No, your eyes do not deceive you! Xbox LIVE has launched for South African gamers, and after four years of going without, Microsoft’s online gaming and digital distribution service is finally officially here!

First announced to be launching in the country during this year’s annual E3 show, Xbox LIVE has been missing from South African Xbox 360 gamers’ collective diets ever since the console launched in the country in 2006, which means that, until now, we haven’t had access to simple online features such as multiplayer, downloadable content, Xbox LIVE Marketplace, and other neat extras.

Even though the announcement was made in mid-June, it took until mid-October for gamers to get a concrete, set-in-stone launch date for Xbox LIVE in South Africa – November 10th would be the date that all of the abovementioned online features (and more) would finally become available to Xbox LIVE Gold and Xbox LIVE Free members alike.

In a comment during the joint launch event for Xbox 360 Kinect and Xbox LIVE, LIVE product manager for Europe, Middle East & Africa Robin Burrowes (whom we spoke to at gamescom this year) said that the online service is about “building communities and connecting people to each other and to great content,” which no-one can deny.

“This is an exciting step forward in the experience we can give our loyal and committed Xbox communities,” said Burrowes. “Xbox fans in South Africa will now be able play the best games in the industry with the 25 million other Xbox LIVE users across the world who have made this their online gaming destination of choice.”

All you’ll need to connect to Xbox LIVE right now is an Xbox 360 (obviously), and a broadband internet connection, which will enable you to join LIVE for free and access your personal profiles with your own Gamerscore, Gamertag and virtual Avatar, as well as access the Xbox LIVE Games Marketplace, and download free game demos.

If you upgrade to Xbox LIVE Gold (with a 12-month membership available for R599, and a 3-month membership available for R199), you’ll get access to online multiplayer gaming, video chat with Video Kinect, as well as early access to content and exclusive Xbox LIVE Gold discounts.

Special price offers have also been announced, and if current South African Xbox LIVE account holders migrate to a local Xbox LIVE membership, they’ll be eligible for a reward of up to 1600 MS Points!

So South African Xbox 360 gamers, will you jump in?

Reminder: In celebration of the launch of Xbox LIVE in South Africa, El33tonline will be running the ‘Ultimate Achievement Grinder’ competition, which challenges all Xbox 360 gamers in the country to rack up the most points on their Gamerscore card during a two week period.

Get the details on this awesome competition, and what prizes are up for grabs, over here.