Last week some South African gamers were a little disappointed to open up their copies of Gears of War 2 only to find that the expected download codes for the Gears of War Flashback multi-player map pack and the golden Lancer in Limited Collectors Edition were missing.
Our local Product Marketing Manager for Xbox 360 in South Africa, John Press, has issued the following comment:
The Gears of War 2 limited collector’s edition for the South African market does not contain any of the downloadable elements found in the version advertised on international websites & where the Live service is available. Live has not launched in South Africa at this point and as a result downloadable content which relies on users having legitimate access to the service is excluded from the content of the collector’s edition.
Legislation and a ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority prevents us from utilizing Live branding on local versions of the game until such time as the service is available in country. The inclusion of Live branding and Live related content would imply that the service is available locally and could be construed as being misleading .
We are in the process of seeking alternative methods of delivering this content as we recognise the value this content to our local customers. In addition we remain committed to bringing Live to SA but unfortunately there is no update with regards to a launch date at this point. We appreciate your understanding at this time as we seek an alternative solution to this issue.
Not the answer we all wanted to hear, however at least we have an official response on the matter. Technically I don’t believe any local retailers advertised the inclusion of the downloadable content codes in the products they sold, it was all an assumption based on what was offered for other regions.
I’ll post as soon as I hear any more with regards to an alternative content delivery method.
Craig this is all fine and well, BUT, All games with similar DLC promotion will now have to be imported by us. That means less money for our Favourite game shops.
Surely that is just wrong.
Yes that is just plain wrong as it will most likely have a nasty effect on the local vs imported game sales. 🙁
Craig, mate, no offence to you cause I know you’re just the face to the xbox community but this is bullsh1t.
In 2006 Cindy White was telling us that around June 07 looked good for Xbox LIVE and if LIVE was NOT released by then we would received “kiosks” at major gaming retailers where we could purchase all that content that would be on xbox live like the XBLA games, themes and gamer pics. Where are those?
MS are leading us by the nose and they aren’t going to do anything about this. Its to the point now where I don’t even listen to what MS SA say anymore. If we weren’t going to get the additional content a press release should have been made BEFORE the game launched in SA. Not two weeks after, surely John and the team MS could’ve thought that one through.
Corporate speak. It’s an unsatisfactory answer to an appalling situation. South African gamers should have been notified of the embargo before the game was shipped. Local stores should have been able to inform their customers that Limited Edition games would be sold at full price but without extras.
Firstly, customers with the LE version of the game should be able to return them (if they so wish) to the distributors/stores to receive a standard edition of the game and the difference in price refunded to them.
This smacks of dishonesty and someone somewhere needs to take responsibility and ensure that in future systems are in place to inform the South African customer of similar situations before they fork out their hard earned cash.
This is a corporate response for something that has been an issue since launch. This goes further than just the Gears codes. This is a support problem. We don’t get Live and have been getting these types of responses as a carrot on a stick to shut us up for that as well.
I will believe that they care when I see them being PRO-active.
Sites like xbox-360.co.za does more for the 360 community than they have ever done.
The typical corporate gobblydook speak. Should have know. The wall of silence around Arcade users for NXE is also very ominous. They have Live in India and NZ but not here?
I have to disagree with you Craig,
“Gears of War 2” has been advertised internationally as including the map pack for first time buyers with no exclusions or omissions noted.
The ‘correct’ answer would have been to include the code but block Local users from downloading the content. That meets both the advertised features, and the ASA guidelines as well. Those codes are a valuable commodity and local users are entitled to them, even if it’s only to sell to someone in a region that can use them.
Well all of a sudden I’m wondering if Arcade games are advertised as part of the Xbox 360 experience?
For the first time I only now realised that Arcade games are completely dependent on having Xbox Live.
Let me just go have a look at my Arcade’s box quick…
Clever bastards!
The Arcade’s box makes absolutely no mention of Arcade games other than the free ones included on the disc.
However it does state “1 Month Xbox Live Gold included” which is a lie, since it technically doesn’t just “work” out of the box.
Also the disc of Arcade games basically says that Xbox Live is required to “unlock” the Trial games, which also means we are getting sold half a product.
All good and well but i can promise you if you bought gears of war 2 for windows at a later stage you will get all the codes in the box even if live isn’t available here and with games for live you connect to the same network. They must not come with this unsuported live bull. They have a choice to or not to include it they chose not to its as simple as that…We got screwed
If I look into my GOW2 collecters edition box, it says LIVE on the manual and both CDs. Is there some mistake there? Are they not misleading me? Should I speak to the Advertising Standards Authority? Microsoft just give me my golden lancer and map pack and stop coming up with nonsense excuses as to why they were excluded. Otherwise drop the price… or hell, DO NOT SELL THE COLLECTORS EDITION IN SA if there is no difference to the normal edition!
@Marc: If you look on the outside of the box there is no mention of Xbox LIVE, which means that your purchasing decision was not a result of the product advertising Xbox LIVE functionality.
I feel like such a prat right now. I know about 15 different guys, who all have an xbox 360. All of them have a flashed box, while I sit with an unflashed box. While they keep telling me how silly I am, for not flashing my box, I defend it with comments about my box being legal, and what not. I also point out that I have the potential to own more content than they do. Well here is the tally so far.
They have over 100 different games, while I have 18
They get games before they are ever sold here
Each game costs them less than R20 (I pay R500+)
They had the new dash before me
They all have the maps on gears 2, while I (who paid over R600 for mine) do not.
What an idiot I am, for trying to play it legal, and pay Microsoft for everything I own.
Hi,
Any news on…
“We are in the process of seeking alternative methods of delivering this content as we recognise the value this content to our local customers. In addition we remain committed to bringing Live to SA but unfortunately there is no update with regards to a launch date at this point. We appreciate your understanding at this time as we seek an alternative solution to this issue.”
After two months, is it safe to say that that was just a lie to appease the masses and hope that everyone forget about it?