Playstaion 3 owners in Australia and several European countries will get an injection of free streaming content starting this summer, when a new service called VidZone launches.
VidZone will stream free, ad-supported music videos to PS3 users in the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Australia. In addition to the service's "thousands" of music videos, according to Joystiq, content will include live concerts, interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. Several major record labels and independent labels are said to be involved, CVG reports.
Users will be able to create custom playlists from the music videos. They can also stream the content to a PSP for remote viewing.
Moreover, The Age writes that Australian PS3 owners will ultimately be able to buy downloadable movies and TV shows through the console, a feature that users in the US and Europe have long enjoyed. Those services will launch later this year or next year, Jack Ford, managing director of Sony Pictures Television, said. He added that HD content would find its way to Australian consoles within 12 to 18 months.
As for the music videos, they're notable for being offered in Europe while the US waits indefinitely for a similar service. Typically, it's the other way around, most notably with European Xbox 360 owners still lacking a streaming movie service similar to Netflix. Music videos may not be as widely desirable as feature films, but they could make for a nice diversion between rounds of Killzone 2.
