There are two things that really bug me about the store, however.
- the rates are too high on television episodes. 2 bucks for an individual episode of a tv show? That's a bit nuts when you can get 3-6 episodes for 3.99 if you rent a disc containing 1/3 of a television season at Blockbuster or from Netflix.
-why are so many of the newest releases for purchase only? I've passed on the PSN movie store on at least 5 occasions- and updated my Netflix cue instead- because the PSN store only gave me a purchase option for a movie that I wanted to rent.
Just last week- geeky and lame as it is (and it IS)- I really wanted to watch the new Avengers animated movie that recently launched on the service. But my ONLY option via PSN was to pony up 15 bucks to OWN a digital copy of a movie that I will probably only watch for 30 minutes (cause I imagine it's not a very engaging movie if you are over the age of 10). So I just added the movie to my Netflix cue and the PSN store lost a sale.
To that point, does anyone want to own a digital copy of a movie, anyway? I suppose if you watch the flick a lot of times it makes sense. But given that digital movies take up valuable hard drive space, wouldn't those frequently watched films be the ones you choose to own on Blu Ray or DVD?
And on a tangent: I can understand, support, and actually enjoy downloading games (whatever the size of the title). And I'm not sure why, as you'd think I'd have the same reservations with downloading games as I do movies...but I don't. Why is that? Sure, some are ONLY downloadable titles, so you have no choice. But what about games like BURNOUT:PARADISE and WARHAWK that you can get on disc or digitally? Or what about the games I own on Steam? For some reason, I LIKE owning digital games but not digital movies. Is this just because I work in the business and see a financial value to selling games digitally and bypassing brick and mortar? Or is there another reason? Not too sure.
But anyway:
So why would the PSN movie store NOT offer the options to buy AND rent? Are they trying to get as much cash as possible by selling digital copies first and then opening up the rental channel once they've milked the sales channel? That seems kind of short sighted and a bad way to generate good faith among users (especially with a fledgling system). And ESPECIALLY since anyone can easily counter that tactic by running down the road to Blockbuster and/or updating their Netflix cue (and in doing so, saving 11 bucks by renting the movie and not buying it). So why are they doing it? They clearly have a rental service in place and working, so I don't imagine it's a technical issue. But whatever the reason, it sucks much ass and they need to stop.
I have not shopped on the Xbox Live video store in over a year so I'm not sure if it's the same 'over there'. Do you guys know if they have the same set up? I know about the Netflix subscription thing, but that aside, can you rent AND/OR buy ANY movie on that service or do they have a lot of the movies that are purchase only as well? And if they do, they need to knock that shit off as well.
So, there's that.
Ok, but even with those issues, I really like the PSN movie store. Nice layout, good selection. Oh, and it rocks for the kids- they like browsing the family section with me and discovering movies they've never heard of but end up really liking.
So I was up late using it last night.
And I rented ROCKY III as it's my fave Rocky and I've been wanting to watch it for awhile. Love ALL the Rockys, save for number 5, but I've been wanting to see Rocky and Mr. 'T' go at it for the last few months. So I picked #3.
And so I rent it (yes!), and start watching. And what do I see in the first 20 minutes? Right as the 'Clubber is hungry and Rocky is getting lazy' montage? Well check it out:
How cool is that? Mr. 'T' kicked my ass! Sweet!
I saw this movie first as a kid with my mom during the summer of 82. It was playing at the Brookwood Mall theater and my brother was away at summer camp, my dad was at work. This was a magic theater, by the way. SAME theater where I saw Raiders, ET, Clash of the Titans, and Excalibur. But anyway, saw it with my mom and you would have thought she would have noticed our last name appearing in the flick. But she never said anything and for some reason it never caught my eye till last nite. Hey, maybe this is one of those living advertisement things, where they alter the movie and put the last name of the person who is paying for the account into the flick? Nah....
I guess I could have just posted that pic and not gone into my whole love/dislike thing with the PSN store but like I said- I was up late...and so I'm tired now. And my brain is not working so well on such little sleep. I think I got about 4 hours of sleep last nite (late to bed, up early as my youngest crawled into bed with me at 5am and I've been up since...but hell, I don't mind...would rather have Rocky III and my kids hanging in bed with me than 8 hours of sleep, anyday!)
Ok, time to eat some breakfast and hit some gameplay tuning!
Later ya'll! Good weekend!
David