Tokyo (Japan) - Sony will begin offering an on-demand video service for the PS3 next year.

The new platform will officially launch in Japan in early 2008, although some videos will be available before that.  

The first premium videos will appear in Japan on December 6, with car racing content from the BBC to tie into Gran Turismo 5.  The service will have a bigger fanfare overseas in 2008.  Sony has announced that video downloads will begin at around $1.85.

It is Sony's push to compete with a similar service on the Xbox 360.  The Xbox Live Video Marketplace has a wide array of movies and TV shows, many of which are HD exclusives on the 360, available on a digital rental basis.

For several months, PS3 users have been able to download video game and movie trailers from the console's digital download store, but those are free and usually no less than five minutes long.

"usually no less then five minutes long" - shouldn'...

Dec 03, 2007 07:28     

"usually no less then five minutes long" - shouldn't it be "no more"?
adsm report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Why not more content?

Dec 03, 2007 07:38     

I don't get it sony has a movie and music division why is there no content from there on the ps3 portal?
IronMan report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Bring it on!

Dec 03, 2007 07:55     

Love my PS3. Love the online content. Hope that in a year or two, when time warner jumps to 100 megabit, that i'll be able to rent Blu-rays from my recliner. That day is coming.
Zach report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Late to the party

Dec 03, 2007 09:07     

Sounds like they're gonna take a while to get the amount and quality of content XBL already has. If you've personally browsed the movies and TV shows on XBL recently, you'll understand what I mean. They've got some catching up to do. Also, article correction: I think you mean "no *more* than five minutes long."
Alexvrb report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

YAY

Dec 03, 2007 14:19     

Good to see they are not sleeping on there hands,... like I was and when I woke up my hands were numb.
Mr.T report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

PS3 is so far behind this is unbelievable

Dec 03, 2007 14:25     

they do not care so much about US as Japan :(
XB report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

I assume "usually no *more* than five minutes"

Dec 04, 2007 02:11     

I assume "usually no *more* than five minutes"
ET report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

@IronMan

Dec 04, 2007 12:03     

I think their waiting for home (which'll have a movie theater)
T-P-M report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

First to the party...

Dec 13, 2007 08:13     

PSN is one year old, Xbox live is five. since xbox started this service this year its clear to see sony is developing this infastructure at a much faster rate than xbox did
Rorkimaru report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

I forgot...

Dec 14, 2007 19:58     

Why do people buy this console again? Oh that's right! They are just Sony fanboys that buy anything that says Sony on the outside. Seriously; this console isn't worth the money and no 'PS3 Exclusive' is going to change that. Get the 360, you will have more games to choose from and a better experience overall.
NutZ report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

to the ill-informed comments

Feb 28, 2008 09:15     

"Love my PS3. Love the online content. Hope that in a year or two, when time warner jumps to 100 megabit, that i'll be able to rent Blu-rays from my recliner. That day is coming." Theres no such thing as 'renting Blurays from your recliner'. HD-DVD and Bluray are just the type of disc. so really. once all movie become available digitally this whole "bluray vs HD-DVD" thing will be a stupid waste of time. and as for PSN being a year old and xbox live being 5, the playstation 2 had exactly the same functionality as the xbox did. this generation of gaming is where these features were added. and since the xbox did come out sooner than the ps3 ill be generous and say the ps3 is developing at almost the same rate as the xbox. but theres no question when it comes to quality of these services.

ps3hopeful report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0