I, for one, welcome our new robotic overlords.

portugue

LAUNDRY, DINNER, CLEAN TOILETS
SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY

thisisasignin

The 360 in the picture behind BOB has parental controls built in that do the exact same thing as BOB does.

Rectangle

Ridiculous the lengths that people will go just to try to deflect responsibility. Just a quick note to all parents and all future parents out there- You make it, you're responsible for it. Not anybody else. Not the school, not games or TV, not the babysitter, not society as a whole. Get things straight.

Now let's take a step back and regard BOB objectively for a moment. Why? Because doing so will show you that the entire premise of the thing simply doesn't work. It won't deflect bull but crap of your child's ire away from you. Who bought the stupid cell phone looking BOB? You. Who installed it? You. Who punches in the codes to make it work? You. Who is your child going to blame? YOU.

Good god, parents. There's nothing wrong with doing what you feel is right in raising your child. In fact, trying to deflect blame only makes matters worse. Kids are far more likely to grow up respectful and well balanced when they understand that Mom and Dad are in charge and there are consequences for acting up. If they know that the ol' parents don't take charge for anything, they end up out of control- like vacuum cleaner wrecking kid.

Guu

@Balius: lmfaooo. But what happens when petrified little Johnny works up the courage to flip the Roomba over!?

@ShirtGuyDom: Yeah, it does, and it's a great feature that Microsoft hasn't bothered advertising and letting parents know about.

Good job, Microsoft.

karasu is my homeboy

wait, isnt there already a device like this?

bigman88zz

As a Kid who had to deal occasionaly (but not terribly often, admittedly) with my parents shutting of my games for whatever reason, all I have to say is:

Mr. Fap☆Fap!

I can't wait to see these used, it'll be awesome.

Mustakrakish

What does this device actually do? The actual TV spot didn't explain. It has a lock, for some reason, but what does it do? Does it just stop power flow to the device?

I'd say that just randomly stopping the flow of electricity to a console is very damaging. I always cringe when there's a power outage and I'm playing on my Xbox. When the power comes back on, I turn on the Xbox and hope that it doesn't red-ring.

Also, there's a thing called a "Remote Control". Using this magic device, you can turn off the TV from THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM. Amazing!

Hell, using the Xbox wireless controller, you can turn off the console unmitigated in 5 seconds.

Or, hey, just talk to your kids about how to video game responsibly...

RPharazonius

Ok, nm, I understand how this thing works now. It locks the power cord itself in the bottom and acts like an extension cord, and then just shuts off the current after the current has been active for the set time. So theoretically you could BOB your parent's iron. Or the George Foreman grill. I guess the only way around it would be stealing the key, cracking the master code, or buying an extra cord for whatever device is locked in there.

KidU

Why are you sicking me on kids? That's just wrong...

Oh, wait...

@ShirtGuyDom: You mean it turns off on you before you save? Really? That's gotta suck...

bobtheduck

@GreenCard200: Yeah, way to drop the ball there Sony! Parents don't want to parent, they want you to parent for them.

ShirtGuyDom

Cant you just turn the tv back on?

youngmike99

Next they will be selling a twinky on the end of a fishing pole so parents dont have to take their kids out anywhere.

Im gonna call it R.O.D. - Run or die...

the bishman

@ShirtGuyDom:
Aw and to think I was happy with buying a PS3.

GreenCard200

Poor Bob. Being criticized for his work, sure, but he's being criticized conceptually.

I constantly fear the day when someone walks up to me and says, "Okay. You're a nerd, and an aspiring accountant. Sorry, that's not gonna cut it. I pity the ones who love you."

SuperMaxZero

Oh man, I got scared there, I thought it was Microsoft BOB.

[toastytech.com]

Though from the looks of things, it may as well be.

