DivX and Sony Pictures Television have locked arms in a deal to enable online retailers to offer Sony Pictures content for download-to-own on DivX Certified devices. Engadget HD has confirmed that PlayStation 3 is one such 'certified' device, but not Xbox 360 (we're guessing Microsoft passed on paying the licensing fee). Though specific platforms have yet to be named, the agreement could see any number of Sony Pictures' ginormous catalog of past and present television shows being sold through PSN in high-quality DivX format. But, seeing as how Sony can barely manage to deliver a single, unenhanced PS1 game on the network at snail's pace, we're cautious to put our faith in the dubious service ever taking on the competition.

[Via Engadget HD]

Still no in-game XMB news now, with the UK's PlayStation website spilling the bytes on a new PlayStation 3 firmware update. Scheduled for release on December 18th (we're confirming the date with SCEA), Firmware 2.10 joins the Xbox 360's Fall dashboard update in offering support for the pervasive DivX video codec. There are some caveats, however, as files that are copyright-protected, encoded with DivX 3.11 or larger than 2GB in size are not supported.

Also added by the update is support for VC-1 (WMV) playback, Type 3 music bitmapping, Blu-ray Profile 1.1 and a "Voice Changer." You know, in case you thought your normal voice wasn't obnoxious enough in the hushed library that is the PS3's online scene.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Just two days after the Xbox 360 Fall Update added DivX and Xvid support, Connect360 – the app that shares your Mac's music, photos, and videos with your 360 – has been updated to support the new codecs. We imagine the update wasn't that difficult, since simply changing a video's file extension from .avi to .wmv tricked the app into streaming our totally legitimate collection of videos, but we're happy for the official fix. $20 buys you the app, but the upgrade to 3.2 is free for existing users. Wanna try it out? Download the demo. Dare we say, it actually works better than the official Windows solution? We dare!

[Via Megatonik]

The Xbox dev team has posted an updated FAQ answering a smorgasbord of video playback questions. Confirming the results of Joystiq's own tests -- yep, DivX and Xvid files now play perfectly -- the guide acknowledges support for MPEG-4 Part 2 (Simple and Advanced Simple Profile) videos, which will be playable once tomorrow's update has been installed. The post does note that additional functionalities (menus, subtitles, multiple audio tracks, etc.) that are sometimes contained in DivX files will not be supported by Xbox 360, and in some cases can render such files unplayable. Though, for the most part, all of your BitTorrent'd cache will play whether streamed from a computer or fed directly from a USB storage device.

The Xbox Team's guide also gives pointers on how to organize your files into a hierarchy that takes advantage of 360's sorting filters and how to associate a thumbnail image with each video, in addition to a list of gamepad shortcuts: Push 'Start' to begin video playback from a bookmarked position and bypass the Resume/Restart sub-page. But it's not all just "duh" tips, the FAQ gets into the nitty-gritty of BVOPs, quarter pixel motion compensation, and even ... quantization! (Yeah, we're just gonna keep on pretendin' like we know.)

[Thanks, Thomas]

Things were a little different this year. For their second Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard Update, Microsoft decided to trickle the features out instead of dropping them on us all at once. Around Halloween, we realized things were awful quiet, so we asked you what you wanted to see in the Fall Update. On November 7, Microsoft kicked things off by announcing the Parental Timer, a feature we're certain you're all eager to try out. They followed that up on November 13 by confirming Xbox Originals, downloadable Xbox 1 games for your 360. On the 26th, they spilled the beans on the social-networky "Friends of Friends" feature, ostensibly to give paranoid folks some time to disable the functionality (which they can do here). Capping it all off a day later, MS Japan dropped some info, notably the ability to set your real name (your real name is xXsmokezmadbluntz420Xx?), your location, and a brief bio – more of that social networking stuff the kids are crazy about.

Finally, after what seemed an interminable wait, Microsoft was ready to let us in on the big picture. We spoke with Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg about next Tuesday's update and what was still in store. "There are three different categories that speak to a majority of the updates," Greenberg told us.

DivX, Inc. today revealed a partnership with Sony to integrate its video playback technology into PlayStation 3. While a consumer-targeted firmware update has not been dated, developers who update their SDKs to version 2.00 can already utilize the DivX decoder technology for use in their games. But who cares about games anymore? With DivX support enabled (hopefully in the near future) for PS3 owners, a lot of that juicy BitTorrent content you've compulsively horded on your basement PC can be effortlessly streamed upstairs to the console. Now if they'd just add Xvid support you could finally cut the cable bill altogether...

[Note: Xbox 360 is not natively compatible with DivX or Xvid formats, though DivX support has been rumored to be included in the pending Fall Update.]

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Last week's Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard update added support for the Windows Media Video (WMV) video codec. The feature was a welcomed gain for non-Media Center users who have been limited to photo and music sharing between their Windows PCs and Xbox 360s -- and to anyone who's longed to watch video files on 360 via a thumb drive or CD/DVD.

Unfortunately, licensing fees and digital rights concerns have limited the patch to WMV-support only. Being Microsoft's proprietary format, WMV is neither popular or oft-used, taking a backseat to preferred codecs like DivX and XviD. And so, we're still left scrambling for a solution to getting our video content onto Xbox 360.

Nintendo thinks, "Hey, maybe a web browser on the DS would be swell." Sounds good to DS Fanboy, so long as they don't have to use that Pokemon stylus! PSP Fanboy explains, "UMDs are already overpriced, we're just trying to save a couple bucks, so get off our backs!" Meanwhile, in Xbox 360 Fanboy-land, they laud community efforts to pick up where Microsoft left off with the 3rd-party additions of DivX and Mac support. Don't touch that stylus, here are the Fanboy highlights for the week:

DS Fanboy
Nintendo considering DS web browser?
A very disturbing Pokemon stylus
DS Lite: Just the facts!

PSP Fanboy
Me & My Katamari sorta kinda stateside
Jazz Jackrabbit ported to PSP
Amazon.com offers cheap UMD deal

Xbox 360 Fanboy
XBMC hacker introduces Transcode 360
Connect360 connects your Mac to your 360
Peter Jackson visits Bungie, talks shop