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Set up console before christmas

Posted: November 24th, 2017, 2:12 pm
by scotland
Advice from polygon to not wait to unwrap a new console until Cristmas
https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2017/11/24/16694092/christmas-game-consoles-xbox-one-ps4-updates

As I believe Dave noted last year, the days of opening up a new Xbox or PS4 on Christmas morning and expecting to be playing it shortly thereafter are over. However, the comments disagreed and said that they were up and running in about 2 hours. I think Christmas might be a slow download day myself.

With some other types of tech products, I done a full setup in secret, then repackaged it. The flashbacks and classics, and maybe the Switch, may not need anything in advance.

Do you pre-setup gift (even to yourself) consoles?

Re: Set up console before christmas

Posted: November 24th, 2017, 5:19 pm
by ptdebate
Honestly, I bought an Xbox One X recently and the setup process (including download and installation of updates) took all of about 10 minutes. The part that took a long time is redownloading all of the games I've gotten free with Xbox Live Gold over the years. If you have retail games to install, you can also expect that to take a little while, but it depends on the game. The only way to remedy this would be to install the games in advance in addition to setup of the console. That seems like going a bit too far.

Christmas day is more about spending time with family, so I see no problem letting your games/updates install while enjoying the other Christmas traditions. You probably won't get any serious game time in until the day after Christmas anyway.

Re: Set up console before christmas

Posted: November 24th, 2017, 5:59 pm
by scotland
ptdebate wrote: Christmas day is more about spending time with family, so I see no problem letting your games/updates install while enjoying the other Christmas traditions. You probably won't get any serious game time in until the day after Christmas anyway.


Not disagreeing, but Christmas day is also the day to game with cousins, or your funny uncle, or whatever. How many of us have memories of popping in a cartridge and gaming with extended family on Christmas day? I know I do - once apon a time I was the kid, now more like the funny uncle. I would be dismayed if a neice or nephew said "Sorry Uncle Scotland, its still downloading...".

Re: Set up console before christmas

Posted: November 24th, 2017, 8:55 pm
by VideoGameCritic
I believe it was my friend Scott talking about his son who got a console last year which basically took the entire day to install and update. I believe it! I find it funny that people who saying it "only" takes two hours - as if that is acceptable for a console! It's crazy how people bend over backwards to justify these customer-hostile practices.

Re: Set up console before christmas

Posted: November 24th, 2017, 9:15 pm
by ptdebate
VideoGameCritic wrote:I believe it was my friend Scott talking about his son who got a console last year which basically took the entire day to install and update. I believe it! I find it funny that people who saying it "only" takes two hours - as if that is acceptable for a console! It's crazy how people bend over backwards to justify these customer-hostile practices.


Not disagreeing or doubting your friend's experience, but first-time console setup has never taken longer than about 15 minutes for me. I've had 2 Xboxes, 2 PS4s, and a Wii U. Not as good as the instantaneous functionality of earlier consoles, but I have a hard time understanding how it could take 2 hours...Maybe server issues during a major launch? I haven't bought a console on launch since the N64 (learned my lesson), so that could be the reason.

Re: Set up console before christmas

Posted: November 25th, 2017, 8:15 am
by pacman000
Some of it depends on your internet connection. At home I can barely load a regular website during the day.

Even discounting poor connections, a lot of people will get new systems and or games on Christmas day. If they all hit those servers at the same time they're all going to have to wait longer than normal. What might usually take 10-15 minutes could take 2-3 hours.

Give me classics any day of the week. Can't say I'm done with everything new, but I'm not excited enough to go out and get the new PS4, X-Box, etc.

Re: Set up console before christmas

Posted: November 25th, 2017, 8:52 am
by barrie2101
i did 2 xbox ones last year on a 40mb connection . by the time I did all the installs updated everything from scratch and installed the games took me about 6 hours + to do . after I did all that I got them back out of the box a couple of days before Christmas and still had another couple of hours to update.
I would personally recommend installing all the games and doing all the updates ready for Christmas day . My stepson was happy as he got to play on his games which is what he wanted to do .

Re: Set up console before christmas

Posted: November 25th, 2017, 3:30 pm
by Atarifever
ptdebate wrote: and a Wii U. Not as good as the instantaneous functionality of earlier consoles, but I have a hard time understanding how it could take 2 hours..

Apparently we had very different experiences with this one. My Wii U first day was completely wasted with updates, account setup issues, and then game updates besides. It is probably the worst startup process I have ever had for anything and still annoys me to this day.

I already have plans to set up the Switch a few days before Christmas, then insert the two games and download any updates to them, then set up save files and account links on them too in case there's any account activation garbage tied to your first save. I want my kids to open the system and then play it in the kind of rush we had getting an NES and Super Mario Bros.

Re: Set up console before christmas

Posted: November 26th, 2017, 4:02 pm
by C64_Critic
VideoGameCritic wrote:I believe it was my friend Scott talking about his son who got a console last year which basically took the entire day to install and update. I believe it! I find it funny that people who saying it "only" takes two hours - as if that is acceptable for a console! It's crazy how people bend over backwards to justify these customer-hostile practices.


Actually what happened was that I gave one my sons a new Xbox One game he really wanted... I think it was Battlefield One? But, the crux of the story is that he had about an hour or two after opening it and before we shipped off to Grandma's for the better part of the rest of the day. Not only was he unable to play it before we left (downloading the game itself, then whatever patches, dealing with Christmas Day lag), when we returned home SEVEN HOURS LATER it was still installing/setting up. He was finally able to play it before midnight that day, but I think the delta between when he first popped the disk in and he was finally able to start playing was something like 10 or 11 hours. I'm SURE a bulk of that time was due to it being a new game on Christmas where you suddenly have a few hundred thousand people all jumping online at the same time for the same game, but yeah I definitely recommend pre-installing and prepping your game or game system ahead of time if you wish for folks to play a new game on Christmas day.

Re: Set up console before christmas

Posted: November 26th, 2017, 5:51 pm
by Alucard1191
scotland wrote:
ptdebate wrote: Christmas day is more about spending time with family, so I see no problem letting your games/updates install while enjoying the other Christmas traditions. You probably won't get any serious game time in until the day after Christmas anyway.


Not disagreeing, but Christmas day is also the day to game with cousins, or your funny uncle, or whatever. How many of us have memories of popping in a cartridge and gaming with extended family on Christmas day? I know I do - once apon a time I was the kid, now more like the funny uncle. I would be dismayed if a neice or nephew said "Sorry Uncle Scotland, its still downloading...".



As literally the only video game player in my entire family... I have absolutely 0 idea how that is like. Family bonding over shared interests? What the heck is that?

On topic... I would honestly let it all sit for awhile. A lot of this stuff doesn't mean anything like it used to as I've aged. There isn't anything special about the holidays at all on my end other than extra stress.