It's been bugging me ...
BY GERARD CAMPBELL
If there is one thing that bugs the heck out of me about Xbox Live - and I think the service is excellent - is that not everything on its Marketplace service is available to every region.
Take a great little program called Kodu Game Lab for example.
It's a simple game creation tool primarily aimed at children (but suitable for adults) that lets you create simple games with a collection of tools.
It sounds a great program and at something like 400 Microsoft Points, it's not going to break the bank. I always enjoyed dabbling with game creation programs so after learning about it a few months ago, I wanted it (the September issue of Edge magazine has also done a feature about it).
Problem is, it's not available on the New Zealand Marketplace. You can get it in Europe and the United States, but you can't get it in New Zealand and Australia - and I find that utterly confusing.
Why not make Kodu available to every region?
I can understand why certain demos or products aren't available in some regions due to censorship laws, and different territories have services specific to their region (Netflix for the US, and the video marketplace for the UK, which is coming to NZ apparently) but I can't understand the logic behind not making a user-creation program available to all regions?
Maybe Microsoft thinks a program that lets budding game designers make basic games will only appeal to people in a certain region. It seems a bizarre logic if that's the reasoning behind Kodu not being available to us (especially given that you're paying a yearly subscription fee to use the Xbox Live Gold).
I'm sure that issues like this aren't just Xbox Live Marketplace specific, so today I'd like examples things that have frustrated the heck out of you on a console online service (Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo's service). Let the gripes begin ...
Oh, and to end today's posting: this is brilliant, showing some cops in Florida under investigation after they were caught on a hidden security camera playing a Wii during the raid of a convicted drug dealers house. Priceless.
Game Junkie is on Twitter and Facebook.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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BTW its been confirmed that Flight of the Conchords is coming to Rock Band
http://kotaku.com/5366359/conchords-label-confirms-rock-band-dlc-%5Bupdated%5D
hey hadleigh
i got odst :) add me, we can do fire fight like you suggested
General Lag
Steam has the same problem (though I think it is the game developers/publishers fault, not the portal selling the games.
Region locking and staggered release of software is just another way to blame the pirates for pirating stuff that most people would quite happily pay for if they could access it legitimately in a timely fashion.
There is a way around this locking of regions on Xbox Live at least, set up a profile that says you are American or English and it will give you access to the downloadable material. I have an account that is in the 'USA' and I am able to access a few other things like the indie games service that the Americans have and there is also a free game called Aegis Wing.
My only real gripe with XBL is the tendency to charge silly amounts for things like avatar accessories. Why not just give them away for free? They make avatars and therefore XBL a more colourful and interesting place.
And in general, region locking annoys me. There's just no real sense to do it for XBL games/downloads either - surely by making them available to everyone you're maximising your possible revenue?!
@ josh . Ive added you already . Chefmivec
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haha funny id have to say id pick up thr controller if i was one of those cops lol. im not fussed about what contend we can download here in nz but there has to be enough of it so there is something for everyone me thinks.