Sony's PS3 movie download service rolling out Stateside this summer

Sony just released a rambling update to it corporate strategy through fiscal year 2010. An interesting read for fans and competitors alike as Sony lays bare initiatives intent on moving Sony from recovery to the "leading global provider of networked consumer electronics and entertainment." Most notable in the near-term however, is word from Kazuo Hirai, chieftain of Sony Computer Entertainment, that Sony will make a movie download service available to US PlayStation 3 owners this summer -- Japan and Europe at later dates with details coming "next month," presumably at E3. Moreover, Sony expects its gaming business to achieve profitability by March 2009, the end of the current fiscal year. Of course, we already knew that Sony was prepped to deliver full-length TV shows and movies sometime in 2008 via its North American PLAYSTATION Network. But summer, eh? Judging by the increased molecular agitation of sidewalk effluence, we'd say that Sony's season of movie downloads is already upon us.

Read -- 2010 plan
Read -- US summer launch

[norino @ Jun 26th 2008 4:26AM]

Blu-ray movies, so that's like 25 gb, it will take me a week to download transformers or smth :/

[Chino B @ Jun 26th 2008 4:35AM]

Wal-mart connection?

[nxtiak @ Jun 26th 2008 4:36AM]

HD movies for downloading (like on Xbox Live) are 720p and around 3-6 gigs depending on the movie.

[DrXym @ Jun 26th 2008 4:47AM]

And they'll probably be the same for the PS3. It wouldn't surprise me if studios supply a reference version of their movies at various sizes and services like MS, Amazon etc. just wrap it up in some DRM and use that.

[loosely_coupled @ Jun 26th 2008 6:16AM]

First of all, many if not most BR movies fill the 50GB double layer discs.
Secondly, considering that American cable broadband companies are considering capping connections at ~40GB/month, you wouldn't even be able to download ONE MOVIE!

I'd be willing to bet that all of Africa will be wired for fiber-to-the-home before the United states is! God bless the USA and our incompetence, aging infrastructure, corrupt politicians, and corporate-controlled politics! Can't wait to see this country when my grand children are born....

[arkweld @ Jun 26th 2008 8:04AM]

- multiple 5.1/7.1 soundtracks, DTS HD, uncompressed PCM audio etc.
- multiple subtitle code
- special features
- animated interactive menus
- alternate/unrated versions on one disc
- 1080p and high bitrates

= movies in the 5-10GB range at the most.

[SHoe @ Jun 26th 2008 11:19AM]

norino and loosely_coupled: you don't understand. It doesn't have anything to do with BlueRay. This is a download service and the movies only have to be the resolution and quality of the video used by the 360 download service (for obvious competitive reasons). Hint: having a BD player doesn't relate in any way to what formats, file sizes, resolution, quality-levels they can provide via download or other method of getting and playing a movie file.
If anything, I think they want to reserve the 50 GB (or whatever) worth content and quality for BD because they don't want to impact sales of BD at this early point in the formats life.

[holycow @ Jun 26th 2008 6:05PM]

If only there was transformers on BluRay...

[nxtiak @ Jun 26th 2008 4:35AM]

They need more Movie Trailers and Theme/Wallpapers.
Also better organization for their content.

[MattNL @ Jun 26th 2008 5:33AM]

Dude, you can:

1. Use the ps3 browser, look up a ps3 theme site, download and install a theme from your harddrive.

2. Use your pc, look up some ps3 themes on a ps3 theme site, put them on a memory stick/card, install them.

3. Create your own theme with the ps3 theme builder, which is officially available on the ps3 website.

[SimbaDogg @ Jun 26th 2008 6:21AM]

or even hit up psu.com....the have a BOATLOAD of themes there. they always do their "theme of the week"

[norris07 @ Jun 26th 2008 4:37AM]

Read: 2010 link not working

[neal @ Jun 26th 2008 4:40AM]

just hope it doesn't come out a year late with allot LESS content like the euro video marketplace, we got shafted and don't even get 1/20 of the stuff the American one gets! can only hope sony wont disappointed.

[DrXym @ Jun 26th 2008 4:43AM]

Lets see how much they charge for their content. Its weird they didn't produce something sooner since the PS3 is far more suitable for movie downloads than a 360 for example. For starters it has an HDD.

[DrXym @ Jun 26th 2008 4:45AM]

I should add that Sony released some subscription based episodic gaming magazine called Qore on the PS3. It would not surprise me at all if this was the guinea pig for the new service, allowing them to test video downloads, drm, "season" passes etc.

