Personally, I am going to adhere to the Penny Arcade theory "The sort of people who read these things know perfectly well that "exclusivity" no longer represents anything like the chastity of old, but an opportunity to warble in the Internet's infinite henhouse is irresistible for a certain psychological profile."
You know this would be even bigger news if MS managed to get Netflix streaming for all 360 owners, and not just the ones in America where the 360 is doing well anyway.
Europe has Vidzone on the PS3, but beyond that no service for VOD apart from the possible Sky deal on 360(but a couple years back they also had a similar deal with BT and that went nowhere) Oh, Wii n PS3 have BBC iPlayer but thats TV.
But yeah if one of the companies managed to get some kind of streaming service in EU (where internet is faster and there are more people and money) then they could get a little boost too.
Long-term, this is bad for Netflix, bad for MS, and bad for consumers on all platforms.
With streaming via gaming systems in its infancy, locking down a major player to one platform will slow the growth of the whole industry.
Yes, it might give MS some slight edge over Sony, but not enough to put Sony out of business, and Netflix doesn't have any real competitors so an exclusive deal is stupid and invites competitors into the market to fill its void.
And, while all this bickering is taking place, the major studios will choose to sit on the sidelines keeping their best content locked in the vaults because they don't want to commit until they see who the winner will be.
All-in-all, a bad move for everyone involved. If the gaming platforms are going to displace the set-top box and cable providers as the content delivery technology of choice, the platforms need to understand that a wall-garden approach simply cannot work.
"who are also Netflix unlimited plan subscribers"
Um, nickel and dollar me to death! Some how, the math is subtraction for you and addition for them...
@SigmundTheSeaMonster: I have the second cheapest subscription, just for the netflix availability. I think I pay 9 buck a month, and watch at least three movies a week on netflix streaming (while getting ready for bed). Well worth it.
I am really surprised anyone even wants to get Netflix streaming. Have you ever seen the line up of movies that they have? It's laughable.
Netflix really had the opportunity to make this a really useful and awesome technology, but the complete lack of any movie I would remotely wanna see and tying yourself down to the 360 has ruined it. Even though the 360 is a good platform for Netflix, tying yourself down to one console/STB is a dumb move. Think ahead. Netflix FAIL.
@macpatrick: Netflix used to have a very pitiful instant library. Now however, after pairing with Starz - It is actually a very nice thing to pay for. [streamingsoon.com]
For upcoming streaming additions.
It is pretty obvious to me that everybody wants to stream the TV or movies they want to watch when they want to watch. Not on some stupid schedule like what is offered now When is somebody going to get smart and design something I literally plug in - get Hulu - get iTunes - get HBO - etc,etc. Make it easy and they will flock like hungry buzzards. Don't make it so much of a pain in the ass. I don't want the gadgetry - I want the ease and the availability....
@hardenstuhl: You could look into Boxee. The easiest way would to buy an ION based nettop (uses atom processors), install Boxee, and plug it into your TV. It would cost around $400 and wouldn't be completely plug and play, but it would almost be what you are looking for.
I love the Netflicks streaming over the Xbox, its the reason I signed up for netflicks. And it's easy to use, my wife can use it no problem...(the same woman that has a really hard time with email)
The PS3 has Blu-ray HD 1080p and the Xbox 360 has Netflix "sort of HD if we count pixels and ignore the quality issues" streaming. Sorry, but there is no pain there for the folks in Japan. What Sony is truly hurting over is the fact that the Xbox 360 is doing so well in the gaming market. That is the source of Sony pain, not some "may someday be high enough quality to be usable in a few years" movie streaming service.
@highpitch_83: Dad tells me he cannot see much difference in the quality of DVD versus NTSC, and for him it is all an eyesight issue. For you the reasons are likely to be something else, but with good eyesight and a quality HDTV set (even including a FiOS 50 Mbps connection), there is a significant difference in quality between the two - to the point where I always wait for the DVD to come in rather than watch an HD stream of Netflix. Come over to my house one night and I can demonstrate it for you (I am in the Seattle area) and you will see a major difference. That is, unless it is an eyesight issue, because I had no luck with my father on that front.
I know it's convenient to be able to run Netflix straight off the 360, but such a freaking waste of cash to fork out for exclusivity on something that can be bypassed using a PC and third party software like PlayON. Sony was smart to not waste money on rights. Oh but wait, you get access to HD movies on the 360's Netflix service! To bad it's not 1080P and really not that big a deal.
Yes, I have both systems, and yes I use the 360 primarily for Netflix. Still a waste of money for exclusivity when you can still get Netflix on other systems with a workaround! Who cares if it is not as convenient as streaming it straight from the system. Not to mention if you Netflix BD movies from Netlfix, the 360 doesn't help much outside of streaming.
Also, I've never streamed a Netflix movie over the PS3 that resulted in the movie stopping to degrade the quality because "my internet connection has slowed". Oddly, I still use the 360 more than the PS3 for streaming despite that annoying message.
I'm not shocked but I AM annoyed. Damn Sony for being such money grubbers. They are apparently making enough $$ off their own rental service they didn't want Netflix.
@B1663R: Not really... the only check for your IP origin is when you add a movie to the queue, so all you have to do is use any webproxy or anonimizer to do that and you're set.
Ideally just set up a VPN connection (good ones cost less than 10bucks a month) and you'll never have to worry about not being in the US ever again...