KirbySS

Jesus Christ. This thing doesn't even put up a challenge. You could put your finger over the IR emitter. Or you could put the remote behind the couch. OR YOU COULD HIT THE BUTTON ON THE FUCKING T.V. I like a small challenge, like when I was little, my parents took the cord that connected my N64 to the T.V. away. So, I bought an extra one and hid it under my bed for when I needed it. But, I guess Gort23 is right that if the parents wan this, their kids are probably complete idiots.

mferrari

But...but...can't you just unplug the damn thing?

KidU

If I remember correctly, the 360 already has that feature.

ShirtGuyDom

@Aethyr: My children will be raised by a Roomba. It may not be able to turn off the television like Bob can, but it's much scarier to infants. Plus, cleaner carpets while it chases the spawn around.

Balius

It can turn off their Gameboy after 11 o'clock.

But can it take them out of the 1990s?

Tob3z

soon, parents will be able to give birth, walk out of the hospital without their child and leave their newborns in the hands of an android/robot nurse maid until the child reaches 15. What will mom and dad be doing for 15 years?

Preparing for the day their kids ask them who they are.

Black_Ops_19

"It'll turn the TV off then, or the Gameboy."

Ha! I'd like to see them turn off my Gameboy! Not when I have some Super Mario Land to play!

indiemike

@RYAMATSU: Now that is a good safeguard for keeping kids away from video games.

Mpalm.

In my day, computers said "Shall we play a game?"
Now they say "Times up Noob!"

GPman

For parents who are too wimpy to lay down the law themselves who have children that are too stupid to be able to subvert it.

Gort23

Rigiiiiht, if you don't have the balls to be the bad guy when you need to be then you shouldn't be parent.

t0yrobo

[i17.photobucket.com]
You have 10 seconds to comply...

RYAMATSU

Oh. My. God. This may be the funniest thing I have read all day. That's right, parents! You can make up for your parenting deficits by buying a robot to do your job for you. A quick and painless way to raise offspring!

Aethyr

This is dumb. Parents who can't control their kid's gaming or behavior are the type of parents (a)who don't care and (b)have created a child who cannot be controlled.

Thus, they either won't bother with this product, because (a)they don't care, or it Bob will end up being destroyed because (b) the child cannot be controlled.

karasu is my homeboy

Better keep this info away from my mom, for my brothers sake.

Cdestroyer127

I lament that I have nothing to add. You have provided all of the sarcasm and not-so-subtle jabs at the complete logic break that is this device. Well played, Mr. Good... well played...

Asper

for $79.99 a "bob", i wish i thought this up for clueless parents to buy...

perfectoon_0901

Turn off my Game Boy? Does it have a targeted EMP field or some mysterious magic way to make batteries stop working? People should at least know the subject matter because they make a fool of themselves. I don't talk about string theory like I know about it.

chris16447

@karasu is my homeboy: But if MS advertised that this feature was already in their product wouldn't that make BOB obsolete? Of course, I don't know wouldn't actually parenting make BOB obsolete.

@Bobby Blackwolf: True, non-standardization and difficulty in menu I believe is one of the reasons TV ratings we labeled by the FCC as a failure in an April 2007 report. Most parents don't want to or just don't take the time to try and learn how to do these things. If they did little gadgets like BOB wouldn't have a market.

"In the Matter of Violent Television Programming And Its Impact On Children"
April 25, 2007 [fcc.gov]

I had to write an opinion paper on this report last year for one of my 4000 level finals. Really good read if you are interested in this sort of stuff, or if you like laughing at the FCC.

MantisDragon

What happened to parents, I don't know, having the balls to say 'No'?

blackadvent

Yes, YOU, the parent, will not have to deal with your kids. Introducing BOB, an electronic device that lowers your kids fun time. You will not have to argue with them or even, get this, walk up to the TV or video game system and phsyically turn it off. What a glorious world that will be! You get can get BOB and all his glorious benefits for only $80.00! Can you really pass up a deal like this?"

BrutalAssailant

I have two gripes with BOB.

