If you are a Xbox Kinect owner, Xbox LIVE would like to invite you to help them set a new Guinness World Record.

On Saturday 23 April 2011, Xbox LIVE would like to set a new world record for the largest online sprint ever by joining hands across the world with all Xbox LIVE players.

The Guinness World Record attempt will just be one of the fun events that will take place over a weekend of entertainment on Xbox LIVE. During the weekend, dubbed XBox Nations, all Xbox LIVE members will be given Xbox LIVE Gold access to gain access to the latest content online and enable them to play multiplayer games.

Xbox Nations will take place from Thursday 21 April 2011 to Monday 25 April 2011, for more details about Xbox Nations follow Xbox South Africa on Twitter or Facebook.

Starting this weeks local South African Xbox LIVE players will get 50% off all 12-month Xbox LIVE Gold subscription purchases.

Xbox South Africa has teamed up with various retailers to offer South African Xbox LIVE players 50% off 12-month Xbox LIVE Gold subscriptions when they either buy a console or a game.

Apart from the normal LIVE experience that enables you to connect with friends, download and play games and give you access to a large library of games, Xbox LIVE Gold membership also gets you early access to game demos, exclusive discounts, Facebook and Twitter, and more.

You can get the Xbox LIVE Gold subscription special at your nearest Incredible Connection, Musica, Look & Listen, CNA, Hi-Fi Corporation, Dion Wired, BT Games or Makro, while stocks last.

Back in 2009 Microsoft released an update to XBOX 360 consoled that allowed gamers to browse Facebook and tweet straight from their consoles through Xbox LIVE.

A few years down the line and us South Africans finally got Xbox LIVE in our own country, but despite all the hype it was not welcomed with warm feelings as most of the services and feature we got used to when using international accounts was now gone. Some of these features included the ability to browse Facebook and Twitter from your console.

Xbox LIVE South Africa is now 3 months old and things are finally starting to look like its taking shape as Microsoft has announced that from 26 January 2011 Xbox LIVE subscribers will be able to access Facebook and Twitter from their Xbox 360 consoles.

Facebook on Xbox LIVE features include:

• Connect with friends using Facebook
• Explore news feeds from friends and family
• Post, read, and respond to comments on status updates and photos
• View photos using the Xbox 360 built-in scaler for great-looking pictures
• With Friend Linker, find friends on Facebook that also have Gamertags and invite them to your Xbox LIVE Friends List
• Update your status with achievements in-game

Twitter on Xbox LIVE features include:

• Read Tweets from people you follow, post new messages and reply to existing  ones
• Automatically sign into Twitter when you sign into Xbox LIVE
• Link your Gamertag to your Twitter username
• Connect with Xbox LIVE friends who you follow on Twitter, view user lists and favourite Tweets

Please note that the Facebook, Twitter, video chat features and Xbox LIVE Party require an Xbox LIVE Gold membership.

Many South African XBox players have resorted to using UK or US accounts to play online on XBox Live, however this could become pricey with microsoft’s new subscription pricing.

Microsoft will be increasing the price of their XBox Live Gold subscription fees for all members in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom and United States. Chances are that if you are a South African and making use of XBox Live Gold to play online, you will be affected by the new pricing.

As of 1 November 2010 Microsoft will increase the price of certain XBox Live Gold subscription packages, US users have it worst as all subscriptions from the 1 Month to the 12 Month ones are subjected to the new pricing as detailed below.

If you make use of a UK account you will only be affected if you buy on a monthly basis, to avoid being affected by the new rates when they kick in why not upgrade your account now with a 12 month subscription at the normal price.

Another question that remains, now that South Africa will finally be getting Xbox Live soon, how will users currently making use of these overseas account transfer to the local accounts?