Pre-pubescent and teenage Xbox 360 users looking forward to blending their online gaming and social networking habits are likely feeling a little disgruntled today after Microsoft revealed that the Xbox Live integration of Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm will initially be limited to over 18s only.
No networking love for the kids until parents have full control. Image: Microsoft.
According to Xbox Live guru Larry Hryb (a.k.a. Major Nelson), the software giant’s move to restrict access to ‘adults only’ is based on concerns regarding parental controls – or rather the current lack thereof.
“We made the decision because, as it stands now, parents aren’t able to use Family Settings to customize which of these applications their children can access,” he explained in an official post to the Major Nelson blog.
“In order to offer an age-appropriate environment for everyone, we decided to turn off these applications for those Gold members under the age of 18,” he added.
Unhappy Xbox 360 users should perhaps put any spleen venting on hold, however, as Hryb went on to insist that Microsoft’s Xbox Live development team is working hard on a downloadable update that will open the service to those between 13 and 17 by providing parents with the controls they require to better govern the use of their children.
The update is currently scheduled to arrive “several weeks” after social networks Facebook and Twitter and music streaming platform Last.fm are added to Microsoft’s expanding online multimedia service – they should be in place before the close of 2009.
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