One of the most anticipated PlayStation Network announcements has been about the new downloadable videos – movies and television shows. They previewed this feature at E3 today, and I have to admit – it looks cool. Microsoft/Netflix what?

They’re offering both rentals and purchases, with movies starting at just 2.99 for a rental and $9.99 to purchase. Single episodes of television shows are cheaper.

Here are some more video highlights:

• ~ It will take about an hour to download a standard 2-hour movie, but it’s progressive, so you can start watching as soon as you start downloading.
• ~ Once you have the movie downloaded, you can transfer it to your PSP, so you can take your movie with you wherever you go.
• ~ Most major studios have signed on, so you’ll be able to download movies from Disney, Universal, MGM, FOX, and most other major studios.
• ~ Many titles will be available in both standard and HD.
• ~ All you have to do to get to the videos is go to your PS3 store – you’ll see a new tab marked “videos.” Once there, you can watch previews before you decide what you want to watch.
• ~ You won’t have to subscribe to a service like Netflix – as long as you have a PlayStation 3, you can purchase or rent a movie.

The best part of the announcement? Sony is giving us this service TONIGHT. They didn’t announce a time, but at some point this evening, the video store will go live, so you can start exploring the downloads available. Keep checking back, because they’ll be adding new titles every week.

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