One of Sony"s announcements at the Gamescom expo in Germany this week is that they are set to expand the current PlayStation Store available in Europe to include an on-demand video service.
The PlayStation Store - available for PS3 and PSP - currently offers video content to American users but from November of this year the PlayStation Network Video Store will also launch in the UK, France, Germany and Spain, with the rest of Europe following next year.
The video delivery service will include recent releases with the high quality movies coming from big film studios such as 20th Century Fox, Disney, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal and Warner Bros. as well as smaller studios more local to Europe, including Universum Film and Constantin Film from Germany.
Users will be able to choose to buy films or rent them for 14 days. Once you buy a title it will be stored on your PS3"s hard drive or transferred to your PSP to watch on the move. Movies will be available in high definition and standard definition and, as of yet, pricing hasn"t been announced - although it will use the same wallet system as the rest of the PlayStation Network. The downloading system will allow viewers to start watching a film before the downloading has finished, or you can access certain games or other content whilst downloading.
According to Sony, "Hundreds of titles will be available at launch including Angels and Demons; Bruno; Crank 2; The Dark Knight; Dead Space: Downfall; Gran Torino; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; National Treasure; Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; Public Enemies; Star Trek; Terminator Salvation; Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine."
"PlayStation is becoming the home of entertainment from games to music channels, from creative platforms to virtual pets," said Andrew House, President and CEO of SCEE (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe), in a statement. "The addition of the PlayStation Network video delivery service for PS3 and PSP provides a simple way for PlayStation owners to access movie content and enjoy the latest blockbuster whenever and wherever they choose."
Microsoft"s Xbox Live service has had a similar offering for several years now.