Home Gaming Xbox Live In South Africa – We Get All The Answers That You Want To Know

Xbox Live In South Africa – We Get All The Answers That You Want To Know

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XBLsa.jpg

So folks, you are all very aware that Microsoft has just rolled out Xbox Live to a whole bunch of countries, including ours.

While we all have a rough idea of what that means, we were invited to a presentation for emerging markets with Microsoft’s Mark Whitten today, and soon after managed to corner Microsoft to get all of the answers that you all want to know.

Hit the jump for everything you need to know about the Xbox Live service, account migration and more.

Here’s what we managed to squeeze out of them:

Q: Will there be account migration available to everyone using accounts from other region?

A: Yes, they have also made it clear that it is very important to them for the gamer to be able to keep their gamertag, gamerscore as well as all purchases made on their current account.

Q: Will all regions have localised pricing?

A: Yes, all regions will be able to purchase subscriptions and points using using their local currency. Local currency and exchange rates will also be taken into account when decisions are made for pricing.

Q: When will Xbox Live roll out in these new regions?

A: Xbox Live is scheduled to release at the end of 2010 (holidays). No specific date has been decided, but it has been made clear that the service will roll out before the release of the Kinect (Project Natal) units.

Q: Will Microsoft look at getting in new partners in each region to offer services such as local television channels?

A: Yes, Microsoft will be looking at bringing services to the new regions (such as the UK having SKY and the USA having ESPN). Nothing is solid yet, but we will have official announcements as soon as Microsoft have something to tell us in the future.

Q: Will our regions have all of the same content that is already available to the current supported regions?

A: Yes, with the exception of any titles that are specifically licensed to only one region, but we can expect to have almost all titles available to us at launch.

Q: Will we have access to Last.FM when the service launches?

A: We will get access to Last.FM, however it will not be available at launch.

Q: Are we going to get the South African football kit added to the Avatar marketplace?

A: Yes we are, it is currently the number one most requested item. (we have also talked them into thinking about adding a vuvuzela as an avatar accessory).

Q: In the past, we received some titles such as Gears of War 2, Forza 3 and Alan Wake in South Africa that shipped without the free downloadable content that was made available in supported regions, will we be getting all of that content from now on?

A: Definitely. All content will be completely consistent across the board.

Q: Xbox 360’s are not sold in countries like Namibia and Zimbabwe, and the gamers get their goods from South Africa. Will their regions also be supported?

A: Unfortunately not, the new Xbox Live service will only be available in all countries where the Xbox 360 is sold.

_______

Ok folks, that’s all the information that we have for you. If you have any more questions, please post them below in the comments and we will do all that we can to track Microsoft down and get them answered but hurry, as time is running out.

Last Updated: June 16, 2010

67 Comments

  1. That is awesome news!

    Reply

  2. Theoneza

    June 16, 2010 at 11:24

    about fuckikng time :devil:

    Reply

  3. Someone

    June 16, 2010 at 12:05

    Now maybe I’ll buy not only that new 360(kinect bundle maybe) but get Live again.
    Haven’t been online for ages.

    Reply

  4. Bobby Kotick sips on some tea

    June 16, 2010 at 12:11

    Oh Gee thanks Microsoft, you’re so awesome :pinch: , now I can finally get those Gears of War 1 and World at War addons, that were blocked to us (because of Germany). :whistle:

    Reply

  5. D4RKL1NG

    June 16, 2010 at 12:39

    Wow,vuvuzela’s infecting Xbox live too? :sick:

    Reply

  6. BigBird

    June 16, 2010 at 13:25

    What about the content that was excluded from the games people have already purchased? (e.g. Forza 3)Will they somehow be able to receive this content despite the fact that the relevent extras were not included in the box?

    Reply

  7. Bobby Kotick sips on some tea

    June 16, 2010 at 14:58

    This is Microsoft BigBird, of course not.

    Reply

  8. AC!D

    June 16, 2010 at 15:58

    Nice work Nick!!!

    Reply

  9. Gavin Mannion

    June 16, 2010 at 17:20

    The Xbox guys we spoke did not appear to even know our content had been removed from boxes, however moving forward it will stop happening.

    I doubt we will get the old content back again though, except the stuff that is free DLC and currently blocked thanks to Germany.

    Reply

  10. bokka1

    June 16, 2010 at 18:59

    Great news. I have been skeptical about the migration issue but reading this I am very happy.

    Nice info guys, all my questions answered.

    Reply

  11. Shodan

    June 17, 2010 at 07:18

    Still no dedicated servers for games in South Africa?