1. Doesn't the Xbox 360 (as shown in the video) already have a family timer?

2. The man mentions a Game Boy. Why in the hell would a kid carry round that huge machine with his/her PORTABLE gaming device?

Stupidity.

Tycoonalex1337

sorry, what are 'electronic do-dads' ?

atomicshed

Best. Post. Ever. Oh wait, maybe it's [/Monster truck voice] BEST POST EVER!

Pata-pwn(TM?)

To play devil's advocate on this one, the difference between BOB and the Xbox 360's internal controls is that BOB does not require technophobe parents to use the "complicated" Xbox 360 Controller to do things such as navigate menus and set passwords. This has a simple physical lock and key, which technophobes will also deem "safer" than the evil video game system policing their kids. Who watches the watchmen?

(I'm not saying BOB is a good product at all, just pointing out the other side of all this that some people seem to not be seeing.)

Bobby Blackwolf

Realize that you're a crappy parent and instead of doing it yourself use Bob! So you can go out enjoy wine, wild parties and totally forget the children.

Solid_hedgehog

facepalm.jpg

leoPirate

Things like this make me fear for the futureof the world. Really is there anything that is being advertised now a days as a way to not shirk responsibility.

Chuco

I thought BOB was my creepy uncle that my parents used to have baby sit me.

The only game he would let me play was the "tickle game" in the dark.

I think parents should get that BOB to control their kids....

...I hate being tickled now.

Monster Chalk

I would destroy it so quickly, i would cut the wire, stomp on it, try to flush it in the toilet, stump on it some more then burn it.

What a stupid idea, kids these days know more about technology than parents, I bet there are kids who will hack it and make it work for them. Then they can time how much the PARENTS watch TV, and let's see how they react.

Desertwolf

@otakujpop: Same here. Parents these days are pussies, I swear.

Who needs to be "cool"? Parents made the damn kids--they OWN them! At least that's how I was raised.

Lainface

When did parenting become policing, I'm kinda glad my parents were the third reich.

otakujpop

$80.00 for an external sleep mode? Wow...just wow. If any parent is dumb enough to think this will work they should just put their kids up for adoption. Seriously if they have to buy a "bob" just to get their kids to stop playing video games then that says alot about their lack of parenting skills...What are they gonna do when their kids get older? Spend $200 for a braclet that will shock their kid when he cusses? $500 for a chastity belt? JUST DO YOUR D*MN JOB AS A PARENT AND LAW DOWN THE LAW!!!

fishing4monkeys

Uhh the 360 already has this feature built into the parental controls ...

MSUHitman

@Tycoonalex1337 & @chris16447:
When a man speaks with that many words a minute and really doesn't know what his machine can do and cannot do something like that is bound to happen.

Though I like the idea of an EMP, cause that would be the only logical way to shut them gameboys off after eleven, right?

Aglet

Now all we need to do is get rid of all the parents who think 1 or 2 hours is enough time to have fun.

98abaile2

Wow, if they could somehow make BOB cook Kraft Dinner and hot dogs then idiot-fuck parents all over North America could rejoice over the fact that they no longer need to waste time "parenting" their children OR feeding them.

Any parent that knows less than their children about the tech that their own child is using...is a bad parent.

No...seriously.

EndersGame

First i wanna say that isn't this what got the parents in trouble in the first place. Having an electronic device raise their kids. So how is having a different device raise their kids gonna make it any better?

Next, i was interested in knowing exactly how BOB worked so i went to their site & read the instruction manual. One flaw i saw that wasn't addressed is that everybody has a 4 digit PIN including the person who sets all the rules, the master user. But there is no lock out feature, which means that a kid with time on his hands (& after BOB shuts off the tv they have a lot of it) could keep guessing PIN's til they find the master user PIN. Also on the funnier side here is a section from their FAQ in the manual:

"My wife knows the master code and won't give me more time. Can I override her so I can
watch the big game?
• Unfortunately, no. Try the sweet-talk."

