Microsoft is bringing the DVD experience to downloadable movies--at least in the U.K.
Teaming up with U.K. retail giant Tesco, Microsoft announced Wednesday a new service to offer consumers downloadable videos with the same interactivity, special features, and high quality found on physical DVDs.
Based on Microsoft's Silverlight technology, the "virtual DVD" service will start sometime this fall. It will allow Tesco customers who buy certain movies to also download digital copies of the flicks for their Windows or Mac computers. Besides providing high-quality video, the digital versions will include bonus content, related MP3 files and ringtones, and networked games. Tesco said it is working with "broad range of major movie studios" as part of the deal.
"For the first time, consumers will be able to enjoy a DVD equivalent experience with digital movies, which paves the way for more advanced viewing experiences enabled through Silverlight, Rob Salter, category director for Entertainment at Tesco, said in a statement. "In the future we expect to offer our customers innovative digital solutions that far exceed the DVD experience and deliver exclusive content, Web events, and services wherever and whenever they want them."
Tesco, a grocery chain, has taken advantage of technology to create new business ventures. The company has expanded its reach in recent years to create software and offer a Skype-like VoIP service.
Though the virtual DVD service initially will be available only in the U.K., Microsoft said it expects to branch out to additional markets.
At this year's E3 Expo in Los Angeles, both Sony and Microsoft pushed upcoming services and devices that allow users to download full games to their hardware. For Microsoft, it's a new arm of its online marketplace that will let gamers download full retail games to their system's hard drives. For Sony, it's the new PSP Go, a slimmed-down version of its flagship portable gaming hardware that does away with its game slot in place of pushing Wi-Fi game downloads to its 16GB of built-in memory.
Both companies are pushing direct downloads as the premiere way to buy new games, and many are expecting the direct-downloading technology to be one of the main selling points in the next generation of gaming hardware. As a side effect, the new revenue model largely cuts out used game retailers, since there's less physical media to resell or swap with friends.
But let's get real for a moment, this is nothing new. In fact, game companies have been trying to get direct-download games working on consoles since the early 1980s. Let's take a brief look at previous efforts to sell console games without any physical media:
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Valve's Steam software has a new feature for game publishers that lets them sell additional downloadable content, or DLC, from within their games.
To do this, it uses a new in-game purchasing system built off of the in-software Web browser. The first title to feature this is The Maw, which now includes two additional levels that can be purchased for $1.25 each, then played immediately. Previously, all add-on content was sold as a separate purchase from Steam's game store.
The new feature is available to all developers as part of Valve's Steamworks publishing platform. For games with existing add-on content, this means that the companies will be able go back and update their titles to allow in-game purchases.
Micropayments are becoming an increasingly important part of modern games, not only as a way for publishers to continue to make money from a title after it's released, but also to help bring in extra sales from people who purchase games used.
Valve says the new system will allow users to purchase and add additional content, even on titles that were not purchased through Steam's game store, just like it does with physical software titles that were purchased from other retailers.
Previously: Valve announces best PC gaming idea of the year (so far)
Valve is now selling downloadable content on its Steam, Web-powered games distribution software.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
(Credit:
Amazon)
Amazon.com on Tuesday launched its first foray into digital downloads for games. The new online store offers more than 600 casual titles without the need for physical media. Amazon says all the titles at launch are under either $6.99 or $9.99 with older titles leaning towards the lower end of the spectrum. As an added promotion, the company is giving away three free titles, which gamers have a week to scoop up before the prices return to normal.
The launch comes just a little over two months since Amazon acquired Reflexive Entertainment, a casual-game service that is still selling titles with its own DRM solution and store front. In Amazon's case, purchased games must be downloaded with a special download tool similar to what's required to grab music tracks from the company's MP3 service. The games then phone home the first time you launch them to verify the purchase information.
Each game can be played for 30 minutes as a timed trial before the need to purchase. This model directly competes with that from Yahoo Games and to a certain degree Valve's Steam service, although unlike Valve, Amazon is not yet offering a download service for larger AAA titles from major publishers.
The service is PC-only for now, which is mostly a limitation from game developers who don't offer the titles on computers running OS X or Linux. However, a Mac version of the store is likely in the works.
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