Sony recently confirmed that its online PlayStation Network service for the PS3 game console will offer high-definition movie downloads and rentals.
The Japanese electronics company has reached working agreements with 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros, and Universal Pictures.
“PlayStation Network is the first and only service to deliver high-definition home entertainment from all six major studios, directly to consumers for download," said Peter Dille, PlayStation Network marketing SVP, in a statement.
PSN users can now purchase or rent current hits including; The Hangover, This Is It, 2012, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Inglorious Bastards, Up and Zombieland.
Although this sounds like a great offering, consumers may not like the price of movie purchases and rentals. Outright purchases will range from $18 to $20 for each HD movie, with rentals available for $5 (with an unknown rental time-frame).
Streaming, on-demand content offers consumers the convenience and flexibility to watch movies whenever they want it, but the pricing might not be worth it now that many Blu-ray movies have decreased in price over the past 12 months. It seems unlikely that consumers would pay more for a digital copy if they could just purchase the same movie on a physical Blu-ray for less.
Another downside is that some PS3 owners might fear that they will fill up their PS3 hard-drive just a bit too fast with HD movie downloads. A combination of large movie files, game saves, digital information and other downloaded content could max out a PS3's storage system. With all that in mind, a digital movie download for $20 doesn't seem like that great of a deal.
