A report from Newsweek says Sony is getting ready to launch a high-def movie/ television download service for the PlayStation 3 to counter the service presently provided by Microsoft for the XBox 360.

The report says Sony will be announcing this during E3 but will not be going into too much detail until the technology is more complete.

Microsoft had this sort of service available since November 2006 in the US with content provided by Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, The Cartoon Network and others.

If this launches, will you be downloading any movies?

Me personally, I would rather have the physical copy of a movie than a pretend-like version

Some people will REALLY like this though... especially if Sony throws a couple of free movies or TV shows out here or there. That's what I've liked about XBOX Live, the free tv clips, and music videos. I prefer free any day

To be honest i don't know if they'll even get this going in Canada (at least right away). They would have to negotiate the rights to content from sources up here such as MuchMusic (our version of MTV only they still show music videos), Teletoon, Space, etc.

I likely wouldn't use it that much other than for checking out some of the freebies, seeing as my 20 GB wouldn't hold too much.

I agree with MCW, i would rather have the physical copy of a movie.

But like you Lyn, i would look for freebies etc. Sounds exciting.

I wonder if it will work like a movie rental service ?

You download the movie for a couple of dollars, watch it and then it gets deleted 24 hours after you watched it.

just an idea ?

If it works somewhat like Microsoft's service the movies will be yours to keep for good. This could make for a very loaded down hard drive after a bit- this external drive i bought awhile ago could come in very handy down the road.