The all-out war in the next-generation gaming space is finally heating up big time, with the aim of dominating the living room and home entertainment the jewel in the crown that everyone desires. Is it enough to fend off the Blu-ray threat of the PS3?

From the 22nd of November, a scant five days after the PS3 is due to launch in the US, Xbox 360 owners with a hard drive will be able to download a selection of movies and TV shows, some in high definition, right to their 20Gb hard drive.

All you need to be is an Xbox Live Silver or Xbox Live Gold member, and along with your broadband Internet connection and a credit card to pay for the video downloads, and you’re good to go – if you live in the US.

Immediate concern has been raised over the amount of content that can be stored on the Xbox 360’s paltry hard drive, with only 14 or 15Gb of hard disk space left when you get the machine.

This will also be shared with whatever game demos, Xbox Live Arcade games, movie trailers and music you already have stored there, but reports suggest that Microsoft has an answer.

If you’ve purchased a TV show or movie, one that you are able to keep (as opposed to only renting it), you will be able to re-download it in the future if you’ve had to wipe it off your hard drive so you could download something else.

Microsoft should really consider bringing out an updated version of the Xbox 360, one with an 80Gb or 100Gb hard drive to compete with the PS3’s 60Gb of space, along with an inbuilt HD DVD drive as has been rumoured for so long now.

Perhaps those will come sometime in 2007, as Microsoft likely has millions of current model Xbox 360’s to be sold, and they clearly don’t want to devalue those, nor do they want to drop the price prematurely and wipe off hundreds of millions of dollars of profit in one fell swoop.

Indeed, Microsoft have upped the ante by releasing those 85 updates to the Xbox 360 to great acclaim all over the Internet. While there were reports that some machines didn’t take kindly to the updates and were rendered temporarily inoperative, reports now suggest that Microsoft has sorted out this problem and updating your Xbox 360 is safe once more.

It’s perfect timing for Microsoft to be releasing such as service. The PS3 has Blu-ray in its corner, while Apple is launching the code-named iTV service which will also let you watch downloaded iTunes video content on your existing TV, some of which will have to be in HD quality, if not immediately, then soon enough. High-definition is the future of video, after all.

The service is initially aimed at a US audience, with no word yet on when an Australian service will be launched. But there’s no doubt the rest of the Xbox owning world is in Microsoft’s viewfinder. Pricing for video downloads is slated to be comparable to the prices iTunes charges, although there’s no firm confirmation of this as yet. Stay tuned, as we will report it as soon as we can!

2006 is shaping up to be humanity’s most digital year ever, with December itself set to be an enormous battleground of advertising and sales to get you to buy, buy, buy. A video/movie/TV download service is just another way for you to keep on buying long after you’ve gone through the aisle with the cash register in stores.

The real worry for providers of content should be the TV stations and video rental stores. iTunes offers TV shows and movies in the US, Microsoft is in the act, and several cable services in the US offer video downloads too.

The way we get the movies and TV shows we watch has changed forever, with increasing choice firmly in our hands. It’s about time!

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, November 7th, 2006 at 11:00 pm under Technology.

Read more entries by Alex Zaharov-Reutt.
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