[Insert V for Vendetta joke here.] Indian gamers have a reason to celebrate next month, as Live for both Xbox 360 and Games for Windows will launch there on November 5th. A 12-month subscription will run 2200 rupees ($55 USD) and a 1600 MS Point card will cost 1070 rupees. That's roughly $27 USD, so Indians will be paying slightly more than Americans for their virtual currency. Xbox Live Marketplace content for India will be considered part of Asia, so any content available on the Asian XBLM (including XBLA games and movies), will be available to India. The Indian Video Marketplace will have Indian films available for download as well. Finally, India's Marketplace will be host to educational content for grades 1-12. What exactly that entails, we don't know, but we're sure it makes for good marketing.[Via Joystiq]
Read: Xbox Live, Games for Windows launches Nov. 5
Read: Microsoft India launches Xbox live
The ICICI bank of India is offering an interesting finance plan to its customers. Customers looking for an Xbox 360 Core system in India will be able to secure one from the bank for a rupee payment roughly equivalent of $20, followed by six monthly installments of about $73. While a finance plan for a 360 seems absurd by US standards, it is practically a necessity in India, where the average annual salary is below $500 (a core costs around $518 in India). As our source article puts it, for the average Indian citizen, an Xbox 360 purchase is nearly as taxing as westerners would find buying a house. The article also points out the irony that those most likely to afford an Xbox 360 in India will be those that work for U.S. companies with Indian operations -- companies like Microsoft. Typically, these U.S. firms pay much higher than the national average wage.
Microsoft has announced that that the Xbox 360 will go on sale in India this October. The launch is fortuitously timed to precede a major Hindu holiday. According to Wikipedia, Diwali (or Deepvali) is a 5 day Hindu festival celebrated in October/November. Known as the "Festival of Lights," it symbolises the victory of good over evil. Lamps are lit as a sign of celebration and hope for mankind. Of course, It's also a good exscuse to blow 23,990 Rupees on a Premium System. Time to light up that green ring India.
Gamers in India will have something to celebrate soon: Microsoft is finally bringing them the next-gen console. The estimated 1.6 million gaming fans will even have the opportunity to pre-order the system as early as next month.
