Sony Announcement 2: New Movie Service for PS3

Not to be outdone by Microsoft and its Netflix partnership, Sony announced that — starting tonight — you will now be able to download movie rentals and purchases directly onto your PS3 via the Playstation Store.

Rentals will cost $1.99 to $5.99 depending on the title and the format (both standard definition and high-def). Purchases are standard-def only and run $14.99.

Interestingly, your purchase will allow you to keep the movie in perpetuity on your PS3 hard drive and, if you like, immediately download it to your PSP for moble viewing via a USB cable or through the Playstation Store.

Titles include releases from Sony Pictures, Fox Television, Lionsgate Films, Time Warner, Disney, Paramount, Turner, and Funimation.

Though it will launch tonight with an impressive amount of titles available, each week new titles are promised to be added.

Downloads of a two-hour, standard-definition film will run about one hour. However, Sony has included a background downloading function, so you can start watching the film even as it continues to load in the background.

I really don’t know how to feel about this. It’s a cool idea, yes, but given the social and monthly-subscription aspect of the Netflix/Xbox feature, I don’t know if it’s really worth it.