PlayStation Network to Offer TV-Like Content, Plus Game Features
Posted on: Wednesday, 4 June 2008, 15:00 CDT
Sony on Monday unveiled a new combination of TV-like content and video-game features that may give its PlayStation 3 console a stronger foothold among the many devices competing to provide digital entertainment for TV screens.
And starting Thursday, Sony's online PlayStation Network will sell monthly episodes of a new high-definition show called "Qore," a combination of traditionally viewed programming and game-related options.
Consumers who use the PS3's broadband connection to download "Qore" will be able to go back and forth between watching original material, such as interviews with game developers, or using game demos and other features that are interactive in some way, such as zooming in visually on examples of concept art.
"Qore" is based on appealing to the natural PS3 audience of gamers. But it also could represent another step toward delivering a much wider range of video and Web-linked entertainment that would allow Sony to compete with cable, satellite and Internet companies for the time families spend in front of one screen or another.
"The idea is to have another magnet to keep eyes glued," said Richard Doherty, director of the Envisioneering Group, a consumer electronics consulting firm.
Doherty said research shows slightly more high-definition screens connected to PS3s than Microsoft's Xbox 360s, opening the door for Sony to court a market of videophiles. A spokeswoman for the Xbox Live online network had no immediate comment on Sony's "Qore" announcement.
The monthly "Qore" episodes, which include some short commercials, will sell for $2.99 apiece or $24.99 for a 13-episode subscription plus the PlayStation Network game "Calling All Cars."
Source: San Jose Mercury News
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