I just found it rather amusing. :)

seventh_sage

i totally agree that this is extremely dumb and pointless. and whats even more dumb is that they have an xbox 360 in the background, while the 360 already has the family timer which can do all the same stuff as the bob can do, and i believe more...

Darthearl

My parents had bought something similar to that when i was a kid. of course, they didn't know how to set it up, so they had us do it, and we 'accidentally' forgot an important screw or two that held the lock closed.

MrGlass

I don't know as a gamer I wouldn't impose strict time guidelines. Can't live life on a scheduele but would impose more verbal restrictions. IE, let them play what they want but long as they listen to what I have to say I am cool with it. BoB is good for the weekdays though, let them unwind and relax for an hour and then impose a forced homework time. Bob doesn't turn off until I see their homework is done and then they can play more games. I am happy, they are happy and they grow up to be smart kiddies.

ninjikiran

Im pretty sure If my parents get one of these i'll use my lock-picks and hook this up to my dads tv then solder the key hole shut.

deathtastic

@KidU: I like putting BOB on the Foreman Grill. NO!!!! YOU HAVE EXCEEDED YOUR TIME MAKIN PANINIS ON THE LEAN MEAN FAT GRILLIN MACHINE. SO GUESS WHO'S TOAST NOW???!?!?!? YOU!!!!!!!

Owen Good

@Taurich: Oh yeah... my original point of spending a hundred dollars on something that does your job for you...

Taurich

Huh... it was listed for $100 on amazon and was cut down to $78...

How shitty of a parent do you have to be to raise a kid that can't be disciplined? Start strong as a parent and things are easier down the road. If you start off handing them the world on a silver platter then by the time they hit 8 years old and you decide to grow a pair it's a tad difficult to control them. This is only going to make the issue worse by giving the parent something to hide behind and not step up and do their job as a role model and mentor to their children. It only perpetuates the cycle and makes things worse.

Gah, sorry, I tend to rant sometimes about bad parents... It's one of those things that despite rights and all that good stuff. People should really have to pass some sort of examination process before being allowed to bring someone into this world because there are far too many unfit parents out there.

Arg... did it again... I'm sorry. I'm done I swear!

Taurich

I'm just waiting for a Youtube where some kid whines about wanting to play a game, when...smack...in comes BOB. Right across the face.

You know, that might make a good commercial for BOB. Well, maybe with the screen panning to a smiling, sleeping child at the end.

With a bruise on their cheek.

sariah

I hope it works haha nothing like playing with less annoying kids online.

PogiJet

if a kid can't figure out a way to bypass bob, then that kid deserves to have his game turned off

perfectoon_0901

sure, right now we joke about BoB's Futile attempts to stop us from playing video games. But then it will FORCE us to stop. And then it will make us do our homework! AND THEN IT WILL MAKE US DO IT'S BIDDING!!!!! SOON WE ARE ALL SLAVES TO THE MASTER COMPUTER BoB!!!!!!!! ALL HAIL BoB, RULER OF ALL THINGS NERD!!!

number_77

@indiemike:
How would it even turn off a gameboy, thats what I want to know.
Plus, most kids I know don't play on gameboys anymore. I still have mine, but I need some games for it.

ItsSuperEffective

So evil...

KM91

I'm waiting for the first child -> parent homocide to occur after BOB decides to shut the game off during the "Now saving. Do not turn off the power." screen.

Muteki

Why does it look like a huge cell phone?

Dishwasher

parenting has become a joke in this country

No one can spank their kids anymore, everything has to be "fun" and now we're trying to be "cool parents" by calling an electronic device the REAL "bad guy"

Parents aren't supposed to be "cool" or their kids best friend, parents are supposed to be parents

stafax

I don't know what an electric doodad is...

and BOB, I feel for you man.

Lamburger Helper

FOX Nightly News July 07, 2008.

