While those of us in the U.S. are still waiting patiently, Australia and New Zealand have discounted Xbox 360 pricing across the board. An update to the Aussie Xbox site shows a new starting price of $349 Australian dollars for the Xbox 360 Arcade (which sold for $399 yesterday). Interestingly, that makes it $50 cheaper than the Wii in Australia. They better secure their Kangaroos, stop wrestling with alligators and get to the store quick.

Xbox exec, Jeremy Hilton confirmed that the Xbox 360 Pro bundle has also been slashed. It’s now $499 (was $579) and the Elite is now $649 (was $729). You might think this bodes well for some price cuts here in the U.S. as well, but check out this qoute regarding their strange pricing strategy: “One of the big changes Microsoft has made is that with price drops, you’d see the US would drop, and pretty much within two weeks we would drop as well. Now, it’s very much the individual countries who manage what they feel would be best for their respective regions. In March we had a price drop in Europe, and in April we had a price drop in Asia. So we’re definitely moving away from that big global strategy.”

The Veil Shade might one day sit in the schoolyards of some Australian elementary schools, waiting for the right moment to strike little children. Or perhaps waiting for Indiana Jones who hates snakes.

Then again, it might be a completely innocent and unique way of collecting sunlight. It’s a concept from design firm Büro North, and it’s pretty well thought out. It automatically rotates during the day hours, to ensure the “hood” is always pointed at the sun. It also provides a shady spot on the underside of the hood. Also, the kids can actually learn something since markings and LEDs on the base show how much solar power the Veil is collecting.

Rockstar has an edited version of Grand Theft Auto IV to release in Australia this month in order to obtain a MA15+ for the game with the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC). This may not come as a big surprise to those in Australia, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

To make it even worse, Rockstar has not only confirmed that Australia will be getting a censored version of the game, but they have chosen not to divulge what parts of the game have been cut to obtain approval from the Australian game classification system - our guess is the hookers, again. This is no doubt done to leave the benefit of the doubt with consumers that parts of the games they like most will still be there.