I don't understand why Australian gamers get constantly abused by the gaming industry. In any other media like movies or music Australians get up to date releases (or within the week) and we rarely if ever get movies or music with no release, more so if that media is release online with such programs as iTunes. But with video games it's different.

The video game culture in Australia has not developed to the level of the US or UK (but still is growing). Besides the big chain retailers and the Game Retailer Monopoly known as 'EB Games', game retailers who only sell games and whatever comes with that is a rarity. The closest one of these would be a good 20 minute drive to go to a store that's sandwiched between an EB Games and a electronic goods store. There is not a single hobby store in which I can go play WoW or a video game convention which doesn't completely suck (the last one of these I went to was showing off on the TV ad that they were showing 'Star Wars: Republic Commando' about 2 weeks after it was released).

In this new age of gaming in which the Internet could solve all our problems about game releases and multiplayer being fixed and that all goodness would cause global peace within the world until it crashed before my eyes when I got word of the release of  Kodu Game Lab. on the US marketplace a few days ago, also being completely absent from the AU marketplace. The reason this sucks is because...

• It's under the 'Community Games' tab which the AU marketplace doesn't even have.

• It's published by Microsoft Game Studios on Microsoft's own download service so doesn't have (or shouldn't) any sort of region deals.

• The size of the file is less the 200mb

• It's 400 MSP

• You need to be on an American account to just play the demo (which is TIMED)

So really Microsoft, why is it that a tool that you flaunted off at CES this year as easy using and family friendly cut off from Australia? The price and file size says you didn't really put alot of effort into it's development or wanted it to make money for you. It doesn't require you to ship it half way around the world and it's made by Microsoft, published by Microsoft on Microsoft servers. I cannot see any reason why Microsoft went out of there way to keep this inside the US.

Even when Microsoft tries to spread it's love over the world it fails at that to. No doubt you remember when the South Park episode 'Good Times with Weapons' was released for free sometime last year? Well Microsoft decided to give Australia some well needed love and also release it here for free, but someone must of been asleep at the wheel because the advertisement on the dashboard showing the episode didn't work at all and just a like stumbling fool waking up to see his work not done they decide to fix it the day it was to be taken down. But they keep doing this, like the shoot-em up they released for free never made it over here. Most of the demos get released late and so on.

Australia and the rest of the countries effected by the American Games Industry needs to demand to have closer release dates, same marketplace, same items for download and same rights as the Americans do.