Online services have little or no overhead. I doubt it costs Microsoft $5, let alone $50 or $80, to operate the Xbox Live service for anyone. Indeed, since you pay for content on top of that, the service itself should be free.
If the UK is a similar market size to Japan, and translations do not have to be done because English is also the language of the USA, why are things so much more expensive? That removes the "multiple countries", "shipping costs" (Japan -> USA == Japan -> UK), and "translation" arguments. Now we're back to "higher taxes" and "standard of living". Well, we already get higher taxes on our income; so the products should be cheaper to compensate. For the latter, the USA has more, not less, purchasing power than us on an average income.
Ubuntu. Linux for human beings.
If you are interested in trying Ubuntu or Linux in general, PM me and I will answer your questions and help you install it if you wish.
