August 8th 2012 8:19 am PT

Netflix “Just for Kids” Comes to Xbox 360

Today brings exciting news for Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers with Netflix memberships. Once you download the most recent update to the Netflix app that is available now, you will have access to Netflix “Just for Kids.” It is an entertainment experience designed exclusively for children 12 and under that makes it easy and fun for families to browse and instantly watch a large selection of kid-friendly TV shows and movies.

Check out this video for a quick tour of the new navigation experience from our friend at Netflix, David Watson, director of product innovation.

Now, kids and parents can click and instantly watch their favorite characters, including many they’ll recognize from their favorite shows and movies. “Just for Kids” consists of titles organized by easy-to-understand genres such as superheroes, princesses, dinosaurs and girl power, featuring clear and simple descriptions of the plot of each title. And with Kinect for Xbox 360, all of your favorite entertainment on Netflix can be found by simply using your voice.

Netflix “Just for Kids” is available today in all markets where Netflix on Xbox LIVE is offered. Don’t have Netflix? You can easily download the app from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace on your console today to begin enjoying movies and TV shows instantly*.

*An Xbox LIVE Gold subscription, Netflix unlimited streaming membership and a high-speed Internet connection are required and sold separately

Xbox 360, Xbox Live By Larry Hryb, Xbox LIVE's Major Nelson

permalink: http://majornelson.com/2012/08/08/netflix-just-for-kids-comes-to-xbox-360/

The Dukenator

While this is nice, will it come to the other platforms?
- http://benpike.net/ Ben Pike
  
  Why don’t you ask Netflix?
- theConstruct
  
  The Wii has had ‘Just for kids’ option for quite a while.
- vinull
  
  Netflix for Kids is already on Ruko 2, Boxee, WD TV, and a few others I think. Of course on those you are not required to pay an additional annual fee for features and updates.
  - aStrangeDisease
    
    I don’t pay any additional fees on the Xbox either.
    - vinull
      
      a Gold membership is required for Nextflix on the Xbox
      - aStrangeDisease
        
        Right, well I already have Gold anyway and it is less expensive than Netflix.
- http://twitter.com/Sheldococo ZombieGuy
  
  This feature is already on the PS3 and Wii versions of the app
- mog386
  
  The PS3 and the Wii has had this for a while now, and I know that Roku has it
- Russell Gorall
  
  I think PS3 has it already.
- http://twitter.com/Sheldococo ZombieGuy
  
  This feature is already on the PS3/ Wii apps
- http://twitter.com/Sheldococo ZombieGuy
  
  This feature is already on the P S 3 and W i i apps
http://www.facebook.com/irwin.guevara Irwin Guevara

Fix Netflix! The UI is horrible after the last update.
- http://www.facebook.com/chris.grub.5 Chris Grub
  
  It was supposed to be an upgrade, and in reality it crippled the app.
http://www.vastyles.com/ Tim

Still blows my mind, they went from one of the best netflix apps, to the worst usable ones. Neat addition tho for those with kids. But the app is still painful to use.
http://twitter.com/TheLittleMoa Rhys

And the next person to comment will be complaining about the lack of party film watching.
http://twitter.com/azgoodaz azgoodaz

We Need the Party Watch Tab back in Netflix, so we can have friends on different Xbox’s view the same movie.
- Riddick Snipes
  
  ive got an idea y dont they release a xbox 360 thats pink, comes with a sqeaky controller when u squeeze it and sings mary had a little lamb to put the kids to sleep! if microsoft crawl any more up kids bums it will be bordering on paedophilic!
http://twitter.com/lochdoun Bry

Still catering to a different demographic I see… looks like I won’t be getting the next Xbox.
Mark Boeschen

My kids obviously have a different profile on the Xbox but no Xbox Live. How does this work?
- http://twitter.com/marvinduranr Marvin Durán R.
  
  get an xbox live gold family account
http://twitter.com/NathanielFrost1 Nathaniel Frost

Kinda feels like this should be a separate app from the main Netflix app.
InfernoShade

