Xbox Live Video Marketplace live in Canada, UK, and elsewhere

28 Comments by Christopher Grant Dec 11th 2007 2:00AM
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

As expected, and later confirmed, the Xbox Live Video Marketplace just went, err, live in five more regions, which we'll present to you here in order of density of stand-up comic talent: Canada, followed by the UK, Ireland, France, and Germany (sorry, Germans).

After what seemed like an eternity spent watching the US hoard the video marketplace's direct-to-video horror films and forgettable sci-fi action flicks all to itself, our international friends can finally throw their Microsoft Points down on some SD and/or HD content delivered in clean, environmentally friendly zeros and ones. Coincidentally, that's about the Metacritic average of most of the movies on the service. Experiment in Torture? Really?

Tags: BreakingNews, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, UK, Video-Marketplace, XBLM, Xbox-Live

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

AirIntake: Dec 11th 2007; 2:08AM

But the 360 plays my DivX now, what do I need this for? :)

Snipermonky: Dec 11th 2007; 3:08AM

Well now us Canadians can actually justify the Elite for its 120 Gig Hard Drive. Oh wait, forgot about the download caps...

AirIntake: Dec 11th 2007; 9:35AM

I'd justify the Elite with the Xbox originals. I wouldn't mind to D/L Psychonauts, but I can't afford to lose 4 out of my 10 free gigs for just 1 game. And just my luck, my 360 will break, and then I'll have to be online to play my downloads.

gonk: Dec 11th 2007; 2:26AM

i've never used this before and doubt i ever will

colin: Dec 11th 2007; 2:34AM

"in order of density of stand-up comic talent"

that's subjective

AirIntake: Dec 11th 2007; 9:37AM

Not really, Canadians have always had a strong showing in comedy, what with SCTV and SNL being some of the biggest stepping stones for comedians and being Canadian run.

Virduk: Dec 11th 2007; 2:35AM

Australia misses out again. At this rate Sony will beat MS to the market.

Azerael: Dec 11th 2007; 3:47AM

Two HD movies would use up the entire bandwidth of most Australians anyway.

william_varrenti: Dec 13th 2007; 12:49AM

far out, back to old videos of skippy the bush kangeroo for me

seriously tho i am aussie and im flippin angry

ScottyGEE32: Dec 11th 2007; 9:06AM

I hear ya...But then I think about how shitty it'd be.
We get slow downloads of xbl in the first place...we have horrible bandwidth restrictions. So:
1) it'd take a year
2) it'd cost us more than its worth.

Not to mention how screwed MS points is with our AUD. Coz you know that 1 USD = 10 cents according to microsoft points system works a treat.

So whilst I'm annoyed it'd suck and I woulnd't use it heaps either (since even after downloading it and paying for it...its not "mine"

ScottyGEE32: Dec 11th 2007; 9:08AM

phooey...I meant that according to the MS points cost we have to pay double (the 10 cents and even this is a bit of a hyperbole ;p) what you do...800 points for you is much much worse for us =(

Brandon: Dec 11th 2007; 4:10AM

@Azerael
And thats why Australia will always get the shaft.

Matthias: Dec 11th 2007; 4:50AM

I am from Germany, and I agree, our stand-up comedy sucks. But then again, I don't think stand-up comedy could be any good, anytime anywhere.

So, err, oh yes, video marketplace. Cool.

Rhandos: Dec 11th 2007; 5:45AM

No English language tracks and, according to the running times, censored-for-TV versions.

Fuck this.

Moorio: Dec 11th 2007; 6:42AM

-Hey Canada!
-Huh? Oh hey America!
-Check out my films and televisions.
-Pretty cool. I want some.
-Sorry. You'll have to wait.
-Oh.
(1 year later)
-Hey America, I gotz me sum.
-Phhst. You pay more for us and your selection sucks.
-You suck.
->:(
-And you still have Bush.
-:(
(walks away)

Moorio: Dec 11th 2007; 6:45AM

-btw, it's 'more than us', you idiot. Get your fucking grammar straight.

Greg2k: Dec 11th 2007; 7:42AM

Spain pls.

oldest gamer: Dec 11th 2007; 8:09AM

Get your 360 DRM out of my maple syrup you bastards!

Brucie B: Dec 11th 2007; 8:22AM

Are the Canadians happy now.. Ehh

Viridium: Dec 11th 2007; 8:54AM

I'm not sad, but I'm not happy. I was certainly interested in the service, until they announced that the point costs were higher. So as others have said, we pay more for points and the rentals cost more.

I'll stick with our free DVD loans from the local library. Even our local mom'n'pop video store is $4 for a new release rental.

RangerPrimeX: Dec 11th 2007; 8:37AM

Marketplace is cool to get an HD movie rental of a title not current available in HD or only on Blu-ray like Ocean's 13. Got to say that I am finding myself buying and owning movies less and less. The idea of being able to rent and almost immediately watch when the itch hits for a particular movie is more appealing

Mathew Ricci: Dec 11th 2007; 10:36AM

"Marketplace is cool to get an HD movie rental of a title not current available in HD or only on Blu-ray like Ocean's 13"

Ocean's 13 was released on both formats and is available on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray so.... what?

Watership: Dec 11th 2007; 9:20AM

The Canadian marketplace is still broken. You can't download movies or previews.

RazorD: Dec 11th 2007; 10:11AM

I don't see any content here in the UK yet :(

Tango Charlie: Dec 11th 2007; 11:46AM

I'm Canadian, and while I would argue that we've spawned many excellent comedians, since our land area is so great the *density* would probably be less than the UK. If the UK has raised approximately the same number of comedians as Canada, then considering the size of the landmass, they would be much more comedian-dense than we are.

A preliminary estimate suggests that Canada would have one comedian for every three square kilometers, whereas in the UK we're looking at more of a one-to-one ratio.

Mr.ESC: Dec 11th 2007; 12:20PM

Er...5 countries only,Phff suckage.Wake me up when Wollywood movies are avalible in Mexico via Xbox marketplace.

Synner: Dec 11th 2007; 4:50PM

Any idea when it will come to Italy?

And on that note, any of you europeans know how Internet works in Italy? I know you have a per minute charge for phone use, but if you have DSL or something is it a fixed monthly thing, or am I screwed?

DigitalAmoeba: Dec 15th 2007; 7:46AM

I know other regions have it, but in the UK there was no mention that we were going to get 2 tier pricing on movies...all the previous prices for UK were only for the non-2007 movies!

I.e. '300' & 'Zodiac' the only 2007 movies, costs 540 (£4.59/$9.40) in HD and 360 (£3.06/$6.26) in SD

While older movies do cost 380 (£3.23/$6.62) in HD and 250 (£2.13/$4.36) in SD

That's a pretty big unannounced hike in price for the new movies that people actually want to watch...Almost £5 instead of just over £3 for the HD versions...which are the ones people care about.

Very disappointed this is so expensive on top of the fact that MS Points cost more in the UK than anywhere else in the world!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Points

This has really taken the shine of Video MarketPlace for me, and I feel an idiot for getting others excited about this.

When the supermarkets are releasing new DVDs for just over £10 to keep, I'm not going to pay 50% of the price to rent a movie once in HD. If it was about 1/3-1/4 the price to keep, as advertised, then you'd have got a lot of my money.

For now it looks like I'll be staying with the only future proof format - DVD

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