Remember when consoles just did gaming? Those days are long gone granddad, but the Sky Player on Xbox 360 farce shows that the path to general entertainment box is far from smooth. If you own a 360 and live in the UK then you will probably be aware that that the Sky Player launch has been beset with problems. The sheer amount of 360 owners who wanted to watch sports and Sky news – ok, probably just the sports – on their consoles clearly surprised Sky and Microsoft. The good news – for those who can afford the steep subscription charges – is that the service appears to be rolling out successfully now. Anyone here managed to connect yet? What do you think?
PS3 and PSP owners shouldn't feel too left out though. Sony America has just added some new partners – the largest of which is Lucasarts - to their video download service. According to Sony:
PlayStation Network now boasts the most content of any downloadable video delivery service through a videogame console available today
UK, France and Spain should get the service – currently US only – later this year so comparisons with the 360 video on demand offer can be properly made then. In the meantime PS3 owners in the UK can at least enjoy the rather neat BBC iPlayer integration on their PS3.
So what does it all mean? Will we ever see a day when potential buyers see the quality of the video service to be as important as the games offering when it comes to choosing a console? Or is video simply a nice additional service – maybe something to placate your partner? – when you need a break from gaming?
