A dumb parental question for anyone who has bought a PS4 recently - How long does the set up take, including any software updates? I don't know whether it's better to get it out of the box now and do the necessary setting up, and then pack it away and wrap it up for Christmas, or just wrap the thing up now and deal with it all on the day!

The kids will have Fifa and Minecraft, so probably won't be interested in going online straight away - is it possible just to plug it in, insert a disc and start playing straight out of the box?

I would personally get it set up first and then wrap it. The updates could take quite a while depending on how updated the purchased PS4 is. Don't take the risk of making your kids wait an hour!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qneY3iiKzuE

Mind that the update depends on your Internet speed.

If both games are disk based then you can insert the disk and start playing without doing updates.

If you don't want to do multiplayer online or access psn shop you can just plug and play.

In 5-10min you can hook up and initiate install on the game and already start playing.

You can also download system upgrade/game patch while playing (different than what ps3 had).

So you don't really need to open it. Although if your kids won't notice a missing seal that is good to verify if everything is working, ds4 is paried (turn on the controller while usb is plugged on ps4) and leave it doing all updates over night (since sometimes system freeze because of it). Just to assure that if anything happen you have time before C day to exchange the system.

Can they play offline without any updates to begin with, or are updates necessary before you even start? PS4 purchased about a couple of weeks ago.

Yes, but you'd want to make sure the experience was as smooth as butter wouldn't you?

You can download the latest firmware here: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/support/system-updates/ps4/

Stick it on a usb stick, so if the game requires you to have latest firmware installed (as some do), you can just install off the usb.

I'm just saying that, because if my experience is anything to go by, it'll be a Christmas miracle if you manage to get everything back in that box again.

Not long at all. IIRC, i was playing games in about 10 minutes after booting the console up. Much,much quicker than the Wii U.

You don't have to do anything, just take it outta the box, hook it up to the tv and put your game in and they are good to go. However, I will advice that while you have your hubby or someone take the kids to the mall or something, you should hook it up, update it, create a PSN account if you don't already have one, password protect it (so your kids don't use your account and buy random stuff), do all the parental control stuff you want to, and maybe even load some money onto your PSN wallet so you can buy games digitally for them whenever you want to. You should give yourself a healthy 3 hours to do all these things then put the console back in the box.

When your kids get the hang of things they can create their own sub accounts on the console. Its just better to take the time and do all these things now rather than leave it till xmas day. Too much will be going on then to deal with half of those things.

In addition to FIFA and minecraft, you should consider getting them games like journey and child of light. Trust me, artsy, figure it out yourself great story games like that will open up their minds. They will force them to think, be creative, be open minded and instill an appreciation for pretty explosion free stuff... and did i mention fantanstic mucis too?