Xbox Gaming in South Africa

When Xbox LIVE launched in South Africa last year, there were a few notable features missing when compared to the international service, namely Arcade games and DLC, but also a few extras such as the Facebook and Twitter dashboard applications.

Well, that last part is changing today for local gamers. Microsoft South Africa has announced that, as part of their "ongoing commitment to providing quality gaming and entertainment in the living room", both the Facebook and Twitter apps are now available on the South African Xbox LIVE service under the new 'My Community' channel.

Doing a quick check confirms that it's already up and running, so you can get tweeting and facebooking straight from your dashboard with a small download for each app.

It's worth noting, however, that you'll need a Gold membership to give the social networking a go from your dashboard. Thankfully there's a free Xbox LIVE Gold weekend coming up this Friday, so everyone will be able to at least give it a try.

Here's a few features of the newly added apps:

Facebook on Xbox LIVE features:

• Connect with friends using Facebook
• Explore news feeds from friends and family
• Post, read, and respond to comments on status updates and photos
• View photos using the Xbox 360 built-in scaler for great-looking pictures
• With Friend Linker, find friends on Facebook that also have Gamertags and invite them to your Xbox LIVE Friends List
• Update your status with achievements in-game

Twitter on Xbox LIVE features:

• Read Tweets from people you follow, post new messages and reply to existing  ones
• Automatically sign into Twitter when you sign into Xbox LIVE
• Link your Gamertag to your Twitter username
• Connect with Xbox LIVE friends who you follow on Twitter, view user lists and favourite Tweets

At least Microsoft are showing intent to improve the local service. Hopefully next up on the agenda is more content and cheaper subscriptions and MS Points.