PlayLimit token-based video game and TV viewing timer
By Paul Miller 
posted December 7th 2005 6:00AM
posted December 7th 2005 6:00AM
Those pesky little whipper snappers these days just don't understand the hardships the previous generation faced.
For instance, they've hardly had to bother begging quarters off of mom and pops to hit the arcades ever since they got
that fancy "Nintendo" hooked up to the tube. Well, now they can know your pain with the PlayLimit, a token-based system
that locks up their system's composite connector and sets a timer to playtime. It comes with 40 tokens that each
represent 15 minutes of play, so after 10 solid hours of Halo 2 vegging, Junior is going to finally know how it feels
to be all out of change.
[Via Joystiq]
Something for the lazy parent.
Well, yeah, the target group is 4-12 year olds, because older than that kids have the brain to go buy an extra composite cable and plug it directly to the TV.
Still, this feels like some ?-christian parenting conspiracy.
Modern kids are smart enough to hack something like this.
with as only result that your kids are playing somewhere else ; if the s.. with your wife or husband is limited , you'll get it somewhere else isnt it ? Limiting access to something only works if the stuff is nowhere available or when you can convince the user of it (in this case your kids). So I think it works only when all parents in the neigborhood buy the same thing or when you combine it with the promise that you'll buy all the newest games.
(a product / services designer)
Now if they could only come up with something that simulates walking five miles to school, in the snow, uphill both ways.
http://img211.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snakes5kx.jpg
I might just buy one to annoy my roommate. Or maybe hook one up in my dorm's large plasma TV.
@ James - #6
Now see, i would have gone with the pedophilia angle. but thats just me.
I dont know there is something to be said showing my kids the pain of playing gauntlet in the arcade and having to carry 30 lbs of change, I think they need to simulate that by putting a lead brick in their pocket
Ah! I get it ! With this device parents can effect that time honored right of passage in every (male) child's development without the risk of criminal prosecution. The joy and excitment that comes the first time one learns how to rip off free games from a coin operated video game machine with a simple pocket knife, a friend, and a little ingenuity...
Common...we all did it once or twice...
Heh, this is a waste of money, about 2 seconds after the parent leaves the room, the kid will pick the lock, tear the thing apart and connect it back up so he doens't need tokens to play. Looking at the design, I'm not even sure you'd need to pick the lock to remove it.
My kids eat a lot of paint chips. This would be perfect for them.
This is most likely one of those lame ideas that some just graduated business major who doesn't have any kids and probably never will came up with. They had to come up with a product for a senior project and decided, hey, all of the smart kids in my group that I cheated off of had some good ideas, so I'm gonna put all of it together into a crappy product, that most kids intelligent enough to figure out todays video game controllers will be able to figure out how to get past. As #2 said all they need is to get another cable.
As a dad I find this interesting, not so much for controlling how much video games the kids watch but more for controlling whose turn it is. I'd like it better if you could set a different time limit, say 5, 15, 30 & 60 minutes.
Now of course the security of this thing looks laughable, but I would hope it's not designed to restrict access to TV while the parents aren't there.
http://screenblock.com/
Why the hell does that kid look so damn happy?
I just want to punch him in the face for some reason.
A red rubber ball is cheaper.
...OR you could just do what a parent is SUPPOSED to do and pay attention to what your kid's doing and oh, I don't know, impose some limits? Or would that forever damage your precious offspring's psyche and incur eventual psychotherapy bills or jailtime (whichever comes first)?
I say this as a parent myself. It's time for American parents to get off their increasingly fat posteriors and take some responsibility for raising their own children. I love tech, but hate the idea that it can or should fill human-interaction functions like child-raising.
Why take tokens and not money? Having a child is an investment; He/she should go out thieving to feed his/her gaming addiction.
Keys are very cheap:) If I was the kid, I would simply buy a set of keys for $4.95. Or if I was his elder brother, I would sell him the keys for $9.95:)
Horrible, horrible, horrible.
Parents need to "parent"!
It's funny to see all the parenting advice from all the college kids here. You'll change your minds soon enough.
VERY young kids play games these days, including mine. This is a great tool to teach them about limits, and earning priveleges. I predict it will be a big seller.
I would imagine only sick parents would buy this. Mine would.
yeah this is silly for home use.. but could have potential in a business environment. It would need more security though. Nice idea of disabling the composite video cable with a timer. Maybe I'll build my own.
When you're letting your kid earn marbles for time on a device as a way to get them to be responsible for their homework, this gadget will do just what you've been trying to do only with real limitations you cannot set the "old fashioned way". I think it's brilliant and only wish I would have seen this a year ago!
AND if you have children who are too afraid of what Mom will do if caught messing with the cables or the threat of not being allowed to play games at all - there's no fear of them messing with hte cables. There are a lot of kids out there who would be capable of handling this kind of device when they can't handle managing the time on their own. I really agree with Rich L. And if you have a child who needs to learn to focus on school work first, and a kid who's beaten every game he's played in the first hour, this is a good gadget to have. And an honest kid who won't mess with cables, will understand the limits and adhere. The rest of the comments are from some seriously bizarre people who apparently don't have kids!!