http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2012/11/06/microsoft-finally-launches-the-seven-year-old-xbox-360-in-israel/

There’s been plenty of speculation this year as to when the next Xbox might be released, so here’s some unexpected news: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer today announced that the Xbox 360 would be officially launched in Israel later this month… a whole seven years after the console first became available.

Ballmer was in Israel yesterday on a whistlestop tour of Tel Aviv, and he revealed the news that the Xbox 360, Xbox Live and Kinect would finally be officially available in the country on November 21st – one day before the Xbox 360′s seventh birthday. The console was previously only available as a grey import in the country, with the online Xbox Live service completely unavailable unless users created an account with details that made them appear to be based in a country that supported it.

The Next Web is in Israel for Microsoft’s Think Next event, but Ballmer made the announcement at another show earlier in the day, which was reported on in Hebrew by Israeli tech news site Newsgeek.

The long overdue launch is tinged with irony as the Kinect camera, which gave the Xbox 360 a renewed lease of life when it launched in 2010, is based on technology developed in Israel.

Rightsholder issues around making media available via Xbox Live may have been one contributory factor in the long wait for an official launch. Online media rights aren’t well developed in Israel. Despite the huge amount of technological innovation that takes place in this small country, the population is yet to get access to streaming services like Spotify and Netflix. Even Apple’s iTunes Store only sells apps in Israel, no music, movies or TV shows. According to a Hebrew language report last month from Newsgeek, which broke news of the move, it appears that Microsoft has secured some local content deals to support the launch.

Whatever the reason behind the console’s belated appearance in Israel, gamers there can finally get an officially sanctioned dose of Xbox excitement this month. For everyone else, it can probably be taken as a sign that Microsoft still sees plenty of life in its long-serving games machine yet.

Well, the Xbox 360 became officially available here only last year, and we are the fourth largest gaming market in the world.

I though Xbox already existed in places like Israel

Really!? what about the wii and ps3?

Wii wasn't officially released here yet. Although the PS3 has already been released, it costs $700 here. And the Wii will never be released, and that is a shame.

Makes sense to me. I believe it is mainly about price. When a console's price drops to the sweet spot for a particular country, why not release it there? It's not like Israel is a G20 or have a big population, although the standard of living is relatively good.

Yeah, Brazil. Problem? xD

No doubt they will sell a lot of FPS's there.

It also just released in Argentina as well.

Awkward. I would have thought Israel would be treated like a Western country on this matter.