Protect your children: How to set Xbox 360 parental controls

The Xbox 360 has a ton of great games, but not all of them are meant for children. You may have fun chainsawing zombies in Dead Rising or immolating deranged splicers in Bioshock, but your young child could get nightmares. Fortunately, the Xbox 360 has a parental control system where you can set it to make certain that little Timmy only plays E- or T-rated games, while you can still enjoy your ultraviolent carnage. This guide will walk you through the process of making your Xbox 360 safe for your children.

Please note: The Xbox 360 uses game ratings designed by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Like the MPAA and movie ratings, the ESRB divides games into age-based categories, including E for Everyone, T for Teen, and M for Mature. For more information on the ESRB rating system, visit their Web site.

Step 1: Start your Xbox 360. It should boot to the Dashboard. If it immediately starts a game, press the Xbox Guide button (the big round green X in the middle of the controller) and press Y to go to the Dashboard.

Step 2: Hold right on the control stick or pad until you reach the System blade of the Dashboard.

Step 3: Enter the "Family Settings" menu.

Step 4: Enter the "Console Controls" menu.

Step 5: Enter the "Game Ratings" menu (note: If you play DVDs or download videos on your Xbox 360, you can set video playback settings in the "Video Ratings" menu. The process is similar to setting up game restrictions).

Step 6: Select the highest rating you want the Xbox 360 to play without prompting for a pass code.

Step 7: Enter the "Set Pass Code" menu.

Step 8: Select "Pass Code."

Step 9: Set your pass code using the buttons on your controller. Write down the combination of buttons in case you forget.

Step 10: Once you've entered the pass code, select the question you want the Xbox 360 to ask if you forget the code, and enter the answer. Make sure it's a question and answer you will remember, but that your children won't figure out.

Step 11: Select "Done" and you're finished. The Xbox 360 will now only play games of your preferred rating or lower. If you try to use a higher-rated game, the system will prompt you for the pass code.

[esjay]

360 Parental Controls need a look over..

It would be nice if the parental controls were polished up a lot better, I for one dont see the point in having a minimum game time of 15 minutes, you should be able to set it to zero so the kids dont sneek a quick game in.
Also a larger combination of the joysticks buttons should be available to increase the pin length as on a few occassions they have been lucky enough to crack the pin by random button pressing, you should also have the choice of totally disabling games as an option and just allow dvd movies to be viewed without a timer, after all that is the 360's secondary purpose, but the most annoying thing that I find is that when you adjust more than one setting you have go to the trouble of recreating a pin again, it should just stay to the one you have already set...