[quote name='benjamouth']I think that location thing is ignored, when I go back to the UK and I look on XboxLive.com or Gamercard.net it knows I'm in the UK, it sets my location automatically, I've never changed it. I'm guessing its set from your IP address. That setting on the console is probably used for other things.
I'm guessing the reason I've been able to get stuff from Marketplace in the UK is because I'm using a UK 360. This is all supposition but perhaps the Marketplace content is filtered by your account region, but when you try and download something it checks your IP address and if you're running a console in a region that its not supposed to be in it blocks the download.
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The location setting in the Xbox doesn't have anything to do with the Marketplace region. Once you've signed up for a marketplace account, you can never change the location of your marketplace account. Once on the US marketplace, always on the US marketplace. The big problem with this comes when you move to a different country. The Marketplace checks your location based on IP and will disallow you to download certain content based on this.
If something was released on your original marketplace (say, US) and the marketplace of your current location (UK), then in most cases you will still be able to purchase/download the item from your US marketplace account. But if it was released first in the US, or hasn't been released yet in the UK, then you won't be able to purchase it from your US account while in the UK. Occasionally, even though something is released simultaneously in both marketplace regions, they will still filter based on your IP location, so if you try to download something from the US store while in the UK, it will prevent you.
This is a big problem for anyone who moves from one country to another. There are a few workarounds but they all come with their own problems. Have your friend email customer support and start bitching at them. Maybe if enough people do it they will fix the marketplace as it is essentially broken. Location-based-filtering in this day and age is ridiculous and should be abolished in all forms.