Topic: Parental Controls

I second this(and I don't even have the game yet)

Thirding the Game Chat thing, plus it does give you the ability to put an image you've taken via your 3DS on your profile that would be visible to other people. Yes, there are parental controls you can set to avoid that sort of thing, but Pokemon X/Y in particular are very geared toward people being open and out there in order to trade and battle with others, to 'catch 'em all' as it were. The game does tell you when there are other players nearby (local wireless, not just over internet) and give you the opportunity to interact with them. If she doesn't have the desire to keep to herself and has a natural knack for getting around parental controls and other roadblocks, again, I would very much recommend you only allow her to play it while properly supervised so that you know at all times exactly what she's up to. if that's not an option, you may want to skip the 3DS this year.

I know she wants Pokemon X/Y very much, but is she at all interested in a Wii U? Perhaps a home console would be something more easily monitored/access controlled in the home?

If you're really worried about online stuff, you could just get a DS or even Game Boy Advance off Ebay/Amazon so you won't have to worry about Internet connections period. There are Pokemon games for those systems so she could still play them, just not the newest one yet. Just a suggestion of course.

for Pokémon you could also get a Wii or WiiU(it plays Wii games too) Pokémon Battle Revolution(Wii game) isn't bad at all for kids(but gets boring too fast for teenagers and adults)

Hey guys, just a heads-up — if you have no honest suggestions for a concerned parent, please do yourself a favor and don't bother commenting. Thanks in advance!
_{Don't worry, if your comment is still here in the thread, you're good to go. This is just for the ones I've had to delete is all :3}

That said, @WingedSnagret's idea is pretty good — the DS' online capabilities are pretty screwed thanks to the insistence on WEP connections, but if you think she could get around even that somehow, there's always the GBA. :3

if you end chosing the GBA definitely pick a GBA SP because the screen has light and Pokémon Emerald it's the best!

I think GBA is a little too far back... if you're going to do that, I'd say go with the DS lite; it can play GBA games, too. And not really much you can do with the internet on it.

@Gioku yeah the DSLite needed a retail "gamecard" to have internet browser so, along with the original brick DS, it's the second safest option and by second safest I mean a chance of 0.0000000009%(made up number, but not unreal) of anything bad happening, at least anything involving pervs....
edit I meant DS and typed 3DS

Haha, sorry, I just felt a little express-y.

There's really nothing to worry about that I'm aware of though, especially with Swapnote gone. If your daughter's really that intelligent, she'll be smart enough not to do anything stupid.

can you restrict specific games? or just whole esrb ratings? what if i want to download a game but dont want my child to even see it on the menu so she wont even be tempted to break the parental lock?

I'm pretty sure you can't restrict specific games, just the ESRB rating. Ex: If you want you child not to play The Sims 3, every game that is also Everyone 13 and up rated games will be restricted, and so forth. (M games also restricted with that, of course.)

You could always put the icon for the game where she probably won't see it, such as away from all of her other apps and games.

I used to have Parental Controls when I was younger, and I know lots about technological stuff. I couldn't crack a thing!

If you want to get her a 3DS, just restrict a certain game rating, internet browser, online interaction, (no game chat on Pokemon) and anything else you want.

For password stuff, chose something new that you've never used. Chose an "obscure" question and answer something weird, off topic, or whatever.

You could forget it, so write it down where your daughter can't find it. If that works.