[Hellios @ Jun 26th 2008 4:57AM]

Is that the one with Veronica Belmont?

[DrXym @ Jun 26th 2008 4:59AM]

Supposedly though I have no idea who she is.

[Podaman @ Jun 26th 2008 10:26AM]

Who does she work for?

[Ivanov @ Jun 26th 2008 5:09AM]

Xbox360 has a HDD. Sony needs to get in the online content business cause there aren't enough games for PS3 yet.(wonder if there'll ever be) Maybe it's time to consider getting one over the xbox360 cause on that you have to pay to play online and that is crazy.

[kye3k1 @ Jun 26th 2008 5:18AM]

Sony annoy me, yes they do great products but they are typically japanese.

They take ideas off other people and claim it to be new/great.

Blu-ray (HD DVD)
PS3 (Xbox 360/Wii)
and more

They are so far up their own backside its disturbing.
http://www.ivirtuaforums.com/sony-doesn-t-want-your-money-xbox-360-on-sony-bravia-t14421

But what they do make (in the end when all possible features are finally on and there is nothing left to do with it) is exceptional, all they need now is a good bunch of games.

[DrXym @ Jun 26th 2008 5:37AM]

That is the weirdest post I have ever read.

Concerning Blu Ray... do you think Sony just copied HD DVD, or do you think that perhaps, just perhaps both technologies have been worked on for a long time? Go and read the history about Blu Ray, it's been in development for 6 or 7 years and is the culmination of lots of standards and technologies, many of which are nothing to do with Sony, e.g. BD-J is Java running a modified GEM profile. There were even attempts during the parallel development of these formats to merge them into one.

Concerning the PS3... again what the hell are you smoking? Are you again thinking Sony just pulled the Cell processor, the RSX GPU, Blu Ray out of their backsides and cobbled them together in response to the 360? Or perhaps, just perhaps do you think Sony have been working on this stuff for years? White papers about the cell have been around for years. The specs for the PS3 were already well formed, well before the 360 or Wii appeared. And the Wii actually released after the PS3 so go figure, and the only point of similarity is some motion sensing.

Now Sony were beaten to market in both cases, but so what?

[MattNL @ Jun 26th 2008 5:55AM]

- Blu Ray actually goes back to 1995 and was invented by Sony/Philips
- Microsoft didn't really invent nothing new with the xbox, nor did sony with the ps3.
- Nintendo didn't invent anything that's on the Wii, they just did an extremely good implementation of existing features.
- Sony is somewhat arrogant at times, but they do make good products, (though overpriced at times)

In the end, everyone copies each other and tries to make it better, which, i think, is a good defenition for "innovation".

[SimbaDogg @ Jun 26th 2008 6:30AM]

I believe Rick James would say that you're having...DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR!

[DrXym @ Jun 26th 2008 6:40AM]

MattNL, I think there is always a danger that the market leader becomes arrogant. Sony was arrogant around the launch of the PS3 but appears to have humbled a bit. Nintendo was horribly arrogant with the SNES and shows signs of going that way again.

These companies should recognize that humility is a virtue, even if they are the market leaders. It doesn't hurt to be self-deprecating and respectful even if you secretly wish your competitors would die in a fire.

[kye3k1 @ Jun 26th 2008 7:41AM]

Xbox has Live
PS3 has PSN .... hmmmm

Xbox has acheivements
PS3 has trophies .... hmmmm

HD DVD has PiP already built in to every available player.
Blu ray has profile update (making non compatible players OBSOLETE)

HD DVD has online support
Blu ray has profile update... again

I dont know much about other products of sony's but I am sure this trend has happened before.

They ARE japanese.

[Munkeyjoe @ Jun 26th 2008 8:29AM]

They are Japanese. WTF does that even mean?

[Munkeyjoe @ Jun 26th 2008 8:33AM]

You do realize that Toshiba created the HD-DVD format and that they are indeed as Japanese as Tako Yaki. Sony started in Japan but has expanded far past it's Japanese roots. The president of Sony is not even from Japan.

[dan2600 @ Jun 26th 2008 9:27AM]

wow kye3k1,

judging from your anti-japanesism and poor english you MUST be korean.

Last time I checked hd-DVDs and Nintendo were both japanese too.

