Microsoft will allow gamers in the UK to buy films through its Xbox 360 console from next Tuesday, as the console moves to compete directly with everything from television to online download stores.
Films including the Matrix, the Harry Potter series and Ocean's 11 will be available after Xbox 360 becomes the first games console to offer a video-on-demand service, Live Marketplace Video Store, that will includes 40 popular film titles in standard and high definition in six countries.
Users pay between £2 and £4.50 for each film and have two weeks to watch the movie after download. The service will also roll out in Canada, Ireland, France and Germany after it launched in the US in November last year.
Microsoft wants to use its Xbox services to break into the increasing market for film downloads in Europe, predicted to be worth as much as €350m by 2012.
About 60% of Xbox users already go online through Xbox Live to download games and music videos and play web-based games with other players.
"In around five years we've sold 8m live subscriptions globally, and the social networking activity delivered through TV screens is a major part of this next phase.
"We'll have a variety of family-led propositions, controls and broader content that will appeal more to families," said Robin Burrowes, the Xbox Live UK marketing manager.
"The key proposition is built around choice, which will grow over time. We believe that this is a convenient opportunity for people, because their card details can be stored in the Xbox so they can download instantly."
Burrowes added that the service would appeal to Xbox users who often multitask, using instant messenger or email at the same time as watching or listening to content.
Microsoft also announced a range of what it described as "unparalleled parental controls" that allow parents to cap usage and content types on the Xbox in a system that dovetails with similar media settings on Microsoft's new operating system, Vista.
Data compiled by vgchartz.com indicates that there are 1.6m Xbox consoles in the UK, which would give Microsoft a healthy market to build on as a download distribution platform.
But the Xbox is losing out to sales of Nintendo's Wii, which sold twice the amount of consoles in the past week, and the Nintendo DS.
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· This article was amended on Wednesday December 5 2007. The Nintendo DS, not Sony's Playstation 3, has outsold the Xbox 360. This has been corrected.