Ronin, Unforgiven, Across the Universe, Wall-E, Ghostbusters, Robin Hood, As Good as it Gets, Serenity - Just a few of the movies I've watched on Netflix Streaming lately. If you can't find something to watch, I can only imagine you're hung on porno.
@PaddyDugan: Across the Universe is an awesome movie. I bought it on DVD and the special features were great. I especially like the extended musical performance of "Something". They showed Lucy a bit longer than in the regular film lol.
@dark_quota: Really? I kinda felt that it got too literal with some of the songs in some cases. But that doesn't deny the fact that it's a great movie.
Why would this bother sony? sony has it's gold mine in blu-RD movies. even if you have an HD converter, it is not HD neither the image or the sound. is this supposed to be bas for the PS3? how? by making a USB toaster? cause this is just another useless add-on. If you already have an online Netflix account, and you have already a GOLD member account, THEN you can have this service.so you have the same service, but now it is wireless. an online. like a usb wireless toaster.
We all have DVRs to watch tv shows latter on the day, or movies when we want to. for me is this service means: "you can watch it in 30 seconds, instead of the 15 seconds it takes to get off the couch you fat basterd and put the dam cd on the player."!!! XD (Joke. People who are lazy are not always fat.)
how do i get mail alert for people that reply to a comment i make?
@Fuji-kun: I don't think you really understand what is going on here at all and are completely missing out on the advantage of having Netflix instantly on your game system; unless you live in a Netflix distribution center, and literally have the DVDs on hand all the time.
Alternatively, you're comparing your current DVD library to Netflix's instant play library (not likely comparable) or you're saying that Netflix can deliver a DVD you've requested and you can have it available to watch in less time than it takes for you to open Netflix on your 360 and choose the movie you want to watch.
OR, the more likely scenario: you're an unnecessarily defensive fanboy who can't help but FORCE negative comments about the other brand/product/thing you don't use.
I own both consoles. The PS3 is a much better media platform because of low fan-noise and better media handling (copying to local HDD for example). The 360 is very loud and the PS3 is very quiet. If I could have CHOSEN which system to watch Netflix on, it would have been the Sony PoS3 instead of the CrapBox 360. (I actually like my 360, but for a media machine it is WAY too freakin' loud and the fact that I am on my 6th console after sending it in for warranty 5 times doesn't bode well.)
08/12/09
08/11/09
Europe has Vidzone on the PS3, but beyond that no service for VOD apart from the possible Sky deal on 360(but a couple years back they also had a similar deal with BT and that went nowhere) Oh, Wii n PS3 have BBC iPlayer but thats TV.
But yeah if one of the companies managed to get some kind of streaming service in EU (where internet is faster and there are more people and money) then they could get a little boost too.
08/11/09
With streaming via gaming systems in its infancy, locking down a major player to one platform will slow the growth of the whole industry.
Yes, it might give MS some slight edge over Sony, but not enough to put Sony out of business, and Netflix doesn't have any real competitors so an exclusive deal is stupid and invites competitors into the market to fill its void.
And, while all this bickering is taking place, the major studios will choose to sit on the sidelines keeping their best content locked in the vaults because they don't want to commit until they see who the winner will be.
All-in-all, a bad move for everyone involved. If the gaming platforms are going to displace the set-top box and cable providers as the content delivery technology of choice, the platforms need to understand that a wall-garden approach simply cannot work.
08/11/09
08/11/09
Um, nickel and dollar me to death! Some how, the math is subtraction for you and addition for them...
08/11/09
08/11/09
Netflix really had the opportunity to make this a really useful and awesome technology, but the complete lack of any movie I would remotely wanna see and tying yourself down to the 360 has ruined it. Even though the 360 is a good platform for Netflix, tying yourself down to one console/STB is a dumb move. Think ahead. Netflix FAIL.
08/11/09
08/11/09
[streamingsoon.com]
For upcoming streaming additions.
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M$:1 SONY: 0
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Yes, I have both systems, and yes I use the 360 primarily for Netflix. Still a waste of money for exclusivity when you can still get Netflix on other systems with a workaround! Who cares if it is not as convenient as streaming it straight from the system. Not to mention if you Netflix BD movies from Netlfix, the 360 doesn't help much outside of streaming.
Also, I've never streamed a Netflix movie over the PS3 that resulted in the movie stopping to degrade the quality because "my internet connection has slowed". Oddly, I still use the 360 more than the PS3 for streaming despite that annoying message.
08/11/09
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Ideally just set up a VPN connection (good ones cost less than 10bucks a month) and you'll never have to worry about not being in the US ever again...
08/11/09
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08/11/09
We all have DVRs to watch tv shows latter on the day, or movies when we want to. for me is this service means: "you can watch it in 30 seconds, instead of the 15 seconds it takes to get off the couch you fat basterd and put the dam cd on the player."!!! XD (Joke. People who are lazy are not always fat.)
how do i get mail alert for people that reply to a comment i make?
08/11/09
Alternatively, you're comparing your current DVD library to Netflix's instant play library (not likely comparable) or you're saying that Netflix can deliver a DVD you've requested and you can have it available to watch in less time than it takes for you to open Netflix on your 360 and choose the movie you want to watch.
OR, the more likely scenario: you're an unnecessarily defensive fanboy who can't help but FORCE negative comments about the other brand/product/thing you don't use.
08/11/09
08/11/09
also the PS3 is better becuase it is very black and my Xbox is very white.