Xbox Gaming in South Africa

Update: Microsoft has announced that the Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack will also be available in the UK for £69.00.

Original Story: Microsoft is pushing for more of that casual market pie, announcing a new Xbox LIVE offering directed at families. The Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack will offer up four half priced Gold memberships, extra parental features with a new Family Center area, and a more streamlined multi-user billing process, all for only $99.99 when it goes on sale this November:

• Up to four individual Xbox LIVE Gold memberships for the price of two – (US) $99.99.
• Family Center – a single, easy to use, destination for Family Settings and account management, accessible on the Xbox dashboard and on Xbox.com.
• The primary account member has the ability to purchase and dispense Microsoft Points to other Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack members.
• Activity monitoring reports viewable on Xbox.com to help encourage discussions about safer more balanced gaming and entertainment habits.
• Simplified billing that applies all purchase charges to the primary account holder’s billing account and the ability to authorize purchases, helping to manage the family’s entertainment budget.
• Exclusive family content and discounts.

From the looks of things, the Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack offers some great value for money (R200 per sub), and the new parental features will certainly be a welcomed service for parents looking to have a better understanding, and importantly, better control over their little sprites' gaming habits. Hopefully we'll see something similar locally, with Xbox LIVE launching in South Africa around the same time (if not before), however, for now, this seems to be a US only offering.

[via MajorNelson.com]