Hmmm.... looks like not only does the UK get screwed over with any requested help from the microsoft techies but also with content.... again. Meh... Rez was the only thing on there worth the points anyways.

@Anon 142 - You should consider yourself lucky yo have Avatars then, after all Rare are a UK company

I agree with most here that this seems pretty lame by MS, the MS point is supposed to be a level currency, meaning a game that costs 800 point in the UK costs 800 points in the USA, Canada, Germany and every other region.  I accept that the gap in what we pay for the service, games, etc. is not as big as some would like you to think thanks to average wages, the fact that sales tax is added after purchases in the USA, etc., but it's stuff like this that makes us think we get the bum deal.  MS announced in January that it had teamed up with BT to bring IPTV to the 360 in the UK before the end of the year, that would be a nice replacement to Netflix, but sadly 11 months later and no word at all!

Plus if those 'various regions' turn out to be licensing, then I cal BS!  Firstly, Crackdown was made by Realtime Worlds, a Scottish company...  Why wouldn't they allow a price cut in their home region?  Secondly, anybody remember the free episode of South Park in HD that was US only?  Within 24 hours MS had struck the deal to get that global, so they've proved they can do this!  Fianlly, as has been said before, what about the MS owned content on the list?  Can't see how there would be too many licensing issues there.

As for the guy who said whine to AceyBongos or MrPointyhead, you need to check out their websites a bit more...  Neither of those sites are offical MS sites, they run them out of the goodness of their hearts in their free time.  Most of the updates on their sites come out of office hours and both sites are regulally inactive for days at a time due to work commitments.

The true test will be on monday when, theoretically, the price of MS points in the UK will have to drop by 2.5% thanks to the drop in VAT...  If that price drop does not happen, then MS will have just hiked the cost in the UK of their 'standardised' currency...

Content restrictions are indeed covered by that FAQ. Pricing is not.

Too bad my Xbox 360 Red Ringed

@MAJOR NELSON

I have read the f.a.q. about the complexities involved and fail to understand how a company as big as MS cant afford to have decent legal minds who can sort these complexities out. I am not pissed off with Americans as some immature people who have posted seem to be, there is no need for name calling directed at Americans. The people I am annoyed with are MS EU and MS US who cant seem to organize a piss up in brewery. If not at the same time as America then why cant the content be available to us at a slightly later date the way films sometimes are, at least there would be some light at the end of the tunnel. I am not bothered about this list of games released at a discount in the states, what I am bothered about is the fact that I dont have the option to get them discounted even if I wanted them. The main questions seems to be: why does America get a better live service than the rest of the world. Why cant we get the same or if not, an equivalent service. Our inside XBox in the EU is utter crap, in the states they get videos and interviews and we mainly get walls of text to read. Where is our netflix equivalent? What happened to the MS and BT deal that was the big news way back when? Is there someone who can answer these questions or a f.a.q. for the EU etc?

Ok there are legal issues preventing us receiving the service the US has, therefore are we then entitled to get a subscription reduction then?

So much for "getting what we are pay for"

Major,

Pethaps someone can explain why -say Rez HD - can go on "worldwide" (US,EU,AU for example) sale at 800 points (hence Sega are happy for that worldwide release) yet due to "licensing complexities" it can only be discounted at 500 points in the US only.

If we keep Rez as the specific example here so that we don't end up generalizing and glossing over things. Walk us all through the reasons as to why Rez HD was available for many months for 800 points in many regions yet now can only be discounted in the US BUT not those other regions. I fail to understand who or what gets in the way of this. Is Rez HD owned by different people in different countries? If so, this would imply that they were all happy to agree to 800 points before but now only Mr US owner is sanctioning a discount. I'd really like someone to take us all through this using Rez HD as an example.

@Anon 142, thank you, that made my day.  :-)

It looks like you've got a bit of a revolution on your hands Maj.  Hopefully this gives you some leverage to use on the wall of silence that is in every corporation.  

Will "Black Friday" turn into the legend that is Horse Armour or Gerstmann?  Time will tell.

I'm not here to attack Major Nelson, or diss Americans, because doing that is pointless. I'm not even as mad as some of the guys here are.

It's just that the explanation so far has been pretty weak. Major pointed to the FAQ as to why the deals aren't the same for other countries. There is a slight problem with the FAQ - it only mentions why CONTENT isn't the same across all borders, not why PRICES can drop in one region, but not the next.

If the games/services are already available around the world, why does only one region get a price drop? That question hasn't been answered.

Also, why don't other regions see their own holiday sales? I know, here in Canada, companies drop prices around Boxing Day, as do most countries. Why are Americans the only one allowed to share in the sales of a global product?

That I do not understand. The FAQ is meaningless in that extent. I'm not going to rant and rave about MS, Xbox or XBL because I enjoy the services; however, I will say that I'm pretty disappointed in the treatment of this "issue" so far.

It was nice to see that you, Major Nelson, obviously read our comments here. Thanks for that. But pointing to your FAQ is just weak. It covers only the goods, not the prices. I understand why movies can`t be the same in every region. I understand why games can`t be handled the same way due to the local laws, but how does it come that the prices can`t be the same. Pleas explain it. Or ask someone who can explain it. WE WANT AN ANSWER.

Would licensing agreements and governmental restrictions have anything to do with it?

To get around this legal problem we could just have permanent price drops, you know.

I wonder if XBOX live team expected the wave of upset xbox live users from overseas.

I think it due to these issues be raised before and nothing being done especially for long term uses.

where the US seem to more and more and rest of world gets less and less.

@Major: Do you know why the rest of the world gets Session 2 but not Session 1 of the guild?

Thank you Major for passing on our issues, If we could get some of these issues resolved it would be great. The Xbox 360 is till the best console on the market IMO.

I find it hard to believe that games published by MGS are owned by anyone other than MIcrosoft in Europe. There is no reason why they can't be reduced. Also why did we have to pay extra for banjo kaziooie n&b in Europe. MS keep saying that Europe is a crucial market for them....prove it! We are fed up of getting screwed!

I think that major does a good job on the whole and I know that he has no say in this so don't shoot major the messenger.  

@Major: That is Great news

That's great news Major. Hopefully some of these games can bbe in the deal, or new ones.

Thanks for relaying the messages for us, it's greatly appreciated.

Great to hear Major, its good to know that they are reading and acting on our comments. Now if we can just get a netflix equivalent and get acey bongos and mr pointyhead presentation lessons to spice up the EU inside xbox we will be laughing.

Excellent news, Major. Thanks for reading, thanks for passing our thoughts on.

Looks like i will have to buy some more points and renew my gold membership