Xbox Live extending to nine new countries
Games for Windows Live also localised as gamers encouraged to migrate foreign accounts
Microsoft's Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live services will be made available for nine new countries from November 10, 2010, offering localised content and support.
Residents of Russia, Poland, South Africa, Greece, Czech Republic, Hungary, Brazil, Colombia, and Chile will all be able to access the services from their home countries, without having to register an account in a foreign country. English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese language options will be available.
Customers with existing accounts registered from elsewhere will be able to migrate territories, keeping all avatar items, Microsoft Points, downloads, DLC and games saves. Existing accounts will have their subscriptions rounded up to the nearest month when they migrate.
Certain services, such as Twitter, Facebook and Zune, are as yet unavailable in the new territories, so any associated content will not function with migrated accounts. All purchased content can be re-downloaded prior to the migration, but once it has taken place only content purchased under the new details will be available to re-download.
No specific pricing has yet been given for the subscription or Microsoft Points in the nine new countries, but Microsoft says that it hopes to "offer consistent pricing for Xbox LIVE around the world".