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Rumor: HD movie downloads on Xbox 360
Upstart Wordpress blog Shsibae flung a big ol' rumor onto the web yesterday: Microsoft is poised to launch an HD movie download service using Xbox Live. Shsibae explained that movies would be available for rental ($4) or purchase (unspecified price). Rented movies would remain on the Xbox 360's hard drive for up to two weeks, but would allegedly auto-erase within a day or so of being started. The service was said to launch with 1000+ hours of video content.Returning to Shsibae's original post now, one finds the "news" conspicuously absent, with no update explaining the disappearance. So was Shsibae on to something? Did the long arm of Microsoft slap the words right off the page?The obvious argument against the rumor being true is that Xbox 360's paltry 20 GB hard drive is not suited for a feature-length movie download service; though another rumor tells of a 100 GB model in the works (Microsoft did shoot this down). On the flipside, there is some evidence that supports the movie service rumor being true. We know that Microsoft has a keen eye towards the digital distribution era (Gates iterates this sentiment clearly in this Engadget interview); and rumors of future Xbox updates enabling Direct TV and IPTV also lend credence to the push for media over broadband.Is a larger strike to follow the HD-DVD and 1080p-support counter-attacks? Could an Xbox Live movie distribution service land a critical blow to Sony's market dominance? Whatever the case, it ain't just about games no more.
