LOOT “EOD” To Offer Streaming Video Rentals in Home
by CheekyGuy, HSM team writer
It is now possible that through the PlayStation Network Store, you can rent or buy movies to watch within Home in the comfort of your Sunset Yacht or Hollywood Space, a source tells us.
Finally, all those months of asking Sony to deliver us a better, more in-depth experience for Home is starting to come to realization. Coming via the 1.6 core client upgrade, a new feature through the PSN Store will give you the option to download your movie to watch in or outside of Home.
This feature has always been available on rival virtual world Second Life, in that you can “walk” into a Block Buster-type video store and rent or buy from a huge list of popular titles to play on your virtual DVD player in your home. Some of these movies are shown as part of a demonstration in-store.
Now this idea has come to Home, in that it’s now possible to purchase entertainment via the PlayStation Store and play it in a similar fashion through the purchase of a new television-like furniture item that will be made available at the Mall’s Furniture store. It will be much like the picture frames, but with (obviously) expanded capabilities. Or if you are a Netflix (Or for European Accounts, LoveFilm.com) subscriber, you can simply order, save to your HDD and watch either in-Home or through your XMB.
In the real world, I live on my own and I love watching movies (some through my Satellite TV service and another option through my PS3, as my local Block Buster is too far to get to and the late fees are just plain annoying), but I like that shared experience of having Home friends from all over the world converge into one space just to watch a movie with me, that it doesn’t make me feel so alone anymore.
It has also been “hinted” (translation: pretty bloody likely) by our source of the addition of an in-Home YouTube-type service being available to view and upload your own video content. This can open up many possibilities for ‘Machinema’ (Movies featuring ‘In-World’ Avatars), such as music videos from amateur musicians on Home, which could open up the door for Indie pop bands that are looking to get signed to a label. Not to mention, of course, the possibility of those videos being shown in the Home Community Theater.
Today’s modern internet has demolished all the boundaries and difficulties in meeting other people and it just makes you feel so much closer to that person, than say, (for me anyway) 3,000 miles away. Talking to somebody over Skype, Yahoo or MSN and now through your PlayStation Console, with crisp, clear audio; it just gives an impression that you’re talking to somebody from right down the street.
A decade or two ago, we never even had this, and even before subscription based Broadband, making a simple phone call to somebody on the other side of the world – as a means of staying in touch – was a risk in draining your bank balance. So thank God for the internet, and (especially) thank God for broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol!
Another impressive feature coming your way is Video Conferencing from within Home.
Video Conferencing, you ask?
Yeah, that’s right, Avatar to Avatar calls. That means exactly what it says. Imagine using a Virtual webcam – much like the camera function we have now – in-Home to make video calls, and those webcam images of the people you’re chatting with are fed through the screen in your Sunset Yacht. It’s coming, our source tells us.
Just think – you can set up that special meeting with another group without the need to teleport over to join them. Or maybe you’ve maxed out the number of people allotted in your private space for that party you’re throwing and you can no longer invite any others. Not a problem. What you can do is organize the party to be spread out around other people’s private spaces and via the video call, everyone can join in and party together.
Also, there is talk of streaming your own music content from your mp3 player to play in Home privately from your HDD without disturbing anybody else. As you can tell, we’re very excited about the new developments happening out here on Home.
So then, imagine having some friends over at your Mansion, the Yacht, or the Hollywood Hills space, as you normally do now. Invite your friends over and you can all watch the same movie together from a huge selection of Sony’s present and back catalogue and share the fun.
Ladies, just think; you will no longer have to force your boyfriend/husband to watch that chick flick you just ordered that you’re dying to see (and he’s dreading). Just log onto Home, send invites out to your girlfriends (on a side note, this would be a great way to test and see if that “girl” you’ve been chatting with really is a girl), and from the comfort of your favorite personal space, all of you share in the joy of Wilting Willow Finds Her Butterfly together, complete with Kleenex boxes and chocolate.
So with all that said – who’s up for a viewing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? Or how about Capote? Or even Kung Fu Hustle? Bring out the popcorn and the soda and come on over!
April 1st, 2011 by CheekyGuy | 5 comments
CheekyGuy is a loveable, mischievous Brit who first entered virtual reality via Second Life, and now frequents Home as a Grey Gamer to keep in touch with friends. In real life, Cheeky is a video editor who has just completed a Master's degree in screenwriting from Liverpool John Moores University.
Yeah!!! About time they came out with this. Loved the article Cheeky.
Woot can’t wait fer this one.lol. good jerb cheeky!!
*goes to Sunset Yacht and patiently waits*
do you have an idea of how many of our readers started weeping when they realized this was an April Fools’ Day joke?
It does seem perfectly reasonable.