Xbox 360 gamers have been complaining about the lack of local Xbox LIVE support for years. Gamers wanting to go online and duke it out against each other have to create foreign accounts using US and UK residential addresses, and SA credit/debit cards cannot be used to buy MSPoints or Gold subscriptions. Whilst these problems were painful, they were effective solutions.
One of the biggest problems however, is that without official Xbox LIVE support in SA, loads of awesome content is region blocked. So while in some ways we may be tricking MS into thinking we are in the US or UK, when it comes to DLC for age restricted games, local IP addresses were access blocked. More dedicated gamers set up VPN’s which bypassed the region blocking, but it is hardly a solution that the majority of gamers are willing to pursue.
So there was cause for celebration when Microsoft announced earlier this year that SA would finally be added. However, the announcement that our own LIVE service will launch on November 10 has been met with mixed reactions.
Pros
– No more region blocked content. We will finally be able to download map packs for the likes of Call of Duty and Gears of War.
– No more exclusion from packaged free DLC that sometimes ships in the game box.
– More local gamers on Xbox Live. Previous limitations prevented the majority of gamers from signing up for a LIVE account. Now that it will be easy to sign up and buy subscriptions/MSPoints, we should start seeing the ill-informed masses going online. More gamers means it will be easier to find local games with lower latencies.
– Microsoft has confirmed that we will be able to migrate our current Xbox LIVE accounts to the South African service. Gamers will be able to keep their game saves, achievements, Gamertags, Gamer Score and friends lists. They will also keep their unspent MS Points and remaining Gold Subscription time, as well as all the downloaded content stored on their hard drives.
Cons
– More expensive subscriptions and MS Points. The biggest bone of contention is that once on the SA LIVE service, you will have to pay local prices for MS Points and subscriptions. A one year Gold subscription currently costs US$49.99 (±R350). The same subscription will cost R599 on Xbox LIVE South Africa, which is close to double the US price. However, Gold subscriptions are thought to be universal, so theoretically you should be able to buy a US Gold subscription and use it on your local account. This is one of the first things MyGaming will test come November 10th. You can also by a 12 month universal Gold subscription from MS Points for R415, which will almost certainly work on local accounts. It is worth noting that the US cost of a 12 month subscription will be increased to $59.99 (R420) on November 1, 2010.
– 2100 MS Points will cost R299 on Xbox LIVE SA, which is just slightly above the UK cost; £25 (±R275). Microsoft warns that MS Points bought outside of SA may not work on Xbox LIVE SA.
– We might not be getting the entire Xbox Live experience. Microsoft is “working on” getting Netflix, Zune, Facebook and Twitter for Xbox Live SA, but there are no guarantee at this point. In fairness, most of these services are also IP blocked, so we are not losing anything here by migrating.
– Confusion around re-downloading already purchased Xbox Live content. If you have an purchased content that is currently not installed, you should re-downlaod it before migrating, as Microsoft does not guarantee you will be able to do so after migrating. Essentially, make sure you have all your purchased content saved abd backed up before you migrate.
MyGaming has contacted Microsoft for comment to help clarify some of the confusion, particularly regarding the higher local subscription and confusion which still surrounds re-downloading content after migrating.
Discuss the Xbox LIVE South Africa service’s pros and cons on the MyGaming forum.
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