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Xbox 360 Movies-on-demand service and Xbox originals....
December 4th Microsoft will roll out a new update for the Xbox 360; this will make 'movies on demand' also available in Europe.
The video-on-demand service is active in the US and I am curious after experiences with the service. Downloaded movies can be viewed only once within a 24 hour time-frame and will expire after 14 days. The quality is 480p but Microsoft is thinking about making movies available in 720p quality within the next 6 months.
Great! Sweet, but wait... the Microsoft definition of Europe seems to consists only of UK, Ireland, Germany and France. Ouch! Take a look at the documentation that is included in a recent points-package:
Joystiq concludes that the European roll-out is indeed a limited one. As a citizen of the Benelux part of Europe I can say Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg again are left out standing in the cold - A feeling all too familiar for video-game-consumers of these 3 countries.
But according to a statement made to CVG by a Microsoft-official the service is supposed to be given a true international roll-out later this year which would mean the BENELUX too? Ah well, only time will tell.
Also included in the new dashboard update is the ability to download original Xbox games to the hard drive which will cost you 1200 points. The incorporation of original Xbox games and media services will be accessible through a different lay out of the interface (the blades).
It is high time for some great frantic Japanese Shmups on XBLA! I am game!
- Mark Vergeer's blog
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Hard Drive Needs
Well, the only reason for the bigger hard drive for Dutch users would be if they planned on purchasing several Xbox 1 games for download, I imagine. Those take what, like 2 - 3GB+ a pop?
My 20GB is still doing pretty well for space, especially since I deleted all of my music off the hard drive and just stream it from my laptop now. I have every (102?) Xbox Live Arcade game downloaded (not all purchased) on there, one South Park episode and one music video. Otherwise it's just a few themes, game saves and game add-ons. If I do bother to download a demo of a full game, I usually just give it a try and then delete it soon after. Still, if I do want to purchase more stuff, particularly Xbox 1 games, I really should get the 120GB hard drive. I'm trying to get a deal on one for around $100, but it's not easy. Luckily, I'm in no rush.
Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
done the update and .....
Just performed the 4 December update and I do have access to xbox originals - all the games on offer I own on real disc so no reason for getting any of them. I must recommend Psychonauts though, this game is brilliant and didn't get the credit it deserved at the time when it came out.
In the Netherlands there's no sign of any movie rental possibilities, the only things on offer are some overprices Robbie William video's and some other stuff that has been on there for months/years. So to all Dutch users: no need to get the overpriced bigger hard-drive yet as there's nothing worth downloading in the multimedia department.
I am curious after the experiences of German, French and UK/Ireland folk out there.
Editor / Pixelator - Armchair Arcade, Inc.
www.markvergeer.nl
Testing out the new signature...
Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
The European on-demand situation is vastly different from the US
The European on-demand video situation is vastly different from the US, only just now are services like TiVO beginning to emerge and on-demand services are beginning to become available. High-def television still is virtually non-existent whilst the 2nd generation FULL-HD sets are available in the shops for us to watch our 572p material on. Thank god the standard PAL signal is about 20% better than the standard NTSC signal so in that aspect we PAL-users are a little spoiled. ;)
The situation in the Netherlands to a large extend is such that it is in fact easier to obtain high-def video material from Torrent and Usenet sources than it is to obtain it from a legit service. The movie and record industries are wining about people accessing the materials in less than legal manners but at the same time don't make the material available to customers in other parts of the world.
So you have a European-situation where movie-trailers can be viewed on the web up to a year ahead of the release in European cinemas and no way of being able to see the movie legitimately for months to come. Surf the web and it is flooding with spoilers and people writing 'reviews', torrent sites and usenet-groups bursting with dvd-rips and screeners. A pretty weird situation don't you think?
And downloading is not illegal in the Netherlands.....so the whole thing is just insane! Yet the fact is that customers are still willing to pay for a nice service! So those companies really must get their act together!
Editor / Pixelator - Armchair Arcade, Inc.
www.markvergeer.nl
Hi-Def in the US
There have always been hi-def movies here in the US. All I have are a free hi-def video (Jessica Simpson) and "hi-def" South Park, another one that was free. We haven't rented any movies yet, but certainly would if it wasn't already available on our "On Demand" on cable in hi-def. I think I did rent a 480p version of Austin Powers when that was free, but it was only a two day rental.
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Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
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