Nice! Great that there’s a different environment for kids. It’s always problematic when I let my 9 year old jump on netlix because he’s tempted to look at inappropriate shows/movies. Hope this makes it to the phone apps. Also hope they can build a queue.
http://twitter.com/TrueSaiyan21 Spelled Right

Wow, still no fixes for everything they broke almost a year ago. Instead we get this, a useless feature that isn’t needed. For you kids out their just exit and re-enter app that takes forever to load now.
Volitar Prime

Is there any chance that they will upgrade this app for 1080i/p video?
http://twitter.com/TroopLee Trooper Lee

Shouldn’t you guys be complaining to Netflix about the app, Microsoft didn’t build it, they just host in and allow it to be installed on the Xbox. If you don’t like the netflix app, email them. It would have a higher chance of getting fixed if you let them know .
- CyberSkull
  
  Its getting harder and harder to complain to Netflix. And this app’s UI is falling in line with the latest requirements from MS, all the recent video apps have terrible UI.
Bill Kempf

I’ve got kids, and so I’m glad to see features like this, but really, before we get any more features we need to fix the problems. Netflix takes forever to start playing videos for us (average of 45 seconds, and there are times you can measure startup in minutes). It’s not an issue with out setup, as every other video app on the Xbox (Zune, HuluPlus, Vudu and Amazon VOD are all services we use frequently) start streaming, without pixelation, nearly instantly, while Netflix takes forever and starts out with a very bad quality even after the wait. Then there’s issues with the Recently Watched section often not displaying and the loss of many features with recent updates.
- http://twitter.com/Quazal Stephen Thompson
  
  I had deleted the app and re-downloaded it and it fixed the slow load times on videos. I was having anywhere from 1 min to 5 min load times on a 30mb connection.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Josh-Luevano/100000737211744 Josh Luevano

Bring back Netflix Party! Everyone wants it back!
Lee Rayson

I like it, tho it easy to switch between them, perhaps a child proof password would be needed to stop them from switching back an watching mature movies
tabicat

This is a great idea, except it needs to be available to kids using their own (offline) gamer profile. I’m tired of having my kids log into my Gamertag because I’m the only one in the house who has a Gold account.
- Doug Sims
  
  I agree tabicat. I got my son a silver account (because he wanted to track achievements and such) but he still has to log in to my account if he wants to watch Netflix on the xbox. At least they do have subtitles now though.
medveten

I remember the days when xbox 360 was all about games, and core gaming. Now it’s Kinect and videos, casuals and “for kids” focus.
I know MS wants to beat Nintendo, but it’s a bad move to forget about the fans that made the console a success in the first place. Casuals won’t buy the 720, and if Ms continues like this I bet not even core players will buy it, Gears and Halo alone can’t sell a console.
http://twitter.com/boblevel boblevel

Wish they would make this available for the computer/AppleTV/Roku as well..
http://twitter.com/Byyys Byyys

For Kids eh?, all kids have to do is press Back to go into main netflix. no parental control? FAIL!
- aStrangeDisease
  
  I do have parental control. It’s called being a parent and watching your kids.
  
  Why would kids navigate away from unlimited cartoons to watch boring movies anyway?
  - JubbaTheHott
    
    because they’re KIDS and KIDS try things just to see if they can.
    - aStrangeDisease
      
      Touché.
  - http://twitter.com/Byyys Byyys
    
    If i was your son or daughter, i’d stay away from you with that Strange Disease.
    - aStrangeDisease
      
      If I was your parent, I would teach you how to use a shift key.
  - http://twitter.com/Byyys Byyys
    
    If i was your son or daughter, i’d stay away from you with that Strange Disease.
http://twitter.com/DarthBrady Vulcan Assassin

Another reason to use a different device to access Netflix instant other than my Xbox. However, this misfortune can be avoided if Microsoft does not make the same mistake the Wii and others are making with their Netflix instant software. Please Microsoft, DO NOT make us select either “Netflix for kids” or “Netflix” every time we start up the software. It’s so annoying..

