Sony: PS3 video store coming this summer

Finally, it's official: We can expect a movie download service on the PlayStation Network sometime "this summer," and that's straight from Sony corporate. Well, it's about time.

The AP reports that Sony video game head Kazuo Hirai said that the planned PSN video store will expand to Japan and Europe at "later dates."

"Please expect more from our evolving PlayStation business," Hirai added apologetically—as he should, given that annoyed PS3 gamers have been watching their Xbox 360 counterparts rent movies for almost two years now.

Gaming blog Kotaku has some leaked PowerPoint slides showing what the video store will look like; you can click through to see them for yourself, but suffice to say that they look pretty much like the existing PlayStation Store, with a checkerboard of movie posters on the right side of the interface and individual title details on the left.

Kotaku also has a "Video Service Rollout Strategy" slide, complete with pictures of the PS3, the PSP, Vaio laptops, Blu-ray players, and even the upcoming Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. Here's the self-explanatory tagline: "Rollout video service across key Sony products by FY2010."

It does indeed sound enticing, and hey—once Sony finally rolls out video rentals, achievements (OK, "trophies"), the oft-delayed Home service, and the in-game XrossMediaBar to the PS3, all will be forgiven.

Until that bright day dawns, however, I'll continue to shake my head in amazement that Sony would leave a sweet machine like the PS3 to play catch-up—on the network side, at least—to the buggy Xbox 360, which has had achievements, the in-game Guide, and Live since its 2005 launch, with the Video Marketplace going online way back in November 2006.

In any case, we should be getting more details during E3 next month.

Related:
Sony to start US movie service for PS3 [AP, via Yahoo! News]
First Shots Of PS3 Video Download Service, Due In "Summer 2008" [Kotaku]