Microsoft Focus on Movies

It seems Microsoft are very much focusing on movies for the time being, as they announce no fewer than 30 new movies that will become available to download onto your Xbox 360 in the UK.

The big question on everybody’s lips, however, is why they decided to bring movies to their 17 million users, and not TV. McGill, of Xbox UK claimed “people are already consuming TV shows through other mediums – if I want to watch something, I can watch it on my TV, my laptop or use services… It’s not necessary to offer consumers another way of watching TV, Xbox users want movies.”

Neil Thompson, Head of UK Xbox, backs this up by saying “our focus is very much on movies at the moment. We are trying to make this service as good as possible before we even think about adding TV shows. We will speak to consumers and if we think that TV shows is what they want, then it will certainly be something to look into in the future.”

In the meantime, users will be happy to know that Microsoft has teamed up with NBC Universal, adding them to a list that already includes giants such as Paramount, Warner and MGM, but when asked about the possibility of bringing the BBC iPlayer to the console, similar to what Nintendo have brought to Wii users, McGill immediately said “I tried using it on the Wii, but soon went back to watching it on my PC”. It appears streaming TV shows could prove difficult, he agreed it would “be a technical challenge to stream through broadband…we’ve also got to have the right content for the right market.” Thompson also touched upon Nintendo’s offering by saying “we have to look at what will make the Xbox Live a unique experience for its users, so because of this we have no plans to integrate the iPlayer at the moment – unless we can find away to differentiate it from what other people offer.”

The 30 new movies available for download are:

Baby Mama
The Frighteners
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Wanted
The Game
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
How High
The Incredible Hulk ('08)
The Jerk
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
Liar, Liar
You, Me and Dupree
The Mummy Returns
The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior
National Lampoon's Animal House
Billy Madison
Out of Sight ('98)
Blues Brothers
Reservation Road
Bourne Supremacy
Scarface ('83)
Carlito's Way
Scorpion King
Cheech and Chong's Next Movie
Shaun of the Dead
Child's Play 3
Village of the Damned
Fast and the Furious
Waterworld
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegass

Craig Bryan, NoobFeed