At least get a one-up on your competitors also adding Netflix for kids to their Netflix Instant software, and give users the option to disable it or something of similar compromise.
James Valadez

How about instead of adding stupid features to the Netflix app and making it worse, you update the app and make it more responsive. And also remove the instant start anytime a title is selected.
Jonathan Rainer

Other Changes: They added the year to the main description.

The start button is really strange now. Has anyone tested it out? I got it to pause the video after play had run for a few minutes, but now it seems to only bring up the menu. It also seemed to make it rewind at one point and then even kicked out to the menu, but my controller is about to give out, so want to know what others have seen…
CaptainHowdy13

I used to use netflix on XBOX only but I switched to PS3 because there UI is now better. Quite sad really
- beckerist1
  
  The thing is, the UI isn’t even THAT much better on the PS3. It looks like it was built by a 1990s graphic designer with a penchant for scrolling and loops… I still use the PS3 for netflix over the 360 though simply because it’s faster, doesn’t auto-play and you can clearly read the categories.
  
  If the xbox had the PS3 netflix app (plus kinect support) I wouldn’t have even bought my PS3
  - http://twitter.com/Inaba_kun Inaba-kun
    
    PS3 Netflix is indeed better, and it’s also 1080p, unlike the XBox Netflix, which is capped (by Microsoft) at 720p.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Steve-Thompson/625300472 Steve Thompson

I love this new kids version of Netflix. I no longer need to go online to find more kid shows then the few they have under the children’s tab. Today, for the first time, I just handed him the controller and let him pick whatever he wanted to watch without having to worry about him picking Saw 4 or something like that. The character list is extremely easy and he had a lot of fun looking through it.
http://www.facebook.com/gadzgamz Ryan Gadz

Netflix now runs more poorly
http://twitter.com/Mcklein73 Frank

I agree with others this app has gotten worse update after update….
chex_mix

man i have never seen an app update get as much hate as the nextflix app since about a year ago. and the hate is for good reason. almost every “feature” they added has been horrible and people have unanimously not liked them. on top of that, the UI changed for the worse.
http://twitter.com/CapSarcastica Aron T’Lor vas Camry

I’m the youngest person in my household at the age of 25. I personally pay for the Netflix account on my XBox 360. The only children in my life are my cousins who, in the last year, have visited me once and for just three hours. I have absolutely no need whatsoever for a “Just for Kids” option. Having to choose between regular Netflix and the Just for Kids options creates an additional step that is completely and 100% unnecessary in my household, and I imagine there are many others for whom this is equally unnecessary. Is there some way to bypass this? Maybe a setting I can change so I don’t have to chose each and every time I start up Netflix? Other family features on the XBox are optional. This is fine for XBoxs in family homes, but there are plenty of XBoxs where this will simply be an inconvenience.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=547419664 Mark McGehee
  
  Agree with you 100%. Can’t seem to find a disable button!
- http://www.facebook.com/stephane.corriveau.90 Stephane Corriveau
  
  My feelings exactly. Add some sort of admin bypass. While on the subject, add settings to customize (and limit) the amount of categories displayed.
http://twitter.com/LiveArcade Christian Haase

it´s just me or was there an Mario on the right side in the video?
Yi Xu

Another useless app. Fixed the existing Netflix app already. It has enough problems. And why was party feature removed? There are enough other content devices to keep kids occupied. Please focus more on the gaming. Without the gaming part, I can just get Apple Tv or Roku for cheaper and remove my beloved xbox permanently. I rather not do that. But if you continue to take gold members for granted. You will see that happen soon.
NathanielRichmond

The “Just for Kids” selection that available to
Netflix customers with XBOX is pretty cool but even though I have an XBOX 360 I
still prefer to use Dish’s Blockbuster@Home service! Blockbuster gets new
releases 28 days before Netflix and Redbox customers, plus I can rent games,
blu-rays, movies and TV shows by mail! I work for Dish and I can tell you that
I can stream thousands of movies to my TV and PC for a cheaper rate then
Netflix.
makegoldbetter42

Microsoft: Fixing what was broke since 2005 (the hardware)
Microsoft: Fixing what wasn’t broke since 2010 ( the software, the Dashboard, Kinect)
http://conversations.nokia.com/ Adam Fraser

Excellent news! My little boy will be pleased.
http://twitter.com/Inaba_kun Inaba-kun

The Netflix app needs serious work. Why isn’t it a Metro app? The fake 3D stuff is from NXE, and yet it persists in Netflix like a vestigial limb. It’s also really slow and laggy.

