Microsoft’s CES announcement of Kodu, its LittleBigPlanet rip-off take on the whole user-generated content craze, looks really cool. (Almost as cool as two hot chicks playing Xbox together.) Thing is, Kodu is part of the XNA Community Games Channel, which isn’t actually available in Australia. Also at CES, Microsoft revealed a launch date for Primetime, the Xbox Live game show channel where players compete with each other for real prizes in formats like 1 vs 100.
Will we be getting any of these features in Australia? I put this question to Microsoft…I asked if we’ll be getting Primetime at the same time it rolls out in the US, i.e. their Spring?

To which Microsoft replied, “We’ve not yet announced when Primetime will be available in Australia although we can confirm that the global team is currently working on expanding the service’s worldwide footprint.”

Undeterred, I pressed on. So how about Kodu? Will we be getting that as part of the Community Games Channel?

To which Microsoft replied, “We’ve not yet announced when the Community Games Channel will be available. The global and local teams are working on bringing the channel to Australia.”

Hmm. Fair enough, if there’s no launch date decided then what else can they really say? But when we still don’t have access to Video Marketplace, let alone Netflix, it’s easy to be pessimistic about the prospect of seeing Primetime and Community Games any time soon. Sigh.