E3 08: PlayStation Video Store US exclusive till 2009

David Reeves (SCEE) has revealed that the previously released in the US PlayStation Video Store, will not be making its way to the "PAL markets this year." The reason for the delay is that Sony believes "local content is important" which is what Sony are "working on right now. The dates for video content will come later this year."

The PlayStation Video Store service contains movies and television programmes for users to download in SD and HD. It will take approximately one hour to download a full two hour SD movie, though you stream the movie/television programme as you download.

[ice_prophecy]

"Not HAPPY Jan!"
-yellowpages.com.au

[Jamie Foxx]

movies are universal, thats why more than not american movies are number 1 at the UK box office,how many british made films are in the uk cinemas gurantee you more often than not the top ten are all american movies.

sony really grate on me at times why region lock the movie store for people in the UK with american accounts?its our choice what movies we want to watch!

[xhi4]

I don't have Video Store either and it pisses me off but your going "oh Sony is so sh1t why can't they just release it all the same?"

here's why:

except for their own internal studios, copyright issues play an EXTREMELY large role in why studios and especially television shows. Also many of these movies studios won't be released on DVD before they're release it for online download. In Australia for instance we don't get the DVD of some movies until months after America does.

Television shows are a very tricky situation for instance some seasons haven't even started in various regions or released on DVD therefore causing a major hindrance to the studios and advertisers involved.

Studios don't like online download.........why? Obviously because of piracy and copyright issues, they don't want things to be downloaded and downloaded without control. I can imagine it would have been extremely tough for Sony to get all the studios for NA to sign on for this, but they have.

Globally? That's extremely tricky. Studios are concerned with regulation and dissolution of product, studios usually work region to region, not globally. MTV for instance is EXTREMELY different from region to region, what can be viewed and who can view things in different regions differ greatly, for instance America's PG-13 is absent in Australia, how will Sony be able to guarantee regulation on that for each rating board and studio in EACH FRIKEN REGION.

And that's just a SMALLLLL selection of problems, I could write and WRITE and WRITEEE about the problems that arise from a global video service. It's not just about Sony........its about all involved, all the studios, each individual firm, royalty issues, copyright issues, copyright laws for each region, rating systems for each region, each country has different laws pertaining video sharing, file sharing etc. and the list is literally endless....

look for example at Xbox Live's video service its all over the place except for NA's.

think about it..........

can a brutha give a bubble for all this bloody writing i think i deserve it.

[vasilisk]

Movies are universal, but don't forget, not all movies have a worldwide release date. For example look at Wall-E. It's released in the US but not in most European countries, some of them releasing it in September. This results in many cases, for movies to be out on dvd and blu-ray in the states but currently to be in the theaters in European countries.
So if Sony does not have a region locked video store only for US, this could kill boxoffice numbers for some movies currently playing in European theaters...
So yes as long as not all movies have a worldwide release date in theaters, dvd and blu-ray, then unfortunately it's the only thing that they can do for now

@xhi4
good post, bubbles

[jlytle1234]

stop whining about it and enjoy the play tv that will probably never come out in the united states.

[whoelse]

That sux balls. We cant even try out the US one because its region locked.

[FreestyleBarnacle]

Pricing is the issue here really, for a $5.99 film in the States the UK will pay £5.99 and a similar value Euros after conversion. This is about double the prick of the US at current exchange rates. Do you think the movie studios want to miss out on this price gouging?

[Dir_en_grey]

We all understand that... But at least give us a backdoor or something.

Don't software lock it, just make it like how it is now, you can't pay for stuff with different region credit cards... For a few that's willing and able to get different country's PSN cards, let them.

If nobody tells the studios, they won't know ^_-

[CrashSharc]

ummmm.... I call bs on that because How different exactly is the local content between US and canada!! for realz....

[predator]

you have to be kidding me?!?!? what is so f***ing different from US and UK localization? we watch the damn same movies

[PirateThom]

It's nothing to do with localisation, it's to do with distribution rights, in the same way some films in the UK were on Blu-ray, but in the US were on HD-DVD and vice versa.

You'll find a lot of films have different distributors in the US and Europe.

TV shows are even worse.

[Mr_Bun]

No seems to know when or even if this service is coming to Canada and we are right next door! Most of our television shows are American anyways! I think the only show we really have is "Hockey"

[pharmd]

yeah, thats what i was wondering/thinking.... its sad that it is this way but what can we do? its not just about consoles at this point!

[vasilisk]

see above posts from me and xhi4 to understand what's so different...

[predator]

i know whats so different, if there was to be a video store what stops them from sorting all this stuff out before and not after the release of teh american one

[paul_war]

Not doing yourselfs any favours SCEE!

I bet we get it next E3.

[thereapersson]

Is it localization in terms of subtitles, video outputs, etc? What's the deal here?

[NowGen]

i want to live in america, everything good in america. hahahaha you know, back when video games where almost exclusively coming from the far east this used to happen to us.how does it feel now world?

