Downloadable TV shows and movies for the 360 were rumored last week and now Microsoft has made it official on "Emergence Day" (the release date for Gears of War). By Christmas, there will be hundreds of hours of entertainment available from a number of sources. [Update 2: We chat with Peter Moore]
Today, Microsoft announced deals with CBS, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, Turner Broadcasting System, Ultimate Fighting Championship and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. These agreements will make a plethora of TV shows and movies available for direct download on the Xbox 360 by the end of the year. This marks the first time that a gaming console will have access to standard and high-definition TV shows and movies via digital distribution.
"This groundbreaking announcement is a win for everyone," said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. "It connects our partners with one of the most coveted audiences in entertainment today, and provides even greater value to our Xbox Live community, allowing them to enjoy the games and entertainment they want, when they want it."
These shows will become available November 22, the first anniversary of the Xbox 360. Xbox Live will give "access to full-length TV shows as downloads to own and movies to rent." This includes content from Nascar and Ultimate Fighting Championship available for direct download for the first time.
Among the other shows, there is also Aqua Teen Hunger Force from Adult Swim, CSI from CBS, Chappelle's Show from Comedy Central, SpongeBob SquarePants from Nickelodeon and Hogan Knows Best from VH1. Movies mentioned include M:i:III, Nacho Libre and Jackass: The Movie from Paramount Pictures, and The Matrix, Superman Returns and Batman Forever from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
[UPDATE] In response to the above announcement by Microsoft, Sony fired back. "PlayStation 3's content is designed for everyone to enjoy right out of the box, no matter which configuration you purchase. We would never shut anyone out of the entertainment experience because they didn't have the money to buy the top of the line system," said Dave Karraker, Sr. Director of Corporate Communications, SCEA. "Both PlayStation 3 versions available on November 17 include hard drives for downloading content."
[UPDATE 2] Following the big announcement we caught up with Peter Moore at the swank BLVD hangout in NYC. First we watched Peter as he danced a round of DDR, which was really a sight not to be missed—its appearance on YouTube is probably imminent. [Here it is!] After showing us his dance moves, Peter graciously sat down with us in a slightly less noisy area in order to answer a few questions.
We tried to pry some price points out of him, but he wouldn't budge. During his presentation, he showed that the content was labeled "free," which he said was "because we haven't figured out what to charge you yet." Nevertheless, the rumor last week suggested a price of about $4 per rental. He explained to us that after you've downloaded a movie, you have 14 days to begin watching it, and once you've hit play then you have 24 hours to watch it as much as you like.
As for why movies can't be purchased, the obvious thought is that the size of the HDD wouldn't be enough to hold many full size feature films, but Peter stated that that really wasn't why. He claimed that it was to protect the content owners/providers. We honestly find that a little hard to believe; after all, MS is allowing TV content to be purchased. But even TV content could fill up the HDD in no time. Moore said that most people wouldn't watch the content many times over and could delete it and then redownload (free of charge) content they've already purchased. But why would consumers want to have to spend time downloading content they own all over again?
It would seem that a release of the rumored 100GB HDD is inevitable. Moore once again claimed that there were no plans for a bigger HDD. We asked him if MS was at least thinking about it, and he replied, "We're always thinking about a lot of things..."
Finally, we asked Moore about his expectations for Gears of War this holiday season, and he said he thinks it will easily sell one million units. He also added that he's very confident still in Microsoft's goal of reaching 10 million Xbox 360s sold by the end of this year.
Additional reporting by James Brightman
by David Radd
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