Coming to Xbox 360: Films and TV Microsoft's Video Play Aims
To Challenge Apple's iTunes And Sony's PlayStation 3
Microsoft Corp. plans to begin offering movies and television shows later this month that users can download onto the Xbox 360, the company's most serious effort yet to expand the entertainment options available for the console beyond videogames.
As it gears up for what is expected to be an intense, competitive holiday season in the games business, the Redmond, Wash., software giant said it will sell episodes of television shows including the likes of "CSI" and "Star Trek" and rent movies such as "Mission Impossible III" and "Superman Returns" for users of Xbox 360 to download and watch on their television sets. The service, called Xbox Live Video Marketplace, will launch Nov. 22. Microsoft yesterday said the entertainment companies initially offering content through the service will include CBS Corp., Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks and Paramount Studios, and Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Brothers.
The video service comes almost five years after Microsoft entered the videogame-hardware business with the original Xbox, a move that analysts and pundits viewed as an effort to play a broader role in the living room as more entertainment became digitized. In an interview, Peter Moore, a corporate vice president at Microsoft, said gaming will remain the primary selling point for the Xbox 360, but the company now sees broader opportunities for the system. "We look at the console as an entertainment amplifier for the living room," he said.
Movies and TV shows are "a secondary function for Xbox 360," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research. "It's not something that's going to drive the purchase of an Xbox."
The coming years will test how big gamers' appetites are for movies, music and other forms of entertainment on systems that traditionally play games. Microsoft's biggest competitor in the games business, Sony Corp., plans to introduce its much-anticipated new console, the PlayStation 3, later this month. A key feature of the PS3 is Blu-ray, a new optical-disc technology that Sony is seeking to establish as a standard for high-definition movie playback. Sony has also said it plans to deliver content such as movies to the console over the Internet, though it hasn't outlined specific plans.
Microsoft said the prices it will charge for video content will be "competitive" with prices on rival sites like Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Store and CinemaNow, where television shows cost $1.99 an episode to purchase and movie rentals typically range from $2.99 to $3.99. Users who rent a movie from Microsoft will have 24 hours to watch it from the moment they first start playing the film. Microsoft will also offer some videos in high definition for a "slight premium" over fees for the same movie or television show in standard quality.
Because Xbox 360s are already connected to television sets, Microsoft's approach to playing video downloaded from the Internet could have an advantage over rival services that require more complicated set-ups to watch movies on a television set. But there is also a downside: the Xbox 360 has limited storage capacity. Xbox 360 users will be able to store only about 16 hours of standard-quality video and about 4? hours of high-definition video on the machine, room for only a smattering of movies and television shows. For users who delete television shows to make room for additional content, Microsoft says they will be able to download previously purchased shows again at no charge.
微软将提供通过Xbox下载的影视节目
微软(Microsoft Corp.)计划于本月晚些时候开始提供可通过Xbox 360下载的电影和电视节目，这是迄今为止该公司为使Xbox 360游戏机能够超越视频游戏、提供更多样化娱乐服务所迈出的最大一步。
在游戏业预计将迎来一个竞争激烈的假日消费高峰之际，微软宣布将出售从《犯罪现场》(CSI)到《星舰奇航》(Star Trek)等一系列电视节目剧集，并租赁《谍中谍3》(Mission Impossible III)、《超人归来》(Superman Returns)等电影，供Xbox 360用户下载后在自家的电视机上欣赏。这一名为Xbox Live Video Marketplace的服务将于11月22日推出。
微软周一表示，一开始将为该服务提供电影和电视节目内容的娱乐公司包括哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS Corp.)、维亚康姆(Viacom Inc.)旗下的MTV Networks和Paramount Studios、时代华纳公司(Time Warner Inc.)旗下的华纳兄弟(Warner Brothers)等。
Nick Wingfield