    Reply

  12. telegamer

    June 17, 2010 at 08:35

    This is awesome….about time, with the amount of money I spend on xbox goodies

    Reply

  13. eltonriley

    June 17, 2010 at 08:41

    Not that I care, but are we ever going to get the World Cup avatars? Yet another kick in the balls from M$, the country hosting the world cup doesn’t get avatars. Ok they will, but only after the world cup. Bend over nicely boys, M$ is coming in for a second helping of your ass!

    Reply

  14. eltonriley

    June 17, 2010 at 08:42

    Appolgies I mean SA specific avatars.

    Reply

  15. ReAVeR

    June 17, 2010 at 09:10

    We just don’t have the numbers to warrant local infrastructure.

    Reply

  16. Worm

    June 17, 2010 at 09:14

    Still don’t really get the point of having live if there’s no dedicated servers? Love lag much? Sure its nice getting the DLC that the game was intended to have…but I would prefer having to connect to any game without actually having the game be hosted by a local player. Not even to mention games that only use dedicated servers, still gonna have a crappy ping…

    Reply

  17. Fox1

    June 17, 2010 at 09:32

    They could always mirror their servers over here.

    Reply

  18. koldFU5iON

    June 17, 2010 at 09:49

    There aren’t many games that use Dedicated servers infact the games that do utilise them most are EA titles (Battlefield), the servers farms that are overseas host all the information for matchmaking and getting you connected to another player (Peer to Peer), as well as hosting Market place content. So that is not going to change whether or not we get servers 😉

    Reply

  19. koldFU5iON

    June 17, 2010 at 09:50

    Also if a game is required to use a dedicated server as is the case for Battlefield then it’s EA’s responsibility to provide the equipment in the various regions not Microsoft

    Reply

  20. Mark

    June 17, 2010 at 10:19

    So basically Xbox owners are getting something that the PS3 has always had?

    Reply

  21. WitWolfyZA

    June 17, 2010 at 12:31

    Well im excited about the steam part on PSN!!! Wonder if that will make certain xbox 360 exclusives out of bounds on PS3

    Reply

  22. SlippyMadFrog

    June 17, 2010 at 13:03

    Yup’, simmular to how the PSN is trying to catch up to XBL all the time.

    Reply

  23. SlippyMadFrog

    June 17, 2010 at 13:07

    Who gives a crap about avatars? As soon as MS fixes something there is always another thing that people bitch about.

    Reply

  24. SlippyMadFrog

    June 17, 2010 at 13:09

    I really don’t get what’s so great about dedicated servers given that we are in SA. I’ve played Killzone 2 online but the lag is much more than in a local game of MW2 because the dedicated servers are overseas.

    Reply

  25. Simon

    June 17, 2010 at 13:32

    Thats funny because in reality, all current XBL users in South Africa don’t actually exist. At least with PSN the users are legal and recognised and have been so since DAY 1.

    Reply

  26. Bobby Kotick has Red cheeks

    June 17, 2010 at 15:23

    lol WitwolfyZA, Lazygamer still hasn’t released anything about PS3 and Steam. Maybe lans was right, there is an xbox 360 bias after all. 😉

    Reply

  27. Tmaswupass

    June 18, 2010 at 08:35

    @SlippyMadFrog..I have to disagree with you…I have both the xbox and ps3.The LAg between Gears of war and Killzone@2 differs a lot,Killzone@2 don’t have any Lag @ all when i play online connected to players from US sever on 384kbps adsl line..however Gears of war a lot of LAg and i mean a lot so what you saying is not true,It will be good to have our own XBL sever LAG exp will be reduced:)Wink

    Reply

  28. Gavin Mannion

    June 18, 2010 at 09:06

    It is physically impossible not to have lag when playing on US servers.

    Certain games can hide the lag well or work around it but you will always have lag if the dedicated server is in another country.

    Gears 2 lag was terrible against Americans though.. virtually unplayable for me but any local p2p games were awesome.

    Reply

  29. SlippyMadFrog

    June 18, 2010 at 09:31

    I have to agree with Gavin. Killzone 2 had lag, it’s just well hidden due to clever programming, simular to BC2 but it’s still there. There were multiple times where I killed someone and he killed me to at the same time due to lag. Killzone 2 with local P2P would have played much better.

    Reply

  30. Simon

    June 18, 2010 at 10:12

    At least the KZ2 programmers to the effort to hide the lag. With GoW2, they just left it as is because they knew we would buy it anyway. I’ve had both consoles since launch and the PS3 generally has far less lag than most of my X360 titles.

    Reply

  31. Tmaswupass

    June 18, 2010 at 10:15

    True that…agreed!i was just speaking generally on kiLLzone@2 honestly i have tried to look for LAG while playing online could not pick it up.And if there is lag Guerrilla must have hide it very well..for that i give them A+

    Reply

  32. Uberutang

    June 18, 2010 at 10:20

    KZ2 is the Bussiness!

