I seem to remember a story a while back about a bank selling second mortgage 360 financing plans for India, because the income (and cost of living) is so low there.

I just hope Bollywood movies make it to the Xlive globally, those movies are great.

Oh great, now they're exporting all the 12 year old trash talking on live to india too.

*ducks*

Will they call America for tech support?

Oregon Trail Achievement:

15 - You Have Died of Dysentery

Wow, aren't you an ignorant bigot.

that's harsh. I was being serious, a vast majority of people there have no electricity, and recent attempts to supply electricity to the region met with failure because no one could pay their electric bills.

i'm not a bigot, i'm a realist. i'm glad to see ms attempt to expand the gaming industry into new territories, but i really think it's going to be a tough battle.

So Xbox Live! Is practically free in India because you know when you cut grass or look under stones there are lots of rupees...I know...I know

what am i saying, a vast majority of people there don't have a FRESH WATER SUPPLY.

i'm sorry, but do you know anything about the fucking region?

here is the ganges river, where people wash, eat, cook out of all at the same time.

what, did you think i was being facetious?

http://www.pbase.com/2112/varanasi

god every 5 year old and there knowledge of 3rd world countries. go read a book before calling me a bigot.

I say when they call here for help, we talk so they can't understand us. That will show them

Hurrah...more noobs for everyone to kill in Halo 3...if you're into that sort of thing.

so now xbox live will sound just like xbox support .. great.

I get what youo're saying harrison but I'll admit that your comments did come off as offensive and I'm just saying this as a minority in the US.

I'm glad MS is expanding its offerings to India and I hope that it suceeds. They deserve to have access to teh awesomeness that is LIVE!

Microsoft is trying to get there tech support some hands on time, "Steven" and "Susan" won't have to read so much script.

I love Indian currency. The rupee...

Makes me feel like I should stock up on potions and refill my quiver of arrows.

I agree with CaptainAmericaX,yes the India is a poor country but man saying that stuff is offensive,true but still offensive.

Also you are being cruel to those guys man,not cool.

Take your political correctness elsewhere.

I can't believe we're living in an era where "truth" should be shrouded because its "offensive".

Ohhhhh! LOL! That was harsh man.

Cool, now we can play with Microsoft's customer service staff on live!!!

India currently has the world's second-fastest growing economy, behind only China.

It has its share of problems but it also has an enormous population of *highly-educated,* literate, English-speaking professionals, and most of the larger cities such as Bangalore and Mumbai have all the amenities you'd find in the U.S.

The cell phone infrastructure, which is GSM-based, is widespread and cell phones are easy to afford. Visit any bazaar in the heart of a major city and you'll find models we won't see here in the States EVER.

Broadband Internet is also growing rapidly and is comparatively cheaper than what we fork out in the West. There's also this little thing called ELECTRICITY that powers the networks and computers connected to them, believe it or not. The MAJORITY of people actually have access to it (FYI - a "majority" means more than 50% and electricity is widely-available to more than 50% of India's population. Embellish much?).

Next time, champ, try VISITING the country you're blasting before spouting off like an ignorant tool.

I was born in India, have visited numerous times, and contrary to common belief, you CAN wipe your ass with something besides a leaf.

Too bad you can't wipe the shitstain of your ignorance off your own...

Finally I can afford to pay a room full of people to unlock my achievements for me!

Kudos to Starlord1138.

Crono see there is a difference between trash talking and honesty.

Focusing in the bad things just gives you half the truth.

The brits on line now have people they can talk down to. "I'm going to own you just like the colonial days'. Or they can discuss how they like their curry.
Sub continents ftw

Wow.

You guys are a bunch of obvious humored, faintly racist clones.

Welcome to Live, India. Congratulations on being the next step towards Xbox Live Global Dmination!

In every country you can find horribly depressed areas and large economic centers... with the exception of some African nations.

In general Harrison is right, India has regions without electricity and plumbing, more so than any other country that xbox 360 is officially offered in.

