that happens behind the scenes when a console is shipped and gets plugged in for the first time. This usually means an update is needed before you can really dig into the new console. Which also means an internet connection is required for each new console to download said update. But fear not! These updates are usually pretty quick and shouldn’t inhibit too much play time.
The update is done and your child is ready to pop in that fresh disc (or cartridge for the Nintendo Switch). The excitement is palpable as the game pops up and just as they select their new game… another update is needed. It’s not uncommon for a game to need a “Day 1 Patch” in today’s landscape of games and that means more download times. Unfortunately, these are usually a little longer than a system update and mostly contain updates to the game to fix certain issues that the game might have been shipped with. We can discuss why games are launched with issues on a different day as that goes way into the weeds of game design and your kid just wants to play their new game on their new system for goodness sake!
We’ve got the system updated and the game is patched and ready to go! Is it time to jump in NOW?! Well… Not quite. Depending on the game that you child is trying to play, there may be some other steps you have to walk through. Is it an online game like Splatoon 3, Destiny 2 or Call of Duty? To play these games online you’ll be needing an upgrade to your account. Each system has its own Online Service that I’ll try my best to break down for you below. I’ll start with the most complicated and go to the least complicated. I always like a challenge first.
The Xbox Live service has existed since the early 2000’s and is the first real success in console online services. It was a real trailblazer when it came to things like voice chat in games, friends lists, and online play in general. Playstation, GameCube and Dreamcast all had their own equivalent services at the time, but none were as simple and easy to use as Xbox Live. Some things change and some stay the same and as far as I’m concerned Xbox still has the best “Bang for Your Buck” online service around, but it can get a little confusing when you look at the plans offered.
$9.99 per month gets you Xbox Game Pass Core which gives you access to online play, a few free games each month and 38 games your child can download and play including Among Us, Stardew Valley and Power Wash Simulator (honestly one of the most relaxing games you’ve ever played).
For $1 more ($10.99/month) you can get Xbox Game Pass Console which grants access to online play and the free games as well, BUT the game library they will be able to download is VASTLY expanded to over 450 games including all first party (Microsoft developed) games on day one. This gives a world of gaming to your child and with the Xbox Parental Controls you can limit what they can have access to. This is what I recommend to all parents getting their kids an Xbox because it will save you SO much money.
This is where things get a little confusing for some parents. Xbox offers two additional plans since Microsoft also releases all their games onto PC as well. There is the $9.99 a month Xbox PC Game Pass which gives you access to a library of games on the PC and the $16.99 per month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (this is what I have) that will allow you to have Game Pass on both the console AND PC and save a little money while you’re at it. These would only really be useful for someone that plays either predominantly on the computer OR plays on both Console and PC equally (Like me). I’ll dive into these at a later time when we talk about Computer Gaming and everything that entails which will probably take a few different posts.
That about wraps up Xbox’s offering, so let’s look at PlayStation next. This is a little easier to wrap your head around, but still there’s going to be three different plans to walk through, but let me give you a little backstory about PlayStation Plus first. Like I said above, Xbox Live was really the first popular online gaming service that people would pay for. To combat this with the release of the PlayStation 3, Sony announced their overhaul to their online service the PlayStation Network (PSN for short) that would include a paid tier that would give you free games every month included called PlayStation Plus. It was a good way for gamers to get more out of their subscription. At first, this wasn’t required to play online, but eventually Sony made the move to make it mandatory. They’ve expanded out the service to now include three different tiers that breakdown like so:
PlayStation Plus Essentials which is $10 per month which will get you online gaming and a few free games every month. This is their bare bones account that you will need to play online, but you still get a couple of games and access to cloud saves for your games (which Xbox also offers for their services).
Next is PlayStation Plus Extra for $15/month. You get the online service, the free games, cloud saves AND access to a PS4 and PS5 game library of about 400 titles. It is a few dollars more than the Xbox Service, but this will include games that can ONLY be played on PlayStation (for the time being and we will get into that in the future).
Lastly is PlayStation Plus Premium which comes in at $18 per month, but this does have a significant amount of added material you have access to. Not only does it include everything from the other tiers, but there is now a wider library of games from PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP games that add about 340 games to the already 400 game library. You also gain the ability to stream games to the console and your computer which is handy if you have an internet connection that can handle the stream AND you can watch the Sony Pictures Catalogue (which I didn’t even know before doing research for this post) that includes over 100 movies to stream. Obviously, it’s the most expensive but also the most comprehensive catalogue of games for anyone to play (which is why this is the plan I have).
Last, but certainly not least, is the Nintendo Online Service. What is there to say about this VERY Unique to say the least. Nintendo has always been known to do things their own way and their online service is no different. There was no paid online service for Nintendo until the Switch came, but that’s not to say they didn’t have online capabilities before. The GameCube had a very rudimentary internet connection that wasn’t utilized near as much as the other consoles at the time (PS2 and Xbox) and didn’t really make an impact. The Wii had it’s online service that you could purchase games through and that’s about the extent of that. With the WiiU and 3DS, Nintendo finally launched it’s first real online service with the Nintendo Network that was a free online service that anyone could sign up for and use to make online purchases and play online games, but there were still some limitations to what it could do. Enter the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Online. This is honestly the easiest to understand AND the cheapest option when considering what online plans to go with. There are really only two subscriptions that are broken down into and Individual and Family Skew. The only difference between the two are the number of people you can add to the plan itself. For any Individual Plan it’s 1 person only and a Family Plan can have up to 8 people. That is the only substantial difference between the two skews. Otherwise the plans breakdown like so.
Nintendo Switch Online is $19.99 for a year for an Individual and and $34.99 for a Family. Again, that’s for the entire Year. This basic service includes online play, cloud saves AND access to games from the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super Nintendo (SNES), and the Game Boy. Now, there are not 100’s of games in this service. For each individual library they rotate games and have anywhere between 20-40 games that are on each application, but keep in mind that you’re also paying a LOT less for this online service, so it’s fun to jump into the games when you’re looking for something to do.
The next plan up is the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack which will cost $49.99 a year for an Individual and $79.99 for a Family plan. In addition to what you’re getting above, it also comes with access to libraries of Nintendo 64 (N64), Game Boy Advance (GBA), and Sega Genesis Games. This plan also gives you expansions for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Splatoon 2, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe which are an added bonus. I do have to point out that unlike the Xbox and PlayStation online services, Nintendo does not offer a rotating array of Free Games each month that you can claim, but again it is significantly cheaper, so you take what you can get. And, you guessed it, this is the plan that I have!
I hope this has clarified some things for you as you get your console set up! If you have any additional questions, leave a comment below and we will answer them in the future! As always, you’re not in this alone. We are here to help!
-Andrew