I was in japan 5 years ago and got to see a test run of Blu-Ray disks at the panasonic headquarters...I might be wrong, but this was before HD-DVD was even announced.

xbox came out WAY after Playstation did....so I don't know what your talking about

Sony has had online gaming networks longer then xbox has (just not in the US)

I hope you continue responding, your comments make me lul

[MattNL @ Jun 26th 2008 9:29AM]

You want to accuse Sony from "copying" an online media delivering service / multiplayer network? I'm pretty sure MS nor Sony invented those...

Blu ray HAS updates, so if you use your brains and buy a upgradable device, your new player is not already deprecated at launch (unlike a HD DVD player).

I don't really understand your uhm "arguments".

[Gaz @ Jun 26th 2008 1:49PM]

wasn't the 360 just a rip of the PS2 anyway??

[arkweld @ Jun 26th 2008 7:58AM]

Yawn.

Wake me when Sony manages to deliver an announced feature that's anywhere close to an expected due date.

[pfromg @ Jun 26th 2008 9:14AM]

Are there any rumors doing the rounds where the ps3 gets wireless N ?

[Flood @ Jun 26th 2008 9:25AM]

Didn't Sony fail miserably on a similar download service? I remember Connect Music or something that was selling downloadable audio content. Sony even owned lots of the content they were selling, and still they couldn't make it work. Why would video download service work? Somehow Sony doesn't learn from its past mistakes and I bet the video service will have many of the bad features that destroyed Connect Music. They will just call them something different.

[dan2600 @ Jun 26th 2008 9:31AM]

People want to "OWN" music, hince the mostly-failure of rasphody, napster, and those TV music channels.

People are OK with "watching" movies, hince the success of PPV, netflix and iPod video rentals.

I think, if sony actually gets it working, this service will do very well (the sony online store is doing very well from the sources I have read)

I do think that the Playstation store is in need of a make over though...took me 20 minutes to find Tekken online (because it was considered an "add-on")

[primetime4 @ Jun 26th 2008 9:50AM]

Sony's Connect store was about as popular as MS's Zune store is now. There seems to be an 800lb gorilla taking up quite a bit of space. Unless you think AppleTV is a direct competitor to the Xbox or PS3, this service is a little different.

[True_Darknight @ Jun 26th 2008 9:52AM]

YOur such a douche....

It's called digital media.. people have been downloading and streaming videos for a while now....

get used to it.. They will get money from it...

Maybe even your (hiimstupid)money

[tbone @ Jun 26th 2008 9:42AM]

thats ok sony, ill stick with the pirate bay. thnx anyways

[Danakin @ Jun 26th 2008 10:46AM]

try isoHunt, you'll like it more.

[Bob @ Jun 26th 2008 12:38PM]

Awesome. Sony announces that it's joining the rest of the world. Here's a recap of some of Sony's major blunders over the past year:

http://www.techconsumer.com/2008/06/26/sonys-big-news-plus-a-recap-of-its-blunders-just-in-the-last-year/

[Andy Anonymous @ Jun 26th 2008 12:54PM]

In-game control panels, a game goal system, break-apart motion controllers, and now a movie download service...all of Sony's recent announcements regarding the PS3 have a distinct "me too" flavor to them. And the one feature they're working on that's semi-original -- Home -- languishes with delay after delay.

[Dimebag Darrell @ Jun 26th 2008 4:15PM]

Sony should phone up apple and license some deal to let the PS3 access the iTunes store.

[Uchiha Sasuke @ Jun 26th 2008 4:14PM]

So, when is the PSN card actually coming out? I've been itching to purchase a bunch of stuff from the PSN store but I don't want to use my credit card.

[Darrell @ Jun 26th 2008 4:44PM]

My question is whether I can watch those downloaded movies on my PSP via MS or remote play. If so, I'm definitely sold!

[BI6DADDY @ Jun 26th 2008 9:36PM]

Trust me, I am a Sony man through and through! But, the 360 is making moves daily to make their product available to outside industry. They are dropping the price, partnering with netflix, making their technology available for partners to utilize in their media devices, etc. Sony is circling the wagons and choking themselves while Microsoft is opening the front door and rolling out the red carpet! I already have netflix, why would I want to pay for Sony's download service...why do they have to reinvent the wheel? Netflix has done all the hard work already, and already proven themselves as reliable and industry leading! Sony loves to come up with one great idea, and then they come up with a thousand horrible ones right after it!

[sunny beach @ Jun 30th 2008 3:43AM]

As long as its got High Def movies