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(Pocket-lint): All new technology brings excitement, especially when you’re giving someone a new console that’s going to take up many hours of the day for years to come. With the Xbox series consoles and the new PlayStation 5, it’s likely to be a gaming Christmas for many.
Sure, if you are a fan, you will have already bought and will be playing with your console, but for many parents, who are giving away the console, there is more to think about. That’s if you managed to get one, of course.
However, that Christmas cheer can be turned off a bit when you take your new Xbox Series X out of the box and then find that you have hours and hours of downloads before you can get anything done.
Ding dong dumps high!
Well, it’s not that bad. There is an initial update for the Xbox Series X (at the time of writing) that is only 700MB and comes in a flash and updates the console. Beyond that, the great barrier is the games themselves.
If you want to play the latest games or mainly have digital titles, there are a lot of downloads to do, especially if you want to take advantage of Optimized for Series X / S. These games should be on the internal storage of the Xbox series for the best experience.
Take Forza Horizon 4, for example. It is optimized for Xbox Series X / S and has approximately 80 GB download. The total download for us was about 3 hours, although of course you can start playing before everything is downloaded, but if you only have a few games that you probably want to play on Christmas morning, it is worth preparing the console before the big day.
Unpacking the Xbox Series X
Having the packaging in perfect condition so you don’t ruin the experience is part of the fun here. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to get into the Xbox Series X bundle without destroying anything.
The box is kept closed by four adhesive tabs. These are not safety tabs, they can actually be peeled off the box without tearing or leaving marks. With a little care, you can peel them open to open the lid. Then they are worth gluing to themselves, so that when you put the box back, you can use them to close the box lid again.
Then you simply have to lift the lid to get a first look at your new dream machine, the Xbox Series X. Well, there’s a foam pack on top, but once you lift it up, the console will find itself in more packages, with a card sleeve wrapped around.
The card will slide out easily, so you can deal with the black wrapping on the console.
The inner wrap is secured again with masking tape, so it is easy to carefully lift this tape and open one end of the sleeve. You can then slide the console out of the wrap, leaving it fit.
That’s it, you are ready to go.
Hear the song of the power cord!
The next step, naturally, is to connect it. If you already own an Xbox (which you probably do if you want to download games that you already own), you can simply find a time to connect your X Series with the connections you regularly use for your Xbox One.
For the console to work, you will need power, a network connection, and HDMI to the TV. We disconnected the cables from our existing Xbox and plugged them into the X Series. Using existing cables means there is no need to go through the rest of the box so you can leave everything intact.
The power cord is the standard figure-eight type, so you can easily use an existing cord for this if you need it.
A wired network connection is preferable, as they can be much more reliable than wireless, and a connected Ethernet cable is easily detected in the setup process.
The setup itself uses the Xbox app on your phone. You will need to install the application where you will see the option to configure a new console. You will make a connection by tapping the letters displayed on the TV in the app.
The basics of setup are handled through your phone, including the option to sign in and link to your Microsoft account, your security options for the new console, and a prompt to download the app to manage your family on the Xbox. too.
Use your old controller, if you can
We found an initial approx. A 700MB download was required before reaching the controller connection stage. Although the on-screen graphics ask you to plug in one of the new controllers in the box, you can use an existing Xbox One controller if you have one.
You’ll have to turn on the controller, press the orange connect button on the front, and then press the connect button on the front of the new Xbox console as well. That will pair the two together and you can do everything else without disturbing the rest of the packaging.
If you don’t have an old controller, you’ll have to carefully delve into the box to release the new Xbox series controller. Lift the cover of the case on the back of the case and you will find the controller on the right.
It is packaged quite simply, with duct tape that keeps the bag closed, but opens easily. The batteries are supplied, but sealed in another bag, so you may want to find two AA batteries for this temporary measure.
Oh come all downloads
As we said, downloading the games requires a great deal of time. After you’ve gone through the setup process, the Xbox Series X / S will be ready to go, but you won’t have anything to play with.
Since some of these downloads take many hours, you may need to choose the games that you think will be the most important on Christmas morning. Just head over to your list of games, see what bears the X / S logo you’ll want on internal storage, and hit download.
Of course, downloads are not the only option. If you have external storage on your existing console, you may want to do some management there, to move games to an external drive so that you can move them to the new console.
This will save you a great deal of download time, but will require careful administration to make sure you know what you are doing. We have a guide on how to move your games from one console to another using an external drive and even if you are downloading some games directly, there might be some that you change using the separate hard drive at a later date. You may also need another external drive if you don’t have the ability to move all of your games onto whatever drives you already have.
The important thing is to do a bit of cleanup and make sure any games you have saved to your internal drive on your old Xbox are saved to external storage so you can just move it around once you need it.
Santa baby, just slide an Xbox under the tree, for me
Once you’ve done your update and setup, downloaded a few games, you can think about putting everything back in the box, knowing that it will be ready to go on Christmas morning with minimal fuss.
If you’ve been careful unpacking, it’s easy to return the console to its pristine packaging and no one will notice – until it’s started up and ready to play.
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Written by Chris Hall.
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