A 12 year old child from Missouri caught fire with a third-degree burn trying to cut a power cord from parental-lockout system, BOB, which limits the usage of videogames, Rockstar, such as the popular XBox 360, Rockstar. It is much like an auto timer for your electronic appliances. It ultimately control the amount of TV, Rockstar, your child can watch. Rockstar

Apparently he was playing Rockstar Table Tennis and vowed to "kill scums of the earth", extensive coverage with Bill O'Reilly will air following this segment.

Fyren

@RYAMATSU:

PRESENT HALL PASS.

... 2ND REQUEST, PRESENT HALL PASS.

But yeah, it'll only take one 'Save data has been corrupted, continue anyway?' before junior takes a sledgehammer to the damned thing.

DarkTetsuya

$80 for this piece of garbage? It reminds me ALOT like the clap on, with a timer instead of a sensor.

Angryrider

@RYAMATSU:

Maybe I say this too often, but damn, you're awesome.

man_in_gauze

Fun Stuff for the Summer...
They also showed a whipping robot for naughty children and a beer bottle tossing robotic arm.

chemical_eng_mx

Or the parents could just tell their kids, "No more tv" and shut it off. This is like passive-agressive parenting.

Strangelove

Being an overly obsessed gamer and rebellious child in the past with a very stern and MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY mom, I don't understand how everybody here can just be like "YOU'RE A BAD PARENT IF YOU CAN'T CONTROL YOUR CHILD", because it's not that easy AT ALL. My mom would do absolutely everything in her power(lots o' spankings and lack of privileges) to make sure I followed her strict rules, but whenever she was at work or something all bets were off. Hell, I'd even sneak in some gaming/tv late at night when I was supposed to be asleep. I'd get caught and punished often, but I never learned.

Although I don't support BOB, Ninjikiran has the best approach I've read here for any idiot mom that buys the device.

And even if a BOB can turn off a Gameboy, won't it have like 4-5 hours of battery life?

PRguitarman

did anyone else's father remind them often of the ancient Roman families where the parents could legally kill the children?
no?

ZinkO: The Game (the kind you just lost)

11:00:00 - PS3 turns off in the middle of the final long epic battle of FF13
11:00:05 - Makes a >:( face
11:20:04 - parents have been murdered
11:20:45 - turns PS3 back on
News Next day: GTA has trained another child to murder.

Neeks

I had one of those on our TV when I was a kid! Too much SNES prompted my parents to buy a 'TV Allowance Box' and assign each family member their own four-digit code, which was programmed with an allowance of watchable time each week.

My brother and I would take turns brute-forcing it to give us our parent's code, which came with unlimited time, obviously. This process could take hours, and had to be repeated when we were caught, so eventually we just smashed the damn thing to pieces wih a hammer.

snackalacka

I dunno where Kotaku picked you up from Owen, but I'm glad they did. Funniest damn thing I've read in a while.

edb87

Fun stuff for the summer? More like.. Fun stuff.... FOR SATAN!

"By the way, whenever you see me type all caps, you should imagine a monster trucks voice - Owen"
I love that quote, as I generally hate unnecessary capital letters. I also like that you specified, simply, "A monster truck's voice."
As though it is the voice of some terrifying living truck. And that just makes it even better.

Uzumaki_Kiba

You know what's great about that clip: the 360 has a time limit feature and it's placed in the same shot as a device that does the same thing.

sonos

Here's a novel idea...spend more time with your kids and police them yourselves instead of using electronic devices to do it for you.

And you wonder why your child has problems with authority...because there is no authority figure in his life but BOB.

Imakeholesinu

@maraxusofk: Oh, there are parents that still beat their kids, they just don't get on T.V. unless it's a surveillance video. The parents that are televised are the ones with the slutbag daughters on Maury and the ones who whine about video games taking their kids from them. The people that need BOB are just as bad as the poor humans that needed supernanny to come and help them control children that could be handled with a swift belt lash.

enigma89

in my day, parents beat their kids until they learned to obey their parents. the fact that parents nowadays need this kinda crap is embarassing for today's parents.

maraxusofk

It'd be pretty sad if parents decided to buy this to help parent their kids.

