What seemed like a far-fetched rumor only days ago, has been confirmed. Microsoft’s Xbox Live Marketplace will begin selling and renting high-def TV shows and movies as of Nov. 22.The announcement comes just days before Sony’s launch of its uber-entertainment system, the PlayStation 3.
According to an interview in Kotaku, Microsoft plans to have more than 1,000 hours of 720p videos ready to go by year’s end. The videos will be available in a new spot within the Marketplace, dubbed Media and Home Entertainment.
There are some serious ups and downs to the service, at least at launch. According to Scott Henson, director of platform strategy for the Xbox 360 and Games for Windows, the service will allow direct downloads to the 360’s hard drives. It won’t work with the Zune player right away, however. It sounds like that kink will eventually be worked out though to give portability to the downloads.
Downloads that are purchased can be downloaded unlimited times to a 360, but there will be a sunset on rentals. For example, one a rental is started, it will no longer play after 24 hours. Plus, rentals will only remain on a hard drive for two weeks before being locked. On an upside for the plan, it sounds like buys can be watched while videos are still being downloaded without a lag issue.
So far, Microsoft has lined up Warner Bros., CBS, Turner, MTV and Paramount, and it sounds like there are more to come. “Robot Chicken,” by the way, will be available.
There’s no official word on pricing just yet, but it’s being said it will be “competitive” with other online sellers.
All of this really does present an interesting twist in the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray battle and it certainly makes those earlier rumors of a larger hard drive add-on for the 360 sound more feasible.
It’s going to be fun to watch how this shapes up and how Sony responds. Talk about a pre-launch surprise!
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