Hopefully someone at Netflix or MS will port the much better looking Windows 8 Netflix app.
http://twitter.com/Inaba_kun Inaba-kun

Also what on earth are they thinking giving those kids in the video a bowl of popcorn which is almost as big as them? Popcorn is one of the most unhealthy foods on the planet, it shouldn’t be given to kids, EVER. It should be up there with big macs and cigarettes on the ‘deadly’ list.
- aStrangeDisease
  
  Popcorn is just corn. If you want to avoid corn, you better stop buying any commercially produced food products.
  
  Maybe you are talking about that microwave garbage? That is not real food.
aStrangeDisease

Nice! Netflix was already my most used app. Now with Just For Kids it is even better. Thanks for the update. My kids love it!
Trag3dy

Anywho, thanks a bunch! All of us child-less households and Xbox owners that have no child accounts are thoroughly enjoying extra steps to access Netflix. I also love that I can’t use my Kinect to directly launch Netflix through the video apps menu anymore, and instead have to go through quickplay. Keep up the good work.
JuanCabrera

The Xbox 360 app used to be the best and fastest Netflix app out there (my personal favorite). Now it takes at least a minute for a video to start. What’s even more surprising, is that out of all the apps that can be used with the Kinect, none of them are as slow or full of glitches as the Netflix one. It’s as if the team who designed the Amazon, Hulu Plus, Zune, and even YouTube apps is entirely different from the one who designed the Netflix one.
CyberSkull

This is a good feature… on the Wii version where it is properly implemented. Here on the Xbox 360 this adds another minute to the loading time for the app. First I have to wait for the regular or kid’s menu to pop up, then after choosing regular I have to wait another few minutes for my queue to pop up. All told, this is a pretty horrible program.
http://www.facebook.com/david.black3 David Reverand Black

Now I have to click again Just to open Netflix? I was Really hoping for a UI fix to bring back the old better UI… You’re slowly killing this app w/ these awful updates!!
http://www.facebook.com/asharad.hett.355 A’Sharad Hett

I really wish they would fix the interface…Now when I want to use my Kinect to watch Netflix I have to tell it 3 separate times that I want to do so. My question is: WHY? Why the hell do I need to say “Xbox, Netflix” then I have to wait, then it’s “Xbox, play now” and after some more waiting I have to say “Xbox Netflix” AGAIN. Please explain how this streamlines the process at all I’m about to switch over the the PS3 for Netflix time…at least then I’ll be able to pick an episode without watching one I’ve seen before.
http://www.facebook.com/triciak Tricia Kula

Well, I think it’s cool for those that have kids. Being someone that does not, I’d like the option to remove the choice at startup every time it loads. Count me in as another Xbox user that would love to have the party option back.
http://www.facebook.com/icebox13 Jody Box

They seem to have broken multi-console functionality here. I have multiple XBoxes in my home and move my hard drive between them. Up until this update, I had no problem using Netflix on whichever XBox I wanted to use. Now, if I take it to a different XBox, I get the red loading screen and the circle under the logo spins indefinitely. I have to delete the Netflix app and it’s related files and re-download it to make it work, every time I switch XBoxes. Very, very annoying.
JubbaTheHott

please give us the option of disabling the netflix kids selection…the choice screen jsut delays the already-slow loading of netflix.
scott ball

How do I get this abomination of an app to stop asking me if I want to use Netflix for Kids? I do not want that, I will never want that. Please make it stop, or give me the option to.

August 8th 2012 8:19 am PT

Netflix “Just for Kids” Comes to Xbox 360

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