On a side note, I always thought BOB stood for Battery Operated Boyfriend. :-p

Naia

I can bypass "Bob" with an $8 cable...

暇人

@PRguitarman:The thing is, there's give and take. Sometimes the parents need to lighten up, sometimes the kid is a fucking demon and is just..broken as hell and all you can do is get em to 18 without a police record or worse. It's something you learn as a parent, but I wagered had your mom lightened up some when you were younger, you might have toned down your rebellion levels and there could have been peace.

Something you'll learn when raising a child is there's almost always signs of things to come. They happen fast sometimes, other times they happen repatedly, but you have to pay attention and..well parent. Using a device to switch off your kid's system isn't going to work and it will lead to a tech war where the kid is in a race with you to win control.

Pretty much active parents with former or current gaming backgrounds won't need this and the typical lazy parent will, with a few children learning how to overcome this device and render it useless. (Protip, most children will always outcome their parents when it comes to learning to use and overcome new tech)

Foxstar Sixtail

This is ridiculous... I can just picture the amount of high end electronics getting destroyed by this thing cutting off the current. Bye bye, PS3, 360, LCD/Plasma TV! If you're retarded enough to need something like this to control your kids, I suppose it's only fitting they ultimately pay the price for it as well.

.Trenchant.

BOB claims to be "Safe for all electronics" and compatible with computers. Guess nobody told them that cutting the power to a PC can crash the harddrive.

Kincyr

@perfectoon_0901: Exactly. It's like an $80 IQ test.

Otherwise /facepalm /headdesk

Evil Tortie's Mom

this will go the way of a Microsoft product of the same name.

Kincyr

@Kincyr: Additional: They recommend plugging the monitor into BOB (makes sense), there's also an Always On feature for Macs and TVs that lose their settings when unplugged, and a Cool Down setting for projectors. Always On will give you a minute to shut down manually, if it doesn't dectect a voltage change to indicate that the device is "off", it will cut the power and possibly crash it.

Kincyr

@KirbySS: OMG...I remember MS Bob. I worked at Incredible Universe (a store similar to Best Buys), and MS had a HUGE launch for the thing. Though Bob was the biggest flop in software history.

cduran02

Dad put one of these on mine and of course I came up with an easy way to bypass it. Rip off the back panel plug the 360 power cord back in and close it back up. Turn it on whenever he's home and the retard never notices.

Ratfoot

I sold something called Lock Out at JC Penny that did the samething for $1.99. LOL @ $75.50

RobertHMayfire

What cr*p this device is. It appears that you plug the power cord of your device into bob, then bob is locked so the power cord cannot be removed. Bob then handles the power of the device by cutting power off completely after X many hours.

Thank you Microsoft for making the 360 have a power cord you can remove from the console.

Kid goes to gamestop buys a new power cord for the Xbox 360, plugs it into a wall outlet and makes parents think bob is still in control. Parents come in and kid tells parents that their 5 hours are not up because bob hasn't shut it down yet. 3 days later and your 5 hours still not up. Good stuff.

PG4

sorry for all of these posts, but this article just reminded me of a Futurama quote:

"Have you ever tried simply turning off the TV, sitting down with your children, and hitting them?" - Bender

Kincyr

@Kincyr: Heh, driving kids back to the NES or 2600 days.

Evil Tortie's Mom

despite what the Today Show said about plugging a Game Boy in, power adapters from the GB Pocket to the DS Lite won't fit into a BOB, the original's adapter will, but that is for the rechargable battery pack. Neither will an adapter for a console from the 8-16 bit eras. Bulky adapters ftw.

Kincyr

Can't the kids just unplug bob?

