Video Games

PlayStation 3 downloadable video store

Bwww.us.playstation.com

WELCOME TO THE PARTY: Sony's new downloadable video store for the PS3 is extremely late to the scene and will need to make some big improvements if the company hopes to match Microsoft's increasingly impressive Xbox 360 video store. But the PS3 video service does have potential.

MOVIES AND TV SHOWS: Scrolling through the lists of offerings is easy and intuitive. The pricing, though, is a bit perplexing, as is the availability of high-definition videos. You can buy and rent videos, but not every video offers both options. Furthermore, while most prices are reasonable, in some cases the cost of buying a standard-def movie and downloading it to the PS3's hard drive can cost as much as $14.99. Fifteen bucks for an SD film is about what you'd pay if you just bought the DVD, and in that case you get a physical copy of the movie.

QUALITY: Video quality is excellent, though, and you can start watching videos almost as soon as they've begun downloading or let them download in the background while you do something else.

BOTTOM LINE: More videos (especially in HD) are needed to bulk up the catalog. Sony has a chance to innovate with pricing, though, and I'd like to see some sort of subscription model for the Sony video store. Victor Godinez

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