Console gaming should be fun. Sometimes it is a bit stressful but in general it should be so much fun that you want to play again and again. Regardless of the console or the game, the experience should be one that you want to relive over and over.
Let’s look at the facts; console gaming in South Africa has been a bit like a step child who gets little attention. The multiplayer gaming experience has been similar to when that parent continuously tells the child that he has done wrong but offers no solution. The broadband/ ADSL pricing determined your amount of game play and we all want to play with a new toy, right kids? Latency and a lack of local servers dedicated to South Africans have made the experience challenging. Add the pricing of certain titles and the entire situation looks rather bleak. This sounds like a Modern Family episode but it illustrates the sad state of affairs that console gaming faced not too long ago.
That is about to change, as Xbox Live has finally hit our shores. Gamers can download the latest trailers, purchase downloadable games and chat with friends. Other established features, such as Facebook, Twitter, Zune, last.fm and the video marketplace will not be available in South Africa right away according to Microsoft. One thing to keep in mind is that when migrating your existing UK/ US account to a South African one, you will not be able to download the content that is linked to the other (non South African) account. Microsoft is currently looking for a long term solution to this situation.
However Microsoft needs to be congratulated for being one of the first international companies to be looking after their South African users. Bravo Microsoft.