"India currently has the world's second-fastest growing economy, behind only China."

Your correct, when you have a practically non-existing per capita GDP, it's not too hard to grow from nothing. China is growing at an incredible rate because of their exports and the money that has brought in being re-invested.
India's main resource of their economic growth is skilled labor other countries have been off-shoring to them, and that has brought some decent wealth to the city areas, but it does nothing for the geographically unfavorable mountainous regions or smaller farming communities. These regions are still depressed and they are the majority of the population.
If you can't get over that, fly to Bangalore and buy and bus and drive people from the isolated and depressed regions into the city.

I think it is wise to invest videogaming in non-serviced developing regions, but not like this: they should lower their prices instead of increasing it. It's one of the main reasons why people import and pirate the damned consoles (modchips)/games in the first place.

As it is, it will only service the elite minority, as it has always been without a targeted service.

i wasn't trying to say anything was fundamentally wrong with not having electricity or watching television.

frankly, we could do without fox news in our homes every night...

all i was trying to say is that it's a dramatically different culture, one where materialism is much less emphasized, and one where commodities that we rely on to survive are gone without, thus making it difficult to market a gaming console, much less a gaming console with an online service.

it's very difficult to say all that so i abbreviated and i'm sorry if it made me come off as archie bunker, but I assure you that's not the case. =)

@starlord

yes, i know india is the second fastest growing economy in the world due to the outsourcing of jobs from developed nations.

"Your correct, when you have a practically non-existing per capita GDP, it's not too hard to grow from nothing."

It's one thing to "grow from nothing" (which is inaccurate, btw, but I'm using your quote) -- it's another thing entirely to MAINTAIN rapid economic development for *YEARS,* which India has been doing since 1991 when the government began to relax restrictions against privatization and foreign investment.

You're correct that most of India's population in the rural areas are still struggling to enjoy the benefits of these reforms, but that's not exactly relevant to the point of *this* article and the posts some people are making. The way they make it seem, people there are still learning to harness fire and communicate with smoke signals.

There actually are quite a few gamers in India who'll be able to experience the fun and features of XBL. It doesn't require 90% of the population to have running water or broadband Internet. Ninety-percent of the people in the *U.S.* don't have broadband. All it takes is a few thousand or hundred thousand for Microsoft to start making some inroads into the fledgling online consumer arena there.

India's urban population alone is nearly the size of the ENTIRE U.S.'s populace, so bringing XBL to them is not only *possible,* it's good business sense. Anyone who ignores an emerging economic power like India is a fool.

Star i agree with you, and i'm sorry.

even if only 2% of india's population had access to electricity, broadband, and the means to afford a 360, if those 2 % were interested in buying a 360, microsoft could have huge business there, and i completely agree that as india and china go through their own industrial revolutions that they'll no doubt overtake the united states and europe and might one day replace us as the permanent members of the UN.

it will be interesting to see if the gaming industry can flourish there...

how much do people care about video games in india, and can they be convinced to care? i'm too ignorant to know =)

Harrison's right. I've been to a better off town and I've seen some pretty gruesome things. It's a radically different world there, I love it. It's where the badasses live.

There are plenty of places in the US where you can't get clean water either. But freaking I don't understand why Nintendo doesn't release anything over there. No DS, no Wii. And the NES was pretty popular.

Wait a minute... India will be getting the live video marketplace and we here in Canada don't even have it yet?

WTF

How are they supposed to carry that many Rupees ?

I thought it maxed out at 999 .... and that's after you quest for the Big Purse !

uh... you'll be surprised how many people in india have all that. as long as you have the money, you can get anything you want in india. the middle class is a lot bigger than it used to be. ive been to india many times before.

People here just do not have any idea about what they are talking. India has a good amount of gamers only fact is many of them play pirated games since the games price are too steep.

There are many companies which does gaming services other than tech support.

FYI Orange Box in India cost only 23-25$ in retail.