In the increasing race for game console makers to make their game consoles do more than games (wait, did you follow that?), Sony has just announced a partnership with on-demand movie service Vudu. Beginning next week, users will be able to stream the latest and greatest movies through Vudu instead of the PlayStation Store.
Vudu is the leading provider of online pay-per-view HD movies, and one of few that actually offers streaming movie titles in full 1080p HD.
What's interesting about this partnership, though, is it kind of is a direct competitor to Sony's own PlayStation Store video marketplace.
Offering Netflix on the PS3 is one thing. That's a subscription-based, all-you-can-eat video service. It doesn't offer new titles and it forces customers to sign up for a monthly billing service. Some of the same applies to Hulu Plus as well.
But Vudu offers the exact same service as the PlayStation Store - the ability to buy movies the moment they come to home video, discounted rates for renting movies, and the user's choice for standard or high definition.
We're not against more options for users. In fact, it's always a good thing when a new service becomes available at no extra cost. We're just puzzled as to why Sony would choose to let Vudu take away some of its in-console movie purchases.
Nevertheless, the Vudu app will be available next week, for free, with thousands of titles immediately available.
[Source: PlayStation Blog]
Nov 17, 2010
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