E3 '08: Movie Rental Service Announced

by Ashley Coomer - 2008/07/15 1:54pm

While Jack Tretton announces a PSP version of Resistance (more on that later!), Team PSB is still in awe at its previous announcement. In the same vein as the Xbox Live Marketplace's video store, the PlayStation Store is getting its own movie rental and purchase portal.

As we were shown in the demonstration, a new video store tab has been added to the Store, which then leads to a list where you can choose from new arrivals, movies, television, animé, studio, and more options. From the glimpse of the various screens we were able to see, it's apparent the service has the backing of such studios as Disney, Fox, Warner Bros., MGM and Sony Pictures, with popular movies such as Cloverfield, Rambo and The Bank Job on show.

Once you've decided what movie you'd like to check out, you can watch a preview stream (with a full screen option), and then decide whether you'd like to make a rental or purchase. We're told prices are $2.99-5.99 for rentals, and $9.99-14.99 for purchases. How long will movies take to download? It depends on your Internet connection, but a two hour SD movie will take approximately one hour to download.

These movies aren't just kept on your hard drive, either. If you want to take them on the move, you can copy them to your PSP, or better still, use the PC PlayStation Store to download them directly.

That wasn't enough though! Seconds after finishing the demonstration, Jack Tretton announced the service will be available this evening, cue huge applause around the room.