South African gamers have gotten the short end of the Xbox 360 stick for so long now that when Microsoft announced that we were finally being added to the Xbox Live grid earlier this year, very few took the promise seriously. Those who did were hardly excited, and many feel like it’s simply too little too late. 

After all, serious Xbox 360 gamers have by now created Xbox Live accounts using false UK or US addresses, and thanks to services like MSPoints.co.za we are able to bypass the region blocking which prevents us from buying Xbox Live currency with our credit cards.

We are able to play online with our falsified Xbox Live Gold accounts, and 90-percent of the content in the market place is accessible. However, there are certain items which are region blocked, thanks to certain countries (I’m looking at you Germany) who feel like some content is not suitable for general distribution. 

Then of course there is the bundled DLC that often comes with packaged games. We have missed out on cars in Forza 3, a whole Alan Wake episode, and loads more. 

The good news is that the days of missing out on this sort of content are over. Our wily friends over at XboxGaming.co.za late yesterday afternoon managed to get confirmation from Microsoft SA that we will from now on be getting the same versions of games as those that are released in the UK. This means that we will get the same awesome bonus content as gamers in the UK. 

So far, we know we can start looking forward to the exclusive Elite Armour and Spartan armour DLC that will ship with the Halo: Reach Legendary Editions. We will also get the special quest DLC that will ship with the Fable 3 Limited Collector’s Edition. 

It may not be an earth shattering revelation, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.

Microsoft is still promising full local Xbox Live functionality by the end of the year, and is still hoping to make it possible for users with UK/US accounts to migrate their gamertags over to the soon to be added SA region.