StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Linky

Time it takes the kind of parent who thinks this is a better idea than actually educating their children to figure out how to enable this thing: 15 minutes.

Time it takes the average kid to figure out how to disable or bypass it: a glance.

A fool and his money is soon separated.

And it takes a great fool indeed to buy that junk.

Is that case plastic? A quick jab with a screwdriver, and you've got unlimited play.

The sad thing is, if any of the parents who buy this have the technical aptitude my parents do, they'll never be able to hook the damn thing up without the help of their kids.

And since no sane kid is ever going to agree to help them with this, they just wasted $99 (plus shipping).

Yes I know that the parents could just give some other punishment if the kids refuse to set it up, but why not just do that in the first place instead of wasting money on something that anyone with a friend who can buy cables for them (assuming they can't themselves) could easily bypass anyway?

If this was imbedded in the console, then it would be useful. The device is pretty silly, but I wouldn't be surprised if people buy these things.

The folly of this rediculous device isn't so much in the ease in bypassing it, but rather that walking into the room and shutting off the TV costs $100 less. Simply taking five minutes of one's time to actually do some parenting is both more effective and completely free.

I seem to remember a similar device ages ago for the SNES/Megadrive, only it didn't have this nonsense with the tokens, just a set amount of time. And it worked via the power cable, not the arial.

I can just imagine the sort of parent who would buy this. Always complaining that his/her kids spend too much time on the games, but not bothering to create alternatives or set up rules and stick to them.

I dont use consoles at all, so can someone confirm to me if this comment on there is correct:

Someone should be nitpicking on the site. Guess that would be me.

http://www.playlimit.com/images/kidplayingvg_03.jpg - He's playing Mario Kart with a PLAYSTATION CONTROLLER?! o_0

"Secure case with key access for parents. Parents have the key to the token box where they can retrieve tokens. The token box also is where the back panel of the PlayLimit console is secured, preventing cables from being removed." - But what if the kid decides to look for the almighty key? Clearly, parents tend to pick the worst hiding spots.

The entire How Playlimit Works page - They love those lame drawings.

I can't think of anything else, but the picture of kid playing Maro Kart with a Playstation controller is priceless.

bilateralrope wrote:I dont use consoles at all, so can someone confirm to me if this comment on there is correct:

Someone should be nitpicking on the site. Guess that would be me.

http://www.playlimit.com/images/kidplayingvg_03.jpg - He's playing Mario Kart with a PLAYSTATION CONTROLLER?! o_0

"Secure case with key access for parents. Parents have the key to the token box where they can retrieve tokens. The token box also is where the back panel of the PlayLimit console is secured, preventing cables from being removed." - But what if the kid decides to look for the almighty key? Clearly, parents tend to pick the worst hiding spots.

The entire How Playlimit Works page - They love those lame drawings.

I can't think of anything else, but the picture of kid playing Maro Kart with a Playstation controller is priceless.

That looks like it might be a gamecube controller.

Darth Mall

I dunno, but companies do stuff like that.
The other day I saw this advertisement for some store and they advertised an HP computer they were selling, but in the closeup it was obviously Mac OS X (Finder, Aqua, etc). I even paused with the DVR to check. But it was on the HP computer (for some reason they hooked up the monitor to a Mac in the back I guess).

If it is, then it's a shitty 3rd-party controller, not worthy of the Gamecube label.

If it is, then it's irrelevant because you can't exactly play Mario Kart on the GameCube either
And the course he's on is Luigi Raceway.

But no, that's definitely a PS controller. But more importantly, there is no console that it's plugged in to, there's just a VCR and some flat thing, possibly a DVD-player (and the chastity belt, to the right of the TV, of course). So, the kid is playing Mario Kart 64, with a PlayStation controller, on a VCR. No wonder he's in 8th place...

RogueIce wrote:The sad thing is, if any of the parents who buy this have the technical aptitude my parents do, they'll never be able to hook the damn thing up without the help of their kids.

And since no sane kid is ever going to agree to help them with this, they just wasted $99 (plus shipping).

I would do it just to keep up the appearance that the thing was actually working. Parents go on their way thinking the box is working while the kid plays as long as they want.

But yeah, dumbest idea ever.

Dumbest purchasing decision, sure.

I daresay it's brilliant from the standpoint of the designer. The parents that buy this thing are probably not going to be terribly bright anyway, so why sink a lot of time and money building something great when something mediocre will probably sell nearly as well?

I don't get it. What's stopping the kid from simply unplugging this contraption ? It doesn't look like the video and audio cables are secured in any way...

Your kid is spending to much time playing video games?

Take the fucking system away! Walk over, unplug it, and if they raise hell, send them to there room.

Wait, that's where the game is?

Who the hell lets there kids have a TV and Video Game in there room anyway? Relatives bought it for them? That's nice, tell the relatives they can't have it, and take it back!

Stupid, Stupid people

Bounty wrote:

I don't get it. What's stopping the kid from simply unplugging this contraption ? It doesn't look like the video and audio cables are secured in any way...

Apparently, the cables are attached inside the box, but if it's used for a DVD player, then a second set of cables is all that's needed to bypass. Also, as any kid who has robbed a vending machine knows (not me, I swear), there are many ways around coin slots.

Bounty wrote:

I don't get it. What's stopping the kid from simply unplugging this contraption ? It doesn't look like the video and audio cables are secured in any way...

Nothing. The kid goes down to the local Ratshack or Circuit City and buys himself a new cable for 10 bucks. Unplug box, plug in cables, back in business. Any half decent electronics & entertainment store will have the cables, hell, the local flea market has'em.

The only way to make it work is to take a soldering iron and hardwire everything together.

aerius wrote:

Bounty wrote:

I don't get it. What's stopping the kid from simply unplugging this contraption ? It doesn't look like the video and audio cables are secured in any way...

Nothing. The kid goes down to the local Ratshack or Circuit City and buys himself a new cable for 10 bucks. Unplug box, plug in cables, back in business. Any half decent electronics & entertainment store will have the cables, hell, the local flea market has'em.

The only way to make it work is to take a soldering iron and hardwire everything together.

The oldest device in the world for controlling access to games: the power cord. The console does not function without power, plain and simple.

I think the idea is you take the cables linking the system to the TV and then use the system in their place. All this opposed to simply taking the cables and sitting on them? Don't ask.

As far as the kid going to get new cables, possible but it requires effort on the kid's part. Most likely they just want to sit there and play games. And needless to say, other methods of limiting time involve:

taking the controllers
taking the console

if that doesn't work,

sell the console on ebay
drive over it with the car (truck, SUV, throw it in the canal, what have you)
or
park yourself in front of the console all day so they can't use it.

"But dad / mom, that's not fair!"

"What's not fair kid? I paid for it, your worthless ass didn't."

wilfulton wrote:"What's not fair kid? I paid for it, your worthless ass didn't."

What if the kid actually did pay for it? I bought all my game systems myself.

RRoan wrote:

wilfulton wrote:"What's not fair kid? I paid for it, your worthless ass didn't."

What if the kid actually did pay for it? I bought all my game systems myself.

Then the parents note the point they pay for everything else. More then likely the bills needed to keep that system running.

Honestly if a parent cannot enforce that particular point into a child, then there is something a tad wrong.