Gaming around the world: Venezuela

Written by: Santiago Azpurua-Borras

This actually happened once.

Being a gamer and a native of Venezuela, I frequently have the opportunity to explore the country’s gaming scene. And the experience is much like the one I am having now in the states, with a few large exceptions.

First off I want to say that Wii is the most abundant and sought after console in Venezuelan cities such as Caracas. And it’s for the same reason; moms, young women and the like all want to play Wii Fit. Obviously there are exceptions, but this is generally the truth.

But right behind the Wii lies the Xbox 360. Multiplayer team games such as Gears of War 2, Call of Duty 4, and fighting games like Dead or Alive 4 also have strong vice-holds on fans. Giant LAN-parties held at cyber-cafes and comic book stores are very commonplace. These are great fun as all the players really focus on the game without all the racist/homophobic/loud trash talk.

But with the large following the 360 has, its LIVE access is less than successful. This is because “original” games are crazy-expensive. When converted from Bolivares (Venezuela’s currency named after its famed liberator, Simon Bolivar) an actual 360 game can cost up to $90. I remember one summer my father had bought me a copy of Shenmue II for the original Xbox which cost him 85 U.S dollars.

Not to mention the difficulty it is to actually find the game one is looking for. Since most stores are small chains or independently owned, they cannot usually afford a shipment of the latest game to hit their shelves right at launch day.

This cost issue allowed for more tech-savvy members of the community to start modding Xbox 360’s for a small fee. Although I am not sure what the actual modding process is (finding out for myself would effectively annihilate my warranty and my Live account – which I’ll explain later.) All I know is that it involves removing certain pieces of hardware from within the Xbox.

The mod is not guaranteed to work all of the time, but most take the risk anyway. When it’s done the owner now has access to the entire Xbox 360 library with each pirated copy of any certain game only costing a little less than five U.S dollars. (It would not be a rare occurrence to find them for even less) However, as nice as this may sound to some this cheap tap of games comes with a larger price, no Xbox Live. While the games are Live enabled, Microsoft has found methods to identify modded Xbox’s and proceed to shut down the respective account.

Luckily, piracy is not the only way gamers in Venezuela can enjoy the rich experiences they have to offer. Another common method of legally obtaining video games is making connections to those who frequently visit the states for one reason or another, giving them the money and telling them what game(s) to buy and finally they bring it back for him/her to enjoy. It takes a little while longer but you know what they say: good things come for those who wait.

Even with all the difficulties gamers find themselves in, the gaming culture is alive and well. And hey, at least video games haven’t been nationalized!

Yet.