Coming fresh out of the Microsoft TechDays Conference, Microsoft SA has claimed that we will be getting official Xbox Live support “very soon.”
Microsoft SA has said many times over the past 3 years that Xbox Live will be coming to SA “soon.” When we spoke to them a year ago they said that they were working on a solution, but very little has been revealed since then.
This is the first time the company has said anything publically via one of its own channels regarding Xbox Live in SA.
Someone called Stanlee Nielson has tweeted that “Microsoft SA CIO recons XBOX Live will be in South Africa, “very soon”…”
To lend his tweet credibility, Microsoft SA re-tweeted his comment, confirming that they did make the announcement at TechDays.
Local gamers have been waiting a long time for official Xbox Live support from Microsoft, so this is great news. However, we can’t help but feel that it may be a bit late in the game to be making Xbox Live official in SA.
Local Xbox 360 users have been using Live for ages now, and with some sneaky manoeuvring through the registration process, we are essentially able to use it just like anyone else in the world. South African gamers have adapted, and by registering accounts with international addresses, and using services like MSPoints to purchase MS Points, we are able to play on Live, and download the vast majority of content. The only disadvantage is that we can’t download region blocked content that countries like Germany deem too risqué for general distribution.
Furthermore, many local gamers will already have Live profiles, and will have bought games and items as well as acquired Gamerscore under them. If Microsoft SA introduces Live for SA, it may not be possible to simply transfer already existing UK or USA accounts to SA’s Live service. Essentially, we would have to start our profiles from scratch, a sacrifice that many gamers are not willing to make. The only way around this would be to allow local gamers to migrate their profiles.
The benefits of Live in SA are obvious. Firstly, we would not have to lie about our residential address in the sign up process. We would also be able to use our own credit cards to buy MS Points, although MSpoints.co.za largely negates this benefit. Most importantly, we would not be subject to the harsh censorship employed in countries like Germany and the East.
The final benefit, and this remains a big “if”, would be if Microsoft setup a local Xbox Live mirror. Not only would this make downloads faster, but it would also make it possible to use local bandwidth to access content.
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