[thereapersson]

however it is rather puzzling nonetheless

[Lemons]

... you're an idiot.

[NowGen]

truth hurts, usa got the shaft for years when japan got all the best stuff in gaming. you guys got fat while i was in jail. its my turn. a nickle bag gets sold in the park.....i want in!

[Lemons]

.. try not to generalise. You'd probably find that people on the other side of the pond (us Euro's) would agree with you. Delayed territory releases annoy everyone.

[solidjun5]

should be fired.

[Evil Rant Monkey]

<Does it work if you create a US account from a different locale, or are they blocking ip addresses?)

[Splitz]

They block our IPs :(

[Evil Rant Monkey]

<that is all)

[MvmntInGrn]

Not surprising. Also people need to realize getting a NEW service with so many companies running INTERNATIONALLY is no easy feat. MS took the easy way and just linked to NetFlix, not a negative just different

[InMyOpinion]

Doing things the Sony way.

[ice_prophecy]

As far as I am concerned, both companies are shafting Australia!

Darn it!

[PirateThom]

Yeah, because the Video Store on Marketplace launched day and date in US and Europe...

[thereapersson]

You know both MS and Sony shaft Europe to different degrees. Europe just plain out gets things later than most regions.

[DiLeCtioN]

well looks like ill be buying PLAY TV then

[MaximusPrime]

im fine with the delay.

I prefer owning a BluRay rather downloading movies. Blockbuster is only down the road from me.

[LoVeRSaMa]

I dont get what they mean by this year, thats F**king stupid.

YEAR.

David Reeves needs to leave, GET OUT David Reeves YOUR USELESS!

[SilPho]

They can get away with saying it's the Fiscal year... doesn't make it any less pleasant but it covers their ass.

[Dream Machine]

I love how we live in a 'global market' that only seems to benefit transnational corporations, yet we still have archaic region-restrictions on media products.

Don't really blame Sony for this, blame the stupid market laws.

[Shadow Flare]

I don't think i could hate SCEE anymore then i do right now. Sony, ffs sort it out

[Fart In Your Mouth]

Jump In

[PirateThom]

My God, it's nothing to do with Sony.

Microsoft had the same problem.

It's the distributors.

[MaximusPrime]

@1.1, Jump in? If you're talking about xbox 360, nobody wants that piece of junk anymore.

Everytime someone think of xbox 360, RRoD is the first thing enters their mind.

[Shadow Flare]

call your repair center

[Sir_Ken_Kutaragi]

'How To Fix My RRoD xBox 360!!!' ;-D

+ The Sequel...

'How To Fix My RRoD xBox 360:AGAIN!!!' ;-D

[juuken]

Fart...people are selling their 360's these days. I mean, 360 owners can't let up these days can they? They have to nitpick on everything PS3 related.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL ABOARD THE FAIL TRAIN!

[Grown Folks Talk]

That was the "nitpicking". It was from 1 of the biggest Sony fans on the site. The Xbox fan didn't mention anything about the PS3.

[juuken]

Grown Folks Talk, was it necessary to say "jump in"?

Fart was implying that the person should get a 360 because obviously Sony wasn't satisfying their needs as a gamer.

Don't try to act intelligent please.

[Sir_Ken_Kutaragi]

Funny Photo of that Train!!! ;-D Good one;)
But i thought it was...
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL ABOARD THE TITANIC!!!! ;-D
Movies don't bother me...i just want 'HOME' and that BIG List of Games that are coming out. When it comes it comes, they still sell Movies in the shops still. I like to still have the real thing i.e a Blu-Ray Disc/or DVD in My collection;)
LOOKS SEXY!!!!!!!!!!! ;-P

[dkgshiz]

Thats what I did when siren blood curse came out in japan earlier than the US. Just make a US account, easy!

[Grown Folks Talk]

He didn't just come in trashing the PS3. I'm sorry though. I should listen to you, the bastion of intelligence & maturity. Calling people muppets & other names, & acting like a whiny baby because people have a different point of view.

[Shakyhand]

I can watch "Local content" on TV. It would be nice of Sony to give us content from all over the world! Why can't we have the content that's on already on there, while we wait for this "local content"?

[willykyu]

Why don't they launch stuff when it's ready for EVERYBODY at the same time??? Home is a good example, it'll launch everywhere at the same time! that's cool!

The only thing wich is nice with such a delay is to have feedback about what's not quite perfect with the service and launch a perfect service in Europe. US video store is a kind of "beta" itself...

Now, I see some drawbacks:

They will then realise HD rentals could also be transferabale, like: Rent an HD version and have the portable SD for free (or even 1 more Dollar?).

Then, they could fix this awful problem in VOD services: Original language track and a variety of subtitles available. I'm sure the technology allows it. No matter if it's 300MB more to download if it's there! What more horrible than an Anime or a movie, or a TV series dubbed (in French in my case...)?? I'd be glad to pay one more dollar for this option alone.