    And UC2 Online pwns Gears online… faster smoother and less laggy!

    Reply

  33. SlippyMadFrog

    June 18, 2010 at 10:41

    P2P would not handle big team battles that well so I guess it’s give or take

    Reply

  34. PR3D

    June 21, 2010 at 10:53

    LOL! gotta love fanboys!

    Reply

  35. Richard

    June 21, 2010 at 19:54

    Xbox rules!!!!

    Reply

  36. timmy

    June 26, 2010 at 18:40

    yaaaaaaaaaaaaaa i love xbox i wana play gta 4 :ninja: :pirate: :devil: :alien:

    Reply

  37. flmboy

    June 26, 2010 at 20:40

    Timmmmyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply

  38. Timmmaaayyy

    June 27, 2010 at 16:17

    Oh Fox1, you and your many xbox 360 supporting accounts…

    Reply

  39. flmboy

    June 28, 2010 at 08:21

    Uhmmm actually I’m not Fox1…

    BTW it’s a South Park joke.

    Reply

  40. Fox1

    June 28, 2010 at 09:08

    I r teh Fox1 :whistle:

    Reply

  41. ScalyRebell

    July 5, 2010 at 13:19

    Fan blady tastic, g8 news indeed, What about Zoon Videos?? will this also be included :ninja:

    Reply

  42. Gavin Mannion

    July 5, 2010 at 14:45

    All movie and Zune content is subject to licensing which hasn’t been concluded yet…

    So the official answer is maybe :ninja:

    Reply

  43. sILLYDomitri

    July 7, 2010 at 13:25

    This makes me so HARD! :w00t: UBER amped!

    Reply

  44. Bobby Kotick weighs in...

    July 19, 2010 at 15:46

    Only thing of worth on the Zune Video marketplace is the independent webseries “The Guild”. (It’s also free, unlike red vs blue.. oddly.. ).

    Reply

  45. Panther 150

    August 23, 2010 at 14:54

    BRILLIANT!!

    Reply

  46. Ideal Velocity

    September 16, 2010 at 20:50

    I just jizzed in my pants —–I was so depressed when i arrived in SA after a long spell living in France and xBox Live by the bucket loads……I was lonely, very lonely, then….I read this article and the only negative thing is my pants are of a light color, so the stain is clear as day….oh who gives a damn, its coming to SA and now my girl will have a real reason to be pissed off with me!!!!Thanks uncle Bill!!! I would say i love you but that would be harrassment, so here’s to you Mr Gates! Booooooyaaaaaa to all you PS3 users, come over to my place and see how a real online experience works….blu ray whatever! :devil:

    Reply

  47. Ideal Velocity

    September 16, 2010 at 20:52

    I just had to add………..Wii this beeeeeeyatches! Natal is the shizzle….no not Durban…..doh! Durban is cool though….not in the summer, infact its quite hot…and then ….waffle waffle waffle…..PS3 😆

    Reply

  48. Ideal Velocity

    September 16, 2010 at 20:54

    Xbox Live…….Xbox Live…. ………Xbox Live!!!!!!!! oh, and chocolate…. …..and hot chicks……….and free money…… …..and ummmmmmmmmmmmmm …………. ………..ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm………. ………XBOX LIVE!!!!!! :w00t:

    Reply

  49. Ideal Velocity

    September 16, 2010 at 21:03

    Some might think that due to my comments above, I live a meaningless lonely and boring life…………..well, you are right, taht is until holiday time 2010 when all you PS3 lovers will be wishing your PS3 was waterproof as you cry over not having bought an XboX 36taaaaaaaaaaaay! So, I had my new shiny xbox covered in waterproof material so your drool does not get into my disc tray…..yuck! and the invite was a joke by the way…….go buy yourself your own xbox 36 taaaaay! It’s simple SONY – electronics company —-Microsoft – Computer Company ——consoles otherwise known as ‘computer games’ —–who do you think is going to really bring you the best experience ? The guy who makes the donuts isn’t necissarily the one who put the whole in it huh……remember, if it doesn’t taste like chicken, it probably ISN’T…………….PS3 what-eh-vaaaaaaaar! actually, come to think of it, keep playing PS3 – that way the servers for Xbox live don’t get overcrowded…….reduced lag ya know!
    Peace out – and don’t take any of this personally, after all, no-one forced you to say yes to being ass chomped by SONY! :heart:

    Reply

  50. Ideal Velocity

    September 16, 2010 at 21:07

    :ninja:

    Reply

  51. AC!D

    September 17, 2010 at 01:58

    No wonder you were lonely.

