Lovefilm has responded to the launch of rival service Netflix by reducing its subscription costs. As we reported this morning, Netflix is now available on PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii, as well as tablets, smartphones, PCs and smart TVs - in the UK and Ireland for £5.99 a month, the same Lovefilm charges. More >
1US video streaming service Netflix has launched in the UK and Ireland. The service, to be available on PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii as well as tablets, smartphones, PCs and smart TVs, offers movies and TV shows for £5.99 a month to UK customers, and €6.99 to those in Ireland. A free, one-month trial is also available. More >
The US movie rental service has renamed its mail-order offering Qwikster, and has quietly begun offering game rentals to at last give competition to GameFly, which has operated without significant opposition for the best part of a decade. "Members have been asking for videogames for many years," writes CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings in a blog post, "and now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done." GameFly can still boast of a competitive edge, however: its catalogue covers a far wider range of formats than Qwikster's PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii.
US 3DS owners will have to wait for the Nintendo Video application, which was released on the eShop yesterday but is currently set for a US release later this summer. In the meantime, US movie streaming service Netflix is to launch an app of its own on the 3DS download store tomorrow. An oddly-worded announcement says that full-length 3D movies will soon be available to US 3DS owners, but doesn't specify if that will be through Netflix - which does not currently offer 3D movies - or a separate app.
Cash balance of $8.3 billion fuels speculation; Imax and Netflix among rumoured targets.
Users can pause movie on 3DS and resume on Wii; Nintendo offering 10,000 WiFi hotspots through AT&T.
But company says it's "always looking for ways to grow" its content streaming service.
Job posting indicates increased likelihood of content streaming service going multiplatform.