B1S1

First I laughed a bit at this article, and it's bit of tech to help horrible parents control their spawn, but then a frightening thing occurred to me: this is exactly the kind of thing that could be used to great effect by girlfriends/wives annoyed with the amount of time a certain someone spends with their console.

Makes me glad my gf is a gamer too.

frozenfox13

My parents attempted to use a similar locking device on me many years ago when I was in my teens. As a punishment they'd shut off the TV or the computer monitor, using a keybox that must have directly interupted the flow of electricty to the specific unit.

Well, I just stole the keys and made copies. Parents thought they were punishing me, but as soon as they stepped out, I'd just go about my business with them none the wiser. It looks like this uses a keypad code lock instead, but I don't see why an enterprising kid couldn't get around it.

Atheist Jew

It's just like the Angel Vindication Curse-buster, except for real!

Enimor

Bob. Another unnecessary "parenting" device guaranteed to make your children hate you and turn out no, not RIGHT but pseudo-right.

As in they'll LOOK like they turned out, when really, they probably want to kill you and your crappy way of, well, not actually parenting.

Xiatter

@seventh_sage: With all the things wrong with the product, you chose the no-lockout PIN? Even if I believed in the product, if my kid was willing to go through all 3024 combinations before figuring it out, I'd just let him.

EmTeeZ

@mferrari:
I had a similar experience. If I was being punished, my dad would remove the coax cable from the TV setup so that _nothing_ worked. I found a spare one and stashed it where it wouldn't be likely to be spotted, and then I could bypass the "system". Only worked when the parents were out, though...

Anyways, it's a dumb kid who doesn't realize that mommy has the power to remove Bob from the system and get the TV working again. Less trouble than fighting over the TV power switch, but it still leaves them open to tantrum warfare. Now, I had a friend in college who achieved the rank of UberGeek in the realm of computers (he was the first to install a 1GB HDD when they hit the market), and he was open to the idea of letting other people play games on his computer. Well, he got sick of people playing games until the wee hours of the morning, so rather than kick people out, he set up a program within his computer that would automatically shut it down at 2am and prevent it from booting up again until after dawn. He had a way to go in and prevent the shutdown from happening, but said that once it kicked in even he couldn't bypass it until the time limit expired because it would automatically initiate a shutdown again as part of the boot sequence. I'm a bit more computer savvy now, so I'm a bit suspicious of his claim now (a simple boot disc should have been enough to slip past it), but noone questioned him about it at the time. But, man, if there'd been a lock that took a basic metal key, he would have had half a dozen people begging him to let them play games after he and his roommates had gone to bed...

@PG4:
Put it on the TV cord, not the XBox. Then you've cut off all forms of TV-based entertainment, and CRT TVs generally don't have removable power cords, so if you can't get power through the primary cord, that's all she wrote. Now, flatpanel TVs, I'd expect, would be like computer monitors where they have removable power cords (thereby allowing a bypass). Of course, this then opens up the problem that digital TVs have to be programmed as to which channels you want to receive or not receive, and cutting the power will likely reset to factory settings.

Purple Dave

Just beat your kid when he dosent do as you say.... Eventually he will learn. LoL

Or just take the power cord and tell him he will lose hes weekly money if he buys a new one.

JojoTheSlayer

I can't wait to see how Bob turns off a GameBoy.

Sailorcancer

My Mom used a similar device to keep me and my brother from playing videogames or watching TV after she said it was time to stop. It was called "The Belt." Works wonders. I recommend it for all parents.

psycoking

I wonder how many save games this bad boy will destroy ...

hollowfreak

If you're a parent who is not only dumb enough to purchase this product but also believe that it will actually prevent your already tech-savvy child from bypassing its system somehow, chances are you need them to program it for you in the first place.

It's a little like deciding to build a wall on the US/Mexico border. Eventually you'll need a certain someone to get it done fast and cheap. Hmm, wonder who that could be...

Garonyldas