    Reply

  52. Ideal Velocity

    September 17, 2010 at 19:24

    Yup! but not anymore!!!! :biggrin:

    Reply

  53. Ideal Velocity

    September 17, 2010 at 19:25

    my thumbs are in training for a complete and total ass- sault (a bum somersault!) on my xbox controller!! bring iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit oooooooooooooooooonnnnnnn!
    :ninja:

    Reply

  54. Ideal Velocity

    September 17, 2010 at 19:34

    PS3 is for blind sheep and girls who play “drown drown” with heir barbie in the bath! oh and for people who like being ass CHOMPED! 🙂

    Reply

  55. Meaningful Emptyness

    September 17, 2010 at 19:37

    I, in fact, bought a PS3 and do complain often of pain in my rear end. My doctor said it was due to a condition known as “ECACS” – Electronic Company Ass Chomping Syndrome! So I can verify the previous statement. I have since, wisely, purchased an XBOX 360 and must say the symptoms have gone away. However, my nuts really hurt now!
    :angel:

    Reply

  56. Meaningful Emptyness

    September 17, 2010 at 19:39

    Thats because my woman skopped me in them! as I no longer pay any attention to her. Oh, well, gives me a reason to scratch my hooolies in public! Thanks Microsoft! :pinch:

    Reply

  57. Paul

    November 10, 2010 at 11:36

    Well i am not happy, migrated my account to the SA Servers and now i cant see jack shit, No account info, Friends etc,WTF

    Reply

  58. Bobby Kotick for Dummies

    November 10, 2010 at 11:44

    @Paul

    Supposedly you can re-migrate back to the UK/US servers, but you can only do that once every 12 months. What I still want to know is, if you migrate back in a year’s time, will your old licenses be waiting for you?

    PS: If my buddy is reading my previous posts, where I’m kind of making fun of him and his xbox live local ordeal, I apologize profusely dude, but you really should have known better.

    Reply

  59. new

    November 12, 2010 at 20:47

    hey ppl, gtn a xbox after exams which is in lyk 10 days, wat games are gud and tell me abwt the console kwl thnx

    Reply

  60. Pieter

    November 18, 2010 at 15:53

    Dont know if anyone is still looking at this thread , but I thought I’d post regardless.

    I’ve had a xbox live subscription via UK for some time, so local Xbox live (without local servers) was of limited interest to me… however I love Last.FM and when I saw

    “Q: Will we have access to Last.FM when the service launches?

    A: We will get access to Last.FM, however it will not be available at launch.

    I started getting excited.

    However, now that Xbox live has arrived I decided to try find out from Last.FM when thing swil lbe heading our way and basically got told that Lastf.FM for Xbox is limited to US and UK and they have no intention of making the service available in other countries due to licensing restrictions. Bahrg!

    So, where did the info in this Q&A come from?
    Who made the empty promises that made me get my hopes up ?

    Sounds like XBox Live SA is a bit of a sham. More expensive. Fever (or no extras). No local servers.
    Honestly, whats the point?!

    Reply

  61. Geoffrey Tim

    November 18, 2010 at 16:02

    I’d stab people in the kidneys for last.fm on Xbox. I really, really would.

    Reply

  62. Bobby Kotick for Dummies

    November 18, 2010 at 17:13

    Screw last.fm, I’d stab people for Spotify!

    Reply

  63. Bobby Kotick for Dummies

    November 18, 2010 at 17:29

    My god, past me was insightful. It’s almost as if I called it. :silly:

    Reply

  64. Termish

    December 21, 2010 at 09:55

    Anyone that play CoD:Black Ops or Battlefield Bad Company 2 on xbox live?In SA of course.I am planning on getting an xbox but I will proboly do most online gaming.Cod and BF will be the first 2 games I will buy.So..what I am wondering is is it worth it for mostly online gaming?Is the connection and stuff allright?Been playing online PC games for a while but the xbox online look fun 🙂

    Reply

  65. NiteFenix

    December 21, 2010 at 13:25

    But Bobby, can’t you watch RvsB via Halo Waypoint?

    Reply

  66. Rez

    December 21, 2010 at 13:36

    I played COD:BLOPS a little on xbox live. I have a 384k line and uncapped with MWEB. I got connected quite quickly and there enough games so that you spend very little time in the lobby. However I got bored very quickly.

    Assassins Creed: Brotherhood however takes ages to connect to wanted or advanced wanted however once you manage to get connected to a game and finish it as long as you pres rematch you don’t wait very long to get to another match. It is very addictive though and in my opinion the best multiplayer I have ever played.

    Reply

  67. Termish

    December 21, 2010 at 15:30

    Awesome thanks for the reply 🙂

    Reply

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