[jcfilth]

why would it take an hour when a Demo with the same size takes less than that?? I've checked some of those movies and they all are about 1.5gigs - HD 5.4gigs. I think it depends on the connection you have.

[Ice2ms]

FFS 2009 ?!?!?!?!? So we have to wait 6 months for a movie store ... I also bet that the prices will be more expensive. Just for the people who don't already know PAL regions pay 100 USD for a game.

[willykyu]

I forgot: we, in Europe can wait a litlle, for PSTV is available in September, allowing to record and watch Digital TV (SD AN HD). So well, it's not that bad at the end. It's a Europe exclusive for the moment, like the One Seg TV for PSP in Japan.

[felidae]

Sony ... oh Sony!

[Shortstop]

So what about Canada? I'm guessing we have it?

[MaximusPrime]

i think Canada is affected too. im not sure how long you have to wait.

[GodsHand]

I say don't worry about, these rentals are over priced, as well as the downloadable version. It's cheaper to rent at your local rental store, or just flat out buy it at a store.

I was hyped for this service, but after seeing the prices, i'll pass. Even the anime i think it's $2.99 per episode possible $1.99. That's pretty hevay money spending, cheaper just to buy the season at the store.

[xhi4]

when the service comes to Australia for the prices to be on par with America's and not marked up just for us because we have a small population and higher taxes on this sort of stuff.

pleasee!!

[S1nnerman]

DVDs are so cheap right now in the UK through various websites that it is cheaper to buy some of them rather then rent them. That's what I do. I already an on demand service provided by virgin media but I don't use it for films (unless they're for 1p). Films generally cost £3.50 to rent ... but on play.com I can get the same film for £2.99 to buy. Go figure!

[lil Titan]

has Play TV so i guess it's far?

[titntin]

I don't see what the beef is?

It was surprise to see it went live in the US so soon. I certainly didn't expect to see it live in Europe for while. Quite apart from the large variety of laws they have to check and comply with theres ton of other localization issues that need sorting before it can introduced.

Its not like it was ever promised in this region before then, was it?

I guess its easy for me not to be concerned, I'm simply not interested in movie downloads, but I don't see why people are over reacting as if they somehow kicked your favorite puppy.

[Baka-akaB]

@NowGen

Lol idiot ...
Anyway screw living in USA , i so far get everything you do for a better price with imports and the current value of the dollar . Those of us who truly cares will find a way , if not already through us proxy .

I'm just surprised Japan didnt get the video store too , especially with the big anime market .

[rockleex]

Digital distribution of video content is limited/held back by studios and regional laws.

If every country had the same laws and studios were the same all over the world then it would make it MUCH easier for Sony to launch the Video Store worldwide.

Home is launching worldwide because it is owned by Sony.

[Andronicus]

North America is made up of 2 that are predominantly English speaking. they stated the video store would be available in NORTH AMERICA during the conference. yeah and North America doesn't mean michigan and new york.

[legendkilla]

Canada must be a part of E.U... still no video store here yet.. i would rather buy my blu ray movies but i still would like to check it out!

[Vip3r]

Even though this sucks, we still have Blu-ray which is a whole load better than downloads.

[Wolf873]

Do we also count as Europe!? Bah, I never was actually interested in that store anyway, I prefer physical-media for my movies.

[BaSeBaLlKiD721]

oh guys give me a break!!! europe is getting playTV and we're not... be happy that you will be able to record tv shows/movies for free while we have to pay fee to download movies.

[AngryHippo]

.....maybe Sony should start treating each region the same. I really f-ing hate how this happens....you watch the conference then they say 'movie store is available TONIGHT'....makes everyone think Sony are f-ing legends like i did and then found out only tonight for US not till 09 for Europe and everywhere else. Just a little bit of a slap in the face. Well done Sony, thank you for really appreciating the support Europe has given you.

[MpV35]

You mean, Sony, actually released something in the US before the promise land (Japan)? Trust me, my Euro and Australian friends, we have felt your pain too. Maybe, just maybe, one day you will get your own stab back at the rest of the world (besides PSTV, which I am bummed out about). As for the Canadians, that's a whole new type of shafted that I've never felt before. You should be pissed. If someone told me North America, and I didn't have it, there would be hell to pay for. Not like I could do anything though.

[Surfman]

Cmon, give us the same damn Store in Canada.

[RussDeBuss]

I didn't expect the eu video store to have same content sa the us store for the reasons others have said, licensing etc. and some films are released in us b4 EU, althought the time difference is usually less now days, especially on blockbusters because of piracy they release them earlier.

but wtf, why cant we have a video store with films etc. that are out in this eu alreday. why the 6 month or more delay.

give me one good fu**ing reason

and i bet the eu prices are gonna be rip off as well, especially in uk, like aplle do with itunes and charge more than rest of eu

[Lionsguard]

I'd gladly trade the video store for Playtv.