A parent’s guide to setting up a new games console at Christmas

It your children have a new Xbox, Playstation or Nintendo Switch waiting under the tree, here is what you need to know about subscriptions, parental controls ... and getting the most fun out of it for all the family

The days of game consoles being ready for action as soon as they're plugged in are long gone, I'm afraid. Whether you've gone for an Xbox, PlayStation or Switch, your machine will need time to download the latest firmware updates before you can play anything. Depending on your broadband connection this can take anything from one to eight hours, so if you're a parent, you may want to think about how you're going to keep everyone entertained until that's done. If it's not already beautifully wrapped, it may even be worth sneakily unpacking the console and doing this prep-work before Christmas morning. If you have a spare ethernet cable (or can nick one from your PC for a day), consider setting up your console with a wired connection to your router rather than over wifi - this usually gives you a faster, more reliable connection.