News: Xbox LIVE for SA landing November 10th

A few hours ago Microsoft finally made public the announcement that local Xbox 360 gamers around the country have been waiting for - Xbox LIVE is coming to South Africa on the 10th of November.

For years, Xbox 360 owners in South Africa who fancied a bit of online gaming had to settle with the complicated solution of registering their Live accounts to a country where the service is actually available.

What this means is that South African gamers had to trod the path of questionable legality by registering for the service as a person living in the United Kingdom, usually having to use a random address so Xbox LIVE will think they're living in the UK.

Luckily South African gamers won't have to wait much longer before they can register a legitimate Xbox LIVE account from a recognised country, which they will be able to do from the 10th of November.

Upon joining Xbox LIVE a users' previously lonely Xbox 360 is transformed into an entirely different animal. Users will be able to join in to the Xbox LIVE community, download games and demo's from the service as well as additional content such as new maps, levels, characters and songs.

And of course, the greatest benefit of LIVE is jumping into online mayhem via your title of choice, be it Halo, Gears of War, Madden Football or any of the plethora of multiplayer games available on the Xbox 360.

To play online gamers will need to purchase Xbox LIVE Gold membership after their initial trial runs out. Microsoft has announced that South Africans will be able to purchase 12-month Gold membership for R599, which works out to R50 a month.

Users will also be able to share their Gamescore, Gamertag and Avatar with the millions of other LIVE subscribers around the world, making for a truly global new gaming experience. And when Kinect launches sometime in November, gamers will be able to connect via Kinect's video chat feature as well as playing Kinect titles online.

And those gamers who do have Xbox LIVE accounts registered to another region will be able migrate their accounts to the local service keeping their Profile, Gamer Score, Achievements and Microsoft Points Balance in tact. Those wishing to do so can follow this link for account migration information.

We can't wait until the 10th of November when South Africa will finally be represented in the global Xbox 360 marketplace. We're sure to see a tsunami of new local Xbox gamers joining LIVE, making for a greatly improved new multiplayer experience.

Xbox LIVE for SA landing November 10th

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